NASS_comments_Revised_Questionnaire

Survey Instrument

[Note: This document will be mailed to potential interviewees and will also be used as a transcript for interviewers conducting the telephone survey.]

Date:     

BLM/USFS:      

Region/State:      

Project:      

Who:

Agency person

Community member

Contractor

Other:

State agency

NGO________________

_____________________

Why don’t you list state agency and NGO as regular categories as opposed to sticking them under other?

FY      PROGRAMMATIC MONITORING:

The Role of Local Communities in Development of Stewardship Contracting Agreements or Contract Plans

Participants: When Congress authorized the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to use stewardship contracting, it also required that the agencies provide an annual report on the role of local communities in the development of agreements or contract plans under that authority. In the preparation of this report, a stratified random sample among existing stewardship contracting projects is surveyed each year, and the       stewardship contracting project you are involved in was one of those selected for review. We anticipate that your involvement in this telephone survey/interview will take no longer than 30-minutes. But the docket says 30 – 45 minutes!

A sample survey form has been included with this e-mail, so that you may have the opportunity to review the questions prior to the telephone survey/interview. Plans are to conduct the telephone surveys/interviews from [insert Month xx, year xxxx through Month xx, year xxxx].

The Pinchot Institute for Conservation is coordinating this study under contract with the Forest Service and the BLM – should be written out not initialized. Your name will not be associated with the interviewer’s notes from the phone survey and the names of those interviewed will not be retained. The information collected in this interview will be analyzed and used by both the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to inform the agencies’ yearly report to Congress on stewardship contracting implementation. The survey responses will not be shared with other organizations inside and outside the government but the results of the analysis of the survey responses, through their its inclusion in the FS and BLM this is the only spot they are initialized, so should they be written out here too report to Congress, will be available for use by organizations both inside and outside the government.

Participating in the interview is completely voluntary. Your participation assumes your understanding and acceptance of this voluntary agreement. Your decision to participate or not will not affect your current or future relations with the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, the Pinchot Institute for Conservation or      (insert local/regional subcontractor name here).

On behalf of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, the Pinchot Institute would like to thank you in advance for your thoughtful and candid responses to the following questions related to stewardship contracting in your community.

You are/have been involved in the       stewardship contracting project.

1a. If someone asked you to explain stewardship contracting, what would you say? Please check all that apply.

A new contracting mechanism

Goods for services

A way to get work done on the ground

Collaboration with local communities

Benefits to local communities

Other. Please specify.

You may want to consider adding blank lines next to all of your “Other. Please specify.” entries.

1b. Has your view of stewardship contracting changed since you became involved in this project? Yes No Maybe Don’t know

If yes, how has it changed? Please check all that apply.

Perceive stewardship contracting to be more complicated

More positive and encouraged about stewardship contracting

Less optimistic about stewardship contracting

Positive about community collaboration

Understand it better

View stewardship contracting as required by the agency

Stewardship contracting is too bureaucratic

Believe stewardship contracting is way to get work done

Perceive local benefits

Didn’t know anything before

Other. Please specify.

I want to ask about community involvement in your project.

2. Who initiated the project? Agency Non-agency Joint Don’t know

3. Who has been involved?      

	Check all that apply.	What is the scale of involvement
		Local	State	Regional	National
USDA Forest Service
Bureau of Land Management
Other Federal agencies
Tribal interests
State agencies
Local governmental interests
Community business interests
Environmental conservation groups
Fire interests/organizations
Adjacent landowners/residents
Recreation interests/users
Educators/educational interests
Wildlife and fisheries groups
Right to access groups
Project contractors
Other (Please specify)      

I think the font is too small in the tables throughout the questionnaire. If it is being sent by email it isn’t a big deal (you can always zoom in, but it would be better to just incrase the font size.

4a. What is/was the role of the local community in the       stewardship contracting project?

	Check all that apply.
Planning and design.
Development of alternatives.
Comments and recommendations.
Public outreach and education.
Participation in NEPA process.
Implementation.
Provision of technical information.
Becoming informed.
Providing and/or acquiring funding.
Monitoring.
Representation of concerned/affected local interests
Other: (Please specify)

4b. What did you use as a definition of “local community” when you answered this question?

Counties/Parishes around the forest

Communities/towns around the forest

Whole state/large region of state

Adjacent landowners/neighbors

Forest users

Tribal nations

Other agencies

All affected people/areas

Other: Please specify

Make sure the spacing of the response options is equal. For example below, “Discussions with local government” is too close to “Media”.

5. What outreach efforts are being/have been used specifically by the Forest Service, BLM, or others to get people involved in the project? Please check all that apply.

