Taxonomic Review of Classical and Current Literature on the Perennial American Family Forest Problem

Abstract

Abstract:One of the fundamental issues in American forest policy has been the small forest ownership problem. Early in the twentieth century, it was called the farm forestry problem, later, the nonindustrial private forest problem, and today, the family forest problem. Family forest owners are thought to manage their lands in a suboptimal manner resulting in low forest productivity relative to other ownership groups. This can lead to future timber supply problems. The exact nature of the problem, especially its social and economic basis, was a common subject of early forestry research studies. This article includes many of the major nonindustrial private forest or family forest studies, from early to current, and classifies them both by themes used by other authors and categories that relate to major research areas in the current literature. A major focus of this literature deals with promoting management on family forest holdings and possible land management incentives and disincentives. Natural trends in family forest ownership, like parcelization, also impact upon forest management opportunities. By developing a taxonomy that classifies these studies by research objective, methodology, owner motivation, and problem definition, this article serves to organize the family forest literature in a manner that provides a temporal framework for better understanding the historical motivation for and development of family forest research in the United States.

Socioeconomic Predictors of Family Forest Owner Awareness and Use of U.S. Federal Income Tax Provisions

“…Relationships between demographic characteristics are subtle and the model does not allow inferences about correlations between these variables (correlation does not infer causation). However, the literature suggests that landowners who are actively involved in a landowner organization or possess a professionally prepared forest management plan tend to be more abreast about issues germane to managing forestland than other groups of owners [3,9]. The historically significant variable, size of forest holding (FA), was also a good predictor of landowners' awareness of the tax incentives.…”

“…Past research has found that size of forest holding is a key characteristic that is highly correlated to forest management on family forests [59]. Even the current family forest literature continues to show size of forest holding to be strongly correlated with many variables related to forest management, especially forest owners' technical knowledge and attitudes towards timber harvesting [3], making it perhaps the key variable in predicting FFO behavior. This supports the fact that the BTO variable has a substantial influence on landowners' awareness of the provisions.…”

“…Examination of the contingency tables for the explanatory variables resulted in the use of the forested acres (FA) variable as a proxy for total acreage (TA) owned and landowner organization (BTO) as a proxy for use of a management plan (MP). Belonging to a landowner organization has been shown to be highly correlated with use of a forest management plan [1,3,9,15]. The FA variable was also used as a proxy for household income level and age (both are very positively correlated with forest area) [1,3,9,15].…”

“…Belonging to a landowner organization has been shown to be highly correlated with use of a forest management plan [1,3,9,15]. The FA variable was also used as a proxy for household income level and age (both are very positively correlated with forest area) [1,3,9,15]. Since the initial study from which the data were derived was not designed around an econometric analysis, the occupation category of variables was omitted from the analysis because no logical grouping of this category could be made upon inspection of the contingency tables for possible multicollinearity and balanced data issues.…”

“…FFOs, including families, individuals, trusts, estates, family partnerships, and other unincorporated groups of individuals, are crucial to maintaining sustainable forests and timber supply [2]. They are a diverse group of individuals who hold and manage forestland for a multitude of reasons [3]. Many of these reasons (e.g., aesthetics, privacy, home, or family legacy) do not provide a direct annual revenue stream to the landowner [4].…”