Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project

Study Title: Monitoring Effects of Collaborative Planning on Trust for a Landscape-level Fuels Treatment Project in the Bitterroot National Forest, Montana

Study Coordinator: Alan Watson, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Research Principals: Alan Watson and Erin Small, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, MT; Bill Borrie, University of Montana, College of Forestry and Conservation, Missoula, MT

Description:Projects that take place on national forests require and benefit from participation of the public in collaborative planning. As BEMRP and the Bitterroot National Forest undertake a landscape-level fuel reduction project on the Bitterroot Front and study its effects on natural resources, this project is trying to measure the levels of public trust in the Forest Service and understand the factors that influence trust.

Study Title: Understanding Landscape Meanings for the Planning and Application of Fuel Treatment and Fire Management in the Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana

Study Coordinator: Alan Watson, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Research Principals: Alan Watson and Brett Davis, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, MT; Roian Matt, Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, Ronan, MT; Laurie Yung, University of Montana, College of Forestry and Conservation, Missoula, MT; Steve Carver and Tim Waters, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Description:On the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, the interface between wilderness and non-wilderness lands is formally protected as the 22,000-acre Tribal Buffer Zone. A restriction against timber harvest in the buffer zone has become an issue of concern on the reservation because years of fire suppression have created hazardous accumulations of fuels in both the wilderness and the buffer zone. The Tribal Council of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes is assessing the potential for hazardous fuel reduction. We are contributing by applying methods developed by BEMRP to identify the range, types, intensity, and spatial distribution of individual and community meanings associated with the Mission Mountains landscape and to describe how the potential application of fuel treatment may affect them

Study Title: Research Coordination and Technology Transfer and Outreach

Study Coordinator: Greg Jones, Rocky Mountain Research Station-BEMRP

Research Principals: Greg Jones, BEMRP Project Leader, Rocky Mountain Research Station -Human Dimensions Program, Missoula, MT; Sharon Ritter, BEMRP, Rocky Mountain Research Station-Social, Economics, and Decision Sciences Program, Stevensville, MT

Description: BEMRP and the Bitterroot National Forest created a boundary spanner position—a person who works at the interface of science and land management, acting as a bridge between the two cultures represented by research scientists and land managers. In 2005, BEMRP and the Bitterroot National Forest jointly fund this position to increase technology transfer and outreach and to foster increased dialogue among and between researchers and managers.