EWP Working Papers
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Founded in 1994, the Ecosystem Workforce Program was created to help lead the rural Pacific Northwest into the age of ecosystem management--management for healthy communities and healthy environments. The EWP believes that, by creating high skill forest and watershed jobs that enable people to work near their homes, we will establish a structure for long term resource stewardship. Our goal is to demonstrate the linkages between a quality workforce, a healthy economy, healthy community, and effective management for forest ecosystems.
For more information, visit the web site at: http://ewp.uoregon.edu/
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Item Open Access West Bend Prescribed Fire Pilot after action review(Ecosystem Workforce Program, University of Oregon, 2024-12) Huber-Stearns, Heidi R.; Downey, JessThe West Bend Prescribed Fire Pilot Project was an ambitious and unprecedented effort in pace and scale in the area, designed in response to wildfire and climate crises, and centering public health. Overall, the project aligned with most of the five guiding principles of the PNW Regional Joint Statement of Intent. The pilot demonstrated efficient implementation of larger prescribed burns through enhanced inter-agency collaboration, improved communication, expedited timelines, and a strong commitment to addressing wildfire risks, achieving significant acreage while advancing shared goals for future wildfire management. This report highlights shared learning opportunities in public outreach, communication, inter- and intra-organizational coordination, and cross-agency collaboration. Participants identified several key areas for improvement, including enhancing inter-agency coordination, providing year-round public health support to help communities and airsheds become smoke ready, developing more aligned public health metrics to assess the effectiveness of risk reduction efforts, and improving integration of smoke forecasting, modeling, and implementation in future strategies.Item Open Access Oakridge-Westfir Smoke and Air Quality: Community Survey(Ecosystem Workforce Program, University of Oregon, 2024) Coughlan, Michael R.; Downey, Jess; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Serio, Naomi; Smith, HollieThis report summarizes the results of a 2024 Oakridge Air community survey on air quality and smoke from wildfire and woodstoves. This community survey was informed by interviews conducted with community leaders to identify key information needs and actions related to air quality and smoke locally. Oakridge, in Lane County, Oregon, has historically been ranked among the top 20 communities in the United States with the worst air quality due to high concentrations of particulate matter (PM2.5) from home wood heating (woodstove) and wildfire smoke. Supplemental materials that accompany this report include two appendices: Appendix I: Oakridge Smoke & Air Quality Survey is the survey instrument, Consent Form, Gift Card form, and Oakridge Air Survey Hand-Out. Appendix II: Detailed Survey Methods and Results reports all response categories for all survey questions, in the order the survey was designed. The full de-identified survey results are also included.Item Open Access Indigenous fire stewardship for fire management and ecological restoration in the Pacific Northwest(Ecosystem Workforce Program, University of Oregon, 2023) Coughlan, Michael R.; Serio, Naomi; Loeb, Harper; Lewis, David G. (David Gene), 1965-; Thompson, SallyIndigenous fire stewardship (IFS) plays a critical role in the maintenance of North American forest resilience. This synthesis reviews literature on IFS in the PNW as represented in scholarly peer reviewed publications. We also conducted a systematic search of the internet to identify informational resources, networks, and organizations engaged with IFS in the PNW. This paper synthesizes information on ecological, social, and policy aspects of IFS that are relevant to fire managers and restoration practitioners in the PNW. We identify current knowledge and knowledge gaps, as well as policy opportunities and barriers relevant to the application of IFS to fire management and ecological restoration. Supplemental information on spreadsheets: 1. Search_Citations.csv: This is a list of citations identified in the systematic review. It identifies the database and search terms associated with the article, information on citations, authorship, article type, and ranking used for annotation. 2. Columndescriptions.csv: Defines column headings for the Search_Citations spreadsheet. 3. SearchLog.csv: Provides details for each systematic search. 4. IFS_Websites.csv: List of websites related to Indigenous fire stewardship in the PNW.Item Open Access Wildfire smoke and athletic events : understanding public concerns, experiences, and preparedness(Ecosystem Workforce Program, University of Oregon, 2023) Coughlan, Michael R.; Serio, Naomi; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Clark, Benjamin Y., 1977-; Smith, Hollie M., 1986-The increasingly longer and more severe wildfire smoke events in the Pacific Northwest are likely to occur during outdoor athletic events. We investigated wildfire smoke concerns, air quality communication preferences, and protective action behaviors among sporting event attendees through a survey created by our interdisciplinary research team from the UO. This report presents survey results and implications for improving communication and protocol for air quality and smoke during future outdoor athletic events.Item Open Access Oregon Department of Forestry's Landscape Resiliency Program : assessing implementation and outcomes for the 2021-2023 biennium(Ecosystem Workforce Program, University of Oregon, 2023) Serio, Naomi; Coughlan, Michael R.; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Santo, Anna; McEvoy, Andy, 