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There is widespread debate about the best strategies to provide local benefits in forest management. We evaluate recent policy changes in British Columbia, Canada, focussing on attempts to create local benefits from public forests through a community forestry program and broad policy changes in 2003 that removed obligations of tenure holders to process timber in areas near where timber was harvested. These obligations were intended to retain benefits of milling jobs locally and were considered part of a 'social contract'. We evaluate these policy changes by asking two specific questions. (1) Do community forest tenures provide more local benefits than major industrial tenures? (2) How have the policy changes of 2003 affected the patterns of fibre flow over the period to 2008? We evaluate these questions through qualitative research and a quantitative fibre flow analysis using a large time-series dataset. Community forests as a group performed better than major industrial tenures in delivering local benefits as we defined them. However, large variation among individual community forests is evident, highlighting the disparate strategies used by communities to promote local benefits. Our fibre flow analysis did not reveal major changes following 2003, suggesting that broader fibre flow trends mask more local perturbations. Key words: community-based forest management, fibre flow analysis, British Columbia, forest ownership, mixed methods. Un large debat entoure la question de la meilleure strategie a appliquer pour que l'amenagement forestier genere des benefices locaux. Nous avons evalue des changements recents a la politique forestiere de la Colombie-Britannique, au Canada, qui mettent l'emphase sur les tentatives visant a procurer des benefices locaux par l'instauration d'un programme de foresterie communautaire et qui, de facon plus generale depuis 2003, abrogent l'obligation des detenteurs de tenure industrielle de transformer les grumes a proximite du lieu oU elles ont ete recoltees. Cette derniere obligation visait le maintien d'emplois manufacturiers localement et constituait une sorte de << contrat social >>. Nous considerons ces changements de politique par le biais de deux questions specifiques. (1) Est-ce que les modes de tenure communautaire engendrent plus de benefices locaux que les grands modes de tenure industrielle? (2) Comment les amendements de 2003 ont-ils affecte les patrons d'approvisionnement en fibre des usines jusqu'en 2008? Nous abordons ce questionnement a l'aide d'une recherche qualitative menee de pair avec une analyse quantitative des flux de fibre utilisant des series temporelles tirees d'une importante base de donnees. Les forets communautaires, en tant que groupe, ont connu de meilleures performances que les grands modes de tenure industrielle au plan des benefices locaux tels que nous les avons definis. Toutefois, nous constatons une importante variabilite parmi les differentes forets communautaires etudiees. Cela met en evidence la disparite des strategies employees par les communautes afin de promouvoir les retombees locales. L'analyse des flux de fibre ne revele pas de changements majeurs apres 2003. Cela indique que les grandes tendances quant aux flux d'approvisionnement en fibre masquent les perturbations plus locales. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : gestion forestiere communautaire, analyse des flux de fibre, Colombie-Britannique, propriete forestiere, methodes d'analyse mixte., Introduction There is an ongoing debate around the world about the most sustainable strategy for managing common pool resources (Ostrom et al. 2007). To achieve sustainability, academics, governments, and other [...]

The article contrasts the effectiveness of environmental regulations and financial assistance programs on reforestation investment by non-industrial private forest landowners. Research indicates that financial assistance, in the form of tax incentives and cost-sharing, is positively correlated with reforestation investment.

The role and mission of the Forest Service must be reviewed. There are a number of potential missions for the Forest Service, including recreation and biological preservation.

Has Smokey the Bear become Smokey the Politician? The image of Smokey Bear, peering from magazine pages and billboards, does not cut the profile of someone scrambling for political office. [...]

Conservation biology has provided evidence that roadless-area protection has scientific and environmental merit, but the emphasis on top-down, large-scale, national approaches has made policy-making problematic.

Research indicates that the Northwest Forest Plan, implemented in 1994, has contributed to old-growth forest conservation, but that periodical monitoring and stronger protections are key to its ultimate success.

The Northwest Forest Plan is reassessed in light of environmental changes since its adoption in 1994. Discussion focuses on the impacts of cutting large firs and pines, and fire suppression practices.

The article examines the impact of demand for, rather than supply of, wood products and wood fiber on the effectiveness of the Northwest Forest Plan in protecting the region's woodlands.

The article concludes that the Northwest Forest Plan provides a useful model for other ecosystem management plans, in that it links socioeconomic and conservation goals through the creation of jobs in forest management and stewardship.

The Northwest Forest Plan's Aquatic Conservation Strategy has improved conditions in 64% of the 250 watersheds sampled, and maintained conditions in 7%. Conditions declined in 28%, due primarily to wildfires.

The article examines continuing challenges that inhibit the success of the Northwest Forest Plan, specifically the conflict of conservation and timber harvest goals, ongoing litigation, and unresolved political issues. Implications for species conservation are discussed.

The Northwest Forest Plan is found to play a key role in restoring and conserving Marbled Murrelet nesting habitat, but it will require many decades before the Plan can be deemed successful.

Findings are unclear on whether the Northwest Forest Plan has improved the conservation status of the Northern Spotted Owl. Complicating factors include the owl's life history and new threats that have arisen since the Plan's adoption in 1994. Implications are discussed.

The Northwest Forest Plan, implemented in 1994, has been effective in preventing harm to old-growth forests, but has not achieved social, economic, or restoration goals. Recommendations are made.

Analysis is presented on deforestation occurring in the Brazilian Amazon, and the exacerbating and mitigating factors affecting its rate. Findings show that indigenous lands present a key barrier to deforestation; implications for successful forest conservation policies are discussed.

The conservation status of the Bialowieza Forest, located on the Belarus-Poland border, is used to illustrate challenges facing the European Union in designing and implementing environmental policy. An assessment is made regarding the forest's continued vulnerability to logging interests.

The paper argues that NGOs and grassroots organizations have had a positive impact on efforts to preserve the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. By acting alone or by forging alliances with international NGOs they have impacted both environmental legislation and actual enforcement. In a world economy driven by development and the profit motive, these 'guardians of the forest' play a key role in the future survival of Amazonia. They challenge traditional notions of clearing forest for the sake of development. The paper uses the cases of Indian grassroots organisations and Greenpeace as illustrations.

An analysis is presented on satellite imagery of Nepal's forests, in which anomalies are studied to identify and evaluate unique forest practices as possible methods for curbing deforestation. Advantages and limitations to this method are discussed.

Fire was once considered a founding element and an informing principle for analysis of the world. Today it is neither. Its study resides primarily in those countries that have both public lands, which hold fire, and scientific institutions, with which to study it. In particular, forestry has long claimed fire as a speciality and continues to harbour the most practical experience regarding it. In fact, fire may deserve better, and can give more. A case, not entirely whimsical, can be made for a programme of `fire studies' that could span the many forms of scholarship that share an interest in humanity's species monopoly over fire's manipulation.