Pacific Northwest Research Station

Overview of the Focused Science Delivery Program
PNW Research Station

June 2003

Program Mission: The mission of the Focused Science Delivery (FSD) Program is to strengthen natural resource policy and decisionmaking processes by developing and communicating science products that synthesize and integrate existing information within or across disciplinary areas at appropriate spatial and temporal scales.

Response to Station Priorities:
The Focused Science Delivery Program is a research, development, and application program that works across all four of the PNW Station strategic goals by conducting analyses of existing scientific data and compilations of existing information to create new knowledge. The FSD program also works more broadly on west-wide (Forest Service Regions 1-6 and 10) and national issues when they are consistent with the PNW Research Station's mission, or when they rise to the level that they become important in the PNW region.

The Program's work supports highpriority policy and management analyses and identifies knowledge gaps that require collection of new data to support more complete analyses. The FSD program is unique among the PNW Station's research programs because it does not maintain a large permanent staff, yet its mandate covers the range of topics about which the Forest Service conducts original research. In many cases the program secures the analytical capability necessary to accomplish work by developing partnerships among the PNW Station's other research programs, with Forest Service Research Projects or Programs from other Research Stations, or with government and nongovernment organizations where individuals with the necessary skills are located. Program staff members hold regular discussions with policy makers and managers at all organizational levels to identify topics for investigation and to tailor outputs to clients' or users' needs. This process is both informal and formal, with formal discussions held biennially in oddnumbered years to select upcoming topics for the FSD Program.

The topics addressed rotate in and out of the program, each with a lifespan of generally 2-3 years in duration. The FSD program promotes integration with an emphasis on the Forest Service's strategic needs and identifies ways to increase synergy among researchers, political leaders, management experts, and the public as they search for solutions to complex resource management problems. We conduct analyses of existing scientific information and package results to support formulation of policy, selection of the management actions that implement those policies, and to provide scientifically sound information to the public as they help to shape policy or influence management decisions. As a result, most of the program's work responds to Goal 4 of the PNW Station's Strategic Plan (Communicate science findings and enhance their application). The changing nature of the program's portfolio of work does, however, make it likely that the various analyses conducted by the FSD program will touch on all of the PNW Station's strategic goals and priorities.

Program Purpose and Role:
The purpose of the FSD program is to enhance the use of scientific knowledge in natural resource management. To achieve this purpose, we must go beyond traditional notions of technology transfer and find new ways to engage partners and serve clients. Although there is a vast accumulation of scientific data, it often does not translate into the knowledge needed to answer the precise questions resource managers struggle with at any point in time. As scientists, our inclination is to develop new studies that directly address each problem as it arises, but it is difficult to keep pace with the need for new information and, in reality, new research might not always provide the most efficient or timely solutions for emerging management and policy issues. The FSD program expands Forest Service Research's capability to use what we already know. This is not purely a matter of acting as an information broker and uniting users with existing scientific products. Nor is it solely the skill of creatively writing about existing scientific data and repackaging it to provide information to address users' questions. The PNW Station's Communications and Applications Program already excels at these types of activities. The FSD program adds substantial analytical capacity to the PNW Station's existing communications capabilities.

The role of the FSD program is to improve Forest Service Research's ability to extract additional meaning from existing scientific data by combining information from both related and seemingly unrelated sources to reveal trends and relations that might not initially have been apparent. The Program works to solve problems by forming partnerships with both those who need new knowledge, and those who generate the data and information required to develop this knowledge. By understanding the anticipated applications for our outputs, we work to align products to meet clients' needs and provide timely and cost effective solutions to users' problems.

Program Structure:
The Focused Science Delivery Program is organized into key topic areas (generally referred to as issues or initiatives) that rotate in and out of the program over time (usually 2-3 years in duration). Each topic, issue, or initiative has the same hierarchical status within the FSD Program as do teams within other PNW Research Station programs. The outputs from the issues are reported in the same way other programs report outputs from teams and their budgets are tracked in an identical manner. The main differences are that the issues generally do not have permanently assigned staff and they have a much shorter lifespan than teams. A mid- to senior-level researcher or resource professional (GS-12-14) provides technical and administrative oversight for each issue. This role is analogous to a team leader under the PNW administrative structure, and it is similar to a project leader under the administrative structure of other Forest Service Research Stations except that it has no line authority. Issue leads may be permanent full-time members of the FSD Program, they may be detailed into the program for the duration of the issue, or they may remain in their home unit and lead the issue on a part-time basis. Issue leads share a pool of technical and administrative support staff within the FSD Program. Issue leads coordinate technical and administrative functions within their issue, they may supervise issue staff, and they oversee budgets for their issue. The FSD Program uses a variety of hiring authorities such as details, term positions, STEP positions, and IPAs to reach personnel with appropriate skills and to provide staffing flexibility within the program. The program also utilizes contracts and grants and agreements with cooperators and partners to negotiate and accomplish work products where appropriate.

