Establishing a community-owned forest both protects forest land from unwanted development and gives communities a better ability to shape their future. Local forest ownership can also change how residents relate to the land, fostering an ethic of stewardship. Deborah Brighton of Vermont Family Forests notes, “A community forest makes people owners of working land in their community, and ownership changes the way people think about the land.” A community forest provides many economic, social and environmental benefits for the community, including:
• Protecting water sources
• Providing wildlife habitat
• Outdoor recreation
• Opportunities to observe and connect with nature
• Income from forestry activities
• Educational opportunities
• Demonstration of sustainable forest management practices
• Heat and/or energy for local schools and other public buildings
By keeping land in local hands, a community forest can also be a form of asset-based development, helping to build longer term wealth, not just current income.
Benefits and Products from Community Forests
Forestry activities in many town forests provide enough income to cover management costs, and often produce revenue for the town:
• Arcata Community Forest, CA (2 tracts, 1,822 total acres) – Forest Stewardship Council certified and generates $500,000-$700,000 of revenue per year from timber harvesting, of which $245,000 covers management costs and $20,000 goes toward salary for a ranger; forest is self-supporting, no tax revenues are used for management, and excess net revenue is used to purchase and maintain other city parkland and open space.
• Conway Town Forest, NH (1,840 acres) – timber sales generated $81,171 in revenue between 1978 and 2003; revenues go toward additional land acquisition.
• Enosburg Town Forest, VT (120 acres) – a recent sale of 92,729 board feet of timber, 45 cords of wood and 238 tons of chips generated $11,324 in income.
• Hillsboro Town Forest, Starksboro, VT – the Town of Starksboro has used timber from its town forest to build bookshelves for its library, and is conducting a pilot project to use wood chips from its town forest to generate energy for its local high school.
• Mount Washington Valley, ME and NH – a study of 12 town forests showed that they generated $3.6 million over five years, in taxes, payments in lieu of taxes and forest land reimbursement.