Private forest owners' management decisions significantly impact the development of forest values in Sweden. This study explored the potential to develop environmental values on privately owned land ...in southern Sweden. Data were collected through interviews with 23 forest owners and analyzed with semantic content analysis. The interviewees owned estates of productive, predominantly coniferous forest ranging in size from 10-825 ha. They were aged 36-84, and 26% were female. Results showed that there is considerable potential to develop environmental values on private land since 1) Forest owners demonstrated multi-functional views of primarily social and emotional dimensions surrounding forest ownership, and the mindset of combining goals enables many different values to be developed, 2) Desired management showed numerous ideas that could bring a diversity of benefits, and 3) Practical management included various production-favoring measures, but even more for environmental, social, cultural, and emotional purposes that, largely unnoted, bring environmental conservation benefits. All forest owners perceived barriers to management and ownership, categorized primarily to structural or surrounding society factors. Financial incentives, policies encouraging forest owners' initiatives, an adequate supply of resources and sound management advice are suggested measures to reduce barriers and facilitate the development of environmental values.
Prescribed burning is important for the ecological health of fire-dependent forests, however, there is little economic research examining landowner preferences for living with fire in the age of the ...Anthropocene. To understand the value of reintroducing fire on the landscape we assessed forest owner willingness to pay (WTP) for various prescribed fire programs in Pennsylvania, where natural fire occurs infrequently. Survey responses were collected from 243 forest owners using Likert scales and choice experiment questions resulting in a 44% response rate. Most respondents were classified as having limited experience with prescribed fire, but many also had low risk perceptions about prescribed fire and high trust in prescribed fire implementors. A majority (66%) elected to enroll in at least one of 16 proposed burn programs and almost a quarter of landowners were willing to pay up to $200 per acre. Using mixed logistic regression methods, mean WTP was estimated to range from $11 to $19 per acre, but varied significantly under different program alternatives. Respondents overall preferred programs that helped maintain ecosystem health and biodiversity, and offered cost-share, reduced liability, and access to burn bosses. Demographic characteristics were also important predictors of enrollment (i.e., income level, age, and involvement in assistance programs). We conclude that forest owners in Pennsylvania see prescribed fire as potentially helping them meet priority management objectives and supporting cultural values about forest stewardship. Technical and financial assistance for forest owners will be important for expanding the use of prescribed fire in Pennsylvania.
•Most forest landowners (66%) elected to enroll in at least one of 16 proposed burn programs.•Landowners mean willingness to pay (WTP) for using prescribed fire ranged from $11 to $19/acre.•About 22% of landowners were willing to pay up to $200/acre.•Most landowners had low knowledge of prescribed fire but had low risk perception and high trust in fire implementors.•Factors related to higher WTP were maintaining ecosystem health, cost-share, reduced liability, and access to burn bosses.
•Studying Indiana FFOs can help understand how FFOs control invasive plants broadly.•FFOs are moderately familiar with and concerned about invasive plant control.•FFOs learn to manage invasive plants ...on their own without much professional input.•Government-NGO partnerships may be useful to promote FFO invasive plant management.•Strategies are needed to promote FFO collective actions to control invasive plants.
Effectively managing invasive plants across forested landscapes requires voluntary control by 10.7 million family forest owners (FFOs) who own 36% of forestlands in the USA. The literature on individual and collective invasive plant management has focused on farmers, ranchers, urban gardeners and community residents, with less attention on forestlands and the role of FFOs. By analyzing survey data from 1422 FFOs in Indiana, USA, we provide a thorough assessment of their awareness, perceptions, behaviors and intentions towards invasive plants; as well as their needs and challenges. In our study, FFOs reported moderate familiarity with, concern about, and interest in invasive plant control on and around their properties. Despite a lack of confidence in their ability to manage invasive plants, FFOs reported having taken actions on the ground, including inspecting their woodlands, talking to their families and other landowners, and removing invasive plants, all without much input from natural resource professionals. Most FFOs relied on self-directed learning and social networks for invasive plant-related information and advice. They generally had little or no experience or interest in interacting with natural resource professionals. This suggests a need for natural resource professionals to refocus their efforts on developing communication strategies to target specific segments of FFOs, stronger online presence to facilitate self-directed learning, and partnerships with non-profit organizations trusted by FFOs to encourage self-organization and sharing of information and resources. These results from Indiana provide important insights for engaging FFOs to manage invasive plants more broadly.
In the US South, private forest landowners own the majority of timberland; therefore, understanding the timber supply behavior of these landowners is a fundamental forest economic question. This ...study estimates the pine stumpage supply equations and elasticities of private landowners in TimberMart-South (TMS) regions. It uses individual landowner pine stumpage (sawtimber, pulpwood, and Chip-N-Saw CNS) sales data from 2010 to 2019 and employs the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) to estimate supply elasticities. Over the study period, nominal sawtimber stumpage price has decreased, while CNS stumpage and pulpwood stumpage prices have not effectively changed. The SUR estimate results revealed that pine sawtimber (2.452) and CNS (1.675) stumpage supply were price elastic, while pine pulpwood stumpage supply was price inelastic (0.352). Furthermore, there was a significant and negative effect of sawtimber price on pulpwood and CNS volume supplied and vice-versa, however, the effect of the former was larger in magnitude. This study provides not only a nuanced understanding of landowners' supply elasticities of three principal stumpage products but also a valuable empirical basis to better understand the market outcomes and welfare changes that market participants might experience due to new policies and market shocks.
