Introduction The title of the Chief’s now famous speech where he outlined the “the four great threats” to national forest health was “We Need a New National Debate.” His point was that times have changed and the agency needs to change focus to reflect the newest threats: (1) fire and fuels, (2) unwanted invasive species, (3) loss of open space, and (4) unmanaged recreation. Two of these are directly related to outdoor recreation; all four have social science dimensions and implications for recreation on public lands. So if the Chief wants the agency to address these threats, the national debate needs to include the role of recreation and social science. Although workshop sessions were designed around more traditional topics—understanding recre- ation visitors, recreation planning and monitoring, recreation management, and special issues—we will take this opportunity to relate what we heard at the workshop that relates to the Chief’s call for a national debate. We provide an overview of some of the broad themes from the presentations and discussions that cut across all the workshop topics, and then relate the themes to the Chief’s challenge. The broad themes we identified were (1) the use of partnerships, (2) the need for better information management and improved com- munications and research capacity, and (3) broader administrative changes in agency culture and recre- ation budgets and staffing. Partnerships The use of partnerships was discussed in many ses- sions. Not only are partnerships important for public involvement, they are important for implementing and funding tourism and recreation plans, communicating agency messages, reducing access barriers for under- represented populations, identifying and gathering criti- cal information, and managing recreation conflicts. For example, partnerships played a critical role in planning to link forest recreation and community development needs for tourism and recreation plans on the Humboldt-Toiyabe and the Green Mountain National Forests. Forest staff worked with local officials, com- munity groups, and other stakeholders to identify opportunities for recreation, economic development, resource protection, and funding. Discussing a general model for linking tourism and community development, Linda Kruger and Kreg Lindberg said, “Tourism part- ners are the key,” and the agency role is to provide leadership and be the “provider and catalyst.” The role of research is to investigate the feasibility and desir- ability of such efforts and the link between tourism and agency goals. The types of partners mentioned were diverse and included local and state officials and agencies, special 1 Proceedings: National Workshop on Recreation Research and Management Recreation and the Chief’s “National Debate” Dale J. Blahna 1 , and Linda E. Kruger 2 1 Research Social Scientist, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Pacific Wildlife Fire Sciences Lab, 400 N 34 th St., Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98103. Email: dblahna@fs.fed.us 2 Research Social Scientist, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forestry Sciences Lab, 2770 Sherwood Lane, Suite 2A, Juneau, AK 99801. Email: lkruger@fs.fed.us