Relationships between absenteeism,conservation group membership,and land management among family forest owners

Absentee landowners, or those who do not live on their forestland, own approximately 117 million acres of private forestland in the U.S. Thus, their land management decisions and activities influence the flow of forest-based goods and services. We explore the question of whether absentee family forest owners are less active land managers than resident landowners and whether membership in conservation organizations is associated with higher levels of land management activity by absentee owners. To examine these questions, we administered a mail survey to randomly-selected family forest landowners in Indiana. While we found some support for the contention that absentee owners are less active forestland managers than resident owners, we also found they are not necessarily inactive landowners. We found absentee owners were less likely to have: inspected their forestland for invasive plants, pulled or cut invasive plants, used herbicides to kill invasive plants, reduced fire hazard, or grazed livestock than resident owners. Absentee owners were more likely to be enrolled in the Indiana Classified Forest and Wildlands Program, a preferential forest property tax program. Absentee owners who are members of a conservation organization were more likely than absentee non-member owners to have undertaken a variety of land management activities, including: undertaking wildlife habitat improvement projects, inspecting their forestland for invasive plants, pulling or cutting invasive plants, enrolling in the Indiana Classified Forest and Wildlands program, and obtaining a management plan.     

Changing decisions in a changing landscape: How might forest owners in an urbanizing region respond to emerging bioenergy markets?

The global bioenergy market has considerable impacts on local land use patterns, including landscapes in the Southeastern United States where increased demand for bioenergy feedstocks in the form of woody biomass is likely to affect the management and availability of forest resources. Despite extensive research investigating the productivity and impacts of different bioenergy feedstocks, relatively few studies have assessed the preferences of private landowners, who control the majority of forests in the eastern U.S., to harvest biomass for the bioenergy market. To better understand contingent behaviors given emerging biomass markets, we administered a stated preference experiment to private forest owners in the rapidly urbanizing Charlotte Metropolitan region. Respondents indicated their preferences for harvesting woody biomass under a set of hypothetical market-based scenarios with varying forest management plans and levels of economic return. Our analytical framework also incorporated data from a previously-administered revealed preference survey and spatially-explicit remote sensing data, enabling us to analyze how individuals’ ownership characteristics, their emotional connection the forests they manage, and the spatial patterns of nearby land uses, influence willingness to grow bioenergy feedstocks. We found conditional support for feedstock production, even among woodland owners with no history of active management. Landowners preferred higher economic returns for each management plan. However low-intensity harvest options were always preferred to more intensive management alternatives regardless of economic return, suggesting that these landowners may be more strongly motivated by aesthetic or quality-of-life concerns than feedstock revenues. Our analysis indicated preferences were dependent upon individual and environmental characteristics, with younger, more rural landowners significantly more interested in growing feedstocks relative to their older and more urban counterparts. While this study focuses on one small sample of urban forest owners, our results do suggest that policy makers and resource managers can better inform stand-level decision-making by understanding how feedstock production preferences vary across populations.     

胶州湾填海造地海域折耗成本分析——基于使用者成本法

填海造地将海洋变成陆地,彻底改变了海域属性,造成海域资源的一次性折耗。论文基于使用者成本法,分别依据被填海域产生的土地价值和丧失的生态系统服务功能机会收益,对比计算胶州湾填海造地海域资源折耗成本。结果显示：2007～2011年,在4.3％折现率下,以填海生成的土地价值作为资源收益,胶州湾填海造地的海域资源折耗成本分别为4858～19464万元,同期征收的海域使用金占海域资源折耗成本的44％～58％;以被填海域生态系统服务价值作为海域资源收益,其折耗成本为4139～13506万元,同期征收的海域使用金占海域资源折耗成本的52％。93％。结果表明,填海造地的海域使用金未能完全反映被填海域的资源折耗成本。该结论可为围填海造地海域使用金征收标准的动态管理提供依据。     

Landowner response to policies regulating land improvements in Finland: Lease or search for other options?

