For 22 years they called him team leader and coach, partner and pioneer. Today we call John Krantz a winner, in special recognition of his extraordinary leadership as head of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Utilization and Marketing Program. John’s tireless dedication to the ideals of delivering assistance to communities through partnership resulted in the Minnesota program becoming a national model for providing support and technical help to rural communities. Fending off obstacles such as resistance to change, lack of coordination, limited budgets, and language and cultural barriers, John found ways to help people start or expand numerous small forest-based businesses. With energy and creativity, he fostered innumerable active collaborations and partnerships, and he instilled a renewed sense of hope in forest-based communities. Under John’s inspiration and direction, partners helped launch new businesses for displaced mine workers. Another partnership resulted in greater acceptance of Laotian immigrants working at a large forest products company. The Balsam Bough Partnership led to sustainable harvest and use of balsam boughs for a thriving wreath industry. In these and many other projects, John’s guidance and willingness to tackle hard issues led to solid collaborative solutions to vexing, divisive problems. Now retired after decades of service, John Krantz’s lifetime achievement is a legacy of leadership that gave Minnesota’s rural communities the resources, confidence, and skills to tackle new problems on their own, long into the future.

The Grande Ronde Model Watershed Program is indeed a ‘model’ of working in partnership, and Executive Director Jeff Oveson is both the model’s designer and the glue that holds it together. Jeff provides the leadership and focus to a dynamic group of partners who collaborate on assessing the current social and economic needs facing the Grande Ronde Basin. His task is prodigious: hundreds of projects over the past 10 years have involved private landowners, schools, organizations, tribes, and government agencies of all levels, brokering millions of dollars in total investment in habitat and water quality improvements to date. Securing funding, implementing projects, and monitoring the results are all part of a day’s work for Jeff, who has been guiding the program since 1998. The Model Watershed Program offers a common forum for respectful discussion and learning, thanks in part to training in collaboration and conflict resolution that Jeff provides, along with his outstanding ability to understand the history, culture, and traditions of the area’s diverse residents. Jeff encourages a broader understanding of the role and need of restoration activities and their relationship to community economic health. Under his mentoring and direction, wide-ranging projects—from presentations at schools to river clean-up days to the completion of watershed assessments—provide avenues for local community involvement, pride, and growth. Jeff Oveson’s leadership achievements serve as a shining example of a watershed management partnership based on a belief that a locally based effort to improve coordination, integration, and implementation of existing programs can effectively enhance and restore a watershed and nurture community leaders for the future.

This is a story of cowboy poets and shrimp boat captains, of saddle makers and ship builders. It’s a story of a creative, inspired, knowledgeable, and persistent leader who brought flute makers and oyster shuckers, desert and water together in a remarkable, unprecedented cultural exchange. Our heroine is Melyn Johnson, hired by the City of Guymon, Oklahoma, to "work with tourism and community development." To Melyn that meant more than just highlighting the traditional cultures of Oklahoma within the state, although she did that with pizzazz. Thanks to her ability to corral people to work together, her unwavering focus on the needs of rural communities, her experience in community development, and her marketing flair, tourists in the Oklahoma panhandle now have innumerable opportunities to experience life on the farm or ranch, visit a Norwegian community, or enjoy Mexican dancing and cuisine. But that was hardly enough for Melyn. So, under her inspired direction, the citizens of Guymon packed up a festival of Oklahoma’s multi-faceted culture and heritage and took it to the coastal town of Foley, Alabama, for a whirlwind celebration. Foley returned the favor by trucking their annual Shrimp Festival to a three-day extravaganza in Oklahoma, complete with shrimp boat, German dancers, and exhibits on marine biology (making wildly popular whistle stops in 11 Oklahoma towns along the way). This flamboyant festival swap gave thousands of people in two states a unique opportunity to appreciate each other not only for their similarities but also for their differences. Melyn has expanded the scope of community members’ own vision by getting people deeply involved in project management, providing hands-on assistance, and then spinning folks off into partnerships and networks of their own. Who knows what the next part of the story will be, but thanks to Melyn Johnson’s outstanding and oh, so creative, leadership, we can expect it to be a whopper!

