Relationship to the NCDACS Strategic Plan

In March of 2012, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS), of which the North Carolina Forest Service is a part, began a fast paced effort to develop what was termed a 'lite' version of a department strategic plan. The department's 21 divisions were grouped into 5 functional areas: Agricultural Services, NC Forest Service, Regulatory Programs, Enterprise Centers, and Administrative Services. The departmental strategic planning committee was comprised of two representatives for each functional area who served as liaisons between the committee and individual division directors and senior managers. Each functional area was tasked with developing a mission and vision statement, identifying key stakeholders, identifying 2 to 3 key representative goals and associated performance measures, and finally, a manageable number of strategic initiatives.

For the NC Forest Service functional area, much of this work had already been developed as part of the NCFS strategic planning effort that had begun in November 2010 and continued concurrently with the departmental planning effort. As the NCFS strategic planning effort progressed into 2012, 6 primary goals emerged and were eventually adopted into this NCFS plan. Since we will report progress on our measures to NCDA&CS, it was a natural fit to incorporate these same departmental measures into our NCFS strategic plan. As we worked to finalize the NCFS plan, a decision was made by the management team to follow this same model and develop a few select performance measures for the 3 remaining goals unique to the NCFS plan.

The two strategic plans mesh and complement each other. The two plans are organized into a consistent format and flow with two notable exceptions: 1). The NCFS strategic plan is more detailed, consisting of 6 goals and associated performance measures, compared with 3 NCFS goals in the NCDA&CS strategic plan. These 3 NCFS goals found in the NCDA&CS strategic plan: Protect the forests; Manage the forests; and Promote the Forests are based on the 3 cornerstones of the new NCFS mission statement adopted in 2012. In the NCFS plan, each goal is supported by additional objectives and strategic actions that will guide NCFS priorities through June 2016; and 2). The 9 NCFS functional area initiatives featured separately within the department plan have been woven into the NCFS plan and are incorporated as either objectives or strategic actions.