FFRC Projects

Ongoing Research

National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) Urban National Landowner Survey (UNLS) NWOS Longitudinal Study NWOS Size of Forest Holdings Ownership Mapping Minority Landowners Ecosystem Services & Benefits from Family Forests Vermont Family Forest Owner Technical Assistance Programs Analysis Women on the Land: Context for Female Landowners in the Eastern United States Assessment of the Economic and Ecosystem Service Contributions of Landowner Assistance Programs in the US White Oak Initiative Landowner Survey

National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS)

The NWOS is the official census of forest owners in the United States. It is aimed at increasing our understanding of woodland owners who are the critical link between forests and society. Summary information from the NWOS is used by people who provide, design, and implement services and policies that affect forest owners including government agencies, non-governmental organizations, including landowner organizations, private service providers, forest industry companies, and academic researchers. On an annual basis, the NWOS contacts forest landowners from across the country to ask them questions about: the forest land they own, their reasons for owing it, how they use it, if and how they manage it, sources of information about their forests, their concerns and issues related to their forests, their intentions for the future of their forests, and their demographics. The main features of the NWOS website are: survey results and publications, frequently asked questions, contact information, copies of the questionnaires used, links to state forestry and other agencies, and the NWOS DASH – an online tool for generating custom tables.

RESULTS FROM THE 2018 NATIONAL WOODLAND OWNER SURVEY (PDF)

Urban National Landowner Survey (UNLS)

As part of a broader Forest Service expansion into urban areas, the Family Forest Research Center and Urban National Landowner Survey teams are censusing private residential property owners in U.S. cities with populations over 200,000 people.

We will be asking these owners about the part of their property covered by trees and other green space (e.g., garden, lawn). The questionnaire will cover the following topics: Ownership structure, housing type, property features, to name a few.

Cities currently being surveyed are:

Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Denver, Colorado; Houston, Texas; Portland, Oregon; St. Louis, Missouri

Results from the first two years of the Baltimore survey are being analyzed.
Two pilot studies were conducted in Austin, Tx and Madison, Wisconsin.
Key findings from the Austin pilot study conducted in collaboration with Texas A & M are:

- 33.8 million trees covering 30.8% of the city
- These trees store 1.9 million tons of carbon valued at $2.8 million a year
- Overall tree worth is equal to $16 billion

Complete Austin Urban Survey Results

Key findings of the Madison, Wisconsin pilot conducted in conjunction with the state Department of Natural Resources
- People enjoy the trees in their neighborhoods and our more likely to take care of the ones they have than plant new ones.
- Women viewed trees on their properties as more important than men.
- Verbal communication is the preferred method of receiving info on tree care & trust private professionals more than government except Extension employees.
- Millennials are more likely to volunteer for tree initiatives and more likely to plant. Baby boomers concerned with problems with trees.

Complete Wisconsin Urban Survey Results

NWOS Longitudinal Study

NWOS Size of Forest Holdings

The National Woodland Owner Survey asks: How many acres of wooded land do you currently own in .” Size of forest holdings has been implicated as an important variable relating to a number of variables including management intensity. We aim to combine NWOS data with other important variables from the U.S. Census and spatial data to determine what factors predict the size of family forest owner’s parcel size.

Ownership Mapping

The first phase of this project created two products.

A modeled representation of forest land by ownership type, and include three types of public ownership: federal, state, and local, as well as three types of private: family (includes individuals and families), corporate, and other private (includes conservation and natural resource organizations, unincorporated partnerships and associations, and Native American tribal lands).Data product is available at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/Product/RDS-2014-0002/
A map depicting the spatial distribution of ownership types across forest land in the United States. Download map here

The second phase begins fall 2020 to produce a high-resolution forest ownership map of the U.S. and will develop techniques for estimating other forest ownership attributes for small areas.

