Draft Statement of Work - EC Qualitative Data Collection.docx

US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Statement of Work USDA FS, Southern Research Station Forestry Sciences Lab – RWU 4952 320 E Green Street Athens, GA 30602 Enchanted Circle Qualitative Data Collection April 25, 2024

Contents

Project Enchanted Circle Qualitative Data Collection

General Information

1.0 Scope of Work

This contract supports a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) research study related to the USDA Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy (WCS). The project gathers data from the public related to: 1) perceptions of Forest Service WCS activities in New Mexico’s Enchanted Circle Landscape (ECL), specifically the Taos and Cañoncito Firesheds; and 2) trust residents and others have in the Forest Service to carry out WCS activities in the ECL. The agency prioritized this fireshed because of its critical water supplies for Taos, New Mexico (Rio Fernando de Taos and Rio Chiquito) and the Taos Pueblo (Rio Pueblo). Cañoncito was also selected as a focal area based on feedback from Region 3 Enchanted Circle staff.

2.0 Background

Wildfires pose a significant threat to infrastructure and human lives. In the western United States, wildfires in recent years have been more costly and dangerous because of accumulated fuels after more than a hundred years of suppressed fires, as well as a warming and drying climate. These trends in increased occurrence of extreme fire are expected to continue in the immediate future. Government officials, land managers, recreationists, and residents of wildland urban interface communities are now struggling to understand better increased levels of wildfire hazard and identify best options for mitigating hazard and protecting resources as efficiently as possible.

Studies examining public attitudes and perceptions toward USDA Forest Service (USFS) restoration activities are limited. For instance, research indicates that the more the public becomes familiar with forest management practices and their aesthetic benefits, the greater their acceptance of those actions. Although previous studies have provided some insight into how the public views the need for forest treatments, such as thinning and burning, the significant change in fire behavior across the southwestern U.S. in recent years can cause a significant change in public perception. This may be especially true given the 2022 Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon Fire in northern NM, suggesting an urgent need to assess public responses to wildfire mitigation strategies and activities, resident awareness of wildfire risk, and public trust in federal agencies tasked to perform mitigation activities. Effectively capturing current attitudes toward the USFS as part of its effort to reduce the threat of additional catastrophic fire in this region is critical for the USFS to safely implement planned restoration activities, with stronger community support and trust. Of the literature that exists on these topics, little is related to research in New Mexico, which presents a unique socioeconomic context, given its layered history of settlement by Pueblo, Hispano, and Anglo peoples. Therefore, this project is timely and critical, in particular due to the fact that recent large wildland fires in New Mexico resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of property loss, major disruption for residents and their livelihoods, and billions of dollars in full cost estimates - estimates that are outdated by over a decade.

Contractor Requirements

3.0 Technical Requirements / Tasks

This contract addresses two research objectives. For both objectives, we will use household level surveys to query public perceptions, expectations, and degree of acceptance levels related to WCS mitigation activities performed by private, federal, and state entities in communities residing along the Taos and Cañoncito Firesheds. We will develop questions specific to prescribed burning and thinning treatments in the Taos Fireshed, containing Rio Fernando de Taos and Rio Chiquito and the Taos Pueblo. The contractor will work with a Forest Service project lead and researchers from New Mexico Highlands University, University of New Mexico, and Texas Tech University, along with other technical professionals. The following tasks are required:

Focus group convening and facilitation: The research protocol specifies that the contractor convene nine focus groups, each composed of 4-6 community members. The contractor will need to identify focus group members and convene the groups. The contractor will need to locate a venue for the groups in the study area and distribute monetary incentives for their participation. Focus groups should be geographically distributed according to community population size: six will be conducted in Taos, one in Cañoncito, one for the remaining collective group of communities on the western side of the Enchanted Circle (Arroyo Seco, Arroyo Hondo, El Prado, Valdez, San Cristobal, Questa), and one in the Taos Pueblo.

The contractor will also facilitate the focus group discussions. Focus group participants should be queried using an in-depth method of inquiry that goes beyond merely administering questions. What is needed is facilitation and guidance that allows for deep reflection and from the research participant. The research team recommends that the focus groups be conducted based on recommendations from A.C. Kreuger (2000). Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research.

The contractor also needs to provide at least two notetakers who will observe the conversation and non-verbal expressions. In addition, focus group conversations will be audio recorded and transcribed to ensure accuracy of the quotes that arise from the conversations. The contractor will need to analyze the data using a method like B. G. Glaser’s (1965) “Constant Comparative Method.”

The research also involves the use of a 3-D interactive fire simulation tool (SimTable). After respondents participate in the focus groups, researchers will demonstrate wildfire spread using the SimTable. This will allow research participants to interactively visualize mitigation activities and their effects on predicted fire behavior. After this demonstration, the focus group facilitator will then assess the research participants’ responses to the simulation, in terms of whether participants’ perceptions and acceptance of mitigation activities have changed after having seen the simulation.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) analyst: The contractor will also need to provide a GIS analyst to map and display WCS activity locations in the ECL. The analyst may also provide additional agent-based modeling, but the primary responsibility will be to geo-locate the ECL, identify the various mitigation activities in terms of the geographic scope (e.g., extent of a mechanical thinning or prescribed fire). Depictions of mitigation activities and location may be included in the survey.

Project manager: The contractor will also need to provide a project manager who will deliver overall research team and project coordination; provide all focus group logistics & support; liaise with regional partners and relevant community groups; organize research team meetings, research advisory board meetings (established by the research group), and Taos Pueblo meetings; support development of final report and other scholarly manuscripts; support community reporting meetings, and myriad other efforts.

4.0 Government Furnished

N/A

5.0 Deliverables / Schedule. Timely submission of deliverables is essential to successfully completing this requirement. Note, the focus groups will occur after a survey has been administered. The survey is expected to be completed by June 30, 2025. Please see the table below.

6.0 Travel

The contractor will be expected to travel to a community within the ECL (likely Taos, NM) for onsite focus group administration The contractor should plan to spend four to six weeks in the study area. The travel does not need to be continuous.

7.0 Contractor’s Key Personnel

-data analyst (focus group data) -focus group facilitator -project manager -note taker for focus group -report writer

8.0 Security Requirements

All data collected are to be kept strictly confidential and made available only to the research team. No reporting, manuscripts, or presentations can me made without the consent of the research team.

9.0 Data Rights

If data is to be produced, furnished, acquired, or used in meeting contract requirements, delineate the respective rights and obligations of the government and the contractor regarding the use, production, and disclosure of that data.

Insert Data Rights Here. The data shall be owned by the USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station.

10.0 Section 508 – Electronic and Information Technology Standards N/A

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