Ecosystem Restoration as Community Economic Development? An Assessment of the Possibilities

The decline of the primary economy over the past two decades has had devastating socioeconomic effects on rural communities and people across the American West. However, it has also opened up an opportunity to restore ecosystem health while rebuilding local communities - by organizing resource management efforts so that their objectives include not only environmental health but also the creation of jobs and wealth and promotion of strong local social institutions. It is an approach that has implications for agricultural and resource-based communities throughout the industrialized world. This paper describes an assessment of a three-year demonstration project to test the possibilities of ecosystem restoration as a tool for community development. The assessment uses a quasi-experimental design to compare the socio-economic climate and community problem-solving capacity among four demonstration ("experimental") communities and two control communities. Baseline socio-economic data were collected on all six communities in 1998 and follow-up data in summer, 2001. Data sources include existing demographic, social, and economic statistics; household surveys; and in-depth interviews.