scholarly journals Optimizing the Tending of Forest Stands with Interactive Decision Maps to Balance the Financial Incomes and Ecological Risks according to Owner Demands: Case Study in Rakovník, the Czech Republic

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 730
Author(s):  
Róbert Sedmák ◽  
Ján Tuček ◽  
Martina Levická ◽  
Denisa Sedmáková ◽  
Ján Bahýľ ◽  
...  

Sustainability and the optimal provision of the various ecosystem services is an essential task in forest management. In this study, we deal with the optimization of forest tending to achieve the maximal long-term provision of financial incomes from wood at a minimal level of ecological risks for selected small ownership unit. The methods of interactive decision maps and reasonable goals (IDM/RGM) were connected with a modern forest growth simulator to investigate the four-dimensional optimization space and to produce the complete set of Pareto optimal solutions. The four different types of forest owners as potential decision-makers were simulated, and precise management goals in multidimensional target space were defined. Then, the optimal tending system for each forest owner in three stands, differing by the degree of the naturalness of the species composition, was detected. The multi-criteria analysis suggests that predominantly economically oriented forest management still prevails in the Czech and Slovak Republics, which can be as a source of conflicts among forest owners and other stakeholders. The existence of trade-offs between biodiversity, ecological stability and wood production and different owners’ demands must be taken into account. The possibility of balancing the management risks and wood provision according to the owner’s and other stakeholders’ demands with the aid of the easy-to-apply IDM/RGM methods (and the careful assistance of a specialist experienced in multi-criteria optimization) was introduced. At the same time, the application of real integrative management in small forest areas was demonstrated in practice. After the change of paradigm in forest management, the applied methods should prevent increasing conflicts among owners and society in former socialist countries, which have undergone a fundamental transformation in terms of forest ownership in recent decades.

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.


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Ana Martins ◽  
Ana Novais ◽  
José Lima Santos ◽  
Maria João Canadas

Forest management at the landscape level is a requirement for reducing wildfire hazard. In contexts where non-industrial private forest ownership prevails, the collaboration among multiple owners has been proposed as the way forward to reach consistent fuel management at that level. The current literature has been focused on identifying the factors that lead to collaboration among owners. In this study we explored other ways to reach landscape-level management in addition to the collaborative way, such as those that may be promoted through land renting or selling. Different contexts and owner types may require different solutions. Thus, we explicitly asked which alternative would be chosen by a given forest owner, from the following set: keeping individual management, entering a multi-owner collaborative arrangement where they delegate management, renting to a pulp company; or selling the land. In a context of small-scale ownership and high recurrence of wildfires in Portugal, a face-to-face survey was carried out to a sample of landowners. Our results suggest that there is not an a priori generalized unwillingness of owners to delegate management, rent or sell the land and thus they seem prone to align themselves with policy strategies to promote management at the landscape level. Multinomial logit regression modelling allowed us to explain and predict owners’ choices among the aforementioned set of alternative management options. We found that choosing multi-ownership collaboration, as opposed to keeping current individual management, is associated with passive management under harsher conditions, by non-residents without bonding capital. The identified factors of owners’ choices show the limited scope of tenancy and land-market mechanisms to promote landscape-level management. The best policy option was found to depend on the owner profiles prevailing in the target area. This suggests that studying the existing context and owner types is required to design effective policies.


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 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 346
Author(s):  
Maarten de Groot ◽  
Jurij Diaci ◽  
Kaja Kandare ◽  
Nike Krajnc ◽  
Rok Pisek ◽  
...  

