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United States Department of Agriculture |
Forest Service |
Washington Office |
14th & Independence SW P.O. Box 96090 Washington, DC 20090-6090 |
TO: Ecological Stewardship Author Teams
FROM: Bill Sexton and Bob Szaro (Forest Service), Nels Johnson (World Resources Institute)
We'd like to thank each of you for your hard work to develop the draft topic papers since the Tucson workshop. This update is to provide you with information on our plans for the peer review process, as well as some early thoughts about the types of products or media that may be used to disseminate the information contained in the topic papers.
First, we want to let you know that the Forest Service and the World Resources Institute (WRI) have signed a participating agreement to manage the peer review process and explore options for making sure the hard work and valuable information that goes into the papers is accessible to anyone interested in ecological stewardship. Both are looking forward to the opportunity to advance our knowledge of ecological approaches to natural resources management and providing managers, researchers, policy makers, and the public with the latest concepts, management experience and research relevant to ecological stewardship in one place.
Second, an update on the status of the papers. Thus far we've received 42 papers (as of May 10) and we want to recognize those who've gotten their drafts into us on time. We look forward to receiving the rest within the next few days. It's important that we get the remaining papers as soon as possible so that we can get the peer review process under way on schedule. If you haven't informed us when we can expect your draft, please let one of us known soon.
First Stage Review (Preliminary Review): The first drafts that we are receiving now will be reviewed by a small team of reviewers for overall strengths and weaknesses, overlaps with other papers, and gaps within topics. We will be starting the first stage reviews this week. Each reviewer will assess their papers using a standard set of questions or issues. We don't expect these reviews to provide detailed technical comments. Rather, this review will provide general comments on whether the paper is on track with respect to its topic, steps that might be taken to strengthen the link between research and management perspectives, and overlaps or gaps that should be considered in preparing a second draft that will go out for wider review and more detailed comments. We are committed to getting the first stage reviews back to all authors no later thank July 15th -- and probably sooner for many papers. This time is needed both because we have a small group of reviewers and approximately 3,000 pages of papers to review, and because we want to give group coordinators (see below) a chance to review papers in their group before they are returned to authors. When we return the first staged review for yours paper, we will also include a copy of the other paper (science or management) on your topic for your reference. We will also include basic editorial and formatting guidelines to be used in preparation of the second and final drafts.
We expect that some papers will require very little revision while others may require substantial additions or revisions before they are ready for the detailed peer review that second draft papers will go through. Authors will have until September 15 to produce a second draft.
Group Coordinators: We will be grouping the 30 topics into six groups to facilitate the review process. A preliminary list of the groups is attached. Each group will have a coordinator to help manage the second and third stage reviews. The group coordinators will have several responsibilities. Their responsibilities will include ensuring that: a) an appropriate balance and linkage between scientific and management issues is achieved for each of the papers in their group; b) significant gaps in coverage are addressed within individual papers and between papers within the group; c) peer review comments are organized and summarized in preparation for the peer review panels (see below); d) papers are completed on an agreed upon schedule, and; e) an executive summary is produced that highlights the most important scientific and management issues for their area. As soon as we have someone in place as your group coordinator, we will let you know.
Second Stage Review (Public Peer Review): Second draft papers will be posted on the World Wide Web to facilitate public comments. To ensure that all papers are reviewed by appropriate experts, each paper will also be sent directly to approximately 5 experts for their review. We will gladly accept suggestions you have for such reviewers and have noted suggestions that some of you have already made. The deadline for public peer review comments will be November 15. To protect the authors' time, reviewers will be asked to send their comments to the group coordinators with copies to WRI. Group coordinators will summarize the comments received for each paper. This summary and copies of all comments received will be forwarded to author teams in advance of the peer review panels (see below). Author teams however, will not be expected to revise their papers until after the peer review panels have met.
Third Stage Review (Peer Review Panels): Once the second stage reviews have been received, collated, and summarized a peer review panel will be convened for each thematic group to focus on the most important issues identified in the second stage reviews. In particular, the peer review panels will focus on the ties between science and management issues, both within and between topics. In addition, the peer review panel will prepare a draft executive summary for the topics covered by the group. Peer review panels will be chaired by the group coordinator. Members of the panel will include one author from each paper (preferably the lead author) and a balanced group of reviewers with science and management experience -- approximately 35 people per review panel. Authors of topic papers will leave the panel meeting with a clear set of recommendations and priorities for preparing a final draft. In addition, they will have the summarized comments prepared by their group coordinator and the full text of peer reviews submitted in the second stage review. The 2 day peer review panels (six are planned) will likely be held in several different cities around the country. Ideally, the peer review panels will be held between December 1 - 15, although it's possible that several of them could be held in early January. Expenses for authors and other panelists not employed by the federal government will be covered.
Following the peer review panels author teams will have until March 1, 1997 to complete their final draft. The final drafts will be sent to David Johnston for final editing.
Published Volume(s) of Complete Tucson Papers. The Forest Service will make arrangements to publish the full set of papers. Preliminary discussions have been held with several commercial publishers. This publication may be available by summer 1997.
Dedicated World Wide Web Site. WRI and the Forest Service will create a dedicated Ecological Stewardship site on the World Wide Web. This site would contain the full text of all Tucson workshop papers, a shorter summary and guide (see below), lists of key resources for learning more about ecological approaches to natural resources management, and links to other relevant electronic databases within the Federal Government and to those of non-Federal partners. The site could also be designed to capture new information and experience on ecological stewardship approaches and might contain a conference or bulletin board service to facilitate communication between users of the site. This site with final draft papers and summary and guide would be on-line during summer 1997, although the site may be set up this fall for use in the second stage review process.
Published Summary and Guide. We believe many folks would benefit from a relatively short summary of the key findings from the Tucson papers. This approximately 225 page document would be a lively, well-written and graphically-illustrated practical summary and "guide" to the larger reference text (the Tucson Workshop papers). It would also provide users with background on the Tucson Workshop process, other Federal and private efforts to develop scientific and social frameworks for ecosystem management and direct readers to other key sources of information maintained by the USFS, its federal partners, and cooperating non-profit and private sector organizations. The document would be published by the World Resources Institute and widely distributed within federal agencies and to a broader audience including state and local scenarios private sector resource managers, and conservation groups. Publication would be planned for late summer 1997.
Ecological Stewardship CD-ROM. WRI and the Forest Service will explore the possibility of creating an Ecological Stewardship CD-ROM. The CD-ROM would add photographs, video, graphics, maps, hypertext links, and other features to the basic published text. If this option is pursued, it would likely not appear before sometime in 1998.
In all cases, authors will be credited for their contributions. To make potential users aware of these materials, WRI plans to produce a four-color flyer on the set of materials and will work closely with the Forest Service, other federal agencies, and non-federal partners to promote their use.
Final decisions on the peer review process and dissemination formats will be made by a 5 member executive committee compassed of Nels Johnson and Kenton Miller of WRI, Bill Sexton and Bob Szaro of the Forest Service, and Peter Stengel of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
Again, thanks for your hard work. We are impressed by what we have seen thus far and look forward to working with you in the months ahead. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us and we'll do our best to respond.