Minority Landowners

Private forest owners make decisions about 420 million acres, or 58% of forested land in the United States (Butler et al. 2016 Journal of Forestry). The majority of these owners are family forest owners (FFOs), which are comprised of families, individuals, trusts, and estates. There has been very little research focusing on minority forest landowners in the country, with most of the research on minority FFOs focused on African American owners in the southern United States.

Our research uses data from the 2013 iteration of the U.S. Forest Service’s National Woodland Owner Survey to explore significant differences between minority and white FFOs across the United States. We will use bivariate statistics, random forest analysis, and regression techniques to understand what factors differentiate races and ethnicities of landowners, and whether race and ethnicity is a significant predictor of select land-use and land-management behaviors.

Over 6 percent of landowners, making decision on 7.9 million acres, are of a minority race or ethnicity. Creating policies, programs, and outreach that incorporates minority landowners’ ownership objectives, concerns, and interests may help these traditionally underserved populations have access to more sources of information and advice related to topics such as forest management, conservation easements, and estate planning.

Currently, findings from an intensified effort surveying African-American landowners in the South is being prepared. Another survey focused on this group is in the beginning stages and will focus on heirs' property issues and African-American FFOs.

Find a Journal of Forestry article on the publications page and slides the FIA stakeholders conference on the presentations page.

Ecosystem Services & Benefits from Family Forests

Family forests are important sources of benefits to landowners, land users, and the general public (Caputo and Butler 2017). These benefits satisfy multiple social values, including direct use of natural resources and forest lands (e.g. wood products, recreation), indirect use of forests’ capacity to regulate ecological function (e.g. provision of clean water, carbon sequestration), and cultural and existence values (e.g. biodiversity). Using tools and perspectives from the ecosystem services literature, value theory, service-dominant logic (SDL), and other theoretical bases, we seek to better understand what 1) benefits are provided by family forest lands, 2) who benefits from family forests, and 3) the relationship between landowner values, landowner decisions, and benefits provided by family forests

Vermont Family Forest Owner Technical Assistance Programs Analysis

Women on the Land: Context for Female Landowners in the Eastern United States

Family forest owners dominate as decision-makers of the nation’s forests and collectively have a large, landscape-level impact on forest management. Maintaining intact forest land ensures the continuation of vital ecosystem services for communities. Female landowners are a growing proportion of family forest owners, acting as decision-makers in both individual and co-owners, but are often underrepresented and underserved in targeted outreach. Although female landowners show greater concern for the environment and tend to prioritize conservation, they are often less confident managing their land. The goal of this project is to understand the factors that influence female landowner decisions about land management. The core components of this project involve an interdisciplinary approach for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. A literature review will incorporate the fields of economics, sociology and psychology for how women make decisions regarding finances and philanthropic giving. A quantitative analysis of the National Woodland Owner Survey will provide key attributes of female landowners including the size of parcels, reasons for owning land, and concerns surrounding their woodlands. Semi-structured interviews of female landowners and female professionals will be used in qualitative analysis to further inform the challenges that female landowners are facing surrounding land ownership and the barriers they face in its management. By developing more confident and knowledgeable female forest owners and promoting the implementation of sustainable management and educational opportunities, we may ensure that forested land remains intact as ownership transitions between generations while ensuring that the landowners meet their own personal and financial goals.

Assessment of the Economic and Ecosystem Service Contributions of Landowner Assistance Programs in the US

