Organizational Change in the US Forest Service: Negotiating Organizational Boundaries in the Collaborative Process

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia B. Orth ◽  
Antony S. Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Forest Service ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
Collaborative Process ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Forest Service

The Future of Our National Forests and the US Forest Service

2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 159
Author(s):  
Dean S. DeBell
Keyword(s):  
Forest Service ◽  
National Forests ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Future ◽  
Us Forest Service

An Optimization Modeling Approach to Awarding Large Fire Support Wildfire Helicopter Contracts from the US Forest Service

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie A. Snyder ◽  
Keith D. Stockmann ◽  
Gaylord E. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Forest Service ◽  
Large Fire ◽  
Optimization Modeling ◽  
Modeling Approach ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Forest Service

scholarly journals The Development of an Organizational Safety Culture in the United States Forest Service

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Flores ◽  
Emily Haire
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Safety Culture ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Forest Service ◽  
Organizational Safety ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Forest Service ◽  
Core Value ◽  
Organizational Safety Culture

Abstract For over 100 years, the US Forest Service (USFS) has developed initiatives to improve safety outcomes. Herein we discuss the engineered solutions used from 1910 through 1994, when the agency relied on physical science to address the hazards of wildland fire suppression. We then interpret safety initiatives of the subsequent 25 years, as the USFS incorporated social science perspectives both into its understanding of emergency fire incidents and its mitigation of vulnerabilities across all fields of work. Tracing the safety programs using a historical sociology approach, we identify, within the agency’s narrative, three recent developments in its organizational safety culture: cultural awareness, cultural management, and cultural reorganization. This article describes how the development of top-down safety initiatives are questioned and shaped by employees who actively influence the trajectory of a safety culture in the USFS. Study Implications: Safety is a core value of the US Forest Service (USFS), and several safety initiatives, along with employee feedback over the years, have shaped the organizational culture of the agency. To build a robust and world-renowned safety culture in high-risk industries, managers require an understanding of the origins of their organization’s current safety culture. Using a critical social science analytical lens, we discuss how safety initiatives and the development of a safety culture position organizations such as the USFS to move away from reactionary safety initiatives and anchor to employee safety as a core value in order to absorb external shocks, such as rapidly changing ecosystems, development in the wildland urban interface, and larger and more intense wildfires.

scholarly journals Wildland-Urban Interface: Key Issues

EDIS ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Annie Hermansen-Baez ◽  
Jennifer Seitz ◽  
Martha C. Monroe
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Forest Resources ◽  
Forest Service ◽  
The South ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
Fact Sheet ◽  
The Us ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Us Forest Service

A result of the influx of new residents to the South is an expansion of urban areas into forests and other natural areas, creating areas referred to as the wildland-urban interface. Interface issues of most concern vary from state to state, but some key issues are consistent across the South. the US Forest Service conducted a series of focus groups in 2000. Key issues gleaned from those focus groups and other related sources are described in this 5-page fact sheet written by L. Annie Hermansen-Baez, Jennifer Seitz, and Martha C. Monroe, and published by the UF Department of School of Forest Resources and Conservation, February 2013. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fr264

Public perspectives of fire, fuels and the Forest Service in the Great Lakes Region: a survey of citizen - agency communication and trust

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Shindler ◽  
Eric Toman ◽  
Sarah M. McCaffrey
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Forest Service ◽  
Great Lakes Region ◽  
Fuel Reduction ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Western Us ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Forest Service ◽  
Study Sites

Relative to the western United States, where fire and fuel management programs have received greater emphasis, few community-based studies have focused on the Great Lakes region. The present paper describes public opinion research from counties surrounding National Forests in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. Survey data address citizen perspectives on (1) fuel reduction practices and related risks, (2) confidence in the US Forest Service to effectively implement treatments, and (3) interactions between the agency and forest communities. Substantial support for prescribed fire and thinning treatments is evident, with few participants believing these practices should not be considered or are unnecessary. However, ratings of agency actions were weak at all three study sites; in particular, there is some skepticism that managers can safely implement prescribed fire programs. Overall, Minnesota residents had fewer concerns whereas Michigan respondents were more cautious. These results are discussed and compared with findings from the western US.

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