Traditional public meetings

Collaborative process meetings

Direct mail

Email

Personal contacts

Media (newspaper, radio, television)

Field tours

Presentations to existing community groups

Presentations to other organizations other than existing community groups

New Collaborative Group

Discussions with local government

Workshops

Meetings with existing collaborative groups

Other: Please specify

6a. To what degree would you consider community involvement in the       stewardship

contracting project to be collaborative?

V ery collaborative Somewhat collaborative Not collaborative Don’t Know

I think the labels would be better if they were formatted on two lines so they were really right below the appropriate box. For example, the box would be on one line, “very” would be right below it on the next line, and “collaborative” would be right below that on the third line.

6b. How did you define collaborative collaboration when you were answering this question?

Working with others

Achieving a common goal

Commenting on a proposed project

Working with other agencies

Increased level of public participation

(You need a verb here) Long term relationships

Including diverse people and interests

Having meetings

Negative about collaboration (This response category is very unclear and doesn’t seem consistent with the other options.)

Other: Please specify.

_______________________________

7. What were the reasons you personally decided to become involved with this project (what were the circumstances)? Please check all that apply.

Part of your job responsibilities

Interested in accomplishing work on the ground

Initiated the project

Contacted to bid on the project

Due to experiences with previous stewardship contracting projects

Due to your role in the community

Live near the project

Own property near the project

A business opportunity

Interested in collaboration

Interested in using /trying stewardship contracting tool

There was a problem to solve

Other: Please specify

8a. Are there individuals or interests you believe should be/should have been involved in the missing the title box blank here stewardship contracting project that aren’t/weren’t?

Yes

No

Don’t know

8b. If yes, who?

	Check all that apply.	At what scale should these individuals or interests be involved?				Why should they be involved? See list below for options -Include all that apply.
		Local	State	Regional	National
USDA Forest Service
Bureau of Land Management
Other Federal agencies
Tribal interests
State agencies
Local government interests
Community business interests
Environmental/conservation groups
Fire interests/organizations
Adjacent landowners and residents
Recreation interests/users
Educators/educational interests
Wildlife and fisheries groups
Right to access groups
Project contractors
Other (Please specify)      

1. To avoid misunderstanding.

2. Because they are users of the area

3. To avoid appeals and/or litigation

4. Because they are a constraint to implementation

5. A need to be inclusive

6. Because they have valuable expertise to share

7. A need for local knowledge

8. Because they are potentially affected by the project

9. Other (please explain)

9. Are there resources that community members needed to facilitate their participation in the project? This is not clear to me if you are seeking to know all resources community members need or just the ones they need and didn’t get.

Yes

No

Don’t know

If yes, please check the appropriate boxes in the table below:

	Check if needed	Check if received	From whom	For what specific purpose
Financial
Training
In-kind time, services, facilities
Technical
Other (Please describe)

10. Please rate the local benefits of the       stewardship contracting project on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being very high and 5 being very low.

these boxes should be the same width

	Very High				Very Low	Don’t Know
	1	2	3	4	5
Economic benefits
More local jobs I don’t think these responses need italics.
More on-the-ground work accomplished
Greater opportunity to use local contractors
Other: please specify
Increased collaboration
Improved efficiency and effectiveness
Improved public trust
Specific project outcomes (Please identify & rate each) _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________
Other: Please describe

10. Please rate the benefits of community involvement in the       stewardship contracting project on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being very high and 5 being very low.

these boxes should be the same width

	Very High				Very Low	Don’t Know
	1	2	3	4	5
Broader understanding and consideration of diverse interests
Improved trust
Increased opportunity for public input
Improved sense of project ownership
Increased support for the agency
Other: Please describe

I’m not sure about adding “or opposed” to the questions below, but it seems more balanced. You may want to check with someone who knows more about questionnaire design and question wording.

10. How widely supported or opposed do you believe this stewardship contracting project is/was in the community?

Widely supported

Somewhat supported

Indifferent

Somewhat opposed

Widely opposed

Generally unaware

I don’t know

10. How widely supported or opposed do you believe this stewardship contracting project is/was in the agency [Forest Service and/or BLM]?

Widely supported

Somewhat supported

Indifferent

Somewhat opposed

Widely opposed

Generally unaware

I don’t know

10. Are there any lessons that you learned about community involvement through this project that you would like to share?       I’d recommend displaying more space here, or omitting the specific gray box altogether.

10. Based on your experience in this project, would you participate in another stewardship contracting project? Yes No Maybe

Please explain.       I’d recommend displaying more space here, or omitting the specific gray box altogether.

10. Are there any additional comments you want to make about either stewardship contracting generally or your personal experience with it?       I’d recommend displaying more space here, or omitting the specific gray box altogether.

BURDEN AND NONDISCRIMINATION STATEMENTS

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0596-0201. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 30 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call toll free (866) 632-9992 (voice). TDD users can contact USDA through local relay or the Federal relay at (800) 877-8339 (TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (relay voice). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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