Community Forestry in the United States : Learning From the Past, Crafting the Future

Across the United States, people are developing new relationships with the forest ecosystems on which they depend, with a common goal of improving the health of the land and the well-being of their communities. Practitioners and supporters of what has come to be called community forestry are challenging current approaches to forest management as they seek to end the historical disfranchisement of communities and workers from forest management and the all-too-pervasive trends of long-term disinvestment in ecosystems and human communities that have undermined the health of both. Community Forestry in the United States is an analytically rigorous and historically informed assessment of this new movement. It examines the current state of community forestry through a grounded assessment of where it stands now and where it might go in the future. The book not only clarifies the state of the movement, but also suggests a trajectory and process for its continued development. "Community forestry offers an alternative to current forestry practices, representing a new approach that focuses on sustaining both the health of forest ecosystems and the health and well-being of local communities and workers. This book not only clarifies the state of the movement, but also suggests a trajectory and process for its continued development. Community Forestry in the United States is an essential reference for community forestry supporters and practitioners, students and scholars of social movements, and all those concerned with the health and well-being of ecosystems and communities."--Jacket. Across the United States people have taken up the challenging task of creating new relations between themselves and the forest ecosystems on which they depend.