Why Brazilian companies are certifying their forests?

The paper examines the two forest certification schemes in Brazil, the Brazilian Program of Forest Certification (Cerflor) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), from the private sector perspective. The main focus is to test the relevance of three mechanisms—market, learning, and signaling—suggested by Overdevest and Rickenbach (2006), to explain forest certification adoption by Brazilian companies. Furthermore, companies' familiarity with certification systems, external influences on pursuing forest certification, and companies' intention to recertify their forests are investigated. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) suggests that signaling and learning mechanisms lead to better and more transparent forest management, explaining the movement towards certification, but market incentives do not play an important role in the adoption of forest certification. An importance and performance analysis (IPA) demonstrates that companies do not see any return in terms of a better price for certified products; however, certificate holders indicated overall high satisfaction with market access. Interestingly, a high performance was found for non-economic benefits such as public confidence, improvement of forest management and practices, improvement of management systems and performance, self-discovery of non-conformance, and better public, landowner, and supplier communication. International consumers and shareholders were considered the most important groups influencing companies to seek certification and FSC was reported to be the most familiar scheme. Generally, companies were pleased with certification and indicated their intention to recertify.     

Cooperation in private forestry of post-soviet system: Forest owners’ cooperatives in Lithuania

The current state of cooperation in private forestry in Lithuania is examined, with a focus on the analysis of objectives, organisational structure and the ways forest owners’ cooperatives operate. A postal survey has been used as a main research instrument, the questionnaire consisting of a series of multiplechoice close-ended questions. This paper provides insights into the state forest enterprises and other private companies operating in the private forestry sector, and places forest owners’ cooperatives in a broader context of the private forestry sector. A typical forest owner’s cooperative in Lithuania has up to 10 members and about 20 clients to whom services are provided. The leaders of cooperatives indicate that the optimal number of clients using their services should not exceed 40. The main stated objectives of cooperatives are the provision of services to their members under the most attractive conditions, uniting members, and earning a profit for the members. These activities of cooperatives revolve around timber harvesting and trade. It is concluded that the process of cooperation of private forest owners in Lithuania is rather slow, although positive development can be observed.     

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.     

The Effect of Data Collection Technique on Estimated Landowner Personal Network Attributes

Social network analysis, focusing on the role of interpersonal relationships on the flow of information, trust, and service delivery, is increasingly recognized as a valuable approach to understanding landowner behavior. Landowner personal networks are central to Diffusion of Innovations theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior, both of which are commonly invoked in the design of interventions to encourage sustainable private forest management. However, personal network data can be difficult to obtain for a large sample. We tested the effect of three different personal network name generators on estimates of Minnesota landowners’ forestry information networks: a list of generic alter categories, an open-ended written survey, and a combination of written survey and follow-up telephone survey. Generic network data provided a relatively accurate baseline. Personal network data from a written survey provided more detailed data but underestimated network diversity and failed to account for potentially influential weak ties. A combination of written and follow-up telephone survey both doubled estimated average network size from 2.8 to 5.5 alters and increased estimated network diversity from 2.3 alter categories per respondent to 3.7. Network data from the written survey revealed a bias in favor of strong ties that was largely overcome through additional prompting during the telephone survey. A combination of written surveys and telephone or in-person interviews may be the best strategy to balance the benefit of a large sample with the cost of more intensive, yet more reliable, data collection methods.     

国外发展私有林主协会的启示

文中介绍了国外私有林主协会的发展状况和职能, 认为私有林主协会的产生和发展具有一定的主客观条件, 具有充分的法律依据, 协会内部管理科学, 林主协会与政府是合作关系, 协会具有降低林主生产成本、增加林主收益、提高林主生活质量、促进森林可持续经营、增加就业等作用。建议, 在我国政府不宜主导建立林主协会, 应该尊重林农意愿, 从法律和政策上规范林主协会; 对于现有的林业社会化服务组织和经济合作组织, 应该规范管理。     

Characterization of nonindustrial private forest owners and their influence on forest management aims and practices in Northern Spain

Explaining and predicting nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) owner land management based on social, economic, and environmental factors is an increasingly important issue in policy arenas and academic research on rural development and planning. This study empirically explores and assesses management behavior by NIPF owners by analyzing attributes of landowner profile (age, educational level, primary occupation, engagement in farming, membership of professional groups, training in forestry, availability of market information, and specific knowledge and use of production criteria for timber harvesting). With the aim of predicting outcomes, a multiple regression model was constructed to investigate and quantify the probabilities of and factors influencing the participation of owners in agricultural and forestry associations. In March 2004, 103 resident forest landowners were interviewed about their commitment to and involvement in land management during 1999–2003 in Mariña Oriental, a forest region of Galicia, Northern Spain. Results suggest that professional occupation, particularly farming background, is the main factor affecting, either directly or indirectly, the forest management behavior of NIPF owners in the area. In particular, our logistic regression model for landowner membership of professional groups explained 77.9% of the variability observed in the study population, which suggests that the agricultural background of NIPF owners and their expectations from forests, represented by their future intention to enlarge the forestland base, play an important role in membership. In the region, forestry could be a valuable economic activity but it is not considered as such today. Findings could be used as a guide for design, planning, and implementation of research and policy measures that allow NIPF landowners to promote sustainable forestry for rural development.     

