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Abstract

Changing Forest Service Values and Their Implications for Land Management Decisions Affecting Resource-Dependent Communities

by L. Cramer, J. Kennedy, R. Krannich, and T. Quigley

INTRODUCTION

Articulating the USDA-Forest Service (USFS) core values was a major task of the first meeting of all national forest supervisors, regional foresters, and chiefs held at Snowbird, UT, in 1985. These values were published as the agency "vision statement" entitled Caring for the Land and Serving People (USDA-Forest Service 1986). It was appropriate at the second meeting of this group (Sunbird Conference, Tucson, AZ, 1989) that they examine 1) if USFS employees endorse these vision statement values, and 2) if employees believe the agency reward system supports them. To test this, a questionnaire was mailed to the chief, deputy chiefs, regional foresters, and forest supervisors (Kennedy and Quigley 1989). For a value comparison with the newest generation of USFS employees, a 1 0% sample of entry-level employees hired between 1985 and 1989 was also done.

The line officers at that conference judged the first Sunbird Values Survey so important that they requested it be sent to a full, representative sample of the agency in the summer of 1 990. This report represents the results of both Sunbird Surveys I and 11 (about 1900 respondents, 63% return rate) from the three major agency divisions: National Forest System, Research, and State and Private Forestry.

This executive summary presents only about 30% of the total findings from the larger report. We focus on USFS multiple-use priorities and values employees cherish, those the agency rewards, and values the sample believes the USFS should reward—and only use the replies of National Forest System respondents (n = 1626).