Last week we had a very rewarding experience at the Montcalm Community College with staff, students and members of the public. We had 2 seminars and an hour and half discussion with the botany class, all the same day. November 10th we will be meeting with members of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma for a presentation which we hope will encourage more sharing of the traditional knowledge of our indigenous people. Together, I believe we can create a brighter future! If we reach out to each other and focus on similarities, we can join in brotherhood and sisterhood to prolong life on this complex planet.
My September 20th blog commented on some of the discussions going on between the Forest Service managers and the public over restoration efforts on some of the large wildfires which occurred during 2013. I suggested that we tend to focus our disagreements on the tools and techniques resulting in law suits which prevent proper management of the forested lands. I used some terms that I need to explain and further define. It seems the media wants to focus on the conflict to get the readers attention. I find it far more interesting to search for solutions to complex issues than argue over what tool to use. Too often, the debate starts after the decision-maker assumes the goal has been established and is understood by all interests and starts proposing actions or solutions. The initial step for the decision-maker, should be, to methodically identify the potentially effected interests and then to reach out to them to identify goals and objectives. This is where, together, you define a desired future condition. If everyone is focused on the same target or vision, we have achieved some degree of acceptance and can begin to look at alternative solutions. One can not emphasis strong enough the importance of this beginning step and the necessity of the decision-makers involvement. In step two the decision-maker must offer realistic solutions and compare them to the do-nothing or status quo. Each proposed alternative must offer some advantages over the current situation or be dropped from consideration. Time and again, I have heard managers comment on, " if only the silent-majority would come forth, we could reach agreement". You must forget about the silent-majority as they do not exist. If some interests are silent it is only because they are not aware the proposed action may effect them. Once informed they will search out others that hold similar opinions and joint forces to influence the debate. This is the reason it is important to carefully identify potentially effected interests and bring them into the discussion early. The next important point is you do not need agreement but you must achieve "informed consent". If a 1 represents total disagreement and a 10 represents total agreement, informed consent is 5.1 on the scale. I may not totally agree with you but I will not exercise my veto. As you work with your public's, informed consent becomes your goal! Remember to achieve your goal you must identify, inform and involve your potentially effected interests!
Last week we had a very rewarding experience at the Montcalm Community College with staff, students and members of the public. We had 2 seminars and an hour and half discussion with the botany class, all the same day. November 10th we will be meeting with members of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma for a presentation which we hope will encourage more sharing of the traditional knowledge of our indigenous people. Together, I believe we can create a brighter future! If we reach out to each other and focus on similarities, we can join in brotherhood and sisterhood to prolong life on this complex planet.
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Since our last discussion, we presented a seminar as part of the Hanover Seminar Series at Michigan State University School of Forestry. It was a unique opportunity to present our ideas for future management of our remaining forests to several staff and students. Questions following the presentation were challenging and demonstrated a detailed understanding of forest diversity. One week following, we gave an evening program at the local library and found a great deal of interest, on the part of the public, in trees, forests and management of our remaining forested lands. One of the thoughts that came out at this meeting was the importance of helping our younger students develop a greater appreciation for the complexity of nature. As our society progresses or ages, we seem to loose more and more of our linkage to nature. As an example, for many of our urban youngsters, the food chain starts and stops at the local grocery store. Most parents in the Native American society are working hard to pass on the traditional wisdom,developed by their ancestors, about nature. I once heard an author define nature as life! Certainly nature includes the elements required of the human environment in order to sustain life. Even among our Native American youth we are slowly loosing our connection to earth, nature. Although the electronic age offers easy access to massive amounts of knowledge, the smart phones, i pads and computers are discouraging our every day linkage to the land. There is no substitute for direct observation if one wants to understand the complexity of creation, NATURE. I suggested to the students at Michigan State, that one of the best examples I could give, was the thousands of person hours that are being invested in preparing detailed environmental impact statements on proposed projects, utilizing the scientists education and knowledge with little, if any, site specific observation and data from the site they are responsible for managing. Sound scientific knowledge is being used, but limited observation of the project site is being evaluated. I am not questioning the scientific knowledge that has been amassed, but strongly believe a melting together of the wisdom of the land with the current scientific knowledge will lead to improved management of our remaining forested lands. Simply put, the scientist needs to be in the forests not bound to a desk in the office!
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