Since the 1980s, industrial forest restructuring has resulted in the divestment of industrial timberlands across the U.S. Emerging tenures have benefited from the divestment, including conservation-based tenures that manage for multiple objectives such as restoration, recreation access, and forest and habitat contiguity. Deschutes and Klamath Counties, Oregon, have three proposed conservation tenures: a community forest, a state forest, and a tribal forest. The community forest would be the first of its kind in the state, a large, land trust-owned forest at the edge of a rapidly-growing city. The state forest, geographically more isolated, would be the first state-owned forest in Oregon in 60 years. The tribal forest, also geographically isolated, would return former reservation land to the Klamath Tribes, which were terminated in 1954. All three forest ownership opportunities were created through opportunistic risk-taking, the leverage of political and human capitals, social networks, strong leadership, and land availability as a result of industrial forest restructuring.

This case study research used multiple methods, including interviews and document analysis, to explore the forests‘ unique histories, and draws lessons about changing community capacities, forest management, and forest governance and under these emerging tenures.