Forest Landowners Research Articles

The length and determinants of forestland ownerships in Mississippi from 1999 to 2019

More than half of the United States' forestland is owned by millions of private forest landowners with small parcels. The length of forestland ownerships and its determinants are examined using duration analysis on a sample of parcels in Mississippi from 1999 to 2019. Overall, forestland ownership duration is short. About 46% of all the sampled parcels were sold at least once over the 21 years, and on average, the ownership duration of these sold parcels is only 5.4 years. The median survival time of new ownership in this sample is 12.2 years only. The forested acreage of a parcel, the residence location of an owner, and several socioeconomic variables have influenced land ownership duration.

Economics of Southern Pines With and Without Payments for Environmental Amenities in the US South

During the early 1900s, nearly 37 million hectares of land in the Southern United States were under longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) relative to the current area of 1.6 million hectares. This study compares the economics of southern pines (longleaf, loblolly (Pinus taeda), and slash (Pinus elliottii)) to facilitate the decision making of family forest landowners and design suitable financial incentives for increasing the area under longleaf pine in the region. We simulated six growth and yield scenarios for selected southern pines over three site indices in the Lower Coastal Plain of South Georgia. We estimated land expectation values (LEVs) of each scenario for the three cases, i.e., payment for forest products, payment for forest products and net carbon storage, and payment for forest products, net carbon storage, and net water yield. Our findings show that pine straw income significantly increases the LEV of longleaf pine. The financial risk of growing longleaf pine is lower than that of other southern pines. Existing financial support through various governmental incentives or additional monetary support for ecosystem services provided by longleaf pine ecosystems is needed to increase the area under longleaf pine in the Southern United States, in general, and in South Georgia, in particular. However, a need exists to reevaluate the conservation values provided by longleaf plantations considering expected shorter rotation ages due to the income provided by pine straw markets in Southern United States.

Continued obstacles to wood‐based biomass production in the southeastern United States

AbstractInternational demand for wood‐based biomass for bioenergy production is growing, and private forestlands in the southeastern United States have the potential to supply that demand. The southeastern United States (Southeast) is the world's largest exporter of wood pellets for bioenergy, primarily to the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU). However, wood‐based biomass production accounts for only a small share of total wood removals from private forestlands in the Southeast. There is sufficient wood‐based biomass in the Southeast to support greater production of wood pellets for domestic and international markets without redirecting timber from sawtimber and pulpwood production. In 2018–19, we conducted 39 semi‐structured interviews with private forest landowners, foresters, loggers, and biomass production facility managers in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia to obtain their views on wood‐based biomass production in the Southeast. Although landowners were interested in supplying wood for biomass as a byproduct of timber harvesting, they seldom participated in wood‐based biomass production because of limited and unreliable access to biomass markets. Loggers and production facility managers had not invested in biomass production because they remain skeptical about the financial viability of wood‐based biomass. Continued obstacles to biomass production include: price competition with fossil fuels and conventional wood products; inconsistent domestic government support for biomass production; concerns about meeting the sustainability requirements to export wood‐based biomass to the UK and EU; and the high costs associated with harvesting low‐grade wood for biomass. The barriers to biomass expansion in the southeastern United States remain primarily economic and political rather than biophysical.

Woodland Grazing: Untapped Resource to Increase Economic Benefits from Forestland

Abstract The southeastern United States offers a tremendous opportunity for expanding woodland grazing technology for small ruminants in its almost 60 percent woodland. Like in many other states, Alabama alone has 23 million acres of woodland. Conversely, livestock owners face a daunting challenge to forage their animals for about seven lean months each year. Raising animals on concentrates, of course, is economically unfeasible for small-scale producers. Woodland grazing is an untapped practice that boosts economic, social, and environmental benefits to woodland owners. The objectives of this study were to diversify household cash flow for woodland owners and simultaneously promote forage-based livestock production systems. The study was conducted at Tuskegee University from 2017 to 2020 in 6 acres of woodland (southern pines and non-pine species). Meat goats (8 Wethers) and hair sheep (5 Rams) were grazed rotationally for 6 months (May–Oct.) until they consumed 50% of the available foliage. They were not fed any supplement feed while grazing in woodlands. The feeding cost was estimated using four scenarios: sack/pellet, hay, sack/pellet and hay, and woodland grazing holding health, management, minerals and water costs constant. Feeding cost was 58–204% lower, and labor cost was 50–100% less in woodland grazing compared to conventional feeding systems. Extrapolated data reveal that woodland owners may generate about $9,947.00 more cash flow annually from 50 acres with woodland grazing than without grazing. Moreover, the system approach strengthens knowledge, attitude, awareness, skill, and motivation of the family members and community as a percolation effect. Besides, the environmental benefits (controlling unwanted and invading species and aesthetic pleasure) increase the economic value. Results reveal that woodland grazing can open an enormous economic opportunity to all forestland owners by upholding annual cash flow while trees are growing and making the total returns from woodlands much higher than the monocropping-timber.

