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