SEVENTH AMERICAN FOREST CONGRESS

Many Voices - - A Common Vision


Summary Report


This summary of the Seventh American Forest Congress was originally printed as a special supplement to the April 1996 edition of The Forestry Source, the newsletter of the Society of American Foresters. It consists of the first two sections of the Forest Congress's Final Report; i.e., the executive summary and the levels of agreement achieved in drafting a vision for America's forests and a set of principles to guide the vision. A four-page, printed copy of this summary can be obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelop to the Forest Congress Information Center at the address below.

A complete copy of the Final Report of the Seventh American Forest Congress can be obtained from the Forest Congress Information Center, Yale Forest Forum, 205 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511; phone (203) 432-5117; fax (203) 432-3809; e-mail yff@yale.edu. The Final Report contains a description of the Forest Congress process; lists of participants and board members; and lists of pre-Congress meetings and contact addresses, as well as the principles presented for final tally with supporting descriptive bullets.

Approximately 1,500 citizens came to the national Forest Congress gathering in Washington, DC, in February 1996 to discuss a variety of forest-related issues at roundtables of 8­10 people. Prior to the Forest Congress, 51 local roundtables and 43 collaborative meetings held in various parts of the country also developed their own visions and sets of principles. In addition, approximately 500 individual contributions were submitted. The results of this work contributed to the development of the pre-Congress vision and set of principles which were the starting point for the discussions in Washington, DC. The purpose of this Forest Congress was to discover the common ground shared by Americans with a deep interest in the future of the nation's forests. This summary presents a brief glimpse of the common ground shared by most who participated in the Forest Congress process between January 1995 and February 1996.



Table Teams at Work -- Seventh American Forest Congress
February 22, 1996 -- Washington, D.C.


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