The USDA Forest Service’s, State and Private Forestry program administers multiple landowner assistance programs to assist private forest owners, including the Forest Legacy Program (FLP) and the Forest Stewardship Program (FSP). Through collaborations with state forestry agencies and other partners, these programs aim to conserve working forests and increase sustainable management to help ensure the continued supply of ecosystem services ranging from timber supply to recreation to carbon sequestration. Private forests, which account for 60% of the forest land in the U.S., are integral to the supply of these ecosystem services and many of these lands are facing challenges from development pressures, wildfires, invasive species, and other vectors that are having deleterious impacts. The goal of this project is to quantify the economic and ecosystem service contributions emanating from forested lands participating in the FLP and FSP programs. IMPLAN and InVEST are the primary modeling systems used to generate the estimates. IMPLAN is an input/output model initially developed by the USDA Forest Service to estimate how economic contributions emanating from timber harvesting, recreational spending, and other activities flow through regional economies. InVEST, or Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs, uses landcover and carbon storage and sequestration data to estimate the monetary value of carbon. The input data for the models come from the USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis’s plot-based forest inventory and Timber Products Output Survey, the EPA’s EnviroAtlas, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation Survey. Quantifying and estimating economic contributions and ecosystem services of properties participating in landowner assistance programs provides a framework for understanding how they could benefit and assist the private woodland owner and their surrounding communities.

View the full economic report from Helena Murray's Graduate Work

FLP econ full report

White Oak Initiative Landowner Survey

Upland oak is a dominant forest type across much of the central and eastern U.S., but oaks are at risk of declining across the landscape unless they are encouraged by intentional forest management. While the threats to oak trees are well documented, not much is known about how landowners feel about oak and its management. In partnership with American Forest Foundation and the White Oak Initiative, we conducted a survey of landowners across the region to determine 1) how Family Forest Owners (FFOs) feel about upland oak forests, and 2) what barriers they face to oak management practices such as harvesting, using herbicides, planting trees, and using prescribed fire. Initial findings suggest that a majority of FFOs see multiple benefits of upland oak forests and want more oak on their wooded land. However, landowners also face major barriers to managing for oak, including not having enough information, difficulty in finding a trusted professional, and the financial cost.

Download the White Oak Report

Past Projects

Forest Stewardship Program Evaluation Northern Forest Futures Stemming the Loss of Family Forestland NWOS Gender Tools for Engaging Landowners Effectively Psychological Distance

Forest Stewardship Program Evaluation

Project Report: Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Reach of the Educational Programs and Technical Assistance Activities of the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Stewardship Program

The U.S. Forest Service, Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) provides technical and educational assistance to non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners in order to promote good forest stewardship practices. To evaluate this program, a mixed-methods approach was taken, including summarization of existing performance metrics; cataloguing of state forest stewardship activities; National Woodland Owner Survey data analyses; analyses of FSP activities in relation to forest area trends; and focus groups.

Key Findings

FSP reaches many NIPF owners, but these owners represent only a fraction of the NIPF owners. On average, 14,700 new or revised FSP management plans, covering 1.9 million acres, were written per year across the U.S. between 2007 and 2011; the number of plans decreased by 5% and acres covered increased by 14% over this period. Landowner assists, averaging 146,000 per year, decreased by 19% between 2007 and 2011. Landowners educated, averaging 468,000 per year, decreased by 68% between 2007 and 2011. Disregarding double counting and other reporting issues, FSP management plans, landowner assists, and landowner education are annually reaching <1%, 3.3%, and 10.5% of the estimated number of eligible NIPF owners, respectively.

Some characteristics are different between assisted and non-assisted landowners. Assisted landowners are more likely than non-assisted landowners to have commercially harvested timber; improved wildlife habitat; planted trees; reduced wildfire risk; higher annual incomes; and higher levels of education.

Some characteristics are similar between assisted and non-assisted landowners. These groups are similar with respect to future intentions to sell or subdivide land; age; primary residence location; ethnicity; gender; how the land was obtained; and farm ownership.

There were few discernible differences on landowner behavior among the different types of assistance (i.e., plans, advice, or cost-share). Landowners who received any single form of assistance acted nearly the same as those receiving any other single form of assistance. Owners receiving all three types do appear to be managing more intensively.

For those landowners interested in active management, landowner assistance activities (i.e., management plans, advice, or cost share) appear to be helping them manage their forests better and more intensively, but they do not appear to be influencing landowners’ land use decisions (e.g., selling or subdividing) or to be encouraging non-engaged owners to become engaged.