The PNW Station is structured to take advantage of collaboration among employees and integration across scientific disciplines when conducting research to produce new knowledge and address society's needs. PNW Station Leadership continually seeks ways to promote even greater integration of skills to more effectively answer the broad-based questions society asks about interrelationships among policy and management decisions and ecological processes. We feel this is necessary because we recognize that it is no longer efficient to rely solely on narrowly focused approaches to research in natural resources.

Issue leads and locations are listed for the current set of FSD Program research topic areas. The FSD program also has one permanent team (the Science Delivery Team). This team works at the discretion of the issue leads to assist with delivery of information and products from all areas of the program.

Program Audience:

The Focused Science Delivery Program develops products and information for three primary audiences:
1) Groups and individuals who set natural resource policy,
2) Those who implement natural resource policy, and
3) Those who seek to influence how policies are set or implemented.

These groups have differing needs and abilities to comprehend research results, than the scientists who produced them. Although these clients and users are typically interested in knowing that scientific information is reliable (often measured by whether it is published in scholarly outlets and peer reviewed), they do not usually have the time and may not have the skills, to gather and interpret scientific data or publications to find the specific information they need.

The FSD program is intended to augment the PNW Station's capacity to perform this function for a variety of clients. The Program provides the analyses necessary to produce outputs tailored to the needs of our clients, and once an analysis is complete the results must still be delivered in forms that clients can readily use. The FSD program strives to ensure that clients are made aware of the breadth of information relevant to a topic and that the information is presented in a neutral and understandable fashion. The Focused Science Delivery program builds on the considerable progress made in this area by the PNW Station's Communications and Applications Program and the other PNW research programs. The FSD program adds analytical capabilities to the Station's communications function and strengthens the Station's capability to work across programmatic areas to support information sharing among the other research programs to adapt and target science outputs and products toward specific audiences.

Problems and Elements of the Program:

The problems and elements (subproblems) addressed by the PNW Focused Science Delivery Program cover synthesis and integration of existing information, and packaging and delivery of that information to targeted clients or user groups.

Problem 1. Establish conceptual frameworks, methods, and tools needed to conduct analyses or develop products that result in new knowledge to support formulation of natural resource management policy and advance the use of science in land management decisions.

Element 1.1: Lead, design, and implement syntheses of existing data and information to create new knowledge.

Element 1.2: Integrate scientific knowledge across disciplines.

Element 1.3: Provide leadership in developing analytical methods and outputs that improve consideration of spatial or temporal scales in policy and decisionmaking processes.

Problem 2. Compile and display scientific information, identify key results, and deliver scientific findings relating to current and emerging high-priority topics in natural resource management, and develop methods to communicate these findings in ways to facilitate their application.

Element 2.1: Develop techniques for information sharing and collaboration during analyses by groups and individuals from within and outside government.

Element 2.2: Work with the PNW Station's Communications and Applications Program to develop innovative ways to transfer scientific information for use in policy debates, land management decisions, and public discussions.

Element 2.3: Lead efforts to select the most fruitful issues for investigation by the Focused Science Delivery Program.

Summary:
Work with our clients to address emerging issues has identified that there is a need to place even greater emphasis on the timely synthesis, integration, and delivery of scientific information packaged appropriately for different audiences. The FSD program was created to enhance the PNW Station's capabilities in these three areas. The program seeks to create synergies across research programs and among outside partners at levels that would not occur without the FSD program.

Program Contact: Jamie Barbour, Program Manager 503-808-2542; jbarbour01@fs.fed.us

US Forest Service - Pacific Northwest Research Station
Last Modified:  Monday, 07 December 2009 at 16:15:33 EST