The Uses of Stages of Change and Language within a Forestry Context

Advising landowners can be difficult for foresters. Landowners’ motivations towards behavior change should be considered prior to giving advice. The Stages of Change Model, also known as the Transtheoretical Model, assesses whether individuals are ready to perform new behaviors. This model was used to understand how landowner’s motivations towards behavior change affect future reforestation efforts, which could help foresters better advise landowners. Landowners from Wisconsin were recruited, reported current behaviors, and separated into either predecisional or postdecisional stages, based on self-reported stage of behavior. They received advice, reported future reforestation intentions, and provided comments. Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and language analyses, predecisional stage perceived more barriers towards reforestation efforts and used more negative emotion words, whereas postdecisional stage reported more past habits of reforestation efforts and used more positive emotion words. Foresters should provide advice that reduces barriers for the predecisional stage and build on positive aspects of reforestation for the postdecisional stage. Study Implications: Reforestation is crucial for land management and ecosystem maintenance. Private landowners are encouraged by professional foresters to plant more trees for reforestation. However, landowners vary in reforestation efforts, and foresters must understand individual differences when advising. Results show that it is important to separate landowners into groups, using the Stages of Change Model, to determine previous behaviors affecting future reforestation and understand how language-use provides insights into what stage they are in and perceived barriers. Foresters should provide advice that reduces barriers for those with less reforestation experience and build on positive aspects of reforestation for those with more experience. These recommendations can empower more effective outreach.

Assessing the Value of Video Resources in Extension-led Natural Resources Management Continuing Education Programs

Effective delivery of continuing education programs can improve their impact. Using the first of four two-week modules of a professional short course, we tested outcomes of a flipped classroom approach, comparing professional foresters’ completion rates, preference for, and perceived value of pre-module content delivered via video and reading. Participants in the National Advanced Silviculture Program self-reported significantly higher pre-module completion rates, preference for, and perceived value of video over reading. This simple study suggests the potential for video to serve as an accessible and preferred format for delivery of key content to supplement an in-person continuing education program.

Promoting Reforestation to Landowners: The Role of Advice-Giving through Information, Efficacy, Narratives, and Identification in Storytelling

AbstractCommunicating reforestation efforts is a challenge for foresters. There are many types of advice to offer, and it is unclear which type of advice is better suited to promote tree-planting behaviors. This study explored the effectiveness of three different types of advice (narrative, informational, and efficacy) for different groups of landowners. We recruited landowners (N = 317) from the Driftless Area of Wisconsin and segmented them into two groups based on their self-reported stage of behavior. They were randomly assigned to view one type of advice message in the form of an online video. Landowners in the early stage of tree-planting behaviors had higher intentions to take the advice with a narrative message. Those in the later stage of behavior were more influenced by informational and efficacy advice messages. We also found that with narrative messages, identification with the narrator was important for increasing intention to use advice. Study Implications: Reforestation is a key component to preserving woodlands and maintaining ecosystems. Professional foresters are tasked with speaking to private woodland owners about this issue and encouraging tree-planting behaviors on their properties. However, not all advice is created equal, and the best type of advice may differ depending on the landowner. The results of this study show that it is important to (1) segment landowners into groups based on previous behaviors and (2) determine the best type of advice for each group. Our analyses found that landowners in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area could be segmented by differences in their current stages of behavior, and different groups responded more strongly to certain types of advice than others. This emphasizes the need for foresters to gain a better understanding of their intended audience rather than considering them as a homogeneous sample. Additionally, foresters can be more effective in advice-giving by creating individualized messages that target specific groups. This approach to advice-giving can be used by foresters to develop better communication strategies for their unique situation with woodland owners.

Did Forestland Restitution Facilitate Institutional Amnesia? Some Evidence from Romanian Forest Policy

This paper shows how the slow process of forestland restitution, which is unfolding in Romania since 1991 has eroded the threads of sustainable forest management by an insidious institutional amnesia (IA). The four symptoms of this harmful process (frequent reorganization, transition from paperwork to electronic media, fewer people motivated to join public services, and popularity of radical changes) were analyzed from the legal standing point as well as from practitioners’ perspective. After having described the legal process and the relative dependencies between laws and government ordinances we also showed that the three laws on forestland restoration (three fully operational laws and two bills submitted in 2019, one year before general elections) were produced by unintended policy arrangements. The legal loopholes of forestland restitution were described in details as well as the challenges brought about by nature conservation policy (Natura 2000 management plans v traditional forest planning), and the overwhelming bureaucratic burden developed to deter illegal logging, instead of fully implementing a modern system of forest watching based on volunteering. However, the main cause of IA is institutional unsteadiness which was inherited from the communist regime, and cannot be alleviated unless more involvement of professional foresters in politics.

The preferences of visitors to selected forest areas for tourism and recreational purposes

Questionnaire surveys were conducted from July 1st • to August 15th, 2012 in forests near Gołdap, Białowieża, Pisz, Kraśnik, Warsaw and Zakopane with 335 respondents - 146 residents (43.6%) and 189 tourists (56.4%). The respondents declared that they visit forests throughout the year for various purposes, most often with family or friends and most frequently for the recreational activity of walking. They typically spend about three hours in the forest during a single visit. Respondents perceived the most important functions of the forest as a place where plants and animals live, as well as a place for recreation. In their view, the state budget should be a source of co-financing the recreational management of the forest. On1y a small number of respondents (27.5%) would be willing to allocate a portion of their income for recreational forest management. According to the respondents, the most important elements needed in the forest to improve its quality for tourism are information signs and litter bins. Respondents perceive the greatest threats to the forest from tourism to be vandalism, automobiles driving into the forest and wildlife disturbance, whereas the greatest threats to tourists were reported to be biting and stinging animals (snakes, ticks and mosquitoes) and the possibility of getting lost. Respondents indicated clean air, peace and quiet, as well as the ability to harvest wild fruits, plants and mushrooms as the greatest advantages of using the forest for recreation. A large proportion of respondents admitted that they would like to use the services of professional foresters, especially for nature walks and health related purposes, as well as to educate children and youth about nature and the forest.

The Future of Professional Forestry Education: Trends and Challenges from the Malaysian Perspective

The traditional forestry education schemes are no longer sufficient to train professional foresters to manage the forest resources in a changing world. Even in forest-rich nations such as Malaysia, the challenges faced by forestry education are growing. The declining student enrolment and interests in the field must be stopped, if the field is to remain viable. The roles played by the forest have shifted from purely commercial products exploitation to environmental and social centric. In this context, forestry education will need to be restructured to impart the necessary knowledge and skills to the foresters to enable them to perform up to expectation in the field.

Notes historiques sur la formation d'ingénieurs forestiers à l'université Laval de 1910 à 2009

This paper presents an historical chronology of the evolution of forestry education at the Université Laval on the occasion of its one hundredth anniversary. The emphasis is on the evolution of the education and training of registered professional foresters and forest engineers, who are all referred to in Québec as “ingénieurs forestiers”. This paper does not pretend to present a complete historical view over the century. Those interested in such a historical record will read with interest the book by Cyrille Gélinas entitled L'enseignement et la recherche en foresterie à l'Université Laval, de 1910 à nos jours.

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

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.