Farmers’ objectives toward their woodlands in the upper Midwest of the United States: implications for woodland volumes and diversity

This paper reports the results of a study that explores the relationship between farm woodland owners’ stated intentions for owning woodland, and the structure and composition of these woodlands in the states of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa in the upper Midwest of the United States. Data from two sample-based inventories conducted by the USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program were combined for this analysis—the FIA forest resources inventory and the National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS). We looked for relationships between product value and investment in woodlands, as reflected in volumes and tree quality. We also examined whether measures of diversity reflected specific management focus. Our results partially supported our hypotheses. Woodland-focused ownership reasons were found to have larger volumes and individual tree sizes. We found that a passive woodland ownership reason—that woods were “part of the farm”—generally had lower volumes per hectare. Although we were not able to differentiate between different forest product classes and measures of volume, we did find that those landowners who harvested veneer had more volume than those who harvested for firewood. Woodland owners who salvage-harvested their woodlands—a harvesting reason that is more reactive than proactive—exhibited lower volumes per hectare than those who harvested for more proactive, product-focused reasons. Biodiversity was also found to be related to the ownership focus and harvest intent. Generally, there was lower diversity in overstory species when the woodland was viewed merely as “part of the farm,” when the product harvested was fence posts and when timber was harvested for salvage or land clearing. The small sample size limits our analysis, but we can conclude that focusing the woodland owners on management of their woodlands—regardless of what the specific management goals might be—should increase productivity and biodiversity of those woodlands.

Future orientation and planning in forestry: a comparison of forest managers’ planning horizons in Germany and the Netherlands

Long range (or strategic) planning is an important tool for forest management to deal with the complex and unpredictable future. However, it is the ability to make meaningful predictions about the rapidly changing future that is questioned. What appears to be particularly neglected is the question of the length of time horizons and the limits (if any) to these horizons, despite being considered one of the most critical factors in strategic planning. As the future creation of values lies within individual responsibility, this research empirically explored the limits (if any) of individual foresters’ time horizons. To draw comparisons between countries with different traditions in forest management planning, data were collected through telephone surveys of forest managers in the state/national forest services of the Netherlands and Germany. In order to minimize other cultural differences, the research in Germany concentrated on the federal state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, which has considerable similarities with the Netherlands, e.g. in topography, forest types and forest functions. The results show that, in practice, 15 years appears to be the most distant horizon that foresters can identify with. This is in sharp contrast to the time horizons spanning decades and even generations that are always said to exist in forestry. The “doctrine of the long run”—the faith in the capacity of foresters to overcome the barriers of the uncertain future and look ahead and plan for long-range goals—which in many countries still underlies traditional forest management, can therefore be rejected.

A Critical Comparison of Typologies of Small-Scale Forestry in Baden-Württemberg Derived Using Single and Multiple Criteria

The paper presents a typology of small-scale forest owners in Baden-Württemberg based on multiple criteria and derived using multivariate cluster analysis of long-term accountancy network data. Four distinct types of landholders are identified based on a combination of structural, financial and biophysical data. These groups fit well with the present knowledge on small-scale forest owners in Baden-Württemberg. In addition, the members of each group display clear differences in attitudes towards forestry, giving further support for the validity of the grouping. A comparison is made of this typology and typologies derived using the single criteria of forestry region, forest size class, cutting volume, proportion of coniferous trees, forest income and main source of income. This comparison demonstrates the advantages of using cluster analysis to identify types of small-scale forest owners in south-west Germany. No matter whether structural, natural or financial data are assessed, the multiple criteria typology produced by cluster analysis provides the highest percentage of statistically significant distinctions between the medians of the groups identified. A typology based on the single criterion of ‘regions’ provides the second best fit and has the advantage of being simple to develop. A more detailed comparison between these two typologies, whereby the differences between groups were analysed based on the links between individual groups in respect to individual variables, also indicated that the multiple criteria typology was superior.