Land improvements with long pay-back periods are often delayed on leased agricultural land. The delay in improvements has been found to result in land degradation, decreased land productivity and environmental problems. An important question is thus how landowners would respond to regulations and mandates concerning land improvements. Based on a Finnish landowner survey, we analysed landowner choices under certain land improvement regulations, using the currently dominant choice of leasing land for agricultural use as the benchmark. The results indicated that land leasing will continue to increase in the future, but if the landowner mandate to co-finance costly land improvements is increased, landowners are predicted to respond significantly to these mandates and search for other land management options. Three heterogeneous landowner groups were identified based on their land use choices. Current leasers and amenity owners, in particular, were sensitive to land improvement mandates, and would avoid compulsory investment expenses by selling or afforesting their land.     

Assessing non-industrial private forest owners’ attitudes to risk: Do owner and property characteristics matter?

This study relates owner and property characteristics to non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners’ attitudes to financial risk-taking in forestry decisions. Using a two-period mean-variance setting, the harvesting decisions of NIPF owners are examined with the aim of measuring their willingness to take risks. Since willingness to pay for reduction of risk is empirically unobservable, I rely on an index of NIPF owners’ attitudes to risk from a hypothetical survey question involving financial risk. According to the index, respondents (owners) are categorized as risk-averse, risk-neutral or risk-seeking. I apply a probit analysis to test how owner and property characteristics influence the NIPF owners’ attitudes to risk. The results show that characteristics influence the formation of risk attitudes. More explicitly, a longer period of ownership increases the probability that the owner is risk-averse, while increased time in the forest conducting silvicultural work increases the likelihood that an owner is risk-seeking. The results also show that female NIPF owners are more risk-seeking than male owners. The study fills a knowledge gap in the literature, relating owner and property characteristics to management decisions. Inclusion of risk attitudes and the judgement of risks into studies of NIPF owners’ management can help to understand why NIPF owners’ harvesting may deviate from net present value maximisation.     

Lake States natural resource managers’ perspectives on forest land parcelization and its implications for public land management

Field-based public natural resource managers in the Lake States (MI, MN, WI) were surveyed for their perspectives on various aspects of private forest land parcelization. This includes their perceptions of recent changes in parcelization activity, drivers and impacts, mitigation strategies, and ability to influence parcelization. Their perspectives on the implications private forest land parcelization has on public land management were also sought. Across the Lake States, most public natural resource managers have witnessed an increasing frequency of forest land parcelization. They consider development potential and proximity to population centers to be the most influential driver of parcelization, with decreased timber supply and loss of recreational access on private land the most likely outcomes. The study documented important perceived linkages between private forest land parcelization and public land management, such as increased conflicts on public land, decreased access to public land, and increased demand for and cost of managing public land.     

林地资源收益分配的法律探讨

林地作为林业生产的重要的生产资料 ,是林业赖以存在和发展的物质基础。林地资源收益分配包括林地所有者和使用者之间的分配 ,国家对林地收益的再分配和政府内部林地收益分配三类。第一类 ,常以“地租”的形式表现为民事法律关系 ,第二、三类则以各种税费形式表现为财政收入行政法律关系。本文拟从这二种法律关系入手 ,根据我国现有林地资源收益分配状况和法律规定 ,探讨林地资源收益合理分配的法律意义及其对林业生产的影响     

国土“三调”后如何开展自然资源统一调查

长期以来,我国各类自然资源调查分属不同的管理部门,相互之间存在着内涵界定不统一、分类体系有交叉、调查标准不一致、数据成果有矛盾等问题,严重影响了自然资源管理与保护政策的制定.机构改革后,各类自然资源的调查监测评价职责统一到自然资源部。第三次全国国土调查工作将于2020年底结束,此后即将开启自然资源统一调查的新时期,如何从以土地利用现状调查为主的国土调查顺利过渡至包含土地、森林、草原、水和湿地等各类自然资源要素的统一调查,目前正是国内专家学者、各级管理人员关注的重点、难点和热点问题。文章认为,从管理层面上首先要尽快建立自然资源统一调查的管理体系和机制;从技术层面上要加快构建自然资源统一的分类体系,逐渐优化各类自然资源调查的技术方法和技术指标。管理层面和技术层面做足准备后,以国土"三调"成果为基础,在此"底板"上开展森林、草原、水、湿地等各类自然资源的专项调查,最终形成全国自然资源统一调查机制。     

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF LAND DEGRADATION IN AUSTRALIA

In this article an overview of several economic aspects of land degradation in Australia is presented. The economic rationale for government intervention in land management decisions relating to degradation is explored. Some potential sources of inefficient private land use decisions are identified. However, there are significant difficulties in designing policies which will result in resource allocation decisions superior to market outcomes.     