Where some people are satisfied to say they "think outside the box," Nels Werner might say, "what box?" Nels is not one to let barriers or old ways of thinking get in the way of solving rural issues and accomplishing community goals. When his area in western Colorado lacked a Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) program to help with local issues, he started one. He saw administrative barriers between federal agencies as an opportunity to make ‘his’ RC&D unique, combining Forest Service and Natural Resource Conservation Service programs into one collaborative unit that successfully deals with issues across all land ownerships and all uses. Geography and distance a barrier? Hardly. Nels initiated an agriculture and wood products marketing website that virtually ties together a five-county area and is being expanded to provide a marketing range covering the whole state of Colorado and three additional states. Nels has effectively organized projects in community development throughout his region, working with 20 or more local project task forces at a time, constantly working across ownership and other boundaries to help people develop a vision for projects and to collaboratively accomplish major goals. From tourism development to historic preservation to issues affecting rural youth, Nels puts to work the talents of local individuals for the good of their communities, teaching and nurturing volunteers and professionals alike. Through his efforts, many communities are now better organized to deal with local problems in the context of broader projects and perspectives. The significance of Nels’ leadership and dedication to rural community development is his ability to be a catalyst, motivating groups of people to share a vision and drive for success that will carry them past all kinds of barriers in the future.

Water may flow downhill, but gaining access to clean, drinkable water has been an uphill battle for the small mountain town of Chesaw, Washington. First their private water supply was rated unsafe by the state, then the owner of the system decided to close it down, leaving the town high and dry. OK, then, let’s drill a new well, they said. Not so fast, said the state—there are no water rights available for a 17-family system. Well, then. Let’s take this one step at a time. A non-profit water association took form, and this former logging and mining community began to learn its way around the daunting and unfamiliar topics of water rights, state regulations, wells and water lines, rates, permits—and each other. A hay baler agreed to head the new municipal water district. Local citizens dug deep and donated equipment, time, energy, and expertise to develop and construct an emergency water system. Despite continuing hurdles, they managed to get two small wells into operation, which will provide safe water for the near term and the beginning infrastructure for long-term growth. When water rights do become available, the town will be ready to invest in an integrated town-wide water system. Not to be stopped once they were on a roll, they used the water project as an avenue to build a memorial building that will provide a community center and education facility. With abundant technical assistance, simple encouragement, donated land, and some financial help, Chesaw community members learned about processes for seeking financial assistance, gained knowledge about community-based planning and problem-solving, and formed lasting relationships that will carry them in any future direction they choose.

Their mission may have seemed impossible to some back in 1997. That’s when four state foresters banded together to form the Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership. Their mission: to build linkages between healthy forest ecosystems and healthy communities in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. The challenge was huge because the region was experiencing not only increased risks of massive wildfires and insect outbreaks in forest ecosystems, but also reduced capacity of rural communities to deal with forest restoration and maintenance needs. So the partnership’s first assignment was to persuade small, local businesses and other forestry-related efforts to accept help and begin thinking about marketing, product development, and other activities that would foster sustainability for their businesses. To say, "it worked" is an understatement. Thanks to the involvement of hundreds of individuals representing a cross-section of communities, agencies, and organizations, an impressive tally of successful projects would include: development of a focused strategy for sustainable forestry efforts, funding for 39 community-based efforts, establishment of a half-million dollar loan program, initiation of a public information campaign about sustainable forestry and forest-based businesses, and provision of direct technical assistance to existing and start-up businesses. The partnership has expanded to a broad-based 25-person steering committee that is helping forest-based communities in the four states learn to solve problems and create sustainable opportunities. The most impossible part of their mission now is to find and interact with the few remaining businesses they have not yet reached, to explore the endless possibilities that lie ahead.

