Overcoming Community Forest Obstacles: A Success Story* Rebecca Brown Northwest Community Forest Forum May 10, 2016 Portland, OR
*We Owe it all to Our Failures!
Where is New Hampshire?
Obstacles
Time
Money Vision
Broad local support
Energized volunteers
Cooley – Jericho Community Forest
Cooley-Jericho Community Forest • • • • • •
840 acres in Easton Major impact on four towns (Easton, Sugar Hill, Landaff & Franconia) Superb recreational potential Highest ranked wildlife habitat in NH Long-term timber income Part of one of largest privately owned, highest elevation, unfragmented forests in the region
• Land trust ownership and project management • Four towns invested in purchase • Four towns will receive back income from timber harvesting, proportional to their investments over time • Forest maintenance and stewardship fund will be replenished first
LOTS of public land already
Locally Controlled • Community Owned • Conserved Forever
From Route 116, Franconia
Across Pearl Lake into Landaff
From Lovers Lane & Grandview Rd., Sugar Hill
Bird Walks
Hikes
Hikes
Lots of Hikes
Trail Work
What happens if we don’t purchase the land?
Opportunity: turnover and generational change, private landowners
Large Lot subdivision
Locally Controlled • Community Owned • Conserved Forever
Governance: Who Decides? We all do: it’s our forest. Planning Committee is hard at work creating a governance model that includes the towns and user groups (hikers, skiers, bikers, etc.)
Obstacles – or challenges
Areas for creative tension & growth • Finding common ground • Developing shared values • Creating a space where this can happen • Letting go of our own agendas, expectations • Focus on the process, not the outcome • Be comfortable with uncertainty
“The purpose of the CJCF is to ensure that through community ownership, the land will forever be available to all members of the surrounding communities and remain as an ecologically healthy working forest.” -Community Forest Plan
“The Community Forest is a place to foster the understanding of interconnections between land and people.”
“It is created with the conviction that it will be a long-term timber resource and a place for growing people’s understanding of what good forestry is, and how working forests are integral in our region’s future economic prosperity.”
“The Forest is a place for students to learn about the natural world and experience it as artists and writers as well as young scientists and naturalists.”
“Recreation in the Community Forest is both a key benefit, and an effective way to build social capital.”
“The Community Forest is a meeting place where people exercise local control by creating their own ethic around land use, stewardship, and accountability.”
No Lights. Not ever.
Thank you
