Private Forest Owners Research Articles

Promoting Landscape-Level Forest Management in Fire-Prone Areas: Delegate Management to a Multi-Owner Collaborative, Rent the Land, or Just Sell It?

Forest management at the landscape level is a requirement for reducing wildfire hazard. In contexts where non-industrial private forest ownership prevails, the collaboration among multiple owners has been proposed as the way forward to reach consistent fuel management at that level. The current literature has been focused on identifying the factors that lead to collaboration among owners. In this study we explored other ways to reach landscape-level management in addition to the collaborative way, such as those that may be promoted through land renting or selling. Different contexts and owner types may require different solutions. Thus, we explicitly asked which alternative would be chosen by a given forest owner, from the following set: keeping individual management, entering a multi-owner collaborative arrangement where they delegate management, renting to a pulp company; or selling the land. In a context of small-scale ownership and high recurrence of wildfires in Portugal, a face-to-face survey was carried out to a sample of landowners. Our results suggest that there is not an a priori generalized unwillingness of owners to delegate management, rent or sell the land and thus they seem prone to align themselves with policy strategies to promote management at the landscape level. Multinomial logit regression modelling allowed us to explain and predict owners’ choices among the aforementioned set of alternative management options. We found that choosing multi-ownership collaboration, as opposed to keeping current individual management, is associated with passive management under harsher conditions, by non-residents without bonding capital. The identified factors of owners’ choices show the limited scope of tenancy and land-market mechanisms to promote landscape-level management. The best policy option was found to depend on the owner profiles prevailing in the target area. This suggests that studying the existing context and owner types is required to design effective policies.

The determinants of adapting forest management practices to climate change: Lessons from a survey of French private forest owners

Climate change seriously impacts forest ecosystems. In order to maintain a healthy and sustainable forest cover, adaptation strategies should be implemented. This article proposes to deepen our understanding of the decision-making process of private forest owners in terms of adaptation decisions towards climate change. In particular, we question whether or not French private forest owners have already implemented adaptation strategies and if yes, we identify the determinants of this decision. We focus on the identification of the determinants of the probability to adapt and on the determinants of adopting each strategy separately (early harvest, thinning, irregular silviculture). A survey of more than 900 French private forest owners was conducted for the purpose of collecting both (1) objective variables: characteristics of the owners and the property; and (2) subjective variables: perception of climate change and impacts. The results reveal that both types of variables explain the adaptation decision. In addition, we show that the determinants are different from one adaptation strategy to another, meaning that the adaptation decision should not be thought of in general but, instead, strategy-by-strategy.

Comparative analysis of regulatory framework related to private forest management in Slovenia and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract Forest policy and forest ownership patterns in Slovenia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) have changed considerably in recent decades due to unprecedented scale of social, political and economic change. The distribution of ownership types varies between the countries – in Slovenia private forest ownership predominates (77%), while in FBiH only about 20% of forest is private-owned. In both countries, private forest properties are small-scale and fragmented, which affects management opportunities and the scale at which policy interventions need to be made. This paper analyses the Slovenian and Central Bosnia Cantonal Law on Forests to assess how the regulatory framework affects private forest owners’ (PFOs) rights, forest management and accelerates cooperation of PFOs. Both laws impose exclusive rights and responsibilities of PFOs, as well as limitation on how they can use their forests. In both countries, legislation contains detailed regulations for forest management activities and stipulate that mandatory forest management plans (FMPs) are an important tool that supports the implementation of sustainable forest management. In Slovenia, FMPs are prepared as common plans for all forests regardless the ownership, while in FBiH the Cantonal Law prescribes a separate forest management planning system for private forests. To improve the efficiency of private forest management, both laws support voluntary cooperation of PFOs. From the analysis, it can be concluded that there is a need for better harmonisation of public and private interests in relation to forest resources, especially in the case of FBiH, and that the deregulation of property right is needed as well as that the level of involvement of PFOs in the forest policy making process is unsatisfactory, in most cases only formal.