Application of digital terrain model in identifying potential conservation area (PCAs) of subtropical forest in Okinawa, Japan

Conserving the Northern forest of Okinawa Main Island is very crucial and the selection of significant areas to be protected is a complex and challenging process. The altitudinal gradients provide ideal settings to determine priority area for conservation hence improving our understanding of species richness and distribution pattern. The study sought to identify potential conservation areas (PCAs) in the subtropical forest of Okinawa Island based on the Digital Terrain Model (DTM). Different elevation levels range from were overlaid with forestland owner boundary data, vegetation, protected parks and accessible forest road. Results showed that the available PCAs decreased with an increase of elevation gradient. Protected sites require a small area as possible to allow competing demands for development and other human activities. Considering the influence of the qualitative factors for site selection, the middle-peak elevation region in the study area was chosen as the priority area for protection and conservation sites. This finding was also compared to the preceding studies which influenced the diversity of flora, fauna, climate, and geographical factors at different altitudinal levels.

Impact Assessments of Typhoon Lekima on Forest Damages in Subtropical China Using Machine Learning Methods and Landsat 8 OLI Imagery

Wind damage is one of the major factors affecting forest ecosystem sustainability, especially in the coastal region. Typhoon Lekima is among the top five most devastating typhoons in China and caused economic losses totaling over USD 8 billion in Zhejiang Province alone during 9–12 August 2019. However, there still is no assessment of its impacts on forests. Here we detected forest damage and its spatial distribution caused by Typhoon Lekima by classifying Landsat 8 OLI images using the random forest (RF) machine learning algorithm and the univariate image differencing (UID) method on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The accuracy assessment indicated a high overall accuracy (>87%) and kappa coefficient (>0.75) for forest-damage detection, as evaluated against field-investigated plot data, with better performance using the RF method. The total affected forest area by Lekima was 4598.87 km2, accounting for 8.44% of the total forest area in Zhejiang Province. The light-, moderate- and severe-damage forest areas were 2106.29 km2, 2024.26 km2 and 469.76 km2, respectively. Considering the damage severity, the net forest canopy loss fraction was 2.57%. The affected forest area and damage severity exhibited large spatial variations, which were affected by elevation, slope, precipitation and forest type. Our study indicated a larger uncertainty for affected forest area and a smaller uncertainty for the proportion of damage severity, based on multiple assessment approaches. This is among the first studies on forest damage due to typhoons at a regional scale in China, and the methods can be extended to examine the impacts of other super-strong typhoons on forests. Our study results on damage severity, spatial distribution and controlling factors could help local governments, the forest sector and forest landowners make decision on tree-planting planning and sustainable management after typhoon strikes and could also raise public and governmental awareness of typhoons’ damage on China’s inland forests.

Addressing the challenge of wood mobilisation through a systemic innovation lens: The Irish forest sector innovation system

In the face of growing demand for sustainable sources of biomass, the challenge of mobilising non-industrial private forest landowners (NIPF) with varying management objectives, to actively manage their forests and increase the supply of wood biomass, is an area of growing research and policy focus. While innovation and knowledge exchange is increasingly viewed as a means of promoting sustainable wood mobilisation, structural weaknesses in the sector such as deficiencies in the institutional and infrastructural setting or capacity of stakeholders, can negatively influence innovation processes. Addressing these overarching challenges requires a systemic analysis of the barriers to innovation across the forest sector as a whole. This case study of the Irish forest sector develops a comprehensive innovation systems framework, integrating structural and functional streams of innovation systems research. This `coupled structural–functional’ framework is applied to identify a number of interconnected systemic problems that hinder the functioning of the forest sector innovation system and negatively influence the potential for co-innovation and wood mobilisation in the sector. Three sets of key systemic wood mobilisation problems are identified, among which there is negative feedback. These so called `blocking mechanisms' have developed over time as a result of historical patterns of practice, prevailing culture, attitude and regulation and are defined here as (i) weak networks blocking capacity development of new forest owners, (ii) infrastructural problems blocking the reach and effectiveness of knowledge networks, (iii) rigid institutional structures and policy blocking co-innovation. To address these deficiencies in the current forest policy and institutional environment, this study makes a number of policy recommendations to promote co-innovation and tackle the multi-dimensional challenge of wood mobilisation.

