Clustering-based typology and analysis of private small-scale forest owners in Slovenia

Small-scale private forest owners (SPFO) have been recognized as a relatively heterogeneous social group; therefore typology and classification have become key to describe their characteristics and differences. Most of Slovenian forest is owned by SPFOs. To understand why these forest estates are relatively poorly managed, the owners' values and objectives were analysed. We conducted a questionnaire-based survey (n=387) and based our typology on three values and four management variables. The typology was constructed automatically, using the k-medoids clustering algorithm. Clustering resulted in two clusters, which were our basis for two types of owners: “engaged” and “detached”. We analysed these two types through socio-economic and broader geo-spatial perspectives. We found that multi-objective orientation and high valuation of production function are positively related to active forest management and to the likelihood that the forest will be managed in the future. Conversely, higher value to environmental and social function corresponds to lower management levels. Spatial patterns of owners residencies and forest estates influence managing decisions. Results confirm the importance of spatial factors and owner values and objectives for understanding forest management.     

Typology of non-industrial private forest owners in Tasmania

The heterogeneous nature of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners and the challenge this heterogeneity presents for effective policy and program design and delivery is widely recognised. Understanding the socio-economic and motivational differences between various types of landowners will better equip policymakers and forest extension professionals to design policies and programs that efficiently promote private sector timber production and forest conservation outcomes. The purpose of this study was to develop a survey-based empirical typology of Tasmanian NIPF owners based on their stated objectives of forest ownership and to relate owner type to a range of observable property and owner characteristics as well as to timber harvesting and forest management behaviour. Using principal component analysis (PCA) followed by means cluster analysis, four distinct groups are identified: income and investment owners, non-timber output owners, agriculturalists, and multi-objective owners. Members of these groups are found to differ significantly in terms of their personal and property characteristics, as well as their timber harvesting and management behaviour. For example, members of the non-timber output owners, who are motivated solely by objectives related to the production and protection of the non-timber outputs of forests, have similar proportions of timber on their property, but are less likely to have harvested timber from their property, than all other groups.     

Factors influencing Norwegian small-scale private forest owners’ ability to meet the political goals

Abstract

Norwegian forest policy has high-level, complex objectives for the products and benefits from the forest, including increased contribution to the climate, preservation of biodiversity, and creation of economic values. In Norway, it is first and foremost small-scale private forest owners who have to deliver on these expanded goals. The article reveals owners’ lack of forestry competence, and elaborates on the role of forestry employees (advisers) in owners’ decision-making processes, be it forestry-competent owners or not. There is, however, a decreased number of advisers in the private and public forest services, implying that forest owners are atomised in the meaning of being alone. This type of individualization and an increasing lack of forestry competence among forest owners are a contradiction. The mismatch is serious for the government and the forestry business because it probably hampers the fulfilment of the political objectives. The article presents six options for meeting the obstacles to goal fulfilment. The article is based on two research projects from the counties of Trøndelag and Hedmark. Data were collected between 2002 and 2007 and include survey, focus group interviews, in-depth interviews, fieldwork and document analysis.     

Information Needs of Non-industrial Private Forest Owners After Logging Operations in Finland: A Case Study

In this study, the information needs of non-industrial private forest owners in Finland, after logging operations, were investigated. The study was carried out as an online survey in 2017. The survey was targeted at non-industrial private forest owners who had sold their timber during the previous 10 years (2008–2017) and whose email addresses were in the customer relationship management system of a large wood procurement company in Finland. A response link for the survey was successfully sent to 31,988 forest owners, of whom 3323 replied (response rate: 10.4%). The final study data included 3284 non-industrial private forest owners. The results of the study, which need to be interpreted cautiously due to the low response rate, showed that the forest owners want better-quality reporting after logging operations. Furthermore, the results suggested that gender, age, education, occupational status, place of living, size of, and access to, forest property, and length of, and objectives for, forest ownership have a significant effect on their information needs. Younger, highly-educated, female, urban-living and multi-objective forest owners with larger forest holdings and short forest ownership tenures desired more information. Particularly, the respondents conveyed that they would like more and better information about thinning harvesting result. The results also indicated that when different groups of forest owners call for certain information, there is a need for producing different types of reports after logging operations for different forest owner segments.

