Abstract
Explaining and predicting nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) owner land management based on social, economic, and environmental factors is an increasingly important issue in policy arenas and academic research on rural development and planning. This study empirically explores and assesses management behavior by NIPF owners by analyzing attributes of landowner profile (age, educational level, primary occupation, engagement in farming, membership of professional groups, training in forestry, availability of market information, and specific knowledge and use of production criteria for timber harvesting). With the aim of predicting outcomes, a multiple regression model was constructed to investigate and quantify the probabilities of and factors influencing the participation of owners in agricultural and forestry associations. In March 2004, 103 resident forest landowners were interviewed about their commitment to and involvement in land management during 1999–2003 in Mariña Oriental, a forest region of Galicia, Northern Spain. Results suggest that professional occupation, particularly farming background, is the main factor affecting, either directly or indirectly, the forest management behavior of NIPF owners in the area. In particular, our logistic regression model for landowner membership of professional groups explained 77.9% of the variability observed in the study population, which suggests that the agricultural background of NIPF owners and their expectations from forests, represented by their future intention to enlarge the forestland base, play an important role in membership. In the region, forestry could be a valuable economic activity but it is not considered as such today. Findings could be used as a guide for design, planning, and implementation of research and policy measures that allow NIPF landowners to promote sustainable forestry for rural development.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amacher GS, Conway MC, Sullivan J (2003) Econometric analyses of nonindustrial forest landowners: is there anything left to study? J For Econ 9:137–164
Arano KG, Munn IA (2006) Evaluating forest management intensity: a comparison among major forestland owner types. For Policy Econ 9:237–248
Arano KG, Munn IA, Gunter JE, Bullard SH, Doolitle ML (2004) Comparison between regenerators and non-regenerators in Mississippi: a discriminant analysis. South J Appl For 22(2):132–138
Beach RH, Pattanayak SK, Yang J, Murray BC, Abt RC (2005) Econometric studies of non-industrial private forest management a review and synthesis. For Policy Econ 7:261–281
Beiras-Torrado XM (1975) A emigración: o seu papel na dinámica da formación social. In: García-Sabell D (ed) A Galicia rural na encrucillada. Vigo, Spain, pp 39–73
Bolkesjø TF, Baardsen S (2002) Roundwood supply in Norway: micro-level analysis of self-employed forest owners. For Policy Econ 4:55–64
Bolkesjø TF, Solberg B, Wangen KR (2007) Heterogeneity in nonindustrial private roundwood supply: lessons from a large panel of forest owners. J For Econ 13:7–28
Boon TE, Meilby H (2007) Describing management attitudes to guide forest policy implementation. Small-Scale For 6(1):79–92
Butler BJ, Swenson JJ, Alig RJ (2004) Forest fragmentation in the Pacific Northwest: quantification and correlations. For Ecol Manag 189:363–373
Cao-Abad R (2002) Análisis multivariante. Curso de postgrado en estadística aplicada. University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain
Conway MC, Amacher GS, Sullivan BJ (2003) Decisions non-industrial forest landowners make: an empirical examination. J For Econ 9:181–203
Dennis D (1990) A profit analysis of the harvest decision using pooled time-series and cross-sectional data. J Environ Econ Manag 18:176–187
Dewees PA (1992) Social and economic incentives for smallholder tree growing: a case study from Muranga District, Kenya. Community forestry case study series 5, FAO, Rome
Doolittle L, Straka TJ (1987) Regeneration following harvest on nonindustrial private lands in the south: a diffusion of innovations perspective. South J Appl For 11(1):37–41
Finley AO (2002) Assessing private forest landowners’ attitudes towards, and ideas for, cross-boundary cooperation in western Massachusetts. PhD thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 28pp
Gunter JE, Bullard SH, Doolitle ML, Arano KG (2001) Reforestation of harvested timberlands in Mississippi: behaviour and attitudes of non-industrial private forest landowners. Mississippi State University, Mississippi, 25 pp
Hardie IW, Parks PJ (1996) Program enrolment and acreage response to reforestation cost-sharing programs. Land Econ 72:248–260
Herbohn J (2001) Prospects for small-scale forestry in Australia. In: Niskanen A, Väyrynen J (eds) Economic sustainability of small-scale forestry. European Forest Institute, Finland, EFI Proceedings No. 36, pp 9–20
Hodges DG, Cubbage FW (1990) Adoption behaviour of technical assistance foresters in the Southern Pine Region. For Sci 36(3):516–530
Hosmer DW, Lemeshow S (2000) Applied logistic regression, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York, USA
Hugosson M, Ingemarson F (2004) Objectives and motivations of small-scale forest owners: theoretical modeling and qualitative assessment. Silva Fennica 38(3):217–231
