Forest Owner Attitudes Research Articles

Correction: Forest Owner Attitudes Toward Climate-Proof Forest Management in Sweden and the Netherlands—Between Forest Strategies and Practical Measures

Correction: Forest Owner Attitudes Toward Climate-Proof Forest Management in Sweden and the Netherlands—Between Forest Strategies and Practical Measures

Forest Owner Attitudes Toward Climate-Proof Forest Management in Sweden and the Netherlands—Between Forest Strategies and Practical Measures

Our research targets the role of forests under the international Paris Climate Agreement, the EU Green Deal and Forest Strategy. In line with the latter objectives, Member States are expected to encourage forest owners to contribute to international climate goals via national strategic plans and new management measures. How forest owners will respond, however, to a range of climate smart forestry (CSF) measures in the near future, is not well known. After postal and email distribution in 2020, 98 Swedish (response rate 21%) and 241 Dutch forest owners (24%) filled out a forest-climate survey. Based upon specific CSF measures, several hypothetical climate-related scenarios were incorporated into the survey. Dutch forest owners are planning to introduce new tree species, more mixed species stands (a gradual shift to broadleaved species) and additional water reservoirs in anticipation of increased drought periods, all part of a hypothetical climate adaptation package for 2030. Swedish forest owners prefer earlier thinning and salvaging activities. Zooming in on Dutch scale differences, small forest owners rely less on current public subsidy packages and show significantly less interest in committing to the adaptation package than large forest owners. In Sweden, preferences for the high forest management intensity scenario is significantly affected by size class: more intensive activities are the least popular with the smallest forest owners. The greatest difference between both countries is the way in which CSF measures should be financially supported. In general, Dutch forest owners would prefer to maintain subsidy schemes but adapt them to new circumstances, while Swedish forest owners benefit from timber and bioenergy markets.

Challenges for community-owned forests between traditional and new uses of forests: A Q-methodology study applied to an alpine case

There is a worldwide increasing interest in forest ecosystem services (FESs), especially regulating and cultural ones. Providing FESs requires the shift towards a multifunctional forest management approach, and forest owners are key figures in this process. Current research on motivations and attitudes of forest owners towards provision of regulating and cultural FES focuses on non-industrial private forest owners but neglects community-owned forests, despite them being often innovative and multifunctional models of forest resource management. The paper explores the views of community-owned forest institutions to provide forest recreation. Sixteen cases have been studied in an alpine valley in Italy, where these institutions have been existing since hundreds of years. Q methodology was used. Q methodology is a semi-qualitative technique used to systematically analyze diverse points of view among individuals or groups by having them rank statements on a topic, allowing for the identification of similar views. Results show a general positive view of community-owned forest institutions towards providing recreation but with nuanced positions, which could be clustered in two groups. The first and largest group looked favourably at providing more forest recreation; the change towards forest recreation was however conditional to maintain adequate levels of income and receiving external support from public authorities. The latter and smaller group was more sceptical, being concerned about the potential negative impacts of visitors in the forest. Both groups stressed that sensitivity and respect of the visitors towards the property are decisive factors for accepting and improving public accessibility. The paper reflects on the challenges for these traditional forms of forest ownership in front of new societal demands, and concludes that, regarding forest recreation, the attitudes of community-owned forest institutions are not very different than those of other private forest owners.

Forest Owner Attitudes and Preferences for Voluntary Temporary Forest Conservation

This study explores attitudes and preferences of Finnish non-industrial private forest owners for voluntary temporary forest conservation. The survey data, collected with the best–worst scaling and discrete choice methods, focus on a conservation program that incentivizes forest owners for biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration. Forest owners are willing to conserve simultaneously biodiversity and forest carbon. They prefer non-profit organization as implementer of program, suggesting alternative to current implementation of forest conservation by authorities. Forest owners’ interest in forest conservation program increases with shorter contract and higher payment, both aspects being subject to preference heterogeneity. Forest owners differ in terms of the perceived importance of ecological, economic and social aspects of sustainability of forestry. Heterogeneity in attitudes and preferences stems from the size of forest land, gender, freetime home located on forest site, and place of residence.

Determinanti, attitudini e disponibilità alla produzione di beni e di servizi da parte dei proprietari forestali privati: una rassegna della letteratura internazionale

