Browsing by Author "Schultz, Courtney, advisor"
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Item Open Access Assessing forest plan revision under the 2012 planning rule: understanding policy implementation and organizational learning(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Ricco, Gwendolyn M., author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Rocca, Monique, committee member; Williams, Dan, committee memberIn 2012, under the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), the U.S. Forest Service promulgated a new planning rule that was a significant change from past planning regulations. For example, the concepts of ecological integrity and climate change adaptation were introduced as important management priorities. This research identified lessons learned, innovations, and best practices under the 2012 planning rule and characterized how organizational learning occurred during times of policy transition and implementation. I used learning frameworks to identify types of learning occurring. In addition, early policy implementation is a critical time for an organization to experience learning, but there has been relatively little literature that looks at how learning occurs during this period. The policy implementation literature discusses both top-down and bottom-up variables impacting implementation, and I considered how these may also affect learning. We collected qualitative data from the 2016 Planners' Meeting in Fort Collins, Colorado held by the Forest Service and conducted 25 semi-structured, follow-up interviews with planning staff to understand what types of learning were occurring during early implementation of a new policy, determine how the factors that affect policy implementation affect learning, and identify how the agency could better support learning throughout the implementation of the 2012 planning rule. This study revealed that although the Forest Service is displaying some characteristics of a learning organization, such as creating social learning networks, the agency needs structural and cultural changes to reach their goals and overcome barriers. Much of the learning that is occurring happens at the individual level, and a critical challenge is how to improve diffusion and consolidation of the knowledge being gained. Therefore, the agency will need to create entirely new structures to capture their knowledge and lessons learned to better encourage continual learning. This could include improving trainings and workshops and offering mentoring opportunities but may also require reorganization and dedication of new staff positions to support more effective organizational learning.Item Open Access Building a prescribed fire program on the Colorado Front Range: the role of landowner engagement(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) McGrath Novak, Katherine, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; McCaffrey, Sarah, committee member; Niemiec, Rebecca, committee memberDespite recognition of the value of prescribed fire in scientific literature and policy, a number of factors impede its widespread implementation in the United States. Social acceptance of prescribed fire is a key factor, making consistent and effective outreach an important part of efforts to increase prescribed fire implementation. The Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest, located in northern Colorado, has set a goal to increase the level of prescribed burning, on its land and at a larger landscape level when possible. As part of this effort it has been working to improve active stakeholder involvement and education about forest restoration planning and implementation, with special attention paid to those who might be most directly impacted by future prescribed fires. Through a case study on the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest, this thesis analyzes: strategies the USFS and its partners have used to communicate to landowners and meet their goals; challenges and benefits associated with outreach; and how outreach has been perceived by its recipients. To address each of these questions, I interviewed 23 individuals from the US Forest Service, its governmental and non-governmental partners, and community members in the study area. This thesis consists of four chapters: a brief introduction, a report of my findings developed for practitioners, an article intended for submission to a journal, and a conclusion. The US Forest Service report is a technical document which reviews the goals for outreach, strategies employed to achieve those goals, how community members perceived strategies used, and researcher insight into how outreach might be improved for future projects. My findings show that outreach providers in the study area had two primary goals: to garner understanding of and support for forest restoration projects in the community, and to encourage private landowners to consider implementing projects on their own land. These strategies were emphasized differently based on the specific goal and the outreach recipients' phase of learning. The second stand-alone chapter, which will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, offers a comparison of outreach provider and recipient perspectives on goals and outreach strategies used. I found that most of the community members I interviewed perceived a high level of wildfire risk to their homes and other material assets, and that was often their reason for seeking information initially. Providers and recipients of outreach generally perceived that interactive strategies, such as project tours and personal communication, were the most effective in achieving their goals. However, providers faced problems with capacity for this type of outreach, and recipients struggled to find information independently after they had established a general understanding of forest restoration techniques. In each chapter, I offer recommendations for improving future outreach programs based on feedback from interview participants and my own observations. Following initial data collection for this project, a prescribed fire in the study area escaped and was declared a wildfire. I conducted follow-up interviews with 16 of the original 23 interviewees to understand how outreach informed community members before, during, and after the escape, whether changes to the outreach program would or should be made following the escape, and whether community members' perspectives on forest restoration had changed after such an event. My conclusion chapter introduces key