This study seeks to understand NIPF (Non Industrial Private Forest) owners' relationship with their land and their neighbors as well as to assess the processes and potential consequences from forming local landowner resource groups that may engage in collaborative decision-making activites. Those landowners indicating a willingness to participate in collaborative land management were invited to share their views at a series of group forums. The substantive focus of these meetings were to foster collaborative ecosystem stewardship on private lands using a GIS framework that visually displays individual as well as aggregated management decisions and potential long-term landscape consequences.