Rocky Mountain Youth Corps Partnership

Location:

New Mexico

What lessons can be drawn?

For both partners, consistent communication through a close working relationship has engendered success. Establishing rapport and respect have also been possible because they are located in a small community where it is possible to develop multiple formal and informal relationships.

This partnership has become a model for other forests in New Mexico that have contacted the Carson National Forest to ask how the program works. Romero suggests that others interested in starting a partnership, “Make sure that what you are after is within the lines of the Forest Service’s management goals.” Every project that the RMYC accomplishes is a project that the Forest Service would need to complete at some point, but this partnership enables the projects to go forward in a more timely fashion. He also recommends that the partners develop a detailed agreement about how the work will get done so that sufficient direction is provided and responsibilities and expectations on all sides are clear. He stresses the importance of creating projects that the RMYC crews can accomplish.

 

Colonius explains that it is important to look into the systems and structures that the Forest Service is working under such as their fiscal year appropriations and annual budget as reflected in their management plan, as well as other guidelines they may be operating under such as NEPA processes and clearances for projects. “Being cognizant of where those processes stand provides insight into what would be good or better timing.”

 

Recognizing that both partners – RMYC and Forest Service in this case – operate within different organizations with different procedures, structures, needs and expectations has helped both partners be patient and accommodating as needed. It was important for both to ask questions of each other in order to learn about these differences and clarify what each would need to do internally within their own organizations as well as together in order to make the partnership work. Regular reporting schedules were a critical element of the formal partnership structure. At the outset of the partnership, Colonius says he would, “ask more questions of the structures within the Forest Service regarding cooperative agreements.” They are learning the Forest Service’s systems and structures all the time and how to position themselves effectively into their management plan.

 

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.