Ranging

The Big Idea

Rangin' 'Round the Region, the RRR Program, is large and complicated. It is the right size for the large, complicated problem faced by the region for the near future.

The big idea is that an organization should create and operate a profit-oriented, superior wildland management system for a region such as the area around Roanoke.

Not a preservationists' ploy, not a research-fund raising gambit, not a private hunting club, not a bird-watcher's strategy, the RRR Program creates a system that does a little of all of the above but produces money for investors and landowners in the area. It displays a new paradigm in wildland resource management, that of finance-based total wildland system management.

The project uses the resources of cooperators as in a share-cropping mode, gains funds from them but also for them, and creates a working system. This is a land-development project but also a project to encourage all types of tourism and related, diverse outdoor activities.

Based on the principles of ecology and modern corporation dynamics, the organization to be formed is Lasting Forests. It is a 'conglomerate', a set of highly related enterprises all working together, damping out fluctuations, diversifying in services and products, being driven by incentives, being flexible and synergistic, and 'working the margin' very carefully with computer optimization. This is not a 'blue chip' operation, but it is after financial gains. The big idea is to create a 'corporation' that no one has seen before with the following 12 divisions or enterprises among 40 for which preliminary plans are available:

System Central Deer Group The Forests The Products Group The Wildland Knowlegde Base The Wild Turkey Group

Official Avi The Fishery Nature Folks The Tour Group Writers' Camps Memorials

Full details of the concept are available. Operation funds to create the Lasting Forests and develop the RRR Program are proposed to be from investors supplying a line of credit or loan for staff to begin work. The organization is estimated to be financially solvent in 5 years, after which it grows into the 40 enterprises. Financial gains are shared with cooperating land owners and investors after 5 years.

Part of the big idea is that the Lasting Forests (under design) now has access to a massive international library; 30 years of experience, research, and related software; a new concept in wildland management; and a person willing to devote the time needed (at no charge to the RRR Program for the next three years) for the Program to succeed. The RRR Program may not be a bad idea.

The Bottom Line

"What will it cost?" is a typical question asked about a typical project. The RRR Program is not typical. It potentiates an investment already made. It reduces loss and prevents foregoing income or values. Of course there are costs, but investors typically concentrate on answers to probable or expected net returns from investments.

In all cases in the Program we have included well-known units, things that need no major inventions or "break-through" and we have included back-up or fail-safe tactics.

Parks and forests in the public domain are usually financial drains. Even if direct costs are ignored, they represent a loss of land for taxation for communities. The cost of owning land is, at minimum, the annual tax burden on the land owner. The RRR Program bottom line for success is that, at least, the annual tax equivalent is paid by the project operation. Minimum additional success criteria may be added such as the cost of supervising and auditing the RRR Program.

Depending on accounting procedures and policies, the system development can be paid for exclusively from funds derived from the 6 major areas of work for the Lasting Forests, namely, Land and Water Management, Services and Action, Products, Sports, Memberships, and System Central.

Much of the activity of 'learning' the place and the role of each enterprise of the Lasting Forests requires the presence of the experts in the enterprise, unified work, and policy development. These are questions needing answers for the near future and for detailed budgeting. Because of the novelty, dynamic, and planned interactions in the Program, we propose frequent audits and stated thresholds, but suggest that detailed budgeting will be a wasteful exercise. Instead, we propose dynamic work, bi-monthly financial meetings, and frequent progress reports.

We propose to implement 12 units or enterprises within the first 3 years. We propose to cautiously gain funds from the various properties and activities (intensive use of forests, pastures, facilities, and creative development of ancillary operations). Driven by incentives, the shared 'profits' gained will build the company, the RRR Program's potential benefits from it, and the staff of the Lasting Forests.

The preliminary estimates for start-up work are based on emphasizing:

• Maximum exposure and marketing
• Minimum capital outlay
• Maximum use of un-developed resources of the tract
• Maximum local involvement to create support and employment opportunities
• Maximum use of the systems that are developed in the RRR Program on other Foundation lands and resources.

The RRR Program is designed to create a managed group of productive properties for the citizens of a region for the future.

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision January 17, 2000.