Inducing the adoption of emerging technologies for sustainable intensification of food and renewable energy production: insights from applied economics*

Emerging advances in sustainable intensification technologies have the potential to transform land use and crop management approaches in ways that can increase resource productivity and reduce adverse environmental impacts of agricultural production. This paper describes emerging technologies that can sustainably intensify food and renewable energy production. We apply the findings from studies examining the adoption of technologies with similar stylized features to provide insights about the incentives and barriers for the adoption of these emerging technologies. We also present a landscape-based systems approach, based on welfare economics, to go beyond relying on a positive approach to explain observed adoption decisions to examining normative questions about the optimal mix, level, and location of adoption of these technologies to achieve desired societal outcomes. We conclude with a discussion of the insights from applied economics for the design of policy incentives to achieve these outcomes.     

The ‘squeezed middle’: Identifying and addressing conflicting demands on intermediate quality farmland in Scotland

The growing demand for a wide range of private and public goods and services from a finite land resource is increasingly challenging for planners at local, regional, national and international scales. The Scottish Government's development of a Land Use Strategy has given salience to resolving conflicts and enhancing synergies in land use. In Scotland, the poorest quality farmland is often designated for nature and landscape conservation and the highest quality farmland often protected for food production. This means that many of the competitive pressures on land are experienced in what we term the ‘squeezed middle’. The paper identifies the multiple (and not exclusively economic) drivers of land use choices and, through an ecosystem services lens, explores three particular areas of land use conflict. These are (i) the continued high level of public support for farming, which has done little to address the problem of low farm incomes; (ii) the pressure to increase woodland planting on farm (and other) land; and (iii) conflicts associated with intensive game management, especially on sporting estates. Using the Scottish situation as an example, the heterogeneity of land use pressures means that there is a danger of the principles of the Land Use Strategy becoming lost in translation from national policy to practical land use decision-making. The appropriate scale for delivery of integrated ecosystem services may therefore be more local than current pilot projects, and may require more active participation of land managers. It may also require policy instruments that are more flexible in adapting to the local context, including payments for ecosystem services.     

Analysis of individual private forestry in northern Spain according to economic factors related to management

In addition to being motivated by profit, the management decisions taken by non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners involve other considerations beyond timber, such as non-timber goods and services, as well as factors that affect the level of timber output from the land. Ensuring and improving forest profitability to make NIPF management viable is one of the main challenges faced by this type of landowner. This study empirically explores and assesses management by NIPF owners, through analysing attributes of forest economics (investment in holdings, expenditure on planting and silviculture, public subsidies, along with timber and non-timber incomes). With the aim of predicting outcomes, a multiple regression model was also constructed to investigate and quantify the relationship between socioeconomic and holding factors, and the planting activities carried out by NIPF owners. For this, 103 resident forest landowners in a forest region in northern Spain were interviewed in person, during March 2004, about their commitment to and involvement in land management during the period 1999–2003. The results mainly revealed that attractive forest returns and favourable market conditions for timber production are significant factors for investment in and development of forestry, with personal and family conditions also being important factors in explaining the type of land management carried out. In particular, the multiple linear regression model for forest planting activity correctly explained 84.5% of the variability observed in the study population, indicating that both the investments in and the incomes from forestry play an important role in the activity, as does the size of the holding. The findings may be of interest in promoting public measures related to timber markets and economic incentives for forest management, which will allow landowners to develop economically viable practices, as well as enabling fulfilment of social and environmental demands for sustainable forestry and rural development.     

