Menominee implementation of the Chichilnisky criterion for sustainable forest management

For over a century, the Menominee Tribe harvested timber from their forest; during this time the volume of standing timber increased, a sign of sustainable forest management. The Menominee selection of a green golden rule path has been made through consistent and long-standing efforts to reject the analysis provided by industrial forestry. The choices made by the Menominee Tribe in managing its forest are also an empirical application of the Chichilnisky criterion, which seeks to balance the interests of the present generation with those of future generations. The Menominee state that they are “borrowing the forest from their grandchildren,” and hence reject the “tyranny of the present.” They also reject the “tyranny of the future,” because they harvest from the forest in the present and do not spend all resources saving for the future. They emphasize the long term and multiple forest outputs; they limit harvest while using the forest for current generations with a lumber mill. When their system was displaced by the US Government management and by Congressional efforts to terminate the tribe's reservation status, the Menominee utilized judicial alternatives and social movements in order to return to their concept of sustainable forest management.