findings from these follow-up interviews, and summarizes key findings about initial interviews from the previous two chapters. Key findings in this chapter show that outreach recipients prefer a standardized email notification system no matter what entity is burning, and that those who were supportive of prescribed fire before remained supportive after the escape. Findings from this study can be used to improve the ongoing outreach program in this study area, while adding to existing literature on prescribed fire outreach and informing similar efforts in other locations. Further research in other communities is necessary to identify contextual factors that influenced my findings.Item Open Access Building capacity and integrating training, education and experience: the Fire Learning Network's Prescribed Burn Training Exchanges(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Spencer, Andrew G., author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Hoffman, Chad, committee member; Kaiser, Leann, committee memberPrescribed fire is an important tool for forest and rangeland management, but there are barriers to its use, including a lack of qualified personnel with the necessary ecological knowledge and operational expertise. In order to implement prescribed fire across landscapes containing a variety of ownerships, these personnel should be from both federal agencies and non-federal organizations. Further, fire science educators have suggested that in order to prepare the next generation of fire professionals, three components--training, education, and experience--must be integrated in a professional development triangle. However, recognized needs for professional development and increased use of fire are not being met. The Prescribed Burn Training Exchange model from the Fire Learning Network incorporates the three components of the professional development triangle while fostering collaboration between nongovernmental organizations, private contractors, landowners, and government agencies. This study evaluated the training model and assessed outcomes using surveys, interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. I found that the participants are very satisfied with the flexible model across disparate training needs and experience levels. The results suggest that the training model is a valuable addition to prescribed fire education opportunities, can be implemented by other organizations, and therefore can serve to increase the capacity for fire management.Item Open Access Climate change adaptation in wildland fire management and governance in Alaska(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Rutherford, Tait Kater, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Duffy, Paul, committee member; Davis, Charles, committee memberIn the sparsely populated landscape of Alaska, natural resource-dependent rural communities are experiencing the effects of a rapidly changing climate. Warming average temperatures have caused increases in wildland fire activity across the boreal and tundra regions of Alaska, and climate change projections forecast further increases in fire frequency, severity, and extent. These projections have resulted in dire predictions for the already-strained fire management capacity of the state and federal land management agencies. In a fire management system historically focused on the protection of isolated communities and valued resources, increasing fire activity is causing the need for adaptation in fire management approaches and decision-making structures. In this thesis, I explore priorities, challenges, and adaptation in fire management and fire governance in Alaska. I use a qualitative analysis of a series of interviews with fire managers and stakeholders in the Alaska fire management community to derive an understanding of potential adaptation options in a complex management system. This thesis consists of three standalone chapters. The first of these chapters is a white paper that summarizes interview results. In this chapter, I identify four key issues to address in fire management in Alaska based on interviewee responses, including budgeting, staffing, the protection of remote values and subsistence hunting opportunities, and the potential for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The second chapter explores climate change adaptation in specific management approaches and the processes that may need to change to achieve those adaptations. I find that local collaboration, the integration of land and fire management responsibilities within the statewide fire management network, and the consideration of recent science are significant controls on the system's capacity for adaptation. In the third chapter, I broaden the scope of my analysis to the multilevel fire governance system, seeking to understand how the organizational structures and institutions that support collective action will respond to the challenges of climate change. I find that existing adaptive mechanisms such as regular formal and informal communication among agencies and the presence of bridging organizations will be critical to successful adaptation across the state. Overall, these results show recognition within Alaska's fire management community of the urgent need to reevaluate management priorities, policies, and structures going forward.Item Open Access Climate change adaptation on public lands: policy, vulnerability assessments, and resilience in the U.S. Forest Service(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Timberlake, Thomas, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Cheng, Tony, committee member; Fernández-Giménez, María, committee member; Duffy, Robert, committee memberTo view the abstract, please see the full text of the document.Item Open Access Corporate investments for public land management: insights into the Forest Service's corporate partnerships(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Collins, Natasha, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Jones, Kelly, committee member; Huber-Stearns, Heidi, committee memberThere is a shift in environmental governance towards devolution and neoliberalism, whereby federal land management agencies increasingly rely on external actors to help them meet their management objectives. For the U.S. Forest Service, budget deficiencies and increasingly complex management challenges, in part due to climate change, drive the agency to seek external funding sources, including for-profit companies. As reliance on companies to meet gaps in agency funding and