There are many reasons to appreciate forests. There are commercial reasons that involve industrial activities—forests provide timber, oil, and gas—and there are non-commercial reasons. Non-commercial reasons include non-consumptive activities like camping and hiking; consumptive activities like hunting and fishing; and ecosystem functions like biodiversity, oxygen generation, carbon storage, climate control, and water quality and quantity regulation. One of the goals of sustainable forest management is to make sure these “values” always exist. To help achieve this goal, Foothills Research Institute established the Social Science Program.
What Are Its Tasks?
The Social Science Program explores how people “fit” in the forest. It has studied public values and attitudes about forest management. It has examined public-involvement processes and offered suggestions, establishing a foundation for local participation in sustainable forest management. It has developed a set of local indicators of community sustainability. Furthermore, the program has looked at the regional economy and created computer models with which to forecast it. And it has studied recreation activities—hunting, camping, and wilderness use—creating models for these topics too.
From these efforts has come recognition beyond Foothills Research Institute boundaries. In fact, the Canadian Model Forest Network has adopted two projects of the Foothills Research Institute Social Science Program. Moreover, the Social Science Program has reported research results in numerous papers and presentations. It has published peer-reviewed journal articles and delivered scientific and public presentation, nationally and internationally, with respect to social and economic consideration of sustainable forest management.
What Lies Ahead?
The Social Science Program will continue its research and reporting. It will survey people about ecosystem functions of the forest (biodiversity, for example)—studying the preferred and accepted trade-offs associated with sustainable forest management. Results will help policy-makers reach socially acceptable decisions. The program will survey people about their sense of place, examining broad public attitudes and values attached to a specific land base and how these attitudes and values relate to specific forest attributes and timber practices. Results will help policy-makers and researchers understand people’s attachment to an area and give forest managers a tool with which to integrate subjective, qualitative data into forest management decisions. As well, the Social Science Program will create a database framework with which to document commercial and non-commercial values of the forest, helping managers incorporate the many forest values into their detailed forest management plans.