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Community forestry can deliver economic, socio-cultural, and ecological benefits to rural communities, yet criticisms have arisen that community forestry remains dominated by the decision-making of offsite experts and management techniques inappropriate for some communities. We use a case study approach to ascertain the needs, wants, and current realities of selected forest communities in Brazil and Mexico, to inform bottom-up approaches to community interventions. In identifying community-defined goals, we found that other livelihood strategies, particularly agricultural practices, need to be better integrated in the planning of forestry interventions overly focused on timber production. Site-specific intervention models need to take into account the variety of contexts and community interests, rather than replicating models that have been successful in other jurisdictions. A better understanding of local …