National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry By

This document explores the potential of collaborative approaches for nontimber forest product inventory and monitoring in the United States. It begins by reviewing results of a federal and state survey that documented inventory and monitoring efforts for nontimber forest products in the United States. The surveys show that the majority of NTFP-related inventory and monitoring on National Forests and state forests consists of non-scientific forms of monitoring, such as tracking permits, general site inspections, and informal visual checks of harvest areas. We argue that broadening participation in inventory and monitoring efforts can provide managers and policymakers with the data needed to develop and maintain sustainable NTFP management programs in an era of declining forest management budgets and staffing levels. Our fieldwork with NTFP harvesters identified several characteristics of harvesters and their work that could be compatible with or enhance inventory and monitoring efforts. In addition, harvester perspectives regarding incentives for participation are discussed. Profiles of eight participatory inventory and monitoring projects illustrate how this concept has already been put into practice. We then draw on our ethnographic research and results from four regional workshops to explore the barriers to involving harvesters in inventory and monitoring of NTFP species. In testing the idea of collaboration, we found that NTFP stakeholders are generally supportive of th