Participate in the process

The Oregon Forest Resources Institute values public involvement and feedback on our educational programs and materials. Stakeholder and public input is an important part of the process of developing a number of our projects and initiatives. These may include:

• program plans
• strategic plans
• executive director hiring process
• major scientific research reports
• policies and procedures

The process for incorporating stakeholder and public comment into the development of a new project or the update of an existing plan, report or policy is shown and described below:

Step 1: Initiate project.
OFRI staff identify the need for a project and seek board approval to budget the necessary funds to execute it.

Step 2: Drafting and internal review.
Once the OFRI board has approved proceeding with the project, staff and/or a contractor begin the drafting and internal review process, involving the OFRI executive director and other relevant staff members. 

Step 3: Stakeholder review.
Staff assemble a diverse group of stakeholders to review an initial draft and provide input. Once the stakeholder review has been completed and staff have incorporated their feedback into the project, it goes out for public review.

Step 4: Public notice and review.
OFRI issues a notice of the public comment period and makes digital and hard copies of the draft project available for the public to review. This could include announcements on the Institute’s website, in email newsletters, in a news release and on social media. 

Step 5: Collect public comments.
During the public comment period, public comments will be collected by email, online survey or mail. 

Step 6: Board approval.
The OFRI board reviews and approves a final draft of the project that takes into account the feedback received during the public comment period. 

Step 7: Publish and notify commenters.
OFRI publishes the project and makes it available on its website. 

Step 8: Release public comment summary.
OFRI releases on its website a summary of the public comments received.