Climate-Change Communication Within Public Natural Resource Agencies: Lessons Learned From the U.S. Forest Service

ABSTRACT

By analyzing interview and survey data from U.S. Forest Service employees, we examined the strategies used for communicating about climate change within the agency and their effectiveness from the perspective of agency employees. We found a limited awareness among employees regarding climate policy. We found that horizontal information flow through informal social networks was an important way in which climate-change information was communicated. We also found a lack of confidence among employees in their ability to provide feedback to agency leadership. Our results suggest that (1) agency leadership’s ability to set priorities and deliver positive vision is important for increasing employee awareness and inspiring actions, (2) the agency could play a role in facilitating formal and informal networking among employees, and (3) using advanced information technologies may contribute to information flow horizontally and vertically, formally and informally.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate information
• forest management
• intraorganizational communication
• knowledge transfer
• organizational learning
• public land

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dave Cleaves and the Office of the Climate Change Advisor in the U.S. Forest Service for their assistance and support. We thank all the Forest Service employees who participated in our interviews and surveys. We thank James Long, Barbara Bentz, and Paul Rogers for their insights and comments. We are also grateful to the four reviewers who provided tremendous insights and help through their comments.

Notes

¹The predominant pay scale within the U.S. Federal Civil Service. Higher GS levels generally indicate higher income and more senior positions within a federal agency.