The forest was a dark tangle of fallen trunks and branches, giant Douglas firs, ponderosa pines, and other conifers. Off trail the going was slow because of the vast collection of debris littering the forest floor. This national forest land which had been left untouched for close to a hundred years contrasted sharply with private lands that lay adjacent to it not a quarter mile away. One of these private parcels had been clear cut decades before, and the trees on it were widely scattered with grasses and low shrubs filling up the spaces in between. The other private parcel had been logged selectively, and the forest consisted of a mixture of species of tall, medium-diameter trees spaced perhaps fifteen to twenty feet apart.

We had come to a non-profit environmental education organization called Northwest Connections in Montana’s Swan Valley. Our hosts, Melanie and Tom Parker, were leading us on a participatory field trip in which we were asked to observe the three different forests we visited, and look for differences in the presence of species, growth patterns, and any other variations we might notice. The differences in current forest conditions between these different parcels with very different land management histories was truly remarkable.

Our brief afternoon studying the effects of different land management styles gave us a scintillating view of Northwest Connections’ innovative program called the Landscape and Livelihood Field Semester. This program provides a small group of students with the opportunity to live and work in the Swan Valley for two months and gives them time for classroom lectures, field work, reading, reflective writing, independent study and involvement in community activities. The students earn credits in forestry and conservation, environmental studies, recreation management and geography and are given the opportunity to live with local families during several brief homestays. The immersion in the Swan Valley ecosystem and the Swan Valley community gives students an in depth understanding of the relationship between environmental issues and rural communities.

Our field trip also took us to the Swan Ecosystem Center (SEC), another local non-profit in the Swan Valley. A map of the area is a checkerboard of Forest Service land, timber company land and private ownership and the goal of the SEC is to facilitate learning, understanding, dialogue and stewardship among the diverse populations and stakeholders in the valley. The SEC maintains a visitor’s center and cooperatively oversees a 120-acre stewardship forest with the Swan Lake Ranger District. Their partnership with the Forest Service gives community members an opportunity to participate in land management planning at a local level.

Background Reading:

Workshop Information:

 

 

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