Is benchmarking forest enterprise operations important? (all) 3. Do you feel that your tribe is receiving fair market value for their forest products? If not, what could be done to improve this situation? (all) *add this to tribal member satisfaction survey? Review of environmental and policy conformance 1. Do you or the BIA audit your forest plan implementation? (TF) 2. Do you or the BIA audit your timber sale administration, accountability? (TF) 3. Are tribal enterprises audited? (TC, enterprise) 4. Is auditing part of the federal government’s trust responsibility? (TC, TF) 5. Should the region perform audits, or do you feel that a 3rd party audit would be a better approach? (TF, TC) 6. Do you think a general definition of “state of the art forestry” would be a useful thing to have? If so, how would you define it? (TF) Closing: 1. Do you have any suggestions about how the BIA could better support the fulfillment of the Trust Responsibility? (all)
even flow as a necessary component of AAC calculation? (TF) 15. Does your Region provide harvest scheduling support? If so, how? (TF) 16. Does your tribe receive ecosystem services (i.e., carbon, water) planning support? If so, from whom? (TF, TC?) Staffing (IFMAT Team would like to view your organization chart) 1. Do you have the staff you need to carry out your forest management responsibilities? (all) 2. How many vacancies do you have? In what positions? How long does it take to fill a vacancy? Do you have HR needs and issues? Are you satisfied, in general, with quality of applicants for open positions? (all) 3. Are there any services or positions that need to be provided that currently are not available (e.g., wildlife biologists, hydrologists, economists, forest products marketing specialists)? (all) 4. Have BIA office consolidations helped or hindered delivery of services? Are further organizational changes needed? (all) 5. Do partnerships with, and funding from other federal agencies (e.g., USFS, NRCS, FWS, BLM) assist in your ability to manage your forest resources? (all) Infrastructure 1. Is access to adequate facilities challenging your ability to deliver services and be effective? 2. Are there other infrastructure challenges that you experience (for example roads, logging capacity, sawmill capacity, personnel, etc.)? 3. Have you been able to access assistance from federal agencies such as HUD or USDA Rural Development? Handbooks, Outreach and Training 1. Are the BIA handbooks useful? Is regional and national office handbook direction consistent? (TF) 2. What types of technical assistance/training is provided to you from the BIA? (TF, S) Enterprises 1. Is the trust responsibility being upheld regarding tribal enterprises? (all) 2. What types of technical services are provided to tribal enterprises? Does the technical support include products marketing support?
Task questions are specific to the IFMAT assessment and interviews with key staff
TASK A- Management Practices and Funding- Forest Manager, Development Forester, Planning Forester 1. Clarify FPA Commercial Forest land base, Forest Development Expenditures, Other tribal contributions 2. Discuss Comparators and survey of management activities and costs on specific Indian forest land compared to similar federal and private forest lands. TASK B- Planning forester, forest manager, natural resource manager 1. Does the FMP provide sufficient trend information for board feet? Is supplementary information available in growth, mortality, and inventory in cubic feet, carbon sequestration. Is there trend information in backlogs for thinning and forestation. Trends in biodiversity? 2. What are the IRMP Goals and do they address the specific needs. How are insects and pathogens to affect the forest than in the historical past. What are the primary drivers
Appendix xi — How well are tribes supported by the BIA? A-81
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