Abstract

In contrast to quantitative surveys up to date, this study employs in-depth interviews and qualitative analyses aiming to provide detailed contextualized portrayals of private forest owners (PFOs) in Lithuania, where forest ownership underwent crucial changes in the last two decades. We scrutinized narrations of 18 owners, focusing on the background and goals of forest possession, actually applied management practices and informants' future plans. Content analysis of the narrations revealed three classes of goals: ideational rationale, i.e. immaterial justification for owning and managing forest, financial goals referring to monetary benefits from selling forest products and own material use for household needs. Reported practices differ widely among PFOs, ranging from largely absent management to intensive silvicultural regimes. Syntheses of each informant's goals and practices enabled discerning four types of PFOs. Forest Businessmen typically own largest estates (>100 ha) and regard forest as an investment to get long-term financial benefits; they resort to forest management for timber and often intend to enlarge their possessions. Household Foresters primarily use timber for own needs, regularly applying selective tree cutting; such forestry results in frequent but small-scale management interventions. Passive Forest Lovers aspire for recreational or environmental values, being largely uninterested in timber harvesting. Ad Hoc Owners usually are small scale, have vague goals and rarely engage in forest management. The study concludes with discussing policy implications of the identified diversity of PFOs.

Keywords

forest policy; private forestry; owner goals; management practices

Published in

Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research
2015, Volume: 30, number: 5, pages: 478-491
Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS AS

SLU Authors

• Brukas, Vilis

  • Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2014.998706

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/67152