Assessment of Early Implementation of the US Forest Service’s Shared Stewardship Strategy

In 2019, Colorado State University entered into achallenge cost-share agreement with USFS Stateand Private Forestry to conduct independent researchon the implementation and developmentof Shared Stewardship efforts. The first phase ofour work took place in 2020, when we interviewedagency and state employees and representatives ofpartner organizations in states in the West that hadsigned a memorandum of understanding (MOU)with the USFS to formally pursue Shared Stewardship.Our primary goal was to understand themain factors affecting the early stages of SharedStewardship efforts across these states, includingkey actors’ perspectives on the Strategy and earlyplanning and development efforts, primary opportunitiesand challenges, and the types of capacities,mechanisms, and direction needed to move aheadsuccessfully with partnerships and Shared Stewardshipimplementation.