Assessing the Relationship between Different Forms of Landowner Assistance and Family Forest Owner Behaviors and Intentions

Abstract Family forest owners (FFOs) own the majority of US forests and 47% of forests in the Northeast. Over 90% of northeastern FFOs want their land to stay wooded. Maintaining forest-based ecosystem services necessitates finding ways to help FFOs achieve goals for keeping their land undeveloped. Conservation easements (CEs) prohibit residential and commercial development, typically in perpetuity, but are currently underused. Understanding what drives CE interest may help maximize their potential as a conservation tool. We explored northeastern FFOs’ likelihood of CE adoption through contingent behavior responses to permanent and temporary CE scenarios. For each commitment length, we tested a range of financial compensation amounts and FFO characteristics. Increased financial compensation did not increase CE adoption likelihood for either commitment length, whereas attitudinal variables strongly influenced intention for both. Respondents did not appear to prefer temporary to permanent easements but were equally likely to consider adoption, suggesting that providing both tools may be in order. Providing FFOs with more options to keep their land in forest use, especially when there is currently high interest in this goal but low participation, has the potential to attract new and different segments of FFOs, thereby sustaining the essential ecosystem services derived from forests. Study Implications Family forest owner interest in land protection in the northeastern US is high; over 90% owning four or more ha have indicated they want their land to stay wooded. Few, however, have taken advantage of conservation easements (CEs) to protect their land. Highly effective at ensuring the continual provision of forest benefits, CEs prohibit land uses such as residential and commercial development. Although research acknowledges CE interest, little is known about what characteristics of the tool are desirable. Gaining greater understanding of these characteristics can help expand the options FFOs have to achieve their goal of keeping their land in forest use.

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Foresters' Perceptions of Family Forest Owner Willingness to Participate in Forest Carbon Markets

Northern Journal of Applied Forestry ◽

10.1093/njaf/28.4.199 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 199-203 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

David Wade ◽

Cassandra Moseley

Keyword(s):

Carbon Sequestration ◽

Property Rights ◽

Low Cost ◽

Forest Owner ◽

Carbon Markets ◽

Willingness To Participate ◽

Family Forest ◽

Forest Stewardship ◽

Mitigate Climate Change ◽

Professional Foresters

Abstract Payment for forest-based carbon sequestration may be an emerging opportunity to help mitigate climate change while creating new income streams for forest landowners. It is important to understand families' willingness to participate in emerging carbon markets, as they own 35% of the nation's forestlands. Most family forest owners have not enrolled in forest stewardship programs, suggesting that it may be difficult for them to participate in emerging carbon offset markets. The pilot study reported in this article sought to understand family forest owner willingness to participate in carbon sequestration projects by asking professional foresters who are members of the Forest Guild what they believed would influence family forest owner willingness to participate in sequestration projects and how projects could be designed to foster participation. These foresters identified profitability, compliance difficulties, immaturity of carbon markets, property rights infringements, moral objections to carbon markets, and forester hesitation in recommending participation as the principal barriers to participation. They suggested that barriers could be overcome by increasing profitability, creating low cost and low hassle compliance systems, addressing landowner property rights concerns, and implementing education campaigns aimed at increasing forester knowledge of carbon markets and sequestration projects.

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Family forest owner preferences for biomass harvesting in Massachusetts

Forest Policy and Economics ◽

10.1016/j.forpol.2011.08.001 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 127-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Marla Markowski-Lindsay ◽

Thomas Stevens ◽

David B. Kittredge ◽

Brett J. Butler ◽

Paul Catanzaro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Owner ◽

Family Forest ◽

Biomass Harvesting

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Northeastern Family Forest Owner Gender Differences in Land-Based Estate Planning and the Role of Self-Efficacy

Journal of Forestry ◽

10.1093/jofore/fvz058 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 118 (1) ◽

pp. 59-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marla Markowski-Lindsay ◽

Paul Catanzaro ◽

Rebekah Zimmerer ◽

David Kittredge ◽

Ezra Markowitz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Gender Differences ◽

