Improving Communications to Increase Nonindustrial Private Forest Landowner (NIPF) Participation in Forest Certification Programs: A Case Study in Arkansas, USA

Despite the socioeconomic and ecological significance of the 10.4 million acres of forestland owned by nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners across Arkansas (approximately 58% of forestland in the state), only 5% of this land is certified through the American Tree Farm System. As such, understanding how to improve the reach and content of communications to NIPF landowners is vital for expanding certification participation and subsequent improvement of forest management in Arkansas and throughout the southern United States. To explore current and optimal communications to increase NIPF participation, we employed Berlo’s source–message–channel–receiver (SMCR, 1960) model to analyze survey data collected from Arkansas NIPF landowners regarding their familiarity with, interest in, and information sources for forest certification programs. Our results indicate that NIPF landowners have a relatively low familiarity with certification programs and a low interest in adopting a certification program regardless of personal involvement throughout the certification process, the transparency of on-sight inspections to the public, and the requirements of forest management plans. However, positive correlations were found between self-reported familiarity with certification programs and the perceived usefulness of various information sources, indicating that communications to NIPF landowners have the ability to be influential. Furthermore, the results showed that the greatest perceived benefits to landowners were improved timber growth and health, better management actions, and environmentally-friendly timber harvesting, whereas the most concerning perceived drawbacks were increased record-keeping and paperwork as well as management costs. These findings will offer actionable insights into future messaging campaigns and provide directions for new approaches of reaching NIPF landowners to increase their participation in forest certification.

Landowner Concern about Wildfires and Implementation of Fuel Reduction Treatments

Fuel reduction treatments implemented by nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners affect wildfire hazard potential on both their tracts and surrounding lands. However, it is not clear how concerned they are about wildfire damages and what actions they are willing to take to lower wildfire hazard. This study determined the landowner concern level about wildfire damages and identified factors affecting their concern and fuel treatment implementation using seemingly unrelated and binary probit models, respectively. Approximately, 68% of landowners were concerned about property damage due to wildfires, and 45% implemented some fuel reduction treatments. The most common and least costly fuel treatment was prescribed burning ($18/acre) followed by chemical ($59/acre) and mechanical ($127/acre) treatments. Raising awareness about potential monetary losses due to wildfires, assisting landowners in preparing written forest management plans, and prioritizing areas with predominant pine cover will encourage landowner participation in hazardous fuel reduction programs and facilitate more effective wildfire mitigation. Study Implications Nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners were concerned about monetary damages due to wildfires, which influenced their implementation of fuel reduction treatments. Estimates of fuel treatment cost and implementation frequency provide baseline information necessary to determine cost-effectiveness of various fuel treatments for their subsequent prioritization. Programs and policies that increase awareness among landowners about potential monetary losses due to wildfires, facilitate preparation of forest management plans with wildfire hazard mitigation prescriptions, and prioritize areas with high wildfire hazard potential are needed to increase implementation of hazardous fuel reduction treatments by NIPF landowners to reduce wildfire intensity and severity.

Comparison of the Timber Management Expenses of Non-Industrial Private Forest Landowners in Mississippi, United States: Results from 1995–1997 and 2015

Forest landowner activities change over the lifespan of the forest and ownership cycle. Patterns of change emerge which suggest the evolving nature of forest landownership and Non-industrial Private Forest (NIPF) landowners’ interest in their land. The objective of this study was to examine trends in NIPF landowners’ distribution of forestry expenses in their management activities over time. First, 2010 Mississippi NIPF landowners were randomly selected from a property tax roll list. Our analysis compared study results of Arano et al. (2002) with a 2016 survey that was conducted by the authors of this paper. Both studies drew on assessments of timber management expenditures that were conducted on behalf of a state government department of revenue to determine ad valorem taxes for forest land. As such, both studies contained similar survey questions with 12 forestry-related activities grouped into four major categories: (1) Fees for Professional Services (e.g., consulting foresters, surveyors), (2) Timber Management Expenditures (e.g., site preparation, planting), (3) Other Management Expenditures (e.g., road construction), and (4) Property Taxes. Like the 2002 article, results here are presented as descriptive statistics. In both survey cycles, Timber Management Expenditures represented the largest component of annual expenditures in both the 1990s and 2015. The largest decrease in reported expenditures occurred for Other Management Expenditures. By broadly describing differences in expenditures over time, this study provides insights into the involvement of NIPF landowners in management activities on forest land such as reforestation after final harvest, thinning, and timber stand improvement, which can impact forest products’ supply over time.

