In 2013, 12,489 people in Ireland were committed to prison under sentence, and 8,121 (65%) of these individuals were committed to prison for the non-payment of a court ordered fine. That year was not unique. In fact, the last eight years have seen a continued increase in the number of people incarcerated for the non-payment of fines. The underlying issues that fuel the increase in the imprisonment of fine defaulters in Ireland are unknown. The present study explored individual experiences and interactions of fined offenders with the criminal justice system in order to identify barriers to compliance. By drawing on instrumental and normative models of compliance identified in the literature, and by utilizing data gathered from 40 in-depth interviews and 103 questionnaires with offenders who have paid fines as well as offenders who have defaulted on fines, the following research questions were addressed: (1) What role do financial means play in fine default? (2) Are there other factors working in opposition to or in tandem with financial means? (3) Are there practices within the criminal justice system that inhibit or facilitate the enforcement and payment of fines? (4) Do offenders perceive the criminal fine process as fair and equitable, and what impact do those perceptions have on shaping compliance / noncompliance? (5) Is imprisonment the primary deterrent factor among those who pay their fine, or are there other factors that influence compliance? The research revealed that while affordability plays a primary role in whether a fine is paid or not, other legal and extralegal factors also contribute to fine default, such as personal and family needs, forgetfulness or low priority, and the inability to negotiate and understand the criminal fine system. Overall there was a general sense of unfairness and dissatisfaction with the system--a dissatisfaction that was fairly consistent among both those who paid and did not pay their fines. Also, it would appear that for many, prison is not a deterrent factor when it comes to the enforcement of fines and for those who do pay, the fear of prison is not the primary reason for compliance.

The 21st century’s dynamic natural and social landscapes include increased wildfire fire intensity, unpredictable weather patterns, and demands for equity and justice. The very scale of these challenges requires new and creative approaches to land protection and stewardship; therefore, many conservation leaders and practitioners are exploring new ways to restore and care for the environment as integrated and interconnected landscapes. Landscape stewardship partnerships and networks have significantly grown over the past two decades to collaborate, innovate, and undertake collective action at varying scales. These adaptive cross-boundary partnerships and networks connect local communities, land- and water-managing agencies, private landowners, scientists, tribes, the non-profit sector, and many others to tackle the challenges we face. Because collaboration requires considerable trust and investment, stakeholders are seeking tools to understand its value and methods for measuring and monitoring its impact. However, there is a shortage of research-based frameworks to evaluate the impact of landscape stewardship partnerships practicing collaborative leadership. In this article, the Partnership Impact Model (a trademark of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy) is introduced as a promising impact assessment framework, with highlights from partnerships and networks that have used it. Readers are encouraged to consider this model to both monitor partnership health and to demonstrate its impact.

Tending to long-term landscape health and resilience is a highly complex enterprise. To address this complexity, we must imagine and facilitate a community-based response that is just as complex, inclusive, interdependent, informed, deliberative, and adaptive as the challenges we face. Conservation and stewardship partnerships are a now-familiar way to try to tackle this monumental task. However, successful conservation partnerships are not possible without leadership that can explore shared values amidst dissenting views, navigate complex and technical information to bring all parties to a shared understanding of the issues, manage conflict and facilitate difficult conversations, and approach these multi-faceted challenges with humility and empathy. This is both the challenge and the opportunity of collaborative leadership. The series of papers in this issue of Parks Stewardship Forum on “Collaborating Well” explores what makes collaborative leadership work. This introductory piece illustrates why collaborative leadership is so critical to meet our landscape stewardship needs. The article on the Partnership Impact Model goes beyond describing this work and delves into how to measure its impact. Moreover, the article on peer learning provides examples of how to advance collaborative leadership successes by sharing critical knowledge, experience, and skills with others. Within all of these facets of collaborative leadership are social and cross-cultural competencies that further enable this work.

Learning and exchange among peers (“peer learning”) is an important process shaping and enabling landscape conservation and stewardship. As a practice that connects practitioners working at the landscape scale within and across regions—and that dedicates time and resources to supporting meaningful exchange—peer learning builds and strengthens the relationships at the core of the collaboration and partnership that are central to meeting shared goals and needs. This article explores peer learning and its role in learning, demonstrating, and building collaborative leadership. It also offers two examples of peer learning initiatives and their on-the-ground outcomes: the Large Landscape Peer Learning Initiative, a program coordinated by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to bring together an international group of landscape conservation practitioners for shared problem-solving; and the Landscape Conservation Catalyst Fund Program, an initiative of the Network for Landscape Conservation to create a learning-exchange community among grantees to support the development of place-based partnerships.