capacity increases, there is a need to better understand the expectations and interests of these corporate partners. My thesis aims to better understand the Forest Service’s corporate partners by identifying key partners and their mechanisms for investment, corporate motivations for engagement, company interests in metrics and return on investment, and overall successes and challenges of the partnerships. To address these research questions I conducted interviews with Forest Service staff, both in the Washington Office and with Regional partnership coordinators, for-profit companies funding projects on national forests related to climate change, and key non-profit organizations that serve as intermediaries between the Forest Service and companies to channel funds and implement the work. In the following thesis I synthesize my findings into two stand-alone chapters, bookended by an introduction and conclusion chapter. The first chapter is a comprehensive report to the Forest Service Office of Sustainability and Climate, which funded this project, regarding the mechanisms, motivations, desired metrics and overall successes and challenges of corporate partnerships with the Forest Service. Among other things, I find that corporate partners have a iii limited understanding of what national forests are, the role the Forest Service plays as an agency, and avenues that exist for partnerships with the Forest Service. I offer a few recommendations for the agency moving forward, including, improved storytelling by the Forest Service to corporate partners regarding who the agency is and the benefits of partnership, increased collaboration between companies to help tackle projects of larger scale, standardized metrics for improved measurement of project outcomes, and further developed options to participate in carbon markets on national forests. The second chapter is intended for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. The article dives deeper into exploring corporate motivations for engagement in these types of projects. I find that companies engage in projects for a variety of reasons, primarily including: desires to achieve sustainability goals driven by leadership; stakeholder pressures, such as those from consumers, employees, and investors; company characteristics, including the dependency of a company’s products or services relying on benefits that forests provide; and marketing tied to a company’s brand or reputation. Overall, insight into this topic can inform the Forest Service on its private partners in order to improve and expand these types of partnerships moving forward. This research also contributes to literature regarding the increasing role of public-private partnerships, consistent with a broader shift towards neoliberal approaches in environmental governance whereby private actors contribute funding and capacity in ways that help the Forest Service manage public forests, but also significantly influence public agency activities. Further research is still needed to evaluate the impact of increasing corporate influence on public lands management and to further explore the added value of intermediary organizations for the success of these partnerships.Item Open Access Governance approaches for scale mismatches in pre-wildfire planning and post-wildfire response and recovery(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Buettner, William Cole, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Cheng, Tony, committee member; Scott, Ryan, committee memberWildfires in the western United States have become an increasingly complex management challenge. Increased fire extent and severity, longer fire seasons, housing development in the wildland-urban interface, jurisdictional complexities, and interactions between fire and other disturbances combine to exacerbate risks to different critical values. Managers have recognized the need for greater pre-wildfire planning by reducing wildfire risk through fuel treatments and contingency planning in anticipation of fire. Less explored, however, are how managers are responding to changing environmental conditions after wildfires and planning for long-term recovery efforts. Challenges in pre-wildfire planning and post-wildfire response and recovery share similar scalar mismatches that frustrate effective governance. Scale is the spatial, temporal, and functional dimensions used to measure and study any phenomenon, and mismatches arise from challenges within relationships between ecological and social systems. In this thesis, I explore different scale mismatches in pre-wildfire and post-wildfire management to derive an understanding of potential adaptation options in complex management systems. This thesis consists of five standalone chapters. The first chapter introduces the two primary studies and reviews relevant literature related to wildfire governance and tools used to facilitate adaptive management approaches. The second chapter is a peer-reviewed manuscript that investigates the use of Potential Wildfire Operational Delineations (PODs) for fire and fuel management. In collaboration with the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, we filled gaps in PODs research by investigating how PODs are being utilized in non-incident management contexts to align forest and fire planning objectives with incident response tactics. We found that PODs help validate fuel treatment plans and support communication among agency staff, and with private landowners and collaborators. Challenges included lack of technical knowledge and skills, unclear leadership direction, potential misalignment with other forest management goals, and community and agency buy-in to using PODs. Recommendations from interviewees were to address knowledge gaps and capacity challenges. In our paper, we offer insights into how PODs are being utilized within our case studies and align these findings with the diffusion of innovation literature. This second chapter of my thesis has already been published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire as a Research Note. The third chapter, intended for a practitioner audience, explores the governance approaches to post-wildfire policies and programs following the Hermit's Peak-Calf Canyon Fire response and recovery efforts. Interviewees shared program and policy challenges, adding that policies did not incorporate local contexts, had prolonged treatment timelines, and federal staff were uneducated on program nuances. Facilitators of success were the Monsoon Taskforce and Lines of Effort