Vision: Tribal Member Values, Perceptions, and Priorities
For millennia, tribal forests have sustained tribal communities and tribal communities have sustained tribal forests. One IFMAT IV participant explained, “We need the forest, and the forest needs us.” Another stated, “The Elders always said this forest is going to take care of you.” Tribal forests are valued for every aspect, including biophysical, ecological, spiritual, cultural, and relational.
Today, state-of-the-art forest management can be thought of as the ability to identify the goals and underlying values of those that “own” the forest in order to develop management strategies to achieve those goals and foster those values. Forest management plans are important documents that show how forest management activities will be employed to achieve goals and objectives. Thus, goals and values
are critical components of forest management plans and are central to all management decisions. This is especially true for tribal forests and tribal communities, where the members live in close and intimate proximity to the land and are directly affected— ecologically, socially, culturally, spiritually, and economically—by the consequences of management, or lack thereof. Goals for tribal forests include not only income
Salvage of a hardwood stand at Stockbridge Munsee following a severe wind storm. PHOTO CREDIT: TIM VREDENBURG
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