Abstract: Determinants, attitudes and willingness of private forest owners to produce goods and services: a review of the international literature. There is an information gap in the Italian literature with regards to private forest ownership, while several analysis are available on the characteristics and the management systems of public forest ownership. To address this gap, this paper presents the characteristics of private forest owners and their evolution in time by reviewing the international literature in the last three decades. The examined studies are reported according to four perspectives: (i) the available classifications and/or typologies of private forest owners; (ii) the determinants of different forest owners’ behaviors, especially in relation to their objectives; (iii) the attitudes of forest owners and the motivations behind their management decisions; (iv) the valuation of the willingness to accept monetary compensations in return for the provision of ecosystem services. The results show a very complex picture, varying both in space and time. However, some recurring features can be identified: (i) not only are forest owners motivated by timber production goals, but also by other reasons, often very diversified and detached from market considerations; (ii) a “multi-functional” forest owner is by no means less active, but, conversely, is more active than a forest owner whose sole objective is timber production; (iii) in general, the active owner is a farmer whose family has owned the forest for many generations (and in this case he/she is more market-oriented), or is a new entry in the forestry sector; (iv) the “passive” owner is usually elderly, non-farmer and resides far from the property. In addition, the “absent” owner is a common problem to several of the examined geographical contexts. Although the results of the review cannot be transferred as such, they represent a useful starting point for similar analyses in the Italian context. Examining the determinants and attitudes of private forest owners in Italy would indeed prove interesting, given that private forest ownership in Italy represents a relevant share of total forest area and that the implementation of new policy tools such as payments for ecosystem services requires active participation by all key actors, including forest owners.

Forest owner motivations and attitudes towards supplying biomass for energy in Europe

The European Commission expects the use of biomass for energy in the EU to increase significantly between 2010 and 2020 to meet a legally binding target to cover at least 20% of EU's total energy use from renewable sources in 2020. According to estimates made by the member states of the EU, the direct supply of biomass from forests is expected to increase by 45% on a volume basis between 2006 and 2020 in response to increasing demand (Beurskens LWM, Hekkenberg M, Vethman P. Renewable energy projections as published in the national renewable energy action plans of the European Member states. ECN and EEA; 2011. http://https://www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/2010/e10069.pdf [accessed 25.04.2014]; Dees M, Yousef A, Ermert J. Analysis of the quantitative tables of the national renewable energy action plans prepared by the 27 European Union Member States in 2010. BEE working paper D7.2. Biomass Energy Europe project. FELIS – Department of Remote Sensing and landscape information Systems, University of Freiburg, Germany; 2011). Our aims were to test the hypotheses that European private forest owners' attitudes towards supplying woody biomass for energy (1) can be explained by their responses to changes in prices and markets and (2) are positive so that the forest biomass share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target can be met. Based on survey data collected in 2010 from 800 private forest owners in Sweden, Germany and Portugal our results show that the respondents' attitudes towards supplying woody biomass for energy cannot be explained as direct responses to changes in prices and markets. Our results, furthermore, imply that European private forest owners cannot be expected to supply the requested amounts of woody biomass for energy to meet the forest biomass share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target, at least if stemwood is to play the important role as studies by Verkerk PJ, Anttila P, Eggers J, Lindner M, Asikainen A. The realisable potential supply of woody biomass from forests in the European Union. For Ecol Manag 2011;261: 2007–2015, UNECE and FAO. The European forest sector outlook study II 2010–2030. United Nations, New York and Geneva; 2011 [abbreviated to EFSOS II] and Elbersen B, Staritsky I, Hengeveld G, Schelhaas MJ, Naeff H, Böttcher H. Atlas of EU biomass potentials; 2012. Available from: http://www.biomassfutures.eu [accessed 14.10.2013] suggest.

How financial compensation changes forest owners' willingness to set aside productive forest areas for nature conservation in Denmark

Agri-environmental schemes' ability to increase the provision of environmental goods has been questioned because such schemes may pay landowners for something they would have done anyway. Contributing to this discussion, the aim of this paper is to investigate how financial compensation changes forest owners' declared willingness to set aside productive forest areas for nature conservation. The study is based on a survey of forest owner attitudes and ownership objectives in Denmark. First, it was analyzed how forest owners' declared willingness to set aside productive forest area for nature conservation changed when they were offered financial compensation. The majority of forest owners (64%) increased their willingness to set aside forest when offered financial compensation, whereas for others, compensation resulted in no change or, for a few respondents, even decreased the willingness. Hence, financial compensation may help to increase the provision of environmental goods but it is necessary to be aware of groups not motivated by financial incentives. Secondly, a binary logit model showed that the greatest likelihood of financial compensation increasing the motivation for setting aside forest is observed for owners who are young, female, live in the western part of Denmark and own farmland. Policy makers can use such information to target subsidy schemes at particular groups.

