Abstracts
Emery,
Marla R., Suzanne Martin, and Alison Dyke. 2006. Wild Harvests from Scottish
Woodlands: Social Cultural and Economic Values of Contemporary Non-Timber Forest
Products. Edinburgh, Scotland: Forestry Commission.
Abstract: From a member of
House of Lords in his castle to an unemployed gentlemen in a fisherman's
cottage, from a biology teacher on the outskirts of Dumfries to a young farmer
on the Black Idle, collecting non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is a source of
joy and satisfaction for many in contemporary Scotland. In the autumn of
2004, as part of the Wild harvests From Scottish Woodlands project, more than
thirty people were interviewed about wild edibles, medicinals, and craft
materials.
As a group, research participants
mentioned 208 NTFPs derived from 97 vascular plants and 76 fungi and other
non-vascular species. Edibles uses were most common followed by beverages,
craft, garden and medical uses. Most NTFP gathering is for personal
and family use, followed in importance by gifts, informal economy, and barter.
Gatherer profiles are used to illustrate that with commercial collection, often
'the sums don't add up' but the importance of NTFP collections for personal and
cultural identity, social cohesion, public health and happiness is vast.
The results suggest there is
potential for active management of NTFPs in public and private woodlands as well
as some cautions. A number of recommendations for policy, practice and
future research are made.
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Emery, Marla R., Clare Ginger, and James L. Chamberlain.
2006. Migrants, Markets, and
Management of Natural Resources in Western North Carolina. In
Furuseth, Owen J. and Heather A. Smith (eds.). The New South: Latinos and the
Transformation of Place. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing.
Abstract: Latinos are
present in increasing numbers in U.S. forests as consumers and producers.
This change is transforming the physical and social spaces of natural resources
management. In 2000, we initiated a research project to explore the
changes that have occurred in the labor, state, and capital dynamics of the
galax industry and their implications for forest management. Galax is a
short evergreen groundcover found in the forest understory of the southern
Appalachian mountains. This native plant, with heart-shaped leathery green
leaves historically was used by Cherokee Indians to alleviate kidney ailments
and nervous problems. The primary use of galax today is as a complement in
floral arrangements. The earliest markets for galax were local and
regional. Today, this small leaf finds its way to large wholesale floral
markets throughout the United States as well as the world's largest such market
at Aalsmeer, the Netherlands. Western North Carolina is the primary source of
galax leaves entering this commercial market, with both first tier buyers and
galackers or pullers, as they also are called, concentrated in Yancey County.
Throughout most of the 20th century, descendants of the region's largely
Scots-Irish settlers collected and sold galax leaves to supplement their
incomes. By 2002, Latinos appeared to constitute some 90 percent of the
labor force harvesting galax.
Our study focused on three major
categories of actors in the galax commodity chain: gatherers, government
agencies, and buyers. Within each of these categories there exist
subgroups with distinct histories, perspectives, and roles in harvesting and
marketing galax. Gatherers include Anglos and Latinos. Government
agencies that play a role as landowners and managers include the U.S. Forest
Service and the National Park Service. Most buyers are long-time Anglos
residents of the area. One has been purchasing galax and other native
plants for more than 50 years. Several began as galackers and began
purchasing from others to increase their incomes.
The lengthening of the commodity
chain has brought the Yancey County galax economy into direct contact with the
global economy. At the conjunction of the global market for floral greens,
the ongoing economic crisis in Mexico, and the restructuring of the U.S. labor
market, hundreds of Latinos have found that a little leaf in the mountains of
western North Carolina can provide a significant source of income. These
people, most of whom come from the mountains of Michoacan, are part of
transformations in the galax industry even as their lives are shaped by its
demands and possibilities. Our research suggests several opportunities for
action that could reduce some of the conflicts that have arisen and increase the
chances that galax will continue to be a livelihood resource for both Anglo and
Latino residents of Yancey County in years to come.
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Emery, Marla R. and Alan R. Pierce. 2005. Interrupting the Telos:
Locating Subsistence in US Forests. Environment & Planning A
37/6:981-993.
Abstract: People
continue to hunt, fish, trap, and gather for subsistence purposes in the
contemporary United States. This fact has implications for forest policy,
as suggested by an international convention on temperate and boreal forests,
commonly known as the Montreal Process. Three canons of law provide a
legal basis for subsistence activities by designated social groups in Alaska and
Hawaii and by American Indians with treaty rights in the coterminous forty-eight
states. A literature review also presents evidence of such practices by
people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds throughout the nation.
