Relationships Between National Forest System Employee Diversity and Beliefs Regarding External Interest Groups

This article examines the relationship between USDA Forest Service National Forest System (NFS) employee beliefs about external interest groups and the employees\u27 race, gender, and career path. These interest groups include environmentalists, citizen activists, the timber and mining industries, range users, tribal representatives, and recreationists. Gender, race, and career path are demonstrated to be significant factors related to NFS employee beliefs about a number of these interest groups. These results suggest that NFS employee diversification policies may have introduced into the workforce a set of employees who are less positive in their expectations of the timber industry, but more positive about environmentalists and some other key interest groups. This shift is predicted to aid the NFS in working more successfully with a wider diversity of external constituencies than in the past