Sponsor
The project was funded through a cost-reimbursable agreement with the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Agreement # 17-CR-11261985-091.
Published In
Forests
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2025
Subjects
Forest Canopies -- Ecology, Forest canopies -- Research -- Methodology
Abstract
Community-based collaboration has been touted as an effective model for forest governance because it promotes democratized decision-making and stakeholder engagement to address landscape-scale problems. Forest collaboratives are assumed to be heterogeneous, consisting of stakeholders with a diverse range of interests. Few studies have systematically explored variables associated with collaborative composition. We identify six elements of collaborative composition for investigation: size, stakeholder diversity, balance, locality–diversity, core attendance, and cross-participation. This exploratory study examines five forest collaborative groups in eastern Oregon (USA). We analyzed meeting minutes over an 18-month period to track attendance and evaluate who shows up and at what frequency. While forest collaboratives vary in size, larger collaboratives are more heterogeneous, reflecting greater diversity in terms of stakeholders represented, and have a higher proportion of high-frequency (‘core’) attendees. Core attendees and attendees who participated across multiple forest collaboratives regionwide represent a much narrower set of stakeholder interests. Collaboratives’ attendees reflected a mix of local and non-local organizations. The results raise questions about whether collaborative groups represent the array of public interests in planning for forest management.
Rights
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Locate the Document
DOI
10.3390/f16061022
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43992
Citation Details
Cerveny, L. K., McLain, R. J., & Wright, K. (2025). Exploring the Composition of Forest Collaboratives in Northeastern Oregon. Forests, 16(6), 1022. https://doi.org/10.3390/f16061022