Hyberg B, Holthausen D (1989) The behavior of non-industrial private forest landowners. Can J For Res 19:1014–1023
INE (1999) Agrarian census. Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Madrid, Spain
INE (2004) Consumer Price Index. Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Madrid, Spain. DIALOG, http://www.ine.es/daco/ipc.htm. Accessed 6 Dec 2004
Ingemarson F, Lindhagen A, Eriksson L (2006) A typology of small-scale private forest owners in Sweden. Scand J For Res 21(3):249–259
Karppinen H (1998) Values and objectives of non-industrial private forest owners in Finland. Silva Fennica 32(1):43–59
Kittredge DB (2005) The cooperation of private forest owners on scales larger than one individual property: international examples and potential application in the United States. For Policy Econ 7:671–688
Kline JD, Butler BJ, Alig RJ (2002) Tree planting in the South: what does the future hold? South J Appl For 26(2):99–107
Kurttila M, Hamalainen K, Kajanus M, Pesonen M (2001) Non-industrial private forest owners’ attitudes towards the operational environment of forestry - a multinomial logit model analysis. For Policy Econ 2(1):13–28
Kuuluvainen J, Salo J (1991) Timber supply and life cycle harvest of non-industrial private forest owners: an empirical analysis of the Finnish case. For Sci 37:1011–1029
Kuuluvainen J, Karppinen H, Ovaskainen V (1996) Landowner objectives and non-industrial private timber supply. For Sci 4:300–308
Lindroos O, Lidestav G, Nordfjell T (2005) Swedish non-industrial private forest owners: a survey of self-employment and equipment investments. Small-Scale For 4(4):409–425
Löyland K, Kringstad V, Öy H (1995) Determinants of forest activities - a study of private non-industrial forestry in Norway. J For Econ 1(2):219–237
Mahapatra AK, Mitchell CP (2001) Classifying tree planters and non planters in a subsistence farming system using a discriminant analytical approach. Agrofor Syst 54:41–52
Marey-Pérez MF (2003) Tenencia de la tierra en Galicia: modelo para la caracterización de los propietarios forestales. PhD thesis, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 633 pp
Marey-Pérez MF, Rodríguez-Vicente V (2008) Forest transition in Northern Spain: local responses on large-scale programmes of field-afforestation. Land Use Policy 26(1):139–156
Marey-Pérez MF, Rodríguez-Vicente V, Crecente-Maseda R (2004) El monte en Galicia en el siglo XXI: Balance evolutivo y consideraciones para el futuro. In: Maya-Frades A (ed) ¿Qué futuro para los espacios rurales?. University of León, León, Spain, pp 117–125
Marey-Pérez MF, Rodríguez-Vicente V, Crecente-Maseda R (2006) Using GIS to measure changes in the temporal and spatial dynamics of forestland: experiences from north-west Spain. Forestry 79(4):409–423
MMA (1998) III Inventario Forestal de España. Dirección General de Conservación de la Naturaleza, Ministerio de Medio Ambiente. Madrid, Spain
Niskanen A, Pettenella D, Slee B (2007) Barriers and opportunities for the development of small-scale forest enterprises in Europe. Small-Scale For 6(4):331–345
Pattanayak SK, Murray BC, Abt R (2002) How joint in joint forest production: an econometric analysis of timber supply conditional on endogenous amenity values. For Sci 48(3):479–491
Potter-Witter K (2005) A cross-sectional analysis of Michigan non-industrial private forest landowners. South J Appl For 22(2):132–138
Prestemon J, Wear D (2000) Linking harvest choices to timber supply. For Sci 46(3):377–389
Ross-Davis AL, Broussard SR, Jacobs DF, Davis AS (2005) Afforestation motivations of private landowners: and examination of hardwood tree plantings in Indiana. North J Appl For 22(3):149–153
Ryan TP (1997) Modern regression methods. Wiley, New York, USA
Størdal S, Lien G, Baardsen S (2008) Analyzing determinants of forest owners’ decision-making using a sample selection framework. J For Econ 14:159–176
Straka TJ, Doolittle S (1988) Propensity of nonindustrial private forest landowners to regenerate following harvest: relationship to socioeconomic characteristics, including innovativeness. Resour Manag Optim 6(2):121–128
Sukhatme PU (1953) Sampling theory of surveys. FAO, Rome
Van Gossum P, De Maeyer W (2007) Performance of forest groups in achieving multifunctional forestry in Flanders. Small-Scale For 5(1):19–36
Van Gossum P, Luyssaert S, Serbruyns I, Mortier F (2005) Forest groups as support to private forest owners in developing close-to-nature management. For Policy Econ 7:589–601
Wear D, Parks P (1994) The economics of timber supply: an analytical synthesis of modelling approaches. Nat Resour Modell 8(3):199–223
Zhang D, Flick W (2001) Sticks, carrots and reforestation investment. Land Econ 77(3):443–456
Zhang D, Mehmood SR (2001) Predicting non-industrial private forest landowners’ choice of a forester for harvesting and tree planting assistance in Alabama. South J Appl For 25(3):101–107
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
See Table 7.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rodríguez-Vicente, V., Marey-Pérez, M.F. Characterization of nonindustrial private forest owners and their influence on forest management aims and practices in Northern Spain. Small-scale Forestry 8, 479–513 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-009-9097-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-009-9097-z