a b s t r a c tIn the United States, 35% of the forestland is owned by family forest owners with approximately 0.2% of this land reported to be enrolled in a forest certification system. The current study was conducted to provide insights into factors influencing family forest owners' decisions to certify their lands. The bivariate probit model with sample selection results suggests that receiving professional advice regarding the forestlands and having a written management or stewardship plan had the highest positive marginal effects on awareness of certification programs and participation in these programs. Non-timber objectives had negative marginal effects on awareness of certification programs.

The forest owner's decision regarding when to harvest, based on forest's current worth, is analyzed using the real options approach for a representative Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir stand when the carbon price is stochastic and there is a fire risk. The problem is framed as a linear complementarity problem and solved using the fully implicit finite difference method combined with a penalty method. The fire risk results in lower option values and earlier critical harvesting times, whereas a wider carbon price range ($0–$100 versus $0–$10) produces contrary results and more responsiveness to the parameter changes.