Teleological notions of development espoused by both neoliberal and Marxist
scholars suggest that subsistence activities should not persist in a First World
setting except as failures of the officially sanctioned economic system.
However, alternative economic perspectives from peasant studies and economic
geography offer a conceptual framework for viewing at least some subsistence
activities as having a logic and values outside of, if articulated with, market
structures. Meeting the Montreal Process goal of providing for subsistence
use of forests will require research focused on local practices and terms of
access to resources as well as their relationship to state and capital
processes. We outline the basics of a research agenda on subsistence for
an emerging First World political ecology.
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Martin, Suzanne and Marla R. Emery. 2005. Wild Harvests From Scottish
Woodlands: An Exploration of the Health and Well-being Benefits of Non-Timber
Forest Product Collection and Use. In: Gallis, C. 2005. 1st European Cost
E39 Conference: Forests, Trees, Human Health and Wellbeing: Proceedings: Siokis,
Thessaloniki.
Abstract: Small scale
gathering of nontimber forest products (NTFPs) - wild edibles, medicinals, craft
materials, etc. - has a range of benefits which have a specific bearing on
health and well-being of gatherers in contemporary Scottish society. The
information discussed in this paper is drawn from qualitative research which
focused on identifying and understanding the social, cultural and economic
values associated with the collection and use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs)
in Scotland. In particular it showed how the collection and consumption of
NTFPs provides gatherers with physical health benefits arising from activities
such as walking and basket making and the consumption of products rich in
vitamins and minerals. It also illustrates how NTFPs contribute to the
mental well-being of collectors by providing a source of joy and passion,
feelings of self fulfillment and worth, and of human and personal identity.
This well-being derived from the development of intimate bonds with the natural
environment, family and friends - associations which may be regarded as
especially poignant in a society in which the fragmentation of families, as well
as a perceived disconnection between people and the natural environment, are
concerns. A number of reflections are made on the relevance of these
findings for policy and practice.
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Pierce, Alan, R. and Marla R. Emery.
2005. The use of forests in time of crisis: ecological literacy as a safety
net. Forests, Trees, and Livelihoods. 15:249-252.
Abstract: In his
chapter entitled 'Flight into the Forest', zoologist Bernd Heinrich (1984)
recounts how he and his family, Polish refugees who fled to Germany at the close
of World War II, lived off of fish, game (including mice), nuts, berries and
mushrooms in the forests of Hahnheide for five years. For Europeans of
Heinrich's generation, memories of reliance upon forest resources for survival
during and after the war are commonplace. Use of forests for food,
medicine and shelter during times of crisis is not a historical anecdote or
aberration, but a present day reality for people across the globe, as reports
from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Congo, Burma, North Korea, Columbia and a host of other
countries make clear.
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Emery, Marla R., Clare Ginger, Siri
Doble, and Michael R.B. Giammusso. 2004. Family and Floral Greens Gathering.
In: Practitioner: Newsletter of the National Network of Forest Practitioners.
May 2004/22:23-25.
Abstract: In the
previous issue of Practitioner, we published an article and a case study
entitled, respectively, "Gatherers: No Longer the Silent Forest Worker" and
"Life Experience: An Edible and Medicinal Plants Gatherer from West Virginia" to
provide information about the largely silent workforce of special forest product
workers. In this issue, we continue our focus on gatherers with the
following case study.
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Emery, Marla R. 2003. Wild plants and all our other relations: The ethics of
using, developing, and managing nontimber forest products. In: Proceedings:
Hidden forest values. The first Alaska-wide nontimber forest products conference
and tour. 2001 November 8-11; Anchorage, AK. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-579.
Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pacific Northwest Research
Station. 53-54.
