Underscoring the importance of local participation in forest improvement, the analysis shows that if grazing lands are snatched away from farming communities for afforestation, forest protection is unlikely. Land stewardship is the key. There is context to this, as Rana explained, in case of JFM where the state is in control, parcels of land where trees are planted are fenced in, restricting access to grazing grounds for cattle. JFM (a Forest Development Agency program funded by the national government) was the flagship community participatory initiative for forests in India starting in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, JFM interventions were begun in several of the study FMRs to involve communities in forest regeneration and protection.