Forest Owner Types Research Articles

Forest Owners\u2019 Willingness to Implement Measures to Safeguard Biodiversity: Values, Attitudes, Ecological Worldview and Forest Ownership Objectives

The effective implementation and development of conservation schemes to which participation of forest owners is voluntary, requires an understanding of forest owners’ views on measures to safeguard forest biodiversity. The Forest Biodiversity Program for Southern Finland is currently the most important instrument of voluntary forest conservation in Finland. The aim of this study is to explore what kind of methods the forest owners are willing to implement to safeguard biodiversity in their own forests and to identify forest owner groups based on these views. The aim is also to compare forest owners’ values, attitudes, endorsement of an ecological worldview and objectives for forest ownership as well as the background characteristics in these groups. The data were collected in 2015, by a nationwide mail survey sent to 3000 Finnish family forest owners (n = 1035). Five forest owner types were identified: Conservationists, Moderate conservationists, Compensation oriented, Promoters of biodiversity through forest management and Uninterested. Previous experience of implementation of voluntary measures to safeguard biodiversity and positive attitudes towards conservation were important in explaining the willingness to adopt conservation measures. The results can be utilized in developing voluntary conservation programs and in targeting advisory services related to biodiversity protection to different forest owner groups more accurately. The results support the need for flexible voluntary conservation programs, including a large variety of mechanisms to protect nature values in family owned forests.

Optimizing the Tending of Forest Stands with Interactive Decision Maps to Balance the Financial Incomes and Ecological Risks according to Owner Demands: Case Study in Rakovník, the Czech Republic

Sustainability and the optimal provision of the various ecosystem services is an essential task in forest management. In this study, we deal with the optimization of forest tending to achieve the maximal long-term provision of financial incomes from wood at a minimal level of ecological risks for selected small ownership unit. The methods of interactive decision maps and reasonable goals (IDM/RGM) were connected with a modern forest growth simulator to investigate the four-dimensional optimization space and to produce the complete set of Pareto optimal solutions. The four different types of forest owners as potential decision-makers were simulated, and precise management goals in multidimensional target space were defined. Then, the optimal tending system for each forest owner in three stands, differing by the degree of the naturalness of the species composition, was detected. The multi-criteria analysis suggests that predominantly economically oriented forest management still prevails in the Czech and Slovak Republics, which can be as a source of conflicts among forest owners and other stakeholders. The existence of trade-offs between biodiversity, ecological stability and wood production and different owners’ demands must be taken into account. The possibility of balancing the management risks and wood provision according to the owner’s and other stakeholders’ demands with the aid of the easy-to-apply IDM/RGM methods (and the careful assistance of a specialist experienced in multi-criteria optimization) was introduced. At the same time, the application of real integrative management in small forest areas was demonstrated in practice. After the change of paradigm in forest management, the applied methods should prevent increasing conflicts among owners and society in former socialist countries, which have undergone a fundamental transformation in terms of forest ownership in recent decades.

Do Environmental Worldviews and Distrust Influence Action for Adaptation to Environmental Change Among Small-Scale Woodland Managers?

Forest and woodland owners and managers are generally perceived to be acting slowly in addressing environmental change by adapting their forestry practice. Diversification of tree species composition and stand structure is widely promoted as one adaptive approach to increasing the resilience of forests to climate change and other threats. Land manager behaviour is known to be affected by structural and psychological barriers to action. This study used data from a national survey and qualitative interviews among different types of forest owners and managers in the UK, including large- and small-scale woodland managers, to explore their intention to make changes to their forest management and the uptake of species diversification as an adaptation practice. The revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) was applied as a measure of worldview, which helped to explain some aspects of their decisions to take up diversification as an action to increase resilience. There were significant interactions between NEP and discredence—i.e. distrust in science or policy recommendations—and woodland size and the uptake of diversification. Many small-scale woodland managers hold strong ecological worldviews which can act against active adaptation because of a belief in the power of nature to adapt, or a mistrust of applying recommendations which might represent “doing the wrong thing”. Research and policy processes that involve owners and managers are more likely to incorporate these climate change rationalities and adaptation logics. The framing, salience and robustness of climate change adaptation information emerges as important for all forest owners and managers and requires additional attention by scientists and policy makers.

