Communities Committee - Community-Owned Forests Library

Community-Owned Forests Library

What are Community Forests? Background information on community-based forestry	Community Forest News News articles on community forests and timberlands	Community-Owned Forests Resources Reports on community-owned forests
Forest Planning and Management Handbooks and manuals on forest management issues	Engaging the Community Resources for successful community involvement	Community-Owned Forests Conference Presentations from conference held June 2005
Tribal Forestry Links and information on forests under tribal management	Timberland Ownership Resports on changes and trends in forest ownership	Working Forest Conservation Easements Information and reports

Engaging the Community

Citizen's Handbook: a guide to building community
From the Vancouver Community Network
A guide to organizing for community building projects through citizen action, including getting started, planning and acting, evaluating, getting and keeping people involved, meeting, facilitating, and strategic thinking.

Community Toolbox
From the National Park Service
Guidelines for all aspects of organizing around a community project, including decision making, event planning, meetings, facilitation, communication, organizing, outreach and information gathering. Specific sections include setting goals and priorities, writing press releases, holding workshops and charettes, group mapping and stakeholder analysis.

Community Toolbox
From the University of Kansas
A large and comprehensive resource of free information on essential skills for building healthy communities. Topics covered include community assessment, promoting community interest, strategic planning, leadership development, coalition building, community organizing, and managing financial resources. Troubleshooting guide provides advice and support for overcoming common problems in community planning and action.

Community Visioning and Strategic Planning Handbook
The National Civic League, 2000
A 62-page guide to developing a vision for your community, including getting the process started, community outreach, defining the current community realities, assessing community capacity, developing a community vision and action planning and implementation.

Instigate: An online toolkit for community mobilization
From Transforming Communities
A series of short guides to setting up an action team and mobilizing your community.

Know Your Watershed: A Guide for Watershed Partnerships
Purdue University, Conservation Technology Information Center
A set of guides for planning and organizing around watershed improvement, but useful for community forest projects as well. Topics include:

USDA Guides to Rural Development
Guide to Strategic Planning for Rural Communities
From USDA Rural Development Office of Community Development
A guide for planning for change to help rural communities create a vision for their future, identify things that are preventing change and opportunities to move forward, and deciding what actions are needed to make the vision a reality.
Guide to Implementation and Benchmarking for Rural Communities
Leads communities through the process of creating a work program, choosing performance measures and evaluating progress toward the goals of a strategic plan.