Innovators in Rural Community Economic Development

FORESTRY

Yellow Wood’s work in forestry includes See the Forest®, our trademarked approach to community forestry which offers workshops designed to develop community capacity for capturing the multiple benefits of a forested landscape, as well as studies of specific forest-related initiatives such as the use of woody biomass for energy, maple syrup production, non-timber forest products, forest services, timber products, flexible manufacturing networks, forest certification, and forest sector development strategies.


Forestry Industry Systems Analysis for the State of Vermont

Yellow Wood, in consultation with the Working Lands Enterprise Board Forestry subcommittee of the State of Vermont, is working to provide a systems analysis of the forest and wood products industry.  This work will engage a variety of stakeholders…

Presentation at the North Country Clean Energy Conference 2013: Woody Biomass in the North Country

Samantha Dunn of Yellow Wood Associates and Jeff Forward of Richmond Energy Associates gave a presentation highlighting findings from the application process and 17 pre-feasibility studies completed in the North Country in 2010-2011 as part of a US…

Wood Energy Utilization Services

In an effort to help the Northeast and Midwest meet their needs for renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction through the sustainable utilization of woody biomass, the U.S. Forest Service engaged Yellow Wood Associates in conducting third party…

Woody Biomass Energy Research Symposium for the Northern Forest – “Community Roadmap to
 Renewable Woody Biomass” (Panel)

Panelists Kamalesh Doshi and Samantha Dunn, along with panel organizer Sarah S. Smith, discussed the The Community Roadmap to Renewable Woody Biomass Energy (the Roadmap) as part of a panel at the Woody Biomass Energy Research Symposium. The roadmap…

Identifying Potential Institutional Buyers of Sustainable Forest Products, Technical Assistance for Rural Action

Yellow Wood was asked to provide technical assistance to the Green Forest Products Collaborative to assess the level of demand opportunity in the region’s institutions and government agencies. Yellow Wood performed a scan of the region and identified…

Community Roadmap to Renewable Woody Biomass Energy

Yellow Wood partnered with the Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC) to develop the Community Roadmap to Renewable Woody Biomass Energy: A step-by-step decision-making tool for NH communities through a contract…

Dissemination Planning for the Community Roadmap to Renewable Woody Biomass Energy

Yellow Wood assisted the North Country Resource Conservation and Development Area Council and Roadmap development partners in planning for dissemination of the Community Roadmap to Renewable Woody Biomass Energy.

Maine Community Forest Workshops

Shanna Ratner of Yellow Wood Associates facilitated two daylong participatory workshops for communities that owned and managed forestland and for communities that were interested in acquiring forestland, using Yellow Wood’s See the Forest® interactive…

National Network of Forest Practitioners

Shanna Ratner, principal of Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. was a founding member of the National Network of Forest Practitioners, serving on the organization’s Executive Committee, and as Chair of the Research Subcommittee.

Understanding Community Resilience and Identifying Existing Tools for Assessing Resilience

Yellow Wood worked with Susanne Moser, PhD to explore the issue of community resilience from the perspective of literature and key informant interviews with 25 rural development practitioners from around the country. They identified stages of community…

Understanding Community Resilience: Supplementary Interviews

Yellow Wood conducted a supplementary round of interviews exploring the issue of community resilience. These interviews were with representatives from MDC, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, Danville Regional Foundation, Louisiana Disaster Foundation,…

Endowment Learning Plan

Yellow Wood provided analysis for the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, suggesting ways to connect grantee measurement activities with overall measurement by the initiative of desired outcomes.

Community Forestry Workshop, "Community Forests as Community Assets"

Shanna Ratner of Yellow Wood Associates planned for and facilitated a Community Forest Workshop in Shelburne, New Hampshire on Saturday, May 17 using Yellow Wood’s See the Forest® approach. Yellow Wood assisted with planning the agenda, developing…

NNFP New England Forum, Marketing Alternative Forest Products and Benefits: A Forum for Urban, Suburban, and Rural People

Yellow Wood was selected to design and facilitate a one and a half day workshop to explore and develop relationships among urban, rural, and suburban practitioners of community forestry with a focus on markets for forest products and services. The…

Community Forest Collaborative and the Vermont Town Forest Project, Community Forest Workshop in Craftsbury, Vermont.

