The College of Menominee Nation Sustainable Development Institute’s initiative, Center for First Americans Forestlands, is engaged in a research project designed to better assess the social aspects of sustainable forest management.  The Center’s project research team includes faculty and staff of College of Menominee Nation’s Sustainable Development Institute; Pennsylvania State University’s Department of Rural Sociology and College of Forestry; and the US Forest Service. The purpose of the research effort is to gain better insight into the breadth and multiple perspectives of native nations actively engaged in management of forest lands.   This research will provide information for tribes to better incorporate social aspects of sustainability into forest management.  It will also inform discussions of sustainable forest management in tribal, national, and international forums with the goal of improving sustainable forest management.

Since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, many initiatives have focused on criteria and indicators to track sustainable forest management.  Of all the criteria and indicators initiatives, the Montreal Process is geographically the largest, encompassing most of the world's temperate and boreal forests.  Criteria and indicators characterize the essential components of sustainable forest management, and provide a framework for understanding the importance of forests.  While the use of criteria and indicators to assess sustainability is widely accepted, the measurement of social indicators outlined in the Montreal Process and others may not be the most appropriate for American Indian communities.  It is critical that indigenous people have a voice in determining how the relationships between their communities and forests are best expressed in sustainability assessments.  This research project is one attempt to understand and incorporate American Indian views into sustainability assessments.

The research project is divided into three components.  During the first component, the research project team convened discussion groups with tribal communities between of October, 2007 – May, 2008.  Discussion groups were held in Keshena, Wisconsin; Pablo, Montana; Auburn, Washington; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The purpose of the discussion groups was to understand a range of perspectives related to the social aspects of sustainable forest management on tribal lands.  The discussions touched upon several themes including: the resilience of forest-dependent communities; forest management to protect a range of cultural, social, and spiritual need and values; the importance of forests to tribal communities; and the management of forests to conserve special environmental, cultural, social, and/or scientific values.

The second component of the research project uses the broad range of perspectives expressed during the discussion groups to develop a survey for American Indian forest managers of tribal lands.  The survey is designed to provide both qualitative and quantitative information to further illuminate social aspects of sustainable forest management from the perspective of tribal forest managers.  This component will last from August 2009-October 2009.  A summary of the survey results will be distributed among the members of the Intertribal Timber Council, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and the larger community of interest in sustainable forests.

The final component of the research project is designed to understand social components of sustainable forest management from a community perspective through discussion groups and interviews with American Indian tribal members. This component of the research project will compliment the forest manager survey results and provide more detailed information that can be used by tribal governments, forest managers, and the tribal communities to incorporate social components into sustainable forest management.  This component of the research is planned to start in 2010.

For additional information about this research project or the Center for First Americans Forestlands, please contact: Melissa Cook, Director, Sustainable Development Institute at [email protected] or call her at the College of Menominee Nation at 1-800567-2344.