Forest Owner Objectives Typologies: Instruments for Each Owner Type or Instruments for Most Owner Types?

The extensive literature on non-industrial private forest owner typologies often assumes that different forest owner types will respond to different policy instruments according to shared forest ownership objectives. Forest owner typologies using principal component analysis and subsequent k-means clustering techniques are now prolific. The surprisingly little empirical work linking forest owner objectives typologies with forest owner opinions or experiences of different policy instruments, however, shows ambiguous support for recommended targeting efforts. This study uses standard tools of analysis to investigate the relationship between private forest owners’ ownership objectives and their opinions on forest conservation policy instruments. Results show some statistically significant, but in absolute terms weak relationships between ownership objectives and Sweden’s command and control green tree retention measures, participation in voluntary forest stewardship certification, acceptance of a hypothetical financial incentive, and overall interest in taking more environmentally beneficial forest management measures. These results suggest the benefits of targeting different kinds of instruments to different kinds of ownership objectives may be limited.

Forest owner objectives typologies: Instruments for each owner type or instruments for most owner types?

The extensive literature on non-industrial private forest owner typologies often assumes that different forest owner types will respond to different policy instruments according to shared forest ownership objectives. Forest owner typologies using principal component analysis and subsequent k-means clustering techniques are now prolific. The surprisingly little empirical work linking forest owner objectives typologies with forest owner opinions or experiences of different policy instruments, however, shows ambiguous support for recommended targeting efforts. This study uses standard tools of analysis to investigate the relationship between private forest owners' ownership objectives and their opinions on forest conservation policy instruments. Results show some statistically significant, but in absolute terms weak relationships between ownership objectives and Sweden's command and control green tree retention measures, participation in voluntary forest stewardship certification, acceptance of a hypothetical financial incentive, and overall interest in taking more environmentally beneficial forest management measures. These results suggest the benefits of targeting different kinds of instruments to different kinds of ownership objectives may be limited.

IT-based mobilization of milieu-bound forest owners: Bi-production of innovative tools by research and practice

Despite numerous policy efforts the number of inactive small private forest owners is growing. In this persistent problem the existing research in private forest owners provides little support. We suggest a now approach in “IT-based activating of forest owners” which applies bi-production of forest policy research and IT-practices. The weaknesses of the existing research about European forest owners is proved by a literature review revealing that either the theory of behavior or the designed types of forest owners are too weak to identify relevant factors driving forest owners activities. The IT-based activating approach combines forest policy research with IT-practices. Forest policy research provides data about milieus of forest owners. The IT-practice designs and runs a platform which catches the attention of forest owners based on milieus as a starter for communicating facts about forest management and management services. The German example of the “Waldhilfe” illustrates the innovative approach and reveals some risks of the basically promising concept.

Research trends: Forest ownership in multiple perspectives

Research on forest ownership has received growing attention in recent years, particularly in relation to the effects of restitution processes in former socialist countries, emerging new forest owner types, trends towards fragmentation of ownership structures, and questions related to the steady supply of forest industries with raw materials. Literature reviews indicate that despite the profound impact of different ownership categories on the actual forest management and fulfilment of policy goals, the aspect of ownership is rarely included in research on forest management or forest policy. Future research should first develop a more differentiated picture of legal forest ownership categories and owner types, going beyond a simple dichotomy of public and private ownership forms, and beyond simplified typologies such as non-traditional, urban or absentee forest owners. Second, it should tackle the question how the form of ownership relates to forest management and the provision of goods and services, and the extent to which new management approaches are needed for different owner types. Thirdly, it should ask about effective support structures for forest owners such as advisory services and other policy instruments, including how policy goals could be best achieved in consideration of different ownership forms and how different owner types could be best supported in their needs. In addition to broaden the empirical knowledge base across countries and development trends over time, we state a need for stronger theoretical foundations of and innovative conceptual approaches for forest ownership research that proactively grasp future anticipations.