Nonindustrial private landowners,fires, and the wildland–urban interface

We estimate the value to a non-industrial forest landowner of information about the magnitude of fire arrival rates. A simulation based on a model from Amacher et al. [Amacher, G., Malik, A., Haight, R., in press. Not getting burned: the importance of fire prevention in forest management. Land Economics] is used to assess the cost of mistakes made by a landowner when stand management decisions are made without perfect knowledge of the fire arrival probability. These costs are reflected in the higher losses incurred by a landowner if fire arrives during a rotation. The representative landowner studied in the simulation is assumed to value nontimber benefits, and to make rotation age, planting density and fuel reduction decisions. We find that the value of information about the overall magnitude of fire risk is more than twice as high when the landowner underestimates fire risk, rather than overestimating it.     

Motives and Incentives for Joining Forest Owner Associations in Estonia

The development of private ownership is an important outcome of structural changes for the whole economy as well as for the forestry sector in Estonia. Cooperation between forest owners has been seen as one possibility for increasing the provision of various forest-related benefits and goods. Yet the extent of cooperation between forest owners is still not at a sufficient level, but the reasons have not been extensively studied. The authors’ aim was to find out the key determinants for forest owners to join a forest owner association and to explore how cooperation between owners could be increased. Survey data were used to divide the respondents into two groups according to whether they were members of forest owners associations or not. It was found that one key aspect is the size of the forest property—association members usually manage larger forest areas than non-members. In addition, the members tend to be more active and consistent in forest management activities than non-members. Also there is potential towards cooperation within non-members as their plans for the future are much more targeted. Although there are limits to voluntary cooperation, a huge potential for Estonian private forest owners could be realised by diversifying forest owner association activities and services to meet the different expectations of forest owners.     

Forest negotiations at the United Nations: explaining cooperation and discord

The paper examines the three rounds of intergovernmental negotiations that took place in the period 1990–2000. These are the UNCED forest negotiations (1990–1992), the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (1995–1997) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (1997–2000). During this period negotiations became less conflictual and more cooperative. The paper explains this shift with reference to bargaining theory. There are two broad approaches to bargaining theory (although the names used to describe these approaches vary between theorists). The first is the distributive/positional approach where actors view each other as adversaries, outcomes are decided according to the relative strength of the actors, and negotiation is seen as a zero-sum game. The second is the integrative/principled approach where actors view each other more as partners addressing a common problem, outcomes are decided according to principles and fair standards, and negotiation is seen as a positive-sum game. The UNCED forest negotiations were characterised almost entirely by distributive/positional bargaining, whereas the IPF/IFF process saw a movement towards the integrative/principled model made possible by an emphasis on less politically contentious issues. There were three results to this. First, a new body of soft international law on forests, the IPF/IFF Proposals for Action, was agreed. Second, an international forests regime emerged during the 1990s (of which the IPF/IFF proposals are a significant part). Third, states have agreed to create a new forests body, the United Nations Forum on Forests.     

林业专业合作组织绩效研究进展及趋势分析

发展林业专业合作组织是全面推进集体林权制度改革的重要内容,是集聚林业资源、发挥合作经济优势的一种新型组织形式。林合组织的发展绩效既关系到集体林权制度改革成果的巩固,又影响林农根本利益的实现。对合作组织运行绩效的现实表现、评价指标、评价方法、影响因素等研究成果进行归纳和述评,并在此基础上提出未来研究的方向。     

Examining private forest policy preferences

Policy tools are employed to effect changes in the behaviors of citizens. Policy tools, such as incentives and regulation, act as the medium through which the target population may comply with policy objectives; however, policymakers must choose carefully which policy tools to adopt. Given the predominance of privately-owned forestland in Indiana and the United States, this research explores forest policy tool preferences of family forest owners in southern Indiana. The research is based on data from 309 respondents to a mail survey of landowners in 32 southern Indiana counties. The research objectives were 1) to determine what factors influence policy preferences among family forest owners and 2) to make recommendations to policymakers regarding what policy approaches are best suited to differing landowner types. Regression analyses identify landowner attitudes as significant predictors of policy preferences and also identified both absentee and riparian forest owners as more supportive of private forest policies. Based upon the results, recommendations to private forest policymakers are made.     

