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

2007 ◽  
Vol 158 (9) ◽  
pp. 293-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Weiss ◽  
Karl Hogl ◽  
Ewald Rametsteiner ◽  
Walter Sekot

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.

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Straka ◽  
John L. Greene

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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 164 (9) ◽  
pp. 278-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Huber ◽  
Peter Schwarzbauer ◽  
Tobias Stern

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 125 ◽  
pp. 25-38
Author(s):  
Špela Ščap ◽  
Darja Stare ◽  
Nike Krajnc ◽  
Matevž Triplat

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.


2011 ◽  
Vol 162 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-75
Author(s):  
Conradin Mohr

Since 1970 at least, the wood production potential of small private forest plots in the region of Konolfingen has not been fully exploited. In the approximately 5800 hectares of forest the present timber stocks are at 580 m3/ha. Similar conditions can be found in many other regions with private forests in Canton Berne. With the concept “Auriga”, which provides funding for mechanization, mobilization and more professionalism, the Forestry Service of Canton Berne has created an instrument which should motivate forest owners to an increased use of their wood. The present article pursues the question as to how far the project initiated in 1994 by the society of forest owners in Konolfingen thanks to the Binding Forest Award corresponds to the cantonal funding concept. It has become clear that the possibilities of mechanization offered by modern machines and procedures have been underestimated. Only after hurricane Lothar was it demonstrated that possibilities exist for use in small plots and in very steep private forests. Approximately 425 wood storage areas were created between 1995 and 1997, which represents a considerable improvement in the infrastructure. However, some of these now need to be adapted to deal with a greater volume of felled timber and changes in wood assortments. With the foundation of the Holzregion Kiesental GmbH (wood-producing region Kiesen Valley Ltd.), wood marketing has been professionalized. With mobilization it is planned to increase wood use and to reduce stocks to 500 m3/ha. The market will decide in the end whether this can be attained or not. Sufficient yield is necessary if forest owners are to be motivated to increased exploitation.


2011 ◽  
Vol 162 (7) ◽  
pp. 209-215
Author(s):  
Jean-François Métraux

In the years since 2000, the authorities in charge of forests in canton Vaud have made some substantial changes as a reaction to the political decisions arising from the Swiss Forest Programme and the projected revision of the Federal forestry Law, as well as to the deterioration of the economic situation in forestry enterprises. This article gives a survey of the directions taken. Thus the canton recognises the primordial role of wood production as a driving force behind the creation of a multifunctional forest. The Service for Forests, Wildlife and Nature has invested a great deal in planning, and has redefined the management plan to be an instrument intended for forest owners and forest managers. The canton has innovated by introducing forestry groups and a scheme of equalisation of forestry costs between communes. Hence the conception of forestry management in canton Vaud is resolutely that of a multifunctional natural heritage.


2012 ◽  
Vol 163 (10) ◽  
pp. 417-421
Author(s):  
Urs Fischbacher

Experiments and forest economic questions During the last decades experiments have gained great importance in economics. These experiments deal with questions that are of significance for forest economic research, too. Timber production, for example, is characterised by long-term decisions and, in addition, forestry produces important public goods. In this article the experimental method is introduced. Furthermore, experimental findings are presented, e.g., concerning time preferences and externalities, and possible applications for the study of forest product markets and institutions are outlined.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swoyambhu M. Amatya ◽  
Prakash Lamsal

 This paper reviews and analyses the present status of private forests and tenure administration in light of existing legal, policy, and regulatory frameworks in Nepal. Additionally, the present status of private forests, as well as the scenarios of timber harvesting, transportation, marketing, and their administration are thoroughly revised. Provisions regarding forests and trees on private land and their basis are examined and implications are articulated for potential policy improvements for enhanced tenure security. It is shown that robust national-level policies and legal frameworks exist, and that there is an increasing trend of timber flows to markets from private forests over the past five years. However, there is still skepticism, mistrust and fear amongst private forest owners, saw millers, and forest administration that prevents the full use of the bundle of rights that legal and policy provisions have promised. An unusually slow pace of private forest registration, lengthy and multi stage processes for obtaining harvesting and transportation permits, and official bans on important commercial species, among others, are found to be the factors that most hinder the private forest owners’ and tree growers’ interests, and their rights and obligations with respect to the management and use of their private forest resources. It is concluded that a simplified permitting process along with programmatic support would promote and help to grow private forestry and that Nepal’s experience and lessons learned from community forest implementation would be a great asset to move towards this end. Connecting community forest user groups for organised and cooperative action, and mobilising their institutional strength and accumulated funds for pro-farmer technical and regulatory support would allow farmers to intensify tree plantations and forest management. Further steps are required to convince policymakers and secure necessary budgetary support to this end..


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 747
Author(s):  
Marlene Marques ◽  
Keith M. Reynolds ◽  
Susete Marques ◽  
Marco Marto ◽  
Steve Paplanus ◽  
...  

Forest management planning can be challenging when allocating multiple ecosystem services (ESs) to management units (MUs), given the potentially conflicting management priorities of actors. We developed a methodology to spatially allocate ESs to MUs, according to the objectives of four interest groups—civil society, forest owners, market agents, and public administration. We applied a Group Multicriteria Spatial Decision Support System approach, combining (a) Multicriteria Decision Analysis to weight the decision models; (b) a focus group and a multicriteria Pareto frontier method to negotiate a consensual solution for seven ESs; and (c) the Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) system to prioritize the allocation of ESs to MUs. We report findings from an application to a joint collaborative management area (ZIF of Vale do Sousa) in northwestern Portugal. The forest owners selected wood production as the first ES allocation priority, with lower priorities for other ESs. In opposition, the civil society assigned the highest allocation priorities to biodiversity, cork, and carbon stock, with the lowest priority being assigned to wood production. The civil society had the highest mean rank of allocation priority scores. We found significant differences in priority scores between the civil society and the other three groups, highlighting the civil society and market agents as the most discordant groups. We spatially evaluated potential for conflicts among group ESs allocation priorities. The findings suggest that this approach can be helpful to decision makers, increasing the effectiveness of forest management plan implementation.


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