Key Issues Affecting Oregon Family Forest Owners: A Scoping Review of the Literature and Survey Analysis of Educational Service Providers

Abstract

Given the significance of family owned forests and woodlands to the economic and environmental condition of Oregon, the provision of appropriate educational programs and services is of utmost importance. The priority forest management issues affecting family owned forests, identified for the state of Oregon by the Oregon Department of Forestry (the primary state forestry agency), help to inform educational programs. In addition, these issues often inform the content for landowner support through cost-share and technical assistance programs, which may or may not address landowner needs. We prioritized the following five priorities for family forests in Oregon: climate change, wildfire, ecosystem services, legacy (generational succession of land), and forest health (insects and diseases). We undertook a scoping review of the recent literature (2000–2018) to determine the degree to which researchers were focusing on these issues in the state as well as a web-based survey of family forest and woodland owner educational service providers to determine if outreach programs were targeting these priorities. From a total of 52 papers identified, 19 met the search criteria for inclusion. Two papers focused on climate change, one on forest health, ten on ecosystem services, eight on wildfire, and none on legacy. Scoping review results indicate that the priority issues explored in this study are addressed in literature focusing on family forestland owners in Oregon, albeit some issues more in depth than others, with forest legacy not being addressed at all. Our survey results indicate that the five priority issues seem to align among the state, educators, and landowners, and that educational opportunities are being provided for all issues to some extent. However, there is a need for a more focused allocation of resources to address some of the knowledge gaps and discrepancies identified here.