No abstract

Farm forestry has been often linked to family knowledge and needs, and even to local expertise through several generations. Among the several factors that may influence farm forestry, family welfare and support on forest decision making and management are nowadays key arguments to provide a richer and better understanding of the land behaviour of non-industrial private forest owners (NIPFOs). This paper empirically explores and assesses the potential direct effects of the characteristics of the family unit (bequests, household income, forest reinvestments, personal and family labour, logistic resources and professional assistance) on individual forest management in terms of planting, silvicultural and harvesting practices. In March 2004, 103 forest landowners were personally interviewed about their commitment to and involvement in land management during 1999Á2003, considering a forest region in northern Spain. The pattern of land acquisition, household dependence on forest products for self-consumption, the availability of machinery, in addition to family labour force and technical guidance in forestry, are all significantly related to the ability to manage and use forestland as a capital asset. These issues may be essential for advancing research in individual forestry and for improving policy objectives and programmes on forest planning and management within the increasing demands for sustainable forestry and rural development.

Since the adoption of European Union Council Directive 92/43 on the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora, some opposition has arisen among owners and managers of land affected by the directive. Some studies have indicated that some of this opposition has found expression in subsequent arson fires in these areas. This article analyses the occurrence of arson fires in the SACs (Special Areas of Conservation) included in the European ecological network, Natura 2000, in Galicia (Spain), more specifically in the montes vecinales en mano común (MVMCs), which are privately owned collective lands. We tested whether the declaration of SACs had a statistical impact on the forest fire regime in the period 1999–2014. The analyses focused on the sub-periods of 1999–2004 and 2005–2014, i.e., before and after the approval of the list of sites of community importance in the study area in December 2004. The results obtained show that, after the declaration of protection, there was a statistically significant increase in the area burnt by fire in these areas, mainly on private estates. We also found that the percentage of arson fires after 2004 was higher in SACs than in other territorial units. We found that the percentage of arson fires was reduced less in SACs than in other territorial units. Furthermore, we found that the area burnt per fire after 2004 in SACs was almost double that in the MVMC-SACs (12.04 ha versus 6.64 ha), so it can be concluded that the conservationist policies of the Natura 2000 network in Galicia have not had a positive effect on the forest fire regime.