The Forest Products Marketing Laboratory of the U.S.D.A. Forest Service's Northeastern Forest Experiment Station has been studying the history of the forestry cooperative, and has analyzed the experiences of the cooperatives that have failed as well as those that have succeeded. In addition, the New Services Division of the U.S.D.A. Farmer Cooperative Service has a continuous program of research to assist members and managers of cooperatives. Out of these studies we can offer some practical guidelines to any group that is thinking about starting a forestry cooperative.

Nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) land represents approximately 48 percent of the forest land cover in the United States, and conscientious stewardship of these forests is a perennial issue facing natural resource professionals. In an attempt to draw on the strengths of NIPF ownership, some entrepreneurial forest landowners are developing forest landowner cooperatives. In this proceedings of a satellite conference, we present information designed to help natural resource professionals and cooperative development specialists to: (1) gain a better understanding of cooperatives and a deeper insight into some of the successes and challenges of cooperatives; (2) evaluate whether the forestry cooperative model is right for your area and, if so, how to further the discussion locally; (3) see how cooperatives can complement other landowner assistance programs such as Tree Farm, Forest Stewardship, and woodland owner associations; and (4) hear first hand about the experiences of forestry cooperative initiatives in Massachusetts, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Washington.

Cooperatives are found everywhere, doing all kinds of things. They are critical elements in the economies of a large number of countries around the world, large and small. Their affairs are carried out by elected leadership that runs the gamut from the illiterate to the scholarly. Their membership is made up of people of all socio-economic backgrounds. It is those members who, through their support and their needs, determine the successes and failures of cooperatives. But cooperatives as a popular movement will also be judged in other ways. A judgment will be made on the totality of their impact: local, national, and international. People will ask about how they helped ameliorate the economic and social problems of the dispossessed. But they will also inquire about their influence on economic systems, whether these were made more humane, egalitarian, and inclusive in their benefits because of cooperative principles and practices. Their impact on the international order will be judged collectively by how they contributed more than resolutions to peace, to justice, and to human inclusiveness. This volume provides snapshot views of the cooperative movement in all its diversity. The only single source one can consult to find so much information on the different kinds of cooperatives, significant figures, including philosophers, pioneers, officials, and leaders, and the situation in a large number of countries. With a list of acronyms, an extensive chronology, appendixes, and a comprehensive bibliography.