Participatory research has emerged as an approach to producing knowledge that is sufficiently grounded in local needs and realities to support community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), and it is often touted as crucial to the sustainable management of forests and other natural resources.This book analyzes the current state of the art of participatory research in CBNRM. Its chapters and case studies examine recent experiences in collaborative forest management, harvesting impacts on forest shrubs, watershed restoration in Native American communities, civic environmentalism in an urban neighborhood and other topics. Although the main geographic focus of the book is the United States, the issues raised are synthesized and discussed in the context of recent critiques of participatory research and CBNRM worldwide. The book's purpose is to provide insights and lessons for academics and practitioners involved in CBNRM in many contexts. The issues it covers will be relevant to participatory research and CBNRM practitioners and students the world over.

Engaging and opinionated, charming and forceful, Norma Paulus was widely covered in statewide and national newspapers and television during her eventful, sometimes controversial political career. She ran successfully for the Oregon House of Representatives in 1970. After three terms in the House, where she championed environmental causes, women's rights, and government transparency, she was elected Oregon's Secretary of State in 1976-the first woman to be elected to a statewide office in Oregon. She was the Republican candidate for governor in 1986, served a stint on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, went on to become Oregon's superintendent of public instruction, and headed the Oregon Historical Society. The Only Woman in the Room documents her life and work in a lively, anecdotal history that will appeal to historians, political scientists, newshounds, and ordinary citizens alike.

When you live in an old house, the remodeling and rehabilitatingnever end. I guess the same is true when you belong to a family. A ruined old schoolhouse and a loving, troubled family are at theheart of The Little Lucky, a reflec tion of the many ways in which aplace can shape and be shaped by family. In discerning and nimbleprose, Gail Wells tells the story of how she and her husband movedfrom their tiny Seattle apartment to her grandfather's house, formerlyan abandoned schoolhouse, near the Little Luckiamute River ofwestern Oregon.They work earnestly to transform the slantwise structure into a homeand discover both joy and frustration along the way. With wry clarity,Wells reveals the tangled dream of living in rural Oregon, chronically flooded basement, mouse skeletons inside the bathroomwalls, and the relentless struggle to fix the unfixable, ll while raisinga family and salvaging a place alive with memories.Amid the angst of tearing down and building up, Wells discoverssomething unexpec ted: a sense of honorable struggle and the grace ofgetting what you need rather than what you want. These stories revealan intimate geography and the dynamic between family and ahomeplace. And these are also stories of acceptance, of doing whatyou can and letting the rest go; of learning what is precious and whatis expendable; of the surprising solace of surrendering to the possible;and of gratitude for incredible good luck.?

Participatory research has emerged as an approach to producing knowledge that is sufficiently grounded in local needs and realities to support community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), and it is often touted as crucial to the sustainable management of forests and other natural resources. This book analyses the current state of the art of participatory research in CBNRM. Its chapters and case studies examine recent experiences in collaborative forest management, harvesting impacts on forest shrubs, watershed restoration in Native American communities, civic environmentalism in an urban neighborhood and other topics. Although the main geographic focus of the book is the United States, the issues raised are synthesized and discussed in the context of recent critiques of participatory research and CBNRM worldwide. The book's purpose is to provide insights and lessons for academics and practitioners involved in CBNRM in many contexts. The issues it covers will be relevant to participatory research and CBNRM practitioners and students the world over.