Research Program 

 Project Descriptions

Four Corners Sustainable Forests Demonstration Grant Evaluation Project
Recent gains in restoration forestry research and demonstrations show that progress in community sustainability and ecosystem stewardship will depend on how well the interrelationships among ecology, economy, and community are understood, particulary in rural communities located in and near forested landscapes. To enhance knowledge about these relationships, from 2000 through 2002 OCS conducted an analysis and evaluation of demonstration projects across the Four Corners states involved in building new timber-related businesses that help to restore forests, rather than treat them as resources for extraction. 

The Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnerships (FCSFP), a multi-state, multi-organization coalition formed to explore the feasibility of community-based forest restoration, awarded OCS a grant to evaluate selected FCSFP-funded projects. Two available reports, the 2001 Evaluation and the 2002 Evaluation Report, describe the projects and recommend possible directions they are going and where they might direct their activities. Both reports help federal and state public-land managers, private landowners, communities, and regional timber industries better learn and disseminate the benefits and challenges of community-based restoration forestry.

Subsequent research during 2003-04 has built on what was learned in earlier studies and new report, The Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership: Lessons and Strategies for Community Forestry Capacity Building, describes the latest in efforts to enhance community forestry in the region.

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