Forest ecosystems are human, plant, and animal life-support systems that provide a suite of goods and services vital to human health and livelihood—essentially Nature’s Benefits.
Please join Forest Service Regions 5 and 6 for a four-part webinar series exploring how communicating the Nature’s Benefits National Forests provide can help to incentivize partners and stakeholders to share our stewardship vision of bringing more resources to bear, increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration work. View recordings of each session and download presentations below.
Nature’s Benefit: Health and the Outdoors
Did you know that your zip code is a better predictor of your health outcomes than your genetic code? Research has shown that there is an explicit connection between healthy forests and healthy people, and the US Forest Service manages public lands that have major impacts on community health at both the local and regional scale.
Join us to learn about the mental and physical health benefits of nature, and how the Forest Service can be a driver to improve community health equity in the Pacific Northwest.
Register for this Event
July 28, 2021 3:00-4:00 PM PST
This webinar is presented through a collaboration between the US Forest Service and Willamette Partnership to explore the relationship between outdoor access and community health.
Nature’s Benefits and the US Forest Service
The Nature’s Benefits Forum webinar series kicks off with a keynote address from John Allen, former Deschutes National Forest supervisor. We’ll also hear about the Forest Service’s current approach to Nature’s Benefits and how they can be used to build partnerships.
The Agency’s Current View of Nature’s Benefits
Bob Deal, PNW Research Station Ecosystem Services and Products Team Leader
Why communicating Nature’s Benefits will help increase the pace and scale of forest restoration work
John Allen, Deschutes NF Forest Supervisor, retired
Incentivizing Shared Stewardship Through Partnerships and Volunteerism
Nikola Smith, Region 6 Regional Partnership Coordinator and Sherry Reckler, Region 5 Ecosystem Services Program Manager
Communicating Nature’s Benefits and Project Work: Examples from the Field
Learn how Nature’s Benefits are being used to communicate about projects going on in our National Forests with on-the-ground examples.
Nature’s Benefits and the Eldorado National Forest (slides)
Jennifer Chapman, Eldorado NF Public Affairs Officer
Using Nature’s Benefits in Project-level Planning (slides)
Don Boucher, Rogue River-Siskiyou NF, retired
Spectrum of Project Planning: Ecosystem services and values mapping (slides)
Michelle King, Spirit Lake Project Planner, Gifford Pinchot NF
Best Practices: Ways to Make Nature’s Benefits Communications Resonate with External Stakeholders
Gain insight into your audience with this series of flash talks focused on how Nature’s Benefits communications are being received by external stakeholders:
Will Harling, Director, Fisheries/Fire and Fuels for Mid-Klamath Watershed Council (Western Klamath Restoration Partnership) (slides)
Johan Hogervorst, Willamette NF Forest Hydrologist (slides)
Terry Fairbanks, Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative (slides)
Mark Gaston, Lassen NF Public Affairs Officer (slides)
Joe Stubbendick, Shasta-Trinity NF Recreation Officer (slides)
Storytelling to Leverage Nature’s Benefits
In this online workshop, participants will learn how to tell a story to support forest restoration goals and understand what communications tools and resources are available to help them craft a story about their own projects. This session was led by Sherry Reckler, Region 5 Ecosystem Services Program Manager with Nikola Smith, Region 6 Regional Partnership Coordinator (slides).
This webinar series was hosted by US Forest Service Regions 5 and 6 and the Pacific Northwest Research Station.