For many decades, the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians has focused on restoring the health of their ancestors’ watershed, along the Stillaguamish River in Washington State. Their role as ‘keepers of the river’ has taken on new vision and reach through the establishment of a groundbreaking native plant nursery and ecological restoration company. Through many administrations, tribal elders and employees conceptualized, formulated, researched, and then financed the vision known now as The BankSavers Project. A 56-acre dairy farm was transformed into a nursery, propagating more than 60 species of native plants for habitat rehabilitation, while garnering enough income to offer sustainable employment for its own youth and the jobless from other tribes and communities. Prior to the project’s inception, few youth were graduating from high school, illiteracy was high, social and health problems were rampant, and the tribe lacked viable economic development opportunities. With patience and perseverance, BankSavers engaged support and collaboration from diverse agencies and groups, not only strengthening relationships but also increasing the skills and knowledge of tribal members. Apprenticeships, internships, and subsidies for basic diplomas and higher education are providing opportunities for local youth to become experienced professionals and managers. The BankSavers staff is in high demand as consultants for their innovative techniques, environmentally sensitive production methods, and newly developed tools for ecological restoration. With a production capacity now exceeding a quarter of a million plants per year, the BankSavers Project is poised to play a signature role in replenishing the health of watersheds throughout the West. The exceptional actions of BankSavers and the Stillaguamish Tribe are helping to replenish the clean, cool water in which their ancestors thrived, while providing a river of opportunities for their leaders of tomorrow.

Nominee: Marty Wold

Half empty or half full? Challenge or opportunity? It takes a community with a ‘can do’ attitude to see the positive side in otherwise distressing situations, and three counties in northeast Washington State are full of such positive thinkers and doers. When looking at drastic reductions in their extractive resource-based economies, not to mention their remoteness and incorrigibly bad weather, some folks in Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties and nearby tribal reservations saw opportunities to switch to new industries that might make remoteness a virtue and extreme weather irrelevant. The Tri-county Economic Development District (TEDD) has helped encourage and foster those attitudes and collaborations, which have led to creative solutions to economic plight and renewed people’s appreciation for their scenic landscapes and quality of life. A loan fund finances business expansion and start-ups. A Business Incubator is bustling with growing companies. Local volunteers and economic development professionals are showing, by example, how to effectively market the area, thereby building local capacity in recruitment and outreach. And a new high-tech call center is coming to town, which will use telecommunications and information technology to allow people to work from this remote location. The center will mean 60 new jobs, a lot in a small community. Community leadership is being nurtured and encouraged to explore and develop diverse and sustainable economic opportunities for the area, made feasible in part because of recent transportation improvements. TEDD’s positive actions and stimulus have helped this area move out of the ‘boom-bust’ cycle and into promising activities that will fill the glass of opportunity for a long time to come.

It was the marketing challenge of a lifetime: how to package a ‘new’ recreation trail meandering through rural hills that once supported a thriving coal and steel industry—a trail that would merge the rich and complex heritage of seven previous trails and railroads, six counties, two states, and hundreds of differing opinions. Just deciding on a name for the new trail was daunting. The Allegheny Trail Alliance (ATA) Marketing Committee knew that the trail would provide more than just passage between southwestern Pennsylvania and western Maryland; its success would also provide smooth passage from declining traditional industries to new economic opportunities in heritage tourism and outdoor experiences. So the name of ‘Great Allegheny Passage’ was bestowed on the 150-mile network of rail trails, which was launched after the ATA produced a marketing plan and convinced the communities of the trail’s enormous social, economic, and environmental potential. The committee helped towns along the trail to develop a common vision and got local businesses involved and collaborating with each other. A consultant revamped the ATA website to encourage visitors to travel from ‘Inn-to-Inn’. A Progress Fund helps tourism-based businesses get started, offering loans to businesses often overlooked by banks. Hundreds of volunteers organize trail work days, bike rides, and festivals. Communities work together to make access to and from the trail easy and safe. An interpretive plan is designing signs, publications, and exhibits to teach visitors and residents alike about the abundant natural resources of the region. The success of the ATA Marketing Committee’s actions speak for themselves: recently designated a National Recreational Trail, the 100 completed miles of the Great Allegheny Passage attract half a million people from all over the nation, bringing millions of dollars and innumerable benefits to a great Allegheny place.

