Search

Family forest owners (FFOs) control a plurality of forestland in the United States, and the decisions these landowners make have a profound impact on the landscape. Most research on FFOs consists of cross-sectional studies, although many of these recognize the importance of capturing long-term trends to understand whether and how FFO attitudes, behaviors, and general characteristics are changing. We use data from the 2006, 2013, and 2018 iterations of the USDA Forest Service, National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS), with a bootstrapping approach to identify significant changes across these time periods among FFOs with 4+ hectares of forestland. Total FFO hectares decreased and FFO ownerships trended downward over the study period. A decreasing proportion of FFOs owned farms or homes near their forestland, harvested timber, or received advice. Demographic shifts include an increase in age and education level from 2006 to 2018, and an increase in FFOs of color from 2006 to 2013. Overall, we find a trend towards decreased traditional engagement and management and a slight increase in owning land for its amenity values. Understanding temporal trends in FFO characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors will help policymakers and forestry professionals inform and update their outreach, technical support, and financial assistance programs. Study Implications : Families and individuals hold more forestland than any other ownership group in the United States. We use nationwide survey data from 2006, 2013, and 2018 to determine whether and how these landowners are changing over time. The total forestland held by FFOs decreased between 2006 and 2018, and there has been a decrease in traditional forest management and engagement, such as through timber harvesting and nearby farm ownership. This study provides insights for policies, programs, and outreach and a foundation for future long-term comparisons of this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a national overview of women owning woodlands (WOW) networks and the barriers and successes they encounter. Qualitative interview data with key network leaders were used for increasing understanding of how these networks operate. Network leaders were all connected professionally, and all successful WOW networks involved partnerships between universities and local or regional nonprofits and state agencies. WOW networks face recruitment challenges similar to those faced by woodland owner associations, but Extension efforts and peer-to-peer learning opportunities can lead to comfortable and welcoming environments in which women can learn more about their woodland management options.

The National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS), administered by the USDA Forest Service, provides estimates of private forest ownership characteristics and owners' attitudes and behaviors at a national, regional, and state levels. Due to sample sizes prescribed for inference at the state level, there are insufficient data to support county-level estimates. However, county-level estimates of NWOS variables are desired because ownership programs and education initiatives often occur at the county level and such information could help tailor these efforts to better match county-specific needs and demographics. Here, we present and assess methods to estimate the number of private forest ownerships at the county level for two states, Montana and New Jersey. To assess model performance, true population parameters were derived from cadastral and remote sensing data. Two small area estimation (SAE) models, the Fay-Herriot (FH) and the FH with conditional autoregressive random effects (FHCAR), improved estimated county-level population mean squared error (MSE) over that achieved by direct estimates. The proposed SAE models use covariates to improve accuracy and precision of county-level estimates. Results show total forest area, and 2010 decennial census population density covariates explained a significant portion of variability in county-level population size. These and other results suggest that the proposed SAE methods yield a statistically robust approach to deliver reliable estimates of private ownership population size and could be extended to additional important NWOS variables at the county level. Key words: cadastral, hierarchical Bayes, private forest ownerships, small area estimation, spatial area-level model. Le << National Woodland Owner Survey >> (NWOS), qui est administre par le Service forestier du Departement de l'agriculture des Etats-Unis, fournit des estimations des caracteristiques de la propriete forestiere privee ainsi que des attitudes et comportements des proprietaires a l'echelle nationale, regionale ainsi que des Etats. A cause de la taille de l'echantillon prescrite pour des inferences a l'echelle de l'Etat, il n'y a pas suffisamment de donnees pour obtenir des estimations a l'echelle du comte. Cependant, on veut des estimations des variables du NWOS a l'echelle du comte parce que les programmes d'accession a la propriete et d'education sont souvent realises a l'echelle du comte et une telle information pourrait aider a adapter ces efforts pour qu'ils correspondent mieux aux caracteristiques demographiques et aux besoins specifiques des comtes. Dans cet article, nous presentons et evaluons des methodes pour estimer le nombre de proprietaires de forets privees a l'echelle du comte dans les Etats du Montana et du New Jersey. Pour evaluer la performance du modele, les vrais parametres de la population ont ete derives de donnees cadastrales et de teledetection. Deux modeles pour l'estimation sur de petits domaines (EPD), les modeles de Fay-Herriot (FH) et FH autoregressif conditionnel a effets aleatoires (FHACA), ont ameliore l'erreur quadratique moyenne (EQM) de la population a l'echelle du comte comparativement a celle obtenue par des estimations directes. Les modeles EPD proposes utilisent des covariables pour ameliorer la justesse et la precision des estimations a l'echelle du comte. Les resultats montrent que les covariables representant la superficie forestiere totale et la densite de la population selon le recensement decennal de 2010 expliquent une portion importante de la variabilite de la taille de la population a l'echelle du comte. Ces resultats et d'autres indiquent que les methodes EPD proposees constituent une approche statistiquement robuste pour produire des estimations fiables de la taille de la population de proprietaires prives et qu'elles pourraient etre appliquees a d'autres variables importantes du NWOS a l'echelle du comte. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: donnees cadastrales, modele hierarchique bayesien, propriete forestiere privee, estimation sur de petits domaines, modele spatial a l'echelle d'une region., 1. Introduction There are approximately 192 million ha of private forest land in the United States (US) owned by corporations, families, individuals, nongovernmental organizations, and tribal entities (Butler et al. [...]

Urban forests provide many benefits to residents and may also improve cities' resilience, the overall capacity to recover from anthropogenic and natural disturbances. Resilience is often considered from an ecological, social, or social-ecological perspective. In this literature review, we synthesize past studies (n = 31) to explore resilience in urban forests and green spaces and to understand how social or ecological perspectives have been considered. We found studies that combine resilience and urban forests have been increasing over time. Definitions of both resilience and urban forests are highly variable, but generally the studies increasingly focus on a social-ecological systems approach. The most common theoretical framework applied to understanding urban forests and resilience is a risk and vulnerability assessment approach. Studies were spread across geographies, with some concentration near major research stations and universities with scientists who specialize in resilience and urban green spaces. As more attention is focused on the role of green infrastructure in contributing to urban resilience, we encourage the adoption of consistent definitions, theories, and indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, 58% of the 11 million family forest ownerships with at least 10 acres of forestland have at least one female owner. Within the single-owner population of landowners, women are the sole owners of and primary decisionmakers for 31% of ownerships. Despite the number of female family forest owners (FFOs), little research has focused on whether land-use and land-management attitudes and behaviors differ between female and male FFOs. This research uses data from the 2013 iteration of the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service's National Woodland Owner Survey. Random forest analysis and regression techniques were used to understand what factors differentiate single-owner female and male FFOs and whether gender is a significant predictor of select land-use and land-management behaviors. Statistically significant differences between male and female landowners were found; female FFOs are more likely to have inherited land, particularly from a spouse, whereas male respondents were more likely to manage for wildlife, have a commercial timber harvest, and have undertaken management activities in the past 5 years. There are considerable similarities between the attitudes and behaviors of female and male owners, but the differences are important in understanding constraints and barriers and should be considered in the design of forestry programs and outreach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a national overview of women owning woodlands (WOW) networks and the barriers and successes they encounter. Qualitative interview data with key network leaders were used for increasing understanding of how these networks operate. Network leaders were all connected professionally, and all successful WOW networks involved partnerships between universities and local or regional nonprofits and state agencies. WOW networks face recruitment challenges similar to those faced by woodland owner associations, but Extension efforts and peer-to-peer learning opportunities can lead to comfortable and welcoming environments in which women can learn more about their woodland management options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]