Forest service-community relationship building: Recommendations

Relationship building between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) For est Service and communities near national forests is a necessity for ecosys tem management and forest planning, as well as for community revitalization . Based on interviews with 119 subjects, the authors designed recommendatio ns aimed at promoting the building of such collaborative relationships. Rec ommendations were presented in a survey to the same subjects for verificati on purposes and were found to be well supported. Recommendations, organized by audience (district rangers, forest supervisors, National Forest System Deputy, Rural Community Assistance [RCA] leaders, RCA coordinators, and com munity leaders), focus on the need to prioritize Forest Service-community r elationship building, ensuring funding and legal authority for relationship building, providing adequate training opportunities, cultivating intra- an d interagency working relationships concerning community work, using the RC A program to build relationships while assisting communities, and building community capacity for participation in agency-community collaborative effo rts.