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WelcomeRVCC!
History and Orientation to RVCC:Spontaneously created, growing, and evolving since 2001
Why RVCC Formed
• To promote our shared values and vision in policy
• We like working together
• We can’t do it alone
How RVCC Formed
• Shared leadership model• Focus on outcomes• Kept process to a minimum• Luck and opportunity
RVCC Mission• Promote policies that support
balanced conservation-based approaches to the ecological and economic problems facing the West.
• Committed to finding and promoting policy solutions through collaborative, place-based work
• Recognize the inextricable link between the long-term health of the land and the well-being of rural communities.
RVCC Goals
1. Promote ecologically responsible andeconomically equitable policy solutions.
2. Increase for federal funding of restoration and maintenance and rural economic development.
3. Advance legislative ideas and influence legislation proposed by others.
4. Strengthen the voices rural leaders 5. Inform the media of our priorities
and the benefits of our solutions.
What does RVCC do?
• Advocates for political reforms to protect, restore and manage natural resources equitable
• Ensures rural voices and perspectives are represented in natural resource policies
RVCC across the West• More than 60
groups• 8 states • Western Rural and
Local Organizations• Regional
Organizations• National
Organizations
ARIZONAARIZONA
IDAHOIDAHO
NEW NEW MEXICOMEXICO
WASHINGTONWASHINGTON
OREGONOREGON
MONTANAMONTANA
CALIFORNIACALIFORNIA
COLORADOCOLORADO
Types of groups involved
Other8%
Tribal entity or Worker organization
0%
Other federal, state, or local government
agency7%
Economic development organization
3%
Elected body2%
Community-based natural resource
organization30%
For-profit business11%
Environmental organization
11%
Regional and national conservation-based
development organization
10%
Federal or state land management agency
10%
Research organization8%
Other:FoundationIndividualLabor/Environmentalist AllianceNon-profit Trade AssociationProfessional Forestry OrganizationResearch, outreach and education non-profit
Policy Priorities
• Federal investment and performance measures
• Forest Restoration• Integrated Biomass
Utilization• Collaboration • Community Capacity Building• Stewardship Contracting• Workforce development and
protection• Retention and creation of
place-based, family wage jobs
Activity: Annual Policy Meetings
• Purpose– Define priority policy
issues, messages, and solutions.
• Outcomes– Priority issues selected– Messages and strategies
developed– Direction for working
groups
Activity: Western Week in Washington
• Purpose– Increase support for and
understanding of RVCC solutions– Distribute issue papers– Develop relationships with key
decision-makers– Develop leaders within RVCC
• Outcomes– Support for our issues– Relationships with decisionmakers– Leadership development
Representation in RVCC• Participating organizations speak for
themselves• No one organization formally speaks
for the coalition; we support one another by working together to convey our shared messages and solutions
• Issue papers capture collective voice and provide opportunities for unified positions
Activity: Working Groups• Purpose
– Develop issue papers– Work together on specific issues– Target regional decision-makers– Learn from each other
• Outcomes– Articulated common ground solutions– Regional collaborative infrastructure – Built relationships with regional
leadership– Camaraderie and networks of national
influence
Workforce, Labor, and Contracting
Biomass
Approps. & Leg. Strategies
Private Lands
Institutional Policy
Core Group
Working Groups: ’06 - ‘07 Structure
Core Group: Structure
• Coordination– SNW Chair– Working Group Chairs
& long-term leaders– Monthly calls
• Purposes– Coordination between
working groups– Strategic issues and
opportunities– Works by consensus
Working Groups: Structure
• Working Group Chair:– Primary drafter, editor, and/or
synthesizer of issue papers and other written materials
– Identifies areas of common ground
– Initiates, facilitates, and schedules calls and meetings
Working Groups: Structure• Working Group Members:
– Work collaboratively– Provide perspective, data, information, – Help write, review, and edit issue
papers & other materials – Attend APM and WWiW– Share local experiences and
communicate work of working group to their networks
– Initiate ideas & take leadership• Subgroups
– Functions as a mini-working group – Focus on specific issue the Working
Group has identified– Report to full Working Group
Working Groups: Materials Development
• Issue Papers/Talking Points• Congressional testimony• Sign on letters• Comment on Legislation,
Federal register notices, etc.
Issue Papers: Purpose
• Concisely present RVCC solutions & perspectives
• Primary communication materials of RVCC
• Priority audiences:– Congressional staff,
agency decision makers, interest groups, and the media
Content agreed to
by WG
Chair sends final with
WG signatories
to SNW
SNW sends out request for sign-on
Groups decide
whether or not to sign-
on
Distribution of issue papers
(WWiW)
Issue Paper: Process
Sign-on process
Homework results
Annual Policy
Meeting discussions
Countless conference
calls and email
Write, review, edit,
repeat
Working Group
Nirvana
Content development
Lessons we are learning…
• Be prepared:– Invest time and resources
in planning and materials– Being prepared increases
your credibility– Short- and long-term
solutions ensure tangible and incremental change
– Documentation of local stories and regional trends are a powerful combination
Elementary School Enrollment
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001Year
Stud
ents
in O
ctob
er
Hayfork Weaverville
Down by 216
Down by 49
Lessons we are learning…
• Develop winning solutions:– Focus on short-term and
long-term solutions– Don’t put all your eggs in
one basket– Don’t be afraid to change
course
Lessons we are learning…
• Good process should result in better outcomes:– Flexible, clear decision-
making space is effective– Shared leadership builds
power– Vertically integrated
organizing works– Don’t sweat the small stuff
Lessons we are learning…
• Organize for incremental and long-term change:– Regional focus works– Coalitions build
influence– Collaboration through
action yields results
The value of collaboration
Environmentalists
IndustryGovernment
Labor
Community
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