Bipartisan call for collaborative approaches to forest restoration and wildfire management

American Forests
Thursday, 10 May 2001

A year after the Los Alamos fires resulted in evacuation of the city, the loss of 235 homes, and the start of one of the most dramatic and destructive wildfire seasons in a century, a new approach is emerging on the national scene: community-based forestry.

Following a decade of interest-based and conflict-ridden approaches to natural resource management, diverse interests are coming together at the local level to work collaboratively to improve the ecological sustainability of the forest and the social and economic sustainability of communities. Having taken hold at the local level, this movement is generating national attention from those interested in restoring ecosystem and watershed health, protecting critical habitat for endangered species, reducing threats from wildfire or invasive species, and creating conservation-based employment and business opportunities.

Senators Larry Craig (R-ID) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), at a Capitol Hill press conference with national and regional community forestry leaders, today proposed the development of legislation to encourage and foster the growth of community-based forestry projects across the country. In recent years the two senators have held hearings and sponsored legislation resulting in pilot projects and programs to test new community-based strategies for restoring and maintaining forests by focusing not on the timber removed from forests, but on the condition in which forest ecosystems are left.

Their efforts included community-based forestry provisions in the National Fire Plan and the inclusion of five community-based forestry practitioners in a March 29th oversight hearing on the plan, bringing important on-the-ground perspectives to discussions about how it is working. Sen. Bingaman is Ranking Member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and Sen. Craig is Chairman of the Forests and Public Land Management Subcommittee.

The two senators also welcomed the publication of a new book that they say will influence the development of their legislation and public discussions. "Understanding Community-Based Forest Ecosystem Management," (edited by Gerald Gray of American Forests, Maia Enzer of Sustainable Northwest, and Jonathan Kusel, Forest Communication Research) outlines how new collaborative approaches are resulting in agreement among diverse interests for sustainable forest management projects that benefit both the forest and local communities. The book is a product of 50 community forest practitioners, public land managers, scientists, and interest group representatives, and was coordinated by American Forests (americanforests.org), the nation's oldest conservation organization.

"The development of Community-based forest management is an important and rapidly developing means of resolving local conflicts before they become national catastrophes. This book is an important reference point for people who want to solve problems rather than generate controversies," said Idaho Senator Larry Craig.

Community forestry groups, especially active in the West, but also a presence in New England, the South, and Midwest have organized nationally through the National Network of Forest Practitioners and the Communities Committee of the Seventh American Forest Congress. This Spring American Forests and the Pinchot Institute for Conservation brought some thirty practitioners, from tree-planters to horse loggers to those who make products from the byproducts of restoration work, to Washington to develop better ways of working with national policy makers, agencies, and environmental organizations.

"Healthy forests are important for healthy and vibrant rural communities and we can't have one without the other," said Sen. Bingaman. "It is important that we encourage and support the growth of skilled, local workforces to restore and maintain our public lands. It is time for additional action to stimulate the growth of conservation-based businesses to meet pressing forest management and restoration needs."

Lynn Jungwirth, who runs the Watershed Research and Training Center in Hayfork, CA, says that the National Fire Plan developed after last year's wildfire season is very much in step with key elements of community forestry, including its provisions for community fire planning, job opportunities for local and microbusiness enterprises, and longterm public investment to restore forests in ways that benefit communities.

"We're looking for the National Fire Plan to further involve communities, provide investment, collaboration, science, and accountability as called for by Congress in asking for a ten year strategy," said Jungwirth.

The collaborative process that lead to the community forestry principles developed at the 1998 workshop that produced the new book also resulted in the adoption by American Forests of an Ecosystem Restoration and Maintenance Agenda, a new set of core values and goals to guide its programs. Wildfire ReLeaf, a campaign to involve citizens and corporations in the effort to restore fire-damaged ecosystems, is the newest American Forests initiative to grow out of this commitment.

"These principles which call for an ecosystem workforce, innovative monitoring systems, what we call a 'civic science,' and processes that are open and inclusive are principles that can be used by groups working at the local, regional, and national levels," said Gerald Gray, the group's vice president for policy.

Visit www.americanforests.org for more information. Orders for "Understanding Community-Based Ecosystem Management" ($52.95, including shipping) can be sent to American Forests, P.O. Box 2000, Washington, DC 20013.

For more information, or to contact American Forests, see their website at: www.americanforests.org