1987-; White, Eric M.The Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) Landscape Resiliency Program (LRP) is a grant program to support cross-boundary restoration of landscape resiliency and fuels reduction within Oregon. In fall 2021, ODF requested the Ecosystem Workforce Program (EWP) at the University of Oregon (UO) to devise and carry out a plan for monitoring investments and outcomes of the LRP. The LRP monitoring plan focused on three stages: Project Selection, Implementation, and Outcomes. The purpose of this working paper is to report the results of the Implementation and Outcomes monitoring phases. This report presents 1) an overview of selected projects, 2) project participants' experiences with project implementation successes, challenges, and lessons learned, 3) on-the-ground accomplishments of LRP projects, and 4) an assessment of the economic aspects of LRP.Item Open Access Monitoring investments in Oregon's Federal Forest Restoration Program, 2021-2023 biennium(Ecosystem Workforce Program, University of Oregon, 2023) Coughlan, Michael R.; Serio, Naomi; Downey, Jess; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Santo, Anna; White, Eric M.; Davis, Emily JaneThe Federal Forest Restoration (FFR) Program is a joint effort among the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), federal forest managers, and public lands stakeholders to increase the pace, scale, and quality of federal forest restoration across Oregon. The program supports management for forest resilience on federal lands as well as economic opportunities for surrounding communities. This working paper provides an update on FFR Program investments and outcomes for the 2021-2023 biennium. Reports from the previous biennium (2019-2021) can be found elsewhere. Here we report: 1) FFR Program expenditures, 2) economic activity from timber sales and the FFR grant investments, 3) on-the-ground accomplishments of the FFR Program, and 4) stakeholders’ perspectives on the FFR Program’s successes and challenges.Item Open Access Oregon Department of Forestry's Landscape Resiliency Program : assessing the project selection process for the 2021-2023 biennium(Ecosystem Workforce Program, University of Oregon, 2022) Serio, Naomi; Coughlan, Michael R.; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Santo, AnnaThe Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) Landscape Resiliency Program (LRP) is a grant program to support cross-boundary restoration of landscape resiliency and fuels reduction within Oregon. In fall 2021, ODF requested the Ecosystem Workforce Program (EWP) at the University of Oregon (UO) devise and carry out a plan for monitoring investments and outcomes of the LRP. LRP monitoring focuses on three stages– Project Selection, Implementation, and Outcomes. The purpose of this working paper is to report the results of the Project Selection monitoring phase. This report presents 1) stakeholders’ experiences with the LRP program development, application process, and project selection, 2) characterization of grantee organizations, and 3) characterization of project geographies.Item Open Access Social and economic monitoring for the Lakeview stewardship CFLR project, FY 2020-2021 : addendum to the 2012-2019 ecological, social, and economic monitoring report(Ecosystem Workforce Program, University of Oregon, 2022) Deak, Alison; Coughlan, Michael R.The Lakeview Stewardship Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) Project was awarded funding in 2012 to improve forest ecological health within 662,289 acres of the Fremont-Winema National Forest and contribute to the social and economic wellbeing of nearby communities. The Fremont-Winema National Forest and Lakeview Stewardship Group have partnered to collaboratively design, implement, and monitor activities within the Lakeview Stewardship CFLR Project. This report is the culmination of the first ten years of the CFLR Project, presenting results for the project’s five socioeconomic monitoring questions for federal fiscal years (FYs) 2020 and 2021, alongside results from previous years.Item Open Access Social and economic monitoring of the Tongass National Forest and southeast Alaska communities : appendices(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2020) Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Santo, Anna; Steinkruger, ErinAppendices for Ecosystem Workforce Program Working Paper #98, Social and economic monitoring of the Tongass National Forest and southeast Alaska communities. Appendices on PDF: Appendix A: Tongass transition history and timeline of key events. Appendix B: Key resources for future Tongass social and economic monitoring. Appendix C: Additional potential monitoring metrics suggested by interviewees and considered for inclusion. Appendix I: Semi-structured interview protocols. Appendices on spreadsheets: Appendix D: Businesses receiving more than $1 million in service contracts. Appendix E: Cut sold compiled data. Appendix F: Sawmill business licenses. Appendix G: Biomass facilities. Appendix H: Cleaned grants and agreements data. Appendix H: Raw grants and agreements data. Appendix J: Raw FTE data.Item Open Access Early implementation of the US Forest Service's shared stewardship strategy in the Eastern United States(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2021) Kee, Destin D.; Aldworth, Tyler; Abrams, Jesse; Kooistra, Chad; Schultz, Courtney A.; Huber-Stearns, HeidiIn 2018, in response to Congress’ calls for a renewed approach to forest management, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) announced the Shared Stewardship Strategy - an initiative aimed at increasing the pace and scale of cross-boundary forest management activities (USFS, 2018). In 2019, our team started conducting independent research through semi-structured interviews on the implementation