the management of forests has dramatically changed in the past few decades. forest managers no longer can prepare and implement forest management plans in isolation of other resource values and local citizens. today, the economic, ecological and social values are blended together into sustainable forest management. finding a balance among these values in newfoundland and labrador is done through local district planning teams. the team participants need to understand the principles of sustainable forest management and the overall planning process. to help them acquire these skills and knowledge a citizens’ guide to sustainable forest management was developed. the requisite content of the guide was determined by searching the literature for citizen-guide formats. likewise, the literature was searched to evaluate the essential components of sustainable forest management. the guide’s content was determined from the results of these two searches. that content includes legislation and policy, a primer for sustainable forest management, information requirements, the process to establish a planning team, how to establish values, goals, indicators and objectives, how forest forecasts are conducted, and the need to monitor during plan implementation.