Dataset of forest landowner survey to assess interest in supplying woody biomass in two Southeastern United States fuelsheds

Abstract

This article presents data from a recent mail survey of forest landowners regarding their land ownership characteristics and motivations, past and future management activities, and owner perceptions of bioenergy and its impact on forests. The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled ‘Opportunities and Attitudes of Private Forest Landowners in Supplying Woody Biomass for Renewable Energy’ [1]. The survey was conducted in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the United States, where two primary ports exporting wood pellets to Europe are located. Specifically, the data include responses on forest characteristics, forest management activities, knowledge and interest in woody biomass for energy production, and sociodemographic variables. Additionally, landowner decisions for supplying wood for traditional forest products and biomass for energy were modeled. More than 2900 forest landowners were contacted, with 707 owners providing completed surveys.

Continued obstacles to wood‐based biomass production in the southeastern United States

“…While landowners were interested in adopting biomass production on their land to complement their land management objectives, currently their financial incentive to harvest biomass is small. Our findings are consistent with Hodges et al (2019b) who found that NIPF landowners are more likely to engage in wood‐based biomass production if they are assured of a long‐term market, biomass prices increase, and they receive technical assistance that allows them to harvest woody biomass in a manner that improves stand productivity and future value. Several landowners lacked knowledge on how to pair biomass harvesting with traditional wood production or how to access biomass markets (Joshi & Mehmood, 2011a, 2011b; Joshi et al, 2013).…”

BMF Collaborative Project 18: Achieving synergic goals for nature protection, biodiversity conservation, and biomass promotion

“…The mindsponge theory will be used for conceptual development. Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics will be used for statistical analysis on a dataset of 707 private landowners in two SE US fuelsheds that supply the majority of the wood pellets [4][5][6]. The bayesvl R package, aided by the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm, will be employed for statistical analyses [7][8][9][10].…”

BMF Collaborative Project 17: Meeting demand for renewable biomass energy through private landowners’ wasted resources

“…The research project will employ the mindsponge theory for conceptual development and Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics for statistical analysis on the dataset of 707 private landowners in two SE US fuel sheds that supply most of the wood pellets exported to the EU [5][6][7]. The bayesvl R package, aided by the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm, will be employed for statistical analyses [8][9][10][11].…”