Framework created by New Mexico State Agencies to allow for greater communication, coordination, and collaboration. Interviewees recommended an increase in workforce capacity and education, as well as legislative changes. The fourth chapter, intended for a peer-reviewed journal, aligns adaptive governance theory and literature on boundary organizations with the governance approaches following the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Wildfire. I found that adaptive governance arrangements are occurring in New Mexico and that boundary organizations are playing a significant role by facilitating information transfer and addressing knowledge gaps. In chapter five, I share concluding thoughts for both studies and suggestions for further inquiry and policy guidance.Item Open Access Investigating policy tools and variables to support collaborative governance and collective learning: a programmatic assessment of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) McIntyre, Kathleen B., author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Cheng, Tony, committee member; Fernández-Giménez, Maria, committee member; Duffy, Robert, committee memberCollaborative governance has increased in prominence as a potential policy tool to support natural resource management within forest contexts. Until recently, there has been little formal space within the governance regime to support collaboration. The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) was authorized by Congress in 2009 to facilitate large landscape restoration projects on federal forest lands through a focus on fire-adapted ecosystems, a mandate to monitor, and a mandate to collaborate throughout the lifetime of the project. In 2017, we conducted a third-party programmatic review of the CFLRP program to assess both theoretical and applied implications of this policy within the collaborative forest restoration context. This dissertation seeks to examine policy that supports collaboration and collective learning within US forest management contexts, and answer questions regarding whether collaborative policy innovations garner collaborative benefits. I also examine the challenges groups face, the factors that influence collaboration, and what types of collective learning activities occur under collaborative policy innovations. Using qualitative research methods including participant observation and interviews, I address these practical and theoretical research questions through three chapters (Chapters 2, 3, and 4). In Chapter 2, I assess to what extent the CFLRP program supported collaborative governance and seek to identify the variables that influence and support collaboration. This chapter reports on the theoretical research questions regarding collaborative benefits interviewees attributed to the program and the various top-down, structural and local, contextual variables that influence collaboration on projects. From these findings, I draw conclusions regarding policy tools and policy implementation to support collaborative governance in forest management. Chapter 3 addresses to what extent the CFLRP program supported collective learning activities and outcomes and the variables that may influence successful collective learning across the program. Collective learning is closely related to collaborative governance and critical to ensuring collaboration and adaptive governance are successful in terms of sharing lessons learned. We identify a variety of activities occurring on each project and then across projects that indicate a level of collective learning within the CFLRP program and ultimately a system of multi-level network governance. These findings have larger implications for building public-private partnerships in an era of decreasing agency budgets and staff capacity. Lastly, Chapter 4 addresses our more applied research objectives regarding the benefits and challenges reported under the CFLRP program. This chapter specifically seeks to identify the value-added and challenges of the program as reported by participants. I report on the practice and policy implications from the CFLRP program in terms of collaborative forest restoration policies within US natural resource governance contexts. The CFLRP program provided a unique opportunity to programmatically assess whether policy can effectively support collaboration, the various local, contextual and top-down, structural variables that were influential in terms of collaborative success, and whether the program was supporting collective learning activities and outcomes. This dissertation sought to fill these research gaps and contribute to the collaborative governance and forest management literature. Within my conclusion, I review the major themes across my chapters and propose future research directions and questions regarding forest management and collaborative governance. Ultimately, my chapters show that there are variety of variables both top-down, structural and local, contextual that both support and facilitate collective learning and collaborative governance, which has implications for crafting more effective natural resource policies. Our research indicates that the CFLRP program effectively supported collaboration and collective learning, and generated a variety of valuable benefits that contributed to the accomplishment of more holistic restoration work and indicated that collaboration can be a valuable policy tool for natural resource management in the future.Item Open Access Knowledge management for adaptive planning and decision-making in federal land management agencies(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Wurtzebach, Zachary Pyne, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Cheng, Antony, committee member; Fernandez-Gimenez, Maria, committee member; Opp, Susan, committee memberScholarship on environmental governance emphasizes the importance of institutions with the capacity to integrate scientific knowledge from multiple scales of assessment into decision-making processes at multiple levels of governance. A major gap in our knowledge exists around the design of policies and administrative strategies that can support knowledge management and address scalar challenges for adaptive governance in public organizations such as land management agencies. This research examines challenges and opportunities for improving knowledge management for multiscale monitoring, which is a fundamental component of public land planning and decision-making for the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the National Park