33.9 References
icy needs were driving the process and that timeliness was essential to realize an outcome that could
be utilized in the real-time, ever-changing political
world. As a result, the efforts used the following:
1. Assessment issues, scale, and extent were determined by the immediate situation.
2. Timely information provided to decision makers for the problems at hand was a paramount
outcome.
3. Improved information on complex issues was
developed as the needs emerged. That is, products could not be static in their design, and
quickly shifting gears during the process to address immediate situations prevailed.
33.8 Conclusions
Assessments driven by immediate public policy
concerns need to be responsive to both the political and scientific needs of the situation. Involving
the public and outside experts in assessment
processes from the early stages will likely result in
greater buy-in on the results derived from these assessments.
At least one major flaw existed in each of the assessment processes developed for the Northern Forest Lands Study and Northern Forest Lands Council. In the Study, although interested publics were
clamoring to become engaged in the efforts from
the start, only a few formal opportunities existed
whereby those interested could become involved in
a way that provided ownership of the assessment
and the results drawn from that assessment. More
active opportunities for involvement of interested
public were needed from the start.
In the Northern Forest Lands Council process,
the GIS-based Northern Forest Resource Inventory
process was nearly completely disjointed from the
process that it was intended to serve. Several simple flaws developed early on that made it practically and politically impossible to remedy:
1. The design of the GIS process was derived from
an anticipated Council process and direction that
never materialized (i.e., the process went in a
495
direction that was very different from that envisioned by those who designed the original Inventory template).
2. Congress funded the effort one year too early so
that the Northern Forest Lands Council never
had the opportunity to design the GIS tool functions for the effort in ways that would make it
relevant to the Council effort. The states' interest in having federal dollars available for GIS
data layer construction overwhelmed the specific information and data needs of the Council
process. The lesson is simple: Be careful in the
use of GIS for natural resource assessment purposes. Careful design based on specifically identified data and information needs must preclude
any data layer development. Do not put the cart
before the horse.
How do we measure the success of the output
from natural resource assessments? Surely, one criterion should be whether the assessment results in
continued use of the project output over time. In
the case of the Northern Forest Lands Study and
Council's six-year effort, the results of the efforts
have stood the short test of time to date, and efforts
continue at the state and federal levels to implement the recommendations for public policy
changes that resulted from the effort.
33.9 References
Northern Forest Lands Council. 1990. Report of the Governors' task force on the Northern Forest lands. Waterbury, VT: Northern Forest Lands Council.
Northern Forest Lands Council. 1993. New directions in
conservation strategies: a reconnaissance of recent
experimentation and experience. Waterbury, VT:
Northern Forest Lands Council.
Northern Forest Lands Study. 1990. Northern forest
lands study. Waterbury, VT: Northern Forest Lands
Study.
Northern Forest Lands Study. 1994. Finding common
ground: conserving the Northern Forest-the recommendations of the Northern Forest Lands Council.
Rutland, VT: U.S. Dept. Agric., For. Serv., Northeastern Region.
icy needs were driving the process and that timeliness was essential to realize an outcome that could
be utilized in the real-time, ever-changing political
world. As a result, the efforts used the following:
1. Assessment issues, scale, and extent were determined by the immediate situation.
2. Timely information provided to decision makers for the problems at hand was a paramount
outcome.
3. Improved information on complex issues was
developed as the needs emerged. That is, products could not be static in their design, and
quickly shifting gears during the process to address immediate situations prevailed.
33.8 Conclusions
Assessments driven by immediate public policy
concerns need to be responsive to both the political and scientific needs of the situation. Involving
the public and outside experts in assessment
processes from the early stages will likely result in
greater buy-in on the results derived from these assessments.
At least one major flaw existed in each of the assessment processes developed for the Northern Forest Lands Study and Northern Forest Lands Council. In the Study, although interested publics were
clamoring to become engaged in the efforts from
the start, only a few formal opportunities existed
whereby those interested could become involved in
a way that provided ownership of the assessment
and the results drawn from that assessment. More
active opportunities for involvement of interested
public were needed from the start.
In the Northern Forest Lands Council process,
the GIS-based Northern Forest Resource Inventory
process was nearly completely disjointed from the
process that it was intended to serve. Several simple flaws developed early on that made it practically and politically impossible to remedy:
1. The design of the GIS process was derived from
an anticipated Council process and direction that
never materialized (i.e., the process went in a
495
direction that was very different from that envisioned by those who designed the original Inventory template).
2. Congress funded the effort one year too early so
that the Northern Forest Lands Council never
had the opportunity to design the GIS tool functions for the effort in ways that would make it
relevant to the Council effort. The states' interest in having federal dollars available for GIS
data layer construction overwhelmed the specific information and data needs of the Council
process. The lesson is simple: Be careful in the
use of GIS for natural resource assessment purposes. Careful design based on specifically identified data and information needs must preclude
any data layer development. Do not put the cart
before the horse.
How do we measure the success of the output
from natural resource assessments? Surely, one criterion should be whether the assessment results in
continued use of the project output over time. In
the case of the Northern Forest Lands Study and
Council's six-year effort, the results of the efforts
have stood the short test of time to date, and efforts
continue at the state and federal levels to implement the recommendations for public policy
changes that resulted from the effort.
33.9 References
Northern Forest Lands Council. 1990. Report of the Governors' task force on the Northern Forest lands. Waterbury, VT: Northern Forest Lands Council.
Northern Forest Lands Council. 1993. New directions in
conservation strategies: a reconnaissance of recent
experimentation and experience. Waterbury, VT:
Northern Forest Lands Council.
Northern Forest Lands Study. 1990. Northern forest
lands study. Waterbury, VT: Northern Forest Lands
Study.
Northern Forest Lands Study. 1994. Finding common
ground: conserving the Northern Forest-the recommendations of the Northern Forest Lands Council.
Rutland, VT: U.S. Dept. Agric., For. Serv., Northeastern Region.