GOODS, SERVICES, AND VALUES PROGRAM CHARTER
Pacific Northwest Research Station
Review and Approval
(Adapted from FSM-4000-1)
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Goods, Values, and Services Program 23 of 24
CHARTER
GOODS, SERVICES, AND VALUES PROGRAM
Pacific Northwest Research Station
Executive Summary
A primary goal of natural resource management is to accommodate human wants and needs using management approaches that will sustain functional and vigorous ecosystems for future generations. However, the capacity of landscapes to produce goods and services is limited and often society must weigh competing desires. The concept of sustainable forest management–simultaneously considering the ecological, social, and economic dimensions of natural resource issues–provides a framework around which to organize research to support management choices. Scientific inquiry regarding these dimensions provides information that enables managers to address contemporary natural resource management issues as the complex and integrated problems they typically are.
Our mission is to conduct and communicate research to advance understanding of relationships among people and forest and rangeland ecosystems. We will examine how the public perceives and values ecological functions, goods, and services, and how these factors influence people’s use and management of landscapes. This will include examining how socioeconomic factors (such as income, population, technology) and social characteristics (such as traditions and beliefs) influence perceptions and values, with a focus on their resulting impacts on recreation, forest and range management, and economic opportunities in rural places. The goal in undertaking this research is to improve understanding about the effectiveness, efficiency, and fairness of government policies, management, decisionmaking processes, and programs by helping policymakers, managers, and the public understand the variety of available options and the ways we interact with and manage natural resources.
The program’s work will address five Problem areas, each with more specifically focused elements:
Problem 1: Improve knowledge of fundamental social and economic processes and their interactions with the natural environment
Problem 2: Examine the roles of policies, programs, and other institutions in interactions between people and natural resources
Problem 3:. Describe and analyze the implications of changing demographics, socio-economics, and technology on natural resources and their management
Problem 4: Describe the capacity of dynamic landscapes to provide for evolving human wants and needs
Problem 5: Conduct and use integrated multidisciplinary research to support development of management approaches that account for interactions among socioeconomic, ecological, and physical factors
Table of Contents
R&D PROGRAM NUMBER 5
STATION 5
R&D PROGRAM LOCATIONS 5
R&D PROGRAM TITLE 5
PROGRAM MANAGER 5
AREA OF APPLICABILITY 5
ESTIMATED DURATION 5
MISSION 5
JUSTIFICATION AND PROBLEM SELECTION 6
Program Justification 6
Purpose 6
Focus 6
Needs and Benefits 6
Information/Technology Transfer 7
Relationships to National Strategies and Goals 7
Relationships to Other PNW Programs 8
PROGRAM PROBLEMS 9
Problem 1. Improve knowledge of fundamental social and economic processes and their interactions with the natural environment 9
Problem 1 Elements 9
Problem Importance 10
Likelihood of Success in Problem Work 10
Approach to Problem Solution 11
Problem 2. Examine the roles of policies, programs, and other institutions in interactions between people and natural resources 11
Problem 2 Elements 12
Problem Importance 12
Likelihood of Success in Problem Work 13
Approach to Problem Solution 13
Problem 3. Describe and analyze the implications of changing demographics, socio-economics, and technology on natural resources and their management 13
Problem 3 Elements 14
Problem Importance 15
Likelihood of Success in Problem Work 16
Approach to Problem Solution 17
Problem 4. Describe the capacity of dynamic landscapes to provide for evolving human wants and needs 17
Problem 4 Elements 17
Problem Importance 19
Likelihood of Success in Problem Work 19
Approach to Problem Solution 20
Problem 5. Conduct and use integrated multidisciplinary research to support development of management approaches that account for interactions among socioeconomic, ecological, and physical factors 20
Problem 5 Elements 21
Problem Importance 21
Likelihood of Success in Problem Work 22
Approach to Problem Solution 22
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS 23
STAFFING/ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN and COST ESTIMATES 23
Appendix: Relationship to other programs at the pnw Research Station 24
R&D PROGRAM NUMBER
TBD
STATION:
Pacific Northwest Research Station
R&D PROGRAM LOCATIONS
TBD
R&D PROGRAM TITLE
Goods, Services, and Values Program
PROGRAM MANAGER
R. James Barbour
AREA OF APPLICABILITY
TBD
ESTIMATED DURATION
The GSV Program is chartered for 10 years (2010-2020) with a mid-term review and potential charter revision after 5 years (in 2015). Amendments will be made to the charter as needed to address emerging issues.
