Socioeconomic Monitoring Results. Volume III: Rural Communities and Economies

To mitigate the loss of timber jobs, the Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) included a goal to contribute to the wellbeing of rural communities by assisting them with longterm economic development and diversification. The Forest Service (FS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) were expected to create new jobs in the woods associated with ecosystem management. The Plan called for restoring late-successional and old-growth (older forest) habitat and watershed health. It also contained survey and monitoring requirements that called for agencies to undertake new kinds of activities ranging from surveying for northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina), to thinning plantations to restore old-growth characteristics. In addition, because the Plan called for sharply reducing intensive timber management, the road building, maintenance, and decommissioning that was a part of timber sales would now have to be done through other mechanisms. Procurement contracting—the purchase of goods and services—is one way the FS and BLM could restore forests and undertake other work on the ground (such as work associated with recreation, restoration, or monitoring) while contributing to local economic development. In the early 1990s, agencies accomplished much of their forestry services work (such as reforestation and timber stand improvement) through procurement contracts. This work, and new jobs related to ecosystem management consistent with Plan goals, would continue to be accomplished mainly through procurement contracts (although some occurred in-house or through grants and agreements). The Plan changed management priorities for the federal land-management agencies. At the same time, President Clinton created the Jobs-in-the-Woods program, which sought to create job opportunities for people who had been displaced by the new management priorities that focused on endangered species protection and ecosystem management (see chapter 6). Procurement contracting was one of the ways the federal land management agencies intended to implement the Jobs-in-the-Woods program. The FS and BLM were exempted from free and open competition Chapter 5: Procurement Contracting