Risk Aversion and Timber Harvest Strategies: A Case Study of Nonindustrial Private Forest Management in Louisiana

Forest owners face many challenges regarding forest management due to the long period from planting to harvest. Along with the economic and environmental factors that influence management actions, the owners' attitude to risk plays a crucial role in forest management decisions. This study shows that understanding the effects of the owner's risk preference for management actions is an important step to form an effective forest policy. The objectives of the study are to (1) assess the economic advantage of forest management alternatives over a range of risk aversion coefficients and (2) determine the financial incentive (risk premium) corresponding to a forest owners' risk attitude. We implemented the stochastic efficiency with respect to a function framework to evaluate a set of fertilization, herbicide, and thinning management alternatives at mid-rotation loblolly pine plantations in Louisiana. Results from this study indicate that forest owner's risk preference affects their decision to select management actions. Financial incentives are substantially different for specific management alternatives between risk-neutral and risk-averse forest owners. The results can guide forest policy development where agencies can modify financial assistance programs to improve the adoption of management actions.

De Novo Transcriptome Assembly and Development of EST-SSR Markers for Pterocarpus Santalinus L. f. (Red sanders) , a Threatened and Endemic Timber Tree of India

The endemic and precious timber Pterocarpus santalinus L. f. (Red sanders) is a drought hardy tree species for conservation in peninsular India due to its high risk of illegal timber harvest. It is only found in Eastern Ghats of India, and has become threatened owing to overexploitation of its valuable timber. The development of genomic resources, particularly simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, is essential for strict implementation of in situ conservation measures and application of DNA information based red sanders genetic resource management. However, a lack of genomic data and efficient molecular markers limit the study of its spatial and temporal population genetic structure, identification of diversity hotspots and tree improvement. The current study aims at comprehensive molecular characterization of red sanders and the somatic chromosome counts, flow cytometry and EST-SSR analyses. The results revealed that red sanders is diploid with 2n=20 and the 2C genome size was 0.7872 ± 0.0561pg for the first time in this species. A total of 3128 EST-SSRs were detected based on 25,854 de novo assembled unigenes from transcriptome data and primer sets designed for 1953 SSRs. Fifty-nine EST-SSR markers were evaluated for polymorphism in the natural populations of red sanders and 13 were found to be suitable for genetic analysis. Two major transcription factor families bHLH and ERF, responsible for abiotic stress and secondary metabolite synthesis were analysed which would provide the foundation for further research on production of medicinally important biocompounds.

Effects on Global Forests and Wood Product Markets of Increased Demand for Mass Timber

This study evaluated the effects on forest resources and forest product markets of three contrasting mass timber demand scenarios (Conservative, Optimistic, and Extreme), up to 2060, in twelve selected countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Analyses were carried out by utilizing the FOrest Resource Outlook Model, a partial market equilibrium model of the global forest sector. The findings suggest increases in global softwood lumber production of 8, 23, and 53 million m3 per year by 2060, under the Conservative, Optimistic, and Extreme scenarios, respectively, leading to world price increases of 2%, 7%, and 23%, respectively. This projected price increase is relative to the projected price in the reference scenario, altering prices, production, consumption, trade of forest products, timber harvest, forest growth, and forest stock in individual countries. An increase in softwood lumber prices due to increased mass timber demand would lead to the reduced consumption of softwood lumber for traditional end-use (e.g., light-frame construction), suggesting a likely strong market competition for softwood lumber between the mass timber and traditional construction industries. In contrast, the projected effect on global forest stock was relatively small based on the relatively fast projected biomass growth in stands assumed to be regenerated after harvest.

Economic potential of adopting genomic technology in Alberta’s tree improvement sector

The adoption of genomic technology and the use of improved seeds are expected to improve timber productivity in Alberta. However, this improvement will need to take place within the confines of the public-private nature of the sector where 93% of the total forest area is publicly owned. The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which a timber harvest policy known as the allowable cut effect can affect the welfare outcomes of adopting genomics-assisted tree breeding. Using the forest industry of Alberta as the empirical setting, the economic returns to the adoption of this new breeding technology in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm.) and white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) are calculated by estimating a timber supply model and a spatial equilibrium model. Under certain policy and technology improvement scenarios, the economic returns are negative, which would result in non-adoption of the technology. However, under other feasible conditions, the payoffs of genomics-assisted tree breeding research are large and positive. These results illustrate the important role that government policies can have on the returns to adopting new technologies.

The forest ranger (and the legislator): How local congressional politics shape policy implementation in agency field offices

Research on political control over government bureaucracy has primarily focused on direct exercises of power such as appointments, funding, agency design, and procedural rules. In this analysis we extend this literature to consider politicians who leverage their institutional standing to influence the decisions of local field officials over whom they have no explicit authority. Using the case of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), we investigate whether field-level decisions are associated with the political preferences of individual congressional representatives. Our sample encompasses 7,681 resource extraction actions initiated and analyzed by 107 USFS field offices between 2005 and 2018. Using hierarchical Bayesian regression, we show that under periods of economic growth and stability, field offices situated in the districts of congressional representatives who oppose environmental regulation initiate more extractive actions (timber harvest, oil and gas drilling, grazing) and conduct less rigorous environmental reviews than field offices in the districts of representatives who favor environmental regulation. By extending existing theories about interactions between politicians and bureaucrats to consider informal means of influence, this work speaks to: (1) the role of local political interests in shaping agency-wide policy outcomes; and (2) the importance of considering informal and implicit means of influence that operate in concert with explicit control mechanisms to shape bureaucratic behavior.

