The Western Governors’ National Forest and Rangeland Management Initiative of Montana Governor Steve Bullock, launched in 2016, created a mechanism for states and land managers to share best practices and policy options for forest and rangeland management. The first-year’s work of the initiative developed 48 legislative and regulatory recommendations; in the following year 6 of the 18 legislative recommendations were enacted into law in addition to a solution for ‘fire-borrowing.’ The work of the initiative is now being continued in the WGA Working Lands Roundtable.
This workshop of the Chairman's Initiative was hosted by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Jan. 23-24, 2017, in Bend, Ore. Governor Brown, in her keynote, said "we accomplish more working together.” U.S. Forest Service Deputy Chief Leslie Weldon also delivered a keynote. Roundtable discussions examined how to get the most out of collaboration and ways to support and diversify rural economies.
This webinar examined risks to power systems on public and private forests and rangelands, as well as evaluating how proper management can improve electricity reliability and mitigate wildfire danger. Panel moderator: Anne Beard, Manager, Vegetation Management and T&D Asset Management, Public Service Company of New Mexico. Panelists: Randy Miller, Director, Vegetation Management, PacifiCorp; Reggie Woodruff, Energy Program Manager, U.S. Forest Service; Tom Sullivan, Audit Committee Chair, Right-of-Way Stewardship Council. Watch, download presentation slides.
In 2015, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) partnered with The Nature Conservancy to release a five-year report on the USFS’s Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program. The report gives details on 23 different collaborative programs across the US, and offers recommendations for successful collaboratives.
The 2014 Farm Bill created or permanently authorized several tools that help federal forest managers better collaborate with states, local governments and community stakeholder groups. These authorities and their application will be a major focus of Gov. Bullock’s Chairman’s Initiative.
The National Forest and Rangeland Management Initiative was the central policy effort of Montana Governor Steve Bullock as Chair of the Western Governors’ Association. The Initiative highlighted mechanisms to bring states, federal land managers, private landowners and other stakeholders together to discuss forest and rangeland management. A report on the Initiative was released at WGA’s 2017 Annual Meeting in Montana. Learn more by watching the video.