They’re breaking the mold in Wakulla County, Florida. The outdated, unproductive mold of failed initiatives, contentious hearings, and ‘us vs. them’ attitudes is being reconstructed into a new pattern of open dialogue, consensus, and collaboration. Leading the change is the Wakulla County Tourist Development Council (TDC), which has partnered with the Forest Service to build public support for designation of Wakulla’s segment of the 248-mile Big Bend Scenic Byway. Their goal is broad—to encourage rural economic development through nature and heritage tourism, to replace declines in timber and fishing. It was a tough challenge, because the five fast-growing communities had been locked in internal conflict and polarization, uneven and often controversial development, and increased pressures on the natural environment. TDC took the risk and the initiative to engage citizens in developing a consensus vision for the future, through building grassroots support for and involvement in the Byway designation. In just six months, all five communities are participating and strongly endorsing the Byway planning process. Participants are learning how to define, and coordinate, their own goals and objectives. The work completed so far has prepared Wakulla County and the Applachicola National Forest to seek Scenic Byway designation for their portions of the corridor. Potential future dividends of this spirited collaboration include increased pride, enhanced ability to secure grants, increased economic diversity and sustainability, and new educational opportunities. While the resolution and commitment nurtured by TDC do not guarantee designation of the Byway, the process of working together toward this common goal has forever changed the way Wakulla County will see and experience the future.

So-called ‘water wars’ have wrought hostility and economic distress throughout the West. In the Entiat River watershed in eastern Washington State, however, discontent and tension over water rights and fisheries protection has led in an unexpected direction. Faced with potential orders from outside agencies to protect embattled salmon runs, the town decided to prepare itself for the future by initiating its own planning effort. A small group of local landowners and representatives of county, state, and federal agencies outlined a process, identified stakeholders, and crafted a preliminary mission statement and goals. Operating on donated time and effort, the group eventually evolved into the Entiat Watershed Planning Unit, to take on the tasks of addressing water quality, water quantity, and stream flow. The new organization widened its already broad range of stakeholders to include orchardists, loggers, ranchers, retirees, tribal representatives, and environmental interests. Their beginning was rocky as the group worked out its relationship and operational bugs. But with persistence and courage they sponsored workshops and stream restoration projects and are working on the Entiat Watershed Plan, which uses science to address social, economic, and environmental issues, including salmon protection. The process of setting direction and making decisions together has helped people understand and trust each other, increased their knowledge of natural resource science, and led to the implementation of demonstration projects for fish habitat improvement. Thanks to an indomitable community spirit, the Entiat Watershed Planning Unit today is doing groundbreaking, collaborative fish and riparian planning and enhancement for an entire watershed across all jurisdictions, turning a call to battle into a call to action that can’t be beat.

Information is key to community progress and sustainability. In rural Tennessee, Jeanne Eastham and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) have been key to delivering varied and vital information and education to many underserved communities. Through videos and displays, brochures and special activities, Jeanne creates and distributes top-notch, low-cost information on natural resource management, grant opportunities, outreach programs, and conservation education. The Forest Service and NRCS formed this unique partnership to produce materials that would address specific needs expressed by the communities, especially for products that could reach rural and inner-city children. Pooling funds to purchase the equipment, the agencies’ innovative approach has resulted in significant cost savings and extraordinary expansion of their ability to provide information in a wide variety of formats. They reach diverse, geographically dispersed audiences—including school kids, teachers, government officials, agency personnel, and landowners—many of whom have neither the funds nor the opportunity to obtain needed information elsewhere. Jeanne’s products help meet management and conservation education goals established in community-driven action plans, with some projects addressing regional and national needs. Once displays are in place, or videos presented, products are available for borrowing for other events, classes, or schools. If demand and competition are any measure of quality and success, Jeanne’s media magic, made accessible through NRCS’s visionary attitude, is the best key to the future that Tennessee communities could find.

