NCSAF March Luncheon Announcement:

Landscape Forestry: Exploring Stewardship and Sustainability Concepts in an Evolving Society

Speaker: John Fedkiw

Thursday, March 27, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Secretary’s Dining Room, Lincoln Room 3 rd floor, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Entrance: from Jefferson Court, ½ block west of Smithsonian Metro Station mall exit
Cost: $17/person, includes lunch, beverage & dessert

Over the past half century, forestry in America has undergone a cultural change, shaped by a variety of forces. The key to the cultural change, landscape forestry, is the reawakening of our highly urbanized society and its stakeholder interests that, in turn, has renewed a public awareness that the landscape and its resources, in the sense of dependency vs. ownership, belong to all the people, and must meet their diverse needs and preferences. Initially led by the wilderness and environmental movements, the public has been expressing and demonstrating their need to have a voice and vote in shaping the use and development of long-term landscape outcomes. In this, we are talking about a genuinely bottom up approach to sustainability.

Sustainability is a relatively new goal for society and the supporting landscape resources and environment. It is a holistic societal process of broad landscape proportions across multiple ownerships and jurisdictions, providing a top down approach for landscape use and management. Stewardship is the other side of the coin. It is the underlying conservation ethic and means by which individuals may implement sustainable landscape processes.

We lack the policy and governance for integrating the diverse and often divisive voices of the public and the processes of sustainability and landscape forestry on the land. Since landscape forestry relates to local land use and management planning, and is strategic for implementing the policy bounds and limits for sustainability, the basic policy and governance need is at the state level with facilitating supportive Federal policy.

About the Speaker: John Fedkiw retired in 1993 from USDA Office of the Secretary where he served for 28 years as policy advisor and analyst for natural resources and environment and other program areas. Before that, he was a Forest Service researcher and Branch Chief of forestry economics in Portland OR and Washington DC. From 1946-1959, John served as Assistant Professor in forestry economics, statistics and management at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse. He has consulted with forest industry firms and lectured at Yale University Industrial Forestry Seminars for senior forest executives. John has been the recipient of USDA Distinguished Service and President’s Meritorious Executive Awards. He has authored over 90 publications, including technical articles, papers and books. He has served as a FS volunteer since 1993. John received a B.S. in Forest Management, a Masters in Public Administration from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University.