Work Groups

Charge and function

Overview

Within the collaborative, Standing Work Groups provide the routine organizational functions of the ACCG. These work groups are currently Administration, Planning, Landscape Assessment, Monitoring and Funding Coordination. Click here to view the current and past work group meeting notes. The following policies and procedures apply to all ACCG work groups:

 

  • Work groups have at least three (3) members that represent the triple bottom line values:
    environment, community, and economy.
  • Work groups will aim to maintain a balanced representation of interests representing the
    triple bottom line.
  • Similar to the full ACCG General Meetings, a work group‘s meetings and activities are not
    limited only to appointees directly responsible for that work group’s particular function.
  • Initial work group appointments are approved by the ACCG.
  • Work groups will offer the opportunity to engage new members by discussing work group
    representation at least once a year. The intent is to encourage inclusivity, share in support of
    the ACCG, foster new ideas, and cultivate the next generation of members.

Administration

The administrative function provides management for executing the policies and decisions of the governance function, assures documentation and management of the organizations’ information and records, manages the balance between the ACCG’s different functions, oversees accountability, develops and manages procedures for the policies and practices of the ACCG. It provides key coordination that facilitate communications within the ACCG and with external parties and helps document/track these activities. The Administration Work Group (Admin WG) is responsible for this organizational function. Click here to go to the Admin WG meeting materials webpage.

 

  • For coordination and liaison, each work group will have at least one representative that serves on the Admin WG.
  • One willing member of the Admin WG or a third-party facilitator will be responsible for taking ACCG meeting minutes and managing ACCG documents storage and access (i.e., signed MOAs, meeting minutes, agendas, reports, email distribution lists, etc.).
  • The Admin WG establishes its own meeting schedule as and when needed to prepare for full ACCG General Meetings, including coordinating development and timely distribution of General Meeting agendas.
  • ACCG General Meeting preparation includes logistical planning and support and agenda development. The Admin WG assesses meeting needs and provides appropriate space and technology for facilitating full ACCG General Meeting Agenda development includes but is not limited to collecting and reviewing supporting materials for agenda items, commenting on and/or recommending actions on items as appropriate, coordinating regular status and monitoring reports on ACCG approved standing or ad hoc work group activities.
  • The Admin WG also researches, deliberates, and recommends on issues of policy, procedure, and other items referred to it by the ACCG.
  • The work group resolves communications and coordination issues that may arise between work groups to minimize duplication of effort or working at cross purposes.
  • The Admin WG also recommends training activities to improve members’ abilities to participate effectively and to be able to cooperatively self-organize projects that implement ACCG-supported activities.

Planning

The Planning Work Group (Planning WG) reviews, discusses, and makes recommendations for policy and program development; designs implementation projects consistent with approved Policies and Principles; prepares project proposals; drafts position papers; and assesses opportunities. Planning WG may engage in joint fact-finding (e.g., research and analysis, as needed). The Planning WG is responsible to the ACCG for this function. Click here to go to the Planning WG meeting materials webpage.

 

  • The Planning WG selects a willing member to represent the group as a member of the Admin WG.
  • The Planning WG establishes its own meeting schedule as and when needed to research, deliberate, and recommend on issues of strategic and implementation planning, monitoring, and evaluation for ACCG-supported projects and other items referred to it by the ACCG.
  • The work group assesses planning, monitoring, and evaluation needs and provides background and recommendations to ACCG meetings.
  • The Planning WG assesses and coordinates planning and reporting issues that may arise between projects to minimize duplication of effort or working at cross-purposes.
  • The work group also acts as the liaison contact with regional, state, federal and corporate entities as appropriate for coordinating planning and research activities
  • The Planning WG oversees long-term ACCG effort and coordinates with the Monitoring Work Group to identify and/or develop metrics and best practices for monitoring and measuring local indicators for a healthy and sustainable equilibrium between local natural environments, and economies.
  • The work group communicates and coordinates with the Funding Coordination Work Group to seek and share information about funding opportunities applicable to initiatives or project plans supported by the ACCG.