     

Despite failure: The emergence of “new” forest owners in private forest policy in Wisconsin,USA

Abstract

Similar to other industrialized countries, the USA has experienced a significant increase in the number of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners as well as shifts in the values held by these owners. This study examines the motivations of predominantly new ex-urban forest owners interested in forest management in pursuing collective action through participation in the now out-of-business Sustainable Woods Cooperative (SWC). While common elsewhere, forest landowner cooperatives in the USA are an anomaly. Through a case-study design that depended primarily on semi-structured interviews, it was found that SWC members were motivated to join SWC as it was an attractive alternative to (1) the typical timber sale scenario that often places the forest owner at a disadvantage, and (2) the primary government tax incentive program. SWC represents a shift towards owners playing a greater role in shaping forest practices and markets, which is generally absent in the USA. It also suggests that new ex-urban forest owners, who are found in most industrialized countries, will seek to reshape the forest policy arena to meet their values and objectives. As such, this study provides insights for others in understanding the potential changes wrought by the changing characteristics of forest owners.     

How financial compensation changes forest owners' willingness to set aside productive forest areas for nature conservation in Denmark

Abstract

Agri-environmental schemes' ability to increase the provision of environmental goods has been questioned because such schemes may pay landowners for something they would have done anyway. Contributing to this discussion, the aim of this paper is to investigate how financial compensation changes forest owners' declared willingness to set aside productive forest areas for nature conservation. The study is based on a survey of forest owner attitudes and ownership objectives in Denmark. First, it was analyzed how forest owners' declared willingness to set aside productive forest area for nature conservation changed when they were offered financial compensation. The majority of forest owners (64%) increased their willingness to set aside forest when offered financial compensation, whereas for others, compensation resulted in no change or, for a few respondents, even decreased the willingness. Hence, financial compensation may help to increase the provision of environmental goods but it is necessary to be aware of groups not motivated by financial incentives. Secondly, a binary logit model showed that the greatest likelihood of financial compensation increasing the motivation for setting aside forest is observed for owners who are young, female, live in the western part of Denmark and own farmland. Policy makers can use such information to target subsidy schemes at particular groups.     

Introducing Gender in Studies on Management Behaviour Among Non-industrial Private Forest Owners

The genderization of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) ownership creates different conditions for male and female forest owners. To compare male and female forest management behaviour and to examine whether observed differences should be understood in terms of gender, data from the Swedish National Board of Forestry's interview inquiry were used. Differences in frequency of harvesting and silvicultural operations were examined by binary logistic regression and differences in harvesting volume were tested by a multiple regression analysis. In all analyses sex of the owner was introduced as one of the explanatory variables. The sex of the owner was found to have a significant effect on the frequency of harvesting, cleaning and supplementary planting, but not on planting and mechanized scarification. In the cases when the sex of the owner was a significant factor, the degree of activity among the female owners was found to be lower. Results regarding harvested volumes did not expose any significant differences in harvesting management strategies between male and female owners.     

Recognizing the Interest of Forest Owners to Combine Nature-Oriented and Economic Uses of Forests

Protecting biodiversity within separate set-aside conservation areas has not been effective enough to halt its loss. Thus, new approaches to conserve biodiversity alongside production are needed. The non-market values of a forest may play an essential role when the forest owner decides the use of their land. However, so far the service offerings other than related to timber production, have been scant. The mismatch between decision support services offered and the service interests of forest owners may result in the objectives of forest owners remaining unfulfilled. The aims of this study were to explore the links between family forest owners’ forest management preferences and their objectives for the forest and secondly their preferences for decision support services. Data were collected in a postal survey in the Northern Karelia region, Finland in spring 2014. Data consist of 298 survey answers that were analysed using multi-variate analyses. Two typologies were combined: clustering of forest ownership objectives and the preferred forest management style. We found that the forest owner’s objectives were demonstrated by their preferred way of managing the forest. Opinions about different decision aid services varied between cluster groups. The groups emphasizing nature values considered biodiversity related information about their forest more necessary than other groups. They were also less satisfied with the usability of the forest management plan. Forest advisory services should better acknowledge the prevalence of multiple objectives also among forest owners who are interested in timber selling. Developing services for forest owners with diverse socio-economic backgrounds, information needs and objectives is important.     

