Family Forest Ownerships of the United States, 2013: Findings from the USDA Forest Service's National Woodland Owner Survey

Abstract

There are an estimated 10.7 million family forest ownerships across the United States who collectively control 36% or 290 million acres of the nation's forestland. The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) provides information on the characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of these ownerships. Between 2011 and 2013, 8,576 randomly selected family forest ownerships with at least 10 acres of forestland participated in the NWOS. Results show: amenity values are the dominant reasons for owning; owners tend to be active on their land, but most are not engaged in traditional forestry programs; and owners are relatively old. Although the general ownership patterns and reasons for owning are the same between the 2002-2006 and current iterations of the NWOS, participation in some management activities changed (some increased and some decreased) and the percentage of female primary decisionmakers increased.Keywords: private forest owners, nonindustrial private forest owners, attitudes, behaviors, demographics, management, trends T he United States is endowed with an estimated 816 million acres of forestland (Butler et al. 2016b) that provide society with myriad benefits, ranging from clean water to recreational opportunities to fiber supply. These lands exist within a social context that helps define what goods and services are produced and who benefits from them. One important component of this social context is the ownership of the resource. It is the owners who ultimately decide, within the context of biophysical, social, political, and financial constraints and opportunities, whether the land will be forested, whether and how it will be managed, and what, if any, timber harvesting or other resource extraction will be allowed.The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program is legislatively directed to "make and keep current a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the present and prospective conditions…of the forests and rangelands of the United States" (PL 93-378). As part of this charge, FIA conducts the National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) 1 as a social complement to its plot-based forest inventory program. The objectives of the NWOS are to provide national-, regional-, and state-level information on:• Who owns the forests?• Why do they own them?• What have they done with these lands in the past? • What do they plan to do with these lands in the future? • How have these characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors changed over time?The NWOS covers all private forest ownerships in the United States, but the focus of this article is on family forest ownerships with 10 acres or more of forestland. These ownerships are the focus because of the large amount of land they own, the large number of them, the diversity of their ownership objectives, activities, and management practices, and the fact that they are the target of many forestry programs and policies. Ownerships with less than 10 acres are excluded because these are ...

Timber harvest as the predominant disturbance regime in northeastern U.S. forests: effects of harvest intensification

“…, Butler et al. ). Landowner decision‐making has significant reach as 80% of forest land in the northeastern United States is in private ownership (Thompson et al.…”

Ecosystem Service Supply and Capacity on U.S. Family Forestlands

“…0596-0078). Additional information on the 2011-2013 NWOS methods (including estimation) and non-response bias assessment are available in Butler et al [2,15]. Tables containing the complete set of estimated data used in this article have been published and are freely available as Butler et al [1].…”

“…Analyses of NWOS data have tended to exclude FFOs owning less than 4 ha because smaller parcels commonly consist of wooded residential lots and are rarely suitable for traditional forestry activities or programs [2]. We acknowledge, however, that small parcels may provide important cultural, regulating, and supporting services (as well as, for that matter, some provisioning services).…”

“…The NWOS does not include any questions that specifically address the production of non-recreational cultural services. However, FFOs acknowledge a number of additional cultural services as important reasons for why they own forested land, services such as aesthetics (beauty/scenery) and privacy; these reasons are consistently identified as being of greater importance than timber production or revenue generation [2]. Consequently, policies and programs intended to improve flows of provisioning (e.g., wood production), regulating (e.g., carbon sequestration, watershed protection), and supporting services (e.g., wildlife habitat) may result in unintended (and unmeasured) tradeoffs between cultural services and other types of benefits.…”

Delaware Forests 2013

“…It focuses on the diverse and dynamic group of owners that is the least understood-families, individuals, and other unincorporated groups, collectively referred to as "family forest owners. " The NWOS data reported here are based on the responses from 190 family forest owners from Delaware that participated between 2011 and 2013 (Butler et al 2015). …”