No discernible relationships between FSP activities and forest area trends were detected. No relationships were found in state- or county-level analyses between FSP activities and changes to forest cover. This may have been due to data limitations or FSP not having a large enough impact.

Effect of State & Local Taxes on Family Forests

Project Report: Effects of Federal, State, and Local Tax Policies on Family Forest Owners: Technical Report (PDF)

Appendix I: One Page Summaries: Project Overview, Property Taxes, Income Taxes, Estate Taxes, Project Conclusions (PDF)

Appendix II: Annotated Bibliography of Selected Studies (PDF)

Appendix III: Policy Verification Questionnaire (PDF)

Appendix IV: Family Forest Owner Focus Group Report (PDF)

Appendix V: Family Forest Owner Focus Group Topic Guide (PDF)

Appendix VI: Family Forest Owner Focus Group Screener (PDF)

Yale Forest Forum Review: Tax Policies and Family Forest Owners (PDF)

In the United States, about 35% of the forestland is owned by 10 million family forest owners (Butler 2008). A wide range of policy tools have been adopted to encourage sustainable family forest management, including technical assistance, outreach education, financial incentives, regulations, as well as public ownership. Among these policies and programs, financial incentives, particularly tax incentives, play a prominent role (Kilgore et al. 2007). Research on tax incentives has mostly focused on three particular types of policies and programs: income tax, property tax, and estate tax.

In contrast to the body of literature addressing the financial implications of tax policies, no published studies have analyzed the cumulative impact of tax policies on the decision-making behavior of family forest owners. This suggests a need for an up-to-date, comprehensive understanding of existing tax policies and programs across the country and their impacts on family forest owners.

This project addresses three questions:

1) What is the current landscape of federal, state, and local tax policies affecting family forest owners?

2) What are the impacts of these tax policies on family forest owners’ decisions?

3) What are the strengths and weaknesses of these tax policies?

Northern Forest Futures

The Potential for Carbon Sequestration on Family Forestland

Summary Report: 2010 Massachusetts Woodland Owner Survey – Attitudes Toward Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration (pdf)

Responding to rapid climate change has been recognized as a major challenge our civilization will face in the coming decades (Gowdy, 2007). One potential tool for climate mitigation is sustainable forest management. Forest ecosystems play an important role in the global carbon cycle (Depro et al., 2008). Activities that maintain forest cover and increase biomass accumulation in forests and forest products are crucial for protecting existing carbon sinks and promoting additional carbon sequestration (NEFA, 2002). As climate changes, interest in the role of forests in mitigating greenhouse gas accumulation is growing as an important public policy issue. As the 8th most forested state in the country, Massachusetts has the responsibility and opportunity to contribute to climate mitigation. Roughly 62% of the state is forested and 78% of that land base is owned by 235,000 family forest owners (Alerich, 2000). It is the collective decisions of these landowners that will shape the potential of carbon sequestration in Massachusetts’ forests. Two questions arise. First, are the carbon sequestration mechanisms used in other states viable in Massachusetts, considering the large population of family forest owners statewide and their diverse background, needs, and concerns? Second, what policy tools may be used to promote carbon sequestration on family forestland and what specific parameters will affect policy effectiveness? Answering these questions will 1) address the need for mitigating CO2 emission under impending climate change; 2) identify new economic and social incentives for sustainable management of forest resources that benefit the forest, forest owners, and society; 3) inform the design of education and outreach programs to help family forest owners better understand the opportunities related to carbon sequestration and enable them to make informed decisions; and 4) provide a comprehensive understanding of carbon sequestration potential in Massachusetts and communicating this understanding with various stakeholders, including family forest owners, foresters, community planners, conservation organizations, extension educators, industries, and local, state and federal officials and policy makers. This project has been awarded full funding from the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station and UMass Extension for a duration of three years.

