Cost and effectiveness of legal mandates for the practice of forestry on private land: experiences with state forest practice laws in the United States.

Laws regulating the practice of forest management on private lands are in effect in seven of the United States. These may impose significant administrative costs on states and significant compliance costs on landowners and timber operators. Total state administration costs for 1984 are estimated at $10.1 and total private sector compliance costs estimated at $120.5 million, for a total regulation cost of $130.6 million. The effectiveness of state forest practice regulation is difficult to quantify. However, agreement is strong that regulation has led to significant improvements in forest resource conditions and has helped to increase reforestation.-from Authors