National forest economic clusters: a new model for assessing national-forest-based natural resources products and services.

Abstract

National forest lands encompass numerous rural and urban communities. Some national-forest-based communities lie embedded within national forests, and others reside just outside the official boundaries of national forests. The urban and rural communities within or near national forest lands include a wide variety of historical traditions and cultural values that affect their process of economic development. National-forest-based urban and rural communities participate in numerous economic sectors including nontraded industries, resource-dependent traded industries, and non-resource-dependent traded industries. These communities represent microeconomic environments. Cluster theory provides an explicit framework to examine the microeconomic relationships between national forests and their embedded and neighboring communities. Implementation of economic cluster initiatives in national-forest-based communities could improve their overall social well-being through increased competitive advantage based on innovation and higher productivity. This paper proposes establishing an Economic Clusters research team within the Forest Service. This team would dedicate its efforts to the analysis and improvement of the determinants of competitive advantage affecting national-forest-based communities.

Citation

Rojas, Thomas D. 2007. National forest economic clusters: a new model for assessing national-forest-based natural resources products and services. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-703. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 40 p