Determinants of Nonindustrial Private Forest Owners’ Willingness to Harvest Timber in Norway

Family forest owners (FFOs) own 48% of Sweden’s productive forest land and are responsible for 59% of the annual gross felling. They are thus important suppliers of raw materials to the forest industry and the energy sector. Environmental goals on the national and international level promote an increased use of renewable resources in order to replace fossil-based fuels, but since the current supply of forest products is already fully utilized by the industry, there is a need to find new types of biomass assortment. One way to increase the biomass supply is to replace traditional pre-commercial thinning operations, where fallen stems are left in the forest to rot, with whole-tree harvesting of small-diameter trees using novel technologies and methods. This will however require willingness of the FFOs to shift their management practices. The objectives of this study were, therefore, to elucidate FFOs’ perceptions of management and thinning operations in young dense forests, identify if there are differences depending on their demographic backgrounds, and clarify which factors could potentially affect their willingness to implement whole-tree harvesting in young dense forests. Data were collected through a survey administered to a random sample of 842 FFOs, with a response rate of 53.4% (n = 450). The results show that FFOs in general are positive towards implementing whole-tree harvesting in young dense stands, and are often also willing to promote the development of suitable stands. Factors such as forest size, geographical location, distance from home to their forest, degree of self-employment and current need for cleaning were found to significantly affect their attitudes. The study highlights that the development of cost efficient harvesting techniques and working methods is important if the industry wants to increase the FFOs’ willingness to engage in whole-tree harvesting in young dense forest stands and thereby increase the supply of biomass.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Family Forest Owners’ Perception of Management and Thinning Operations in Young Dense Forests: A Survey from Sweden

Kronholm

Bengtsson

Bergström

2020

“…This model is centered on the utility theory or the rational choice perspective of behavior, which is based on the premise that people can systematically rank their choices based on their preferences [35]. Recent studies have used this approach to link decisions to the socioeconomic and productive characteristics of forest owners, see [36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. Although in this study the dependent variable does not represent an explicit decision, there is an implicit decision to extract forest products, whether they are wood or non-wood, which would negatively affect the success of the variable in the analysis.…”

Section: The Probit Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying the Determinants of the Increase in Native Forests in Southern Chile

Roco,

Grebe,

Rosales

et al. 2023

In Chile, the native forest has suffered anthropic pressure that has resulted in the reduction in its surface and increased degradation, which has led to the development of public policies to reverse this scenario and encourage its sustainable management and conservation. This study examines the socioeconomic variables that influence the area increase in native forests in southern Chile, based on the analysis of 154 properties in the regions of Los Ríos, La Araucanía and Los Lagos. Georeferenced information from the 2015 SIMEF program survey and the Cadastre and Evaluation of Native Vegetation Resources of Chile were used. A Probit regression model was implemented, which associates a traceable increase in the native forest area with the variables regarding the owner: location, gender, age, schooling, management plan and technical advisory; and regarding the exploitation: farm size, percentage of native forest, scrub and forest plantations of the property and number of animal units. The econometric results show that smaller farms and those located in Los Lagos presented less probability of increasing their native forests. In the same way, an increase in the share of forest plantations area decreases the probability. Conversely, the scrub area share is related to the recovery of native forests in the sample. No significant effects of the variables associated with the implementation of management plans and technical assistance were found.

“…In fact, property size is one of the most frequently used variables in timber harvesting studies, and the majority of studies have confirmed the positive effect of property size on harvesting interest and intensity [21,55,64,67], and on response time [69]. However, Bashir et al [70] found that the forest size and timber harvest intensity are negatively correlated. In addition, forest size was inversely related to timber supply because of the higher productivity and larger growing stock recorded on smaller properties.…”

Section: + + +mentioning

confidence: 99%

Private Forest Owner Characteristics Affect European Spruce Bark Beetle Management under an Extreme Weather Event and Host Tree Density

Groot

Diaci

Kandare

et al. 2021

In the last few decades, an increasing number and intensity of bark beetle outbreaks have plagued the forests of Europe and North America. Bark beetle management is directly related to forest owner characteristics, although this relationship is not well understood. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of forest owner characteristics on the amount and timing of sanitary felling under different disturbance regimes and quantities of Norway spruce. We combined different databases on sanitary felling, the timing of sanitary felling, and forest owner characteristics for Slovenia from 2014 to 2018 and analyzed the amount and timing of sanitary felling in relation to forest owner characteristics. We found that the timing in winter and the amount of sanitary felling were positively associated with the distance of the owner’s residence to the forest parcel. Larger parcels were more affected by bark beetles but did not have later timing of cutting in the summer period as was hypothesized. The timing of sanitary felling decreased with property size, while with the probability of sanitary felling, the effect of property depended on the ice storm and the amount of spruce. The size of the settlement, the permanent address of the private owner, and timing of sanitary felling were positively associated but also depended on the amount of spruce. Gender and age did not have an important influence on the amount and timing of sanitary felling. Forest owners are an important factor in effective bark beetle management. This study highlights the private forest ownership characteristics that should be emphasized in order to fight bark beetle outbreaks in the event of large-scale disturbances. Governments should support forest owners who are at greater risk of bark beetle outbreaks and less efficient in managing outbreaks. Furthermore, landowner characteristics should be included when forecasting bark beetle outbreaks.