The Role of Local Communities in the Development of Agreement or Contract Plans through Stewardship Contracting -State, tribal, local Govt.

OMB # 0596-0201

Expires:

FY      PROGRAMMATIC MONITORING:

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

Interview protocol

Stewardship Contracting Case Studies

[Note: This document will be provided to potential interviewees and will also be used as a transcript for the telephone interview. This form has 2 interviews, one designed for Forest Service (Agency) personnel and one designed for non-agency stakeholders. Only one interview is used per interviewee.]

Date:      Region/State:     

Project:      

Who:

Agency person

Community member

Contractor

Other:

State agency

NGO________________

_____________________

Participants: The Forest Service is required to report to Congress annually on its use of stewardship contracting authorities. Part of this includes reporting on the role of non-agency stakeholders and communities in stewardship contracts and agreements. The Pinchot Institute and its partners are completing a series of case studies on stewardship contracting projects on behalf of the Forest Service as part of the Congressional reporting process and to inform the agencies' ongoing use of stewardship contracting authorities and its work with communities and other non-agency stakeholders in the stewardship of Federal public lands. We are contacting you to participate in a brief interview about your involvement and/or knowledge of the ________ project. This project was selected from a list of stewardship projects nationwide that were active between 2012 and 2015. 

The following informed consent statement must be read to everyone.

This interview will be recorded. Projects will not be identified and respondent names will not be associated with the transcripts or identified in case studies. Once interviews are transcribed, the recordings will be destroyed so they cannot be associated directly with respondents.

Are you willing to proceed with the interview?

Agency Personnel Interview

First we would like to ask you a few background questions about your experience with stewardship contracting:

1. How many SC projects have you been a part of?

2. What is your role in THIS project?

NOTE: Let the agency interviewee answer this question but use the following prompts if you feel their response needs clarification: E.g. pre-NEPA, NEPA, creating the Stewardship proposal, creating the stewardship contract, contract administration of the contract, monitoring of the contract.

3. How long have you been involved with this project?

4. Was stewardship contracting a consideration for this project prior to the NEPA decision?

5. Would you consider yourself “local” to the project area?

1. From your perspective, what are the project objectives and anticipated outcomes of this project?

2. In the next group of questions I want to ask are about who participated in (name specific project) and how they participated.

2a. Who are the primary non-agency stakeholders in the project (e.g. people who have participated the most)? If they name an organization, follow up on the name of a person(s). Be sure to get the contact info for everyone on the list of primary participants.

Are there other stakeholders who have participated at some point? If yes, ask who and how they participated.

(List primary non-agency folks in the table (SEE NEXT PAGE) below to keep track of who the primary non-agency stakeholders are and to organize responses to 2b and 2c)

2b. For each primary non-agency stakeholder ask about their involvement in project stages. (see list below and in the table).

If the interviewee says that a person or group participated in a phase, ask them to explain how or what they actually did.

Example: You listed Tribal Nation X as a non-agency participant in the project. What project stages/parts of the project were they involved in…

How did Tribal nation X participate in NEPA scoping? What exactly did they do?

The following list of example non-agency roles is here to help you probe rather than walk through every stage for every non-agency stakeholder:

• Conceiving of the project idea/approaching the agency with the idea prior to NEPA analysis

• NEPA scoping (i.e. planning and analysis) (Example probes: Did the agency do a schedule of proposed activities notification? Were there public meetings?, field tours?)

• Involved in creating the agency proposal for the stewardship project

• Project implementation

• Project monitoring

Note for interviewer: the table below is a way to keep yourself organized as you conduct the interview and make sure you don’t miss anybody.

Stakeholder Name	Approached agency with the project idea/pre-NEPA planning	NEPA scoping/ planning/analysis	Stewardship Contract proposal preparation	Stewardship Project Implementa-tion	Project Monitoring	Other [briefly explain]	Participation resulted in improved decision making?	Participation resulted in implemen-tation?

2c. For each primary non-agency stakeholder (go through list), do you think their participation:

• Resulted in improved decision making about the project? Please explain why ….

• Resulted in getting the project implemented on the ground? Please explain why….

2d. What types of involvement do you believe are most important for engagement of non-agency stakeholders?

2e.You said that you believe that (example: monitoring) is most important. Are you satisfied with the level of involvement of non-agency stakeholders in this project in (e.g. monitoring)? Please explain why or why not.

3. The next set of questions are about relationships and communication between the Forest Service and non-agency stakeholders.

