Reinvention Success Stories: Section II

Introduction

Forest Service employees have taken the reinvention--National Performance Review--direction seriously. Here are 15 more of the 46 examples of successes eventually to be shared with you. These are not plans, dreams, or wishes. These are real stories with accomplishments already realized.

Ultimately, most successes listed here result in--

o Collaboration that fosters partnerships and community solutions

o Organizational effectiveness that reinvents to get the job done with less

o Customer Service that delivers great service and is smart about information technology.

For more information, each success story is linked to a name, address, Data General site, and telephone number.

Titles

Multiple Partners Turn a Gravel Pit Into a Wetland in Alaska

Collaboration: Reinvent to get the job done with less and pool resources.

You can have your gravel pit and wetland too, as proven by the multiple partners of the Moose Flats Wetlands in Gridwood, Alaska. Gravel contractors constructed a 20-acre pond during gravel extraction, using plans developed by Federal and State fisheries biologists. Ducks Unlimited, a nonprofit organization, developed and constructed a trail and boardwalk with wetland ecology messages. The pond is stocked with rainbow trout and land-locked salmon by the Alaska Fish and Game Department. The Forest Service's Glacier Ranger District added a picnic day-use area. Cost of all the improvements were covered by the royalties from the gravel sales that totaled one-half million dollars.

(John C. Dorio:R10F04D01A; Glacier Ranger District, Chugach National Forest, P.O. Box 129, Girdwood, AK 99587, 907-783-3242.)

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Partnerships Prove the Best Way to Fight Insects and Disease

Collaboration and Customer Service: Deliver great service; foster partnerships and community solutions; pool resources with others; share efficiencies; and be smart about information transfer.

Fighting Pitch Canker Disease.

The exotic pine pitch canker disease is damaging native Monterey pines and killing ornamental trees on Federal, State, public and private lands along the coast of California. A nonprofit group, the California Forest Pest Council, formed a task force of 16 representatives from local, State, and Federal organizations and individuals. They raised $100,000 for research and sponsored learning workshops. To raise additional money and awareness, they sponsored a golf tournament at Pebble Beach, with proceeds going to fight pitch canker. By working together, the partners are successfully gathering the support needed to limit the spread of pitch canker.

(Susan Frankel:R05A; USDA Forest Service, Region 5, State and Private Forestry, 630 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94111; 415-705-2651.)

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A fungus threatened 650,000 acres of oak, an important wildlife and shade tree, which also adds $1 billion dollars to Minnesota's economy in timber and products. Treatment requires severing the interconnected roots between infected and healthy trees using an expensive, specialized "vibratory" plow. To support the state and private landowners' financial and logistical needs, the Forest Service provided cost-share programs; together they have successfully eliminated 2,500 oak wilt infection centers, thereby saving the oak.

(Jill Cherpack:S24A, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, P.O. Box 6775, Radnor, PA 19087-8775; 610-975-4186.)

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It took coordination by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, State universities, private companies, State land managers, State and local governments, foresters, silviculturists, research scientists (geneticists, ecologists, pathologists) and many others to save the rare Port-Orford-cedar from a fatal root disease--and so far, they've done it. A multi-agency, multi-resource group serves as a clearinghouse for information and technology transfer, risk analysis studies, and strategies for controlling and monitoring the spread of the disease. The root disease's progress has been successfully checked while the coordinating group continues to raise funds to find a permanent remedy. The rare cedar is only found in southwestern Oregon and northwestern California and is an important component of riparian vegetation in these areas.

(John Kliejunas:R05A; USDA Forest Service, 630 Sansome Street, San Franciso, CA 94111; 415-705-2571.)

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Coordination Results in Greater Success for Minority Recruitment

Through the Idaho Panhandle's HEART Program

Collaboration: Improve coordination and pool resources to increase accountability.

By combining the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service outreach recruitment efforts in the State of Idaho under one chairperson and team, workforce diversity of Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and African-Americans increased in FY 1997. Called HEART (Human Equality Advisory Resource Team), the Idaho Panhandle Forest-based group helps Federal organizations in all aspects of their civil rights programs. Their goal in recruitment is to avoid duplicating efforts and to increase the effectiveness of recruitment statewide. Part of their outreach efforts involve recruitment at colleges and universities, job fairs, and conferences. Numbers are expected to increase again next year as the word gets around.

(Anthony Matthews:R01F04A; HEART Chair; Idaho Panhandle National Forests; 1201 Ironwood Drive, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814; 208-765-7223.)

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Off-Highway Vehicle Users Take Responsibility for Trails

Collaboration: Foster partnerships and community solutions; focus on compliance not enforcement; and get the job done with less.

