Abstract: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the links between forest dwellers’
participation in reforestation and development of forest areas in west Mazandaran of Iran and a set of
socio-economic variables. The statistical population includes all forest dwellers living in villages,
which locate in the west Mazandaran in Iran and had been covered by local forestry cooperative. A
sample of 110 forest dwellers were selected by the use of proportional random sampling method. A
questionnaire was used to collect data. For determining the validity of questionnaire, the content
validity was used. Cronbach's alpha was used to measure reliability of the index measuring level of
participation in reforestation and development of forest areas that its extent was 0.86 and showed that
mentioned variable had high reliability. The data were analyzed by the use of descriptive and
inferential statistics such as extent of mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, correlation
analysis and regression analysis. The findings revealed that age, level of literacy, level of participation
in extension-education courses, using level of communication channels and information resources,
level of forest dependency, social participation, social solidarity, economic and social motivations are
positively and significantly (p