The Communities Committee

of the Seventh American Forest Congress

The Communities Committee was born out of the Seventh American Forest Congress held in Washington D.C. in February of 1996. This congress of over 1400 citizens helped establish legitimacy for collaborative-based approaches to forest management at the national, regional, and local levels. The follow-up to the congress has been the creation of five committees: Policy, Management, Education, Research, and Communities. The purpose of the Communities Committee is to focus attention on the interdependence between America's forests and the vitality of rural and urban communities. To that end the committee has three broad areas of activity. The first area is the communication between and among communities who are creating innovative community-based approaches to forest management. The second area is to provide research on those approaches in a manner which will help reveal the defining principles of community-based forestry. The third area is constituency building for community-based forestry through policy related information development, education of a national audience, and dialogue with national interest groups.

• Improvements in political and economic structures to insure local community well-being and the long-term sustainability of forested ecosystems.
• An increasing stewardship role of local communities in the maintenance and restoration of ecosystem integrity and biodiversity
• Participation by ethnically and socially diverse members of urban and rural communities in decision-making and sharing benefits of forests
• The innovation and use of collaborative processes, tools, and technologies
• Recognition of rights and responsibilities of diverse forest land owners

Please check out the home pages of some of our Communities Committee members:

Other Related Sites:

Sustainable Communities Network

Alliance for National Renewal

Menominee Sustainable Development Institute

Thomas _ Legislative Information on the Internet

Virtual Library on Forestry

USDA Forest Service - Forests & People

Partnership Handbook
 
 

If you are interested in receiving our new quarterly newsletter, Communities and Forests, or are interested in working with the Communities Committee fill out the sign up form OR email us for more information. You can also call The Watershed Research and Training Center at: (530) 628-4206.

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