Service (NPS). My objective is to expand our understanding of the governance institutions that support improved knowledge management, looking specifically at the legal and administrative variables that impede and promote improved knowledge generation and application in a hierarchical public bureaucracy. In the U.S. Forest Service, I found that limited capacity, decentralized decision-making structures, and organizational culture are critical barriers for implementing forest and broader-scale monitoring associated with recent regulations for National Forest planning under the National Forest Management Act of 1976. However, there are opportunities for addressing these challenges through partnerships, investment in "administrative knowledge brokers," and formalized collaborative processes. While these policies and practices can generate efficiencies and address scalar challenges for knowledge management, leadership commitment and capacity are needed for implementation. Both the BLM and NPS used similar policy tools to address capacity and commitment challenges for effective knowledge management among administrative actors, including: clear goals linked to agency mission and mandates; funding and specialized staffing positions dedicated to inventory and monitoring at multiple levels of administration; centralized authority for implementation, coordination, and budgetary allocation; and structured collaborative processes. However, there are also differences in tools that reflect the unique administrative context and constraints faced by each agency. Collectively, my findings highlight several important considerations for future research on environmental governance. Rather than characterizing institutional actors as knowledge users, producers, and intermediaries, I argue that it is more appropriate to evaluate the specific capabilities and multiple roles of diverse actors in different knowledge management processes. Given the complexity of today's management challenges, administrative structures dedicated to knowledge management and embedded in public organizations are needed to link knowledge to action across scales of governance. I also highlight the problematic assumption that decentralization and flexibility are essential for adaptive practice; the critical barrier in my findings is not limited flexibility, but limited administrative capacity. My research suggests that hierarchical governance structures and a diverse mix of policy tools are essential for addressing mismatches between the temporal and spatial scales of assessment and decision-making, realizing efficiencies for implementation, and linking knowledge to action across levels of governance.Item Open Access Policies and other institutions to support cross-boundary forest management: lessons from four "shared stewardship" projects in the western United States(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Aldworth, Tyler Lee, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Cheng, Antony, committee member; Scott, Ryan, committee memberLand managers are increasingly seeking to increase the pace and scale of management actions by working across boundaries, but a key question is whether new approaches can be undertaken within the confines of existing institutions. Climate change, past forest management practices, and alterations in land use have led to increases in both the extent and severity of wildland fire in recent decades. Growing the pace and scale of land management activities to meet these challenges requires the cooperation of a diverse set of jurisdictions, organizations, and actors operating at various scales and with different capacities while balancing sometimes conflicting suites of objectives and public interests. In 2018 the United States Forest Service published "A Shared Stewardship Strategy" – an initiative focused on increasing the pace and scale of management actions and providing leadership direction for cross-boundary work, elevating as part of a longer-term trend the role of states and non-federal entities in managing forested ecosystems. Through qualitative inquiry, this thesis reports on four landscape-scale cross-boundary projects that meet the intent of Shared Stewardship. Chapter One introduces the study and reviews relevant literature related to institutions, policy implementation, cross-boundary work, and the context of forest management in the United States. Chapter Two, a research product written for a practitioner audience, discusses the involvement of partners and their roles in each project, the prioritization processes utilized by each project, and the key formal and informal factors that influenced each project. Chapter Three, a research product intended for a peer-reviewed journal, evaluates the institutions that facilitate and challenge cross-boundary work, and ways that actors attempted to overcome institutional challenges using a framework that integrates theories of policy implementation and historical institutionalism. Chapter Four conveys overall conclusions and suggestions for further inquiry. Key findings were that guaranteed funding and central coordinators helped projects move forward, while internal USFS policies often negatively impacted a project's relative success. Project planners often innovated around institutional challenges through creative agreements and contracting methods. Insights from this research could help inform forest managers across the United States on ways to design and execute large-scale, cross-boundary work. This study also contributes to the growing body of literature on using policy implementation and institutional innovation lenses to investigate forest and other land management governance contexts. Further research should investigate the consequences of novel institutional changes, such as budget modernization and the impact of additional funding opportunities presented by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.Item Open Access Policy tools for carnivore reintroduction: lessons learned from past wolf reintroductions in the western United States(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Manzolillo, Brielle Rose, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Teel, Tara, committee member; Cheng, Tony, committee memberIn November 2020, Colorado citizens passed a historic vote to reintroduce gray wolves to the state. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), the state wildlife agency, was tasked with creating management plans and policy. Wildlife managers and policy makers have the opportunity to consider different paths forward, drawing on the lessons of the past to lead to a successful wolf reintroduction program. Past reintroduction efforts in the western United States could provide valuable perspectives on the management and policy tools available to Colorado. In order to inform this process and use this opportunity to assess policy tools for addressing multi-jurisdictional conservation challenges like carnivore reintroduction, this thesis research had two primary objectives: analyze perspectives on policy tools utilized in past reintroductions, including the capacities needed for successful tool implementation; and synthesize specific suggestions and considerations for Colorado. In order to meet these objectives, I interviewed 42 individuals from state, federal and Tribal land and wildlife management agencies, and stakeholders from non-profit organizations and livestock associations. Interviewees were from past reintroduction areas of the Northern Rocky Mountains (i.e. Idaho, Montana, Wyoming) and the Southwest (i.e. New Mexico, Arizona), and Colorado. This thesis consists of four chapters: a brief introductory chapter, a second chapter that is a practitioner report of my findings, a third chapter that is an article intended for submission to a peer-reviewed journal, and a conclusion chapter. The practitioner report is a document aimed for practitioner and stakeholder audiences and provides a robust overview of findings on interviewee perspectives of a variety of management and policy strategies, along with specific recommendations for Colorado. The intent of this chapter is to provide Colorado wildlife managers and policy makers a detailed overview of our research and findings. My findings emphasize the need for collaborative processes and relationship building with stakeholders, and the flexibility to tailor strategies to local needs. The second stand-alone chapter, which will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, offers a policy design perspective on carnivore reintroduction. This chapter provides a narrower range of our findings in the context of policy design literature. Findings contribute to existing literature and emphasize the need for a mixed tool approach to management in order to address the diversity of targets and policy goals, address issues of scale, and leverage capacity. Overall, insight from this research could help to inform Colorado decision-makers on ways to move forward with planning for future wolf reintroduction. This research also contributes to the growing body of literature on using a policy design perspective to inform and analyze complex wildlife management and conservation issues. Further research is still needed to better evaluate overall effectiveness of policy tool choices and tailor specific reintroductions according to temporal and spatial scales. Future research should also be done to provide a robust stakeholder analysis for Colorado, as it is important to incorporate stakeholder perspectives into policy decisions.Item Open Access Prioritizing restoration and fire preparedness at the public-private boundary(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Cyphers, Laren Alise, author; Mackes, Kurt, advisor; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Jones, Kelly, committee memberSystem processes, like wildfire, will continue to threaten life and property, particularly if land managers cannot work across the public-private boundary at large enough scales. Addressing the wildfire challenge will require more natural fire use and other fuel reduction strategies, like mechanical thinning and prescribed fire, to reduce hazardous fuels. As the wildland-urban interface continues to expand, so does the need to work across the public-private boundary and engage private landowners to create defensible space and address fuel loads where the goal is to reduce fire hazard. This two-part thesis informs the prioritization of funding and management activities related to wildfire management across the public-private boundary. Chapter One of this study reviews three Colorado wildfires, identifying the true costs of the fires through document review and conversations with government and community personnel. This cost data demonstrates the long-term unsustainability of current wildfire management and informs prioritization of funding and management based on an area's forest and land-use type. Chapter Two evaluates the effectiveness of the Joint Chiefs Partnership in tackling the challenge of large-scale, collaborative, cross-boundary work, based on the adaptive governance literature and my qualitative research on the Partnership to understand which aspects of the design of the authority supported that goal. Our research investigated the complete cost of wildfire and the effectiveness of the Joint Chiefs Partnership to inform prioritization of funding for restoration and fire preparedness and understand how policy can be better designed to support such work, particularly across agencies and jurisdictions.Item Open Access Scaling up collaborative governance for better fit and flexibility: a case study of the Two-Rivers Three-Watersheds Two-States (2-3-2) partnership(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Bruce, Lily Appleby Calfee, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Cheng, Tony, committee member; Scott, Ryan, committee memberOver the past ten years, multiple place-based collaborative groups have partnered across jurisdictional divides to form a unique structure of nested collaborative groups, but little is known about what drives the formation of these umbrella collaborative groups or how they function. Due to the changing climate and a legacy of fire suppression, the United States Forest Services (USFS) and academic scholars have promoted the planning and implementation of forest restoration activities at larger geographic scales than has been typical in forest management. To achieve landscape-level restoration, efforts must be coordinated across jurisdictional boundaries. Collaborative governance arose as an alternative to the centralized and adversarial approaches that had dominated environmental policy since the passage of core environmental statutes in the 1970s. Collaborative groups seek to overcome conflict by facilitating cooperative decision-making between government and non-government actors to achieve ecological and community benefits, reducing the risk of uncharacteristic wildfires, and addressing watershed function. Collaborative groups that are focused on forest restoration