In the last few decades, an increasing number and intensity of bark beetle outbreaks have plagued the forests of Europe and North America. Bark beetle management is directly related to forest owner characteristics, although this relationship is not well understood. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of forest owner characteristics on the amount and timing of sanitary felling under different disturbance regimes and quantities of Norway spruce. We combined different databases on sanitary felling, the timing of sanitary felling, and forest owner characteristics for Slovenia from 2014 to 2018 and analyzed the amount and timing of sanitary felling in relation to forest owner characteristics. We found that the timing in winter and the amount of sanitary felling were positively associated with the distance of the owner’s residence to the forest parcel. Larger parcels were more affected by bark beetles but did not have later timing of cutting in the summer period as was hypothesized. The timing of sanitary felling decreased with property size, while with the probability of sanitary felling, the effect of property depended on the ice storm and the amount of spruce. The size of the settlement, the permanent address of the private owner, and timing of sanitary felling were positively associated but also depended on the amount of spruce. Gender and age did not have an important influence on the amount and timing of sanitary felling. Forest owners are an important factor in effective bark beetle management. This study highlights the private forest ownership characteristics that should be emphasized in order to fight bark beetle outbreaks in the event of large-scale disturbances. Governments should support forest owners who are at greater risk of bark beetle outbreaks and less efficient in managing outbreaks. Furthermore, landowner characteristics should be included when forecasting bark beetle outbreaks.


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.


Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 668
Author(s):  
Dianne Staal Wästerlund

In the past, Swedish ownership of the forest estate was predominantly passed on by parents to their descendants. However, a general societal change has given successors a larger say in decisions on such matters. Their willingness to become forest owners has, therefore, become an important factor for who will own the forest in the future. To study what factors explain adult descendants’ interest in taking over as forest owners, this study determined how adult children, who expressed a willingness to take over their parents’ forest estate, were different from those who were not willing. Members of the Northern Forest Owner Association in Sweden were asked to provide contact addresses of their children, in the age group 30 to 50 years old. The logistic regression analysis of the 249 participating offspring respondents revealed several significant factors. Offspring who helped their parents with the management of the estate were more likely to be willing to take it over, showing that developing into a forest owner remains a socialization process that starts with practical work. Values, such as the respondents’ attitude towards maintaining a forest ownership tradition, as well as the interest in forest income, hunting, and fishing, were also found to be factors affecting the willingness to take over. The results also indicate that the socialization process is still gender-biased, and that the distance between a descendants’ present home and the forest estate is a factor that mattered.


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.


2014 ◽  
Vol 165 (8) ◽  
pp. 232-235
Author(s):  
Roger Schmidt ◽  
Martin Hostettler

The future belongs to forest entrepreneurs (essay) An evaluation has recently been carried out of the achievements and organization of the Forest Service of the Canton of Bern. It appears from the study that the present administrative structure is not adequately adapted to the challenges of the future: a lower level of forest management, increasing expectations for the forest, higher risk, fewer management options for forest development. The new strategy for the Service is “Help the forest owners to help themselves”. Forest entrepreneurs are the motor of the forest economy. The Canton of Bern, working with the forest owner association of the Canton, is therefore looking for new ways of working with them. It is focusing on its core tasks and giving organizational priority to solidarity, speed of response and concentration of resources.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 747
Author(s):  
Marlene Marques ◽  
Keith M. Reynolds ◽  
Susete Marques ◽  
Marco Marto ◽  
Steve Paplanus ◽  
...  

Forest management planning can be challenging when allocating multiple ecosystem services (ESs) to management units (MUs), given the potentially conflicting management priorities of actors. We developed a methodology to spatially allocate ESs to MUs, according to the objectives of four interest groups—civil society, forest owners, market agents, and public administration. We applied a Group Multicriteria Spatial Decision Support System approach, combining (a) Multicriteria Decision Analysis to weight the decision models; (b) a focus group and a multicriteria Pareto frontier method to negotiate a consensual solution for seven ESs; and (c) the Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) system to prioritize the allocation of ESs to MUs. We report findings from an application to a joint collaborative management area (ZIF of Vale do Sousa) in northwestern Portugal. The forest owners selected wood production as the first ES allocation priority, with lower priorities for other ESs. In opposition, the civil society assigned the highest allocation priorities to biodiversity, cork, and carbon stock, with the lowest priority being assigned to wood production. The civil society had the highest mean rank of allocation priority scores. We found significant differences in priority scores between the civil society and the other three groups, highlighting the civil society and market agents as the most discordant groups. We spatially evaluated potential for conflicts among group ESs allocation priorities. The findings suggest that this approach can be helpful to decision makers, increasing the effectiveness of forest management plan implementation.


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