Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T01:21:59.943Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Farm woodlots in northern New England, USA: Characteristics, management, and contributions to the whole farm system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2007

A.F. Egan
A.F. Egan*
Affiliation:
Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Université Laval, 2122A Pavillon Abitibi-Price, Ste-Foy, QC, CanadaG1K 7P4.
*
*Corresponding author: andrew.egan@sbf.ulaval.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Farms and forests dominate the rural landscape of the northern New England states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, among the most heavily forested states in the US. However, we know little about the stewardship of farm woodlots and their contributions to the whole farm system, despite region-wide increases in farm forest acreage. Using a mail survey, this study found that almost half of respondents had a written management plan for their forestland, most of which had been written by a forester, and approximately three-quarters took an active role in the management of their woodlots. Farm woodlot harvesting and management contributed over 7% of total farm income. Variables such as respondent's state of residence, age, education and type of farm were investigated in order to better understand farmers’ forest stewardship behavior. Implications for effective outreach to farm forest owners are offered.

Keywords

farm woodlotfarm forestforest stewardship
Type
Research Article
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , March 2007 , pp. 67 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Griffith, D.M. and Alerich, C.L. 1996. Forest statistics for Maine, 1995. USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station Resource Bulletin NE-135.Google Scholar
2 Society for the Protection of New Hampshire's Forests. 2005. New Hampshire's Changing Landscape 2005: Population growth and land use changes—What they mean for the Granite State. SPNHF, Concord, NH, USA. Available at Web site: www.spnhf.org.Google Scholar
3 Birch, T.W. 1994. Private forest-land owners of the northern United States, 1994. USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station Resource Bulletin NE-136.Google Scholar
4 USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. 2002. Available at Web site: http//151.121.3.33:8080/Census/Create_Census_US.Google Scholar
5 Maine Bureau of Revenue Services. 2006. Municipal Valuation Return Statistical Summary, Augusta, in press.Google Scholar
6 Egan, A. 1993. Forest stewardship: The relationship between the articulations and actions of Pennsylvania's NIPF owners. PhD dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University, USA.Google Scholar
7 Egan, A. 1997. From timber to forests and people: A view of nonindustrial private forest research. Journal of Forestry 14(4):1–5.Google Scholar
8 Moser, W.K., Leatherberry, E.C., Hansen, M.H., and Butler, B. 2005. Farmers and woods: a look at woodlands and woodland-owner intentions in the heartland. In: Brooks, K.N. and Ffolliott, P.F. (eds). Moving Agroforestry into the Mainstream. Proceedings of the 9th North America Agroforestry Conference, Rochester, MN. 12–15 June 2005 (CD-ROM). Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA. p. 14.Google Scholar
9 Burgess, P.J., Brierley, E.D.R., Morris, J., and Evans, J. (1999). Farm Woodlands for the Future. Bios Scientific Publishers Ltd., Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
10 Burgess, P.J., Brierley, E.D.R., and Graves, A. 2000. Report on farm woodlands for the future conference. Quarterly Journal of Forestry 94(1):65–69.Google Scholar
11 Brandl, H. and Schanz, H. 1992. Wandel und Tendenzen in der Betriebsgrößenstruktur des Privatwaldes Baden-Wurttemberg, AFZ, p. 705–708.Google Scholar
12 Brandl, H. 2002. The economic situation of family-farm enterprises in the southern Black Forest. Small-Scale Forest Economics, Management and Policy 1(1):13–24.Google Scholar
13 Dillman, D. 2000. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Methods. 2nd ed. John Wiley and Sons, New York. p. 464.Google Scholar
14 Armstrong, J.S. and Overton, T.S. 1977. Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys. Journal of Marketing Research 24:396–402.Google Scholar
15 Milne, J. 2004. Taxation and timber: An inventory of state tax provisions in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Available at Web site: www.foe.org/res/pubs/reports2004.html.Google Scholar
16 Butler, B. and Leatherberry, E. 2004. America's family forest owners. Journal of Forestry 102(7):4–9.Google Scholar
17 Egan, A., Gibson, D., and Whipkey, R. 2001. Evaluating the effectiveness of the Forest Stewardship Program in West Virginia. Journal of Forestry 99(3):31–36.Google Scholar
18 Egan, A. and Luloff, A. 2005. Exurban migration: Implications for forest communities, policies, and practices. In Lee, R.E. and Field, Y.Y. (eds). Communities and Forests: Where People Meet the Land. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, OR, USA. p. 274–290.Google Scholar