Natural Resource Management

As California battles its worst drought in 1,000 years — and after massive wildfires swept across the state for two consecutive summers — a number of tribe members, scientists and U.S. Forest Service officials are working to revive traditional Native American land management practices that some believe could help contain the blazes and lessen effects of the drought. ...

Community forests are presented as a wealth creation strategy for rural communities. The Wealth Creation Framework offers a template for describing forms of capital associated with community forests and discussing their potential as a wealth creation strategy. The paper profiles six projects across northern New England and describes how investments by rural communities in local ownership and management of forestland build capital.

“In 2003 researchers predicted that most of this area would be reforested by 2020,” explained Jefferson Hall, director Agua Salud. “But it’s already 2015, and we’re not seeing that happen. People aren’t stupid. They won’t give up their farms to plant teak on infertile soils.” Read more

"We are working hard to control our invasive Arundo, and do not want to see Oregon experience similar impacts," said Doug Johnson, executive director of the California Invasive Plant Council. Read more

Brenda Zollitsch (2009), whose work as a policy analyst at the Association of State Wetland Managers (ASWM) is partially funded by a Switzer Leadership Grant, says one underappreciated challenge in addressing wetland loss is a chasm between the management of these issues between programs.

We have a number of Fellows leading in Sonoma County, working to understand the impacts of climate change at a micro level and develop solutions to improve local resiliency to climate change impacts that could be rolled out nationally.

Rigorous integration will ensure the goals inspire rather than deter commitment, say Angel Hsu and Alisa Zomer. Sustainable development is an elusive concept, one that is open to interpretation and difficult to define, let alone measure. UN negotiators therefore have a challenging task: how to specify a clear set of indicators to track the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) before they are finalised in September.