| Abstract: | Summary Community-based ecosystem management (CBEM) is being offered as an alternative to agency-based public land management. Its fundamental premise is connecting communities to public lands for the purpose of increasing ecosystem stewardship and community sustainability. For CBEM to appropriately serve the public interest, new social and institutional relationships will need to be formed, collaborative learning will need to occur, and capacities in community participation and ecological literacy will need to be developed. A new civic conversation about public lands is essential to these relationships, learning, and capacities. Community governance processes, which guide these collaborative and participatory activities, must correspondingly reflect the community-based nature of CBEM, while preserving the national interests in public land resources. |
