Item B: Ordinance Concerning Goal 5 Natural Resources Study

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investigating what has come to be known as civic science, a process by which citizens with an interest In an Issue or members of a community under study become 'sclen- tists" who formulate the research ques- tions, collect the data, and become an Inte- gral part of the research process. Kruger. a research social scientist with the PNW Research Station was one of two research facilitators to help enact a civic science process in the unincorporated communities that make up the White Pass In southwest Washington. 'When investigating specific places. particu- larly when we are interested in ~elatlons between the rural community and the forest. it seems that limiting data collection to variables that can be counted and meas- ured does not help understanding of the community's capacity to adapt to external change, or its real relationship to the nearby forest and its management." she says. ~ . K E-' 40. FINDINGS -Formal scientifIC social assessments, often ClIfled social-impact asses5lllef1tS, may be necessary but not sufficient to understanding Impacts of forest management on communities. Traditional methods are not well suited to draw- ing out much of the knowledge held by community members. ........................................................................................ - Community self-assessment and other applications of civic science provldll opportunities for collaboration between Forest Service employees and community members and foster the Integration of scientific and community- held knowledge. ........................................................................................ - Participation In community self-assessment increases awareness and apprecia- tion of the individual. the community. and the relation between the community and the nearby forest. It also provides an opportunity for helping students and community members understand the forest as an integrated whole. ........................................................................................ - Researchers can play important roles as facilitators and mentors. Participating along with community members helps defuse the "myth of expertise- that so often surrounds research, and also enhances community acceptance of both researchers and the new knowledge. THE SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT MANDATE TIe practice of checking in on the potential sodal Impacts of proposed developments evolved through the 1970s after the National Environmental Policy Ac;t of 1969 established the need for environmental impact statements. Social Impact assessments have been based almost exduslvefy on quantitative, second. Purpose of PNW Science Findings To provide scientific information to people who make and InflUence cledsionsabolit managing land. PNW Science Findings ispublisl1ed monthly by: Pacific NoI1hwest Research S1ation USDA Forest Service P.O. Box 3890 Portland, Oregon 97208 (503) 808-2137 Sheni Richardson Dodge, Editor sricbardsondodge@fs.fed.us Carlyn MilaS. Design & layout mitas@bevanet.c()m OrlpntatlOn<; to SOCIal StdncJard ~ocl.J1 II1)PdCt ell'le <;CIPnC( L1Ss('~snlf'nt asscs~tnent Nature of prOblems Nature of knowledge Technical/scientific Scientlfic,obJectlve. detached from practice Source of knowledge Experts and specialists. knowledge Technical/rational, 'profes- sionalized" P"nntng orientation Role of.participants Citizens as external to process, individuals with pre-formed individual Interests; experts as distant, removed from object of study Instrumental/utilitarian, marketplace Date gathered by using empirical.analytic methods; e.g.. employment/unem- ployment, wages Vahies reCognized Datalvarlabl8$ Li Altemative approaches to social assessment. Check out our web site at I http://wwW.f$.f~d.us/prtw Social/place based : Social. Interpretive, socially constructed, historically embedded, value based, embedded in practice Participants, citizens anq experts working together Participatory, social learn- ~ ing and civic science Citizens as lay social scien- tists. researchers as research facilitators. mentors, catalysts for learning Multidimensional Meanings, values USDA - United States Department of Agriculture e Forest Service II ~