Identity and private forest management

Abstract

Abstract Nonindustrial private forests (NIPF) comprise 60 percent of the commercial forest land of the United States and contribute significantly to the country's demand for timber, recreational opportunities, and other forest‐related products and amenities. Despite numerous NIPF owner surveys, ownership and management motivations remain poorly understood, thus hampering design of effective NIPF policy and programs. In this study, a qualitative approach was taken to ascertain management motivations of NIPF owner‐managers. Informants were selected who demonstrated a history of active forest management for multiple purposes in accordance with mainstream professional forestry standards. The authors conclude that forest ownership and management contribute to, and are influenced by, owner identity. They discuss relationships between forest management and personal, social, and ethnic identity; the importance of family considerations to forest ownership and management; the recreational value of management activities; the role of management as an attractive challenge; and the effect of management on owners’ perceptions of resource control. The authors suggest implications of study results for public NIPF policy.