Dear Friends:
The NNFP is requesting proposals from Network members and other community groups to help organize a series of workshops, designed to help rural communities access opportunities associated with the national fire plan and large scale watershed projects. More broadly, these workshops are also intended to help communities make progress toward sustainability and expand opportunities for collaboration with land management agencies.
This program is part of national, coordinated effort aimed at strengthening the capacity of communities across the country to participate in planning, implementation, and monitoring of the national fire plan and large-scale watershed projects. Joining the NNFP as partners in this effort are American Forests, the Communities Committee of the 7th American Forest Congress, the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, the Society of American Foresters, the Watershed Research and Training Center, and the USDA Forest Service. Support is being provided by the Ford Foundation and the Forest Service.
A complete description of the program, including application guidelines, is attached. If you woudl like a hard copy of the RFP, please contact Susan LaPolice at 401-273-6507 or [email protected]. The deadline for applications is Wednesday, November 21st.
Regards,
Thomas Brendler
Executive Director
Request for Partners
Community Workshops
associated with the
National Fire Plan and Large Scale Watershed Projects
The National Network of Forest Practitioners (NNFP) is requesting proposals from Network members and other community groups to help organize a series of workshops, designed to help rural communities access opportunities associated with the national fire plan and large scale watershed projects. More broadly, these workshops are also intended to help communities make progress toward sustainability and expand opportunities for collaboration with land management agencies.
This program is part of national, coordinated effort aimed at strengthening the capacity of communities across the country to participate in planning, implementation, and monitoring of the national fire plan and large-scale watershed projects. Joining the NNFP as partners in this effort are American Forests, the Communities Committee of the 7th American Forest Congress, the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, the Society of American Foresters, the Watershed Research and Training Center, and the USDA Forest Service. Support is being provided by the Ford Foundation and the Forest Service.
Background
The National Fire Plan
In the fall of 2000, Congress appropriated $1.6 billion for the National Fire Plan. The National Fire Plan has five focus areas: 1) increasing firefighting resources, 2) restoring forested ecosystems and rehabilitating communities damaged by fire, 3) reducing hazardous fuels by treating forests through thinning and prescribed fire to reduce the future threat of destructive wildfires, 4) building capacity in and collaborating with communities to restore landscapes damaged by wildfire and reduce future wildfire risk; and 5) ensuring agency accountability. One of the most significant parts of the funding appropriated by Congress for the National Fire Plan is "Title IV." Title IV (which became "Title II" in the FY 2002 appropriations bill) gives explicit direction to federal agencies to employ innovative tools such as working with non-profits and employing creative contract mechanisms for project implementation.
The new fire strategy has raised a number of concerns among rural communities. Chief concerns are: 1) environmental safeguards on the proposed restoration work may be inadequate, resulting in destructive impacts on the land; 2) environmental safeguards may be too restrictive, not allowing adequate fuels reduction work to be carried out; 3) because forest work-tree planting, thinning, road closures and maintenance, and non-timber forest products harvesting-is increasingly carried out by lower income working-class people and people of color, there are heightened longstanding concerns about marginalization and discrimination.
Perhaps most importantly, the enormous amount of funding and acreage involved in the restoration effort, together with the short time frame in which the work was to get underway, has led many forest practitioners, particularly practitioners in the existing restoration workforce, to fear that their skills, experience, resources, and small size will make it difficult to compete for and carry out restoration contracts. As a result, those who have worked over the past decade to create and take advantage of opportunities for small, local, light-on-the-land enterprises, and local and mobile contract workers, are concerned that rural communities will once again become dependent on large, non-local firms. These concerns were underscored in the recent Senate testimony of Forest Service Fire Plan Coordinator Lyle Laverty, who cited the limited contracting capabilities of many rural communities as an impediment to achieving the goals of the fire plan.
Large-Scale Watershed Projects
In a parallel effort, the Forest Service in 1999 began changing the way it approaches watershed management. To explore the use of holistic community-based watershed restoration, the agency sponsored fifteen Community-Based Watershed Restoration Partnerships. These partnerships are designed to support, maintain, and develop partnerships that protect and restore large watersheds and provide multiple benefits to the ecosystem, to the people and to communities.. As part of this effort, agency staff were being asked to 1) develop and expand partnerships with local people and communities, tribes and other government agencies, and with private organizations, 2) work across multiple ownerships of land, 3) focus resources to get the most urgent work done first, and 4) use a business plan to focus their efforts.
The Community-based Watershed Restoration Partnerships are working models of private-public ventures delivering priority conservation practices on the landscape. They sustain this work through community alliances, science and technology applications, business practices, and marketing and communications programs that collectively provide value to society and to the environment. These pioneering partnerships demonstrate multiple benefits from community stewardship at a watershed scale and help connect people and communities to their watersheds. They are changing the way the Forest Service conducts business in restoring watersheds with public and partners.
For more information on the National Fire Plan, visit www.fireplan.gov. Information on the Large-Scale Watershed Projects can be found at www.fs.fed.us/largewatershedprojects.
