As deforestation increases, so too does the ecological crisis. Ecological wisdom is among the noble values inherited by local communities through which the balance of natural resources is maintained, especially for communities around the forest. Local wisdom is the result of cultural ecological adaptation. Various local wisdoms in Indonesia describe harmony between humans and the environment with patterns of adaptive behavior towards the environment when it comes to utilizing and maintaining natural resources. The present study offers a basic idea of how academics can adopt local wisdom by adapting cultural ecology in customary forest management into a sustainable forest area management framework. The local wisdom of the Sasak tribe in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara and the Serampas Traditional Forest Community in Jambi were chosen as research units. A mixed method with a sequential explanatory approach is used to analyze the cultural ecology of local communities in sustainable forest resource management. The research shows that local knowledge can be incorporated into forest management policies by applying cultural ecological adaptation as an effective strategy that is readily accepted by the community. Developing local wisdom is an important part of the sustainable development agenda, so it requires support and cooperation from various parties.