F O R E S T S E R V I C E Conserving Maryland ’ s Working Forests 1 I M P L E M E N T A T I O N Maryland Forest Resource Assessment & Strategies.

F O R E S T S E R V I C E

Conserving Maryland’s Working Forests1

I M P L E M E N T A T I O N

Maryland Forest Resource Assessment & Strategies



A statewide forest assessment and strategies…

…in two years.

Yea, we can do that!



Forest Assessments… it’s a lot like Advanced Physics

ALBERT EINSTEIN was teaching at Princeton University and had just administered an exam to an advanced class of physics students. On the way back to his office, the teaching assistant carrying the exams asked him,

"Dr. Einstein, wasn't this the same exam that you gave to this same class last year?“

Dr. Einstein responded, "Yes, it was.“

The teaching assistant, in awe of perhaps the greatest physicist of the twentieth century, then asked,

"Excuse me for asking, Dr. Einstein. But how could you give the same exam to the same class two years in a row?"



Einstein replied simply,

"The answers have changed."

Forest Assessments… it’s a lot like Advanced Physics



Previous Assessment & Strategy Efforts

Issues:

• Managing The Impacts Of Changes In Land Use And Forest Ownership

• Enhancing Assistance To Private Forest Landowners

• Maintaining Forest-based Economy

• Minimizing The Threats Of Invasive Species, Pests And Pathogens To Maryland’s Forests

• Enhancing Urban Forests• Conserving Biological Diversity• Manage Recreational Use Conflicts

In Public Forests• Clean Air• Clean Water• Ecosystem Markets &

Services/Climate Change• Wildfires



Stephen Covey’s7 Habits of HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

1. Be Proactive2. Begin with the End in Mind3. Put First Things First4. Think Win/Win5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be

Understood6. Synergize7. Sharpen the Saw




Be Proactive: conscious choices based on values rather than a product of conditions based on feelings.

• Attitude: be a leader in directing forestry issues/solutions

• Promote change: funding sources need to align with Assessment & Strategy needs for priority areas

• Not less “stove pipe” funding but more “leaky stove pipes”




Begin with the End in Mind: begin with a clear understanding of the desired direction and destination. Be responsible for your direction or others and circumstances will shape your direction by default.

• What does success look like?• Specific Action: consider the expansion of

WebDET to monitor other metrics• Develop management plans accepted by

NRCS, Tree Farm, State programs.




Put First Things First: organizing and managing resources according to established priorities.

• MFS 2.0 – realign state program delivery based on National & State themes.

• Matching resources with priorities with integrated service delivery

• reference Assessments and Strategies in annual consolidated grants

• need to get new accomplishment reporting metrics to reflect Assessment & Strategies




Put First Things First: organizing and managing resources according to established priorities.

• Some actions we can do now, others will come later

• Specific Action: refine priority areas to known & meaningful physiographic features



Priority Areas

NATIONAL THEMENATIONAL THEMEConserve Working ForestsConserve Working Forests




Think Win/Win: effectiveness is largely achieved through cooperative efforts. Based on an abundance mentality.

• continue renewed dialog with partner and stakeholders (new organizations, new leadership)

• improved collaboration with partners to accomplish parts of the strategy plan that we cannot do or could be done better by others (e.g. Information & Education)



Stakeholder Outreach

• Department of Natural Resources• Department of the Environment• Department of Agriculture• Department of Planning• Maryland Environmental Services• University of Maryland• Maryland Environmental Trust• Maryland Association of Counties• Maryland Municipal League• Maryland Association of Forest

Industries• Maryland Forests Association• Partnership for Sustainable Forestry• Maryland Assoc. of Forest

Conservancy District Boards• MD/DE Society of American

Foresters• Maryland State Fireman’s

Association

• Interstate Comm. on the Potomac River Basin

• US Forest Service• US Fish & Wildlife Service• Natural Resource Conservation

Service• EPA – Chesapeake Bay Program• The Nature Conservancy• The Conservation Fund• Forest Resource Association• Non-Profit Land Conservation

Organizations• Eastern Shore Land Conservancy• Consulting & Industrial Foresters• Forest landowners• Forest Product Operators• Tree Care Experts



Public Participation ProcessHarry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology

• The Survey– Retention and Management of

Private Forests– Retention and Management of

Public Forests– Economic Viability of Forestry

Industry in Maryland– Maintaining Forest Diversity– Value-Added Alternative

Opportunities

Within each issue area, the survey identified the top recommended actions. Survey participants were then asked to rank the importance of the recommendations based on the current economic, environmental, and political climate. Respondents were also given the opportunity to add additional recommendations.

• Listening Sessions– June 08, 2009 – Bel Air, MD – June 10, 2009 – Salisbury, MD – June 15, 2009 – La Plata, MD – June 16, 2009 – Urbana, MD – June 17, 2009 – Frostburg, MD

Approximately 45 – 55 people attended each session. The goal of the listening sessions was to more fully identify the problems that currently threaten Maryland forests and the kinds of technical support, educational opportunities, and cost share programs needed to help landowners manage their forest land and market forest products.



• Forestry Summit

– On October 5, 2009, a state-wide forestry summit was held in Linthicum, Maryland, with approximately 100 participants.

• Over the course of the day, summit attendees: – reviewed the findings from the listening sessions, – considered the additional input from the issue experts, – discussed the issues in small group roundtable

sessions, and – prioritized for their small group the list of actions that

they felt would adequately address the identified forestry issues facing Maryland.






Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: communication is critical to learning other frames of reference and points of view.

• continued communications with partners and stakeholders




Synergize: creative cooperation or teamwork. People see the world not as it is, but as they are.

• continue to coordinate with other resource management plans such as Wildlife Action Plans





• Specific: cooperative Multi-state projects.

• Suggest USFS organized effort• Not impromptu sign on.





Examples: cooperative Multi-state projects.

• Interstate-95 tangential land conservation

• coordinated Rural Water Delivery• Tree Farm certified wood markets




Sharpen the Saw: having a balanced, systematic approach to renewal.

• More and better staff retreats• Deep breathing, relaxation

techniques.• Attending & involvement with FRPC • Remember, the answers will change



On your mark…



A great big,Thank you.

“We must be more than careful stewards of the land; we must be constant catalysts for positive change.” - Gifford Pinchot

F O R E S T S E R V I C E Conserving Maryland ’ s Working Forests 1 I M P L E M E N T A T I O N Maryland Forest Resource Assessment & Strategies.

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