This study explores the impact of changes in environmental conditions on households' allocation of labour to the collection of environmental goods such as fuelwood and leaf fodder for a sample of rural Nepali households. The data used in the analysis are from household surveys conducted in 1982-83 and 1997 in six villages in three hill districts of Nepal. The results taken together show that collection labour burdens in the survey areas have decreased over time, especially for women, but that one should not hastily attribute decreases in collection time to successful forest rehabilitation in areas managed by forest user groups. In this case, it appears that lower collection times are principally due to reduced consumption and increased collection from private land.