SHAWNEE PERSONNEL CHANGES PLANNED

HARRISBURG, Ill. -- Smaller budgets and new forest management approaches in the 10-year Shawnee Forest plan will result in a reduction and redistribution of employees.

"Organizational changes will take place over the next three years," said forest supervisor Louise A. Odegaard. "We currently have 106 Shawnee National Forest employees."

No one will be forced to retire during the period, said Odegaard. The staff will be reduced through attrition and job transfers to National Forest offices in other states.

Additional plans will be discussed during a meeting today at Harrisburg.

Preliminary plans were to reduce the supervisor's office staff from 60 to 20 at Harrisburg, then move the office along Interstate 57 near Marion.

Those plans changed last week following cooperation between the Forest Service, elected representatives and local community leaders.

U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard (D-118th District) met with Forest Service officials in his Washington office last week to discuss alternatives to the proposed move. After finalizing plans Poshard, Illinois state Rep. David Phelps (D-Eldorado) and Odegaard announced that the office will remain in Harrisburg, where it has been located for more than 50 years.

Money from salaries saved and other fixed costs will be shifted to actual projects, adding flexibility to the organization, noted Odegaard.

"Some of the remaining employees will be shifted into ecosystem management and recreation programs, providing quality customer service," said Odegaard.

Most Shawnee employees were involved in developing the reorganization plan.

The new plan, which was amended last year, stresses ecosystem management. The plan proposes an Ecosystem Management Center located at the Vienna Ranger District Office with 18 employees. Twenty-three employees would work at the Physical Resource Center, located at the current Jonesboro Ranger District.

"Staying close to as many communities as possible where we already are was a reorganization priority," said Odegaard. "In accomplishing this, two service centers will be established, with 10 employees at the Elizabethtown Ranger District office and 18 employees at the Murphysboro Ranger District office."

Service centers will house tools, equipment and vehicles for local projects and will serve as a site where visitors and residents can have meetings with Forest Service employees and pick up information, permits and maps.

Odegaard added that the Shawnee Forest is looking to the future with a new organization and a new spirit. "We feel a non-traditional organization with greater program coordination at the field level is needed to do our jobs better and to successfully implement ecosystem management," she said.