What better way to focus on compliance, instead of enforcement, than by asking users to take responsibility? Two local off-highway vehicle (OHV) clubs adopted heavily used OHV-access routes in the Oregon Dunes in Oregon under challenge-cost share agreements. The result was a contribution of $14,000 in construction costs and several hundred hours of volunteer labor. Another motorized association brushed trails and joined Federal employees in removing two tons of debris during the Oregon Spring Beach Cleanup event. The Oregon Volunteer Dune Patrol is a group of 30 people who contributed 2,000 hours this year patrolling the dunes and explaining the need for reduced noise levels, curfews, and area closures. The Dune Patrol also conducted sound tests on vehicles and assisted during accidents and search-and-rescue missions. Everyone came out ahead with these multiple partnerships, as the Forest Service realized tremendous cost savings and the user groups took on responsibility for maintaining motorized trails and the fragile dunes environment.

(Sharon Stewart:R06F12A; Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, 855 Highway Avenue, Reedsport, OR 97467; 541-271-3611.)

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Starting a New Industry of Growing Native Grasses

Collaboration: Foster partnerships and community solutions; be inventive and smart about information technology; and eliminate barriers, increasing flexibility.

The long-established J. Herbert Stone Nursery was facing a reduction in Federal customer requests for seedlings due to less cutting, particularly in spotted owl and spotted murrelet habitats of Oregon and Washington. Growing fewer trees meant needing fewer employees. Botonists from several Federal land agencies asked the nursery staff to grow native grasses instead--and they did, successfully--but they ran out of space. Solution? Start a new market: find some interested private farmers and provide the education for how to successfully grow popular native grasses, like blue wild rye, which is grown much differently than traditional wheat. Now private farmers hire displaced timber workers to grow native grasses. Demand continues to grow: the State highway departments seeding their road beds and right-of-ways and private landowners wanting better grasses for their livestock are wanting to purchase native grasses. The market is expanding rapidly. Meanwhile the nursery was able to keep its Federal employees by growing grasses instead of trees, and new jobs were created by the private sector.

(Colleen Archibald:R06F10D19A; J. Herbert Stone Nursery, Central Point, OR 97502; 541-858-6131.)

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Working Better with Our Navajo Neighbors

Customer Service: Identify your customers and win them over; remove barriers to produce results.

Conflicts over boundaries, cattle and horse trespass, and fuelwood collection

had strained the relationship between the Federal workers of the Tusayan Ranger District on the Kaibab National Forest and their tribal neighbors of the Cameron Chapter, Navajo Nation, in the Grand Canyon area of Arizona for 90 years. The District folks decided it was time to improve relationships with their neighbors. After meeting to discuss problems, they worked together on solutions. The most immediate problem was fuelwood for heating and cooking. Since the reservation is mainly barren land, the fuelwood would need to come from Federal lands. So the District prepared a fuelwood sale, located close to the boundary of both, sold it to the Chapter, provided chainsaw training, and organized a fuelwood vendor agreement. Navajos can now buy fuelwood permits at their Cameron Chapter House, saving a 120-mile round trip drive to the Tusayan Ranger District. The fuelwood solution led to mutual resolution of cattle trespass along the forest and chapter boundary. The Navajo ranchers rounded up their stray cattle, sheep, and horses, and the Federal employees and ranchers side-by-side reconstructed a boundary fence.

(Renee Thakali:R03F07A, District Ranger, Tusayan Ranger District, Kaibab National Forest, P.O. Box 3088, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023; 520-638-2443.)

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New Check Writing System Makes the Agency More Efficient

And the Customers Happy

Customer Service: Use common sense procurement policies; deliver great service; remove barriers; and become more efficient.

The Eastern Region (Region 9) of the Forest Service has successfully revolutionized the way the agency pays vendors with a "Third Party Draft" (TPD) check-writing system. TPD enables nonprocurement people to write checks to vendors for under $2,500 (considered small purchases) and procurement people to write checks for up to $10,000. This quick method of payment pleases those the Forest Service does business with, especially in rural communities. If a vendor's stock is bought out, for instance, he or she can restock almost immediately. The advantage of this is especially evident in emergencies such as fires. Region 9 now handles payment and processing of TPDs for the entire Forest Service; they processed more than 22,000 checks for a total of $88 million dollars last year.

(Sherrion Lewis-Scott:R09A or William Millard:R09A; USDA Forest Service,

Region 9, 310 West Wisonsin Avenue, Room 500, Milwaukee, WI 53203; 414-297-1281.)

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War on Noxious Weeds

Success on the Battlefields of Public Lands

Collaboration and Customer Service: Deliver great service; pool resources with other departments; foster partnerships and community solutions; remove barriers so communities can produce results; identify your customers and win them over.

While the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and the Interior are preparing a Federal strategy for the war against noxious weeds, many local communities have already started their battles against these costly invaders, especially out West. Individual nationalfForests have joined forces with their State and county government agencies and private landowners to return America's wildlands back to native plants and grasses--or at least to stem the rising tide of weed invasion.

Fighting Musk Thistle Together. The Tahoe National Forest in California fought musk thistle by joining forces with the States of California and Nevada; the California Native Plant and Reno Master Gardener groups; county supervisors and weed inspectors; and local landowners. These groups volunteered 100 hours, digging up 50 acres of musk thistle on the uphill, outer edge of growing areas. In addition, they mounted a media and education campaign to increase private land owners' awareness and control of this destructive invader.