Skepticism of state action in forest certification and voluntary set-asides: a Swedish example with two environmental offsetting options

Non-industrial private forest owners in Sweden are encouraged to mitigate environmental damages from forestry on their properties under a principle of “freedom with responsibility,” although the level of mitigation is generally left to the owners’ discretion. One voluntary measure private forest owners are encouraged to take is setting aside a part of their productive forests for conservation. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how non-industrial private forest owner beliefs concerning both their own and the Swedish state’s responsibility for nature protection differ among owners of certified forests, who automatically leave a set-aside, and those who have stayed out of forest certification but have decided to leave a set-aside. Results of a Heckman selection bivariate probit model show that the more a respondent believes the state is responsible for fulfilling environmental goals compared to private forest owners, the less likely it is that an owner of a non-certified forest will leave a set-aside for conservation. Beliefs about responsibility do not, however, differ among owners of certified and non-certified forests. From a policy perspective, Swedish government agencies may have difficulty steering specific measures taken by private forest owners who are interested in conservation but have stayed out of forest certification regimes.     

Forest owners’ views on storing carbon in their forests

Given the high percentage of private forest ownership in Finland, family forest owners have an important role in mitigating climate change. The study aims to explore Finnish family forest owners’ perceptions on climate change and their opinions on increasing carbon storage in their forests through new kinds of management activities and policy instruments. The data consists of thematic face-to-face interviews among Helsinki metropolitan area forest owners (n?=?15). These city-dwellers were expected to be more aware of and more interested in climate change mitigation than forest owners at large. Forests as carbon fluxes appear to be a familiar concept to most of the forest owners, but carbon storage in their own forests was a new idea. Four types concerning forest owners’ view on storing carbon in their forests could be identified. The Pioneer utilizes forestland versatilely and has already adopted practices to mitigate climate change. The Potential is concerned about climate change, but this is not seen in forest practices applied. The Resistant is generally aware of climate change but sees a fundamental contradiction between carbon storing and wood production. The Indifferent Owner believes that climate change is taking place but does not acknowledge a relation between climate change and the owner’s forests.     

Modeling Forest Owner Harvesting Behaviour and Future Intentions in Tasmania

Our ability to design public policies that effectively promote the efficient use of privately owned forest resources is underpinned by an understanding of the way in which forest production and investment decisions are made, and of how forest owners respond to changes in social, economic, and institutional conditions. A model of non-industrial private forest owners (NIPF) past harvesting behaviour and future harvesting intentions using a logit approach is presented. A Tobit model, which investigates harvesting intensity, is also developed. The responses to a survey of 386 NIPF owners in Tasmania are used to construct the data set consisting of socio-economic characteristics of NIPF owners, their forest ownership objectives, and property characteristics. The current study is innovative in that the role of NIPF owner objectives and attitudes is assessed in three econometric models exploring past harvesting behaviour, harvesting intensity, and future harvesting intentions. A series of observations can be made from comparing the results of the three models. For example, higher pulp prices are unlikely to affect NIPF owners harvesting intentions but are likely to increase harvesting intensity. The financial characteristics of the NIPF owner contribute most to predicting future harvesting intentions, with financial security being a disincentive to future harvesting. Landowner objectives and attitudes are important in explaining past harvesting activities and future intentions but do not significantly affect harvesting intensity. Furthermore, there are significant differences between different types of landowners in terms of the incentives that are likely to make them change their mind about participating in native forest harvesting.     

Performance of forest groups in achieving multifunctional forestry in Flanders

The forest group is a new policy instrument in Flanders (northern Belgium) to realise multifunctional forest management. This group was introduced in 1995 and organises the various kinds of forest owners, private as well as public, on a local basis (mean working area 751 km²), with voluntary participation (as in all forest owner organisations). This study evaluates forest groups in Flanders through an analysis of their relevance, effectiveness, utility and implementation. The targets of forest groups are relevant to the evolving needs and priorities at the local, regional, national and international level. The effectiveness analysis reveals that most indicators — including the quantity of timber harvest, the number of members, the forest area with an accepted management plan, the area under management and the area with small-scale ecological measures — have been improving between 1995 and 2004. The utility analysis emphasises that the owners are motivated because the forest group provides information and increases knowledge, includes the owner into a collective management plan, offers a platform for sharing management experiences and acts as a union force against the government. However, the forest group is not the solution to introduce multifunctional forest management by all forest owners. The implementation analysis identifies a number of impeding factors, including the imbalance between rights and duties, inconsistencies between various policy aims, and failure of forest groups to act as a common forum for all stakeholders in their working area.     

