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Over the past 15 years the U.S. forest industry has almost completely divested its forestland holdings, creating new ownership opportunities for timberland investors, land trusts, and government agencies. Many newly available forestlands are adjacent to communities transitioning away from timber dependence toward economies based on recreation and real estate. This case study research examines changing ownership and management on two formerly industrial forests in central Oregon: a proposed land trust-owned community forest next to rapidly growing, wealthy Bend, Oregon; and a state-owned forest adjacent to the more isolated community of Gilchrist, Oregon. Through the case of these two forests, we illustrate the multifunctional transition and its relationship to community capacity in the U.S. West. We emphasize the importance of new allies and alliances in forest decision making, and the central role of forest degradation in the transition away from productivist forestry. Finally, we highlight opportunities and challenges for new conservation and government ownerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Kaufman and Kaufman's seminal 1946 study examining the relationship between forests and communities, forest and community paradigms have shifted from (1) utilitarian views that stressed community stability and sustained yield harvests, to (2) ecosystem management and community resilience, to, we posit, (3) a new paradigm of forest and community health. The healthy forests, healthy communities paradigm both builds upon and departs from older paradigms. This article presents a case study of a small, resource-dependent community in eastern Oregon to illustrate the meanings and policy implications of this emerging paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]