Community-Based Forestryin the

United States

a report from theU.S. Endowment for

Forestry & Communities

Community-Based Forestryin the

United States

Impacts of CBF

Keys to Success

Keys to Success

• Investment

• Local leadership• Mobilization of local

resources

• Assistance from intermediary organizations

• Supportive public policies & programs

Impacts:Diffusing Conflict

Diffusing Conflict

• Leveraging new resources for restoration

• Convening open, inclusive discussions

• Increasing voice of local communities

Diffusing Conflict

• Creating local business & job opportunities

• Providing effective treatment for “analysis paralysis”

Diffusing ConflictSustainable Northwest• Saw need for non-partisan

problem-solver• Early project: facilitating

community meetings in a town hit hard by declining timber harvests

• Interest in listening, in “going deep & staying long” turned conversation to sustainability and capacity building

Impacts:Restoration&Stewardship

Restoration & Stewardship

• Neglected public assets (e.g. trail systems)

Restoring ecosystems• Damaged (e.g. from

unsustainable harvesting )

Restoration & Stewardship

• Planting & restoration after fires

Creating a culture of long-term stewardship

• Management to reduce fire risk

• Habitat improvement • Models for good forest

stewardship for private landowners

Restoration & StewardshipThe Klamath Tribes

• Ecosystem improvement

• Community vitality

CBF initiative: restorationas a key to

• Preservation of cultural identity

• Economic self-sufficiency

Impacts:Public Policy

Public Policy

• Stewardship contracting requires demonstration of community benefits

• Shift in Forest Service performance measures: outputs to outcomes

• Farm Bill’s new “Community Forest & Open Space Program”

Public Policy

• State & county development commissions investing more in smaller-scale, community-owned ventures

• Community wildfire protection plans provide local voice in fire planning

Public PolicyRural Voices for Conservation Coalition • 60+ Western rural and local,

regional, and national organizations

• Common issues, shared voice & strength in numbers

• Goal: promote balanced, conservation-based approaches to ecological & economic problems

Impacts:Rebuilding Local Infrastructures

CBF Infrastructure Is…

• Investment

• Local leadership• Mobilization of local

resources

• Assistance from intermediary organizations

• Supportive public policies & programs

CBF Infrastructure Is…• Leadership- and

organizational development

• Capacity for facilitation & conflict resolution

• Project management capacity

• Capacity for facilitation & conflict resolution

• Project management capacity

• Capacity for facilitation & conflict resolution

Rebuilding Infrastructures

• Incubation of new products and businesses

• Community acquisition of forestland in the East

• Restored access to national forests and public lands

Rebuilding Infrastructures

• Groundwork for tapping new markets like carbon credits

• Diverse streams of financing

Impacts:Building Assets in Rural

Communities

Building Assets

• New value streams

• Expanded job training & job opportunities

• More access to &ownership of forestland

• Increased social capital

Building Assets

People are healthier, schools work better, kids learn faster, local government performs better, [there is less] crime, and…positive impacts on local business.”

– Lew Feldstein, co-chair, Saguaro Seminar

Social capital=

Building Assets Sustainable Woods• Links local landowners

with professional foresters & ecologically sensitive loggers

• Enhances forest health & provides good economic return.

Impacts:BuildingRural Capacity

Building Rural Capacity

• Promoting education & training

• Building new community institutions & leadership

• Collaboration & expanded participation

• Expanding access to financial & technical resources

Building Rural CapacityColorado Front Range Roundtable• 10-county multi-

stakeholder partnership focused on improving forest conditions & reducing wildfire risk

• Launched groundbreaking regional community capacity-building project last year