Abstract:
The forest health of the Blue Mountains of eastern
Oregon and Washington has sustained great impacts primarily
caused by disease and insect epidemics. In order to restore
forest health and reduce fuel loads, management tools like
prescribed fire and mechanical chinning are being tested by
forest managers in the region' s national forests. However
the public's willingness so support and accept use of these
treatments on a broad scale is problematic Site visits can be a useful tool used to assess citizen’s reactions to these
management practices.
This thesis describes findings from a series of sire
visits where 31 citizens evaluated prescribed fire and
mechanical thinning treatments in the national forests of she
Blue Mountains. On-site survey questions were devised to
compare answers to a mail questionnaire previously completed
by the same individuals earlier in 1996. Questions were
designed to examine how site visits influence public opinion,
the effect of site recovery on acceptability, if knowledge of
objectives influenced ratings, and other factors which may
influence response to treatments. Open-ended questions were
used to capture initial reactions to the treated sites and to
allow individuals to identify site factors of greatest
concern to them.
Although site visits did not increase acceptability
ratings of these treatments, participants easily identified
those factors of greatest importance to them. These included
remaining fuel levels, evidence of treatments, forage levels,
and thinning intensity. Site recovery also did not increase
ratings though there was a positive correlation between
public knowledge of site specific objectives and greater
acceptance of the sites. Again, the level of fuel left on
site was a important evaluating factor followed by the
'cleanliness' and 'greenness' of treated sites. Use of site
visits and implications for management are discussed.
