New technological developments give us a chance to try out new approaches to policy development and betterment. On June 30th, for example, Chief Dombeck hosted a video teleconference entitled, "A Vision in Common for the 21st Century: Public Involvement and the Government Performance and Results Act." Video teleconferencing is just one means to engage "stakeholders" in collaborative stewardship. Today, we continue along the collaborative stewardship path in announcing Eco-Watch Dialogues, an Internet site where we can discuss current policy and methods and new proposals for management of the National Forests.

We believe it important to provide you, as employees, and others with a stake in policy development full access to policy and program dialogues on the Internet. Please visit Eco-Watch Dialogues where you will find, among other things, five interrelated policy discussions:

(1) US Forest Service Natural Resource Agenda for the 21st Century, (2) NFMA Regulation and the Committee of Scientists, (3) Clean Water Action Plan, (4) Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Development, and (5) GPRA, RPA, and Government Accountability. Dave Iverson and Mark Garland are hosting the site and will moderate the dialogues. They have structured the discussion site with introductory materials and hyperlinks to other websites for more information on each discussion topic. In addition, they have set up a conversation of the "dialogue process" itself to acquaint people with effective use of dialogue in the policy arena. Other topics will be added in response to emerging issues or needs.

We would like to see this web site used as a focal point for both national and regional issues. We encourage you to use this site as a medium to garner broader participation in development of emerging policy and program guidance, as well as to serve as an integration point for public comment. Please coordinate with either Dave or Mark to get your topic listed.

We encourage you to use this communication tool and to participate in the discussions. To check it out, just double click on Eco-Watch Dialogues and wait for your web browser to find the site. The URL is http://www.fs.fed.us/eco/eco-watch/ecowatch.html.

Participation in these dialogues is voluntary and suggestions for policy improvement will be considered alongside suggestions derived from other sources. We will monitor the Eco-Watch Dialogues to see how useful they prove to be in policy development and betterment.