Over the past half century, the USDA Forest Service has increasingly faced
diverse and often competing demands for forest resources, ranging from recreation,
to ecosystem services, and timber supply. Building positive community-agency
relationships has become increasingly important. Such relationships can improve
community support for forest planning and management activities, ultimately
making the agency more efficient and effective, while also providing economic and
social benefit to local communities. The development of social capital may play an
important role in promoting positive agency-community relationships. Broadly
defined, the term refers to the social networks between individuals and groups that
create a willingness and ability to act collectively toward a common goal.
This study focuses on the impact that a partnership between the Colville
National Forest and Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition has had on rural
Northeast Washington communities. Overall, our study suggests the partnership
has positively impacted networks among community members and networks
between the community and the Forest Service. However, there is room for
improvement. Many study participants were not familiar with important details
about the Coalition's membership and objectives, or how its work may impact them
or their community. Targeted outreach efforts will likely lead to greater support for
the partnership. Such efforts could also strengthen networks among community
members and community-agency networks as individuals learn how the partnership
can benefit them and issues they care about. / Graduation date: 2012
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/29106 |
| Date | 02 May 2012 |
| Creators | Maier, Carolin |
| Contributors | Shindler, Bruce A. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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