A race to reclaim forests: timber-managed land is up for sale, and forest communities are scrambling to maintain pristine environments and their way of life

American Forests, Autumn, 2005 by Jane Braxton Little

BROOKS TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN

In Brooks Township, Michigan, it was the pending sale of 320 acres owned by a Grand Rapids builder that spurred creation of a community forest. Although the area is quite rural, local residents feared the township, which grew by 35 percent in the last decade, was ripe for development.

Hunters and anglers have traditionally used land owned by the Ivan Koetje Trust, in the state's west-central section. Residents wanted to maintain those activities and protect the land's natural resources, which include white pine and oak forests, trout streams, seven acres of wetlands, and the remnants of a dry sand prairie. The endangered Karner blue butterfly lives here along with Blanding's turtles and songbirds. The Koetje tract is part of a 1,100-acre corridor linking state and federal land in the Newaygo Outwash Plain, a 125-mile-long swath pitted by glacial debris deposited by melt waters 10,000 years ago.

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In 1999, when local residents learned the land was for sale for $700,000, they teamed up with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which owned the adjacent 80-acre Ore-Ida Prairie. The two had already worked together to develop a community-based plan identifying and protecting unique natural features.

To acquire the Koetje Trust land, they adopted a binding management contract that allowed Brooks Township to apply for a $670,000 state grant, with TNC putting up the 25 percent local match through its 80-acre parcel. Because state funding restrictions prohibit a conservation easement favored by TNC, the partners pioneered an agreement giving Brooks Township full ownership but limiting activities on what is now known as the Coolbaugh Natural Areas.

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"We have the opportunity and challenge to manage local growth while protecting natural features and preserving our way of life," says Dale Black, a Brooks Township supervisor.

Only nonmotorized recreation is allowed in the Coolbaugh community-owned forest, which focuses on enhancing wildlife habitat. A coordinator hired to implement the Brooks Township vision developed a school science curriculum based on local plants and animals. The township has budgeted $5,000 a year for trails and signs.

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SWAN VALLEY, MONTANA

In Swan Valley, the Swan Ecosystem Center's Dahl has watched communities across the country find innovative ways to acquire land that supports their local economies and lifestyles. It was a visit to a 2,000-acre town-owned redwood forest in Arcata, California, that inspired her to propose the idea in her remote Montana community.

Timber jobs have declined in Swan Valley since the 1990s. In 1997, when the U.S. Forest Service threatened to close its only office within 40 miles, Dahl and other community activists opened their center in the district ranger office to help maintain this traditional segment of the local economy.

But the new millennium brought new threats, this time from private timberlands that checkerboard the mountains rising on both sides of the Swan River. Plum Creek Timber Company, which owns nearly half the ground available for logging and forest activities, began putting land on the market. As a real estate investment trust, it is responsible to investors to seek the highest and best use of its assets. In Swan Valley, that means trophy homes.