When most folks attend a fair or festival, they see and enjoy the exciting atmosphere and activities. When James Ford attends such an event, he sees all the work that went into its success. And well he should, because James Ford of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has been planning and pulling off successful fairs, field days, and kids days in rural Tennessee for several years. He begins at the beginning, generating and selling ideas, then inspiring sponsors, agencies, and educators to dig in and make it happen. Using his interactive skills, James works with agencies and educational institutions to garner support for community outreach activities, such as bringing minority children to visit a working farm or delivering video and exhibit materials to local schools. Such outreach has been critical in this region, where declines in the tobacco and timber industries have left many rural communities underserved and underdeveloped, in need of information and education that can address their changing needs. Through festivals, events, videos, displays, and brochures, information is delivered to small businesses, farm operators, and landowners on new ways to generate income and keep local businesses alive. While James is the primary leader, he encourages other agencies to sign on, and he energizes community excitement and participation. From 4-H clubs and garden clubs to business people of all types, community members participate enthusiastically in planning and implementing local events and workshops that will help them grow and adapt to a challenging future. The outreach efforts of James Ford and the NRCS provide a festive and important avenue for rural Tennessee communities to build knowledge and skills that will take them to a new and sustainable future.

COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING   Back to Top
Region/Area/Station: R9 - Eastern Region
Recipient: Community Organizing and Support Initiative (COSI), Rural Action, Inc., Sustainable Communities
Nelsonville, Ohio

Appalachian Ohio is a complex place, marked by high poverty and environmental degradation, along with extraordinary natural beauty, rich culture, and deep heritage. Local citizens are grounded and tied to the land, culture, and history of their place and their ancestors. In this rural region where transportation is tough and communication is tougher, the Community Organizing and Support Initiative (COSI) was launched to help grassroots groups build an alternative communication network as a vehicle for change and community empowerment. COSI is providing resources, tools, information, and support to a new and emerging community leadership. By encouraging diverse groups of people to plan and implement activities together—even if it means stretching their ‘comfort zones’— COSI is helping citizens develop the rapport, confidence, and abilities they need to fully participate in their community’s future. COSI’s program focuses on five key components: relationship building, mobilizing, training, collaboration, and networking. With the support and assistance of COSI, an impressive list of successes to date boasts: 17 communities from 6 counties who participated in leadership training; 90 community members who received training in leadership skills; 18 community projects designed and implemented; hundreds of thousands of dollars leveraged; 20,000 volunteer hours logged; and 10 community representatives from 4 counties working together to form a coalition that will connect community groups to each other, information, resources, and training. The act of organizing the coalition itself is empowering the individuals involved; the resulting network will empower communities and the whole region to develop and achieve their own vision and their own future.

COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION EDUCATION  Back to Top
Region/Area/Station: R6 - Pacific Northwest Region
Recipient: Black Mountain Forestry Center Volunteers, Mt Baker Ranger District, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Whatcom County, Washington

It was first envisioned by a retired Forest Service employee who saw how changes in management of public forestlands were affecting his own community in rural Washington State. The vision of the Black Mountain Forestry Center became reality in 1999, with a mission to promote awareness and provide education about forests. Set on a 10-acre site at a county park, BMFC facilities include a forestry museum, a demonstration site with forest-related exhibits, and displays of woodworking and other wood products from local cottage industries. For those on the move, there’s a guided van tour with a dozen stops to see and learn about riparian zones and forest ecology and management. For festival fans, the World of Wood Festival draws more than 1,500 people annually to its educational classes, displays, crafts, and tours. Prefer to read and teach? Check out the informative website, or work with the new ‘What’s in the Woods?’ school curriculum. All this activity is generated and pumped up by an explosion of community volunteers—individuals, families, local businesses, corporations, and government agencies—who help with everything from preparing letters and promotional materials to donating materials and artifacts for the museum, organizing and staffing fundraising events, and providing construction materials, equipment, and labor. Not only are public visitors to the center learning about forestry history and issues; local communities are also increasing their understanding of their relationship to these issues. Facilities and programs are bringing solid cash flow and stimulating new ideas for economic diversification. This community, once isolated from each other in fairly independent pursuits within the timber industry, has learned to work in tandem not only to survive but to understand and accept change and move on to a new vision for the future.