The lifestyle of the Mien ethnic group has always been inseparable from the forest. Their lives have always depended on forest and watershed areas for subsistence farming, hunting and collecting forest products. With the advent of forest conservation trends, the ethnic group has been singled out by both state and private sectors as forest and watershed encroachers. There have been attempts from outsiders to control and push out this ethnic group from forest areas in order to solve the problem of forest encroachment, negatively affecting the image of the ethnic group as forest destroyers. This is partly due to being unable to understand the ethnic language and culture, which are unique in its own, whereas the ethnic group has little or no space to express their opinions and the truths to the outside world. This study attempted to reflect the meanings of forest, which has been a crucial element of the Mien livelihood from the past to the present. “Community forest” and forest in general have not been defined in physical terms as outsiders understand it. They include other elements, such as forest, mountains, water, plants, animals, spirits, and humans that have been co-existing interdependently on one another. Based on this ethnic belief, community forests and the environment of the ethnic group have sustainably been maintained, ultimately preventing overexploitation of natural resources.