Challenging the Traditional Forestry Extension Model: Insights from the Woods Forum Program in Massachusetts

Traditional forestry education and outreach activities tend to focus on transfer-of-knowledge, often through workshops initiated and led by professionals to “teach” landowners about forest management and conservation. Less than 10 percent of family forest owners in the US have a management plan, participated in cost-share programs, certified their forest land, or hold a conservation easement, suggesting flaws in this traditional model. Some researchers and practitioners have suggested the need for a paradigm shift away from transfer-of-knowledge to more facilitative, participatory approaches, among which peer learning has gained growing attention and is supported by a number of behavioral theories. By analyzing data from participant feedback of a peer learning pilot program in Massachusetts and a follow-up mail survey, this paper examines the perceived usefulness of peer-to-peer interactions and the effect of peer learning over time. The results suggest peer learning did not only appeal to landowners with forestry background, but also succeeded in attracting inexperienced landowners. Participants rated their peer-to-peer experience positively. The retention of information obtained through the program was reflected by participants’ ability to correctly identify foresters, land trust organizations, and reasonable sources of forestry or land management advice. Participants also shared a strong willingness to spread information obtained through peer learning. This study contributes to the identification of potential barriers to and opportunities for peer learning, informs forestry extension efforts in the US and beyond, and highlights the importance of integrating peer learning into the broader forestry education, technical assistance, and financial incentive programs to increase participation and promote sustainable forest management and conservation.     

Landowner-Driven Sustainable Forest Management and Value-Added Processing

Summary

The Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative, LLC (MWC) is working to help members conduct sustainable forestry of the highest standards while increasing financial returns from harvest activities. The forests of Massachusetts, the third most densely populated state in the United States, are threatened. Decades of high grading and the threat of forest conversion to alternative use present challenges for maintaining a forested landscape. Despite being 60% forested, Massachusetts imports approximately 98% of the wood fiber that its citizens consume.

The Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative is a forest management, processing, and marketing cooperative organized by and on behalf of forest landowners in western Massachusetts. An umbrella group certification protocol was developed to provide cost-effective forestland management certification. Members benefit from cooperative management of harvest operations, above-market stumpage payments, and value-added processing and production including marketing traditionally low-value and small-diameter material. The added revenue from developing these new markets is used to fund timber, wildlife habitat, recreation, and other sustainable forest management activities. The cooperative works in partnership with local wood-processing businesses to spur community economic development. This study on cooperatives may be a successful example of sustainable forest management that can be applied in other regions with private land ownerships.     

Values placed on forest property benefits by Swedish NIPF owners: Differences between members in forest owner associations and non-members

A forest property represents benefits to the owner, the nature of which varies between resident and non-resident owners. Forest owners’ associations can be considered as an arrangement to increase the benefit from forest ownership by helping the forest owner to increase profitability. Thus, it can be assumed that associated forest owners value forest property benefits differently to non-associated owners. This study examines differences between members and non-members, and residents and non-residents, with respect to how they value the various forest property benefits. Responses from a landholder survey reveal differences concerning forestry income, maintaining contact with native locality, and keeping up a tradition in forestry. It is concluded that a challenge for the associations is to develop the organisation in accordance with the forest owners’ dissimilar property interests.     

A method for estimating forest landowner's landscape preferences

A simple and usubtle method is presented for estimating the landscape preferences of a private non‐industrial forest landowner. Scenic beauties of forest landscapes were compared pairwise; verbal comparisons were converted into numerical values using the same techniques as applied in the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Using the eigenvalue method and a scaling method, scenic beauty indices for forest stands, expressed on a ratio scale, were computed. Regression models that predict the scenic beauty of forest stands according to the preferences of the person in question were estimated, using mensurational forest stand parameters as predictors. Encouraging results on the applicability of the method were obtained in practical tests: the method proved to be worth developing further.     

Plant-soil-water relations in forestry and silvopastoral systems in Oregon

Plant-soil-water relations of a silvopastoral system composed of a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) timber crop, subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum) as a nitrogen-fixing forage, and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) as a forage crop were investigated near Corvallis, Oregon, during 1983–1986. Treatments included all possible combinations of two tree-planting patterns (trees planted 2.4 m apart in a grid, and groups of five trees spaced 7.6 m between clusters) and two grazing/understory management systems (agroforests were seeded to subclover and grazed by sheep; forests were unseeded and ungrazed).Mean twig xylem water potential (XWP) for Douglas-fir trees ranged from –0.3 to –1.5 MPa on forest plots and from –0.3 to –1.2 MPa on agroforest sites. Pre-dawn and sunset XWP were more negative for forest than for agroforest plots during dry summer periods. Midday XWP was similar for both agroforest and forest plots on all dates. Soil water content at 50–100 cm depth was greater under agroforest plots as compared to forest plots in 1984, but not in 1985 (unusually dry spring). Average foliage nitrogen content of tree needles was 1.54% vs. 1.43% for agroforests vs. forests, respectively.Our data are consistent with the hypotheses that: (1) grazing of understory vegetation may reduce water stress of trees during dry periods by reducing transpirational water use by the forage plants; and (2) nitrogen-fixing vegetation combined with grazing increases nitrogen uptake of associated trees. However, neither mean foliar N nor average XWP differences experienced by trees in agroforest versus forest plantations were sufficient to have an effect on tree growth. Our data demonstrate that it is possible to produce a second crop (i.e. forage grazed by sheep) in timber plantations without reducing the growth of the main tree crop.Submitted as Oregon Agrocultural Experiment Station Technical Paper No. 10109.     