Economic potential of adopting genomic technology in Alberta’s tree improvement sector

The adoption of genomic technology and the use of improved seeds are expected to improve timber productivity in Alberta. However, this improvement will need to take place within the confines of the public-private nature of the sector where 93% of the total forest area is publicly owned. The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which a timber harvest policy known as the allowable cut effect can affect the welfare outcomes of adopting genomics-assisted tree breeding. Using the forest industry of Alberta as the empirical setting, the economic returns to the adoption of this new breeding technology in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm.) and white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) are calculated by estimating a timber supply model and a spatial equilibrium model. Under certain policy and technology improvement scenarios, the economic returns are negative, which would result in non-adoption of the technology. However, under other feasible conditions, the payoffs of genomics-assisted tree breeding research are large and positive. These results illustrate the important role that government policies can have on the returns to adopting new technologies.

Leveraging the potential of nature to meet net zero greenhouse gas emissions in Washington State

The State of Washington, USA, has set a goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the year around which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommended we must limit global warming to 1.5 °C above that of pre-industrial times or face catastrophic changes. We employed existing approaches to calculate the potential for a suite of Natural Climate Solution (NCS) pathways to reduce Washington’s net emissions under three implementation scenarios: Limited, Moderate, and Ambitious. We found that NCS could reduce emissions between 4.3 and 8.8 MMT CO2eyr−1 in thirty-one years, accounting for 4% to 9% of the State’s net zero goal. These potential reductions largely rely on changing forest management practices on portions of private and public timber lands. We also mapped the distribution of each pathway’s Ambitious potential emissions reductions by county, revealing spatial clustering of high potential reductions in three regions closely tied to major business sectors: private industrial forestry in southwestern coastal forests, cropland agriculture in the Columbia Basin, and urban and rural development in the Puget Trough. Overall, potential emissions reductions are provided largely by a single pathway, Extended Timber Harvest Rotations, which mostly clusters in southwestern counties. However, mapping distribution of each of the other pathways reveals wider distribution of each pathway’s unique geographic relevance to support fair, just, and efficient deployment. Although the relative potential for a single pathway to contribute to statewide emissions reductions may be small, they could provide co-benefits to people, communities, economies, and nature for adaptation and resiliency across the state.

How Timber Harvest Affects the Structure and Diversity of a Montane Forest in Southern Mexico

Timber extraction directly affects forest structure by opening the canopy, reducing the density and volume of dominant species, and transforming the composition, diversity, and functioning of the forest. We analyze the richness, diversity, and basal area of tree species in a pine–oak montane forest under two stages of the Silvicultural Development Method (thinning and liberation cut treatments) in comparison with remnants of forest considered to be control treatment in the Ocotones forest. Timber extraction began 14 years previously but its effect on the tree structure has not been studied to date in this area. We quantified and measured all the trees with a diameter at breast height >5 cm in 12 0.1 ha circular plots in each treatment. Diversity (Hill numbers) and the importance value index were calculated in each treatment. Observed species richness did not differ between treatments; Pinus oocarpa Schiede ex Schltdl. and Quercus sapotifolia Liebm. were the dominant species regardless of treatment. The principal differences in density and basal area among the treatments were found between the small oaks and small pines. In general, tree density recovered in managed areas because of newly recruited pines and re-sprouting oaks. Although no significant reduction in species richness was detected between treatments, species composition and vegetation structure were modified by the extraction of pine timber and the permanence of many large oaks. Silvicultural treatments appear to create conditions favorable to the maintenance of species richness. The silvicultural interventions in the site meet the objectives of timber production, regeneration, and biodiversity conservation; however, the question of how long the forest can maintain its species diversity and structure after timber extraction remains to be addressed.

Effects of timber harvest on epigeous fungal fruiting patterns and community structure in a northern hardwood ecosystem

Epigeous fungal fruiting has important impacts on fungal reproduction and ecosystem function. Forest disturbances, such as timber harvest, impact moisture, host availability, and substrate availability, which in turn may drive changes in fungal fruiting patterns and community structure. We surveyed mushrooms in 0.4-ha patch cuts (18 months post-harvest) and adjacent intact hardwood forest in northern New Hampshire, USA, to document the effects of timber harvest on summer fruiting richness, biomass, diversity, and community structure of ectomycorrhizal, parasitic, and saprobic mushroom taxa. Fungal fruiting richness, diversity, and community heterogeneity were greater in intact forests than patch cuts. Among functional groups, ectomycorrhizal fruiting richness, diversity, and biomass were greater in unharvested areas than in the patch cuts, but parasitic and saprobic fruiting did not differ statistically between the two forest conditions. Our findings suggest that timber harvest simplifies fungal fruiting communities shortly after harvest, in particular triggering declines in ectomycorrhizal taxa which are important symbionts facilitating tree establishment and regeneration. Multi-aged silvicultural practices that maintain mature forest conditions adjacent to and throughout harvested areas through deliberate retention of overstory trees and downed woody material may promote fungal fruiting diversity in regenerating stands.