Abstract:

Increasing land fragmentation, regulations, and neighbors' concerns pose significant challenges to forest owners at the urban fringe. Using Oregon's Soap Creek Watershed as a study site, we paired qualitative and quantitative methods to identify stakeholders, their opinions about forestry, and options for reducing conflict. Findings indicate that: (1) stakeholders viewed actively managed forests as preferable to further residential development, (2) residents held corporate and public forest managers to higher communication and management standards than individual private managers, and (3) consistently communicating management intentions and acknowledging neighbors' concerns reduced active opposition to forest management.

Keywords: communication; public relations; urban forestry; wildland-urban interface; environmental management; forest; forest management; forest resources; forestry; forestry research; forestry science; natural resources; natural resource management

Document Type: Miscellaneous

Affiliations: 1: Lead Wilderness Ranger Powell Ranger District, Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Idaho, 2: Starker Chair in Private and Family Forestry Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331-5703, john.bliss@orst.edu