Evaluation of Fuel Quality, Throughput Rate and Energy Consumption During Non-Industrial Wood Chip Production with Three PTO Driven Chippers

Physical wood chip quality is essential for failure-free and low emission combustion in small-scale boilers ≤100 kW. In Bavaria, these furnaces are often operated by farmers or private forest owners that produce their own fuels using small to medium sized PTO-driven chippers. As secondary fuel processing steps such as industrial screening are usually too expensive for private forest owners, the selection of suitable raw materials and process parameters to directly produce high quality fuels during chipping are deemed especially relevant for this user group. In the present study, three commonly used small-scale chippers ≤150 kW, i. e. a drum, a spiral and a disc chipper where evaluated in terms of fuel quality, throughput rate and energy consumption during wood chip production. Chipping was done using stem wood of European beech and Norway spruce. Machine settings were the ones recommended by the chipper manufactures for the production of high quality fuels. Additional chipping variants included the use of different raw materials such as crown residues of European willow and varying machine settings including blunt knives, increasing spiral cut length, large screen mesh sizes or increased PTO speeds. Representive wood chip samples were taken after each trial and analysed in their physical fuel properties according to international standards for solid biofuels but also using a continuously measuring image analysis device to determine particle length and particle shape. For all three mobile chippers, wood chips with the particle size class »P31s« according to the revised ISO 17225-4:2021 could be produced when stem wood was used as assortment. Fine content of chips, i. e. particles ≤3.15 mm, was lowest for the spiral chipper and increased for the drum and disc chipper, especially when blunt knives or narrow screen meshes were used for chipping. At the same time, blunt knives increased the particle shape factor (PSF) of the bulk materials indicating a rather broken particle surface structure compared to clean cut particles. Throughput rate decreased and energy consumption increased when fuels with small particle size were produced, e. g. when narrow screen meshes or narrow chipping spirals were applied. This trend was particularly pronounced when blunt knives were used for chipping due to grinding of the material. All three chippers could be recommended for the production of high quality fuels for small-scale boilers when suitable machine settings and raw materials are applied for chipping.

Communication campaigns to engage (non-traditional) forest owners: A European perspective

In Europe, private forest owners play an important role in achieving sustainability goals, such as those set by the European Green Deal. Efficient communication and coordination with these actors is therefore central. However, ongoing structural changes in forest ownership have in many cases silenced traditional communication channels, especially those involving owners of small forests. Their economic performance is often negligible at an individual level, yet collectively their forests play a pivotal role in a context of increasing demand for wood products. In this article, we analyse and compare forest campaigns in nine European countries. Specifically, we assess one-way and two-way communication models applying different techniques to engage (non-traditional) forest owners. Our analysis of 34 campaigns shows that (i) one-way communication models are still more widely used in the forest sector to engage non-traditional forest owners than two-way communication models; (ii) one-way communication aims at informing and is effective for short-term awareness raising, while two-way communication aims at persuading and is essential to trigger forest management activities over the long-term, (iii) interactive learning tools can play a crucial role for reaching and engaging (non-traditional) forest owners. We further conclude that campaigns could be improved by having 1) joint campaigns with public and private actors, 2) convincing narratives developed based on a good understanding of forest owners' motivations, 3) adapting the timing of campaigns to windows of opportunities and 4) developing intermediary associations (e.g. non-traditional forest owner associations) as connectors and trust builders between different actors as they play a crucial role in providing information to forest owners and supporting their engagement.

