We introduced two innovations to the annual workshop in 2003: organizing and conducting the half-day session on participatory research from within the CFERP Program, and having a fellow organize and conduct the field trip. 

In the past we have hired PR practitioners from outside the program to conduct sessions on participatory research at the annual workshop.  While overall we have been pleased with the sessions our colleagues designed and facilitated for us, we felt that they often gave a view of PR from one particular perspective (i.e. a social activist or consultants perspective).  Moreover, the sessions stressed themes that may not have resonated as deeply as they might with CFERP fellows and their community partners.  To develop a session that was more relevant to the needs, concerns, and interests of CFERP program participants, we decided to plan and conduct the PR session for the 2003 workshop in house. 

Heidi Ballard (dissertation fellow in 2002), Carl Wilmsen, and Larry Fisher began planning the session in January of 2003, and soon thereafter invited Ajit Krishnaswamy of the National Community Forestry Center, and Yvonne Everett of Humboldt State University to join the effort. 

Heidi Ballard and Larry Fisher led the session during the morning of Saturday, September 13.  The session included a presentation of the history of participatory research approaches and techniques, a group exercise to demonstrate that there is a continuum of participation in PR projects (that is, there are different degrees of participation among PR projects, as well as among the different stages of individual projects), and break-out sessions on strategies for designing and implementing PR projects.  Ajit Krishnaswamy and Yvonne Everett led segments on tools and field techniques for conducting PR.

During the session, it was no surprise that many questions we have encountered over the years were raised again:  Who is the community?; What is the researchers role in the community?; How should the researcher navigate tensions between what members of the community want, what members of the academic committee wants, or what the academic discipline wants?; What are the difficulties of applying participatory research in situations of conflict?; and several other similar questions.  We anticipated these questions being raised, and wrote them down on a flip chart for later discussion as they came up.  It was, however, challenging to find time to discuss them.  In fact, we did not discuss them as a group. Rather, workshop participants discussed them among themselves during breaks and free time.  A challenge for future workshops is to build time in to address these questions as a group.

Overall, the PR session generated stimulating discussion, and raised the enthusiasm of the workshop participants.  As one participant put it, "PAR in community forestry came of age in those four-plus hours.  The best, by far, of the three workshops I have attended."

The field trip this year was also a resounding success.  During the spring of 2003 Heidi Ballard and Carl Wilmsen worked closely in planning it.  Heidi Ballard and her community partner, Don Collins (President, Northwest Research and Harvester Association), directed the field visit, which entailed visiting a field site on state-owned land where brush harvesters collect fern leaves, and boughs of huckleberry and salal. At the site several of the forest workers who had participated in Heidis research led small groups into the forest where they taught us how to harvest the greens.  Breaking into small groups provided ample opportunity for conversing with the workers.  Fortunately many workshop participants spoke Spanish, an d they were able to interpret for others.  Engaging the workers in their familiar work environment was also conducive to conversation, helping them to feel more comfortable in the company of some forty strangers.



Following the brush picking exercise, the group traveled to a buying shed where the manager led us on a tour.  The field exercise, followed by the buying shed tour gave the participants a strong taste of the environmental, social, and economic conditions with which the workers must contend on a daily basis.  It also gave us an appreciation for the skill and perseverance the workers must possess to succeed in this kind of work.  Many of us realized that at our skill level, we could not even come close to earning a living wage in this line of work! 

Although the PR session and field trip were particularly noteworthy this year, the fellow/community partner presentations are always the centerpiece of each workshop, and this year was no exception. Topics included urban forestry issues, collaboration between Native American tribes and public land management agencies, watershed restoration, equity issues relating to Latino forest workers as well as African Americans and national parks and forests, Native Hawaiian cultural revitalization efforts, and cooperation, collaboration and communication in private forests. 


 

Community Forestry & Environmental Research Partnerships
UC Berkeley,101 Gianinni Hall, #3100, Berkeley, CA 94720
tel: 510.642.3431
email: cffellow@nature.berkeley.edu

Photo credits:
Monarch Butterfly: Jennifer E. Dacey, University of Rhode Island, www.insectimages.org
Giant Sequoia: Paul Bolstad, University of Minnesota, www.forestryimages.org
Racoon: Terry Spivey, USDA Forest Service, www.forestryimages.org