Mindy S. Crandall

Rural leadership development: pathways to community change

Although leadership development programs are seen as key to equipping individuals with the tools to navigate the challenges facing their communities, there is relatively little evidence of their impact at the community level. In this paper, the evaluation findings of a rural leadership development program are situated within a framework of community change to illustrate the pathways of program impact. The analysis reveals that the program has increased the human capital and network resources of rural communities, and in most cases, this has resulted in increased community capacity. Some communities have gone on to experience additional environmental, social, and economic changes as a result of community processes that stemmed from the leadership program. The findings suggest that the evaluated leadership development program can serve as a model for efforts to build community capacity, but to realize more social, environmental, and economic changes, the scope of the program should do more to encourage residents to intentionally leverage their new capacity by engaging in processes to address community issues.

Sixty Years of Silviculture in a Northern Conifer Forest in Maine, USA

In 1950, the US Forest Service initiated a cutting practice level (CPL) study on the Penobscot Experimental Forest in Maine on the basis of findings of a national appraisal of forestland management. Silvicultural treatments, including the selection system with 5and 15-year cutting cycles, fixed diameter-limit cutting, and variants of commercial clearcutting, were chosen to represent “High-order,” “Good,” “Fair,” and “Poor” cutting practices as then defined for eastern spruce–fir (Picea–Abies; northern conifer) forests. After 60 years, selection treatments have maintained a wide distribution of tree sizes, increased the proportion of mature spruce, and decreased the proportion of hardwoods; selection cutting on a 15-year cycle resulted in the highest current stand value. Fixed diameter-limit cutting resulted in the greatest harvest revenue but degraded residual stand composition, structure, and value. Outcomes of commercial clearcutting varied as a function of treatment (none, repeated harvest, or rehabilitation) after the first harvest. After 60 years, the proportion of acceptable growing stock was highest in selection and rehabilitation treatments and lowest in fixed diameter-limit and commercial clearcut treatments. Findings confirm that long-term outcomes of silvicultural treatments with attention to residual stand condition surpass those managed for short-term financial gains with regard to residual stand structure, value, and quality.

Chapter 2 Impacts of welfare reform on rural people and places in the United States

It has been over a decade since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) was passed in 1996 with the intention of “ending welfare as we know it.” The main cash assistance entitlement program that had been in place since the 1930s, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), was eliminated in favor of the non-entitlement Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. This drastic change occurred at a time of economic growth, where employment and wages rose across the United States. Initially, caseloads fell dramatically.