2025 / Forest

Community Forests and Public Health: A Research Agenda

Citation

Tandon, P. S., Semmes, S., Garrett, K., Ellerton, L., Charnley, S., & Frumkin, H. (2025). Community Forests and Public Health: A Research Agenda. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 22(10), 1601. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22101601

Link to file

Healthy communities depend on a healthy natural environment. One way communities connect with nature is through community forests, areas of forest that local people help manage and benefit from. These forests are usually in rural areas and provide things like recreation and wood products.

While many studies have shown that parks and forests in cities can improve people’s health and well-being, we know far less about how community forests affect health. This review looked at what’s currently known about community forests in the United States and their possible links to public health.

The authors reviewed 351 research papers and closely examined 24 of them, but found only one that met their full criteria. That study looked at 70 community forests in the Eastern U.S. and included four case studies. Nearly all of these case studies identified recreation as the most common purpose of community forests.

Overall, the authors found that very little research has explored how community forests influence health. More focused studies are needed to understand these connections and guide future forest management. The authors propose a research agenda on community forests in the U.S. based on five pathways of public health promotion:

  1. Nature contact
  2. Climate mitigation/adaptation
  3. Economic opportunities
  4. Community cohesion
  5. Equity

Abstract

The natural environment is integral to supporting healthy and resilient communities. Community forests (CFs) are forested parcels, typically in rural areas, where community members have access, share governance, and receive various benefits. While considerable research demonstrates that urban parks and forests are important for human health, similar assessments are less available for CFs specifically. Although CFs exist in multiple countries, their policy, ecological, ownership, and governance contexts differ significantly. This review focuses on CFs in the United States. The goals of this project were to systematically review current evidence on the relationship between CFs and human health, identify knowledge gaps in the existing research, and propose a scientific research agenda that identifies critical questions related to CFs and public health in the U.S., with application in other contexts. We conducted a systematic review of the literature, screening 351 studies and assessing twenty-four full-text articles, only one of which met inclusion criteria. This mixed-methods study characterized 70 CFs in the Eastern U.S. and featured four case studies. The majority of CFs (93%) and all case studies identified recreational use as their most common purpose. The evidence base on the health implications of CFs is very thin. Targeted research on CFs and their impact on health could provide evidence to inform CF processes and help optimize their health outcomes. We propose a research agenda on CFs in the U.S. based on several pathways of public health promotion: nature contact, climate mitigation/adaptation, economic opportunities, community cohesion, and equity.