Measuring the social performance of forest management

Forests produce several types of benefits to both forest landowners and society. The social benefit of private forestry is equal to private benefit plus positive externalities minus negative externalities. This study developed alternative metrics for the evaluation of the social benefit of forest management. Forest management was assessed in terms of five criteria: economic, socio-cultural, environmental and ecological performance and the resilience of the forest ecosystem. Each criterion was described with three numerical indicators. Alternative performance indices were calculated from the indicator values using methods developed for multi-criteria decision making. It was concluded that indices based on the multiplicative Cobb–Douglas utility function might be the most recommendable when forestry should produce a balanced combination of different ecosystem services. When the indices were used to compare alternative silvicultural systems in terms of their social performance, continuous cover management was ranked better than even-aged management. The performance of even-aged management improved when it aimed at increasing the share of mixed stands and broadleaf species. Maximizing net present value (NPV) with a 1% discount rate led to better social performance than maximizing NPV with a 4% discount rate.

Dynamics of Large Corporate Forestland Ownerships in the United States

Abstract Ownership of forestland in the United States has changed in recent decades, including the proliferation of timber investment management organizations (TIMOs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs), with the potential to alter forest management and timber supply. This article quantifies forest ownership transitions among ownership categories between 2007 and 2017 and investigates how and why large corporate ownerships own and manage their forestlands. Ownership transitions were determined from refined USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis data; we also conducted a survey of large corporate forestland ownerships. Corporate forestland acreage increased between 2007 and 2017, while family and public forestland decreased. Large corporate landowners report multidimensional, financially focused land management, although industry, timber investment management organizations, real estate investment trusts, and other owners report some different motivations and income streams. This work provides a baseline to track future ownership transitions and the behaviors of large corporate forestland owners.

Nonindustrial private forest landowner willingness to pay for prescribed burning to lower wildfire hazards

Despite the crucial role nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners play in reducing hazardous fuels across large landscapes, there is lack of information concerning their support and valuation of fuel reduction treatments. This study determined NIPF landowners willingness to pay (WTP) for implementing prescribed burning on their forestland to lower wildfire hazards using a contingent valuation method (CVM). Of 2,000 questionnaires sent, a total of 531 landowners responded to the CV question. Of which, 26% of landowners were willing to pay the given payment amount to reduce wildfire hazard on their land using prescribed burning. The mean WTP was $41.39 per acre with a 95% confidence interval of $14.70 to $66.86 per acre. Landowner tolerance for smoke from prescribed burning, consideration of liability, concern about property damages due to wildfires, and education level were positively related with WTP. Since WTP for implementing prescribed burning was higher than its cost, available budgets can be more efficiently utilized by prioritizing more resources towards technical and educational programs on prescribed burn planning, implementing, and monitoring.

Applying the Transtheoretical Model of Change to Legacy Planning Decisions

Approximately 1.2 million family forest landowners (FFOs) manage nearly 37 million acres of forestland in five New England states. This means that efforts to sustain and conserve forests in the region are contingent upon short- and long-term management decisions of these owners. We applied the transtheoretical model of behavior change to understand which activities and behaviors FFOs have pursued in relation to forest legacy planning. We conducted a regional mail survey of 2500 FFOs across Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York. Findings indicate that the majority of FFOs are preparing for or are currently engaging in beginning-level legacy planning decisions while few are thinking about nor planning for more advanced-level decisions. Findings from three stepwise multiple regression models also provide support for predicting a substantive amount of variance in FFOs’ decisions to engage in beginning-level and conservation-oriented planning decisions.

