Visions of Restoration in Fire-Adapted Forest Landscapes: Lessons from the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Management
• Social Science
• Forestry

Background:

• Collaborative natural resource management on public lands is increasing.
• Developing a shared vision for desired conditions is crucial for effective collaboration.
• This study focuses on collaborative restoration of fire-adapted forest landscapes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore socio-ecological processes in developing shared visions for forest restoration.
• To understand participant perspectives on challenges and strategies within collaboratives.
• To identify commonalities across diverse collaboratives in the western U.S.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of interviews with 86 respondents from six collaboratives.
• Focus on participants in the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program.
• Qualitative analysis to identify common challenges and strategies.

Main Results:

• Common challenges include meeting multiple objectives, building collaborative capacity and trust, and integrating science with social values.
• Strategies employed include issue-based recommendations, field visits, landscape-level analysis, agency support, facilitation, and science engagement.
• Despite variations in landscapes and groups, collaboratives encountered similar obstacles.

Conclusions:

• Understanding challenges and strategies is vital for future collaborative efforts.
• Effective shared vision development requires addressing ecological and social dimensions.
• Learning from existing collaboratives can improve future natural resource management outcomes.