The Planning WG has one sub-Work Group and two Ad Hoc groups, click the following links to go to these group homepages:

 

Strategic Landscape Assessment

The Strategic Landscape Assessment Work Group (SLAWG), a subgroup of the Planning WG, coordinates and guides efforts to conduct a landscape-level assessment of the ACCG footprint and develop processes and tools to help advance projects aligned with the ACCG’s all-lands, landscape scale vision and triple bottom line mission. Click here to go the the SLAWG homepage.

Monitoring

The Monitoring Work Group provides ecological, economic, and social monitoring oversight to 1) meet the objectives for the CFLRP program and ACCG, and 2) translate the benefits and lessons learned from restoration efforts to future management activities. The Monitoring WG accomplishes this in a collaborative multi-party environment to oversee the monitoring strategy and monitoring activities on the ground. Click here to go to the Monitoring WG homepage.

 

  • The Monitoring WG will select a willing member to represent the group as a member of the Admin WG. If a member from the ACCG Monitoring WG is not represented on the Admin WG, the ACCG Monitoring WG will commit to continued communication on a regular basis.
  • The Monitoring WG will establish its own meeting schedule (recommended monthly) and when needed to research, deliberate, and recommend on issues of monitoring oversight in support of the CFLR program, informing future management activities, and other items referred to by the ACCG.
  • The Monitoring WG will complete post-project monitoring occurs for ACCG-supported projects to ensure a feedback loop to inform future management activities.
  • The Monitoring WG will work closely with the Planning WG and the Funding Coordination Work Group to ensure that monitoring is included as a component in grants proposals when appropriate (e.g., addresses the strategy or a key topic of interest to the ACCG).
  • The Monitoring WG will maintain a robust outreach program inviting speakers that have completed monitoring in the area to meetings, hosting symposiums and field trips to offer broad educational opportunities.
  • The Monitoring WG would oversee and maintain a comprehensive monitoring database that
    details all metadata for monitoring projects. This information will be stored in a USDA Box a cloud storage location that allows content to be shared with all members of the Monitoring WG. All final documents (e.g., reports, presentations, publications.) related to monitoring will
    be housed on the ACCG website.
  • The Monitoring WG will update the monitoring strategy at minimum of every 5 years to make sure questions are still relevant. When a question is no longer relevant it will be documented as to why (e.g., monitoring/research can be synthesized that answers the question) and archived.
  • The Monitoring WG will evaluate if there are additional questions that should be addressed on an ongoing basis. Additional questions for the strategy would be identified based on new uncertainties or assumptions (e.g., change conditions on the landscape due to widespread insect mortality) or where there is controversy within members of the ACCG that monitoring could help address.

Funding Coordination

The Funding Coordination Work Group (Funding WG) promotes collaboration and partnership in seeking funding in order to maximize the ACCG’s funding potential and capacity to pursue grants and avoid duplication of effort and competition. The work group helps the ACCG work toward financial sustainability after CFLR funding ends. Click here to go to the Funding WG homepage.

 

  • The Funding WG establishes its own meeting schedule as and when needed to research, deliberate, and recommend on issues of funding coordination for ACCG-supported projects and other items referred to it by the ACCG. The group is expected to meet at least quarterly after its first convening.
  • The work group assists the ACCG to leverage the members’ resources and identify priorities, which enable the collaborative to be more opportunistic and effective in pursuing funding.
  • The Funding Coordination Work Group also acts as the liaison with local, regional, state, federal, and corporate entities as appropriate for coordinating funding activities.
  • The work group will help address funding obstacles and challenges for increasing pace and scale of treatments on the landscape, including but not limited to:
    • Lack of sufficient forest products infrastructure
    • Limited capacity of major land managers in the ACCG footprint (e.g., U.S. Forest
      Service and Bureau of Land Management)
    • Limited funding
    • Lack of adequate/current conditions data (e.g., LIDAR)
    • CEQA/NEPA
    • Contracting challenges (e.g., local contracting)

Subscribe for news & updates

Join 168 other subscribers