TY - JOUR
T1 - Effectiveness of landowner assistance activities
T2 - An examination of the USDA Forest Service's Forest Stewardship Program
AU - Butler, Brett J.
AU - Markowski-Lindsay, Marla
AU - Snyder, Stephanie
AU - Catanzaro, Paul
AU - Kittredge, David B.
AU - Andrejczyk, Kyle
AU - Dickinson, Brenton J.
AU - Eryilmaz, Derya
AU - Hewes, Jaketon H.
AU - Randler, Paula
AU - Tadle, Donna
AU - Kilgore, Mike
PY - 2014/3
Y1 - 2014/3
N2 - The USDA Forest Service's Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) is the nation's most prominent private forestry assistance program. We examined the FSP using a multiple analytic approach: analysis of annual FSP accomplishments, survey of state FSP coordinators, analytic comparison of family forest owners receiving and not receiving forestry practice assistance, and focus groups with family forest owners. We found the FSP reaches a small fraction of eligible landowners; states use FSP funds to address local private forestland issues; landowners obtaining assistance commonly associated with the FSP (e.g., management plans) differ from others in sociodemographics, ownership objectives, and land management actions but not in terms of intent to sell/subdivide forestland; and traditional FSP activities are not influencing inactive family forest owners to become active managers. We believe current practices (e.g., state-level flexibility) help the FSP reach its goals, alternative assistance-related efforts may increase the reach of the FSP and support strategic goals, and data collection improvements may enrich future FSP evaluations.
AB - The USDA Forest Service's Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) is the nation's most prominent private forestry assistance program. We examined the FSP using a multiple analytic approach: analysis of annual FSP accomplishments, survey of state FSP coordinators, analytic comparison of family forest owners receiving and not receiving forestry practice assistance, and focus groups with family forest owners. We found the FSP reaches a small fraction of eligible landowners; states use FSP funds to address local private forestland issues; landowners obtaining assistance commonly associated with the FSP (e.g., management plans) differ from others in sociodemographics, ownership objectives, and land management actions but not in terms of intent to sell/subdivide forestland; and traditional FSP activities are not influencing inactive family forest owners to become active managers. We believe current practices (e.g., state-level flexibility) help the FSP reach its goals, alternative assistance-related efforts may increase the reach of the FSP and support strategic goals, and data collection improvements may enrich future FSP evaluations.
KW - Family forest owners
KW - Forest management plan
KW - Nonindustrial private forest owners
KW - Program evaluation
KW - US landowner assistance
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U2 - 10.5849/jof.13-066
DO - 10.5849/jof.13-066
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84897566646
SN - 0022-1201
VL - 112
SP - 187
EP - 197
JO - Journal of Forestry
JF - Journal of Forestry
IS - 2
ER -