Integrating intangible resources enables creating new types of forest services - developing forest leasing value network in Finland

Emergence of more urban forest owners who live far from their forests challenges not only policies but also businesses for how to engage owners to active forest management. This study explores the opportunities of how exchanging and integrating intangible resources in collaborator networks may enable designing new types of forest services. To that end, the study scrutinizes the value network of a potential forest leasing service for family forests. Service-dominant logic and the concept of value network framed the analysis, which is based on semi-structured interviews with 12 Finnish forerunners and experts in private forestry. The results highlight the mediating role of the integrator (tenant or consultant). The value network offers novel value propositions via exchanging intangible benefits, i.e. trust, expertise, easiness, and communication. Main actors and operations already exist in Finland: integrating intangible resources (=working in reciprocal business networks) in creating new kind of forest services may serve new forest owner types and their emerging needs better and more flexibly. Companies' capability to convert information and knowledge to exchangeable deliverables within the value network will determine their competitive advantage in future. The task for forest policy is to enable open forest and landowner data for the novel service concepts. Further research is suggested to introduce novel value cocreating business logic to forest services in general.

Forest owner behavioral models, policy changes, and forest management. An agent-based framework for studying the provision of forest ecosystem goods and services at the landscape level

In this paper, we develop an interdisciplinary agent-based framework for studying the provision of forest ecosystem goods and services (ES) at the landscape level. It combines forest owner types and their behavioral models with forest decision support systems (DSS). For this, we draw on mainstream decision-making theories in social sciences and relevant empirical evidence from Europe and beyond to suggest how economic, sociological and psychological rationalities can be combined to build a typology and behavioral models of forest owner decision-making including responsiveness to policy and socioeconomic changes. We then discuss how the theory-driven and evidence-based behavioral models in combination with forest owner and forest management insights can be used to analyze forest management behavior and responsiveness to policy and socioeconomic developments. By comparing standard forest DSS modeling results to exemplary results using the agent-based framework in terms of long-term simulations of timber production and biodiversity conservation in a case study in Sweden, we illustrate how the framework accounts for more differentiated and more realistic forest management practices at the forest landscape level. We discuss how the agent-based framework also helps explore and explain the impacts of future policy and socioeconomic changes on the provision of forest ES. We then suggest directions for future research that can further develop the framework and its use in forest modeling and DSS to better analyze the impact of future developments on forest management and the provision of forest ES at the landscape level.

Application of multi criteria analysis methods for a participatory assessment of non-wood forest products in two European case studies

With the advent of the European bioeconomy and a shift in lifestyle among European citizens, non-wood forest products (NWFPs) are given more attention in the public debate. Their potential to strengthen the economic viability of rural economies appears to be high, particularly in regions where wood is not the most profitable forest product. However, information on NWFP production potentials are scarce and tools to support forest owners in decision making about NWFP management are rarely available. Considering the complex relationships between a sustained production of NWFPs, the use of the available ecological resources, as well as the organizational and the market potential of forest management regimes, we introduce a knowledge-based expert model for supporting NWFP management. In a mixed-method approach qualitative and quantitative techniques are combined to depict regional production and business potentials of NWFPs, explicitly addressing different environmental and socio-economic contexts. For the model building multi-criteria analysis methods were used for preference elicitations in an iterative form, including stakeholders and experts. Within two distinct case study settings (i.e. Austria and Finland) the expert model is tested for applicability and to depict the most suitable option from a suite of selected NWFPs. Results for both case studies well reflect current NWFP business potentials and provide insights to the opportunities of mixing more resilient and more risky NWFPs to a solid regional business portfolio, fostering the co-production of wood and non-wood resources. The approach presented has a potential to steer the mindset of different forest owner types to critically revise their interests in forest management. It could act as an eye-opener for forestry-oriented stakeholders who have not yet considered NWFPs as potential assets in forest management systems. With its ability to include various NWFPs and to consider different forest owner preferences, future applications can be tailored towards the needs of both small-scale (non-industrial) forest owners and bigger forest holdings.

