“A New Approach to Public Lands” Oregon State University Seminar with Dr. Gary Bull

Note: you can click on the below photo to get closer to the ground.

Community_Forest_Tenures_of_BC_2010

Here is the stored webcast. I found the idea that our neighbor to the North has some interesting ideas and experiences that we could learn from was quite interesting. The discussion afterwards was also very stimulating.. and the ideas thrown around about possible application to our US federal lands.

Thanks much to the folks at Oregon State University for thinking to webcast and store the webcast for all of us out here around the country who are interested!

Here is the website of the British Columbia Community Forestry Association.

I’m hoping that viewing the video will start some discussion.

Here is what struck me.

The simplicity of thinking it’s a good thing to have local jobs. There wasn’t a thought that if trees are going to be removed from the woods, that people from other countries or areas of Canada could be imported to do the task more cheaply and that cheapness to do the action is the most important criterion. Taking each community as it exists, its own proclivities and needs, and working with that to make use of local resources for the benefit of the community who lives there. It seems so simple and fundamental. And it’s still federal land.

I was only mildly surprised when they mentioned that many more women were involved in the community forestry movement than the rest of the forestry enterprise. Thanks to the difficulty getting free scholarly papers, I was unable to do a complete read of some papers, but it appears that in the literature, women are sometimes shown to prefer a more collaborative style of problem solving. I think that there is an excellent opportunity for further study by some graduate student (s) at UBC or elsewhere.

I also thought it was interesting that District Ranger at Sweet Home, Cindy Glick, talked knowledgeably about the poverty in her community, and also seemed to look on the life of the community, and its relation with the forest, as a whole. She seemed like the kind of Ranger I would want to have around.

But that’s just my take. Please watch the video yourself and tell us what you think.

3 thoughts on ““A New Approach to Public Lands” Oregon State University Seminar with Dr. Gary Bull”

  1. I attended the live presentation at Oregon State University and agee with your comments. In it’s purest form, I doubt it will be adopted in the U.S. but there is plenty of incentive to take the basic ideas and apply to the most contentious circumstances. I reported this to the Natiional Association of Forest Service Retirees and they distributed it to all members with hopes that it offers another tool to return our public land forests to sustainable stewardship and the attending community benefits.

    Reply
    • That is also what I gleaned from the presentation, Zane. I see the pendulum swinging back towards the middle, and the public is learning more about forest science. Partisan politics continues to affect policy, though. We need to de-couple politics (from both sides) from our Forest Service, as much as we can. Many people cannot release their choke-hold on their preferred politics.

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