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In the United States (US), family forest owners, a group that includes individuals, families, trusts, and estates, are the largest single landowner category, owning approximately one-third of the nation's forests. These landowners' individualized decision-making on forest management has a profound impact on US forest cover and function at both local and regional scales. We sought to understand perceptions among family forest specialists of: climate impacts and adaptation options across different forested US regions; how family forest owners are taking climate adaptation into consideration in their forest management, if at all; and major barriers to more active management for adaptation among family forest owners. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 48 forest experts across the US who work with family forest owners, including extension specialists, state forestry agency employees, and consulting foresters who focus on family forest engagement. Our interviewees shared details on how both climate change impacts and forest management for climate adaptation vary across the US, and they perceived a lack of active forest management by family forest owners. They explained that western forest landowners confronting the imminent threat of catastrophic wildfires are more likely to see a need for active forest management. By contrast, in the east, where most forestland is privately owned, interviewees said that landowners see relatively fewer climate impacts on their forests and less need for forest management to respond to climate change. Perceived barriers to more active family forest management for climate adaptation include the lack of more robust markets for a wide range of forest products, a higher capacity forestry workforce, education and assistance in planning forest management, and addressing the issue of increased parcelization of family forest lands. We situate these perceptions in conversations on the role of boundary organizations in climate adaptation, how individual adaptation occurs, and how governing methods frame adaptation possibilities.
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Private Woodland Owner Perceptions of Threat and Efficacy Shape Management Responses for Climate Change Adaptation
Abstract Private woodland owners (PWOs) face an increasing number of considerations for climate change adaptation and mitigation activities in their forest management. Evidence suggests there may be a disconnect between PWOs’ climate change perceptions and behaviors, which can limit implementation. We conducted seventeen semistructured interviews in Maine to develop a typological framework of PWOs based on their perceptions of climate-induced threats and efficacy. Our results produced three types of PWOs: the steady-as-they-go landowner (low perceived threat), the science-driven landowner (high perceived threat; high efficacy), and the seeking-support landowner (high perceived threat; low efficacy). Although all three types of PWOs regularly implemented resistance and resilience practices, their attitudes toward transition practices (i.e., assisted migration) diverged based on their perceptions of threat and efficacy. This typological framework can be used when targeting communications to PWOs regarding the overlap between climate adaptive management and traditional best management practices. Study Implications: PWOs in our study recognized climate-related impacts while implementing diverse forest management practices to meet both climate-related and non-climate-related objectives. The divergent attitudes toward transition practices exhibited by our three PWO types highlight the notion that adaptive practices can be both intentional and incidental. Our findings suggest that outreach efforts should understand PWO perceptions of climate change threats and their feelings of efficacy in responding to such threats. When combined with knowledge about the overlap between traditional best management practices and new climate-adaptive strategies, extension and outreach efforts can tailor their messaging to fit the appropriate audience.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1828466
- PAR ID:
- 10512431
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer Science + Business Media
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Forestry
- Volume:
- 122
- Issue:
- 5-6
- ISSN:
- 0022-1201
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 459-469
- Size(s):
- p. 459-469
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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