Sustainability Attributes of a Small-Scale Betel Leaf Agroforestry System: A Case Study in North-eastern Hill Forests of Bangladesh

The Khasia ethnic community of Bangladesh has been a population of forest villagers in the north-eastern hill forests of Bangladesh since the early 1950s, practicing a betel leaf-based agroforestry system on land granted by the Forest Department. Taking a sample forest village of the Sylhet forest division as a case study, this article examines the sustainability attributes of betel leaf production in the agroforestry system. The presence of several positive attributes of sustainability including the composition of agroforestry, disease control, soil fertility management, profitability, socio-cultural acceptability and institutional support indicate that betel leaf production within the agroforestry system is stable under the prevailing traditional management system. Income from the sale of betel leaf is the principal livelihood means and villager’s reciprocal contributions help to conserve forest resources. However, problems with land ownership and regular agreement renewal need to be resolved for the sake of their livelihoods and forest conservation.

Regional employment trends of wood-based industries in Germany’s forest cluster: a comparative shift-share analysis of post-reunification development

After reunification in 1990, Germany’s forest cluster developed anew and employment in the wood-based industries differentiated very quickly. With more than 900,000 employees, it is now considered one of the most important industrial sectors in the country. This paper analysed general trends in the development of employment of wood-based industries in the German forest cluster between 1999 and 2006. Shift-share analysis was considered to be the most appropriate way to determine regional differences in the subsection DD/20 ‘Manufacture of wood and wood products’ of the code “Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Revision 1.1” (NACE): the sawmill industry, the wood-based panel industry, the wood construction industry, the wood-based packaging industry, and the miscellaneous wood products industry. This method decomposed the change of employment into three different components that are due to that change: national trends, (industrial) sectoral trends, and regional conditions. Employment in the selected wood-based industries showed a significantly larger decrease than overall trends in both the producing industries and the whole economy of Germany: a continual loss of employees could be observed over the time period, affecting almost all of the selected wood-based industries. However, federal states in western and eastern Germany experienced divergent trends between 1999 and 2006, as different absolute and relative regional share components indicated in the shift-share analysis. This method allows of identifying regional disparities and characterising regions with positive (mainly eastern federal states) and negative (mainly western federal states) rates of employment growth. The research suggests that positive employment trends in eastern Germany’s wood-based industries can mainly be attributed to regional factors such as comparatively higher subsidies for new investments, lower labour costs, lower land values or infrastructural peculiarities.

Forest cover and pattern changes in the Carpathians over the last decades

This study aims at developing a satellite-based methodology for the implementation of two Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe indicators for the European Alpine Bio-geographic region, and their changes over time: (1) area of forest cover and (2) forest spatial pattern. The northern Carpathians were selected as a study area due to the documented recent increase of forest cover. Changes of forest cover were quantified using Landsat images for the years 1987 and 2000. Single-date forest–non-forest maps were derived by image segmentation and supervised classification, including the use of ancillary data (CORINE Land Cover and a digital elevation model). These maps were an input for the post-classification change detection. The forest spatial pattern maps with four classes (core, patch, edge and perforated forest) were derived with morphological image processing. A simple method to mask uncertainty areas on forest maps and related products was also developed. The accuracy of the resulting forest–non-forest map was assessed with orthophotos and amounts to 93.9%. Uncertainty areas, for which change assessment was judged more difficult and less reliable, were not considered for assessing forest cover change. The annual forest cover change rate of 0.38% was found over the 1987–2000 period. For the 13-year time period, we found a decrease of core forest and an increase of patch and perforated forest. We conclude that the proposed methodology allows to quantify changes of forest cover and forest spatial pattern at ∼1 ha minimum mapping unit.

Adaptation to Change and Re-designing of Governance Systems: Cases from Small-Scale Rural Forestry

Changes in small-scale forest governance as a reaction to global changes are viewed from the system dynamics perspective, focused on two levels of dynamic systems: the policy system with sets of interactions at the national level and the management system at the local level. These interactions are considered through permanent adaptation and re-shaping of stakeholders’ networks and positions provoking further changes in the systems. Empirical evidence has been obtained from two case studies related to small-scale rural forestry in distinct contexts—France (the Territorial Forestry Charters) and Kyrgyzstan (collaborative forest management and leasing of forest plots)—and viewed through a theoretical framework of social-political systems dynamics. The changes caused by the systems’ capacity for adaptability and resilience are expressed through a double spiral of decision-making, characterising the interactions between national policies and local management practices. The analysis leads to a conclusion that changes are basically determined by the formal and informal stakeholders’ strategies developed in a specific context and their mutual adaptation aimed at system resilience.