Kathy Van Zuuk, K.Vanzuuk:R05F17A; Tahoe National Forest, P.O. Box 6003, Nevada City, CA 95959; 916-478-6243.)

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The Nebraska National Forest's Pine Ridge Ranger District in Chadron, Nebraska, pulled together a number of cooperators consisting of three counties, the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, the Nebraska Board of Educational School Lands and Funds, and the Panhandle Research Integration for Discovery Education (PRIDE). The group received a matching grant of $17,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for an effort called "Pulling Together," which has long-term goals to prevent, manage, and eradicate noxious plants while increasing public awareness at the local level. They promptly set in motion an aggressive education program and a massive insect attack on Canada thistle. Cooperators establish insectaries on the public or private lands they manage; the insects are collected and distributed to other areas of noxious weed infestations once populations are adequate. PRIDE specializes in noxious weed awareness and education, field day events, and networking.

(Lora Hawkins O'Rourke, L.O'Rourke:R02F07D02A, Pine Ridge Ranger District, Nebraska National Forest, 16524 Highway 385, Chadron, NE 69337, 308-432-4475.)

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In Millard County, Utah, the entire community focuses on a Weed Day. Once a year, 200 people from the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, ranchers, farmers, Natural Resource Conservation Service, county commissioners, County Weed Board, Utah Department of Agriculture and State Extension Service, U.S. Agriculture Stabilization Service, the middle and high schools, Coca Cola, 4-H clubs, and boy scouts troups turn out to control scotch thistle using mechanical and chemical methods. Extensive education efforts and partnerships have succeeded in controlling the thistle within a 15,000 acre area.

(Douglas Reid:R04F08D01A; Fishlake National Forest, 390 South Main, Fillmore, UT 84631; 801-743-5721.)

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Tourists Don't Care Who You Work For--Just Give Them the Information!

Collaboration and Customer Service: Deliver great service; pool resources; save money; and foster partnerships and community solutions.

When the State of Oregon's Tourism Division approached the Forest Service's Ashland Ranger District in southern Oregon for temporary office space, the agency jumped at the chance to become full-time, permanent partners. The new Welcome Center is now staffed by a Rogue River Forest Service receptionist, an Oregon State receptionist, and mutually shared volunteers. Both agencies share resources, knowledge, work space, rent and even front office persons' salaries. This proved to be a cost-effective, more efficient approach to delivering higher quality service to the public.

(Linda Duffy:R06F10D02A; Ashland Ranger District, Rogue River National Forest, P.O. Box 520, Medford, OR 97501; 503-482-3333.)

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Partners Purchase Wildlife and Wetland Habitat

For the Forest Service to Manage

Collaboration: Foster partnerships and community solutions.

Over 4,500 acres of wildlife and wetland habitat, surrounded by the Klamath National Forest in California, was up for sale. The forest was unable to acquire any Federal money to purchase the land and the owners were not interested in a land exchange. Yet here was prime outdoor real estate with 110 acres of fresh water lake, 1,000 acres of wetland habitat providing waterfowl protection, 6 miles of riparian habitat, hundreds of acres of critical deer winter range, and home of several State and federally listed threatened and endangered species. What's a forest to do? In came the partners who saved the day by raising and donating the money needed: Wildlife Conservation Board, State of California, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, local community members, the Intermountain West Joint Venture Group, and some local timber purchasers through Tripartite agreements. As a result of the hard work and cooperation of these groups and the former land owners, Orr Lake is now a special management area within the Kalamath National Forest.

(Mike Ford:R05F05A; Klamath National Forest, 1312 Fairlane Road, Yreka, CA 96097; 916-842-6131.)

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Forest Service and Postal Service Join Forces

To Solve Sticky Recycling Problems

Collaboration, Organizational Effectiveness, and Customer Service: Deliver great service; pool resources from other departments; be smart about information technology; and share efficiences and skilled personnel.

The USDA Forest Service's Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) and the United States Postal Service joined forces to tackle "sticky" recycling problems, saving millions of dollars, and creating new products out of old waste. Each year, the Postal Service disposed of 440,000 tons of discarded lobby mail (DLM) and undeliverable bulk business mail (UBBM), and recycling was unfeasible due to the complex mix of inks, dyes, adhesives, and coatings used on the papers. Postal service engineers, Forest Service researchers, and other industrial cooperators overcame the technical barriers to recycling DLM and UBBM: now these waste papers are recycled into napkins, tissues, envelopes, and printing and writing papers, saving the Postal Service over $11 million annually in disposal costs. The FPL and the Postal Service also developed a new linerless, self-adhesive stamp that does not require a throw-away backing paper, thereby reducing material needed in manufacture and eliminating waste discarded after use. A special coating on the face of the stamp prevents it from sticking to other stamps in the coil. The newly developed "Environmentally Benign Pressure Sensitive Adhesive" will also be used in labels and stickers and will result in saving millions of dollars. The FPL, Postal Service, and an international manufacturing firm also produced new recycling bins made from recycled mail using a pulp molding technology developed at the Laboratory.

(Said Abubakr:S32A; Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53705; 608-231-9432.)

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