Corythucha arcuata (Say, 1832) (Hemiptera, Tingidae) in its invasive range in Europe: perception, knowledge and willingness to act in foresters and citizens

The oak lace bug (OLB) Corythucha arcuata (Say, 1832) is an invasive alien species (IAS) that potentially could have many negative impacts on European oak health. Certain measures can be applied to counteract these effects. However, these measures may not be acceptable for forest managers or other stakeholder groups, such as private forest owners, environmental NGOs or the general public. Thereby, we set out to study the perception and knowledge of foresters and other stakeholders on the health status of European oak forests affected by oak lace bug and to investigate what forest health management measures would be acceptable to these target groups. An online survey questionnaire was designed and distributed via social networks, as well as professional networks via e-mails. The survey questionnaire was completed by 2084 respondents from nine European countries: Austria, Croatia, Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. Even though only a little over 60% of respondents reported they had noticed the discolouration of oak leaves caused by OLB, almost all (93%) considered it to be a problem. As respondents come from a country where C. arcuata is widespread and established, people’s general knowledge and awareness of OLB began to increase. The survey revealed that foresters thought that the insect affected photosynthesis, acorn crop and the aesthetics of the trees, but cannot cause death of trees. However, they assume that the value of the wood would decrease (this fact is also supported by the respondents who are connected to an environmental NGO), but that OLB does not affect property value. However, forest owners claim that the value of the property can be affected and that people would avoid entering the forest. In terms of potential control methods, respondents preferred biological or mechanical measures over chemical ones. We consider this study to be a good basis for further research on the topic of perception, knowledge and attitudes related to OLB since we can expect that the IAS, such as OLB, will certainly spread to European countries that were not included in this survey.

Profitability of the First Commercial Thinning, a Simulation Study in Northern Finland

Despite positive signals from increasing growing stock volumes and improved roundwood trade, first commercial thinnings (FCTs) tend to be a bottleneck in Finnish forest management and forestry. The reasons are many, but probably the most crucial would be the lack of simultaneous economic incentives for participating agents, i.e., private forest owners and forest machine contractors. This is due to poor stand characteristics in most FCT cases: low cutting removal with small average stem size. There are five predetermined management options: (1) Industrial wood thinning with only two timber assortments, pulpwood and saw logs, (2) Integrated procurement of industrial and energy wood, (3) Energy wood thinning solely consisting of delimbed stems, (4) Whole-tree energy wood thinning with an energy price of 3 € m−3 and (5) Whole-tree energy wood thinning with energy price of 8 € m−3, that were applied for six separate forest stands located in Northern Finland, and derived from a database representing stands with an urgent need for FCT. Then, a two-phase financial analysis consisting of stand-level optimization (private forest owners) and profitability assessment (contractor) was conducted in order to find out whether there would be simultaneous economic incentives for both participants of FCT. The stand-level optimization revealed the financially best management options for a private forest owner, and then, for a contractor, the profitability assessment exposed the profit (or loss) associated with the particular management option. In brief, our results demonstrated that conducting either an industrial wood thinning (1) or an integrated procurement (2) resulted in a positive economic incentive for both the private forest owner and the contractor in all six cases (stands). Further, applying energy wood thinning with delimbed stems (3) would even generate a financial loss for the contractor, given the roadside prices applied in this study.

Correction: Bashir et al. Determinants of Nonindustrial Private Forest Owners’ Willingness to Harvest Timber in Norway. Forests 2020, 11, 60

We have found some errors in our recently published article [...]

Non-industrial private forest owners’ willingness to manage for climate change and biodiversity

ABSTRACT In boreal commercial forests, carbon sequestration, climate change adaptation, and biodiversity conservation can be promoted through various measures. This study examines the factors affecting non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners’ preferences for such forest management practices. A systematic literature review serves as a reference for the empirical analysis of a survey data on the Finnish NIPF owners’ stated willingness to adopt thirteen distinct forest management practices. Binary logit models reveal socio-demographic factors, site-specific characteristics, previous forest management, and motivations for forest ownership that are associated with the stated adoption of management practices. Especially, environmental and financial motivations play an important role in decisions concerning forest management practices. Statistically significant factors vary depending on the forest management practice, reflecting the NIPF owner heterogeneity. Younger and highly educated forest owners are more supportive for various management practices that promote biodiversity, while older forest owners are reluctant towards deadwood retention. The results underline the importance of accounting for heterogeneous preferences regarding forest management practices when designing and implementing policies and advisory services aiming at enhancing carbon sequestration, climate change adaptation, or biodiversity in boreal commercial forests.