Typology of Nonindustrial Private Forest Landowners and Forestry Behavior: Implications for Forest Carbon Sequestration in the Southern US

To implement effective climate change mitigation and carbon sequestration activities in the southern US, nonindustrial private forest landowner (NIPF) participation is necessary because of the significant area of forest land under their ownership. For policy implementation to involve this major ownership group in climate change mitigation activities in this region, it is important to understand their forest management motivations and understanding toward carbon sequestration. This study develops a regional typology of NIPF landowners based on reasons for owning forest land in the southern US. The specific goals were to: (1) segment NIPF landowners into smaller homogeneous groups based on reasons for owning forest land; (2) identify landownership characteristics and forest management behavior by ownership groups; and (3) assess their climate change beliefs and understanding of forest carbon sequestration by ownership groups. A principal component-cluster analysis of 735 responses to a mail questionnaire distributed to NIPF landowners in the southern US revealed three groups, which were named amenity, multi-objective, and timber-oriented landowners. The amenity group included 21% of the landowners, while the timber and multi-objective groups included 40% and 39% of the landowners, respectively. These landowner groups varied in terms of owner characteristics, forest species type and management behavior, climate change beliefs and understanding of carbon sequestration. The amenity and multi-objective owners tend to have more positive belief toward climate change than the timber group, but more landowners in each group indicated having poor understanding of forest carbon sequestration. The study fills a knowledge gap in research efforts by developing a regional typology of NIPF landowners and linking it with their forestry resources and management strategies along with their climate change beliefs and understanding of forest carbon sequestration.     

Variations in the Social Networks of Forest Owners: The Effect of Management Activity,Resource Professionals,and Ownership Size

Social networks play an important role in the communication of information among forest owners and how owners process that information in making land management decisions. This article examines variations in the social network characteristics of family forest owners using survey data and interviews with 42 owners in south-central Indiana. We examine how network structure and content vary by harvesting activity, information sources, ownership attributes, sociodemographic characteristics, and location. Quantitative measures of network size and diversity, along with a qualitative understanding of network content and function are discussed and compared for active and passive forest managers. We find that active managers (people who had a recent timber harvest) had at least twice as many social ties related to forest management compared to passive managers, particularly after accounting for parcel ownership size, forest area, and total landholding size. Learning and service were the main functions of these networks, with learning being the most frequently cited reason for talking to others regardless of the management profile of forest owners. The study contributes to a growing interest in mixed-methods approaches to network studies and research on social networks in private forestry.     

Landscape-scale disturbance and boreal forest birds: Can large single-pass harvest approximate fires?

Boreal forest birds have adapted to changes caused by natural disturbances such as fire and this adaptation forms the basis for the Natural Disturbance Paradigm (NDP) underlying recent proposed changes in forest harvesting practices in western Canada. To date, this paradigm has been evaluated primarily at the stand level and within conventional harvesting systems. The potential for improvements in avian conservation at the landscape scale by adopting the NDP approach is largely unknown. We examined the effects of landscape-scale disturbances on forest bird communities by contrasting richness and abundance of birds in (1) 16 single-pass harvest sites with residual forest patches, (2) 29 multi-pass harvest sites with residuals; and (3) 15 salvage-logged post-fire sites with variable harvest intensity. We contrasted bird communities in these treatments with those in unsalvaged post-fire sites of similar age. Post-fire sites were used to provide a metric of the Natural Range of Variation (NRV) to be expected in bird communities. Sites were surveyed for avian community composition and abundance 1–5 years post-disturbance. Redundancy analysis indicated that bird communities differed from the NRV in all of the harvest treatments. However, single-pass harvests provided a somewhat better fit to NRV than did multi-pass harvesting. Avian community similarity was influenced by non-linear responses to area harvested, amount of residual retention, residual composition and pre-disturbance forest composition. An optimization routine created from a General Linear Model, suggests that community similarity to NRV can be maximized by using single-pass harvests over multi-pass harvests, harvesting 66–88% of the timber in the planning unit, and retaining 5–19% of the disturbance area as live residual patches, with 50% of harvests having at least 9% of the area in residuals.