Lassen National Forest announces that it held its second biannual Partnership in Practice Symposium on April 16. These symposia, which take place in the spring and fall each year, are intended to foster mutual understanding of the needs and requirements of LNF and its partners to increase trust, communication and clear expectations for each partnership.
Partnerships are at the very core of how the Forest Service does business, reports LNF. Local organizations are critical to helping LNF plan and implement projects that it could not have accomplished on its own. “Our partners’ commitment to advancing relationships is invaluable,” say LNF representatives.
Last October, Lassen National Forest Partnership Coordinator Stephaney Cox spearheaded the first biannual Partnership in Practice Symposium. The first meeting was an opportunity for partners and forest leadership to meet and share information on current projects and partnership processes, and to introduce upcoming funding and training opportunities.
Led by feedback from partners about this first symposium, LNF has been working to develop new strategies and methods to match partners with large projects with the goal of increasing the pace and scale of forest management for fire resiliency and overall forest health.
LNF presented a new strategy to its partners during the Partnership in Practice Symposium this April called the prime partner model. This model takes a cross-boundary approach to landscape-scale projects, working with a high-capacity partner (a prime partner) with a track record of success with implementing large projects using a collaborative approach and robust funding strategies. The prime partner will provide high-level project coordination, a collaborative implementation plan and partner mentoring, said LNF.
“We are dedicated to the relationships we have built with our local partners,” said Kathy Allen, LNF acting forest supervisor. “We will continue to utilize tried and true strategies as we plan for future projects, and are also excited to try new strategies, especially ones that create opportunities for both us and our partners to mutually increase capacity to meet forest management challenges. By aligning our efforts with regional and national priorities, we not only enhance the impact of our work but also contribute to a larger coordinated effort.”
“Our local partners have rich experience with land management on this landscape,” said Cox. “This second Partnership in Practice Symposium has been a good-faith effort to collaborate with partners on a project implementation strategy that is new to the Lassen National Forest, and to hear about our partners’ past experiences so that our future efforts are better informed. We look forward to the hard work ahead to accomplish our shared goals and improve the well-being of our forests and communities.”
LNF thanks symposium facilitators Austin McInerny and Corin Choppin, from the California State University Sacramento Consensus and Collaboration Program, for helping make the spring symposium a success.
More information about partnerships on the Lassen National Forest, as well as the latest partnership newsletter, is available at https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/lassen/workingtogether/partnerships.
Information provided by Lassen National Forest