Workshops
With support from the Ford Foundation and the USDA Forest Service, the National Network of Forest Practitioners is sponsoring a series of community led workshops to help rural communities across the country access opportunities associated with the national fire plan and large-scale watershed projects,
Examples of potential workshops include, but are not limited to:
1. "Fire & Water 101": Understanding the Fire Plan and Large-Scale Watershed Projects (scope, spending bill authorities, points of access, funding opportunities, etc.)
2. Effective monitoring: community involvement, methodology, criteria and indicators, etc.
3. Forest product utilization & marketing
4. Small business development
5. Access to work, such as ecosystem workforce job training, directly linked to work opportunities generated under National Fire Plan and/or Large-Scale Watershed Projects.
6. Understanding contracting and procurement processes, and writing successful bids for contracts
7. Understanding the current workforce, work opportunities, and skills needed
8. Building a strong, integrated workforce that includes local community members and mobile workers
9. Building structures for collaboration within a community and among communities, federal and nonfederal agencies, and other entities involved in planning to address wildfire risks, fire fighting, and post-fire restoration
10. Community consensus building and partnerships (uniting diverse and isolated groups around common goals)
11. Development of a community strategic plan
12. Forums for other topics of community interest
Selection Criteria
The National Network of Forest has identified the following criteria for potential workshops and will use these to evaluate responses. Applicants are encouraged to refer to these criteria in formulating their proposals.
Eligible workshops would:
1. Strengthen the capacity of a community or group of communities to participate in community fire planning and the implementation of the National Fire Plan and Large-Scale Watershed Projects by providing an opportunity for community members to gain skills, increase their access to resources and information, develop networks, etc.
2. Identify and address significant challenges, and opportunities, facing these communities
3. Have a lasting, positive impact on the community
4. Involve a diverse community of people and interests
5. Include plans for monitoring progress, evaluating impact, documenting results, and sharing methods, materials, and lessons
6. Lend themselves to adaptation and replication in other parts of the country
7. Make constructive use of a small amount of support (under $15,000) (e.g., by adapting an existing workshop module or leveraging support with other funding.)
8. Link to other resources, partners, and existing systems, like Fire Wise/Fire Safe Councils, local fire departments, Forest Service Ranger Districts, etc.
9. Include a module that provides basic information on the Fire Plan and Large-Scale Watershed Projects, along the lines of "Fire Plan & 101" above.
Complementing these efforts:
10. The NNFP and other organizations will be available to provide some assistance to workshop organizers in developing workshop materials and disseminating information produced.
11. Considering that these workshops represent a national, coordinated effort, workshop providers may be asked to coordinate their efforts or collaborate directly with others organizing workshops under this program.
Application Procedures
All application packages must include:
-Completed General Information Sheet (1 page)
-Proposal (Complete questions in 3-4 pages maximum)
-Budget (Project and organizational budget[s])
Send all application materials to:
NNFP Fire and Water RFP
305 South Main Street
Providence, RI 02903
Fax (401-273-6508) or email ([email protected]) is also acceptable.
Applications must be postmarked no later than Wednesday, November 21st, 2001. (Applications received after that date will be reviewed on a rolling basis, as resources permit.) Applicants will be notified within 2-3 weeks from receipt of their proposal. Work must be completed by June 30, 2002.
Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns, or if you need assistance in completing the application. Requests for assistance will not influence the review process.
GENERAL INFORMATION SHEET
Organization/Business: _______________________________________________
Contact name and title: _______________________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________________________
Telephone: ____________________ Fax: _______________________
Email: ____________________
Project Title: ___________________________________________________________
Geographic region to be covered: ___________________________________________
2-3 Sentence Summary of Workshop:
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Total project budget: ________________
Total request from NNFP ($15,000 maximum; smaller requests encouraged):
______________
Total annual organizational budget: ________________
PROPOSAL
Please answer the following questions as concisely as possible, using 3-4 pages maximum, excluding the budget.
1. Briefly describe your organization's mission, activities, size, and location in proximity to the community/communities you intend to work with. If a business, describe your business.
2. Please describe the kinds of technical assistance your organization has provided in the past (e.g. workshops, workbooks, etc.), especially as it relates to the planned work.
3. What are the goals of the workshop or series of workshops you plan to organize? What changes do you hope to see in your community as the result of this workshop?
4. Why is this topic(s) important to your community?
5. Who is the intended audience? How many people do you expect to involve? To what extent will the audience include people who haven't been traditionally involved in forestry?
6. Is this workshop part of a larger initiative or program? If so, please briefly explain.
7. Who will lead the workshop(s)? Please describe their experience and other qualifications.
8. What partners (agencies, schools, non-profits, etc.) do you plan to engage in planning , organizing, and/or facilitating the workshops? How do you plan to link with existing resources, partners, and existing systems, like Fire Wise/Fire Safe Councils, local fire departments, Forest Service Ranger Districts, etc?
9. What kind of documentation do you plan to produce as part of organizing the workshop(s)? How and to whom do you plan to disseminate any such documentation?
10. What kind of workshop or training materials do you intend to create? Do you foresee requiring any assistance from the NNFP or other organizations in developing workshop materials?
11. Do you plan to make the workshop(s) adaptable to other regions? How?
12. How do you plan to evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop(s)?
13. Please explain or present a timeline showing when project activities will take place, and when project products will be produced and disseminated.
14. Budget
Don't forget to attach project- and organizational budgets.
