Many have recognized community forestry as Nepal's most successful development initiative. It empowers communities not only to take responsibility for management of their forest resources, but also provides them with an economic base to lead local development efforts. For the past ten years, Nepal has been embroiled in a Maoist led insurgency that has limited official government access to many rural areas. This paper examines the impact of the insurgency on the community forestry programme, with special respect to the functioning of forestry user groups. Note: Recent political events in Nepal have taken a positive turn. Future research will tell the complete story of the impact of the period on community forestry and on the resiliency of forest user groups. 1