Yellow Wood Associates designed and conducted a day-long Community Forestry Workshop in Craftsbury, Vermont. The workshop was designed both for communities that own and manage town forest land and for communities that are exploring the possibility…

Research on Operational Principles of Wealth-Based Development for the Northern Forest

Prepared a concept paper on wealth and sustainability and their relationships to one another for use by the Northern Forest Center and the North Country Council in developing principles to guide the Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative. Meet…

Workshop on Participatory Community Problem-Solving, 11th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks

Shanna Ratner presented a workshop on Participatory Community Problem-Solving at the 11thAnnual Conference on the Adirondacks.  The workshop topics included everyday research, the National Community Forest Center initiative and how participatory…

National Community Forestry Center Northern Forest Region

Citizens and communities of the Northern Forest region have demonstrated the power of local knowledge and participatory research thanks to a grant from the US Department of Agriculture. Over the course of four years, the National Community Forestry…

See The Forest® – Phase II

The Southern New England Forest Consortium sponsored development of materials and implementation of See the Forest for communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Participants learned about forest health, forest economics, and institutional…

Workshop on Participatory Research presented in cooperation with the Middlebury College Alliance for Civic Engagement and Vermont Campus Compact

Shanna Ratner presented a participatory research workshop at Middlebury College on November 20th, 2003. The workshop was presented by the National Community Forestry Center Northern Forest Region in cooperation with the Middlebury College…

Workshop in Participatory Community Problem-Solving, 10th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks

Shanna Ratner presented a workshop on Participatory Community Problem-Solving at the 10th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks.  The workshop topics included everyday research, the National Community Forest Center initiative and how participatory…

Navajo County Forest Health Strategic Planning Workshop, Arizona Natural Resources Working Group

Yellow Wood Associates facilitated a two-day Navajo County Forest Health Strategic Planning Workshop for town, county and tribal participants, using You Get What You Measure®. The workshop focused on forest health and reducing threat of catastrophic…

Northern Forest Alliance Annual Meeting

Shanna Ratner spoke as a panelist on the subject of economic forces shaping the Northern Forest Region and the region’s place in an increasingly global economy.

Thanks for being a part of the day one doings.…

Cooperative Forestry Performance Measures Accountability System

Cooperative Forestry, a unit of the US Forest Service, contracted with Yellow Wood Associates to assist program leaders from around the country in developing measures of progress toward Cooperative Forestry’s goals using our trademarked process, You Get…

Analysis of Community-Based Forestry Initiative, Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group

The Aspen Institute’s Community Strategies Group, which is administering the Ford Foundation’s Community-Based Forestry Initiative in the United States, invited Shanna Ratner of Yellow Wood Associates to review and analyze the monitoring plans of nine…

SmartWood Certification Assessment of Essex Timber Lands

The Principal of Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. participated as a socio-economist with a three-member interdisciplinary team to conduct a management assessment of 83,000 acres of private forest land according to criteria established by the Forest Stewardship…

New York Sustainable Forestry Survey

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. prepared, distributed, developed a database, entered data and ran frequency counts for a survey created by the Empire State Forest Products Association.

Maine Low Impact Forestry Project

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. facilitated a series of focus groups on starting a value-adding forest landowners cooperative to be coordinated by the Maine Low Impact Forestry Project of the Hancock County Planning Commission. Participants included approximately…

Rural Action Staff and Vista Volunteer Training Workshops

Yellow Wood designed and delivered, “You Get What You Measure®: Becoming a Learning Community,” for the staff and 31 Vista volunteers of Rural Action in Athens, Ohio. Staff and volunteers used the workshop to develop goals, indicators, and measures…

NNFP - Under One Roof: Exploring New Ways of Working Together in the Northern Forest

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. facilitated three workshops entitled “Under One Roof: Exploring New Ways of Working Together in the Northern Forest,” sponsored by the National Network of Forest Practitioners. These workshops brought together small groups…

Northeast Stewardship Project Forest Resource Center, Feasibility Study

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. evaluated the feasibility of establishing a facility and demonstration forest to support and coordinate progressive logger training for the region encompassing northern Vermont and New Hampshire. This project was based…

See The Forest

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with conservation commissions in Starksboro and Huntington, Vermont to develop a community-based education program designed to help communities appreciate forests as economic, environmental and social assets. The…

Public Involvement Activities for SmartWood Certification Assessment of New York State Forest Lands, National Wildlife Federation

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. coordinated the design and implementation of public involvement needed in assessing the management of 700,000 acres of New York State multiple-use forest land for SmartWood certification. Activities included press releases,…

Vermont Wood Manufacturers Association

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. delivered a workshop, “Adding Value From Stump to Mill,” focused on alternative approaches to marketing wood products, at the Vermont Wood Product Manufacturers’ Association annual meeting.