Small-scale private forest owners and the European Natura 2000 conservation network: perceived ecosystem services, management practices, and nature conservation attitudes

The systematic designation of protected areas is a key strategy in modern biodiversity conservation. As for now, the Natura 2000 system of the European Union (EU) is the largest coordinated network of conservation areas worldwide. Since this scheme has a focus on forests, its effectiveness substantially depends on small-scale private forest owners who represent the largest forest ownership group in Europe. We conducted a quantitative survey (n = 1671) in Northwest Germany focusing on the perceived importance of ecosystem services, the performance of management practices, nature conservation attitudes, as well as stand characteristics of small-scale private forest owners with and without Natura 2000 sites. Forest owners perceived regulating and cultural services as more important than provisioning ecosystem services while having a multifunctional perspective on their forest. Owners with Natura 2000 sites had a stronger focus on resource use and, with the exception of habitat-tree protection, did not perform conservation measures more frequently than those without. Moreover, we found more negative nature conservation attitudes among this ownership group. In conclusion, the Natura 2000 scheme needs to be more strongly adapted to the demands of small-scale private forest owners, for example by increasing profound participation and establishing a results-based incentive scheme for conservation measures. The perspectives of small-scale private forest owners have to be considered comprehensively to ensure the effective and sustainable implementation of the Natura 2000 conservation network.

Private forest ownership in the Russian Federation

The purpose of this paper to reveal features of the growth of forests (trees and shrubs) on privately owned lands in Russia. The article examines some of the legal aspects of the use of forests on such lands, and also suggests mechanisms for the legal regulation of the use of forests on lands that are in private ownership. Based on the results of the analysis, the problems associated with forestry on private land in Russia are identified and approaches to solving these problems are proposed. As a result it is proposed to amend a number of regulatory documents.

Biodiversity Protection in Private Forests: PES Schemes, Institutions and Prosocial Behavior

The overall research question addresses the effectiveness of incentive mechanisms in poli -cies that enhance private forest owners’ biodiversity protection. In particular, the paper focuses on the link between forest owners’ motivations, incentives, and institutions, and questions the incentives of the current biodiversity protection policies. Our hypothesis is that the purely monetary nature of the incentives can cause a “crowding out effect”, i.e., forest owners may reduce their voluntary contribution to biodiversity protection that is driven by prosocial motivations (altruism, self-image, etc.). With this in mind, as well as the knowledge acquired via this project about forest owners’ motivations, we looked for the most effective combinations of “incentive mechanisms” (monetary and non-monetary) and “institutions” (national and local authorities, NGOs, etc.) to encourage forest owners to adopt biodiversity protection measures in their forests.

Laws, Markets, and Local Politics Drive Outcomes of Minnesota’s County Managed Forests

Abstract There are frequently calls to increase local government control over forests in the US. Minnesota’s county forests contain approximately 30% of all local-government-managed forests in the United States. These forests are managed in ways that protect public access while providing a stable timber supply to mills. This happens because of the intersection of law, markets, and local politics. County forests are legally obligated to provide revenue to local tax districts while paying for management from money earned from timber sales. This pushes counties towards managing with the goal of providing a stable revenue stream from their lands, a goal that is supported by local politics in timber-dependent counties. The result is that counties are more production-oriented than other public forestland managers; however, they provide more consistent public access than private forest owners.

Aktiviranje gospodarjenja v zasebnih gozdovih s poslovnim sodelovanjem med zasebnimi lastniki gozdov in ponudniki gozdarskih storitev: študij primera revir Vodice

We investigated the possibility of activating private forest management through business cooperation within 'forest lease' and 'forest management' business models between private forest owners (PFOs) and forest service providers. By surveying PFOs (n = 205) and forest service providers (n = 14), we found that the willingness to engage in business cooperation in both proposed business models is higher among forest service providers than PFOs. In addition, we found that business cooperation within the proposed business models is feasible because the level of cooperation of PFOs with forest service providers over a 10-year period is satisfactory, and the proposed terms and conditions governing the business relationship and basic contract obligations of the contracting parties have proven to be appropriate for both business partners. In order to establish business cooperation, it is first necessary to promote business cooperation at the local level and to establish business relations between potential partners.