Urban Consumers’ Attitudes Towards Non-wood Forest Products and Services in Switzerland and an Assessment of Their Market Potential

To obtain empirical data on future market potential, a consumer survey about supply, demand and consumption of non-wood forest products and services (NWFP&S) was conducted in six cities in different cantons of Switzerland. A total of 897 persons–about 150 per city–were interviewed through arbitrary selection in which women and youths were overrepresented in comparision to the Swiss population. A high consumer acceptance of forest products and particularly forest services among the Swiss urban population was observed. Preferences in purchasing honey, berries, mushrooms and roots among other NWFP were reported. The quality of the products and their environmental friendliness ranked highest in the attitudes of potential consumers who prefer to buy NWFP at market stands, in retail traders’ shops and in drugstores. The most popular forest activities among the respondents are recreation and various kinds of sports activities followed by the gathering of NWFP. As far as the consumers’ wishes and aspirations are concerned, sports, camping and adventure rank high apart from the desire to acquire environmental knowledge about the forest flora and fauna. NWFP&S are highly estimated in Switzerland and have a considerable market potential and, if well marketed, could add substantially to the income of forest enterprises.

Carbon inventory methods and carbon mitigation potentials of forests in Europe: a short review of recent progress

The role of European forests and forest management in the carbon balance has received much attention in research recently. This was particularly motivated by the recognition of forest management as one possible measure countries may adopt in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere. The main method to assess carbon budget in forests is based on traditional forest inventories. This method requires the conversion of measured stem volume to carbon pools. This conversion has been identified as a large source of uncertainty in past assessments. Over the last 5 years, intensive research efforts have resulted in significant advances in the reliability of forest inventory based carbon budgets. In parallel, the impact of forest management on the carbon balance of forest ecosystems has been investigated and the carbon mitigation potential of these activities has been analysed. This paper reviews the progress that was made in these two fields of research with a particular focus on European forests.

Valuing the benefits to the local community of supplying recreational facilities in community owned forests: an application of the contingent behaviour method

This research utilises a contingent behaviour valuation technique to value a number of improvements to recreational facilities in small-scale forests in Ireland. Willingness-to-pay estimates have previously been made for Coillte (Ireland’s state-owned forestry company) trails and forests. The total non-market value of Irish forests has also been examined. This paper adds to the literature by being the first to estimate the consumer surplus associated with recreational enhancements to Irish small-scale forest resources. The results presented indicate that community owned small-scale forestry can contribute enormously to the wellbeing of nearby urban residents, through the provision of outdoor recreational services.

Complementary labor opportunities in Indonesian pulpwood plantations with implications for land use

This analysis suggests important considerations for assessing social impacts of large-scale pulpwood production in Indonesia, emphasizing the extremely limited conditions under which pulp plantations may complement, rather than threaten, livelihoods of existing communities in their vicinity. Pulpwood plantations are expanding rapidly in Indonesia to feed major new pulp mills. Though officially developed on “unproductive forest lands”, pulpwood monocultures are commonly established at the expense of natural forests and indigenous agroforestry systems in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Based on a South Sumatra case study, this article analyzes how pulpwood plantations may be combined with more traditional land uses to improve livelihoods for local populations, considering the potential for “complementary” labor opportunities. This analysis is built on two assumptions: (1) village smallholder activities represent a first choice for village-based workers and smallholders, with relatively high financial returns per hectare; and (2) seasonal variations in labor requirements for village-based livelihoods open opportunities for complementary labor and land uses such as industrial plantations. Applying our model to a Sumatra case study highlights an upper limit to “complementary labor” for industrial timber plantation land use at a ratio of 5:1 (no more than 5 ha of pulpwood to each 1 ha remaining in intensified local agriculture and agroforestry). Other conditions required to minimize risks for local livelihoods include: flexible timing of company operations; priority to local employment; cautious determination of plantation sites; more transparent government licensing of plantation concessions and pulp mills recognizing local and customary land and resource rights.

