UCF Program: Issues and Challenges Issue/Challenge #1 - Acronyms….

1. UCF Program: Issues and Challenges Issue/Challenge #1 - Acronyms…. GO NOWF- CO GO !!!!!!

2. UCF Program: Issues and Challenges #1: Urban & Rural Program Delivery #2: Funding Allocations #3: State Sustainability & Program Intent

3. Urban & Rural Program Delivery: The Urban Case… Urban areas are experiencing serious, environmental problems that are not being addressed. These problems pose grave threats to the health and well being of urban and suburban populations. Urban areas do not have adequate resources to deal with these issues in a significant way. Working in urban areas impacts the largest number of constituents, helping the program solidify and grow.

4. Urban & Rural: The Urban Case (cont’d) The CFAA nowhere specifically states that assistance is to be provided to rural communities. The FS has many rural initiatives; UCF is the only one that addresses the needs of urban constituents. More urbanized states have higher overhead and related program costs, and therefore, need. Most of the UCF program dollars serve rural communities; the program is unbalanced.

5. Urban & Rural: The Rural Case… Most of the UCF program dollars serve urban communities; the program is unbalanced. Rural areas are experiencing the same problems as urban areas; these issues should be addressed early before they become problems. Urban areas already have sufficient resources - they don’t need additional assistance.

6. Urban & Rural: The Rural Case (cont’d) Large, rural states have tremendous distances to travel to deliver the program, and therefore greater need. Funding projects in large urban areas is a waste because the impact is minimal (the dilution effect). Rural areas are experiencing serious decline and loss of assistance of all types; their need for funds is much greater.

7. Urban & Rural: The Facts… The program’s title: “Urban and Community Forestry” is confusing at best, misleading and divisive at worst. “Urban” does mean urban, but; “Community” does not mean rural. Communities are the fabric that make up both urban and rural areas. Neither urban nor rural areas carry exclusive rights to the term “Community.”

8. Urban & Rural: The Facts…(cont’d) The definition in the CFAA for “Urban and Community Areas” is: “Cities, their suburbs, and towns.” Cities are typically urban. Suburbs are typically urban, but can be urban or rural. Towns can be urban or rural. We don’t know how many urban communities verses rural communities we’re serving because we’ve never tracked it, but we will start doing so shortly. If we ignore either urban or rural areas in delivering the Urban and Community Forestry Program, we would not be meeting the intent of the CFAA.

9. UCF Program: Funding Allocations We’ve received direction from congress to propose a new method for allocating funds to the states. In crafting this new methodology, we confronted issues of performance, accountability and equity of program delivery for both large and small states. Responding to congressional direction, we started by looking at where the current 8-factor formula and the regional formulas are distributing the funds:

10. Current Distributions Using 2003 Data:

11. Current Distributions Using 2003 Data:

13. Where is the Money Going? Using data reported by the states which includes earmarks and other funding such as NUCFAC, the 25 most populated states serve 82% of the nation’s population. They received 65% of the national funding. By contrast, the remaining 25 states and 9 entities (34 units) serve 18% of the population and they receive 35% of the national funds. These data show that the current 8-factor formula favors lesser populated Areas/Regions. Similarly, regional distributions favor lesser populated states.

14. Final Issues: State Sustainability and Program Intent Despite 12 years of support, if federal funds dried up tomorrow, many state's UCF programs would end because they have not prioritized building their own capacity for program delivery. When states do not match their annual UCF grants, they are acting not as cooperators, but rather as contractors; spending only federal dollars and not a combined pool of federal/state moneys which is the clear intent of the UCF program legislation.

15. Where to from here? States/entities/regions need to acknowledge what they have been receiving relative to other states/entities/ regions to understand why we are under pressure to address how we distribute funds. States/entities who have not focused on their internal capacity for program delivery must start doing so. The NASF must work with the FS and provide a supportive voice for dealing with these difficult issues.

16. Where to from here? We must work with our partners and ensure that minimum program standards are being met. We must encourage our partners at all levels, state, local, and private, to develop strong, independent state delivery mechanisms that are not completely reliant on UCF grants. We must allocate funds in a manner that is understandable and tracks and rewards performance.

17. Where to from here? Every State Coordinator, every Volunteer Coordinator, every State Council and most of all, every State Forester, must understand that they are part of a national program, and the strength and longevity of that national program is dependent upon each and every one us. Both the feds and the states cannot let the challenges that are facing us compromise our partnership. In difficult times, we need solidarity to ensure our mutual long-term future, not division and in-fighting.

18. Where to from here? We must acknowledge that the agency is under increasing pressure, and must respond, to demands for performance based budgeting. We must ask the difficult questions about our program so lawyers, investigators and others, who know little about the program, and stand to do the most damage to it, don’t have to.

19. Where to from here? We must acknowledge that the intent of the CFAA is one of cooperation. Both the feds and the states must provide resources to create strong, independent state UCF delivery mechanisms that will survive long term. If we do not work toward this goal together, we are not meeting program intent, and it is the American public that will ultimately suffer.