Unraveling the Impact of Message Framing on Forest Management Perceptions in Western Oregon

Communicating the importance and benefits of silvicultural treatments used by forest managers can be challenging. To inform communication strategies, we conducted a quasi-experiment to assess the effect of message framing on forest perceptions. Questionnaires (n = 478) were distributed to recreationists at the McDonald Research Forest (MDRF) and Tillamook State Forest (TSF) in western Oregon, USA. Participants were randomly assigned a message framing treatment [no messaging (control), ecological framing, or economic framing]. Participants were shown photos from different silvicultural treatments and asked to assess the scenic beauty, recreation quality, and their intention to recreate on the site. We used ordered probit models to examine the relationships between message framing treatment and photo perception ratings. For all respondents, the ecological treatment was more probable to result in higher photo ratings than the control. At the MDRF, ecological messaging resulted in more positive perceptions of forests than no messaging (87.8%—96.7%), whereas economic messaging mostly resulted in more negative perceptions of forests than no messaging (83.3%—88.5%). Our results suggest that the impact of message framing varies by which forest we surveyed. Thus, managers should consider recreationists at their site before determining how to frame their messaging. Future research could examine what forest-specific factors are associated with differences in response to message framing.