Certification: a comparison of perceptions of corporate and non-industrial private forestland owners in Louisiana.

Abstract

AbstractPre-testing of draft survey instruments and telephone-administered questionnaires were conducted to compare the perceptions of two important stakeholder groups in Louisiana, USA: the non-industrial private and corporate forestland owners, about certification. Among the 979 returned surveys, 13% (129 respondents) were corporate timberland owners, while 850 respondents were non-industrial private forestland (NIPF) owners. For all forest/ownership types, NIPF respondents felt a greater need for certification. The respondents also believe that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were strongly influencing the certification movement, closely following that NGOs were the third-party certifiers and certification consultants who have a stake in promoting certification efforts. The entity that respondents trust most was professional foresters who have been approved by a certification organization. Generally, the respondents were not averse to having certifiers check their forestry operations. However, willingness to pay for certification was weak. The respondents highly suggested that Louisiana Department of Agriculture be the third-party certifying agency.