3a. Do you think relationships between the primary non-agency stakeholders in this project (ask this question for each primary nonagency stakeholder on the list) and the Forest Service have changed as a result of their participation (non-agency stakeholder) in this SC project?

If yes, please explain what factors led to this change and give examples.

3b. Overall, has this project changed the way the Forest Service communicates with non-agency stakeholders? Explain and give examples.

3c. Overall, based on your experiences with stewardship contracting what things do you think contribute to the quality of the relationships between non-agency stakeholders and the Forest Service either positively or negatively?

4. 4a. Has the involvement of non-agency stakeholders influenced the size/ scale of this project? Please explain.

4b. Has the involvement of non-agency stakeholders influenced the complexity/scope of this project? Please explain.

5. What do you think is most challenging about non-agency stakeholder participation in the stewardship contracting projects? Please explain. Examples?

6. In your view, is/was (name the specific SC project) a success? Explain why or why not.

Non-Agency Stakeholder Interview

First we would like to ask you a few background questions about your experience with stewardship contracting:

1. How many SC projects have you been a part of?

2. What is your role in THIS project?

3. How long have you been involved with this project?

4. Would you consider yourself “local” to the project area?

IMPORTANT: If the person says they were not involved with the project, know nothing about the project or were only peripherally associated with the project, PLEASE thanks them and terminate the interview. We need to interview PRIMARY non-agency stakeholders.

1. From your perspective, what are the project objectives and anticipated outcomes of this project?

2. In the next group of questions I want to ask about who participated in (name specific project) and specifically how you and/or your organization participated.

2a. The agency person we interviewed listed the following as primary (e.g. people who have participated the most) non-agency stakeholders in the project (Read the list from the agency interview). Is there anyone you would add to that list? (If so, be sure to get contact information)

Are there other stakeholders who have participated at some point? If yes, ask who and how they participated.

2b. FOCUS on the participation of the person you are interviewing and/or their organization.

I would like to ask you a few questions about how you and/or your organization participated in the _________ project. What project stages/parts of the project were you involved in.

How were you involved in that stage? What exactly did you do?

The following list of example non-agency roles is here to help you probe rather than walk through every stage for every non-agency stakeholder:

• Conceiving of the project idea/approaching the agency with the idea prior to NEPA analysis

• NEPA scoping (i.e. planning and analysis) (Example probes: Did the agency do a schedule of proposed activities notification? Were there public meetings?, field tours?)

• Involved in creating the agency proposal for the stewardship project

• Project implementation

• Project monitoring

Note for interviewer: the table below is a way to keep yourself organized as you conduct the interview and make sure you don’t miss anybody.

Stakeholder Name	Approached agency with the project idea/pre-NEPA planning	NEPA scoping/ planning/analysis	Stewardship Contract proposal preparation	Stewardship Project Implementa-tion	Project Monitoring	Other [briefly explain]	Participation resulted in improved decision making?	Participation resulted in implemen-tation?

2c. Do you think your participation:

• Resulted in improved decision making about the project? Please explain why ….

• Resulted in getting the project implemented on the ground? Please explain why….

2d. You listed several parts of (name SC project), that you and/or your organization were involved in like (list a few from 2b above)……

• Which of these kinds of involvement that you listed, do you believe are most important for engagement of non-agency stakeholders?

• You said that you believe that (example: monitoring) is most important? Are you satisfied with the level of involvement of non-agency stakeholders in this project in (monitoring)? Please explain why or why not.

3. The next set of questions are about relationships and communication between the Forest Service and you and your organization.

3a. Do you think relationships between you and/or your organization and the Forest Service have changed as a result of your participation (non-agency stakeholder) in this SC project?

If yes, please explain what factors led to this change and give examples.

3b. Specifically, has this project changed the way the Forest Service communicates with you and/or your organization? Explain.

3c. Overall, based on your experiences with stewardship contracting, what things do you think contribute to the quality of the relationships between non-agency stakeholders and the Forest Service either positively or negatively?

4. 4a. Has the involvement of non-agency stakeholders (in general, not specifically your organization) influenced the size/ scale of this project? Please explain.

4b. Has the involvement of non-agency stakeholders influenced the complexity/scope of this project? Please explain.

5. What do you think is most challenging about non-agency stakeholder participation in the stewardship contracting projects? Please explain. Examples?

6. In your view, is/was (name specific SC project) a success? Explain why or why not.

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