ABSTRACT
Concern for community well-being has been a longstanding element in forest policy deliberations and design. For much of the twentieth century, it was assumed that providing a steady supply of timber was the key to rural community stability. In recent decades, communities have moved to the forefront of forest governance innovations not as recipients of larger-scale policies but as active leaders in community-focused reforms. These include the rise of collaborative and place-based decision-making for public lands, the emergence of community-based organizations, and the proliferation of community-owned forests in varied social settings. Urban forests are another point of intersection between communities and forests and have been drawing increased attention from scholars and policymakers. This chapter examines the emergence of recent community-focused policy and governance innovations and the challenges associated with reconciling new community-based institutions with older forest policy paradigms.