Towards a Taxonomy of Forest Goods and Services

In light of the increasing realisation of the importance of all forest resources, the dichotomisation of forest resources into timber and non-timber is proving to be overly simplistic. Furthermore, at present there is no satisfactory operational definition for non-wood forest products and considering the tremendous variety of forest products it may be doubted that such a definition is possible. This paper examines this inadequacy and its consequences for a productive, holistic approach to the analysis of forest resources and their management. In an attempt to address these problems, a system for dealing with forest resources in a more meaningful, holistic manner is proposed. A clear distinction is made between systems of terms for classification, and terms used for comparison, of forest products. Classifying terms distinguish between classes or groups of objects with similar characteristics while comparative terms serve to highlight differences. Definitions are best served by classifying terms and this paper proposes both logical targets for definitions of forest products and a pragmatic typology for such products.

Investment in Small-Scale Forestry Enterprises: A Strategic Perspective for India

Small and medium enterprises are a key driver of current double-digit industrial growth of India; however, the shrinking domestic log supply has created a unique market opportunity for global forest-based industries. This paper examines the major obstacles to investment in forests at the national and individual firm level and also the policy steps needed to overcome these obstacles. Forest-based small-scale enterprises cite finance as their principal constraint in maintaining their competitive position and developing their activities, with shortages of raw material often taking second place. India has extensive tracts of land suitable and available for forestry; afforestation, although economically viable, requires massive initial investment by both the government and private sectors. India is promoting public–private partnerships in order to increase forest cover to ensure entitlement for the investor over forest produce, along with necessary safeguards for protection of and compensation for the rights of village dwellers and communities, besides providing them additional benefits and livelihood. Governments need to tackle corruption and other forms of rent-seeking, in order to build credibility with firms, foster public trust and legitimacy and ensure their policy interventions are crafted to fit local conditions. Competition requires the Indian forest products industry to accomplish a strong improvement in its economic and technological capabilities. The challenge for forest policy-makers in India is to find the right mix of policies and incentives to attract private investment.

Biomass expansion factors for Sitka spruce (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Picea sitchensis</Emphasis> (Bong.) Carr.) in Ireland

The assessment of a forest resource in national inventories provides a firm basis for the calculation of biomass and carbon (C) stocks of forests. Biomass expansion factors (BEFs) and conversion factors provide a robust and simple method of converting from forest tree stem volume to total forest biomass. These factors should be constructed on the basis of nationally specific data in order to take account of regional differences in growth rates, management practices, etc. The objective of this study is to improve the accuracy of biomass estimation by calculating a range of age-dependant BEFs from representative data that more accurately describe the allometry of present forests. The results from this study show that the allocation of biomass to compartments in forest stands and throughout a rotation varies considerably, and that the use of BEFs for the calculation of C stocks in forests of sub-timber dimensions is highly impractical.

Implications of Indian Foresters’ Perspectives of Joint Forest Management

A study was conducted in Kullu district in the province of Himachal Pradesh in Indian Western Himalaya, to investigate the perceptions of Indian foresters about aspects of forest management relevant for effective Joint Forest Management (JFM). A lack of uniform understanding was found amongst forestry staff about almost all the studied issues pertaining to JFM. A need is identified to emphasise social aspects in the training of the foresters (including in-service training), along with the existing silvi-technical aspects. For JFM success, measures need to be devised to reduce the political interference in JFM, reduce hierarchical rigidity, and increase interaction between field staff and the administrative hierarchy. Strategies should be devised to make JFM participants as well as forestry staff equally responsible to honour their commitments with respect to JFM.

Factors affecting farm operators’ interest in incorporating riparian buffers and forest farming practices in northeast and southeast Missouri

Interest in the incorporation of riparian buffers and forest farming were modeled following agricultural conservation and agroforestry adoption studies. Attitudes, individual characteristics, economic diversity of landowners’ household portfolio, and physical and ecological conditions were explanatory variables in Logit regression models of interest. Habitus and field, the values and institutions of farm operators, were included in the framework. Knowledge of the practice, perceived problems with the environment and attitude/habitus variables had a positive effect on the probability of being interested in riparian buffers. Knowledge of the practice was the most important factor in explaining interest in the case of forest farming, followed by attitudes about trees and concern for future generations, both habitus variables. Field variables like CRP payments representing familiarity with government programs that support conservation, had no significant effect on interest in riparian buffers. Older farmers were less interested in both practices, consistent with other findings. Existing economic diversification of the household portfolio had no effect on the probability of being interested in either practice.

