Changes in Relationships between the USDA Forest Service and Small, Forest-Based Communities in the Northwest Forest Plan Area amid Declines in Agency Staffing

Abstract

This article explores the changing relationships between the USDA Forest Service and 10 small, forest-based communities in the Northwest Forest Plan area in Washington, Oregon, and California. Interviews with 158 community members and agency personnel indicated that community member interviewees were largely dissatisfied with the agency’s current level of community engagement. Interviewees believed that loss of staff was the primary factor contributing to declining engagement, along with increasing turnover and long-distance commuting. Interviewees offered explanations for increasing employee turnover and commuting, including lack of housing, lack of employment for spouses, lack of services for children, social isolation, improving road conditions making long-distance commuting easier, agency incentives and culture, decreasing social cohesion among agency staff, unpaid overtime responsibilities, and agency hiring practices. Community member perceptions regarding long-term changes in community well-being and agency-community relationships were more negative than agency staff’s perceptions. Study Implications: We found evidence that staffing declines, turnover, and long-distance commuting may contribute to decreasing agency engagement in some communities, and that diminished engagement by federal forest management agency employees may contribute to negative attitudes toward the agency. Agency employee interviewees suggested that incentives (i.e., promotions, opportunities to live elsewhere), internal conflicts, and a lack of opportunities and services for their families are reasons that staff commute from neighboring communities or leave their jobs. Our findings suggest that the USDA Forest Service may improve agency-community relationships by supporting its staff in ways that reduce turnover and long-distance commuting and incentivize community engagement.

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“…This is particularly relevant to the US Forest Service, as they are the primary public agency responsible for managing RCW populations occurring on public lands. While RCW management protocols and objectives have not changed, the Forest Service has seen a steady decline in staff because of a paradigmatic shift towards wildfire suppression and other priorities [46,47]. This includes a 39% reduction in all non-fire personnel and a 41% increase in the annual budget towards wildland fire management by the Forest Service between 1995 and 2018 [46].…”