Značilnosti opravljanja sečnje in spravila v zasebnih gozdovih v Sloveniji

A survey conducted in 2019 covered 544 randomly selected forest owners. More than half of the forest owners own a forest estate ranging from 1 to 4.99 ha. For 62 % of respondents, the primary purpose of forest management is to harvest wood for their own needs. In 2015%2019, 71 % of respondents carried out felling and skidding in their forests. In total, approximately 50,000 m3 of wood was felled (24 m3 /ha or 141 m3 per holding). The largest volumes were felled by private owners with small forest holdings (up to 0.99 ha), on average 41.4 m3 /ha. There were statistically significant differences between the size of the forest holding and the average volume of annual felling. Furthermore, there were no statistically significant differences in felling intensity between male and female forest owners. The survey found that professional contractors carried out 41 % of felling and harvesting. Furthermore, there were significant differences between the size of the private forest estate and the method of performing forest operations. The results showed that the largest share of private owners who carry out all felling and skidding with the help of hired contractors is in the size class of forest holdings from 5 to 9.99 ha. The study did not confirm statistically significant differences in the intensity of felling between male and female private forest owners.

Private forest owners’ sense of landownership: Motives, influential factors and landscape context

Legal ownership of land defines the formal relationship between a landowner and land. Besides legal ownership, there is also psychological ownership which landowners can develop toward land. Despite the abundant literature on the relationships between landowners and land, it remains unclear under which circumstances a sense of ownership over land occurs and what impacts individual feelings may have on landscape dynamics if aggregated or scaled up. Building upon the psychological ownership theory, we interviewed 442 private forest owners in Croatia about the benefits of landownership. By using a Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) structural equation model and local spatial autocorrelation statistics, we 1) analyzed whether landownership benefits correlate to three motives for psychological ownership, i.e. having a place, efficacy and effectance, and self-identity; 2) analyzed the factors stimulating the motives; and 3) located the areas of spatial concentration of psychological landownership (i.e. hotspots/coldspots). Landownership benefits showed a strong association with the corresponding motives indicating that private forest owners experience landownership as a connection between the self and forest. Physical work in the forest and tending young forests increase psychological landownership. The land tenure system and duration of ownership plays no role. The biggest hotspot appeared in the most developed area, possibly preventing land transfer. Coldspots, in contrast, emerged across the country, pointing to land which could potentially change ownership after the land market regulation expires in 2023. The findings expand the understanding of land possession beyond the dis(investment) paradigm and help predict hotspots of land transfers at local to regional scales.

Forested lands dominate drinking water supply in the conterminous United States

Forests provide the most stable and highest quality water supplies among all land uses. Quantitatively evaluating the benefits of forest water supply functions is important to effectively mitigate the impacts of land development, climate change, and population growth. Here, by integrating a water balance model and national drinking water data, we determined the amount of surface water yield originating on different forest ownership types at a fine resolution (88,000 watersheds) and tracked that water through the river network to drinking water intakes and the populations they serve. We found that forested lands comprised 36% of the total land area but contributed 50% of the total surface water yield. Of the 23,983 public surface drinking water intakes depending on surface water sources, 89% (serving around 150 million people) received some (>0.01%) surface water from forested lands, and 38% (serving about 60 million people) received more than 50% of their surface drinking water supply from forested lands. Privately-owned forests were the most important water source in the eastern U.S., benefiting 16 million people, followed by federal forests (14.4% of the total water supply). In contrast, federally-owned forested lands were the dominant water source (52% of the total water supply) in the West. Privately-owned forests are the most vulnerable to future land use change and associated water supply impacts. Continuing programs that support private forest landowners with financial and technical assistance through federal and state forest management agencies and potentially developing payment for ecosystem service schemes could maximize benefits for landowners so they may retain their land assets while minimizing forest loss and associated impacts on critical ecosystem services including the provisioning a clean and reliable water supply for the American public.

