How Do African American and White Family Forest Landowners Conceptualize Forest Legacy in Georgia, United States?

Abstract

Legacy, sometimes called intergenerational land transfer or forestland bequest, is an important subject for family forest landowners. While the literature primarily addresses legacy from an economic perspective or as a function of landowner characteristics, this research explores how past, present, and future connections to forestland shape family forest landowners’ conceptions of legacy. This research uses the Q method, a mixed qualitative/quantitative method, to explore differences between African American and White family forest landowners in Georgia, United States. It identifies four distinct typologies for landowner conceptualization of legacy: Family Forest Managers, Family Forest Investors, Family Forest Stewards, and Family Forest Skeptics. Despite historical and landowner characteristic differences, the differences between the typologies are minimal between the races. We found African American landowners are motivated by the collective struggle of African Americans to obtain and retain forestland. In contrast, White family forest landowners are motivated by personal identification with their forestland. For forest management professionals, understanding family forest landowners’ conception of legacy and motivations concerning intergenerational land transfer is valuable for planning the future of forestlands in Georgia, and by extension, across the Southern United States.