The Increasing Importance of Small-Scale Forestry: Evidence from Family Forest Ownership Patterns in the United States

Zhang, Y.; Liao, Xianchun; Butler, Brett J.; Schelhas, John

doi:10.1007/s11842-008-9050-6

Cited by 21 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…This affects their availability of capital to invest in and manage forest land [1,13]. A classic study in Sweden [174], and other studies in the United States, focused on the effects of tract size [241][242][243][244][245][246][247]. The most recent NIPF studies and reports continue to examine this variable [34].…”

Section: General Problems Of Promoting Management On Nipf Holdingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent study of policy tools to encourage application of sustainable timber harvesting practices in the United States and Canada also found technical assistance is the most effective way to encourage owners to apply sustainable practices, followed by cost-share programs [333]. Several recent studies stressed the importance of technical assistance to NIPF owners [334][335][336] and others looked at general aspects of incentive program effectiveness [337][338][339][340]. Two different studies found that direct contact with a forester or other natural resource professional is associated with owners being forest managers [341,342].…”

Section: Current Status Of Nipf Research On Financial Incentivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Selected characteristics of NIPF landowners formed the basis of specialized studies, like on minority landowners [217,218,404], changing ownership classes (especially the implications of forest industry lands converting to timberland investment management organizations and real estate investment trusts) [405,406], and methods of acquiring forest holdings, especially by inheritance [407]. Because forest parcelization is a major current issue, ownership studies now tend to stress size of forest holding relationships [1,13,[174][175][176][177][236][237][238][239][240][241][242][243] and parcelization of forest tracts [244][245][246][247][248][249][250][251][252][253][254].…”

Section: Ownershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Often, the reasons for ownership and management objectives are tied to the current problem of forest parcelization and the related problem of size of forest holding [236][237][238][239][240][241][242][243][244][245][246][247][248][249][250][251][252][253][254]. Historically, these patterns and reasons for ownership have been clearly identified as the foundation of any NIPF or family forest problem.…”

Section: Ownership Reasons and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Taxonomic Review of Classical and Current Literature on the Perennial American Family Forest Problem

Straka

2011

Forests

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Abstract:One of the fundamental issues in American forest policy has been the small forest ownership problem. Early in the twentieth century, it was called the farm forestry problem, later, the nonindustrial private forest problem, and today, the family forest problem. Family forest owners are thought to manage their lands in a suboptimal manner resulting in low forest productivity relative to other ownership groups. This can lead to future timber supply problems. The exact nature of the problem, especially its social and economic basis, was a common subject of early forestry research studies. This article includes many of the major nonindustrial private forest or family forest studies, from early to current, and classifies them both by themes used by other authors and categories that relate to major research areas in the current literature. A major focus of this literature deals with promoting management on family forest holdings and possible land management incentives and disincentives. Natural trends in family forest ownership, like parcelization, also impact upon forest management opportunities. By developing a taxonomy that classifies these studies by research objective, methodology, owner motivation, and problem definition, this article serves to organize the family forest literature in a manner that provides a temporal framework for better understanding the historical motivation for and development of family forest research in the United States.

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Section: General Problems Of Promoting Management On Nipf Holdingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Current Status Of Nipf Research On Financial Incentivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ownershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ownership Reasons and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Taxonomic Review of Classical and Current Literature on the Perennial American Family Forest Problem

Straka

2011

Forests

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“…Periodic disturbance is crucial to the persistence of oak (Johnson et al, 2009), but management aimed at maintaining or restoring early-to mid-successional types may appear counterintuitive to conservation-minded small private landowners (Askins, 2001). In addition, trends in forest parcelization and land tenure in the U.S. (Best and Wayburn, 2001;Zhang et al, 2009) reduce the likelihood that landowners will embrace the long-term land management perspectives that are required for perpetuating oak (Knoot et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest change in the Driftless Area of the Midwest: From a preferred to undesirable future

