Advancing rural conservation-based economic development : framing our community in Elk City, ID

4 pagesAcross the U.S. West, many rural communities adjacent to publicly owned federal lands have been greatly affected by changes to federal land management policies and by economic restructuring of the wood products industry. In the late 1980s through the early 2000s, federal forest policy changes led to reductions in both federal timber harvests and timber industry employment. At the same time, a combination of industry competition, automation, and relocation created additional uncertainty in communities traditionally dependent upon wood products employment. Elk City, Idaho, like many other communities surrounded by large tracts of federal land across the West, was profoundly affected by these changes. In 1999, local leaders and citizens founded a community-based organization called Framing Our Community to help the community navigate this transition while maintaining ties to natural resource activities and employment. Like other community-based organizations, Framing Our Community works with multiple public, private, and non-profit entities at multiple scales to facilitate sustainable natural resource-based economic development at the local community level. This Fact Sheet documents the origins of Framing Our Community and illustrates how the organization has helped to foster conservation-based economic development in Elk City and beyond.This research was supported by a grant from the USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, grant #2011-67023-30111