Place Attachment and Concern in Relation to Family Forest Landowner Behavior

Contemporary approaches to studying family forests have identified distinct subgroups of landowners through segmentation analysis. Our study expands on this approach, incorporating the concept of place to provide a novel perspective on how the cognition and emotions that create place attachment and landowner concerns influence certain landowner behaviors. We specifically modeled legacy planning and future landowner ownership behavioral intentions/behaviors. A mail survey was administered to a statewide sample of Maine family forest landowners that measured place attachment and landowner concerns regarding biophysical and social conditions on their woodland. Results based on the 878 respondents (54.9% response rate) indicated place attachment and landowner concern are related to legacy planning, land ownership, and development behavioral intentions, and when considered in conjunction with segmentation analysis, it was found the majority of family forest landowners in the sample experienced strong place attachment and moderate levels of concern. Our study suggests that forest outreach, forest policies and additional family forest research should further consider and incorporate the intangibles of the landowner experience.

Assessing the Benefits and Economic Feasibility of Stand Improvement for Central Hardwood Forests

Abstract Stand improvement (SI) has been widely accepted as an effective forest management tool. Yet most studies on its economic feasibility for nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners are outdated and focus on the single stand level. The objective of this study was to conduct an economic assessment of SI’s effects and feasibility in hardwood stands for a case study in the White River Basin in Indiana. It is shown that SI could make these forests more productive and sustainable than the prevalent “hands-off” practice by enhancing the timber value of the residual stand (TV), generating regular timber income, and to some degree, reversing the decline in oak dominance. On average, a 25% increment in the TV could be achieved. Although costly for some NIPFs, once combined with voluntary financial incentive programs, SI could meet landowners’ demands for low-cost, high-return investment options. In particular, participation in the Environmental Quality Incentive Program could, on average, increase the net present value of timber income from thinning activities by nearly $1,600 per hectare over the course of 30 years. The spatial analysis revealed that there existed considerable spatial heterogeneity in SI benefits and impacts, suggesting that public incentive programs should be spatially targeted to achieve greater efficiency.

Stakeholder perspectives towards the use of toxicants for managing wild pigs.

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are one of the most detrimental invasive mammals in the US. Lack of adequate population control has allowed pigs to become established across the landscape, causing significant ecological and economic damage. Given the need for additional tools for reducing wild pig populations, two toxicants, warfarin and sodium nitrite, are at the forefront of the discussion regarding future wild pig management. However, no research has examined stakeholders’ perspectives towards the use of toxicants in wild pig management. Given the lack of knowledge, our goal was to determine stakeholders’ perspectives towards the legal use of toxicants for managing wild pigs. We surveyed 1822 individuals from three stakeholder groups (hunters, farmers, and forestland owners) across Alabama during February 2018 using an online survey following the Tailored Design Method. All three stakeholder groups were generally supportive of toxicant use, though their views differed slightly by group. Furthermore, all stakeholder groups were supportive of toxicant purchasing and use regulations, while accidental water contamination, human health impact, and incorrect usage of a toxicant were stakeholders’ greatest concerns. These results indicate that these groups would likely be in support of using toxicants for wild pig management in Alabama and could be a model for other states or locations. Consequently, these results have direct implications for shaping policy and possible use of toxicants as a future wild pig management tool.

How the Woodland Stick Benefits Oregon Family Forestland Owners and Extension Volunteers

We revised the Oregon State University (OSU) Woodland Stick to aid master woodland manager volunteers in advising their peers on land management decisions. The Woodland Stick has been used as an educational and measurement tool by OSU and other university Extension programs for many years, but little information is known about its impact. We surveyed users of the Woodland Stick and found that 48% use the tool at least once a year. Landowners who use the Woodland Stick find it simple to use and appreciate its low cost. Using the various features of the stick helps advance landowners toward successful woodland management.

Landowner Concern about Wildfires and Implementation of Fuel Reduction Treatments

AbstractFuel reduction treatments implemented by nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners affect wildfire hazard potential on both their tracts and surrounding lands. However, it is not clear how concerned they are about wildfire damages and what actions they are willing to take to lower wildfire hazard. This study determined the landowner concern level about wildfire damages and identified factors affecting their concern and fuel treatment implementation using seemingly unrelated and binary probit models, respectively. Approximately, 68% of landowners were concerned about property damage due to wildfires, and 45% implemented some fuel reduction treatments. The most common and least costly fuel treatment was prescribed burning ($18/acre) followed by chemical ($59/acre) and mechanical ($127/acre) treatments. Raising awareness about potential monetary losses due to wildfires, assisting landowners in preparing written forest management plans, and prioritizing areas with predominant pine cover will encourage landowner participation in hazardous fuel reduction programs and facilitate more effective wildfire mitigation.

