Forestry in interaction. Shedding light on dynamics of public opinion with a praxeological methodology

Forestry institutions integrate divergent interests in forest uses into their management concepts, like recreation, timber production and nature protection. In this context, knowledge on public expectations of forestry is valuable to forest owners as well as administrations, especially in the face of the growing critical citizenship they encounter during their work. This paper examines findings from opinion surveys as well as studies of conflict and participation in order to describe the current dynamics in the relationship between forestry and the general public. It then explains in detail how a praxeological research design, grounded in American pragmatism, helps to conceptualize forest conflicts as interactional phenomena. The value of such an approach is exemplified through one case analysis from a broader “Sociocultural Forest Monitoring” carried out by institution anonymized. The article concludes with an assessment of the knowledge to be gained by the conceptualization of citizens' relationship to forestry as dynamic opinion formation with the help of a praxeological epistemology and methodology.