Natural resource access rights and wrongs: Nontimber forest products gathering in urban environments

Abstract

This article uses research about non-timber forest products (NTFP) gathering in Seattle, Washington, USA to examine how people gain access to natural resources in urban environments. Our analysis focuses on gathering in three spaces: parks, yards, and public rights of way. We present a framework for conceptualizing access, and highlight cognitive mechanisms of access associated with foragers’ internal moral judgments about harvesting. Key findings are: (1) internal moral calculations about whether it is right or wrong to harvest a particular NTFP in a particular place are an important but previously unacknowledged mechanism governing resource access; and (2) these calculations may help prevent over-harvesting of NTFPs, which are common pool resources, in urban environments where social and environmental conditions lend themselves to a de facto situation of open access. Our findings suggest that voluntary codes of conduct may be the best way to manage NTFP access in cities.

Citation

Charnley, Susan; McLain, Rebecca J.; Poe, Melissa R. 2018. Natural resource access rights and wrongs: Nontimber forest products gathering in urban environments. Society & Natural Resources. 31(6): 734-750. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2017.1413696.