Knoot

Shea

Schulte

et al. 2015

Forest Ecology and Management

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In the midwestern and eastern U.S., oaks (Quercus spp.) have been a dominant component of forests for at least the last 10,000 years, providing vital habitat for numerous wildlife and plant species that have adapted to oak forest conditions. However, the current state of these oak systems, in which there has been a general lack of successful oak regeneration and recruitment and an increase in the relative dominance of mesophytic species, may be nearing critical thresholds. If reached, restoring oak systems through natural regeneration and other methods, such as prescribed fire, may become especially challenging if not impossible. An understanding of spatial variation in oak dominance over time can inform and potentially improve the efficacy of intervention strategies. Using Public Land Survey and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) inventories, we evaluated changes in the composition of timberland across ecoregional subsections in the Driftless Area of the Midwest at three time periods (pre-settlement 1800s, 1990s, and 2000s). We identified an overall decrease in oak dominance, and particularly dominance of the white oak (Quercus alba L., Q. macrocarpa Michx., and Q. bicolor Willd.) species group since the presettlement era, and an increase in other eastern soft hardwoods. Within the last 20 years, both the red oak (Q. rubra L., Q. ellipsoidalis E.J. Hill and Q. velutina Lam.) and white oak species groups decreased in dominance, with an increase in hard maple-basswood (A. saccharum Marsh., A. nigra L., and Tilia americana L.) species group dominance, indicating further mesophication of forests in the region. However, we found a notable decrease in hard maple-basswood relative dominance within the small diameter class across most of the regions within the last 10-20 years, with an increase in dominance of other, non-oak, species. Our findings complement qualitative evidence from interviews with natural resource professionals from the region and offer further information on the potential for forest conversion to ''undesirable'' forest conditions, as identified as a source of concern by some professionals. There was spatial variation in these trends, however, with some pronounced differences across adjacent state boundaries. The variation in forest change across state boundaries suggests the role of state-level socioeconomic and policy factors in affecting forest conditions, and thus the potential for a targeted and timely approach to promoting preferred pathways of change. RightsWorks produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted. a b s t r a c tIn the midwestern and eastern U.S., oaks (Quercus spp.) have been a dominant component of forests for at least the last 10,000 years, providing vital habitat for numerous wildlife and plant species that have adapted to oak forest conditions. However, the current state of these oak systems, in which there has been a general lack of successful oak reg...

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Small-scale private forest owners and the European Natura 2000 conservation network: perceived ecosystem services, management practices, and nature conservation attitudes

2021

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The systematic designation of protected areas is a key strategy in modern biodiversity conservation. As for now, the Natura 2000 system of the European Union (EU) is the largest coordinated network of conservation areas worldwide. Since this scheme has a focus on forests, its effectiveness substantially depends on small-scale private forest owners who represent the largest forest ownership group in Europe. We conducted a quantitative survey (n = 1671) in Northwest Germany focusing on the perceived importance of ecosystem services, the performance of management practices, nature conservation attitudes, as well as stand characteristics of small-scale private forest owners with and without Natura 2000 sites. Forest owners perceived regulating and cultural services as more important than provisioning ecosystem services while having a multifunctional perspective on their forest. Owners with Natura 2000 sites had a stronger focus on resource use and, with the exception of habitat-tree protection, did not perform conservation measures more frequently than those without. Moreover, we found more negative nature conservation attitudes among this ownership group. In conclusion, the Natura 2000 scheme needs to be more strongly adapted to the demands of small-scale private forest owners, for example by increasing profound participation and establishing a results-based incentive scheme for conservation measures. The perspectives of small-scale private forest owners have to be considered comprehensively to ensure the effective and sustainable implementation of the Natura 2000 conservation network.

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The Increasing Importance of Small-Scale Forestry: Evidence from Family Forest Ownership Patterns in the United States

Cited by 21 publications

References 16 publications

Taxonomic Review of Classical and Current Literature on the Perennial American Family Forest Problem

Taxonomic Review of Classical and Current Literature on the Perennial American Family Forest Problem

Forest change in the Driftless Area of the Midwest: From a preferred to undesirable future

Small-scale private forest owners and the European Natura 2000 conservation network: perceived ecosystem services, management practices, and nature conservation attitudes

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