Describing management attitudes to guide forest policy implementation

Forest policy in Denmark aims to increase the environmental values of forests. For policy implementation it is essential to know how to motivate private owners. Based on a survey among private forest owners in Denmark, four types of owners have been identified, clustered according to their forest management attitudes and practices: (1) the production-oriented owner, (2) the classic forest owner, (3) the environmental/recreational owner, and (4) the indifferent forest owner. Owners in Clusters 1 and 2 are mainly motivated by financial and wood production aspects, whereas owners in Cluster 3 are to a greater extent motivated by environmental and recreational aspects. Cluster 4 is the least motivated cluster. For effective policy intervention, the clusters should be addressed by different means. Owners in Clusters 1 and 2 should be met on their agricultural-production logic, Cluster 3 on their interest to improve environmental values, whereas owners in Cluster 4 might mainly be interested in passive nature management solutions.     

Born to be a forest owner? An empirical study of the aspects of psychological ownership in the context of inherited forests in Finland

Ownership is a multidimensional phenomenon that includes legal, social, and emotional aspects. In addition to legal aspects, the social and emotional aspects, “feelings of ownership,” potentially have behavioral effects. Nevertheless, these aspects are often overlooked in the research influencing the forest owners' behavior and thus their forest management decisions. This article examines how private forest owners with inherited forest holdings construct feelings of ownership toward their forests and how these constructions are reflected in their forest management decisions. Forest ownership is addressed through the theory of psychological ownership. On the basis of 15 thematic in-depth interviews, we suggest that a sense of identity and control, as dimensions of psychological ownership, can influence whether forest management decisions are guided by tradition, economic incentives, or responsibility toward property. Based on the results, a forest owner typology (restricted, indifferent, informed, and detached forest owners) was constructed, further enabling us to understand the differences among private forest owners and the roots of their forest management decisions. More generally, the study highlights the important role of emotions in forest management decisions.     

Customer Segments Among Family Forest Owners: Combining Ownership Objectives and Decision-Making Styles

Empirical forest owner classifications typically distinguish groups based on owners’ behaviour or motivations. Typologies are used to inform forest and environmental policies and market-based service provision. However, single typologies may be weak in discerning owner groups that would bring new insights for policymakers or service providers. The present study aims to put together two previously documented owner classification frameworks to form and analyse customer segments for decision-support services. The first grouping is based on owners’ objectives for forest ownership, while the second grouping focuses on owners’ decision-making styles. These two typologies deal with subjects of interest and motivations for communication, respectively. The study uses a subsample of the Finnish Forest Owner 2010 survey data, collected in 2009 (n = 2,106). Via cross-tabulation of the two groupings, the four largest and potentially most interesting combined owner groups are discerned: multiobjective learners (13 %), multiobjective thinkers (9 %), learning recreationists (8 %) and learning investors (7 %), while the other 16 combined groups each account for less than 6 % of owners. The result thus reveals the need for learning-oriented services for three differing principal subjects of interest as well as multiobjective services for deliberate thinkers, i.e. comparative information about forest management alternatives. The message for policymakers and service providers is that the majority of forest owners may be served with educative interactive services. Learning-oriented indifferent owners need special services to recognize their latent goals. Delegators need ready-made services for outsourced decision making and self-reliant owners need information packages of varying contents. Combinations of groups prove feasible for producing policy advice.     