Ownership Changes and Harvesting Patterns Associated with the Forest Products Industry in West-Central Alabama from 1984 to 2014

Since the beginning of the 1980s, vertically integrated forest products companies have divested their forestland with much of the new ownership being real estate investment trusts (REITs) and timberland investment management organizations (TIMOs). These new landowners and their associated behavior of intensive timber management and higher and better use conversion has given rise to issues such as land-use change, fragmentation, and conservation. To better gauge harvesting patterns and ownership changes associated with the divestment of forestland by forest industry and the arrival of TIMOs and REITs on the forested landscape, eleven Landsat scenes were used to detect harvest activity within the Alabama counties of Bibb, Hale, Pickens, and Tuscaloosa from 1984 to 2014. Detected harvesting activity was paired with county parcel data and then classified based on landowner type: REITs, TIMOs, forest product industry, government, and non-industrial private forest (NIPF) landowners. Overall harvest trends showed a decrease in harvest rates from 1984 to 2005 with a slight increase in harvest rates after 2005. Per scene interval, acres harvested were highly variable for NIPF and relatively stable for forest industry during this time. Government ownership maintained relatively low and stable harvesting behavior throughout the study period. Acres harvested by REITs was relatively low. TIMOs showed an ever increasing rate of harvest within the study area until the last scene interval (2011-2014).

Segmenting Southern Nonindustrial Private Forest Landowners on the Basis of Their Management Objectives and Motivations for Wood-Based Bioenergy

This study segments nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners in Arkansas, Florida, and Virginia on the basis of their forest management objectives and their willingness to supply wood-based biomass for bioenergy. A two-step cluster analysis was used to segment NIPF landowners of all three states into three distinct groups, namely bioenergy conservationists, multiple-objective landowners, and passive landowners. The results revealed that there was notable variation among NIPF landowners in terms of their interest in wood-based bioenergy and forest management objectives. A solid majority of bioenergy conservationists (58%) were familiar with the concept of producing alternative fuels from wood. Similarly, multiple-objective landowners' willingness to supply wood-based biomass (63%) was highest among all three segments. Bioenergy-friendly conservationists and multiple-objective landowners were more likely to be receptive to outreach activities. Further, given low motivation scores for passive managers, this group of landowners would require focused outreach programs to increase their interest in bioenergy. This study suggested appropriate outreach and educational strategies to communicate with each audience segment.

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.

Impact of carbon value on the profitability of slash pine plantations in the southern United States: an integrated life cycle and Faustmann analysis

The emergence of voluntary carbon markets provides an additional income opportunity to nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners because of the carbon sequestered in forest biomass. This study integrates life cycle analysis and the modified Faustmann model to assess the impact of carbon payments on the optimum rotation age and profitability of 1 ha of privately owned but intensely managed slash pine ( Pinus elliottii Engelm.) plantation in the southern United States. Guidelines of the Chicago Climate Exchange were followed for carbon payments. When carbon payments were included, land expectation values (LEVs) were found to be about $1384·ha–1 and $1063·ha–1 for the with and without thinning scenarios, respectively. When payment for carbon sequestered in the live forest biomass was included, LEVs increased to about $2807·ha–1 and $2765·ha–1 for the aforementioned scenarios, respectively. No significant change in the optimum rotation age was observed in the presence of carbon payments. Results suggest that voluntary carbon markets could play a key role in improving the financial returns to NIPF landowners.