Organizational Overview

The Appalachian Forest Resource Center (AFRC) is one of four regional partners in a national community forestry initiative coordinated by the National Community Forestry Center. It is hosted regionally by Rural Action of Southern Ohio.

Now a program of the National Network of Forest Practitioners (NNFP), this initiative seeks to address the needs of people in forested communities throughout the region encompassed by the Central and Southern Appalachian Mountain range - from Pennsylvania to north Alabama.

Statement of the Problem

Before European settlement, the majority of this region was covered with closed-canopy deciduous forests, but today just over 50 percent remains forested and much of that is poor quality regrowth. Many of these second- and third-growth stands bear little to no resemblance to the original forest cover, due to changes resulting from overharvesting, high grading, and resulting runoff and erosion. Intensive strip mining, deep mining, and logging have polluted and scarred much of Appalachia's forests.

Natural resources within the forests have continued to be exploited for short-term gains, with no apparent regard for the regeneration capacity of these resources, compromising their natural balance.

The people whose lives and livelihoods are most intimately connected to the forest generally live in the rural, forested areas of Appalachia. Historically, these human resources have been as exploited as the natural resources, but as times have changed so have land ownerships along with the expectations that landowners have regarding the value of their forested lands. Many rural citizens and landowners today place high value on a variety of uses from and of the forests, from recreational trails & parks to sustainable timber harvesting to non-timber forest products (harvested or cultivated), increasing pressures on all forest resources.

In order to make informed decisions regarding their forest land, or issues surrounding forest lands, citizens need information processed and related in ways that are useful and easy for an average person to understand. Much research, both scientific and social, is conducted within the region, but its accessibility and relevance to local, community-based problem solving continues to be elusive for many interested citizens. The AFRC is seeking to identify groups that are interested in undertaking their own research -- designed, implemented, and analyzed by the group itself.

Project Eligibility

The AFRC will support efforts, through financial and other types of assistance, to community-based groups whose efforts and goals include participatory research leading to action towards the promotion of sustainable, healthy forests or related forestry issues.

Meaningful participatory research will:

• Involve the community or group in:
• Defining the question
• Finding new information
• Analyzing that information
• Address a research question that helps the community or group focus on an issue that will move them towards their goal
• Benefit the community or group undertaking the research
• Involve research as a part of a larger strategy for action

Like the three other regional centers, the AFRC has organized a Bioregional Advisory Council (BAC) to address the region's needs and direct the work of the Center. Our Council is comprised of a broad-based group of individuals who work and live in the forests of Appalachia served by AFRC. The BAC will work with Center staff to prioritize and select projects.

Funds will be allocated based on proposals that address community and forest issues using some evident form of participatory research, either as an end product itself, or as part of a larger, more collaborative, long-term project.

The Center has additional resources such as technical experts, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) capabilities, and other technical information that may be provided by the Center for projects on a conditional basis.

Qualified projects that are not selected will be invited to have their project profiled on the AFRC web page to help increase visibility and attract other investment in their efforts.

Select one of the following links for more information