Service logics and strategies of Swedish forestry in the structural shifts of forest ownership: challenging the “old” and shaping the “new”

ABSTRACT

Sweden is one of the most forested countries in Europe, and it has one of the highest shares of productive forest. Production in forestry is largely reliant on the private non-industrial forest owners, who own half of the forest land. As in many countries, however, forest ownership is changing towards a higher extent of urban, female or non-forestry-background owners. This poses a challenge for the forestry services sector, mainly forest owners’ associations and companies, but also broadly the sector at large. By exploring the sales and marketing processes, this paper analyses the service logics and strategies of Swedish forestry under changing forest ownership, drawing on an interview study covering all the large actors in the Swedish forestry sector. The study illustrates an increased focus of forestry organizations on services from a strategic and managerial perspective, in customer-oriented relationship development and in value creation and sales processes, specifically in order to manage “new” forest owners and the demand of forest industries. The results highlight the domination of service logics associated with timber production and the challenges for the service market and the provision of diversified services to forest owners.     

Conflicts in conservation: Woodland key habitats,authorities and private forest owners in Sweden

Abstract

The process of protection (e.g. reserves, agreements) on the lands of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners sometimes leads to conflicts (conflict: a perceived threat to needs, interests or concerns; in this study, “threat” was important). To investigate predictive factors for such conflicts in southern Sweden, a questionnaire was sent to 132 NIPF owners with woodland key habitat (WKH; identified biodiversity values). The response rate was 77% and conflict was reported by 22.5% of respondents, while 14% reported good relations with authorities. The respondents reported conflict due to rules for cutting, protection and compensation. Compared with other owners, those reporting conflict were younger (mean 54 versus 62 years old), had more negative opinion about the personal contact with the authority, had twice as large an area of WKH and had more negative opinion about the WKH. Logistic regression revealed four variables that predicted conflict: area of WKH on property, opinion about WKH, opinion about personal contact and, especially, age of respondent. Younger forest owners may be more dependent upon income from harvesting than older owners. Conflicts were frequent and the factors identified here should be taken into account in forest conservation work.     

Perceived risk sources and strategies to cope with risk among forest owners with and without off-property work in eastern Norway

Abstract

This paper presents empirical insight into part-time and full-time property owners’ perceptions of risk and risk management strategies. In addition, the relationships between forest owners with varying degree of off-property work and property and forest owner characteristics, risk perceptions, risk management strategies and harvesting behaviour are examined. The data originate from a questionnaire responded to by forest owners in eastern Norway which were merged with 9 years of logging data. Timber price variability and institutional risks were perceived as primary sources of risk. Use of advisers from the forest owners’ association, buying personal insurance and off-property work were perceived as the most important ways to handle risk. The results show that off-property work affects to a lesser degree what forest owners perceived as important risk sources, but that risk perceptions affect to a stronger degree the ways in which risk was dealt with. The chosen risk management strategies influenced the forest owner's harvesting behaviour to some extent, but more research on the issue is needed to clarify the relationship. There was a positive relationship between owners with off-property activities and their performance as timber suppliers. Several measures, such as improved rural education, revision of some of the arrangements that regulate property mergers and support measures for increased on-property diversification may increase annual timber harvesting and reduce variability in harvesting level.     

Decision making among Finnish non-industrial private forest owners: The role of professional opinion and desire to learn

Abstract

The primary basis of contemporary forest planning research, which assumes the forest owner to maximize his or her expected utility, has left aside cognitive and social patterns of reasoning in real decision-making situations. To add on to present knowledge, the decision aid needs were approached by assessing different ways of solving decision problems among non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners in Finland. The study investigated how the diversifying goal structure of NIPF owners would be reflected in practical decision-making strategies. Semi-structured in-depth interviews and qualitative analysis were used to acquire a deeper understanding of NIPF owners’ decision making. Altogether, 30 purposively selected owners from southern Finland provided information to analyse the level of sharing decision power and eagerness to learn in decision making. Five decision-making modes were distinguished among the interviewees: (A) substantial trust in professionals, (B) desire to learn for self-reliance, (C) sequential, managerial judgements, (D) balanced, considerate decision making, and (E) strong decisions of one's own. According to these modes, corresponding decision aid approaches were constructed. The results show a broad variety of problem-solving strategies and thus decision aid needs. To facilitate unprompted and genuine decision making, the presented modes should be taken into account when owner-orientated forest planning services for NIPF owners are developed.