Florida’s Forest Stewardship Program: An Opportunity to Manage Your Land for Now and the Future

The Forest Stewardship Program encourages landowners to manage their lands for multiple natural resources, increases public awareness of the importance of Florida’s forestlands, and improves cooperation among natural resource agencies and organizations to meet Florida’s forest resource conservation and management needs. This three page fact sheet written by Mary Duryea, Deborah McGrath, Chris Demers, and Anthony Grossman and published by the School of Forest Resources and Conservation explains the program and its benefits and describes how to become a forest steward.

Landowner Satisfaction with Timber Harvesting on West Virginia Forest Stewardship Program Properties

We conducted a survey of 3,092 private forest owners enrolled in the West Virginia Forest Stewardship Program to assess program outcomes during its first decade. A component of this assessment was a set of questions designed to bring to light the outcomes of timber harvesting experiences that these landowners may have encountered. Among the 1,672 questionnaires (63% response rate after removing undeliverable addresses) that were returned for our assessment of recommended forestry practices implementation, 445 (27%) respondents indicated that they had conducted a timber sale on their stewardship properties. This article looks at satisfaction ratings among these 445 respondents with regard to the results of their timber transactions. Factors closely associated with satisfaction in the condition of respective forest properties following timber harvesting were satisfaction with the amount of revenue generated from the harvest, whether or not a discussion of best management practices (BMP) took place, and whether a contract was present. This latter variable was negatively related to landowner satisfaction level, but this may be more of a numerical artifact than a finding that would encourage a change in recommendations for contracts.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Forest Stewardship Program in West Virginia: Ten-Year Assessment

Sixty-three percent of the 2,656 West Virginia Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) participants sampled in this study responded to a survey aimed at assessing the implementation rates of the forest management practices recommended in their forest stewardship plans. Logistic regression models were used to determine factors related to the implementation of 10 different forestry practices. Thirty-nine factors were evaluated for these 10 different binary (implemented, not implemented) response variables including landowner demographics, participation in other private landowner assistance programs, motivation behind enrollment in the FSP, and whether a specific practice was recommended in a plan. Implementation of these 10 practices statistically was associated to 23 of the 39 factors. Participation in other private landowner assistance programs and practice recommendation were two commonly occurring factors related to implementation of forestry practices.North. J. Appl. For. 22(4):236–242.

Landowner Attitudes Toward South Carolina's Forest Stewardship Program

This study reports on a survey of 78 South Carolina nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners who participated in the Forest Stewardship Program and an additional analysis of all South Carolina participants (n = 1,018) in 1994-1995. Timber production was the most common primary management objective; wildlife management ranked second. Participants were satisfied with the multiple-use emphasis of the program. Once a landowner evaluated the written management plan, timber production tended to increase in importance. The type of natural resource professional that developed the management plan appeared to affect the stated objectives of the NIPF landowner. Consultants and industry foresters tended to work with landowners who had larger acreages, timber management objectives, and previous forest management plans. Ninety-three percent of landowners said their management plan was useful. Another 87% support the concept of multiple-use. South. J. Appl. For. 21(4):158-163.

A Logit Analysis of Participation in Tennessee's Forest Stewardship Program

This study determines the likely effect of cost-share incentives on participation in the Tennessee forest Stewardship Program and identifies other factors that may contribute to participation. A random utility model is used to determine the probability that a landowner will choose to participate in the program. A binary choice model is specified to represent the dichotomous decision and a logit procedure is used to fit the model. Data are obtained from mail surveys of 4,000 randomly selected landowners. Results indicate that attitudes and knowledge of forestry programs may be more influential in a landowner's decision to participate than monetary incentives.