From Conflict to Collaboration: Exploring Influences on Community Well-Being

Abstract

Decades after the Timber Wars, land management agencies continue to redefine approaches to forest restoration and management, with impacts for Western forest dependent communities. To better understand this evolving dynamic, we examined the recent history of a rural forest community in the northern Sierra Nevada against the backdrop of changing perspectives on and relationships to resource use, industry, and forest management. Guided by community priorities distilled from interview data, we examine the transition from the Timber Wars to collaborative forest management through the rise of area collaboratives. The success of this work and its potential to genuinely improve community well-being remains to be seen but a notable shift has begun. With this paper we aim to advance understanding of the transition from the Timber Wars to community-based collaborative efforts, and what this means for rural forest communities.