Abstract: The Hidden
Forest Values Conference brought together a diverse assemblage of local, state
and federal agencies, tribal governments, traditional users, landholders,
cottage enterprises and other Nontimber Forest Products (NTFP) related
businesses, scientists, and experts. The purpose of this forum was to
exchange information, cooperate, and raise awareness of issues on sustainable
and equitable, environmentally and economically viable opportunities for NTFP in
Alaska. This discourse sought a balance of development and sustainability,
with respect for traditional uses. Nontimber Forest Products were defined
by the Conference organizers as biological material harvested from the forest
that has not been produced from commercially sawn wood such as lumber, pulp, and
paper. These proceedings include extended summaries of presentations by
speakers and panelists at the conference. All summaries were compiled and edited
by the Alaska Boreal Council and reviewed by the authors. Some authors
elected to provide their full presentation or supplemental material; those are
included in Appendix V.
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Emery, Marla R., Clare Ginger, Siri Newman,
Michael R.B. Giammusso. 2003. Special Forest Products in Context: Gatherers
and Gathering in the Eastern United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-306. Newtown
Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern
Research Station. 59 p.
This report provides an
introduction to the people who gather special forest products (SFPs) in the
eastern United States, the role these resources play in their lives, and
implications for management on national forest lands, particularly in relation
to the Pilot Program on Forest Botanicals (P. L. 106-113, & 339(a)). SFPs
encompass a wide variety of products and provide important livelihood support
through both market and nonmarket economic values. In addition, many
gatherers value social dimensions of SFPs outside the economic realm.
Gatherers are a diverse group (men and women, varied ethnic and cultural
backgrounds), who often draw on substantial knowledge to harvest SFPs.
Many are concerned about conservation and the sustainability of harvesting
practices. Contextual factors affecting SFP activities include land
management regimes and social conditions, such as household economies and life
stage, at scales that range from macro-level markets (national, international)
to micro-level household and individual use.
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Emery, Marla R. 1999.
Social Values of Specialty Forest Products to Rural Communities. In
Proceedings of the North American Conference on Enterprise Development through Agroforestry: Farming the Agroforest for Specialty Products, edited by S.
Josiah. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota: 25-32.
Abstract: Rural
communities have long been known for their cultural distinctiveness, independent
spirits, and, unfortunately, comparatively high poverty rates. A look at the
promotion of Specialty Forest Products (SFP) as a rural development strategy
against the backdrop of larger social trends such as welfare reform and economic
restructuring suggests the need to ask hard questions about the value of SFP to
residents of rural communities. Field work in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
and review of the literature highlight three categories of social values for SFP:
livelihood, cultural, and recreational. Livelihood values are derived from both
non-market and market uses. Cultural values include the continued ability to
observe special practices and transfer knowledge from one generation to another.
Recreational values combine the peace and pleasure of being outdoors with a
practical and useful activity. These values are not mutually exclusive, however,
and SFP may meet multiple needs for an individual at any given moment and over
the course of a lifetime. In fact, the key social value of SFP is the
flexibility and diversity of functions they can perform. SFP serve as a reserve
or supplemental livelihood strategy for rural residents who know how to use them
and where to find them. Gathering is also an enduring way of marking the passage
of the seasons. These values are qualitatively and quantitatively different from
those that are captured in standard macroeconomic calculations. The paper
concludes by examining the impacts of large-scale commercialization on social
values and suggests a note of caution for rural development programs.
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Doble, Siri and Marla Emery.
2001. The Role of Non Timber Forest Products: A Case Study of Gatherers in
the Eastern United States. In Proceedings of the 2000 Northeastern
Recreation Research Symposium, edited by G. Kyle. Newton Square: USDA
Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. GTR-NE-276: 53-57.
Abstract: Non Timber
Forest Products (NTFPs) play a key role in the lives and livelihoods of rural
residents in or near forested areas. Consequently, organizations concerned with
rural development have begun to look toward NTFPs as an opportunity for rural
economic development. Concerned with the potential implications for the social
and ecological structures that support NTFP harvesting, this work in progress
plans to explore the culture and practices of gatherers. Using qualitative
research methods including in-depth ethnographic interviews, we will document
NTFPs uses and users in the eastern United States. Individual case studies will
give gatherers and micro-enterprise owners a voice to reveal their experience
with and perspective on gathering. Natural resource managers and rural
developers must have a clear understanding of the role NTFPs play in the lives
and livelihoods of gatherers before they develop management plans.
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Emery, Marla R. and Shandra
L. O'Halek. 2001. Brief Overview of Historical Non-Timber Forest Product Use
in the U. S. Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest. Journal of Sustainable
Forestry13(3/4): 25-30
Abstract: Non-timber
forest products (NTFPs) have sustained indigenous and immigrant populations
alike since their arrival in North America. This brief overview focuses on the
historical use of NTFPs in the U. S. Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest.
