On July 23-27th, 2012, the Rights and Resource Initiative (RRI), in collaboration with the United States Forest Service and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, held the third Rethinking Forest Regulations workshop in Missoula, Montana, United States. Bringing together participants from seven countries currently undergoing forest or tenure reforms (Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Lao PDR, Liberia, Nepal, and Peru), the event served to better prepare and inform forest agency officials and civil society organizations in meeting the challenges of forest regulations.
It exposed participants to effective and innovative regulatory models that are inclusive of various stakeholders and respect individual and collective property rights. Moreover, it promoted information sharing among the participants through frank and open dialogue, and discussion on the broader challenges confronting forest agencies.
The event began in the Lubrecht Experimental Forest with an orientation on the legal and administrative structure and in-depth reviews of Montana’s Best Management Practice system (BMP). The workshop included several field trips to harvesting operations, where participants learned how logging operations are audited through BMP monitoring in practice, and to tribal lands to understand how federal, state and tribal jurisdictions interact, among other sites.
Resources
- Agenda and List of Participants
- Synopsis
- Short Biographies
- Map of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
- Journal of Forestry, Montana’s Forestry Best Management Practices Program: 20 Years of Continuous Improvement, 2012
Presentations
- Sally Collins & Andy White – Rethinking Forest Regulations: Overview and Introduction
- Angela Mallon – Promoting Stewardship on Family Forest Lands in Montana
- Bob Harrington – Regulation of State and Private Forests in Montana
- Bryan Lorengo – This profession we call Logging
- Gary Burnett – Blackfoot Challenge
- Sonya Germann – Forested State Trust Lands: A Geographic Manifestation of Democracy
Press
- Rob Chaney of the Missoulian – International foresters visit Flathead Reservation to study tribes’ example