and development of Shared Stewardship efforts in the western U.S. (Phase 1, detailed in Kooistra et al., 2021b). In late 2020, we began investigating states east of the Rocky Mountains (Phase 2), which we refer to herein for ease as “eastern” or “Phase 2” states, although our study included states as far west as Nebraska. This Executive Summary provides an overview of our key findings across Phase 2 states (also see Table A) and our observations on the future of Shared Stewardship.Item Open Access Monitoring the collaborative capacity grant outcomes of Oregon's Federal Forest Restoration Program, 2019-2021 biennium(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2021) Davis, Emily Jane; White, Eric M.Collaborative Capacity Grants (“collaborative grants”) have supported forest collaborative groups to increase restoration efforts on federal forests statewide by enhancing and strengthening their effectiveness. These grants are funded by the Federal Forest Restoration Program (FFR Program) and administered by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. The stated goal of these grants is to increase the number, acreage, and complexity of collaboratively planned restoration projects on federal lands by developing or expanding zones of agreement (ZOA). ZOA are collaborative agreements that may focus on a project, Forest Plan allocation unit, forest type, or ecological function. A secondary goal of the program is to build capacity to accomplish ZOA. For the 2019–2021 biennium, grants were awarded to groups working on either ZOA or improvements to collaborative governance capacities. Several collaboratives requested extensions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore this is not a final account of all funded activities and outcomes.Item Open Access Monitoring investments in Oregon's Federal Forest Restoration Program, 2019-2021 biennium(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2021) Coughlan, Michael R.; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Davis, Emily Jane; White, Eric M.; Santo, Anna; Ellison, AutumnThe Federal Forest Restoration Program (FFR Program) is a partnership between the state of Oregon, federal forest managers, and public lands stakeholders to increase forest restoration and economic opportunity on federal forest lands across Oregon. The purpose of this working paper is to provide an update for the investments made by the FFR Program for the 2019–2021 state funding biennium as well as an assessment of the tangible and intangible impacts of those investments over the same period. Previous findings for Oregon state fiscal years (FY) 2014–2019, including a cumulative report, are reported elsewhere. This report presents: 1) FFR Program expenditures, 2) economic impacts of FFR Program expenditures, 3) on-the-ground accomplishments of FFR Program expenditures, and 4) stakeholders’ perspectives about FFR Program successes and current and future challenges.Item Open Access Perceptions of Air Quality and Smoke in Oakridge, Oregon Perceptions Oregon: Results from pilot interviews with key informants(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2022) University of Oregon. Ecosystem Workforce Program; Kaplowitz, Grace; Deak, Alison; Coughlan, Michael; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Smith, Hollie; Shafer, AutumnThis report summarizes the results of the Oakridge Air community key informant (or community leader) interviews on air quality and smoke. This research was conducted as a pilot project to discern community understanding, perceptions, and awareness of air quality and smoke issues in the Oregon communities of Oakridge and Westfir, and to inform a survey to be distributed to households in Oakridge-Westfir for further study. Oakridge has historically been ranked among the top 20 communities in the United States with the worst air quality due to high concentrations of particulate matter (PM2.5) from home wood heating (wood stove) and wildfire smoke. Due to the steep topography of the area and Oakridge’s location in a basin-shaped valley bottom, the community is prone to atmospheric inversions that trap seasonal wildfire smoke and wintertime home heating woodsmoke in the community.Item Open Access Oregon Wildfire Smoke Communications and Impacts: An Evaluation of the 2020 Wildfire Season(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2022) Coughlan, Michael R.; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Clark, Benjamin; Deak, AlisonOregon Health Authority and the University of Oregon partnered to conduct a survey-based evaluation of wildfire smoke communications and impacts experienced by Oregon residents during the 2020 wildfire season. The purpose of this survey was to (1) understand how Oregonians respond to wildfire smoke and (2) provide an open-source evaluation tool and data to support wildfire smoke communication practitioners in Oregon. This evaluation is intended to guide improvement of public risk communication, programs, and recommendations. This document is intended to inform practitioners and staff at public agencies (public health, emergency management, natural resource management), academics, and community members about key findings and recommendations from the survey related to: 1. patterns and correlations surrounding information sources and needs. 2. patterns around health behaviors related to preventing smoke exposure. 3. information relevant for raising awareness and preparedness of specific risk groups. 