SAF Emerging Issues Process
In 2008, SAF's Forest Science and Technology Board (FSTB) reactivated a long-dormant Emerging Issues process to identify issues, not universally recognized and still somewhat hidden over the horizon, that are likely to be important to foresters and the Society in the years ahead. Early identification of emerging issues is an important strategic planning activity of the Society because:- SAF's potential to lead the profession & contribute to policy development depends on proactivity, not reactivity
- By being proactive, we can convert challenges to opportunities
- Identifying emerging issues and generating strategic responses is a competitive advantage for a multi-disciplinary society such as SAF, with members representing diverse expertise and professional roles and spread over far-flung geography.
The nature of emerging issues is such that they may initially be somewhat murky and vaguely defined. Some of them may never fully emerge as full-blown issues meriting attention of SAF; however, the Society's strategic success depends on bringing all potential issues into the light for focused exploration and analysis, as it is better to misidentify some issues than to miss important ones for so long that they end up getting confronted reactively.
The 2009 Emerging Issues Process
At the 2008 Working Group Officer meeting and the working group business meetings in Reno, ideas about likely emerging issues were solicited. A dozen issues were identified and eventually developed as issue statements. The Forest Science and Technology Board and its Emerging Issues Committee evaluated and ranked these issues. Three issues rose to the top of the list and were identified as the top-three 2009 emerging issues. The Committee drafted more complete issue descriptions and lists of possible actions the Society might take to address these issues, and FSTB forwarded this to SAF Council in February 2009. The top three were also used in April as a basis for track development by the 2010 Convention planning team. All 12 issues will be visited at the 2009 Working Group Officer and Unit Science and Technology Coordinators meeting during the National Convention in Orlando for further refinement, re-ranking and the possible addition of new emerging issues. More formal criteria for prioritizing emerging issues deserving attention will also be developed. Some kind of action is also underway for each of the top 3 issues (see issue pages below). Finally, a poster and "Issues Wall" at the Orlando Convention will communicate the process, as practiced to date, with the general membership and solicit ideas for new emerging issues, as well as ideas for addressing already identified issues.
FSTB Tackles Emerging Issues
Top-three 2009 Issues
2009-1 [Global Connections]: Enhancing understanding of global connections: interactions among effective fire and forest management in the US, availability of timber and biomass, and conditions of ecosystems and communities on American soil and abroad.
2009-2 [Biomass Repercussions]: Thinking through how biomass for energy plays out: what can we learn from the intensive timber management experience?
2009-3 [Embracing Statistics]: Illuminating Statistical black boxes: promoting understanding and correct interpretation in support of forest management and policy analysis.
These web pages will be updated as action is planned and occurs concerning these emerging issues. Also, as new issues are identified and selected as top priority, these will be added to this main emerging issues page. For more information about the emerging issues identification process, or to suggest candidate emerging issues, please contact the emerging issues committee chair Jeremy Fried at saf at jeremyfried.net.