Decision making in a complex world: Using OPTamos in a multi-criteria process for land management in the Cuitzmala watershed in Mexico

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are incentives offered to land owners or managers in exchange for practices that benefit society with ecological goods and/or services. For the success of PES schemes, the involvement of stakeholders, their needs, knowledge, and perspectives has been found beneficial. This paper presents a new approach in engaging stakeholders based on an iterative transdisciplinary framework for a Social Multi-Criteria Evaluation (SMCE) decision-making process. After a comprehensive review of existing options, the paper describes the development and application of a new software, OPTamos, to allow for efficient handling and processing of large volumes of quantitative and qualitative data generated from stakeholder workshops. Applied to a land use related decision in the Cuitzmala watershed, in the state of Jalisco in Mexico, the outcomes from this approach resulted in acceptable land management options for the entire area of the watershed that satisfied criteria generated by the stakeholders themselves and to finally develop an action plan.     

Productivity and Land Enhancing Technologies in Northern Ethiopia: Health, Public Investments, and Sequential Adoption

The adoption of more efficient farming practices and technologies that enhance agricultural productivity and improve environmental sustainability is instrumental for achieving economic growth, food security, and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa. Our research examines the interaction between public investments, community health, and adoption of productivity and land enhancing technologies by households in the northern Ethiopian state of Tigray. Agricultural technology adoption decisions are modeled as a sequential process where the timing of choices can matter. We find that time spent sick and opportunity costs of caring for sick family members are significant factors in adoption. Sickness, through its impact on household income and labor allocation decisions for healthcare and other activities, significantly reduces the likelihood of technology adoption. Our findings suggest that agencies working to improve agricultural productivity and land resource conservation should consider not only the financial status of potential adopters, but also their related health situation.     

国有自然资源资产管理的主要问题与应对思路

我国国有自然资源资产管理存在资产所有权代理机制不健全、资产收益制度不完善以及自然资源所有者和监管者身份混同等问题。解决问题的思路:应充分考虑客观存在的诸多因素对国有自然资源资产管理的实际影响,包括自然资源立法传统的影响、原有自然资源管理体制中职能分工的惯性影响,以及国有自然资源资产属性的差异性等方面。解决问题的路径:通过对再代理的设定完善国有自然资源资产所有权代理制度;合理选择对价机制,优化国有自然资源资产收益制度;通过推动“权证分开”对国有自然资源所有者权能与自然资源监管者职能进行区分。     

2023年土地科学研究重点进展评述及2024年展望——土地资源利用与空间规划分报告

研究目的：总结2023年国内外土地资源利用与空间规划领域研究进展,展望2024年国内研究趋势。研究方法：文献调查法。研究结果：2023年国内研究主要集中于土地资源配置的影响与优化、土地资源的生态系统服务价值、绿色低碳土地利用模式、土地利用效益评价、国土空间规划方法、国土空间规划管理和保障制度等方面;国外研究侧重于多类型资源协同配置、土地资源保护效果与路径、土地利用变化的生态效应、土地利用功能评价、可持续的空间规划方法、空间规划管理制度与方法等方面。研究结论：2023年土地资源利用与空间规划领域在土地资源优化配置、生态系统服务价值权衡关系、土地资源保护、绿色低碳土地利用、土地利用评价方法与相关机制、空间规划方法与管理保障等方面取得了一定进展。2024年将重点关注土地资源同其他资源的协同机制、土地利用评价方法、土地绿色利用效率影响机制、土地低碳绿色利用模式、服务中国式现代化与高质量发展的国土空间治理与规划等研究方向。     

Factors associated with landowner involvement in forest conservation programs in the U.S.: Implications for policy design and outreach

