There are an estimated 10.7 million family forest ownerships across the United States who collectively control 36% or 290 million acres of the nation's forestland. The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) provides information on the characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of these ownerships. Between 2011 and 2013, 8,576 randomly selected family forest ownerships with at least 10 acres of forestland participated in the NWOS. Results show: amenity values are the dominant reasons for owning; owners tend to be active on their land, but most are not engaged in traditional forestry programs; and owners are relatively old. Although the general ownership patterns and reasons for owning are the same between the 2002-2006 and current iterations of the NWOS, participation in some management activities changed (some increased and some decreased) and the percentage of female primary decisionmakers increased.Keywords: private forest owners, nonindustrial private forest owners, attitudes, behaviors, demographics, management, trends T he United States is endowed with an estimated 816 million acres of forestland (Butler et al. 2016b) that provide society with myriad benefits, ranging from clean water to recreational opportunities to fiber supply. These lands exist within a social context that helps define what goods and services are produced and who benefits from them. One important component of this social context is the ownership of the resource. It is the owners who ultimately decide, within the context of biophysical, social, political, and financial constraints and opportunities, whether the land will be forested, whether and how it will be managed, and what, if any, timber harvesting or other resource extraction will be allowed.The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program is legislatively directed to "make and keep current a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the present and prospective conditions…of the forests and rangelands of the United States" (PL 93-378). As part of this charge, FIA conducts the National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) 1 as a social complement to its plot-based forest inventory program. The objectives of the NWOS are to provide national-, regional-, and state-level information on:• Who owns the forests?• Why do they own them?• What have they done with these lands in the past? • What do they plan to do with these lands in the future? • How have these characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors changed over time?The NWOS covers all private forest ownerships in the United States, but the focus of this article is on family forest ownerships with 10 acres or more of forestland. These ownerships are the focus because of the large amount of land they own, the large number of them, the diversity of their ownership objectives, activities, and management practices, and the fact that they are the target of many forestry programs and policies. Ownerships with less than 10 acres are excluded because these are ...

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The National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) is conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis program to increase the understanding of the attitudes, behaviors, and demographics of private forest and woodland ownerships across the United States. The information is intended to help policy makers, resource managers, educators, service providers, and others interested in the forest and woodland resources of the United States better understand the social context of these lands in order to facilitate more informed opinions and decisions. This report describes the design, implementation, and estimation methods for the NWOS implemented from 2011 through 2013. The NWOS is concerned with three non-overlapping populations of interest: family, corporate, and other private. To simplify the discussion, the focus of this report is on family forest and woodland ownerships, but identical methods were used for the other populations of interest. Results from this research are being published separately. For additional information visit: www.fia.fs.fed.us/nwos. See also dx.doi.