Public Goods ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Forest Owner ◽

Northeastern United States ◽

Estate Planning ◽

Family Forest ◽

The Future

Abstract Understanding family forest owner (FFO) estate planning decisionmaking is fundamental to ensuring the survival of landscapes that provide many public goods, but little is known about how land-based estate planning differs by gender. Analyses of a survey of FFOs in northeastern United States indicated that female FFOs rate themselves with lower levels of land-based estate planning self-efficacy—being less prepared, confident, and financially able to move forward with planning the future of their land than males. Of the FFOs who had positive levels of land-based estate planning self-efficacy, females were more likely to want to keep their land undeveloped than males. Our research suggests that increasing land-based estate planning self-efficacy of female FFOs may lead to higher rates of keeping land undeveloped for regions with FFOs similar to those of the northeast. We recommend ways in which foresters and programs could play an important role in increasing land-based estate planning self-efficacy.

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The PING Project: Using Ecological Momentary Assessments to Better Understand When and How Woodland Owner Group Members Engage with Their Woodlands

Forests ◽

10.3390/f11090944 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 944

Author(s):

Emily S. Huff ◽

David B. Kittredge

Keyword(s):

Public Goods ◽

Real Time ◽

The United States ◽

Forest Owner ◽

Family Forest ◽

The Public ◽

Time Period ◽

Group Members ◽

Ecological Momentary Assessments ◽

Ecological Momentary

Research Highlights: Ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) are a fresh approach to measuring behavior by querying the subject in real time. Typical studies of FFO behavior use self-reported survey data. FFOs across the United States collectively own more forested land than any other ownership category, and their actions will impact the public goods these forests provide. Thus, better measures of FFO actions are critical to understanding how these public goods may be affected. Background and Objectives: In this pilot study, we evaluated the potential of ecological momentary assessments to understand family forest owner (FFO) engagement with their woods. We sought to test recruitment, attrition, and participant reaction to the method. Materials and Methods: FFOs belong to woodland owner associations were sent the same questions weekly for a month, asking about woodland engagement. Results: Nearly 90% of participants completed all four surveys and the majority found the method reasonable. Most participants thought about their woods weekly, but a longer time period is needed to measure temporal management trends. Conclusions: This approach may yield real-time and useful information about natural resource engagement to inform conservation-based programming and outreach.

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Factors associated with family forest owner actions: A vote-count meta-analysis

Landscape and Urban Planning ◽

10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.08.024 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 188 ◽

pp. 19-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Kristin Floress ◽

Emily S. Huff ◽

Stephanie A. Snyder ◽

Alanna Koshollek ◽

Sarah Butler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Meta Analysis ◽

Forest Owner ◽

Family Forest ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Vote Count

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Family Forest Owner Preferences for Forest Conservation Programs: A New York Case Study

Forest Science ◽

10.5849/forsci.13-120 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 61 (3) ◽

pp. 597-603 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Matthew C. Kelly ◽

René H. Germain ◽

Stephen V. Stehman

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Forest Conservation ◽

Forest Owner ◽

Conservation Programs ◽

Family Forest

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Family Forest Owner Trends in the Northern United States

Northern Journal of Applied Forestry ◽

10.1093/njaf/28.1.13 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 13-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Brett J. Butler ◽

Zhao Ma

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

Forest Service ◽

Forest Owner ◽

Family Forest ◽

Forest Ownership ◽

The Us ◽

Us Forest Service ◽

Northern United States ◽

Average Size

Abstract Understanding forest ownership trends is critical for understanding forest trends. In the northern United States, where 55% of the forestland is controlled by families and individuals, it is imperative that we understand the trends within this complex and dynamic group of owners. The US Forest Service conducted forest landowner surveys across this region, and the rest of the United States, in 1993 and 2006. The published results are not directly comparable because of differences in what was reported and how the data were processed. Fortunately, the same sample designs were used and a subset of identical or near identical questions was asked on both surveys so that reprocessing the data allows for trends to be accurately assessed. The average size of family forest holdings decreased from 25 to 20 ac, reasons for owning remained amenity centered, and the owners are now more likely to be older, retired, have a higher income, and more educated.

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