Risk preferences, risk perceptions and timber harvest decisions — An empirical study of nonindustrial private forest owners in northern Sweden

A mail survey of nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) owners in two counties in northern Sweden was conducted to investigate the risk preferences of NIPF owners and their perceptions of the return and risk of timber investment relative to investment alternatives outside forestry. We also used the data collected from the survey to examine the relationship between the stated preferences, subjective judgements, and the observed and planned timber fellings. Our aim was to determine as to what extent the NIPF owners' harvesting behaviour was consistent with their preferences and subjective judgments. The result shows that a majority of the NIPF owners who responded to the survey were risk-neutral or risk-prone. There were no statistically significant correlations between a forest owner's attitudes toward risk and the size of forest property. However, risk preferences have significant impacts on the decision to fell: the more a forest owner likes to take risks, the more likely it is that he/she conducts final felling. The result also shows large variations among NIPF owners with respect to the subjective judgements of the return and risk of the alternative investments. For each respondent we elicited the most preferred investment alternative based on the stated risk preferences and the subjective judgements of the return and risk of the alternative investments. Owners whose preferred investment alternative is the mature forest are on average significantly less active in harvesting than owners with other preferred investment alternatives. However, there are no significant differences in the felling intensity and the growing stock of timber among the different groups of NIPF owners. The examination of NIPF owners' harvesting behaviour, risk preferences and subjective judgments reveals strong indications of the difficulties for NIPF owners to make rational decisions when faced with uncertainties.

Forest Owner Attitudes about Tree Thinning Practices – A Case Study in Hayakawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan –

Forest Owner Attitudes about Tree Thinning Practices – A Case Study in Hayakawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan –

Attitudes towards various forest functions: A comparison between private forest owners and forest officers

In Sweden, privately owned forests provide timber as well as recreational opportunities and biodiversity. In general, forest officers from organizations, whose business is to serve private forest owners, manage these forests. Through survey data, this study compared the attitudes of private forest owners towards various forest functions to how forest officers understand these attitudes. The views of forest owners and forest officers did not always coincide, nor did the attitudes of forest owners in different regions of Sweden. Forest officers regarded timber production as more important than did forest owners. Forest owners considered recreational and environmental functions of the forest as more important to them than did forest officers. Possible explanations for these differences were discussed, along with forest policy implications.

Role of homestead forests in household economy and factors affecting forest production: a case study in southwest Bangladesh

Empirical information regarding the role of homestead forests in household economy is essential in understanding the importance of these resources. Identification of the factors that affect homestead forest production and understanding forest owners' attitudes toward key forest management issues have great significance in making appropriate policy responses to manage these resources on a sustainable basis. In Bangladesh, homestead forests are claimed to play an important economic role in rural livelihoods, but no reliable quantitative information exists. This study was undertaken to investigate the role of homestead forests in the household economy, examine if forest production and income vary across landholding size classes, to explore the relationships of homestead forest production with species richness, education level, and household size, and to assess the attitude of homestead forest owners toward key forest management issues. Results show that homestead forests contribute 15.9% of the household income and generate 51.4 man-days of employment per household per year. Production of homestead forests significantly varies across landholding size classes. It was observed that forest production depends significantly on species richness of homestead forests and the education level of forest owners. However, no such relationship was found between forest production and household size. The study revealed that farming families depend more on forest income than nonfarming families. Attitudes of forest owners toward key forest management issues differ significantly across landholding size classes. For example, although the majority of the forest owners prefer fruit species to timber species, the percentage of respondents decreased as the landholding size class increased, while the opposite trend was observed for timber species. The findings of this study suggest that diversification of forests and extension of education amongst forest owners would improve forest production. Furthermore, forest policy should address the concerns of the forest owners in different landholding classes and focus on their specific requirements to enhance sustainable forest management.

The nameless counterpart: a reconstruction of the experiences of private forestry extension officers with their clients

The changes to the forest ownership structure of small private forests in recent times have opened up an intensive field of research throughout Europe. Most of the studies completed to date adhere to the classic survey model and describe the behaviour and attitudes of forest owners. The research presented in this article analyses the changes to small private forests with the aid of data collected from focus groups comprised of forestry extension officers in Germany. Through the reconstruction of the experiences gleaned by the consultants, it was possible to describe the manner in which they characterise their clientele, and the changes they have observed, against the backdrop of changes occurring across rural areas. The consultants’ strategies for describing forest owners are presented. The orientation pattern presented by the extension officers is compared with the urban orientation of forest owners’ model developed by social scientists.

A Fundamental Study of Forest Conservation Systems and the Attitudes of Forest Owners in Nerima Ward, Tokyo

都市内に残っている民有樹林地を保全していくためには, 地権者の協力が不可欠である。したがって, 樹林地保全制度の効率的な運営のためには, 各保全制度に対する地権者の意識を把握することが重要であると考えられる。本研究では, 練馬区に樹林を提供している土地所有者を対象に, アンケート調査により意識傾向を調べた。その結果, 相続税の納付と樹林地の管理がかなり負担になっており,「市民緑地」制度における相続税の減免幅とその契約期間の長さについて不満を持っていることが分かった。この結果から, 今後相続税の評価減の拡大など制度を改善し, 樹林の買取り要請に対する財源確保プログラムを樹立する必要があると考えられた。

Nonindustrial Private Forest Owner Attitudes toward the Use of Silvicultural Herbicides

Nonindustrial Private Forest Owner Attitudes toward the Use of Silvicultural Herbicides