•Timber supply from private landowners in the US South is price responsive.•Pine sawtimber stumpage supply is more price elastic than pine pulpwood and chip-n-saw stumpage supply.•The cross-price elasticity of timber stumpage supply is significant.
Women forest owners represent a large share of non-industrial private forest owners in Western countries. Gender affects many aspects of forest ownership, and women are underrepresented in forestry, ...forest organisations and forestry practices. The objective of this study is to improve the understanding of women forest owners' objectives and their relationship with socio-demographic attributes. The study reports the results of a subsample of women forest owners (n = 3066) in a survey of Finnish forest owners conducted in 2019 as part of the Finnish Forest Owner 2020 research project. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a new five-dimensional objective structure. In addition to two more traditional economic and income-related dimensions, the analysis also identified the dimensions of recreation and leisure time, heritage, and aesthetics and conservation. This indicates that women forest owners' objectives are more diverse than those of men. Investigation of the impact of socio-economic attributes, education, income, residential area, place of residence and the manner in which the forest was obtained revealed significant differences. The results help us understand women forest owners and their objectives and differences, enabling better designed policies and services that can engage a wider base of forest owners. Engaging all forest owners regardless of gender or the nature of their objectives is important to safeguard the viability and acceptability of the forest sector in Finland and to ensure that Finnish forests are managed in a way that reflects the needs and wishes of society and forest owners.
•A five-dimensional forest owner objective structure based on women forest owners is reported for the first time.•Women forest owners have more diverse objectives than males.•Socio-economic attributes impact forest ownership structure.•Gendering and “doing gender” can be seen in forest owners objectives.•Using established quantitative instruments to measure forest owner objectives may fail to identify novel objectives.
Developing agroforestry systems in private forests is expected to increase productivity. This study aims to determine the appropriate agroforestry design for Falcataria moluccana-based private ...forests in Central Lombok Regency. Three intercrop species were tested: small taro (Colocasia esculenta), ginger (Zingiber officinale), and vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Andrews). This study was established using a completely randomized design. The three planting combinations were examined in three replications for a total of nine test plots: F. moluccana+vanilla+small taro (FmVT), F. moluccana+vanilla+ginger (FmVG), and F. moluccana+vanilla+ginger+small taro (FmVGT). Each test plot was 10 x 10 m and was located at 3 x 3 m spacing under a 3-year-old F. moluccana stand. The measured variables were crop survival rates, plant yields, and microclimatic data. The correlation between the variables was examined using the Pearson Product Moment, Duncan's advanced multiple range test (DMRT), and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The market price was used to determine the crop's economic value. The best agroforestry design was based on the economic value of crop production and the land equivalent ratio. The results indicated that the combination of F. moluccana, vanilla, ginger, and small taro, which generated an additional income of IDR 11,851,250 ha-1 a year, should be widely promoted and adopted.
Are the forest conservation practices sustained after Payment for Environmental Services (PES) programmes end? Using a sample of 268 (former) PES recipients and non-recipients from the Budongo-Bugoma ...PES programme in Western Uganda, we employ the before-after-control–intervention (difference-in-difference) approach to estimate the PES programme outcome on their privately owned forests. PES is associated with less deforestation during the operational period, but the link has vanished four years after programme termination. We label this weak permanence, i.e., PES recipients abandon the induced practices soon after the programme ended, but the gains (relatively higher forest cover) during the operational period are maintained. We also find that household and contextual variables are important in explaining PES permanence: low levels of agricultural land and remoteness from agricultural markets weaken PES permanence. Therefore monetary payments alone may be insufficient for lasting forest conservation. Integrating PES with other approaches, such as climate-smart agriculture may result in more permanent reductions in deforestation.
•We investigate the permanence of PES, for reducing deforestation on private land•PES contributes to less deforestation, but the induced good practices do not last•Low agricultural landholding and remoteness from markets weaken PES permanence•Integrating PES with agricultural productivity, may enhance PES permanence.
For policy implementation to promote better stewardship on family forestlands, it is necessary to understand what motivates landowners. This study characterizes family forest owners in Alabama, ...Georgia, and South Carolina, based on their feelings about forest stewardship and their stated reasons for owning forestland. Multivariate cluster analysis suggests that family forest owners are, in fact, a diverse set of owners who can be grouped into three attitudinal types, namely, multiple-objective, nontimber, and timber. The multiple-objective ownership type was found to be the largest group (49.1% of respondents) with almost half the family forest owners in the sample population belonging to this category. Owners belonging to the timber cluster (29.4%) indicated only timber management and land investment as strong motivating factors behind their forestland ownership, whereas owners belonging to the nontimber cluster (21.5%) value the nonconsumptive uses of their forestland such as aesthetic values, biodiversity, recreation, and privacy.
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