scholarly journals Determinants of Nonindustrial Private Forest Owners’ Willingness to Harvest Timber in Norway

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Altamash Bashir ◽  
Hanne K. Sjølie ◽  
Birger Solberg

In Norway, 84% of the productive forest is privately owned, and these forests dominate the supply of timber to industries. However, during last 80 years, annual forest growth has seen a substantial upsurge while annual timber harvest has been rather stable, generating an increasing potential for timber supply. In this study, we provide new insights to better understand Norwegian non-industrial private forest owners’ timber harvesting decisions. This was achieved by comparing the outcomes of two different statistical approaches (i.e., a combination of probit-linear models with a tobit model). These approaches are commonly applied in timber supply studies, but to the best of our knowledge have never been compared on the same dataset. The survey utilized for this study constitutes a population of Active and Inactive forest owners, based on whether the owner had harvested timber for sale during the last fifteen years. Two gross samples of 1500 and 1650 were drawn, with response rates of 56% and 49% for the Active and Inactive owner samples, respectively. The study results reveal that the average holding size varied from 25.2 ha for Inactive to 49.5 ha for both samples and 73.8 ha for Active owners. The probit model analysis indicated that knowledge of forest fund and financial objectives had the most significant impact on the willingness to harvest, with marginal effects of 11% and 12%, respectively. In the linear regression, being a male owner increased the historical timber supply by 1.48 m3 ha−1 year−1 compared to female ownership. In the second regression pathway (tobit model), the two variables male forest owner and owning forests for financial objectives triggered the supply of timber by 1.85 m3 ha−1 year−1 and 1.25 m3 ha−1 year−1, respectively. Timber prices were significant in the linear model (elasticity 1.18) and tobit model (elasticity 0.66), whereas they were non-significant in the probit model. Our study concludes that Active owners had a better understanding of acknowledging forests for economic security. Policy-makers and extension services should recognize that the Inactive forest owner group may require different actions than Active owners.

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew O. Finley ◽  
David B. Kittredge

Abstract We present a three-phase segmentation analysis designed to highlight the heterogeneity of forest ownership values and attitudes toward government control, privacy, and environmental protection held by a sample of Massachusetts private forest owners. This case study explores private forest owner characteristics that are associated with enrollment into Massachusetts' Chapter 61 current-use forest property tax program, which requires a professionally prepared 10-year forest management plan. We suggest the key to increasing landowner participation in forest management programs is to (1) recognize this heterogeneity of the target population, and (2) tailor the program to meet segment specific needs and desires.


2008 ◽  
Vol 159 (12) ◽  
pp. 435-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Schaffner

Forestry science and practice are trying to reduce the diversity of private forest owners to a small number of descriptions of characteristics and comportments by creating categories of forest owners using a system based on combinations of these various characteristics. A comparison between various middle-European forest owner categories makes it clear that for the majority two main processes form the basis. The change in agrarian structures and the associated change from a tradition of owner management to a service industry alter the conditions which were previously valid for this division into categories. Analyses which explain the mechanisms behind observed effects in the newly developing service industry market and in its potential performance will gain in importance for forestry practice in the future.


Author(s):  
KARRI PASANEN ◽  
MIKKO KURTTILA ◽  
JOUNI PYKÄlÄINEN ◽  
JYRKI KANGAS ◽  
PEKKA LESKINEN

The supply of Internet-based forest planning services to non-industrial private forest owners has increased. At the core of these services there is usually the "paper forest plan" in browseable format. The options to update the stand-level data and to download, fill and send various forms related to stand treatments are further characteristics of these services. The real potential of web-based services has not yet, however, been fully exploited. In addition, changes in the structure of non-industrial private forest ownership call for new facilities to be included in these services. The aim of this article is to present some characteristics that could be included in Internet-based forest planning services. The Mesta decision support service is intended to be used independently by forest owners, who are interested in examining, over the Internet, the production possibilities of their forest holding and in comparing alternative forest plans with respect to different goals concerning the use of their forest holding. Mesta includes a facility enabling preliminary objective enquiries from the forest owner, the creation and presentation of alternative forest plans and multi-criteria comparisons of alternative forest plans. The comparison technique is so executed that forest owners' independent assessments are enabled over the Internet without necessitating personal guidance by forest planning consultants. The results of trial use involving eight North-Karelian forest owners were encouraging. However, the current version of Mesta has been developed for research purposes and its properties and user-friendliness need to be improved before it can be included as a component of commercial Internet-based forest planning services.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-563
Author(s):  
Louise Eriksson ◽  
Clas Fries

Abstract With growing demands on forests, there is a need to understand the drivers of managing the forest for diverse objectives, such as production, recreation, and climate adaptation. The aim of this study was to examine the knowledge and value basis of forest management behaviors, including different management strategies and management inactivity, among private forest owners in Sweden. Different dimensions of knowledge (declarative and procedural knowledge, assessed in terms of objective and subjective knowledge measures) and value priorities (basic values and forest values), as well as the role of forest owner identity, were examined. The study was conducted by means of a postal questionnaire to a random sample of private forest owners in Sweden (n = 3000, response rate 43%). The distinctions between actual knowledge (objective knowledge), confidence (subjective knowledge), and value priorities, in addition to the hierarchical structure of how these factors are linked to management behaviors, proved to be valuable. Results revealed that different knowledge dimensions and value priorities were jointly important for forest management behaviors. In addition, the role of forest owner identity for management behaviors was confirmed. Insights from the study may be used to develop policy and outreach to private forest owners and thereby facilitate different forest functions in private forestry.


Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Shin Seunguk ◽  
Youn Yeo-Chang

Understanding and promoting South Korean private forest owners’ investment in the Forest Carbon Offset (FCO) scheme is crucial for enhancing carbon sequestration using forests in South Korea. This study aims to identify the factors of private forest owners associated with the investment decision in FCO projects. A total of 132 forest owners in Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do responded to a mixed-method survey. A chi-square test on the respondent groups shows that a forest management contract has a positive correlation with the forest owners’ willingness to invest in FCO projects. We also developed a logistic regression model for each forest owner group to estimate the effects of forest characteristics, experience of financial support, forest owner characteristics, and management characteristics on the forest owners’ willingness to invest in FCO projects. The results indicate that beliefs in climate change, size of forest holdings, tree species, stand age, experience in cost-sharing for forestry operations with public agencies, and timber harvest experience were significantly associated with the likelihood of a forest owner’s willingness to invest in FCO projects. Therefore, forest policies should take account of the factors influencing the likelihood of forest owners’ investment in FCO projects. We also found that the forest management contract scheme can be used as a policy instrument for promoting private forest owners’ action for climate change in South Korea.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrej Ficko

Although several private forest owner studies have dealt with how private forest owners understand forest management, little is known about the determinants of specific forest management concepts. The study expands previous latent variable models of the perception of forest management by European private forest owners by looking at how age, income, education, annual cut, and holding size and type influence specific understandings of forest management. We applied a multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) structural equation model on a representative sample of 754 private forest owners from Slovenia. The MIMIC model confirmed the influence of six covariates on three concepts of forest management: the maintenance concept, the ecosystem-centered concept, and the economics-centered concept. The strongest determinants of perception were education and holding type. The maintenance concept was predominantly associated with less educated older full-time or part-time farmers working on smaller family farms and doing regular cuts. The perception of forest management as an economics-centered activity increased with increased education and dependence on income from intensive cuts. The ecosystem-centered concept was most strongly associated with younger, better-educated owners with smaller holdings and, surprisingly, not to non-farmers but to small-scale family farmers. However, the proportion of the variance of latent variables explained by the six covariates was low, ranging from 2.4% to 5.1%. Taking into account the influence of education and holding type on private forest owners’ perception of forest management, by increasing the level of education and raising the proportion of absentee owners in Europe, we expect a shift from the maintenance concept toward either an economics-centered or ecosystem-oriented concept for forest management. Despite the weak influence of private forest owners’ social economic profiles on forest management conceptualizations, governments should be aware of the trend and actively seek to prevent the polarization of forest management concepts.


2008 ◽  
Vol 159 (12) ◽  
pp. 416-426
Author(s):  
Peter Deegen

The paper presents deductive-mathematical analyses regarding short and long-term timber supply of non-industrial private forest owners using several papers of Tahvonen and Tahvonen et al. With the help of an intertemporal dynamic consumer model based on the Faustmann tradition, the effects of utility in situ, non-forest income and credit rationing are investigated: The higher the utility in situ and the non-forest income, the higher is the quantity of the long-term timber supply and the lower the quantity of short-term timber supply. The higher the timber price and the market interest rate, the lower the quantity of the long-term timber supply and the higher the quantity of short-term timber supply. Credit rationing leads to essential modifications of those results. The found results also differ strongly from analyses of the pure case of intertemporal profit maximizers. In the second part inductive-empirical studies concerning timber supply of non-industrial private forest owners are presented as well. Reference is made to two papers with review characteristics in which cases from North America and Scandinavia are analysed. In the third part the results of the two different methods are compared and the relations of these two methods are discussed. Special emphasis is given to the fact that deduction shall not equalize theory and the inductive-empirical method shall not be synonym for reality or practice. Instead inductive-empirical research is also theory. Finally it is explained that the low quantity of short-term timber supply by non-industrial private forest owners is not a result of market failure but of a more complex competition among the different usages of forests that emerged in modern societies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swoyambhu M. Amatya ◽  
Prakash Lamsal

 This paper reviews and analyses the present status of private forests and tenure administration in light of existing legal, policy, and regulatory frameworks in Nepal. Additionally, the present status of private forests, as well as the scenarios of timber harvesting, transportation, marketing, and their administration are thoroughly revised. Provisions regarding forests and trees on private land and their basis are examined and implications are articulated for potential policy improvements for enhanced tenure security. It is shown that robust national-level policies and legal frameworks exist, and that there is an increasing trend of timber flows to markets from private forests over the past five years. However, there is still skepticism, mistrust and fear amongst private forest owners, saw millers, and forest administration that prevents the full use of the bundle of rights that legal and policy provisions have promised. An unusually slow pace of private forest registration, lengthy and multi stage processes for obtaining harvesting and transportation permits, and official bans on important commercial species, among others, are found to be the factors that most hinder the private forest owners’ and tree growers’ interests, and their rights and obligations with respect to the management and use of their private forest resources. It is concluded that a simplified permitting process along with programmatic support would promote and help to grow private forestry and that Nepal’s experience and lessons learned from community forest implementation would be a great asset to move towards this end. Connecting community forest user groups for organised and cooperative action, and mobilising their institutional strength and accumulated funds for pro-farmer technical and regulatory support would allow farmers to intensify tree plantations and forest management. Further steps are required to convince policymakers and secure necessary budgetary support to this end..


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