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This review article deals with the evolution of academic small-scale forestry research in Sweden and the USA from its early focus on timber supply to present-day interest in stewardship objectives, characteristics and attitudes. Aiming at identifying fresh opportunities for research on small-scale forestry, it reflects on the questions that have dominated the literature over the past quarter of a century, the socioeconomic conditions under which those questions arose, and their influence on the evolution of the field. The goal was to explore key drivers for research over the past 25 years and identify emerging research themes, and by that provide insight into what developments may make the research enterprise more fruitful. With some exceptions, it is based on articles in refereed journals and to academic theses covering the time span 1985-2010. It reflects a reappraisal of the subject of the research and corresponding policies. Similar research tendencies are evident in both countries. Research historically focused on the practical problem of efficient production using a weak theoretical foundation. More recently, researchers have focused on understanding diverse motivations and roles that can be played. It is argued that the field of small-scale forestry research is ripe for new multidisciplinary approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although studies show that actions by property owners, such as maintaining a defensible space, are generally the best means of protecting property from wildfire, victims often blame government agencies and others for property damage, injury, and death. This article describes a multiple-methods approach for investigating factors that influence how people who experience wildfire perceive the cause of wildfire damage. Phase I and II mail surveys and real-time field interviews were conducted in communities on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Generally speaking, people who had experienced wildfire attributed damage to other people's actions more than people who had not. Whether residents incurred damage or not, having maintained a sense of control or interacting with firefighters also appears to have influenced attributions. We argue that multiple-methods approaches to such questions have the potential to reveal more about such phenomena than approaches based on any single method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents observations from community-based ecosystem monitoring activities throughout the U.S. Factors leading to the emergence of community-based ecosystem monitoring; Details on multiparty monitoring; Role of multiparty monitoring in building social capital; Challenges in community-based monitoring.

Alabama used property tax abatements extensively to recruit the pulp and paper industry that became the foundation of the state's economy. Our objective is to evaluate the tax abatement policy and its impact on local public education from the perspectives of key local leaders. Data include historical secondary data, a mail survey, and interviews with stakeholders in pulp and paper mill counties. Although tax incentives influenced individual companys' decisions to locate in particular communities, abundant wood, water, labor, and transportation resources were the principle factors attracting the industry to the South. Despite the economic stimulus of the mills, communities that used generous recruitment packages continue to lag behind other rural counties, the state, and the nation. Tax abatements, coupled with low property taxes, adversely affect funding for local public education. Under investment in human capital, we conclude, is the primary obstacle to the further development of these rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the literature on land concentration and well being and forest ownership patterns in the state of Alabama. Possible relevance of such patterns to economic, social land environmental well-being; Research agenda for measuring forestland concentration; Hypothetical relationships between forest tenure and rural well-being.

The increase in collaborative projects involving American Indian tribes and natural resource management agencies in the United States reflects two emergent trends: 1) the use of collaborative approaches between agencies and groups in managing natural resources; and 2) the concurrent increased recognition of American Indian rights, institutionalization of consultation processes, and a general movement of Indian self-determination. This article focuses on institutional mechanisms that bring together tribes and natural resource management agencies in collaborative processes to achieve mutually desired resource management objectives. Using qualitative analysis of data from ten collaborative projects across the United States, we identify attributes of collaborative arrangements emerging from tribal-federal collaboration: decision-making authority; transfer of funds from agency to the tribe(s); the level of mutual dependency; the sharing or transfer of various forms of knowledge, including scientific and cultural; and responsibility for conducting management field work. Examining the similarities and differences across the attributes, we characterize the projects into five types (co-management, contractual, cooperative, working relationship, and conservation easement), and find that considerable variation exists in the forms and functions of tribal-federal collaborative arrangements. We explore two types of collaborative arrangements in more depth to better understand what factors influence the integration of traditional ecological knowledge. Comparing gray wolf (Canis lupus) recovery in Idaho and forest restoration in northern California, we find that traditional ecological knowledge was a key factor in initiating both collaborative projects, but also that the application of traditional ecological knowledge on-the-ground differed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alabama's forest products industry plays a dominant role in the state's rural economy. Examination of how access to employment opportunities is distributed provides insight into how the benefits of this industry are distributed. Based on a combination of available secondary data and semi-structured interviews with management and workers in the pulp and paper sector of Alabama's forest products industry, a clear picture of segmented labor markets emerges in which structural and cultural factors determine access to certain jobs. The evolution of these highly segmented labor markets is traced from deep roots in racial discrimination to contemporary efforts in support of affirmative anion. Increased use of sub-contracting in logging, hauling, and mill work represents the must recent change affecting the structure of labor markets associated with the production of pulp and paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]