Overview

Planning for and protecting North Carolina’s forest resources is a multifaceted task that can only be accomplished through coordinated efforts by representatives of natural resource agencies, organizations, corporations, and private citizens. While staff within the NC Division of Forest Resources will oversee the development of the statewide forest resource assessment and associated resource strategies (SFRAARS), collaboration, expertise and feedback of many other agencies, organizations, and individuals will be needed to ensure the successful development and implementation of the SFRAAS, which depends on their input and support.

General Process Timeline
The timeline in figure 1 identifies the four major phases of the SFRAARS development process, which will take approximately 20 months to develop and conduct. This includes the development of committees and a staff organizational structure, developing partnerships and work groups, geographic information system (GIS) and special analysis, completion of the assessment, development of strategies to address issues identified in the assessment, and the development of a final draft to be approved by the State Forester. This process will involve extensive assistance from many organizations and agencies across the state.

Figure 1. Generalized timeline for statewide forest resource assessment and associated resource strategies development. Key events/process identified with in each phase.

Organizational Framework
The process for conducting the SFRAAS will rely on a framework of internal committees, contracted coordinators and external partners working collaboratively in small workgroups based on expertise and interest (Figure 2). The organizational structure includes the following.

Figure 2. Organizational framework of North Carolina’s statewide forest resource assessment and associated strategies.

Organizational Structure
SFRAARS Coordinators (Mark Megalos and Robert Bardon, NC Cooperative Extension) Role: Coordinate the assessment and strategies development process; act as project manager; be a liaison to, and communicate the activities of, each internal committee; ensure involvement of all interested parties; help assemble final products and publications.

The following internal committees are to serve as resources for the coordinators on particular aspects of the SFRAARS development process:

Internal Committees

Partnerships and Public Involvement
External stakeholders will be engaged in many ways throughout the SFRAARS process. Early in the planning efforts three broad groups of stakeholders were identified; Partners, User Groups, and Private landowners and the general public. These groups will engage in the process in different ways throughout the development, implementation, and review process (Table 1).

Partners
Partners will have specific roles in development of the SFRAAS by identify, describe, and spatially define forest landscape areas where forestry program outreach and activity will be emphasized and coordinated. This work will be conducted in small groups based on six themes that are tied to the three national themes identified in the US Forest Service State and Private Forestry redesign (Figure 3). The six themes used to identify the work groups are based on preparatory efforts of the NC DFR. The six themes are:

• Socio-Economic Threats to Working Forests
• Ecosystem Services
• Forest Sustainability
• Threats to Forest Health
• Protecting Forests and Communities from Wildfire Risk
• Maintaining Viable Urban Forests

Each work group will be comprised of a DFR liaison, a work group lead or chair, a scribe, a GIS liaison, and several experts. The lead person or co- leads will be selected from the work group members. The lead(s) may logically be a NC Division of Forest Resources employee but needn't be if a partner or stakeholder agrees to accept the assignment and can manage the time commitment. In the case of a partner leader, a NC DFR liaison will be named to assist each work group in the process and to be sure that needed GIS support and resources are available to complete the tasks. Each work group will also have a GIS resource person to assist in the creation, compilation and facilitation of maps, weighting and identification of priority forests for their specific work group. The GIS Resource person will work with the group to ensure that needed maps are in place for meeting discussion, posted on the SFRAAS website, and available for drafts of the statewide assessment document.

Each work group will use GIS overlays to track trends, risks and threats to the forest resource in an effort to delineate priority rural and urban forest landscapes within a eight month timeframe (draft GIS layers and report are due on 8/31/2009 with completed assignment due by 10/31/2009). Work group reports and output will comprise the basis of the SFRAAS for North Carolina. Work groups will be expected to analyze the forest resource trends and conditions within their sphere of study and assign priority rural and urban landscape areas that will form the basis of program efforts in the coming five-year cycle. The hope of each work group is to combine the collective wisdom of members to identify priority areas where programs and future efforts can be focused. In that quest, group members are encouraged to build upon existing analyses, strategic plans and the like, to arrive at consensus on where collective resource agencies and non-profits can focus future efforts for maximum protection and supply of public benefits from working lands.

Work groups will access and weight GIS layers germane to their theme and construct GIS layers that illustrate their collective opinion on where priority focal areas should be within North Carolina. The work group in print and presentation format will deliver a report of the process, final GIS layers and outcomes to the assessment coordinators by 10/31/2009.

The assessment coordinators will prepare an outline and document format for use by each work group for the final assessment document. NCDFR GIS Lead, Andrew Bailey, (919) 857-4812 will set the format requirements for GIS overlays so that compatibility and scale are consistent. The format will likely be set organically as teams reach various milestones and encounter problems that a common format can overcome.

Figure 3. Statewide Forest Resource Assessment and Associated Strategies work group framework and the relationship to the three national themes identified in the US Forest Service State and Private Forestry Redesign.

Partners will also help identify associated strategies, review the draft assessment and strategies, and respond to the assessment findings. Partnering organizations include:

User Groups
This group of stakeholders includes organizations that represent specific natural resource advocacy, education, and/or recreation groups. These groups, with whom we primarily consult and share information, are key to maintaining support for natural resource conservation and funding, and to disseminating information to wider audiences across the state (e.g., North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, NC Forestry Association, NC Tree Farm Program).

Private Landowners and General Public
Private landowners and the general public will be engaged in a number of different ways during development of the SFRAARS. Private landowners are an integral part of forestry conservation in the state, a vital subset of the general public, and a key audience to target, especially during implementation activities. Primarily, our efforts will focus on enhancing education and understanding about the importance of assessment and associated strategies and the programs it will make possible, with the purpose of gaining and maintaining public support for continued conservation efforts into the future. Outreach to this group will be through the general news media, the SFRAARS web site, and other outlets as identified as being appropriate.