Forest Landscape Development Scenarios (FoLDS)–A framework for integrating forest models, owners' behaviour and socio-economic developments

The FoLDS framework presented in this paper is set up to develop scenarios for forested landscapes with a transparent connection between the broad-scale developments in socio-economic factors and the ecosystem services provided. The forests that provide these ecosystem services are managed by a multitude of forest owners. Different forest owners have their own objectives and will thus adjust their forest management differently to socio-economic developments. The FoLDS framework breaks down the connection from socio-economic developments to the landscape level in three steps. In the first step, a structure is provided for deciding on scenarios combining the socio-economic factors that have most influence on forest owners. In the second step, the scenarios are translated to the distribution of forest management approaches in the landscape by invoking a behavioural matrix of forest owner types and forest management decisions. The third step involves the implementation of these forest management approaches in a forest modelling tool that is tailored to the specific landscape at hand. The results of these calculations are then translated to a set of indicators for the ecosystem services of interest. A survey among researchers experienced with the FoLDS framework indicates that there is an added value in systematically including both qualitative and quantitative scenario methods for forested landscapes.

Impact of Changes in the Sociological Characteristics of Small-Scale Forest Owners on Timber Harvesting Behavior in Quebec, Canada

Owing to the economic, social and environmental impacts associated with timber harvesting by small-scale forest owners, a number of studies have characterized their profiles, motivations and activities at a given time. However, little research has focused on how timber production has been affected by changes in the prevalence of types of forest owners over time. A 2012 telephone survey of Quebec (Canada) small-scale forest owners reveals relationships between level of harvesting and socio-demographic factors, and an evolution of these factors by examining the results of surveys conducted in 1973 and 1985. Within the same population, property size, distance between owners’ forest and homes, possession of a forest management plan, gender, education level, the length of ownership are correlated with how likely respondents were to harvest timber on their forest. Furthermore, comparison with results from previous surveys of the same population show an increase in the prevalence of characteristics associated with owners who place less importance on timber harvesting in their management decisions. Overall, since the initial survey of forest owners conducted in 1973, the size of forest holdings in Quebec has decreased, respondents’ education level has improved and the proportion of forests owned by women have increased. However, these changes are occurring at a relatively slow rate, giving government authorities time to implement policies to encourage harvesting among the new generation of forest owners.

Owner mapping for forest scenario modelling — A Lithuanian case study

Ample research on private forest owners (PFOs) has established high heterogeneity in owners' objectives, motivations and management decisions. Such heterogeneity is, however, rarely taken into account in forest scenario modelling. This study, in contrast, conducts a detailed forest owner mapping that feeds into simulations of ecosystem services (ES) under alternative future scenarios. First, we identify four private forest owner types (FOT) – Forest Businessmen, Household Foresters, Passive Forest Lovers, and Ad Hoc Owners through in-depth interviews and qualitative analyses on a case study area in western Lithuania. Next, each forest estate and forest compartment is assigned a FOT by combining the property registry and forest characteristics with opinions of two types of local experts: state forest managers and inspectors from the State Forest Service. Third, a set of forest management (FM) programmes is specified using field interviews and desktop research, FM records, and expert judgement for each forest compartment. Finally, ES provision is projected using a behavioural matrix combining management styles of FOTs with details of FM programmes. We simulate the dynamics of profits from forestry activities, accumulated carbon in live biomass and tree species diversity under a reference scenario without substantial changes; and a policy intervention scenario. The study demonstrates that treating forest owners as a homogenous group overestimates profits from timber and underestimates the provision of the other analysed ES, potentially misinforming policy decisions.

Private Forest Owner Typologies in Slovenia and Serbia: Targeting Private Forest Owner Groups for Policy Implementation

