This contribution will focus on a) the importance of incorporating the views, knowledge, and motivation of both community women and men into forestry research planning and conduct; and b) the necessity to implement a longer term approach like Adaptive Collaborative Management in order to do that. Specific emphases will include established (if variable) difficulties working with women, such as their

• lower literacy levels,
• less traditional power and authority,
• fewer available resources (money, land, rights),
• more domestic responsibilities, and
• more norms interfering with communication between women and outsiders,

on the part of women themselves; and avoidance of women by outsiders (related variably to

• fears about other people’s suspicions of one’s motivations [potentially sexual],
• unfair and unrealistic dismissal of women’s relevance, or
• genuine dangers of working with women, in a few contexts).

This discussion will also touch on the importance of noting men’s variable ideals about their own masculinity, which can be a potent force interfering with the empowerment of women – and resulting access to women’s views, knowledge and motivations (in short, their potential contributions to forestry research and management).

The talk will also briefly introduce current work that builds on research done in the 1970s. This research examines what an  American school was teaching children and youth during that era, and suggests the implications of those lessons for present-day adult scientists and policymakers in forestry research.