operate at larger scales than ever before, filling gaps resulting from limited government capacity and addressing complex and multi-jurisdictional environmental challenges. In the last fifteen years, federal and state policies emerged to support landscape-level collaboration, including the 2009 Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP). An important question is how collaborative groups operate in response to such drivers that require scaling up when they typically have existed at smaller spatial extents of individual national forests or communities. In this thesis, I explore the formation of an umbrella collaborative group and the opportunities and challenges associated with collaborating at the multiple-watershed level. I use qualitative analysis of a series of interviews with partners of the Two Watershed-Three Rivers-Two States Cohesive Strategy Partnership (2-3-2), an umbrella collaborative, to understand opportunities for adaptation and adapting to a variety of scale-fit needs that arise for collaborative governance regimes. In forest policy, scale mismatch is the lack of fit between the temporal or spatial scales of policy mechanisms, collective action, and ecosystem processes. Scale mismatch is prevalent in natural resource management; perhaps a better way to conceive of this issue is the need to have flexibility to adapt to drivers or concerns that operate and vary across scales. Collaborative governance may improve scale fit, especially for ecological processes and federal-level policies that require restoration work across huge acreages, but we also know from research that the trust- and relationship-building required by collaborative processes work best at smaller scales. This thesis consists of four interrelated but independent chapters. Chapter 1 introduces my research and provides foundational concepts to understand collaborative and adaptive governance. Chapter 2 summarizes interview results and is intended as a practitioner paper for partners and leaders of the 2-3-2. I describe interviewee perspectives on the current priorities of the 2-3-2, the advantages and challenges of collaboration at the multi-watershed scale, and recommendations for further strengthening the efficacy of the 2-3-2. Chapter 3, intended for a peer-reviewed journal, discusses these results in the context of collaborative and adaptive governance theory to understand factors that drive the formation of umbrella collaborative groups, as well as how umbrella collaboratives allow for greater adaptiveness to different scale dynamics. Finally, in Chapter 4, I summarize and draw overarching conclusions from my separate analyses of the interview data and address the limitations of this research with a view to future research.Item Open Access State climate adaptation policy and forest management case studies in the American West: Colorado and Washington State(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Breidenbach, Tamera Elizabeth, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Cheng, Antony, committee member; Scott, Ryan, committee memberClimate change and past management practices are impacting and creating hazards for forests and forest-adjacent landscapes and communities. State governments are considered leaders in climate policy and increasingly are facilitating a state-led response to observed and predicted future impacts from climate-related hazards. Hazards and risks to forests and forest-adjacent communities include wildfire, insects and disease, drought, and a loss of economic and social goods and amenities. Adaptation facilitates a response to risks and provides opportunities to adjust to and become resilient to current and future hazards. Utilizing a qualitative approach and a policy design framework, my research had two primary objectives: characterize state-level natural resource adaptation goals and objectives for forests and how these efforts are implemented by state agencies and with other actors (e.g., collaborative groups and non-governmental organizations (NGO's), other government entities, industrial and private forestry, etc.); and analyze the policy design utilized to address climate hazards through climate adaptation for forested landscapes. I interviewed 43 individuals, including state-level policy decisionmakers, federal and state land managers, local governments and utilities, industrial and private forestry entities, collaborative groups and NGO's, academics and practitioners from universities, other forestry-related professionals, and key partners. This thesis explores state climate adaptation policies for forested landscapes in Colorado and Washington State through four chapters. Chapter 1 consists of a brief introduction to this study, including a literature review on relevant climate-induced impacts to forests and forest-adjacent lands, state-level climate adaptation planning, and policy design theory, along with other intersecting and sensitizing concepts important to facilitating a thorough and holistic approach towards climate adaptation. Chapter 2 is a practitioner report intended for federal and state policy decisionmakers, land managers and practitioners, and land management partners. In this chapter, I discuss key research findings and offer recommendations based on research outcomes. Chapter 3 highlights research findings in a product intended for a peer-reviewed journal utilizing the policy design framework. This chapter focuses only on findings from Washington State. Chapter 4 highlights the overall findings from this study, discusses study limitations, and offers recommendations for future research exploration. My thesis contributes to the novel and growing area of literature working to understand climate adaptation and the role that state governments have in facilitating a future's thinking approach and response to climate hazards, particularly for forested and forest-adjacent landscapes and communities. The insights from my work help to inform policy decision-makers and land management practitioners on how states are facilitating climate adaptation through state policy, how states are working to implement climate adaptation actions, the perceptions of state climate adaptation policy, and the potential areas of growth and opportunity for climate adaptation efforts on forested lands. There are still gaps in knowledge that exist for state-related climate and adaptation policies, including how states are incorporating pillars such as equity and environmental justice, how recent federal law, legislation, and funding have increased or