Drawing on sources as diverse as accounts by early European arrivals,
archaeological evidence, and contemporary ethnobotanical studies, we touch on
documented uses of forest vegetation from prehistory to the present century. The
residents of these regions have used NTFPs for food, medicine, and cultural
materials. NTFPs have met their livelihood needs through subsistence uses and
both non-market and market exchanges. We conclude that in spite of U. S
incorporation into a global market-based economy, there is notable continuity in
the harvest and use of NTFPs in the United States from prehistory to current
times.
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Emery, Marla R. and Rebecca
J. McLain (eds. ). 2001. Non-Timber Forest Products: Medicinal herbs,
fungi, edible fruits and nuts, and other natural products from the forest.
Binghamton: The Haworth Press, Inc.
Introduction:
Wherever and whenever forests and humans have occupied the same space on Earth,
it can be expected that Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) have made important
contributions to people’s livelihoods. NTFP research and policy, however, have
generally focused on the Third World. This special issue shifts attention to
NTFP use, research, and policy concerns in the United States as a way of
illustrating the important contribution of these products to post-industrial
societies.
Although NTFPs are often
overlooked by public and private forest land managers, the contributions in
Section 1 illustrate that NTFP use and management in the Pacific Northwest and
Upper Midwest has a very long history and continues to be widespread, complex
and dynamic. Thadani begins the discussion and provides important comparative
background in a paper on the development of NTFPs as management and conservation
strategies in the Third World. Questions raised by his work include: What are
the differences and similarities between NTFPs’ importance to rural residents of
the tropics and the United States? What social, economic, and ecological
difficulties lurk in the promotion of NTFP commercialization as a sustainable
development strategy? And how might lessons from the developing world inform
research and management in post-industrial settings? Emery and O’Halek then set
the stage for a discussion of present-day NTFP issues in the United States by
describing the historical context of NTFP use and management in the Pacific
Northwest and Upper Midwest. Among the questions they address are: What role
have NTFPs played in different cultures within the United States, what products
have been important regionally and nationally, and how has the economic
importance of NTFPs varied by region and time period over the past several
hundred years? Next, Turner and Cocksedge describe aboriginal (e. g., First
Nations and Native American) uses of NTFPs on both sides of the western
Canada-U. S. border. Their monograph suggests several questions: What are the
distinctive interests of aboriginal peoples in NTFP use and management
throughout North America? What is the relationship between subsistence and trade
uses of NTFPs? What ecological and social factors influence the sustainability
of harvesting? Alexander and McLain follow this analysis with a brief
examination of economic trends in three major NTFP sub-sectors – medicinals,
floral greens, and wild edibles. Their discussion addresses the questions: What
species and products are harvested in the United States today? What is the
economic scope of specific NTFP markets? How are NTFP markets and sources of
supply in the United States tied into global economies? What are the
consequences of increased demand for NTFP products and species for the
sustainability of forested ecosystems? Freed concludes Section I with his case
study of a county in the state of Washington, illustrating the role of NTFPs in
local economies.
The production of a more
comprehensive base of scientific knowledge for NTFPs is often identified as a
critical component for sustainable management of NTFPs under conditions of
industrial extraction. NTFP research in the United States is poorly funded,
fragmented and limited in scope in comparison to research on timber, recreation,
and wildlife. However, networks of scientific researchers interested in NTFPs
are beginning to form in the United States and Canada. The densest node of
scientific activity on NTFPs exists in the Pacific Northwest region, an area
with a large supply of a variety of commercially valuable NTFPs and a highly
contentious forest management context. In Section II, Vance, Pilz et al, and
Alexander et al provide an overview of this scientific activity in their
discussions of different aspects of the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest
Research Station’s NTFP research programs and projects. Their contributions
focus on the following questions: What is the scope and content of on-going and
proposed NTFP research programs? How do these programs address on-the-ground
forest management concerns? Which scientific disciplines are incorporated into
NTFP research? What attempts are scientists making to integrate NTFP research
across disciplines and to link a variety of forest stakeholders into the
development and implementation of NTFP research agendas?
