Applegate Partnership

Location

Southwest Oregon

What is fostering progress?

Many factors have contributed to the Partnership’s progress. One major factor is the group’s focus on people and interests, not on affiliation and positions. Former interagency liaison to the Partnership, Su Rolle stated that, “the Partnership isn’t as much about issues as it is about relationships.” Early in its formation, Partnership members invested considerable time and energy into building trust and mutual respect. This investment has helped members listen more effectively to one another’s concerns and debate issues on a deeper level. Shipley noted, “we don’t get bogged down in simple ‘owls versus jobs’ kinds of conversations. People understand that the oversimplification of jobs versus owls melted down to a two second sound-bite and what we really need [to discuss] is the complexity of the ecosystem.”

 

Relationships are made stronger by the involvement of dedicated, energetic, and competent people. According to Shipley, “we have people who put in gazillions of hours. Passionate people who are committed and conversant in natural resource problem solving can make a powerful engine of force.” Members share a deep commitment to place and community and there is a certain esprit de corps among them. People hotly debate management issues, but there is an understanding that everyone’s future is inseparable. Shipley noted, “there has been a willingness that we can agree to disagree and then come back together and kiss and make up. Kissing and making up isn’t easy sometimes, but we generally always do.” Shipley contrasted the Partnership’s approach to dispute resolution with that of other groups: “In many other communities, they’ve agreed to disagree and then hate each other.” Because members of the Partnership have wrestled with watershed-wide management issues together, they are in a better position to tackle the inevitable new ones. According to Shipley, “you have to go through a process where you agonize together over these issues, otherwise there isn’t that shared experience.” Ten years of visible accomplishments has inspired members with opposing views to continue to participate in Partnership meetings and to strive to reach consensus on contentious issues.

 

Urgent issues have also fostered commitment to the Partnership. In less than a year the group was able to raise funds and develop a watershed-wide community fire plan with guidance for and input from dozens of agencies, organizations, and neighborhoods in the valley. Referring to the remarkable speed with which this project was accomplished, Applegate District Ranger Erin Connelly remarked, “it really didn’t hurt, as far as keeping [the fire plan] in people’s minds, that we had the Quartz and other fires last year on Federal and private lands.” Thus, the dedication of the people to the Partnership’s vision of ecological and economic health, juxtaposed against the urgency of action, inspires consistent and active involvement in the Partnership.

This site was developed by the Ecosystem Management Initiative through a partnership with the US Forest Service and the US Department of Interior. Read more.