The Potential for Biomass Harvesting on Family Forestland

Summary: 2010 Massachusetts Woodland Owner Survey – Attitudes Toward Biomass Harvesting (pdf)

Increased use of biomass fuels is a promising option to decrease our dependence on foreign oil while reducing greenhouse emissions. The use of ethanol as transportation fuels also produces less sulfur, carbon monoxide, and particulates. The largest potential supply sources are from forest based woody biomass followed by urban wood residues. Since over 75% of forests in Massachusetts are owned by non-industrial private forest owners, gaining a better understanding of their attitudes towards biomass harvesting and energy production is critical to determining the viability of biomass. Our project will investigate the attitudes of forest landowners towards biomass.

Stemming the Loss of Family Forestland

Project Report and Appendices

Family forests provide many benefits to society. However, numerous threats to family forests put these benefits at risk. To evaluate the benefits of and threats to family forests, as well as potential solutions to these threats, a multiple methods approach was taken including: summarization of existing literature; survey of extension foresters across the U.S.; and spatial analysis of threats to and benefits of family forests across the U.S.

NWOS Gender

n the United States, 58% of the 11 million family forest ownerships with at least 4 ha of forestland have at least one female owner and females are the primary decision makers for 22% of the ownerships. Despite the number of female family forest owners (FFOs) across the USA, little research has focused on whether the owners’ land use and land management attitudes, intentions, and behaviors differ between female and male FFOs.

We are investigating America’s female family owners in three phases:

Phase One: Analysis of National Woodland Owner Survey Data comparing male and female family forest owners
Phase Two: Analysis of Women Owning Woodland (WOW) networks
Phase Three: Cognitive interviews with female family forest owners that participate and do not participate in WOW networks

Phase One used data (n=1,619) from the 2013 iteration of the U.S. Forest Service’s National Woodland Owner Survey. Classification tree and regression techniques were used to understand what factors differentiate female and male FFOs and whether gender is a significant predictor of land use and management behaviors and attitudes. Results indicate that females are more likely to have inherited land, particularly from a spouse. Males are more likely to have wildlife management objectives, more likely to have a commercial timber harvest, and more likely to have undertaken management activities in the past five 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 when designing forestry policies.

Phase Two used data from 9 cognitive interviews with regional WOW network coordinators. Broad themes emerged about the usefulness of these networks and the barriers they face for providing information and networking to female forest owners.

Peer-reviewed articles on this topic can be found on our Publications page

Tools for Engaging Landowners Effectively

The TELE web site (http://www.engaginglandowners.org/) helps natural resource professionals tailor their communications and outreach efforts to the knowledge level, values and style of their target landowner audiences, allowing for more persuasive and meaningful communication and better results.

TELE is jointly coordinated by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the Family Forest Research Center.

You can find relevant white papers here: Motivating Woodland Owners to Take Action_White Paper_2014

Management Plan Massachusetts Landowner Focus Group White Paper_2017

Psychological Distance

Psychological distance (PD) is built on the premise that an individual’s mental representations of objects and activities depend on four dimensions of distance between the individual and the object: spatial, temporal, social, and hypothetical. Geographic or spatial distance refers to the level of abstraction when an object or activity is physically or spatially distant from the perceiver. Temporal distance is based on experimentation and research that suggest that events occurring in the far future are imagined or perceived with less vividness of detail. Social distance can be measured in terms of abstractions related to perceptions of ‘others’ versus the ‘self.’ For example, others’ actions are often described at an abstract conceptual level, whereas we tend to explain our own behaviors in more concrete terms (particularly negative behaviors). Finally, hypothetical distance refers to the perception of novel concepts, integrating knowledge and probability to form an individual’s abstraction with a given decision or outcome.

There are few applications of PD in natural resource and environmental research. Our objectives are to study family forest owner’s psychological distance when it comes to their woodland more generally and various specific management behaviors. Preliminary results suggest that PD can be described using frequency of timber harvesting, proximity of residence to woodland, co-ownership structure, and knowledge of harvesting options. Family forest owners with distant representations of harvesting require different outreach strategies than those who are psychologically closer.