The participation of NTFP
resource users in policy making and implementation also is often cited as a
necessary component of sustainable NTFP management. In Section III, Love and
Jones, Emery, Hansis et al, and McLain and Jones address questions related to
the existing and potential roles that NTFP harvesters and buyers play in
managing NTFPs sustainability. Some of these questions include: Why have NTFPs
become a policy and management issue at this moment in history? What types of
knowledge do harvesters have of NTFPs and the environments in which they are
located? What stewardship practices do harvesters engage in? How is the social
composition of harvester populations changing as demand for products increases
in certain parts of the United States? What are some of the key characteristics
of NTFP tenure regimes, and what conflicts have arisen as the socio-ecological
context within which these were developed has changed? To what extent are
harvesters and buyers involved in forest management decisions? What factors
limit their involvement? And what efforts are they making to expand their
political influence?
In Section IV we end the
issue with a summary of the lessons learned from the research described earlier
in the issue, noting in particular the importance of encouraging collaborative
and interdisciplinary types of research. We also point out the relevance of NTFP
research in the United States to the work being done on similar issues in other
parts of the world, and thus the importance of widening and strengthening the
global scope of NTFP research networks.
This issue
represents the joint efforts of more than a dozen researchers with training and
experience in disciplines as diverse as anthropology, ecology, economics,
forestry, geography, mycology, and policy science. We share a belief that NTFPs
play important roles in ecological, economic, and cultural systems. We also have
in common a dedication to the expansion and development of informal and formal
research networks that facilitate the exchange of information about NTFPs and
encourage innovative thinking about the current and potential roles of NTFPs in
socio-ecological systems.
With the exception of one
contributor, whose research focuses on NTFP harvesters in Northern Michigan, the
contributors to this issue work and live in the Pacific Northwest region of
northern North America. As a result, many of the articles and case examples
focus on research or issues relevant to that region. The dynamics of NTFP use
and management may be quite different in other parts of the United States and
Canada. We hope that this issue will encourage the development of comparative
work on NTFPs within the United States and Canada, as well as between northern
North America and other parts of the world. We believe this issue constitutes a
useful addition to the fine body of existing work on NTFPs and hope that it will
encourage both researchers and policy makers to think of NTFPs as a truly global
issue.
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Emery, Marla R. 2001. Who
Knows? Local Non-Timber Forest Product Knowledge and Stewardship Practices in
Northern Michigan. Journal of Sustainable Forestry13(3/4):
123-139.
Abstract: Non-Timber
Forest Product (NTFP) literature frequently laments the absence of an
information base for policy and management decisions. While formal scientific
data on the biological and social ecologies of most NTFPs are limited to
nonexistent, long-time gatherers often have extensive experiential knowledge
bases. Researchers and managers may overlook this expertise because of
assumptions about the nature of knowledge and the identity of individuals who
possess valuable information. These assumptions are explored and contrasted to
the concept of local knowledge. A case study of gatherers in Michigan’s Upper
Peninsula found that many possess extensive knowledge of the products they
harvest and observe stewardship practices to assure their sustained
availability. The paper is illustrated by descriptions of four gatherers and
concludes with recommendations for incorporating the local knowledges of
individuals from a variety of cultures into policy, research, and management.
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Emery, Marla R. 2001.
Non-Timber Forest Products and Livelihoods in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In
Forest Communities in the Third Millennium: Linking Research, Business and
Policy towards a Sustainable Non-Timber Forest Product Sector, edited by J.
Zasada. St. Paul: USDA Forest Service, North Central Research Station: 21-28.
Abstract: Non-timber
forest products (NTFPs) are increasingly looked to as potential income sources
for forest communities. Yet little is known about the existing livelihood uses
of NTFPs. Drawing on a case study in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, this paper
describes the contemporary contributions of NTFPs to the livelihoods of people
who gather them. First-hand use of products from over 100 botanical species was
documented during a year of ethnographic research. These products contributed to
gatherers’ livelihoods through both nonmarket and market strategies. The paper
suggests the need for a broad view of economic activity to fully understand
existing NTFP livelihood uses and anticipate the effects of developing markets
for wild plant material on individuals and households in forest communities.
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Emery, Marla R. and John Zasada. 2001.
Silviculture and Nontimber Forest Products: Extending the Benefits of Forest
Management. Timberline: The Journal of the New England Forestry Foundation:
10-13.
