USDA Forest Service in Newtown Square Says Families Are Biggest Shareholder of Forests

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a stream in a forest.

New research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service reveals the motivations, management activities, future plans, and challenges faced by the nearly 11 million families, individuals, trusts, and estates, referred to as family forest owners.

Collectively, family forest ownerships control 290 million acres of forestland, or 36 percent of the nation’s forestland. The federal government is the nation’s second largest forestland owner with 31 percent.

The study, “Family Forest Ownerships of the United States,” is based on responses from over 8,000 randomly selected family forest owners from across the country. The study was recently published in the Journal of Forestry.

“If we are interested in the future of the forests of the United States, we must be interested in those who own the land, and in particular, this means family forest owners who own a plurality of this vital resource,” said Tony Ferguson, Acting Director of the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station, the headquarters of which are located in Newtown Square, and the Forest Products Laboratory.

“Forest Service research is demonstrating the importance of family forest owners to conservation and providing information that will make programs that serve family forest owners more effective,” he said.

Survey results show that the benefits family forest owners most value are related to the beauty and privacy the forests provide, along with wildlife and nature protection. Financial objectives, such as land investment and timber production, are dominant objectives for far fewer family forest owners.

Top photo credit: Dans les sous bois via photopin (license)

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