MISSION
To conduct and communicate research to advance understanding of relationships among people and forest and rangeland ecosystems.
JUSTIFICATION AND PROBLEM SELECTION
Program Justification
Natural resource management takes place within the bounds of social perceptions and expectations regarding public and private lands and the goods, services, and values they provide. This social context evolves over time in response to changing demographic and socioeconomic factors and growing public awareness of the dynamic nature and complexity of natural systems, influencing the socially desirable range of management activities that managers can afford to implement. Consequently, we continually struggle to manage complex ecosystems in ways that accommodate the diverse social and economic expectations of the public. The work of the Goods, Services, and Values (GSV) Program will help to describe human wants and desires; explain how social, economic and governance systems relate to natural systems; and provide quantitative and qualitative information on the goods and services available from natural systems.
Purpose
To explore the interactions of humans with natural resources in order to inform policy and improve management of forests and rangelands.
Focus
The Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station has a long history of social, economic, and wood utilization research. Under this charter we will continue these lines of research with a few important changes. We will no longer play a leadership role in macroeconomic wood supply analyses and we will broaden our wood utilization work to include methods to evaluate the quantity, quality, and ecological implications of the full range of goods and services (ecosystem services) humans desire from natural systems. The research problems covered by the GSV Program are (1) exploring basic relationships between humans and the environment; (2) describing and understanding the effects of different forms of governance; (3) quantifying the effects of changing demographic, socioeconomic, and technological factors; (4) understanding and managing the supply of and demand for the goods, services, and values that natural systems provide; and (5) furthering the integration of scientific information as it applies to natural resource management.
Needs and Benefits
The work of the GSV Program is intended to fulfill societal needs for information to facilitate natural resource management. We will help address complex issues like climate change and wildland fire by including human perspectives on adaptation and mitigation efforts for forests and rangelands. We can help land managers and policymakers anticipate people’s responses to changing management strategies by examining how people value landscapes and adapt to change, by improving methods to characterize the goods and services that landscapes produce, and by describing people’s expectations of ecosystems across an urban-to-wildland continuum. Although future human-ecosystem relationships cannot be predicted with certainty, we can help policymakers and managers prepare for changing societal expectations by identifying a range of management options that will allow them to anticipate and respond to emerging natural resource management challenges.
Information/Technology Transfer
Communication and science delivery are crucial to our success. By forming partnerships with stakeholders we hope to improve understanding, application, and use of our research. We believe this process begins when we initially frame research problems and continues through the entire research cycle. We will continue to disseminate our findings to the scientific community through traditional methods like peer-reviewed journals and scientific presentations. But we will also concentrate on making our work understandable and useful to nonscience audiences through a variety of channels, including workshops, nontechnical written material, Web sites, consultations, case studies, field visits, and innovative new social media and electronic formats. We will partner with the PNW Communications Group and Focused Science Delivery Program for many of these activities, but we also will challenge each scientist to understand the context for their work in both the science and the management/policy/public relations arenas.
Relationships to National Strategies and Goals
The GSV Program’s work relates directly to many important national issues, including all seven specific goals defined by the USDA Forest Service Strategic Plan:
Goal 1: Restore, Sustain and Enhance the Nation’s Forest and Grasslands
Many of our studies meet the need for information on global change and forest disturbances, such as fire, and have helped reduce the risk to communities and natural resources.
Goal 2: Provide and Sustain Benefits to the American People
Our work offers a solid scientific foundation for managing the goods, services, and values provided by natural landscapes.
Goal 3: Conserve Open Space
The information generated by our research on land use change has great potential for helping stakeholders inform policy and prevent forest-land conversion.
Goal 4: Sustain and Enhance Outdoor Recreation Opportunities
Our work illustrates how technology and changing patterns of land use influence recreation opportunities.
