Committee member discussion:

- • The principles are good and are focused on people, which is important. Listening and learning is important, but it needs to be translated into action in order to be effective. People are a part of nature and we should incorporate people into how we think about and manage our natural resources.
- • Value-orientation method may be helpful to evaluate our assumptions and figure out where there may be areas of agreement.
- • The memo include a number of general recommendations that are important, especially two-way communication. Listening is important, but is hard to implement and really utilize. The memo is general enough to provide the committee with the flexibility to pursue this in whatever way is most helpful. As we approach moving forward it will require more learning about the communities we are working with and being responsive to their needs. Over time hopefully we will be putting more flesh on the bones.
- • DNR program intent is to be specific in how we respond to these recommendations. The memo makes clear that when DNR is making investments through HB1168 we should include holistic and thorough consultation. That is something we want to strive for, but will likely need help to figure out exactly what that looks like. Implementing these recommendations may take time be an iterative process.
- • The memo is a strong start and a great place to build from. Impacts from wildfires and the forest health crisis disproportionately affect communities of color. We can’t expect that the same approaches we use in one community will necessarily work in another community. Building strategies for implementation with communities is going to be important if we’re going to be successful.
- • It will be important to share lessons learned about what is working in our community engagement work.
- • The geospatial recommendation suggests that DNR should invest in the collection of data so that the agency and partners can make more equitable decisions in the future.
- • The recommendations are broad and challenging to think about how to apply in a project-level setting. Sometimes when we hear concerns of communities they don’t align with best available science or our management direction. It’s unclear when it’s an issue of EJ and when we may need to make a decision to move forward with a project because it’s what’s best for the land or to effectively reduce wildfire risk.
- • The amount of outreach and energy put into community engagement and outreach should be commensurate with the potential benefit or impact to the interested communities and stakeholders.
- • Regulation should be effectively mitigating harm to people. The group briefly discussed the interaction between these recommendations and the potential for harm. For example, if we are burning piles, the smoke impacts are based on air quality standards, not on the affected community.
- • Data may be imperfect, but utilizing data to inform projects and investments are important as we try to visualize and evaluate different values and interests. Data is not always used for the purpose it was intended and we may want to consider how to refer back to the intended use in the evaluation process.
- • The data in question is primarily demographic and socio-economic data, but also include environmental factors such as air quality. So, the data referenced in the memo includes those potential data.

Committee Chair, Terra Rentz, shared a redline version of the recommendations based on the feedback of the group today. An introductory statement was added to the beginning of the memo. Language was amended and added to the recommendations to provide flexibility and clarify the intent of the recommendations. There was a process suggestion to ask the Forest Resilience Division Planning and Science staff to review the recommendations, consider how they may be operationalized and to make recommended modifications for committee review. DNR staff will review the recommendations and come back to the committee in February with an updated draft document.