Fund for Rural America Forest Project Planning Grant

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc., in collaboration with the Forest Trust of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the National Network of Forest Practitioners, received a Planning Grant from the Fund for Rural America to develop a national center to create and support…

Forest Land Bank Feasibility Study, The Nature Conservancy's Center for Compatible Economic Development

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked in conjunction with Robert J. Turner Co. to assemble data on timber production, markets, and price trends to evaluate the financial feasibility of a forest land bank in western New York. The work was conducted on…

Northeast SmartWood Certification Guidelines for Assessing Forest Management

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. performed a review of the SmartWood certification guidelines for green certification of logs, lumber and wood products. Linking consumer consciousness with sustainable forestry practices, the assessment was conducted with…

Flexible Manufacturing Network for Wood Products Firms

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. prepared a paper on flexible manufacturing networks for wood products firms for the Maine Rural Development Council and the Maine State Planning Office. The paper includes a discussion of the network concept and profiles…

Northeast Stewardship Project Forest Resource Center, Pre-Feasibility Study

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. prepared a study for a Forest Resource Center, including a forest heritage program, an incubator for secondary wood processing companies, and a training program for loggers. The study also researched and compared similar…

Forest Stewardship and Economic Development for Rural Communities

Yellow Wood received a grant from the Vermont Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research to prepare a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant proposal. Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. proposed to develop a Participatory Training Program…

Tug Hill Eastern Core Forest

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. used telephone interviews and literature reviews to prepare a case study based on the collaborative efforts of the East Branch of Fish Creek Working Group to conserve and protect the Tug Hill Eastern Core Forest

US Forest Service Rural Community Assistance Program

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with Cornelia Butler Flora of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development and the Heartland Center for Leadership Development to develop and test a training program for measuring progress toward community…

US Forest Service Rural Community Assistance Regional Trainings - Eastern Region

One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…

US Forest Service Rural Community Assistance Regional Trainings - Portland OR

One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…

US Forest Service Rural Community Assistance Regional Trainings - Southwestern Region

One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…

Upper Androscoggin River Valley Sustainable Tourism Study

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with the Appalachian Mountain Club in cooperation with Land Futures and Nordic Group International to assess the actual and potential contribution of the forestry and tourism industries, and alternative financing mechanisms…

Chenango County Natural Resource-Based Economic Assessment

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with Planning/Environmental Research Consultants of Ithaca, New York to profile and assess the actual and potential contributions of agriculture and forestry to the economy of Chenango County. Research focused on…

Integrated Service Delivery for Secondary Wood Processors

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with the Maine State Rural Development Council to evaluate a program providing integrated service to secondary wood processors in five areas of the state. The work involved a literature review, on-site interviews,…

US Forest Service Rural Community Assistance Regional Trainings - Southern Region

One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…

US Forest Service Rural Community Assistance Regional Trainings - Idaho

One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…

US Forest Service Rural Community Assistance Regional Trainings - Phoenix AZ

One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…

US Forest Service Rural Community Assistance Regional Trainings - Rocky Mountain Region

One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…

Vermont Forest Resources Advisory Council

Presented “Forest Products Markets and Marketing” to the Rural Economic Development Work Group of the Vermont Forest Resources Advisory Council.

New York State Governor's Council on Forest Resources

Shanna Ratner, Principal of Yellow Wood Associates, Inc., served on a statewide council to improve industry - government communications, and to strengthen the forest products industry of New York State. Ms. Ratner served as the Chair of the Public…

Forest Trust Conference

“Regional Economic Development based on the Wood Products Industry” was presented to a conference of The Forest Trust in Washington, DC

New England Society of American Foresters

Presented “The Canadian Connection in the Northeast Wood Products Industry” to the New England Society of American Foresters. The talk incorporated recent research into global economic trends affecting the forest industry, log exporting, and the US-Canada…

Wood Products Development Strategy

Presented the Wood Products Development Strategy for Northern New York to Utilization and Marketing Foresters from across the United States at the Vermont Wood Energy and Recycling Conference, Farm Credit Bankers from across the Northeast, the Adirondack…

Farm Credit Training Course In The Wood Products Industry

Speech given at the Northern New York Training Seminar.

Wood Products Development Strategy

On behalf of the Adirondack North Country Association, Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. prepared a detailed primary and secondary wood product development strategy for six counties in northern New York. Work included extensive field and phone interviews…

Northern New York Maple Cooperative

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with the Lewis County Industrial Development Agency to prepare a business plan, with recommendations for organizational development, for the Northern New York Maple Producers Cooperative, Inc. of Lewis County, New…

Explore Our Projects

View our many projects by choosing from the categories listed below. You can also view our database of projects by going to our Work page.

Areas of Expertise

Explore our Projects

Agriculture
Becoming a Measurement Guide
Best Practices
Biomass
Buildings
Business Development
Capacity Building
Coaching
Community Economic Development
Community Resilience
Custom Facilitation
Economic and Fiscal Impact Analysis
Energy
Evaluation
Facilitation
Feasibility and Pre-Feasibility Studies
Focus Groups
Forestry
Green Community Technologies
Informal Economy
Infrastructure
Learning Communities
Learning Journey
Market Research
Measurement
Natural Resource Based Economic Development
Nature Based Tourism
Participatory Research
Policy Analysis
Research
See the Forest
Service
Social Capital
Spatial Analysis
Strategic Planning
Surveys
Sustainable Infrastructure
Systems Thinking
Tool Development
Training
Water Resources
Wealth Creation
Wealth Works
You Get What You Measure