Investigating the Impact of Land Parcelization on Forest Composition and Structure in Southeastern Ohio Using Multi-Source Remotely Sensed Data

Forestland parcelization (i.e., a process by which large parcels of forestland ownership are divided into many small parcels) presents an increasing challenge to sustainable forest development in the United States. In Southeastern Ohio, forests also experienced intensive forestland parcelization, where the majority of forest owners own parcels smaller than 10 acres currently. To better understand the impact of forestland parcelization on forest development, this study employed multi-source remotely sensed data and land ownership data in Hocking County, Ohio to examine the relationship between forestland parcel size and forest attributes, including forest composition and structure. Our results show that private forestland parcels are generally smaller than public forestland (the average parcel sizes are 21.5 vs. 275.0 acres). Compared with private lands, public lands have higher values in all forest attributes, including forest coverage, abundance of oak-dominant stands, canopy height and aboveground biomass. A further investigation focusing on private forestland reveals that smaller parcels tend to have smaller forest coverage, less greenness, lower height and aboveground biomass, indicating that forests in smaller parcels may experience more human disturbances than larger parcels. The results also show that logarithmic models can well quantify the non-linear relationship between forest attributes and parcel size in the study area. Our study suggests that forestland parcelization indeed has negative effects on forest development, so it is very important to take appropriate measures to protect forests in small ownership parcels.

Landowner Motivations for Owning Woodland on the Tennessee Northern Cumberland Plateau

There has been a dearth of evidence in recent years by which to assess what motivation landowners have for owning woodland. Only recently, in the past 5 years, has there been a fresh attempt to answer this question. It has become increasingly important to understand landowner motivations for owning woodland with the substantial increase of nonindustrial private forestland (NIPF) landowners and the decreasing sizes of tracts of land. This report uses results of a 2005 survey on the Tennessee Northern Cumberland Plateau to assess what motivations landowners have for owning their woodland. Principal components analysis is used to assign motivation categories, and multinomial logistic regression is used to assess what characteristics classify landowners into their respective motivation categories. Results show that landowners can be classified into one of three motivation categories: privacy, utility, and heritage. This knowledge is beneficial to resource managers as they attempt to disseminate information to landowners on how to best achieve their objectives.

Urbanization Effects on Timberland by Ownership Class: A Modified Multinomial Logit Analysis

In this study, a modified multinomial logit approach is used to examine the determinants of timberland by ownership class using county level data in Georgia from 1972 to 2000. We model timberland use by private industry ownership and nonindustrial private forestland ownership, in addition to agriculture, urban uses, and other land uses. Urbanization and other socioeconomic variables have different levels of influence on timberland ownership classes, private forest industry, and nonindustrial private forestland owners. The findings may have implications for land use modeling and projections.

Forest Landowner Participation in State-Administered Southern Pine Beetle Prevention Cost-Share Programs

Healthy pine trees in low-density stands offer the best defense against the southern pine beetle (SPB), helping to ensure that timber resources and other benefits of forests are protected against infestations. Through the SPB prevention cost-share program, landowners of nonindustrial private forestland are able to receive a financial incentive for improving forest health by proactively undertaking forest management practices. In this study, two surveys were used to analyze this program: (1) a survey of enrollees in the SPB prevention cost-share program, and (2) a survey of forest landowners who have not participated in a cost-share program. Data are used to examine similarities and differences in the two samples (e.g., background awareness of the SPB, sources of their information about the SPB). Information obtained from cost-share program enrollees is also presented to characterize their participation and to provide an overall evaluation of the program. Data indicate that the SPB prevention cost-share program is very successful in terms of the satisfaction of its customers (i.e., the actual program participants).