THE MAB MUSHROOM STUDY AS A TEACHING CASE EXAMPLE OF INTERDISCIPLINARY AND SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY RESEARCH

The MAB Mushroom Study was designed to promote sustainable natural and human communities and to involve multiple stakeholders having widely varying styles and knowledge of forest management. It used an interdis ciplinary and collaborative research approach that united biologists, social scientists, land managers, and nonprofit volunteers from academ ic, federal and state government, and commercial sectors. Because of t he cooperative and interdisciplinary nature of the project, study deve lopers were awarded another competitive grant to summarize their work as one of four academic teaching case examples for Oregon State Univer sity's Sustainable Forestry Partnership. This second grant produced th ree products. First, a Narrative, which includes the theoretical basis and definitions of sustainability, how the MAB Mushroom Study operate d within a sustainability framework, how stakeholders were chosen and worked in the study, and five key elements of sustainability research. Second, a Teaching Notes packet, which explains how students, resourc e managers, scientists, and others can use the case study to develop t heir own interdisciplinary and sustainabilty studies. Third, a set of 64 slides with captions illustrates examples of nontimber product reso urces in the Pacific Northwest. The case study example can be taught e ither as a formal university course or a 1-day continuing education wo rkshop.