The Forest Land Protection Act program (FLPA) and conserving forestland in Georgia

This study analyses the implementation of the Forest Land Protection Act (FLPA) program in Georgia, USA and assesses the effectiveness of the program in forest conservation and sustainability. The program extended property tax relief to corporate and other large private forest landowners, improved uniformity in timberland taxation, and leveled the playing field for private forest landowners in the state. We examine the effectiveness of the program in conserving forests through participation rate, average size and site productivity of enrolled forestland, and trends in forest area. An econometric model is created to investigate the major factors affecting participation of the program. We found that the FLPA program is effective in attracting larger forest tracts, suggesting a positive contribution of the program to forest conservation and sustainability. It is also attractive to eligible forest lands that are under pressure from recreational uses. However, the effectiveness of the program is limited in attracting higher-productivity forest lands and lands having potential development uses.

Assessments of Landowners’ Willingness to Accept Compensation for Participating in Forest Certification in Shandong, China

Achieving sustainable management of forests in China is becoming increasingly important with more awareness and realization of the importance of forests in environmental protection. Forest certification, a market-based instrument to promote sustainable forest management, has been recognized by many countries including China. While landowners’ perception and perspective regarding this voluntary program have been well-documented in the literature, how to motivate and incentivize landowners to participate in forest certification remained understudied questions. With the face-to-face survey of landowners in Shandong, China, this study analyzed landowners’ willingness to accept compensation for participating in forest certification. Results indicated that the average accepted compensation in terms of increased timber price was about RMB 120 (~USD 17.6)/m3 to have their forests enrolled in certification programs. Results from multiple regression showed that the level of such compensation required for participation in certification was influenced by forestland size, owner demographics, certification-program requirements, and importance placed on timber production. These findings would inform policy-makers in designing compensation-related policies and establish incentive-based mechanisms to motivate forest landowners to participate in forest certification programs in China.

Does having a hunter identity influence land management behaviors of family forest owners?

ABSTRACT Hunters are often assumed to possess conservation and stewardship values. Research on whether these values translate into active land management is scant and inconclusive, particularly as it relates to family forest landowners (FFOs). We examined how strength of deer hunter identity is associated with land management behaviors and intentions of FFOs in Wisconsin. While identity as a construct has been found to inform behavior, the relationship between hunter identity and land management behaviors has not been examined. We found higher average hunter identity scores were associated with respondents who had cut trees for personal use, planted native seeds, developed/maintained trails or roads, have a management plan, participated in state landowner programs, and those with intentions to cut trees for sale, personal use, or to improve forest conditions; remove built-up plant material; conduct trail or road work; and jointly plan with others to enhance habitat for game species or motorized recreation.

State Cost-Share Programs for Forest Landowners in the Southern United States: A Review

AbstractThe largest concentration of state-level forest cost-share programs in the United States can be found in the southern states. Since the inception of the first programs in the 1970s, the state-level forest cost-share programs in the US South have acted as models for the rest of the country. Cost-share programs compensate landowners through direct reimbursements to address barriers such as limited owner capital and cash flow in the initial years of investment. Through a review of the literature and progress reports from southern state forestry agencies, we qualitatively assessed state-level cost-share programs and their status in the southern states. We identified the common themes in the literature related to cost-share programs: market, nonmarket, and landowners’ perceptions and knowledge. Many of the programs enacted between the 1970s and 1980s aimed to ensure a sustainable timber supply, a market good, from private forestlands. A few of the programs enacted more recently compensate landowners for nonmarket benefits such as forest health or soil and water conservation. Two of the nine available programs are practically inactive in recent years because of a lack of funding. We discuss current prospects regarding funding, partnerships, and broadening the focus of incentives to cover forest-based ecosystem services.Study ImplicationsRegionally, cost-share programs in the US South differ in eligibility criteria, funding source and status, and resource management objectives. The majority of state-level cost-share programs in the US South were enacted 30 to 50 years ago. The first cost-share programs were designed to support a continued timber supply from private forestlands, but a few recent programs have expanded their objectives to protect forest health and soil and water quality. Forest-based ecosystem service markets, specifically reforestation to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide and provide clean air and water, have become more prevalent in recent years. Funding for forest commodity incentive programs is a continual challenge. New funding sources and new programs are crucial to meet demands for incentives for landowners to provide both timber and ecosystem services outputs.