Forestry decision-makers in Slovenia and Serbia share common objectives: development of a more coherent policy for private forests and involvement of different ownership groups in policy deliberation and development, as well as increased management levels in private forests that are currently below their productive potential. Successful achievement of these objectives in both countries requires a range of policy tools. The research objective of this study was to identify and describe private forest owner types in Slovenia and Serbia based on various criteria (forest management objectives; participation in private forest owner associations; cooperation with other private forest owners and the public forest administration; performing forest harvesting activities) and to suggest a combination of policy instruments to target each private forest owner group. Surveys were conducted in Slovenia (n = 322) and Serbia (n = 248) on random samples of private forest owners. Survey data were analysed using a two-step cluster analysis. Four groups of private forest owners were identified in Slovenia: active (26.1 %), passive (33.2 %), multiobjective (18.6 %) and uninterested (22.0 %). Two were identified in Serbia: active (32.6 %) and multiobjective (67.4 % ). Existing policy instruments referring to private forests in Slovenia and Serbia are rather similar and formulated in the respective forest policy documents at the national level. However, there are no policy instruments in either country targeting specific private forest owner groups. Based on smart regulation as a specific conceptual approach, an appropriate mix of policy instruments is proposed, which includes various measures designed to target the identified private forest owner types.

Sustainable, Safe and Secure Human Food Production through Circadian Probiotic Optimization of Rumen Fermentation: A Farsighted Realm

The institutional environment in which different actors of the forestry sector transact is in constant change. Some of the institutional change can be explained through mental models and ideologies [1]. All these processes have also influenced the management of private forests. Non-industrial private forest owners are often classified to a limited number of forest owner types. Such classifications usually have problems with some owners not belonging to any type identified. Problems may occur also with owners recognized as “a new type of owners” because private forest owners are rather individual and dynamic in their ownership, management objectives and decisions. Despite these drawbacks these kind of classifications could be very useful in understanding them and their behaviour. Private forest owners have quite diverse set of motives and approaches to forest management and this might not be always sufficiently taken into account in designing forest policy tools [2]. Furthermore, any narrow policy approach accompanied with strict rules, and focusing on technical details/issues might lead to a non-compliance with national forestry objectives. For example several management-related problems may arise in forestry, e.g. low efforts of reforestation, lack of interest in stand development or low harvesting rates. This is often the case in post-socialist countries as there is still an imbalance between the state and private sector which leads to lower concern in private activities and to problems of implementing the national policies [3]. All these processes have diversified research approaches to private forestry.

The current state of forest management in cities and associated problems in the Mazowieckie Province

Abstract The article presents research on the management and supervision of forests located within cities in the Mazowieckie Province. The information was obtained: from questionnaires sent to all 85 city authorities in the province. The questions were related to organization and supervision of forests, forest management and protection, recreational management and financing of forests, as well as main problems associated with the management of urban forests. The research indicated that forests, which altogether cover more than 10% of city area, have a very important function, despite the forest area per resident being very small. The difficulties in forest management may arise due to their highly fragmented distribution as well as the mixture of many different types of forest owners. Moreover, communal forests in the province’s smaller towns lack proper management and protection structures and lack recreational facilities as local infrastructure is poorly developed. These sort of activities are conducted only in larger municipalities. Most of the non-state owned forests within cities have simplified forest management plans, which counts as a big plus for the Mazowieckie Province when considered in the context of the whole country. Certain measures should be taken to improve the condition of urban forests in the Mazowieckie Province, and serve to preserve and protection these forests. It is fundamental that city governments should cooperate with as wide as possible a circle of interested parties, to undertake common activities in forests of various ownership types located within each given urban area. Additionally, all feasible sources of financing should be considered.

Ensuring the validity of private forest owner typologies by controlling for response style bias and the robustness of statistical methods

In survey-based segmentation of forest owners, two threats to the validity of results have largely been ignored: (1) response style bias and (2) the robustness of the statistical methods. This study demonstrates response style bias detection, presents an approach for correcting for acquiescence – the systematic tendency to agree with survey items, and explores the sensitivity of a probabilistic clustering algorithm to requirements for the validity of the typology. Structural equation modeling and Monte Carlo data generation techniques were employed to detect acquiescence and estimate its effect on construct validity. A survey of the relevance of management information for private forest owners (N = 364) was used as an example. Although acquiescence was confirmed, it had minor effect on the results and no effect on the substantive construct. Uncertainty about the number of forest owner types and membership can be reduced by using probabilistic clustering and observing the number of clusters while changing the requirements for the validity of clusters. The expectation maximization algorithm proved to be robust even to stringent requirements for the validity of clusters. By controlling for response style and the robustness of statistical methods, the validity of private forest owner typologies can be better ensured.

