Small-Area Estimation for the USDA Forest Service, National Woodland Owner Survey: Creating a Fine-Scale Land Cover and Ownership Layer to Support County-Level Population Estimates

Small area estimation is a powerful modeling technique in which ancillary data can be utilized to “borrow” additional information, effectively increasing sample sizes in small spatial, temporal, or categorical domains. Though more commonly applied to biophysical variables within the study of forest inventory analyses, small area estimation can also be implemented in the context of understanding social values, behaviors, and trends among types of forest landowners within small domains. Here, we demonstrate a method for deriving a continuous fine-scale land cover and ownership layer for the state of Delaware, United States, and an application of that ancillary layer to facilitate small-area estimation of several variables from the USDA Forest Service’s National Woodland Owner Survey. Utilizing a proprietary parcel layer alongside the National Land Cover Database, we constructed a continuous layer with 10-meter resolution depicting land cover and land ownership classes. We found that the National Woodland Owner Survey state-level estimations of total acreage and total ownerships by ownership class were generally within one standard error of the population values calculated from the raster layer, which supported the direct calculation of several population-level summary variables at the county levels. Subsequently, we compare design-based and model-based methods of predicting commercial harvesting by family forest ownerships in Delaware in which forest ownership acreage, taken from the parcel map, was utilized to inform the model-based approach. Results show general agreement between the two modes, indicating that a small area estimation approach can be utilized successfully in this context and shows promise for other variables, especially if additional variables, e.g., United States Census Bureau data, are also incorporated.

Minority Family Forest Owners in the United States

Family forest owners own more forestland in the United States than any other group. There have been no national studies of racial and ethnic minority family forest owners in the United States, in spite of increasing attention to diversity in forestry. Using the US Forest Service’s National Woodland Owner Survey data, we sought to better understand minority owners by looking at their characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors. Of the over 4 million family forest ownerships with 10+ ac in the United States, minorities comprise 6.6 percent of the ownerships and own 5.1 percent of the 265 million ac. Although many similarities exist between minority and nonminority owners, such as reasons for owning land and concerns, minority landowners tend to be more regionally located, have smaller forest holdings, are less likely to manage their forests, and are less likely to have participated in assistance programs. Broad insight into the attitudes and behaviors of minority family forest owners can help policymakers, program directors, and outreach coordinators begin to understand the needs of minority landowners, providing this historically underserved group with tools they need to attain their forest management and land-use goals. By increasing minority landowner engagement, we can hopefully slow the loss of land by minority landowners.