Fuels Planning: Science Synthesis and

Integration

Social Issues Fact Sheet: 1

Developing Personal Responsibility for Fuels

Reduction: Building a Successful Program to

Engage Property Owners

United States

Department

of Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

Research Note

RMRS-RN-21-1-WWW

September 2004

In the course of your work as a land manager, you will no doubt be involved in

developing programs to achieve various objectives, including the improvement

of fuels management on private lands. There has been extensive research on

how to develop effective programs, and this series of fact sheets synthesizes that

information. Even if you arenít planning a formal program but you are working

toward another objective, you may find the information presented here useful.

This series of fact sheets looks at ways to help motivate individuals to manage

fuels on their property. In this first Social Issues fact sheet, we describe the steps

you can follow that will help you plan and conduct a successful program. Although our focus here is on programs to engage property owners in fuels reduction, this information is applicable to similar land management programs. The

prescriptions below are listed sequentially, but you may find that one step is

achieved along with another, or that itís easier to develop a program by shuffling

the order a bit. This is not a problem as long you accomplish the intent of each

step.

Program Development Steps

1. Articulate the goal and objectives of the fuel reduction program.

Know what conditions you wish to achieve and be specific. If possible, engage property owners and community leaders in a process of defining specific targets and objectives of the fuels program. One useful model is for

experts to offer a list of suggested treatment strategies and then allow community members to identify the options they can live with.

2. Analyze your audience.

Identify the people you wish to reachóthis is your audience. Understand the

fears and concerns, values, and abilities of your audience. Donít assume that

you understand your audience because you work there. Interface communities, in particular, are in a state of flux, and new voices may be singing a

different tune. Learn what information is personally relevant and useful to

your audience. This information will be critical to developing specific strategies for your program.

3. Analyze your resources.

Identify the skills, dollars, and time you have for the program. Think about

building partnerships with other agencies and organizations to share the costs

of programs and reap the benefits from a more diverse crop of skills. If

necessary, reconsider the goals and objectives of your program and set more

realistic expectations.

Social Science Team Co-Leads:

Pam Jakes

Sue Barro

USDA Forest Service

North Central Research Station

1992 Folwell Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55108

Fuels planning: Science synthesis and

integration, an interagency research/

management partnership to support

the Ten-Year Fire Plan, led by Russell

T. Graham, RMRS, and Sarah M.

McCaffrey, NCRS.

Synthesizing

Scientific Information

for Fire and Fuels

Project Managers

Pacific Northwest

Research Station

The information for this

fact sheet was provided

by Dr. Martha Monroe

and Ms. Lisa Pennisi,

University of Florida.
The Fuels Planning fact sheets are based on preliminary findings. Information from fact sheets will be synthesized in an upcoming publication.

4. Develop program strategies and tools that will

engage your audience.

Develop a communication strategy using different

types of information to engage different types of

learners. Choose the tools and venues that work best

to deliver your message to your audienceóconsider

demonstration areas, festivals, interpretive signs,

internet sites, posters, and bookmarks in addition

to the more commonly used brochures, fact sheets,

caps, TV ads, radio public service announcements,

and newspaper coverage. Use as many techniques

as possible, and incorporate vivid information, cues,

and prompts to increase the effectiveness of your

tools. Remember, many people learn by doing, others respond best to the written word, still others enjoy

learning in informal gatherings with neighbors. Consider gearing your program to neighborhoods, a scale

that has proved effective for the implementation of

fuels management programs in the past.

5. Field-test program ideas.

Itís always tempting to get out there and start doing

something without first evaluating your strategy or

tools. However, you are more likely to have a successful program if you run everything by a group

that represents your audience before implementing

your program. Find out which pictures are most appealing for the brochure and whether or not your

buzzwords or cues communicate the right message.

Collect feedback and revise your strategy and tools

before you go out to the larger community.

6. Build a strategy to monitor success.

In times of tight budgets and competing programs,

it is especially important that you are able to describe the outcomes of your programs and measure

success. Consider a number of ways to monitor success including attendance at community events,

drive-by assessments of the neighborhood, number

of complaints, and physical changes in the landscape. Feedback cards, mail-in request cards, and

coupons allow you to track what information is most

useful and where people are most easily finding the

information.

Other fact sheets in this series will be available in the

forthcoming months.

Residents of the Applegate Valley. To build support and establish credibility for fuels management efforts, involve property owners in defining

project targets or objectives (photo credit: V. Sturtevant).

Social Science Team Fact Sheets

Look for fact sheet topics from the Social Science Team including

information on developing personal responsibility for fuels reduction, communicating fire hazard, topics for community fire plans,

guidelines for community education, and the ìgolden ruleî for communicating fire hazard to people.

Fuels Planning: Synthesis and Integration

This fact sheet is one in a series being produced as part of a larger

project supported by the USDA Forest Service to synthesize new

knowledge and information relevant to fire and fuels management.

Fact sheets address topics related to stand structure, environmental

impacts, economics, and human responses to these factors. Information in the fact sheets is targeted for the dry forests of the Inland

West, but is often applicable across broad regions of the country.

For more information, please visit our Web site at::

www.fs.fed.us/fire/tech_transfer/synthesis/synthesis_index