3. Why RVCC Formed
• To promote our shared values
and vision in policy
• We like working together
• We can’t do it alone
4. How RVCC Formed
• Shared leadership model
• Focus on outcomes
• Kept process to a minimum
• Luck and opportunity
5. 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.
6. RVCC Goals
1. Promote ecologically responsible and
economically 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.
7. 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
8. RVCC across the West
• More than 60 WASHINGTON
groups MONTANA
• 8 states OREGON
IDAHO
• Western Rural and
Local Organizations
• Regional COLORADO
Organizations CALIFORNIA
• National ARIZONA
NEW
Organizations MEXICO
9. Types of groups involved
Tribal entity or Worker
organization
Economic
0%
development
Elected body
organization
Other federal, state, or 2%
3%
local government
agency
7%
Community-based
Other natural resource
8% organization
30%
Research organization
8%
For-profit business
Federal or state land
11%
management agency
10%
Other:
Foundation
Regional and national Individual
Environmental
conservation-based Labor/Environmentalist Alliance
organization
development Non-profit Trade Association
11%
organization Professional Forestry Organization
10% Research, outreach and education non-
profit
10. 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
11. Activity: Annual Policy Meetings
• Purpose
– Define priority policy
issues, messages, and
solutions.
• Outcomes
– Priority issues selected
– Messages and strategies
developed
– Direction for working
groups
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. Working Groups: ’06 - ‘07 Structure
Biomass
Workforce, Approps
Labor, and . & Leg.
Contracting Strategie
Core
s
Group
Private
Institutional
Lands
Policy
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. Working Groups: Materials
Development
• Issue Papers/Talking Points
• Congressional testimony
• Sign on letters
• Comment on Legislation,
Federal register notices, etc.
20. 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
21. Issue Paper: Process
Content development
Countless
Annual
Working
Write,
Homework
conference
Policy
Group
review, edit,
results
calls and
Meeting
Nirvana
repeat
email
discussions
Sign-on process
Groups
Chair sends
Distribution
Content
SNW sends decide
final with
of issue
agreed to
out request whether or
WG
papers
by WG
for sign-on not to sign-
signatories
(WWiW)
on
to SNW
22. 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 Elementary School Enrollment
600
– Documentation of local
Students in October
Down by 49
500
stories and regional trends 400
300
are a powerful combination Down by 216
200
100
0
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Year
Hayfork Weaverville
23. 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
24. 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
25. Lessons we are learning…
• Organize for
incremental and long-
term change:
– Regional focus works
– Coalitions build
influence
– Collaboration through
action yields results
26. The value of collaboration
Environmentalists
Industry
Community
Government
Labor
