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

Ma, Zhao; Kittredge, David B.; Catanzaro, Paul

doi:10.1007/s11842-011-9170-2

Cited by 63 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The importance of functional communication between program managers and policy targets has been identified for many policy classes [10,[38][39][40]. There is an emerging consensus that peer-to-peer interaction may be a more efficient way to induce NIPF owner enrollment [41][42][43]. At the moment, most Western UP VIPs depend upon consultants to play a bridging role between the program agency and the NIPF owners, which only connects owners to programs that match the needs of the consultant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Failure to Communicate: Inefficiencies in Voluntary Incentive Programs for Private Forest Owners in Michigan

Rouleau

Lind-Riehl

Smith

et al. 2016

Forests

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Abstract:Coordinating forest management across thousands of nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) owners is a difficult yet necessary task for state land management agencies. Voluntary Incentive Programs (VIPs) can coordinate the decentralized activities of these owners in return for services or financial incentives. However, many VIPs typically have low enrollment. Our study investigates the implementation of VIPs to increase forest management coordination among NIPFs in Michigan. We present findings from 20 semi-structured interviews with leaders of state and local land management organizations, and government officials at state natural resource agencies, and contrast their answers with those recorded from 37 interviews of NIPF owners regarding their knowledge and attitudes toward VIPs. Our interviews highlight a critical disconnect between NIPF owner motivations and VIP incentives, as well as misallocated resources for VIP promotion by state agencies, driving low enrollment. At the core, low enrollment in VIPs is generated by inadequate communication between NIPF owners and program managers, along with distrust of government agency objectives. Viewing managers as "street level bureaucrats", civil servants whose job discretion is impacted heavily by available resources, may increase our understanding of the issues plaguing VIPs and help identify improvements to VIP design and implementation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Failure to Communicate: Inefficiencies in Voluntary Incentive Programs for Private Forest Owners in Michigan

Rouleau

Lind-Riehl

Smith

et al. 2016

Forests

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“…This underscores the challenge that merely providing more technical information to overcome negative attitudes among ranchers may backfire (Ma et al, 2012). A case-in-point has been observed in Minnesota, where forest landowners' initial attitudes toward forest certification became more entrenched as they received more informationdthe skeptics became more disinterested while those inclined to participate became more enthusiastic (Leahy et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Utah ranchers toward carbon sequestration: Policy implications for US rangelands

Coppock

2012

Journal of Environmental Management

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“…This kind of service is in recent programmes and studies in the USA referred to as 'forest extension' (Ma et al 2012) or 'expert led outreach extension' (Kueper et al 2013) and in Europe 'forestry advisory service' (Vedel et al 2006;Hokajärvi et al 2011). In this paper, we acknowledge the varying interpretations of the above concepts and clarify that with extension we refer to knowledge exchange that enhances learning; it is a situational cooperative process of forestry professional(s) and forest owner(s) to promote forestry in one's private forest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To better reach and engage different forest owners and to inspire them to promote the production of ecosystem services, the traditional "transfer-of-knowledge" extension model could be complemented with other actions (Johnson et al 2006;Ma et al 2012;Kueper et al 2013). In particular, instead of a hierarchical structure of information delivery, the current extension model could benefit from more symmetric and equal participation, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Peer learning, i.e. learning with or from other owners, could complement professional guidance and could also require less public money (Boud et al 2001;Topping and Ehly 2001;Ma et al 2012;Kueper et al 2013). Peer learning is defined as a "two-way reciprocal learning activity" (Boud et al 2001), in which status equals, matched companions, or people from similar social groupings work and learn from each other without a professional (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhancing informal interaction and knowledge co-construction among forest owners

Hamunen¹,

Virkkula²,

Hujala³

et al. 2015

Silva Fenn.

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• Forest owners' own communities could complement the present expert-driven forestry extension.• Enhancing informal interaction between forest owners calls for sufficiently homogeneous reference groups and also new communication contexts.• New purposes of forest ownership and innovative forest management practices are suggested topics for novel owner communities.• Forest professionals may initiate these communities, but the continuity depends on the owners themselves. AbstractIt is a common concern that non-resident private forest owners are less able to make informed decisions regarding their forests. Moreover, the present guidance given by forest professionals is not reaching all owners. In this study, we suggest enhancing knowledge exchange among forest owners by increasing their mutual and informal interaction that could inspire them to co-construct new knowledge. The first objective is to identify present emerging activities that constitute knowledge exchange contexts (communities) for Finnish forest owners. The second objective is to discuss the challenges of current Finnish forest extension and their implications when introducing Communities of Practice as a complementary response to existing, yet insufficient, professional-led extension. Data consist of Finnish forest owners' and forest professionals' (n = 43) focus group interviews. The qualitative analysis was theoretically oriented followed by data-driven coding and grouping. According to the results, the role of expert-led encounters is strong in Finland and owners' opportunities for good mutual communication are rare. Informal communities exist mainly in the countryside among neighbouring owners and within families. To enhance knowledge sharing among owners, one needs to identify innovative topics and activities that would inspire owners to commit to their forest property and perform active silviculture. These communities would operate as creative learning environments allowing participation of different levels. When cultivating forest owners' communities it is important to consider actors' roles. Forest owners themselves are responsible for the functions and continuity of these communities, although forest professionals could also initiate new and sufficiently homogenous reference groups for the owners.

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

Cited by 63 publications

References 21 publications

Failure to Communicate: Inefficiencies in Voluntary Incentive Programs for Private Forest Owners in Michigan

Failure to Communicate: Inefficiencies in Voluntary Incentive Programs for Private Forest Owners in Michigan

Perceptions of Utah ranchers toward carbon sequestration: Policy implications for US rangelands

Enhancing informal interaction and knowledge co-construction among forest owners

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