Abstract:
Including nontimber forest products, (NTFPs) in silvicultural systems today can
provide benefits that are largely overlooked by contemporary forest management.
These include:
¨
Community good
will, support for forest management. Industrial forest landowners have long
known that providing benefits to the surrounding community builds good will.
Managers of public forestlands are charged with providing benefits to all
citizens. Explicitly incorporating NTFPs into silvicultural plans and
considering ways to make them available can increase the numbers of people who
benefit from and, consequently, support both public and private land management.
¨
Additional
forest resources.
Nonindustrial private landowners may find that they enjoy using many resources
from their forest. Sharing the knowledge and harvesting experience with
children and grandchildren can create the incentive to keep land forested and in
the family as older generations pass on.
¨
Potential
income.
Incorporating NTFPs into silvicultural strategies may also help with the
persistent challenge of providing income for landowners between timber
harvests. While the claims for income potential from NTFPs are frequently over
heated, they can provide modest income streams.
¨
Appreciation
of forested landscapes.
NTFPs connect people to forests in new ways. A walk in the woods yields
previously unsuspected information (and treasures) as you begin to observe
relationships between the seasons, weather, plant communities, site
characteristics, and land use history in finer detail.
The
article outlines ways to discover the NTFPs being harvested in your area and a
range of approaches to including them in forest management planning. Selected
sources for information on NTFPs are listed.
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Emery, Marla R. 2002.
Space Outside the Market: Implications of NTFP Certification for Subsistence
Use. In Tapping the Green Market: Management and Certification of NTFPs,
edited by P. Shanley, A. Pierce, S. Laird and A. Guillen. London: Earthscan.
Excerpts: Non-timber
forest product (NTFP) certification is a market mechanism being advanced to
attain the dual goals of protecting global forests and promoting economic
development. The criteria and indicators prescribed for operationalizing
certification principles emphasize the rationalization and control of each step
of the NTFP process from forest to consumer and the creation of markets for
items produced through such systems. However, there is a danger that these very
processes may undermine the achievement of certification goals, particularly
those aimed at social equity and the protection of subsistence uses…
Even when it involves
exchange uses, the most striking feature of NTFP subsistence practices is their
location outside the formal market and it is precisely this position that
makes NTFPs a continuously viable resource for individuals who are being failed
by the market. The return to their labor has immediate survival benefits. Where
products have not entered the intensive commodity market, there is minimal
competition for the resource and little or no investment is required beyond time
and effort. Certification programs introduced to such areas run a high risk of
introducing contradictions between market processes and subsistence uses of
NTFPs, to the detriment of the latter. The introduction and/or strengthening of
market processes can be reasonably expected to introduce or strengthen market
forces such as the competition for scarce resources. The likely result is
displacement of people from spaces (both geographic and economic) that they had
previously occupied.
However, where NTFPs have
been heavily commoditized, market processes may already jeopardize subsistence
uses and certification programs might be used to provide some protection for
them. There may be particular opportunities for certification programs to do so
when focused on products that have long-standing exchange value and do not
have a traditionally important use value where they are harvested (e. g. , most
floral/nursery/craft items). In such instances, programs may provide some
protection for subsistence use by including provisions designed to secure
continued access for gatherers without formalized tenure, reinforce gathering
norms, and preserve gatherers’ control over the terms of their labor.
To realize such benefits will
require that certifiers value and make space for NTFP uses outside the formal
market. At least one certification initiative stresses equity for forest workers
in the distribution of NTFP benefits. While this represents an encouraging
recognition of social values in complement to ecological and economic
considerations, to the extent that it assumes standard labor-capital
relationships this emphasis is unlikely to protect subsistence gatherers’
interests. Instead, certification programs should begin with social inventories
that parallel ecological inventories in the depth and vigor with which they seek
to document all existing NTFP uses and users. Further, they must specify
criteria for monitoring and evaluating the social results of certification
programs with the same level of detail currently dedicated to biophysical and
market dynamics. With such additions, certification programs might well serve to
counteract some of the inherent contradictions between market forces and
subsistence use of NTFPs.
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Emery, Marla R. 2002.
Historical Overview of Nontimber Forest Product Uses in the Northeastern
United States. In Non-Timber Forest Products in the United States,
edited by E. T. Jones, R. J. McLain and J. Weigand. Lawrence: University Press
of Kansas.
