Forest Communities, Community Forests

Struggles and Successes in Rebuilding Communities and Forests

By: Jonathan Kusel

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eText | 4 August 2003 | Edition Number 1

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Forest Communities, Community Forests is a collection of stories about twelve communities in the United States and their efforts to protect and restore their community forests. It explores the struggles and opportunities faced by people as they work to invest in natural capital, reverse decades of poor forest practices, tackle policy gridlock, and address community as well as ecological health. The case studies are organized by the dominant themes in American community forestry today, with the basic premise that healthy ecosystems depend on healthy communities, and vice-versa. Unlike most studies of contemporary forestry, Forest Communities, Community Forests focuses on community well-being and, more generally, community concerns. While some recent studies have examined the environmental benefits of place-based resource management or collaborative processes, few have looked at community needs and concerns-beyond the question of how to entice locals to comply with 'new' forestry. It is our hope that these case studies will convey the importance of community-based forestry, and contribute to the understanding and development, and ultimately the success of new community-based initiatives in the U.S.

Industry Reviews

This text will likely prove quite useful to community groups that wish to take a role in ensuring the health of their forests or other natural resources, both by providing examples of what works and by giving a realistic idea of what a community organization can hope to accomplish. A major strength of the collection is that it does not present community involvement as a panacea; indeed, many of the case study authors stress that the major achievements of the groups they studied were their successes in improving communication between former opponents. Actual improvements in either forest health or economic opportunities were much less common. Nevertheless, the overall picture is one of hope for the future if local residents are willing to take a stand to improve their communities and natural environments..