4. potential areas and questions for future research.Item Open Access Data: Oregon Wildfire Smoke Communications and Impacts(University of Oregon, 2022) Coughlan, Michael R.; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Clark, BenjaminItem Open Access Communicating with the public about wildland fire preparation, response, and recovery : a literature review of recent research with recommendations for managers(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2021) Santo, Anna; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Smith, Hollie M., 1986-This literature review synthesizes empirical research about wildland fire communication to provide practitioners, such as land managers, public health and safety officials, community groups, and others working with the public, evidence-based recommendations for communication work. Key findings demonstrate that it is important to recognize communication as a context-specific and dynamic process, not a linear pathway or prescription, or one-size-fits-all approach. We found that practitioners engaging in this work may be most effective when they get to know their diverse publics, engage in honest and sincere relationship building, and communicate in ways that are locally and culturally relevant. This review offers recommendations from the academic literature for how and where to engage in communication about wildland fire and smoke from wildland fire. These recommendations are not intended to be a set of rigid prescriptions; rather, they are intended to provide a starting point for practitioners to think about the multiple ways to engage with the diverse groups with whom they work.Item Open Access Survey Instrument: Oregon Wildfire Smoke Communications and Impacts(University of Oregon, 2021) Coughlan, Michael R.; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Clark, BenjaminOregon Health Authority and University of Oregon partnered to conduct a survey-based evaluation of wildfire smoke communications and impacts experienced by Oregon residents during the 2020 wildfire season. This survey was intended to inform academic and public agency practitioners to guide improvement of public risk communication, programs, and recommendations. Two recruitment methods were used and the survey was offered in both English and Spanish. Archived is the survey instrument written in English. 12 pp.Item Open Access Forest lands in Oregon and Washington : forestland ownership, timber, and mills(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2019) University of Oregon. Ecosystem Workforce Program; United States. Forest Service. Pacific Northwest RegionPart of year three of "The Forest Service and Communities: The Relationships Between Land and People in the Pacific Northwest Region" [Ecosystem Workforce Program Working Paper #72]. This document is one of three products created for the third year of the project, which are collectively classified as EWP Working Paper #95. The forested landscape of the Pacific Northwest is integral to the economy of the region. In this document, we show the prevalence of federal forestland across Washington and Oregon, and how both state’s forest industry and related economies have changed over the years, with a focus on current conditions.Item Open Access National forests of the Pacific Northwest region : supplemental figures of selected data by forest and state(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2019) University of Oregon. Ecosystem Workforce Program; United States. Forest Service. Pacific Northwest RegionPart of year three of "The Forest Service and Communities: The Relationships Between Land and People in the Pacific Northwest Region" [Ecosystem Workforce Program Working Paper #72]. This document is one of three products created for the third year of the project, which are collectively classified as EWP Working Paper #95. This document includes overview figures created throughout the three years of the Forest Service and Communities project. The intent is to illustrate selected data collected by the Forest Service for a variety of measures at both the regional level and for each national forest unit in the region. These figures do not represent the full breadth and depth of data collected by the Forest Service, but serve as examples of how data can be displayed. On this first spread we present basic context data–the total area, average budget, and average personnel during recent years for each national forest unit. These basic overview data are included on each of the following pages to provide context for unit-level accomplishments.Item Open Access The Forest Service and partnerships : cross-boundary collaboration in the Pacific Northwest region(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2019) University of Oregon. Ecosystem Workforce Program; United States. Forest Service. Pacific Northwest RegionPart of year three of "The Forest Service and Communities: The Relationships Between Land and People in the Pacific Northwest Region" [Ecosystem Workforce Program Working Paper #72]. This document is one of three products created for the third year of the project, which are collectively classified as EWP Working Paper #95. Collaboration has deep roots in national forests and communities in Oregon and Washington. This is evident in the diversity, number, and work of forest collaboratives as well as the prevalence of collaborative programs working across jurisdictional boundaries. Collaboration can provide Forest Service staff opportunities to address local community priorities, build community capacity, leverage resources, and increase accomplishments and benefits across the board. All 16 national forests and the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area have forest collaborative groups associated with them. Land management policies in the last two decades have also had an important impact on national forests and communities in Oregon and Washington. In particular, all 16 national forests have used Good Neighbor Authority, seven forests contain current or former Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration projects, and five forests have Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration projects. These projects alone have engaged hundreds of different partnering organizations.