Executive Summary:
Nontimber forest products (NTFPs) in the United
States have been derived from biomes as disparate as the temperate rainforests
of the Pacific Northwest, the deserts of the Southwest, the prairie grasslands,
and the New England coast. NTFP uses reflect these biotic differences as well as
the many cultural traditions of NTFP users and their interactions. This chapter
provides an overview of the historical relationships between people and plants
and the social structures and interactions within which NTFP uses are embedded.
Focusing particularly on two regions of the northeastern United States–the
Upper Midwest and Northeast. It
examines the many material ways in which nonagricultural plants have been vital
to peoples of this region as food, medicine, and utilitarian and ceremonial
materials. It also considers the range of economic strategies–from subsistence
to global commodities--through which people have obtained livelihood resources
from NTFPs.
NTFP uses have been an important factor in the development and
maintenance of many past and current plant assemblages. The intercontinental
movements of people have been accompanied by the transport of valued plant
species such as traditional herbs introduced by European immigrants to
North America. Movement of plant material also
has occurred at intracontinental scales, with useful species being moved along
regional trade routes and within cultural territories. In addition, people have
historically tended the individual plants they used and employed other
techniques to manage the landscape for species they valued.
People of diverse ancestral origins, including Native Americans and
immigrants from Europe, Asia, and
Africa, have used NTFPs. The
NTFP practices of cultural groups developed in the places they inhabited, using
the plant material in their environments with the knowledge acquired through
experience. But just as plant material has been consciously moved through space,
so too have NTFP knowledge and practice. Wherever people have immigrated, they
brought their NTFP uses, transplanting them (both literally and figuratively) to
the new location and borrowing and adapting from existing uses in place. Thus,
NTFP uses have been both culturally distinctive and reflective of intercultural
exchange. While much of this flow has been voluntary and harmonious, conflicts
over access to some products are noted as far back as the earliest written
records about North America.
These historical
characteristics suggest the fundamentally social nature of NTFP use and the
slipperiness of terms such as “native,” “natural,” and “wild” as criteria for
decision making. The chapter concludes by posing several questions that arise
from the review of historical NTFP uses and discussing the need for additional
research to learn more from the lessons of the past.
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Emery, Marla R. 1998. Invisible
Livelihoods: Non-Timber Forest Products in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Ann
Arbor: UMI Dissertation Services.
Abstract: This
study examines the role that non-timber forest products (NTFP) play in the
household livelihoods of gatherers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP).Drawing on
political ecology and resource management theory traditions in Geography, it
looks at the effect of economic, regulatory, and ecological context on the
viability of NTFP livelihood strategies. Findings are compared to the
international literature. As an employee of USDA Forest Service Research and
Development, I interpret the results in terms of that agency’s Ecosystem
Management policy and emerging challenges managing NTFP on national forest
lands.
Ethnographic fieldwork in the UP shows gatherers
to be a diverse group including European and Native Americans, males and females
of all ages. Their household livelihoods depend upon multiple strategies inside
and outside the formal market. NTFP are often used to bridge regular income gaps
or catastrophic downturns in household economies. However, gathering has both
material and cultural values and may be simultaneously an activity of leisure
and labor. Successful NTFP strategies depend upon ecological knowledge and
observe norms that assure long-term product availability. NTFP buyers also have
diverse livelihoods. Businesses display considerable longevity and satisfying
behavior is characteristic of gatherers and buyers alike.
Over 138 products are
gathered in the UP. Their functional uses are categorized as
ceremonial/cultural, edible, floral/nursery/craft, and medicinal. They
contribute to household livelihoods through personal consumption, barter or gift
giving, sale in a raw form and sale in a processed form, with nonmarket uses
constituting over 60%. NTFP commodity chains are national and international in
scope and profits increase geometrically from supplier to final market. Personal
relationships are critical throughout the chain.
I propose a conceptual model
for analysis of NTFP livelihoods and management decisions. Key factors are
gatherer knowledge, biological availability, access to products, and economic
need or demand. Forest Service practice may affect these through physical
management, regulatory policies, or rural development programs. The salient
characteristics of NTFP livelihoods are most visible through alternative
economic theories and dynamic ecological theory. I suggest caution in promoting
NTFP as a rural development strategy and encourage involving gatherers in
development of monitoring and regulations where needed.
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