The Embeddedness of Collective Action in Nepalese Community Forestry

Collective action by local communities has been recognised as crucial for effective management of natural resources, particularly the management of forests in rural settings in developing countries. However, the processes and outcomes of collective action in forest management are often analysed through a narrow rational choice model, ignoring the impacts of wider social, political and economic processes in conditioning peoples’ decisions to act (or not to act) collectively. Optimistic assumptions are made for collective action being instrumental to enhance both social and ecological outcomes, but there is a paucity of empirical evidence on how and why the condition of forests has improved (or deteriorated) under collective action, and what impacts the change in forest condition has on various groups within local communities. This study critically examines the emergence, evolution and outcomes of collective action in a case of community forestry in Nepal. A mix of qualitative and quantitative methods has been used to collect primary data from the forest, households, key informants and focus groups. The emergence and outcomes of collective action is found to be embedded in social, economic and political relationships, where powerful actors control the use of forests in order to ensure conservation, thereby resulting in the underutilisation of forest products. Poor users, who depend heavily on forests, are found to be worse off economically under community forestry, but still engage in collective action for a variety of socio-political reasons. This contradicts the conventional wisdom which assumes that people only cooperate when they benefit from cooperation. It is concluded that a deeper understanding of the embeddedness of community forestry is needed in order to achieve the potential of collective action.

Forest Allocation Policy and Level of Forest Dependency of Economic Household Groups: A Case Study in Northern Central Vietnam

A new forest policy of allocating forestland to individual households for management and development, has been applied in Vietnam since the early 1990s. This study was designed to examine how local forest-related people have used forestland and forest resources under the new policy, and to determine their level of dependency on forests. An upland forest-related community in northern central Vietnam, where the policy was introduced in 2002, was chosen as a case study. It was found that local residents in the community have not complied with the forest allocation policy well, in that they violated the policy to freely lend forestland to and borrow from villagers for cropping purposes, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, had enough land or not, or were legally forest recipients. Regarding forest dependency, all households studied lived on forest resources (forestland and forest products). More than 65% of the total annual income of poorer households was derived from the forest, compared to less than 40% for the richer households. Forest-derived income accounted for more than 75% in their total income in some of the poorest households.

Acoustic measurements on standing trees, logs and green lumber

Acoustics provide opportunities for non-destructive evaluation of the mechanical properties of wood, especially stiffness. In this work, Fakopp 2D a time of flight (TOF) tool and WoodSpec a resonance-based system were used. In a scoping study on young Pinus radiata trees (aged 8–11) no systematic differences were found between the Fakopp acoustic velocity on opposite sides of young trees. These Fakopp values were then averaged and correlated with that from the equivalent log using WoodSpec. Finally stem and log values were correlated with acoustic velocity in outerwood and in corewood lumber. External measurements on the log (standing tree) correlated well with those for lumber cut adjacent to the bark and modestly for the corewood (R ² of 0.89 and 0.74, respectively). In a separate study, the acoustic velocities were measured on standing trees in three adjacent stands aged 8, 16 and 26 and the data were used to construct a “Russian Doll” model to demonstrate the enormous range in wood stiffness within and between trees. The stiffest 20% of the population was estimated to be 146, 87 and 76% stiffer than the poorest 20% in the corewood (age 8), intermediate (age 16) and outerwood zone (age 26) respectively.

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Transmission of price changes in sawnwood and sawlog markets of the new and old EU member countries

In the European sawnwood markets, competition is tight between producer countries, with the new EU countries gradually gaining larger market shares. This paper focuses on the pass-through of sawnwood prices to supplier countries’ national roundwood prices. Price-change effects on market shares are known to be large, but not so much is known about the timing and duration of price transmission between competitor countries. Our empirical analysis concerns the exports of four large sawnwood supplier countries in Europe (Finland, Austria, Estonia and the Czech Republic) to German markets, using quarterly panel data for 1995–2003. The transmission process was found to differ between countries, and the relationship was most clearly detectable between Finnish sawlog and sawnwood prices. Results based on seemingly unrelated regression analysis indicated that price transmission exhibits similarities between old (i.e. Austria, Finland) and new EU member countries (Estonia, Czech Republic). Overall developments in both sawnwood and sawlog prices displayed convergence in the study period, which indicates that deepening integration in European markets is also detectable in the forest sector.