Rural Governance, Forestry, and the Promotion of Local Knowledge: The Case of the German Rural Development Program ‘Active Regions’

This article investigates the role of local knowledge in the policy approach of neo-endogenous rural development, which may be held by local and regional actors such as municipal and county level politicians, local and regional level administration, entrepreneurs as well as local third sector representatives. The main question addressed is whether local knowledge under this approach is merely mobilised or if rural development processes are even based on such knowledge, placing it at the centre of such policy. The relevance of this approach to forestry is also explored. The types of forest owners for which the neo-endogenous rural development approach is appropriate and the types that may have difficulties in coping with this cross-sectoral and area-based approach are especially examined. Using a case study design on the German Active Regions funding program it is shown that the neo-endogenous approach is most relevant to large private forest owners and small-scale corporate enterprises, but also has potential for small- and medium-sized private owners. Concerning the role of knowledge held by local and regional actors, the approach is shown to largely build on the use of local expertise, and hence policy acceptance increases. However, scientific knowledge as well as politics are found to play a major role in the use, production and interpretation of local knowledge.

Typology building for owner-specific policies and communications to advance forest conversion in small pine plantations

The research described in this paper attempted to identify approaches likely to be most effective for encouraging owners of small pine plantations to engage in conversion management. We started from the recognition of the evolving heterogeneity of forest ownership and the subsequent need to tailor policies and communications to the various types of forest owners. The focus was on small forest owners in secondary pine plantations in Flanders (northern part of Belgium). Using cluster analysis of survey data ( n = 276) a typology was developed based on the motivations of ownership. In addition, an intuitive owner typology was developed based on qualitative data (interviews with key informants and focus groups with forest owners), which proved to be a useful refinement and extension of the cluster analysis. The identification of motivational categories of forest owners is an important first step in understanding this diverse audience, but typology building alone is not a sufficient base enough for targeting recommendations for practice. The focus groups enabled to gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding about factors that encourage or constrain owners’ engagement in active forest management, and forest conversion in particular. The paper concludes with demonstrating how typology building can help identify and discuss owner-specific policies and communications to advance forest conversion on private land.

Osapuolten välinen yhteistyö yksityismetsien suunnittelussa

Co-operation in forest planning processes for non-industrial private forestry The study includes seven articles. The aim is to describe the regional co-operation network and co-operation practices with stakeholders and forest owners in forest planning processes. The study focuses on the regional forestry programme process and regional forest management planning, which also produces the majority of holding-level forest management plans in Finland. The research methods applied include quantitative survey, formal network analysis, qualitative content analysis, and cognitive mapping. Quantitative results were synthesised using multi dimensional scaling, principal component and clustering analysis. Advocacy orientation was found to be a distinctive feature of the forestry network of Finland’s northern Forest Centres. Theese non-industrial-private-forestry-oriented organizations played the foremost role in the network, and they shared the same opinions about forestry. Environmental organizations, on the other hand, were not involved in the regional forestry programme process in the way they wanted to be involved. This was the case despite a lot effort having been put into the participative policy process as part of the regional forestry programme. The planners taking part in regional forest planning mainly followed the information exchange and marketing oriented co-operation, while having regular contacts almost only with local forest management associations and forest-industry companies. When management plans were constructed for non-industrial private forest owners, the degree of interaction between forest owners and planners varied a lot depending on the forest owners’ interests and the practical constraints that the planners had in implementing interaction. Three types of forest owners were found according to their interaction with the forest planner: multi-objective-learners, multi-objective influential, and economically oriented trusters. The results call for a problem analysis phase to be developed at the beginning of the planning process for adapting the planning process for the owner-specific startingpoints. Some suggestions for developing forest management planning are also presented. The regional forest programme process could follow the principles of collaborative and open participation. In future, more attention should be put on the timing, legitimisation, representativeness, and decision-making procedures of the processes. The co-operation procedures applied in regional forest management planning could focus on information guidance, be situation dependent, and be agreed upon with forest owners. Thus, the main development needs involve dealing with clarification of the roles of society-driven regional data collection and estate specific management planning, and consciousness about optional co-operation needs and procedures.