10 Year Wilderness Stewardship Challenge Accomplishment Graphs
(FY 2005 – 2009)
The 10 Year Wilderness Stewardship Challenge was initiated in FY 2005 with the goal of having all 406 wildernesses managed by the Forest Service meet a “minimum stewardship level” by 2014, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. This standard is defined by having a wilderness score 60-points or higher across ten different elements (as displayed in Figure 3), representing different social, ecological and managerial aspects of wilderness stewardship.
Progress is reported each fall by the data stewards identified for each wilderness. The accomplishment data are entered into the performance measure module of Infra-WILD, and pulled for reporting to the Washington Office, Department of Agriculture and Office of Management and Budget.
After five years, national accomplishment has improved from 44 wildernesses managed to standard in FY 2005 (or 10.8% of all wildernesses) to 122 wildernesses managed to this level in FY 2009 (30.0% of all wildernesses).
While progress has been made across all regions and elements, the rate of progress has not been uniform. Several national and regional graphs follow to display various aspects of the progress that has been made through the end of FY 2009.
Figure 1 - Percent of wildernesses meeting standard nationally by year
Figure 1 displays the percent of wildernesses meeting standard across the country by fiscal year. Accomplishment ranges from 44 wildernesses to standard in FY 2005 (10.8%) to 122 wildernesses to standard in FY 2009 (30.0%).
Figure 2 - Average score nationally by year
Figure 2 displays the average score across all wildernesses nationally by fiscal year. Scores improved from 34.7 in FY 2005 to 50.7 in FY 2009. Reports from the Regions indicate this current rate of improvement in average scores is not sustainable. The “low hanging fruit” have been grabbed, and a continued increase in average scores will require a higher level of funding to implement the field-based implementation of many of the elements.
Figure 3 - Average score nationally by element by year
Figure 3 displays the average score by element for fiscal years FY 2005 – 2009. The element numbers relate to the ten elements of the Challenge (E1-Fire Planning, E2-Non-native, Invasive Plants, E3-Air Quality, E4-Wilderness Education Plans, E5-Opportunities for Solitude, E6-Recreation Site Inventory, E7-Outfitters & Guides, E8-Adequate Plan Standards, E9-Information Management, E10-Baseline Workforce). Average scores are highest for Elements 1 and 7, and lowest for Elements 3 and 10.
While most data display a steady and continuous improvement, Element 10 shows a decline from FY 2005-2007, and then a sudden increase in FY 2008 and 2009. This increase in scores is attributable to a change in counting instructions in FY 2008—not a change in staffing. Starting in FY 2008, it was permissible to count Forest Service staff funded by non-recreation fund codes (other than NFRW) and volunteers.
Figure 4 - Percent of wildernesses meeting standard by region (FY 2009 data)
Figure 4 displays the percent of wildernesses meeting minimum standard by Forest Service Region, using FY 2009 data. The data range from a low of 1.7% (R6) to a high of 84.6% (R1). Nationally, 30.0% of wildernesses were determined to be managed to the minimum standard.
The relatively low scores in several of the regions will present the greatest challenge to reaching 100% accomplishment by 2014.
Figure 5 - Average score by region (FY 2009 data)
Figure 5 displays the average score of wildernesses by Forest Service Region, using FY 2009 data. The data range from a low of 31.0 (R3) to a high of 67.5 (R1). The average score across all regions was 50.7.
This graph tells a slightly more positive story than Figure 4. With the exception of Regions 3 and 6, regional average scores for all remaining regions are near 50-points or above.
Figure 6 - Percent of wildernesses meeting standard by region by year
Figure 6 displays the trend of scores by region. Accomplishment for some regions has been relatively stable while still improving, such as Regions 1 and 2, while others show greater fluctuation from year, most notably Regions 3 and 9. Greatest improvement has been shown in R10, which improved dramatically from 0 wildernesses managed to standard in FY 2005-2006, to 63.2% in FY 2009.
Figure 7 - Average scores by region by year
While Figure 6 shows year to year variability, Figure 7 shows steady improvement in average scores across all regions. This provides hope that, with sustained effort, the Challenge can be met.
Figure 8 - Number of wildernesses by "progress classes" nationally (FY 2009 data)
Figure 8 displays the number of wilderness nationally that currently score within four “progress classes”, as a percent of the whole, using FY 2009 data. The classes are:
“At or Above” (60-points or above): 122 wildernesses;
“Near” (50 to 59-points): 94 wildernesses;
“Approaching” (35-49 points): 113 wildernesses; and
“Well Below” (0-34 points): 63 wildernesses.
The graph also shows the 14 wildernesses that did not complete the reporting for FY 2009.
These “progress classes” are important as we develop recommendations for making further progress on the Challenge. For example, those wildernesses that are approaching 60-points can likely reach the minimum stewardship level with a bit of assistance, perhaps with funding through an internal grant process. Those wildernesses that are currently well below 60-points probably need more than funding since they may well lack the staffing resources to accomplish work. Those units may be better candidates for the use of strike teams or other off-forest assistance.
Figure 9 – Number of wildernesses by “progress classes” by region (FY 2009 data)
Figure 9 displays the number of wilderness by “progress classes” by region, using the data from the FY 2009 reporting. This graph shows the number of wildernesses by each class, providing an indication of the amount of improvement needed to meet standard.
Figure 10 - Percent of wildernesses by "progress classes" by region (FY 2009 data)
Figure 10 displays the percent of wilderness in each “progress class” by region, using the data from the FY 2009 reporting. This graph normalizes the groupings to account for the difference in number of wildernesses in each of the regions. While perhaps not as good of an indicator of the overall workload as Figure 9, this graph depicts the relative position of each of the regions.
Figure 11 - Progress needed to meet the Challenge
Figure 11 displays the current accomplishment, as of FY 2009 reporting, and then two potential trajectories for FY 2010 – 2014: a steady state projection assuming a continuation of the current rate of progress between FY 2005-2009 and the more ambitious rate of progress that would be needed to have all 406 wildernesses managed to a minimum stewardship level by 2014.
Figure 12 - Score rank by element by region (FY 2009 data)
Figure 12 displays the relative rank of each region for each Element of the Challenge by grouping scores in the top, middle and bottom thirds, and color coding the results to aid in viewing. Most regions consistently score in the same group across all elements, such as Region 3, whereas others, such as Region 10, show a wider disparity in relative accomplishment between elements.