The Forest Neighbor Network

In the Sky Island Region, natural and cultural resources are the foundation of most, if not all, local economies. Communities have been moving steadily away from traditional extractive uses with high impact toward ecologically compatible uses. Wildlife viewing and nonmotorized recreation are supplanting timber and mining as sources of revenue. Residents, especially those closest to the land, recognize that not only long-term survival, but also immediate prosperity, depend on the ecological integrity of their surroundings. With the shift to decentralized workplaces in the New West, jobs follow people, rather than the reverse, and people follow quality of life, including opportunities to experience wild nature. These new denizens of the Sky Island Region bring a steady new stream of income to rural, as well as urban, communities.

Despite widespread agreement on the value of conservation, the human diversity that is the region's strength is also a source of conflict. Planning for the future of the Coronado National Forest is an arena in which some of these conflicts play out. Collaboration is central to the mandate of the U.S. Forest Service in this planning process. Sky Island Alliance is leading an initiative to turn conflict into collaboration through the Forest Neighbor Network, a component of the Coronado Planning Campaign.

What is the Forest Neighbor Network?

In past planning efforts for the Coronado, many of the individuals closest to the Forest have been left out of the process, in large part because they do not belong to formal organizations with a place at the table. The Forest Neighbor Network seeks these stakeholders and provides them with a forum for two-way exchange of information between Forest planners and Forest neighbors. The network is also an opportunity for specific community members to step forward into leadership, both in creating the Forest Plan and in sustaining its outcome. These influential individuals often are involved in economic development at the local level (for example, tourism, small-scale ranching, and real estate) and can reach new audiences for conservation.

How Is the Network Built?

Sky Island Alliance is bringing Forest neighbors together through town hall meetings in communities near the Coronado's five ranger districts. The first four town hall meetings (May 2006) were independent open houses in Willcox, Douglas, Portal, and Arivaca, Arizona. The fall series of workshops has begun with a presentation and discussion at the Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum in Sonoita, Arizona (October 2006). At each town hall meeting, Sky Island Alliance staff gave an overview of the planning process, as well as threats and assets on the Coronado. The meeting was then open for discussion and comment, so that participants could ask questions and provide information on the management units closest to their lives.

At each meeting, a sign-in sheet with individual contact information allowed Sky Island Alliance to build the network through a mailing list. Reports on emerging themes in the meetings went to all participants, as well as to the Coronado Planning Partnership. Sky Island Alliance also will analyze results for the Forest Service. The town-hall mailing lists have been the conduit for announcements of upcoming events in the planning process, such as the Forest Service's public collaboration workshops and a Planning the Future symposium organized by Sky Island Alliance.

Since these town hall meetings, many participants have been active in the planning process, from attending the Coronado's public workshops, to submitting comments to the Forest Service, to organizing their own interest groups around Forest planning issues.

What Are the Current Goals and Strategies for the Network?

Goal:
Expand the network of individual Forest neighbors who previously lacked a voice in the Forest planning process and are now engaged.

Strategies:
•  Convene town hall meetings in other rural and urban communities in Arizona, incorporating changes sparked by the first series of town halls.
•  Compile and analyze the results of these meetings as cornerstones of conservation recommendations to the Forest Service.
•  Facilitate a two-way stream of information about the status of the Forest Plan between the Coronado Planning Partnership and the neighbor network.

As a result of these strategies, Sky Island Alliance expects that
•  Key individuals and groups in neighboring communities will align themselves with the Forest planning process and will take action on behalf of the Coronado's ecological values.
•  The Forest Service will incorporate the analyses of neighbors' contributions into their collaborative process, as well as into the Plan itself.

What Lies Ahead for the Network?

The town hall meetings have made clear how thoroughly the participating citizens understood the importance of the Coronado National Forest to community prosperity and quality of life. They clearly articulated the link between economic and ecological health and supported the principles on which the Coronado Planning Campaign is based. In addition to local economies strengthened through nonconsumptive uses like ecotourism and through endeavors like ecologically compatible livestock grazing, a successful Forest Plan will translate into long-term security for native species and wild communities, ecological processes, landscape features, and cultural resources, along with benefit for human users and neighbors. The Forest Neighbor Network will have the power to change the management of the Coronado, with results such as the restoration of fire as an ecological process driving ecosystem function; the protection of threatened, endangered, and sensitive species and their habitats; the conservation of archaeological and sacred sites; the prevention of threats such as utility corridors, abuse of motorized recreation, and destructive mining; and the viability of Wilderness and Special Management Areas.