Small Forest Owners’ Response to Wildfire Risk Within a Management-Logic Framework

Abstract The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 made significant changes in the reforestation tax incentives available to private forest owners. Owners can now deduct outright reforestation costs up to $10,000 per year for each qualifying timber property and amortize any additional amount over 8 tax years. To assess the financial benefit the new incentives provide to forest owners, the authors developed spreadsheets that calculate after-tax Bare Land Value (BLV) for a representative southern pine management plan under three tax situations: no reforestation incentives, the incentives under previous law, and the incentives under the current law. They found that compared to no tax incentive, the current law chiefly benefits owners with high non-timber income, increasing BLV by an amount equivalent to a reforestation cost share of roughly 25 to 30% as opposed to 5 to 15% for owners with low or median income. Compared to previous law, the current law chiefly benefits owners of large forest holdings, increasing BLV by an amount equivalent to a reforestation cost share of roughly 10 to 20%. For owners of small forest holdings, however, BLV decreased by an amount equivalent to a 5 to 10% increase in reforestation costs. These findings are significant as Congress likely intended that the new incentives continue to benefit primarly “small woodland owners” with modest incomes and forest holdings.

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Innovative approaches in forest management – the application of a business model to designing a small-scale forestry strategy

Journal of Forest Science ◽

10.17221/17/2017-jfs ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 63 (No. 9) ◽

pp. 393-400 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pek Richard ◽

Riedl Marcel ◽

Jarský Vilém

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Business Model ◽

Business Models ◽

Market Competition ◽

Added Value ◽

Business Strategies ◽

Small Scale ◽

Forest Owners ◽

Small Forest ◽

Innovative Approaches

The strong market competition forces forest owners to find innovative approaches to forest management, and business models are becoming integral parts of successful innovations and business strategies. This paper deals with the applicability of a business model (as an innovation tool) for small forest owners. The main objectives were to design a business model applicable in the forestry sector and to find the innovative business alternatives for the small-scale forest owner reflecting the local situation (in a case study in the Czech Republic). The extended business model CANVAS was used. The embedded data was evaluated on the software developed at the Savonia University in Finland where business opportunity and competitive advantage were the main evaluation criteria. As a result, a proposed strategy was advised to be followed. The biggest added value of the extended CANVAS model is giving an objective and unbiased evaluation of the situation of small forest owners. The business model design proved a usable and applicable tool to be used in forest management, for the research has shown that the quantitative data should be complemented by qualitative research in order to get the complex view.

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Privatwald in Österreich – neu entdeckt | Private forest property in Austria – newly discovered

Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Forstwesen ◽

10.3188/szf.2007.0293 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 158 (9) ◽

pp. 293-301 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Gerhard Weiss ◽

Karl Hogl ◽

Ewald Rametsteiner ◽

Walter Sekot

Keyword(s):

Private Property ◽

Economic Research ◽

Innovation Activity ◽

Timber Production ◽

Research Subject ◽

Private Forest ◽

Wood Production ◽

Forest Owners ◽

Counter Measures ◽

Small Forest

Around 80% of the Austrian forest area is private property. Recently, in addition to traditional and business economic research, sciences for sociology and innovation have also discovered the private forest property as a research subject. With respect to different property types, it is shown that the Austrian forest belongs more and more to non-traditional forest owners who show little interest in forestry. For years the actual wood production decreases significantly where rationalization (large forest properties) or adjustments of the timber production to price fluctuations (small forest properties) are taken as counter measures. In general, the intensity and type of innovation activity strongly depends on the size of the property.

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Goals and cutting decisions of private small forest owners

Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1080/02827588909382563 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 4 (1-4) ◽

pp. 259-265 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Lars Lönnstedt

Keyword(s):

Forest Owners ◽

Small Forest

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Analyse der Motive österreichischer Kleinwaldeigentümer als Schlüssel für die Holzmobilisierung

Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Forstwesen ◽

10.3188/szf.2013.0278 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 164 (9) ◽

pp. 278-284 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Wolfgang Huber ◽

Peter Schwarzbauer ◽

Tobias Stern

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Social Research ◽

Private Forest ◽

Communication Tool ◽

Forest Owners ◽

Potential Effectiveness ◽

Qualitative Social Research ◽

New Information ◽

Insight Into ◽

Small Forest

Analysis of Austrian small forest owners′ motivation as a key to wood mobilisation The largest potential to mobilise unused wood reserves in Austria is from small private forest owners (holdings under 200 ha). Small forest owners who participate in wood markets have shown high supply elasticity with respect to the sawlog price. Due to the ongoing structural change in agriculture the share of owners whose forest management is economically motivated is expected to fall. However, many of the small forest owners are very concerned to look after their forest well, although the understanding of what constitutes a clean and healthy forest can differ widely. Their objectives and motives were investigated by qualitative social research methods. Among respondents that did not have any forest related education or background the phenomenon known as “forest gardening” was observed. These people looked at and managed their forest with objectives and motives usually associated with private gardens. Overall, five different action patterns related to forest management were distinguished. Understanding the goals and motivation of small forest owners gives insight into the potential effectiveness of different wood mobilisation measures. Especially among inexperienced small forest owners, the offer of information, motivation and service is welcome. “Dialogue marketing” is an appropriate communication tool. New information channels, such as Facebook, should be used more to motivate small forest owners to manage their forests sustainably and produce more wood.

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“My forest, my kingdom”—Self-referentiality as a strategy in the case of small forest owners coping with government regulations

Policy Sciences ◽

10.1007/s11077-012-9157-7 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 63-81 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Ann Van Herzele ◽

Noelle Aarts

Keyword(s):

Forest Owners ◽

Government Regulations ◽

Small Forest

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Značilnosti opravljanja sečnje in spravila v zasebnih gozdovih v Sloveniji

Acta Silvae et Ligni ◽

10.20315/asetl.125.3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 125 ◽

pp. 25-38

Author(s):

Špela Ščap ◽

Darja Stare ◽

Nike Krajnc ◽

Matevž Triplat

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Size Class ◽

Private Forest ◽

Forest Operations ◽

Private Forest Owners ◽

Average Volume ◽

Forest Owners ◽

Male And Female ◽

Small Forest

A survey conducted in 2019 covered 544 randomly selected forest owners. More than half of the forest owners own a forest estate ranging from 1 to 4.99 ha. For 62 % of respondents, the primary purpose of forest management is to harvest wood for their own needs. In 2015%2019, 71 % of respondents carried out felling and skidding in their forests. In total, approximately 50,000 m3 of wood was felled (24 m3 /ha or 141 m3 per holding). The largest volumes were felled by private owners with small forest holdings (up to 0.99 ha), on average 41.4 m3 /ha. There were statistically significant differences between the size of the forest holding and the average volume of annual felling. Furthermore, there were no statistically significant differences in felling intensity between male and female forest owners. The survey found that professional contractors carried out 41 % of felling and harvesting. Furthermore, there were significant differences between the size of the private forest estate and the method of performing forest operations. The results showed that the largest share of private owners who carry out all felling and skidding with the help of hired contractors is in the size class of forest holdings from 5 to 9.99 ha. The study did not confirm statistically significant differences in the intensity of felling between male and female private forest owners.

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