WORKING ON COMMON GROUND
Zones of Agreement
To help establish common ground among a variety of stakeholders, Pinchot Partners, uses a consensus tool called Zones of Agreement.
Sub-committees hunker down to whittle and wordsmith, until they have a “living document” that maps the terrain of their agreements, as well as the places where the group has not quite found consensus. While it can be a slow, sometimes frustrating process, the work provides input to the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District to help further define and execute their mission.
Purpose
The purpose of the Position Statements is to provide a record of the Pinchot Partners’ current position and areas of agreement on topics specific to the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District. The Position Statements serve as a historical record of the collaborative’s work on vegetation projects within the North Zone planning area. The purpose of this document is two-fold:
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It allows Pinchot Partners members and others to clearly understand what Pinchot Partners has discussed and agreed to with respect to a particular topic. By documenting our decisions and the scientific, economic, and social drivers behind them, Pinchot Partners will be better able to track our agreements and progress towards addressing disagreements about forest management. New members, organizations, potential funders, legislators, the general public, and the Forest Service can utilize this document to better understand the work and history of the group.
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The Position Statement can be used by the Forest Service to assess and track the level of agreement around management of a particular forest resource. The Position Statement can provide a quick overview of the pertinent issues and a general sense of the level of agreement around management of the forest resource or process in question.
The Partners recognizes that the Forest Service retains full decision making authority and discretion to follow or deviate from the Pinchot Partners Position Statement.
