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Project ID: 09-S-04-11

Year: 2010

Date Started: 05/15/2010

Ending Date:  06/30/2014

Title: Southern Rocky Mountain Ecoregion Science Delivery and Outreach

Project Proposal Abstract: The Southern Rocky Mountains Ecoregion(SRME)Science Delivery and Outreach Consortium will stress collaboration and communications between science practitioners and communities of science information users. The SRME includes Colorado, north central New Mexico, south central Wyoming, and east central Utah. Science delivery and outreach in the SRME have been notably successful in a number of instances. Extensive silvicultural research by the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) several decades ago, aspen research, and fire history and ecology research in Front Range ponderosa pine are several useful examples of science partnering with management. Science delivery and outreach can falter because good information fails to get to the people who need it, or there is skepticism about the information. Better partnerships between those who generate new knowledge and those who can use it would benefit all involved. Collaborative processes can bring disparate natural research and resource management cultures or ways of thinking closer to common ground. We will focus on existing collaboratives and use their well-established frameworks, relationships, and energy. We focus on collaboration used in at least three ways: (a) for reducing barriers and improving interactions that lead to collective action, (b) as a mechanism for assessing where and how science delivery succeeds or breaks down, and (c) for providing feedback from stakeholders to guide research institutions in their selection of research projects. We plan a combination of road show field trips, workshops, and web-based communication and discussion of science findings. The SRME will use a road show format as a key tool to facilitate communications. We will have a minimum of 2 trips per calendar year. Sites and topics will be developed with manager and scientist input. Experiential learning and hands on experiences will be incorporated into the roadshows whenever possible. The consortium will host additional workshops in conjunction with other meetings and collaborative groups to identify issues for the annual roadshows. There is no real substitute for face to face communicating, yet limited funds and time indicate a need to include low-cost/low-impact methods of information exchange. We will use several web-based options including managed fire science user forums, discussion groups, ask the experts venues, digital/virtual meetings and fire science webinars. More passive functions such as distribution of focused articles, syntheses of recent fire science findings, and announcements of new scientific articles will be used. Use of publications similar to JFSPs Fire Science Digest and Fire Science Briefs, e.g. Colorado State Forest Service information sheets and USGS fact sheets, will be explored. The SRME consortium will work closely with FRAMES on the web-based electronic information exchange package. The consortium will select a demonstration site to bring scientists and managers together to answer management and/or science questions. The intent is to have managers and scientists develop a management strategy that establishes a need, identifies management goals, and develops implementation and monitoring protocols. An integral piece of the SRME consortium is active feedback from the science user communities to the scientific community. Rather than focusing exclusively on one-way delivery of information from scientists, the consortium will structure into its activities a feedback mechanism for conveying science needs to the research and academic communities. The SRME will monitor and evaluate impacts of ongoing work, and adapt content, delivery, and learning mechanisms to improve. Mere participation does not indicate information was exchanged and retained. We will work with RMRS, CFRI, universities and others as appropriate to develop surveys to assess communication effectiveness.

Principal Investigator: Tony S. Cheng

Agency/Organization: Colorado State University

Branch or Dept: Colorado Forest Restoration Institute

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	Michael G. Babler	The Nature Conservancy	CO-Colorado Chapter Office
Co-Principal Investigator	Gloria J. Edwards	Colorado State University	Department of Forest, Rangeland & Watershed Stewardship
Co-Principal Investigator	Chad M. Hoffman	Colorado State University	Department of Forest, Rangeland & Watershed Stewardship
Co-Principal Investigator	Merrill R. Kaufmann	Forest Service	RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Fort Collins
Federal Cooperator	Todd J. Richardson	BLM-Bureau of Land Management	Columbine Field Office
Federal Fiscal Representative	Sara L. Oletski	BLM-Bureau of Land Management	Colorado State Office
Grants and Agreements Contact	Carmen N. Morales	Colorado State University	Sponsored Programs

Project Locations

Consortium

Southern Rockies

Level	State	Agency	Unit
REGIONAL	Interior West	PRIVATE

Project Deliverables

There is no final report available for this project.
There are no deliverables available for this project.

Supporting Documents

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