One-third of the forestland in the U.S. is owned by 10.4 million family forest owners. Their collective decisions have a great impact on the sustainability of forest landscape across the country. Public policies and programs for encouraging landowners to properly manage their land include cost-share, forest certification, and conservation easements. However, to date, less than 6% of the family forest owners have participated in a cost-share program, less than 1% have certified their land, and less than 2% have an easement. By analyzing data from USDA Forest Service's National Woodland Owner Survey, we examined the characteristics of family forest owners who had participated in these programs and identified strategies to capitalize on these landowner characteristics to improve current programs and attract a wider range of participants. We found that family forest owners with larger land holdings were more likely to participate in all three types of programs. Obtaining forest management information or advice was important for program participation; however, the effects differed depending on the types of programs and the sources of information. Income was not significant in predicting participation in cost-share programs, implying family forest owners from lower-income strata were not more likely to use cost-share program. The results also suggest the importance of targeting the right audience when promoting forest certification programs, namely those who are participants of cost-share programs, own forestland for reasons other than farming or ranching, and plan to harvest sawlogs or pulpwood in the future. Age was not significant in any of the empirical models. This result is particularly intriguing in the context of conservation easement, considering recent discussions about the high cost of dying unprepared and the potential for promoting conservation easement as part of estate planning among older family forest owners. Finally, few variables were significant in the model predicting landowner decision about donating or selling an easement, suggesting the easement decision is very different from cost-share and forest certification decisions and further efforts are needed to understand the dynamics of this increasingly popular conservation policy tool. In summary, this study provides a better understanding of the relationship between program participation and the demographics, attitudes and behaviors of family forest owners. This understanding contributes to the development of outreach strategies for improving landowner interest in forest conservation programs.     

A typology of graziers to inform a more targeted approach for developing natural resource management policies and agricultural extension programs

The use of landholder typologies to assist in the development of natural resource management (NRM) policies and agricultural extension programs has increased considerably in the past decade. In this paper we explore the potential of developing a typology of graziers to more effectively tailor policies and programs with the aim of improving land management outcomes. This is of particular importance since growing public concern about the environmental performance of the beef industry has led to increasing pressures on graziers to change their land management practices to decrease off-property impacts. To gain a better understanding of graziers’ land management practices and the factors that inform their decisions on how they manage their land we first developed a conceptual model of the relationship between grazier and grazing land where both can, ideally, thrive through conscious and timely land management decisions made and implemented by the grazier. A successful grazier land relationship is likely to be consistent with value systems and social and economic factors, although the particulars of any individual approach may vary spatially and temporally. These factors, in particular graziers’ values and motivations to follow a particular management strategy, guided the development of our typology of graziers. Australia's Bowen-Broken basin, which has been identified as a major contributor of sediment and nutrients that enter the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, served as a case study for this research. Three broad types of graziers emerged: (1) traditionalists, (2) diversifiers, and (3) innovators. The authors argue that by understanding graziers’ values and motivations underlying each of the grazier types, government agencies and NRM organisations can more effectively tailor their policy and extension programs towards specific types of graziers and can work with specific groups to achieve reductions in sediment and nutrient runoff from grazing properties.     

产权明晰、交易自由与森林资源有效保护之关系初探——兼论《中华人民共和国森林法》修改

现行的森林资源权属制度以及运行模式导致了两种后果:第一,所有者与经营管理者分离,经营管理者缺乏所有权人意识,只顾眼前利益,造成森林资源的破坏;第二,现有森林权属受到诸多限制,加大了森林资源权属行使和流转的成本。运用产权理论与交易理论分析得出结论:要想使森林资源得到有效地保护,应当在修改法律的过程中首先考虑明晰森林资源的权属并减少对权利的限制,其次要考虑减少森林权属交易的成本。这种产权模式既能够满足经营管理者对经济利益的诉求,又能够有效地保护森林资源。     

How does ‘Free,Prior and Informed Consent’ (FPIC) impact social equity? Lessons from mining and forestry and their implications for REDD+

The principle of “Free, Prior and Informed Consent” (FPIC) is promoted through international agreements and safeguards in order to strengthen social equity in resource management by requiring consent from indigenous and/or local communities prior to actions that affect their land and resource rights. Based on early experiences with implementing FPIC standards in mining and forestry, we examine how FPIC has impacted social equity and why. In both sectors FPIC was first operationalized through non-governmental standards that revealed ambiguities surrounding its definition and implementation. In mining, FPIC was first codified in the standards of financial investors, while in forestry FPIC emerged within competing market-based certification schemes, resulting in contrasting definitions. In both sectors, contextual factors such as government laws and policies, the socio-political environment and the overall distribution of rights and resources strongly shape the impacts of FPIC on equity particularly for actors without strong legal rights. These findings are significant for emerging arenas such as REDD+, where there is much debate around the role of governments, financial institutions and market-based actors in applying FPIC for social equity outcomes.