Diversity is one of the core values of the USDA Forest Service. But appreciation of diversity does not necessarily rest on a shared understanding of its definition. Our station research fish biologist, Brooke Penaluna, and colleagues from Oregon State University recently published a study that clarifies these ideas and provides provocative food for thought.

Understanding the meaning and significance of diversity will help us set more effective goals. For their study, Penaluna and her coauthors dug into the reasoning stated by professional and academic natural resource communities for increasing and retaining diverse workforces. “A number of previous studies had looked at diversity in a narrower field, like fisheries or forestry,” said Penaluna. “But the diversity question had not been addressed across natural resource disciplines, nor how the reasoning behind promoting diversity might change across those disciplines.”

While recent literature has mostly centered on gender and race, diversity is about more than that. The study tells us that we need to have a broader discussion around diversity that includes social identity groups like age, education level, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, ability, class or economic status, and all the myriad combinations of these.

One interesting finding was that scholarly discussion around inclusion has greatly increased over the past decade. “We saw a marked increase in mentions of inclusion over the range of time included in our data, and particularly in 2019,” said Penaluna. 

We are all a complicated blend of many identities, and by recognizing that, we can move away from labeling people and placing them into static categories.

Our understanding of diversity is becoming more and more sophisticated, and it has the potential to transform not just natural resources communities, but also the makeup of our agency. Simply increasing demographic diversity, particularly into a culture that is not inclusive, is not enough. This conclusion holds true for areas well beyond natural resources: If the natural resources community seeks to benefit from diversity, more concerted attention to developing and sharing best practices that cultivate diverse and inclusive and equitable communities is warranted. 

This kind of discussion is one we must continue to have in the Forest Service. I encourage you all to take the time to read this study and consider how you see it reflected in our agency values, or where you think we can do better.

Editor’s note: Continue the discussion over at the Leadership Corner Forum (internal link).