Goal 5: Maintain Basic Management Capabilities of the Forest Service
Through synthesis of information, tools, science delivery, and collaboration with land managers, we help improve the capabilities of natural resource management.
Goal 6: Engage Urban America With Forest Service Programs
Our research promotes understanding of urban forest management, provides scientific justification for community “greening” efforts, and builds productive relationships with local urban forestry initiatives.
Goal 7: Provide Science-Based Applications and Tools for Sustainable Natural Resources Management
Our program provides science and technology solutions to our stakeholders’ problems. We enhance this process by including stakeholders in all stages of knowledge development.
The program’s work also includes research in four of the seven FSR&D national Strategic Program Areas:
1. Wildland Fire and Fuels (Problem 5)
2. Invasive Species (Problem 5)
3. Outdoor Recreation (Problems 1, 4)
4. Resource Management and Use (Problem 3)
Relationships to Other PNW Programs
The five fundamental programs of the PNW Research Station represent a coordinated effort to advance science and to deliver and apply it effectively. The GSV Program will look to the Resource Monitoring and Assessment Program for basic information on the quantity and distribution of resources and methods for monitoring their changes over time; to the Ecological Process and Function Program for information about the capacity of landscapes to produce the goods and services people want; to the Land and Watershed Management Program for information on the ability of people to alter the output of goods and services from landscapes; and to the Threats Characterization and Management Program for information on how threats are recognized and characterized, and how they influence decision processes. A problem by matrix of interactions is shown in the appendix.
The GSV Program will also work closely with the Focused Science Delivery Program to frame the problems we work on and devise methods to integrate our findings into policy decisions and management practices. We will collaborate with the Communications and Applications Group to inform policymakers, managers, other scientists, and the public about our work using a variety of innovative print and electronic media. We will interact with the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center to incorporate social considerations into evaluations of the changing conditions of forest and range lands in the West.
PROGRAM PROBLEMS
Problem 1. Improve knowledge of fundamental social and economic processes and their interactions with the natural environment
Understanding how people acquire, reconcile, and act on their knowledge of natural systems when making decisions will lead to better informed communication and planning strategies. Most Forest Service social science and economics research is applied, rather than fundamental, yet the basic principles and theories about the role of people in natural systems are not well understood. This lack of fundamental information about how people perceive, value, and use nature constrains the use of more applied social and economic research in pursuing effective resource management, and limits the impact of management actions.
Problem 1 Elements
1.1 Investigate the various ways humans perceive, value, and use natural resources and specific places on the landscape
In what ways are natural resources and landscapes used; who uses them; and how might users respond to changes resulting from policies, management, or natural disturbance? Research is needed on methods and approaches for answering such questions and delivering and displaying resulting information for use in planning and decisionmaking. People seek out natural places and desire to protect or alter them for different reasons. Understanding the range of motivations that people have for visiting natural places and advocating particular policies or management will help policymakers and managers make decisions related to natural resources that will more effectively take account of the users’ desires and motivations.
1.2 Study the role of nature, natural systems, and natural resources in contributing to the health and well-being of individuals and communities
Natural areas can play important roles in maintaining and enhancing the physical, spiritual, mental, and socioeconomic well-being and health of individuals and communities. Quantifying, understanding, and describing these effects will enable policymakers and managers to demonstrate the value of effective management practices and policies and their influence on individual and community health and well-being.
1.3 Understand the potential of markets and nonmarket goods and services to shape forest and range management approaches
Both public and private land managers are interested in finding ways to both explain and enhance the values society derives from forests and rangelands. Over the past two decades they have struggled to find ways to include previously nonmerchantable woody biomass in their management approaches—first to promote concepts in ecosystem management, then to address fire hazard, and now increasingly to provide energy or improve sequestration of carbon. Many government agencies and nongovernmental organizations are also interested in understanding what nonmarket goods and services society values, how markets can develop for them, and ways to evaluate nonmarket goods and services to facilitate policy or management decisions. We will develop tools and information about the importance of markets in designing management approaches and suggest ways to enable nonmarket goods and services to be assessed and incorporated into decisionmaking.