This has been too narrow in scope. Unfortunately, people have been led to believe sustained-yield forest management directly leads to community stability. This is an incorrect assumption, as stable resource supply cannot guarantee community stability. No two communities are alike, and many communities have been able to prosper by basing their economies on natural resources and their management. This opportunity should continue to exist in the future.
Competition can threaten the stability of forest-dependent industries and communities.
Industries often respond to competition with changes in technology to produce higher-quality products more efficiently. The substitution of new technology for labor often eliminates jobs, yet at the same time, greater job skills are often required, which bring higher wages to those who have such skills. Decline in basic industries can reduce a community's tax base and strain a local government's ability to provide services. These stagnant local economies can often result in reduced services and a deteriorating infrastructure, which make a community less attractive for new or expanded enterprises. Public agencies and private organizations can destabilize communities by creating conditions of uncertainty or causing abrupt changes in the availability of resources which a community has relied upon in the past.