For large or important projects, a charrette process may be the most effective way to assemble the information needed for the prospectus. Charrette is a creative, intense, collaborative process that harnesses the talents and energies of designers and others with an interest in the project for a limited amount of time to create and support a conceptual plan or design parameters for landscapes and/or structures. Although it requires a lot of effort to set up the charrette and assure that all the consensus decisions are recorded, a lot of work is accomplished by the participants in a very short time. The charrette may involve all members of the design team or may be expanded to include the community when there is a lot of local interest in the project. It can be both a means to achieve community consensus on general project parameters and a chance for an interactive learning process between design professionals and the local community in a time and cost effective manner. The resulting project generally receives excellent support from all parties, because they helped shape it.

The following links provide more information and examples of the use of the charrette process on Forest Service projects:

• The National Charrette Institute
• Lake George Ranger Station Office Renovation Charrette, Ocala NF, R-8
• Region 9 Charrette Process