Beyond the Economic Model: Assessing Sustainability in Forest Communities

There is a growing interest in both Canada and the United States not only in the sustainability of forests, but also in the ability of forest communities to sustain themselves through fluctuating political and environmental conditions. Interested parties of all stripes are attempting to understand how changes in forest management policies enhance or harm the future of these communities. Although many studies have historically used economic indicators as measures of community stability, more recently researchers have demonstrated that the relationship between a community and its surrounding natural resources goes far beyond economic dependency. Frameworks have emerged that attempt to include factors that more accurately reflect the broader range of socio-political influences on affected locales. For example, the existing set of skills and leadership present in a community, the propensity of residents to work together, and the available physical and natural attributes all contribute to how people might respond to changing conditions. In this chapter we discuss the notion of community from multiple perspectives and examine three conceptual frameworks for assessment: 1) community capacity, 2) community well-being, and 3) community resiliency. Contex