Evaluating the effectiveness of the Tennessee Forest Management Advisory Panel

The last decade has seen forest resource conflicts in Tennessee develop regarding issues such as chip mills and their impacts, state forest management practices and water quality concerns related to logging practices. These issues have created conflicts between user groups and stakeholders. These disagreements have resulted in a number of bills being introduced into the Tennessee General Assembly (Senate and House) over the past several years. Realizing the complexity of these issues and the potential for conflict, the Tennessee General Assembly developed and passed Senate Joint Resolution No. 230 in 1997 to address these issues via the Tennessee Forest Management Advisory Panel (TFMAP).

The TFMAP was a stakeholder participation process. The purpose of the TFMAP was to evaluate and recommend appropriate policies and programs that promote forest sustainability and sound stewardship of all Tennessee forestlands. The Panel used collaborative and participatory principles and was a first attempt of its kind in Tennessee where diverse stakeholders were directly involved in a collaborative policy process to address forestry issues at a policy level.

The overall goal of this research is to provide a thorough and comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of the TFMAP. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the TFMAP using the following six elements as an evaluation framework; 1) stakeholder representation; 2) process design, facilitation, and management; 3) stakeholder trust of public institutions; 4) stakeholder education regarding specific forest issues and other interest groups; 5) stakeholder behavior changes; and 6) the overall value of the process and the need for future mechanisms.

The researcher interviewed panel members to gather the necessary data. Most of the in-depth interviews were conducted by telephone, with a few being executed in person when the participant preferred this method. An interview protocol was developed with questions that addressed each of the six elements of the evaluation framework.

The research showed that the TFMAP has produced important value in many areas and was successful to varying degrees for all six elements evaluated. The researcher identified the following successes resulting from the TFMAP process; 1) the TFMAP was representative of the diversity of forest stakeholders in Tennessee, 2) panel management and facilitation was effective, 3) stakeholder trust and understanding of public institutions that play a role in forest management increased to varying degrees for all agencies, 4) stakeholder education of specific forest issues increased and cross-interest group education broadened stakeholder views of other interest group's views and philosophies, 5) stakeholder behavior to work with others holding different views regarding forest issues generally increased, and 6) the overall value of the outcome and the process was generally considered at least "somewhat successful."

As with any newly developed mechanism, this evaluation discovered some shortcomings. The following are perceived areas of weaknesses: 1) the TFMAP process design was complex and this created difficulty for some panel members 2) large groups were not as effective as small groups in promoting 'social capital' and effective negotiation, 3) 'how science was presented' during the process was a source of conflict, 4) the Panel Chair, Panel Facilitator, and participants were constrained by the time specifications of the process, and 5) the TFMAP process did not create a permanent mechanism for forest stakeholder groups to work together collaboratively.

Without a collaborative mechanism, stakeholder groups will lose an avenue to pursue common ground and the other benefits that the TFMAP was shown to have produced. Therefore, the researcher concludes that a mechanism like the TFMAP is necessary so that forest stakeholders can continue to communicate with each other and do the real work of seeking common ground on the tough issues of how to best manage Tennessee's forest resources.