Forest Communities, Community Forests

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.

Jonathan Kusel is executive director of Forest Community Research, a research and educational organization based in the Northern California.