Welcome to the National Community Forestry Center! The Center is a resource for rural foresters and communities, as well as for research scientists and organizations interested in incorporating rural people's knowledge and perspectives into the development of sustainable forest management strategies.

History

In the past, forest ecosystems surrounding rural communities have been managed with inadequate consideration for resource sustainability and the well-being of local residents. Researchers, government agencies, and land managers have traditionally overlooked the reciprocal relationship between ecosystem degradation and community impoverishment. Rural leaders have felt that research, as it is conventionally conducted, does not adequately incorporate the perspectives and knowledge systems of local communities, or readily lend itself to practical application. This oversight has limited the attainment of sustainable resource management. Reaching the goal of sustainability requires the engagement of rural people whose knowledge, perspective, and experience can inform science, management, and policy.

Recognizing that the gap between researchers and rural communities was hurting both constituencies and limiting the effectiveness of research in ensuring environmental and social sustainability, the Forest Trust convened a group of rural development organizations to discuss strategies for involving forest-dependent communities in the design and implementation of research projects. This meeting culminated in the development of the National Community Forestry Center, which is housed at the National Network of Forest Practitioners in Providence, RI. The Center is funded through a grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.

The Center focuses on activities that inform and are informed by the needs and perspectives of rural communities and on the intersecting work of universities, research stations and other research institutions. The Center includes a national office and four bioregional field stations, located in areas with a high concentration of forest-dependent communities. The goals of the Center are:

• Provide mechanisms to integrate local knowledge, experience, and participation in efforts to enhance and protect the natural resource base on which forest economies depend;
• Engage researchers and rural communities in identifying research needs that will contribute to the growth of locally-based economic opportunities and forest conservation;
• Increase the capacity of rural communities to use and produce information that will help develop new and valuable products from forest resources, while conserving the forests;
• Make science more accessible to rural people in forested areas