Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Community Forests: Strengthening Community and the Land
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
This paper argues that community forests can strengthen the community and land in ways that corporate forests cannot. Private land ownership is the norm in Appalachia and the eastern U.S.; however it is more nuanced than a private versus public binary. Based on U.S. Forest Service data fifty-seven percent (57%) of U.S. corporate forests are in the southern U.S., mainly the coastal plain and Appalachian Mountains. These forests are comprised of short-rotation pine plantations and long-lived hardwood trees respectively. Another key difference is that the mountainous corporate forests are commonly intertwined with mineral extraction interests or increasingly by money-managers for investors. These sub-surface and short-term interests limit investments in the land and surrounding communities. This ongoing treatment of central Appalachia as a place for resource extraction by outside interests has impoverished the people and the land. Local public ownership and control of community forests can yield significant benefits such as: give communities a vested interest in the land, provide local employment, encourage private forestland owners to also invest in their land, and strengthen the sense of community based on the sustainable management of locally owned resources. To facilitate their establishment and sustainable management, acquisition funding arrangements and local community forestry councils are briefly explored. This analysis is influenced by the work of J.K. Gibson-Graham and Richard Wolff among others and highlights the potential for worker self-directed enterprises to strengthen our democracy and diversify the economy with community forests serving as a rallying point for communities.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
William (Billy) R. Thomas is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology and an extension forester in the Department of Forestry at the University of Kentucky. Billy was raised in Appalachia and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force; he has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Forestry from the University of Kentucky and his sociological research interests include environmental sociology with a focus on the human dimensions of natural resources management.
Community Forests: Strengthening Community and the Land
This paper argues that community forests can strengthen the community and land in ways that corporate forests cannot. Private land ownership is the norm in Appalachia and the eastern U.S.; however it is more nuanced than a private versus public binary. Based on U.S. Forest Service data fifty-seven percent (57%) of U.S. corporate forests are in the southern U.S., mainly the coastal plain and Appalachian Mountains. These forests are comprised of short-rotation pine plantations and long-lived hardwood trees respectively. Another key difference is that the mountainous corporate forests are commonly intertwined with mineral extraction interests or increasingly by money-managers for investors. These sub-surface and short-term interests limit investments in the land and surrounding communities. This ongoing treatment of central Appalachia as a place for resource extraction by outside interests has impoverished the people and the land. Local public ownership and control of community forests can yield significant benefits such as: give communities a vested interest in the land, provide local employment, encourage private forestland owners to also invest in their land, and strengthen the sense of community based on the sustainable management of locally owned resources. To facilitate their establishment and sustainable management, acquisition funding arrangements and local community forestry councils are briefly explored. This analysis is influenced by the work of J.K. Gibson-Graham and Richard Wolff among others and highlights the potential for worker self-directed enterprises to strengthen our democracy and diversify the economy with community forests serving as a rallying point for communities.