Economic and Ethical Motivations for Forest Restoration and Incentive Payments

Private forest owners are both the suppliers and consumers of forest ecosystem services which poses a unique challenge to using incentive-based strategies to encourage forest restoration. We used focus groups and deliberative monetary valuation (DMV) methods to understand the choices of forest owners in Mississippi and Florida. Participants acted as jurors and made judgements about what actions a hypothetical forest owner should make when offered compensation to enhance key ecosystem services. Fifteen major themes were identified via qualitative data analysis. Results support a proposed conceptual model that links perspectives toward forest management with the expression of cultural values and choice. Allocation of income to ecosystem improvements revealed that intentional forest owners seek to maximize utility through personal achievement benefits, rather than income generation alone. Findings have important implications for forest policy and program design by improving the design and efficiency of economic interventions.

Symbolic interaction and its influence on cooperation between private forest owners

Organizations, such as forest management cooperatives (FMCs), are established to support private forest owners to deal with structural and natural challenges that they cannot handle on their own. In 2018, Feil et al. found in a nationwide survey that only 30% of German private forest owners are members of FMCs. This low participation rate of private forest owners in FMCs in Germany poses a problem for the further development of organizations that can better consider the needs of private forest owners and also meet the timber market's long-term requirements for larger quantities of timber as well as become an equal negotiation partner of the sawmill industry. This problem can be attributed to social interactions, which are considered influential for cooperation between private forest owners.This paper aims to highlight different groups of private forest owners in Germany and their cooperation based on social interaction. To do so, it refers to the categories of actor-centered institutionalism (ACI) and complements these with symbolic interactionism. Methodologically, the paper is based on a quantitative online survey of 1007 private forest owners in Germany. The survey itself was prepared by the authors and conducted by the pollster firm forsa, Germany in the period from 14 to 29 July 2020. In addition to standard research topics in forest related research, such as family tradition and income generation, the questionnaire also focused on social interaction. A hierarchical cluster analysis based on the values of a principal component analysis (PCA) was used both to ensure a neutral view on the data and to create heterogeneous groups of private forest owners.Four distinct clusters were defined through the cluster analysis: “actively exchanging”, “perceivers”, “uninterested” and “self-referential”. These clusters differ mainly in relation to their preferred forms of social interaction.It can be concluded that not only communication but also social interaction in the form of symbolic interaction has an influence on forest owners' cooperation with FMCs. For forestry practice, this means that in regions where there are currently no FMC members, new members could be won in the future by creating forest management activities that encourage cooperation with FMCs.

Ex-ante impact assessment of land-use zoning decisions on potential wood supply at a regional level – a case study from two provinces in Finland

ABSTRACT An ex-ante impact assessment of land use plans is required in the preparation or revision phase to inform planners and other stakeholders about the possible or likely impacts of the plans. This study presents a method for estimating the quantitative effects of legislative decisions, the forest owner decisions, and a regional land use plan for forest resources and potential wood supply. The uncertainty associated with the interpretation of design codes used in regional land use plans was taken into account in the estimation. The analyses used MELA software, designed to operate on big data sets involving the characteristics of a large forest area. Estimates were produced for the Kainuu and Varsinais-Suomi case study areas in Finland. We observed large differences in the effects of legislative decisions, the forest owner decisions and a regional land use plan on forest resources available for wood supply and potential wood supply between these two provinces. In Varsinais-Suomi private forest owners and companies were affected considerably more than in Kainuu. There was little uncertainty associated with the interpretation of design codes in Kainuu, but the selection of the interpretation set may have a large effect on the estimates in Varsinais-Suomi.