Northwest Community Forest Coalition
OCCFA is a member of and on the steering committee for this growing regional organization.
A Call to Action in the Pacific Northwest
The Northwest Community Forest Coalition believes that long-term, secure community control and tenure of local forests leads to enhanced stewardship and multiple public benefits.
Increasing population, development, and climate-related disturbances are making the task of managing and sustaining forests in the Pacific Northwest ever more challenging and costly. Securing forest tenure and improving forest governance are essential to stemming forest loss, fragmentation and degradation.
The second Northwest Community Forest Forum convened at the World Forestry Center in Portland, Oregon, on May 11 and 12, 2015. Participants discussed and endorsed the following recommendations for future actions:
Definition
Community Forests are working forests owned and managed by a local government or by a community based organization on behalf of a community.
Community Forests provide local control over and enjoyment of the monetary and non-monetary benefits offered by local forest resources.
The acquisition and management structure ensures collaboration and community participation in and responsibility for management decisions.
The community has secure and reliable access to forest benefits that support and reinforce community priorities.
The conservation values of the forestland ecosystem are permanently protected.
Benefits
Under systems of good governance and management, Community Forests have the potential to generate the following benefits:
Long-term economic development and increased self-reliance and social capital within rural communities.
Local employment in rural communities.
Local decision making that leads to locally appropriate outcomes and improves incentives for long-term sustainable management.
Diversification of the use and benefits derived from the Community Forest.
Increased potential to resolve conflicts in forest-management decision-making.
Protection of watershed values—i.e. drinking water, views, recreation – important to communities and to local and regional economies.
Enhanced opportunities for education and research.
Improved public awareness of forest management.
Increased innovation - timber harvest methods, wood products and markets, diversity of approaches to habitat management for threatened and endangered species, moisture capture and retention, etc.
Principles
1. Forests are critical natural-resource assets in the Pacific Northwest, supporting local livelihoods and economic vitality. Forests also provide critical goods and services to local communities, including drinking water, fiber, fuel, recreation, food, wildlife habitat, and cultural use.
2. Maintaining working forests is fundamental to large-landscape conservation and development of sustainable communities in the Pacific Northwest. Fragmentation by conversion to other land use and large-scale disturbances are the principal threats to the diverse social, economic and ecological benefits forests provide.
3. Community Forests emphasize and deliver meaningful public benefits and rights to local communities.
4. Long-term secure forest tenure combined with meaningful local community participation leads to enhanced forest stewardship.
Recommendations
In light of the Community Forest benefits and principles listed above, partners should seek collaborative opportunities to:
1. REGIONAL COALITION
Develop a regional coalition of partners committed to supporting the emergence, development and management of Community Forests in the Pacific Northwest.
2. FINANCE AND FUNDING
Enhance and develop acquisition- and stewardship-funding mechanisms that support ownership by local governments and community-based organizations, and that align with Community Forest long-term management goals.
3. NETWORK AND CAPACITY BUILDING
Build a regional network of communities and a web-based forum to facilitate sharing of strategies, experience, and resources.
4. PILOT PROJECTS
Provide technical and financial support for a suite of pilot projects across the region that demonstrate the potential of Community Forests.
5. MARKETING AND OUTREACH
Develop and implement a marketing and education strategy promoting Community Forests, including development of milling, manufacturing, distribution, and marketing infrastructure to support the sale of forest products.