facilitated climate adaptation implementation through state partnerships, and future research can further explore how states are working across boundaries to address climate hazards through adaptation.Item Open Access The collaborative forest landscape restoration program: lessons from two Colorado-based forest restoration projects(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Bergemann, Hannah, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Cheng, Antony, committee member; Davis, Sandra, committee memberThe U.S. Forest Service's Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) emphasizes collaboration throughout the planning, monitoring, and implementation of landscape-scale forest restoration projects. The requirement for stakeholder participation in implementation is a policy innovation that is part of the agency's broader shift towards collaborative governance approaches. The purpose of this study was to investigate how CFLRP stakeholders and Forest Service personnel are collaborating during the implementation process, the extent to which they are satisfied with their involvement, and the factors that influence the ability of stakeholders to participate in this process. The study used a comparative case study approach to investigate the two CFLRP projects in Colorado. We conducted interviews with 27 collaborative group participants and Forest Service personnel, in addition to participant observation of collaborative meetings and field site visits. Interviewees described five major categories of factors that impacted their ability to participate in the implementation of the CFLRP projects: agency-wide structural factors, factors related to individual agency personnel, collaborative group characteristics, local economic conditions, and aspects of biophysical conditions. We used this empirical work to build a framework that can be used to assess the factors that affect a group's ability to collaboratively implement projects on public lands. We propose that in future efforts to engage collaborative groups in the implementation of large-scale forest restoration projects, the factors identified in this study should be considered due to the role they may play in facilitating or impeding successful collaborative participation.Item Open Access The selection of species of conservation concern under the USDA Forest Service's new planning requirements for wildlife(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Grimes, Summer Star, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Noon, Barry, committee member; Cheng, Tony, committee memberIn 2012, the USDA Forest Service finalized a planning rule that represents the most significant change in federal forest policy in nearly 30 years. All 155 national forests (and 20 national grasslands) must eventually update their management plans in accordance with the new regulations, which have significant implications for wildlife conservation planning. The agency selected eight “early adopter” forests as the first to implement the new planning rule. Given the contentious history of wildlife planning on national forests, there is a high level of interest amongst many audiences in the implementation of the new rule’s language – specifically for a new category of species: “species of conservation concern” (SCCs). The new rule requires the agency to maintain the viability of SCCs on national forests; however, due to uncertainty regarding the new rule’s language, concern exists regarding the management of and planning for SCCs. This research investigated the process of policy implementation during the early stages of forest plan revision on three adjacent early adopter forests to provide insight into the factors that are likely to influence wildlife planning decisions for SCCs across all national forests. Approximately 20 qualitative, semi-structured interviews with agency staff and external environmental partners revealed that traditional challenges of policy implementation were a continued barrier to wildlife planning; however, interviews also revealed cautious optimism that the agency is experiencing a positive paradigm shift in how they address ecosystem management, enabling them to move beyond administrative borders and see forests as part of a broader ecosystem – potentially resulting in a more integrated approach to wildlife management and habitat conservation. This study provides valuable insight into early-stage procedural determinations for wildlife planning on national forests for at-risk species and can serve as a valuable source of ‘lessons learned’ for subsequent forest plan revisions.Item Open Access U.S. Forest Service citizen science: improving monitoring capacity, ecological literacy and outreach(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Pitt, Aleksandra N., author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Vaske, Jerry, committee member; Fernandez-Gimenez, Maria, committee memberThe Forest Service is integrating citizen science projects and data into the management of national forests around the country. I selected three citizen science projects that involve the Forest Service collaborating with secondary school students in direct field collection of monitoring data to: understand the objectives and design of the programs, determine the impacts on participants; and identify the benefits, if any, for the agency. I conducted eight interviews with the project leads and teachers to understand their goals, design, and objectives for the program. To determine the impacts to the participants I interviewed and surveyed 25 current students before and after their participation in the project. I also interviewed five students who participated in the projects in previous years. My findings show that both students and the agency achieved their desired outcomes for beginning the citizen science projects. I found that the objectives and design of these programs have a significant influence on student outcomes and should be designed with objectives in mind. My findings suggest enhanced ecological literacy is a potential outcome of these youth based, citizen science monitoring programs. I found evidence of increased environmental stewardship, although I was unable to determine whether this persists. The projects experienced some minor challenges with the students' data reliability; however, project leads and students alike concluded that these projects, although they did produce valuable data, had greater value for the relationships built between students and the agency, their teachers, and the natural world.