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U.S. Forest Service
Caring for the land and serving people

United States Department of Agriculture

Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program Reporting, Guidance, and Directives

Highlights

Implementing Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program Projects

After the Secretary has notified the Regional Forester that a Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program project has been selected, the authorizing legislation requires additional implementation actions. This section describes the process for developing a work plan, multi-party monitoring, and reporting requirements associated with the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program.

Developing a Work Plan

Within 180 days of being notified the project has been selected, a work plan must be developed and approved. The requesting unit shall create, in collaboration with the other parties involved in the proposal, an implementation work plan and budget to implement the proposal.

Reporting Requirements

Annual Reporting Requirements

For all Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program funded projects, the Regional Forester will prepare an annual report on the accomplishments of each selected proposal beginning in the fiscal year that Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program funding is first received and annually thereafter for the life of the project. The annual report shall include:

  • a description of all acres (or other appropriate unit) treated and restored through projects implementing the strategy;
  • an evaluation of progress, including performance measures and how prior year evaluations have contributed to improved project performance;
  • a description of community benefits achieved, including any local economic benefits;
  • the results of the multiparty monitoring, evaluation, and accountability process; and,
  • a summary of the costs of treatments; and relevant fire management activities.

The annual report shall be kept on file by the Regional Forester and made available to the Secretary upon request. Accomplishments and expenditures should match the numbers in the databases of record. Please see the program direction and Peer Learning Session: Reporting in the Databases of Record for more information.

Five-Year Reporting Requirement

The legislation establishing CFLRP requires reporting on the program every five years, including an assessment of whether, and to what extent, the program is fulfilling the purposes of Title IV as specified in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.

Tools to Support Completion of the Annual Report, Work Plan, and Five Year Report

Benefits to Local Economies

Given the varying degrees of economic capacity among Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program teams, a tool was developed to standardize the approach of estimating the number of jobs and the amount of labor income that would be supported by restoration efforts. Having a standardized approach allows for consistent reporting of Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program accomplishments. If teams used different methodologies to estimate the number of jobs created, it would be difficult to compare the impacts.

The Treatments for Restoration Economic Analysis Tool (TREAT) was developed to address this problem. TREAT provides teams with a standard interface to estimate employment and labor income impacts from proposed or completed restoration activities, and its use is required for Work Plans and Annual Reports. TREAT consists of a data-entry spreadsheet and an impact calculation spreadsheet (available only for use by NFS economists) and was designed for use only by Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program teams. The User Guide explains the methodology and functionality of TREAT as applied to Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program projects.

Risk and Cost Analysis Tool

Between 2010 and 2014, CFLRP projects estimated fire management cost savings using the Risk and Cost Analysis Tools (R-CAT) package. A general outline of the required analysis procedures and use of the tool are described in the R-CAT PowerPoint presentation and the User’s Guide.

Contacts: Keith Stockmann, Economist, USDA Forest Service, Northern Region (keith.stockmann@usda.gov; (406) 329-3549).

Multi-Party Monitoring of Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program Projects

Multiparty monitoring brings people with different views and expertise together to deal with broad landscape level issues and reduce potential conflict over actions by providing a way for interested groups to discuss, reach agreement, and collaboratively appropriate beneficial management activities.

The authorizing legislation mandates the use of multiparty monitoring to:

  • monitor,
  • evaluate,
  • provide accountability, and
  • assess the positive or negative ecological, social, and economic effects not less than 15 years after project implementation commences

Guidance on 15-year monitoring requirements

Common Monitoring Strategy for CFLRP:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/restoration/CFLRP/guidance.shtml