Family Forest Owners

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Paige Fischer Thesis Defense Tuesday, September
30 200PM Peavy 272
Photo Greenbelt Landtrust

• Family Forest Owners
• Conceptions of Biodiversity
• in the Oak Ecotype of Western Oregon
• A. Paige Fischer and John C. Bliss 4/1/04
• IUFRO Human Dimensions of Small Scale Forestry
  Symposium

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Research Goals

• To provide information on owners that may be
  crucial to the success of efforts to conserve
  at-risk ecotypes on private land.
• To foster policy approaches to conserving at-risk
  ecotypes that build on the knowledge, motivations
  and capacities of owners.

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Definitions

• Family forest owner individuals and families
  that own forest-zoned land without processing
  infrastructure
• Forest biodiversity diversity in species
  compositions, structural conditions and processes
  at multiple spatial and temporal scales
  (Franklin, 1998 Noss, 1993).

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Oregon White Oak (Quercus garryana) Ecotype
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Kincaids lupine Lupinus sulphureus var. kincaidii
Wayside aster Aster vialus
Golden paintbrush Castilleja levisecta
Columbia white-tailed deer Odocileus virginianus
leucurus
Western gray squirrel Scuirus griseus
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Family Forests

• Private lands are home to 98 of oak woodland
• Family forests compose 30 of private forestland
  in Oregon
• Family forest owners manage for multiple
  objectives

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Approach

• Inductive
• Random sample
• Interdisciplinary
• Concept mapping
• Open-ended interviewing
• Property-mapping
• Field reconnaissance

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Distribution of Q. garryana on Family Forests
Portland
Philomath
Corvallis
Corvallis
Alpine
Monroe
Monroe
Junction City
(Atterbury Consultants, Inc., 1992)
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Study Area
Western Muddy Creek Watershed (Hulse et al., 2000)
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Summary of Results

• Knowledgeable about biodiversity
• Beliefs about role of humans in nature influence
  management
• Timber markets constrain management intentions

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KnowledgeDiversity as a core management principle
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Knowledge Diversity indicates a healthy forest

• I look at it as a whole forest environment, not
  just the trees. Im trying to maintain the
  diversity in plants thats there now as we
  introduce trees.
• - Mary Harten, owner of 300 acres

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KnowledgeConditions that reflect management
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KnowledgeOak woodland-associated species
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Contradiction between knowledge and behavior

• Multiple objectives must be negotiated
• Socio-economic context encourages conifer
  production
• Tenure system limits global view of biodiversity

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BeliefsHumans as part of nature

• I just want our kids to understand that the most
  fun in our life was when we actually got to do
  the logging and watch the regrowth and go out and
  plant the trees and go through that part of the
  cycle
• Even to us, it was oh boy, were going to cut
  all the trees down, its really kind of a sad
  thing, you think oh, the poor tree, its been
  living here all this time and youre going to
  have all this mess, but thats just for the
  first winter, and after that its green already
  and things start popping up and, the growth and
  life, its so apparent. Its just the process of
  life.
• - Dan Garvey, owner of 20 acres

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BeliefsNature benefits from human intervention

• Me, being small enough to work the edges in and
  tinker with it instead of having to go in and say
  Im going to clearcut this forty, Im going to
  plant this forty. I can kind of play with it and
  adjust it as I go
• Its just more of a hands-on approach. Not a
  lot of people have the opportunity to come in and
  actually do the work. They may have the ground
  and they just send somebody in to do it. Its
  totally different, doing it yourself on your own
  property.
• - Bud Parsons, owner of 600 acres

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Policy Implications

• Willing to manage for non-traditional species and
  structures
• Motivated to engage in intensive management
  program
• Amenable to long-term plans and arrangements
• Limited to individual ownership scale

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Policy Considerations

• Human-environment interactions are complex
• Terms are politicized
• External factors constrain management

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Future Research

• Identify extent of family forestland is priority
  habitat types
• Understand owners knowledge, motivations and
  capacities for managing for habitat
  characteristics
• Identify intersections between the goals and
  rationales of owners and conservation
  organizations.
• Propose ways to design conservation policies to
  meet the needs and take advantage of the
  capacities of owners

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Thank you for your time
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Policies and their assumptions
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Family forest policy

• Capacity tool
• Tailored to individuals and families on ownership
  scale
• Associates oak woodland with cultural heritage
  and game habitat
• Equates oak management with caring for the land
• Accommodates multiple motivations
• Rewards with tax break
• Implemented via extension or NGO, follow-up via
  remote technology

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Managing for Diversity

• What is it about your forest that you get
  enjoyment from?
• Diversity. Thats the big thing for me...
  I also like that its in the oak zone. Weve
  both gotten enjoyment from that and weve
  selected for oaksThe more oak in the area, the
  more moss and lichens.

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Fear of Endangered Species

• Do you have any special plants or animals that
  are unique to this area?
• We have no owls. And even if we do, we dont.

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Political economy

• Right now I dont have a lot of comfort in the
  timber industryThe big people are kind of taking
  over and calling the shots
• The hard decisions are the need for money,
  because you dont want to cut the trees. You
  really hate to do that, I dont care who you are,
  you like looking at the big old trees. You dont
  want that tree to get so big that its no good
  anymore, but you dont want to cut it unless you
  have to. But sometimes the old world dictates
  what you have to do.

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BeliefsManaging on the timescale of a forest

• I wonder if that isnt why its harder for the
  general public to relate to forestry, because
  its a long-term type thing. Youre doing things
  that you wont see the result of in your day and
  thats awkward for people. They want to see
  something right now but thats not the way it
  happens with trees.
• If you havent seen it, youve heard it, youve
  heard your parents or grandparents describe what
  it was, or youve seen where they logged and now
  its a beautiful forest again.