Community activeness in response to forest disturbance in Alaska

Community theorists have long grappled with the question of whether or not communities collectively respond to threats. Community, risk, disaster, and natural resource management theories all inform an understanding of community action. Here, a conceptual model of community activeness is empirically tested using survey data from six Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, communities. Data analysis revealed that socioeconomic and biophysical vulnerability, proximity to hazard, experience, risk perception, and local interactional capacity significantly influenced community activeness on the part of residents in response to forest disturbance associated with an outbreak of spruce bark beetles. Implications for theory, forest management and policy, and natural resource-based communities are advanced