This thesis compares attitudes toward forest conservation of 104 Hmong and Karen residents in villages in Tambon Mae Daet, Mae Chaem District, Chiang Mai Province. It was found that different attitudes of the two ethnic groups toward conservation can be summarized as follows: dwindling forest in their village areas should be conserved; trees could grow on their own without being planted; conservation was for the fertility of soil, water and forest; and participating in the reforestation activities of concerned state agencies was a waste of time. Their similar attitudes were that tree ordination ceremonies should be conducted and carried out, and that growing opium provided soil fertility as much as growing trees.