Relational Forestry
Written by Zander Evans
Guild members are actively contributing to the genesis, debate, and enhancement of ideas in forestry and conservation. Recent editions of Across the Landscape and an upcoming edition of the Forest Steward magazine highlight How to Love a Forest, A Forest of Your Own, and Beyond the Illusion of Preservation. If you’ve written something other Guild members would enjoy or learn from – please share it with us!
Another worthwhile read is a recent piece authored by Guild member Austin Himes and his colleague Kyle Dues. The article Relational forestry: a call to expand the discipline’s institutional foundation appears in the journal Ecosystems and People and calls for transformative change in the traditional paradigm of forest management. The authors make the case for a shift to make forestry a more diverse and inviting field capable of addressing 21st century challenges. They identified an essential part of the transformation as a turn to relational values, that is meaningful human relationships with nature and among people through nature. Guild members are likely to recognize this idea of relational values even if the phrase is new. In part it is reflected in the Guild’s principles of interdependence (The well-being of human society is dependent on responsible forest management that places the highest priority on the maintenance and enhancement of the entire forest ecosystem) and intrinsic value (The forest has value in its own right, independent of human intentions and needs).
Of course, the concepts of interdependence and nature’s intrinsic values have a much longer history. As described in the recent report, Braiding Indigenous and Western Knowledge for Climate-Adapted Forests, values of kinship with nature, humility, and reciprocity, are foundational to Indigenous Knowledge systems. Dr. Eisenberg and coauthors explain reciprocity as both awareness (and action in response to awareness) that humans and ecosystems have shared needs. Reciprocity ensures “attention to mutually beneficial relationships between stewards and the land, plants, and animals they live among and rely on.” The use of the word ‘stewards’ in this definition will stand out to Guild members. Stewardship is at the heart of our community. Like reciprocity, stewardship is powerful because it implies responsibility, active engagement, and care into the future. In the Guild, it also signifies humility, with recognition that for as much as we know, we learn from forests themselves and rely on that wisdom at least as much as our forests rely on sound stewardship. The Guild’s national network of members, staff, and partners advance the culture of forest stewardship.
Perhaps linguists or etymologists will quibble with the conflation of reciprocity and stewardship, but the connection is clear. In their article, Austin and Kyle make the point that “care and respect are a stronger foundation for sustainability than management based on exerting dominance and controlling ecosystems.” They go further to highlight that the control over forests that is foundational to standard forest management model is an illusion. While a level of control is possible in the short term, natural disturbances and the changing climate dispel the illusion of control. Their vision for forestry where relational perspectives and values are embraced and a wide range of practices are possible, from plantations to ecological restoration, seems to echo the perspective of many Guild members. The Guild has provided an important forum for the discussion of forestry and stewardship more broadly over the last 30 years and is uniquely suited to advance new ideas or reintegrate long-lived ideas.
Editor’s note: for even more on these topics, view Guild member Jason Brown’s Communicating Forestry series webinar from January 2024, Guild staffer Colleen Robinson’s efforts at Nature’s Good Company, LLC, and more as members reach out to share their work.