Moving toward consensus-based forest management: A comparison of industrial, co-managed, community and small private forests in Canada

Research on forest management in North America has traditionally focussed on large, industrial forest tenures (involving both public and private land), or small, private woodlot management. Recent discussion and experiments in Canada involve new institutions for forest management. These alternative forest management systems — namely, co-managed forests and community forests — are compared to traditional forest management along several dimensions, including: locus of decision-making, nature of decision-making, scope of decision-making, tenure structure, scale, and knowledge base. There exists a gap between abstract discussions and practical applications of these models. Prospects for the continued development of these alternative management systems are evaluated. Key words: co-management, community forestry, decision making, forest tenure, forest management objectives