From Lightning Rod to Community Asset? The Creation of a Protected Area in Northern California and its Evolving Relationship to a Nearby Community

Abstract

Researchers have described shifting relationships between communities and Protected Areas (PAs), from excluding communities to consultative relationships to participatory models. This research focuses on a PA created on formerly industrial timberland that was the focus of conflict between environmental activists and the timber industry. In a nearby formerly timber-dependent community, we assessed community use and support of the PA, and its perceived purposes and benefits, through a survey of residents and interviews with key stakeholders. Despite intense conflict surrounding its creation, we found support for the PA, and our case suggests a new possible relationship between PAs and communities, which is mitigating and helping to resolve natural resource conflict. We also found that community well-being benefits of the PA were unclear; we suggest that PA management should include cultural, economic, and historical context in objectives and interpretive materials; and should work to create economic opportunities connected to the PA.

Keywords:

• protected areas
• conflict mitigation
• timber wars
• mixed methods
• community well-being

Notes

Notes

1 IUCN Protected Area Categories. Accessed 6/20/2018: https://www.iucn.org/theme/protected-areas/about/protected-area-categories.

2 Unless indicated otherwise, all general demographic information is from United States Census Bureau (2017).

3 From the U.S. Department of Commerce. 2018. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns. Washington, D.C. Accessed through Headwaters Economics: https://headwaterseconomics.org/tools/economic-profile-system/.

4 All percentages presented in results are valid percentages, which exclude missing responses. N values represent the total number of valid responses for each question.

5 From BLM website, https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/california/headwaters-forest-reserve. Accessed 15 April 2018.

Additional information

Funding

The present research was supported financially by Conservation Lands Foundation and U.S. Bureau of Land Management.