Harvesting woody biomass for biofuel has become an important research topic. In Mississippi, feasibility of utilizing woody biomass for bioenergy lies in the willingness to harvest by non-industrial private forest (NIPF) landowners, who control 71% of forestlands. A mail survey of Mississippi NIPF landowners elicited preferences concerning utilizing logging residues for bioenergy. When presented with hypothetical situations that compared bioenergy utilization attributes along with those of standard harvesting practices, more landowners preferred the bioenergy scenarios, even when more money was offered for standard harvesting. Older landowners with larger landholdings were less likely to prefer bioenergy scenarios. Higher educated landowners who were financially motivated, concerned with climate change, and considered habitat management an important goal were more likely to prefer bioenergy scenarios over standard harvesting. Available markets for logging residues could increase NIPF harvest rates based solely on the different harvesting attributes, which should increase availability of feedstocks for producers.

The estimation of afforestation reservation prices for small landowners in New Zealand has not been the subject of much research despite its importance in predicting future land use. Reservation prices for planting represent the minimum payment a landowner must receive before converting land from agriculture to forest. A survey of 728 landowners from every region of New Zealand who own between 20 and 200 hectares of forest as well as other unplanted land used for agriculture were surveyed about forestland, forest land owner demographics, ownership objectives, silviculture and reservation prices. In this study, reservation price strategies were investigated by offering hypothetical annual and one-time payments for converting land from agriculture to forestry. From this survey, the average one-time payment a landowner would be willing to accept to convert a hectare of land from agriculture to forestry was $3,554 and the average annual payment to convert a hectare of land was $360. The key factors influencing the reservation price were; whether or not the landowner lived on the property, if one of the ownership objectives was income from carbon, the primary agricultural enterprise and total household income. An implied discount rate was calculated for each landowner and excluding those who would not accept any payment the average after-tax discount rate was 9.7%. Small landowners indicated that their primary reason for owning plantation forest was income from timber with very few landowners using their forest land for recreation. The median farm size was 400 hectares and the median forest plantation was 37 hectares. Planting of radiata pine peaked in 1994 and 1995 with more radiata pine planted in 1994 than in all the years from 2000-2009. Most landowners are performing some type of silviculture in their forests. Ninety percent of landowners are pruning in the current rotation while only 61% plan to prune in the future. Only 26% of landowners have engaged in any commercial harvesting in the past ten years but as their current rotation matures 71% plan to replant on the same site. A majority of respondents thought the situation for forest landowners was getting better. Understanding the reservation price strategies of landowners is important for predicting future land use patterns and recognizing how close landowners are to converting land. The ownership objectives of landowners and the replanting decisions they make are critical for future timber supply. The results of this study can assist in the development of forest establishment incentive programmes. Better information about landowner characteristics will result in enhanced decision-making for the timber industry and the government in New Zealand.

Erigé en modèle du dirigeant d’entreprise familiale à la tête d’un outil de production de bois, sa forêt, le forestier est un dirigeant d’entreprise singulier dont l’activité se caractérise par une unique décision de gestion, couper ou ne pas couper; et par un horizon temporel extrêmement long sur plusieurs générations.Partant du constat que le comportement des forestiers n’est pas rationnel au regard de la fonction de production de la forêt, les sources de déviations comportementales sont explorées et notamment l’influence de la vision familiale, du fait de l’impact de chacune de leurs décisions sur leurs descendants. Dans cet objectif, en recourant à des travaux issus de la psychologie, un cadre théorique, offrant un modèle intégré de l’ensemble des biais pouvant affecter le dirigeant, est élaboré. Adoptant une méthode comparative entre différents cas de forestiers, la vision familiale est positionnée à la source d’un biais conatif les affectant et engendrant une inertie comportementale qui s’avère variable en fonction des spécificités de la famille dont ils sont issus. Les différents comportements des forestiers offrent une nouvelle perspective en termes de gouvernance comportementale en proposant à la fois un outil d’analyse des comportements et un mécanisme visant par différentiel à identifier les sources de biais comportementaux ; et permettent d’inférer des moyens de les corriger. / The forest landowner can be set up as a model of a business manager who leads a wood manufacture, his woodland. He can be considered as a particular business manager whose activity is characterized by an unique decision, to cut or not to cut the trees ; and by a long planning horizon on several generations.Through the observation that the forest landowners' behaviors are not totally rational in comparison with the function of the woodland production, the research explores the origins of biases that affect behaviors, and specifically the family vision on business, due to the impact of each decision on the future of the coming generations. In this objective, based on psychological researches, a theoretical background is implemented, which proposes a model of the various biases that can affect managers.By comparing the different cases of forest landowners, the family vision is found as the origin of a conative bias that triggers a behavioral inertia. This inertia appears to be variable according to the specificities of the managers' families. The various forest landowners' behaviors allow to grasp new elements concerning behavioral governance through the proposition of both a behavior analyzing tool and a mechanism which aims to identify the origins of biases through a differential method , and allow to infer the mean to correct them.

Collaborative conservation partnership frequency is increasing in natural resources management; however, few successful examples exist in the United States. These groups seek to address land stewardship through cooperative, communicative, bottom-up approaches that engage local stakeholders. A better understanding of member characteristics and successful group characteristics may enhance collaborative conservation partnership outcomes. A survey was conducted to quantify partnership member characteristics and advertising mediums. Results were compared with the National Woodland Owner Survey. Collaborative conservation partnership members tend to be well-educated, middle-aged, upper-middle class individuals with large landholdings. They span previously identified family forest owner clusters but may be classified as earlier adopters by Diffusion of Innovations theory. Word-of-mouth is the most common way members learn about partnership opportunities. Qualitative data was analyzed to identify key features related to the ability to achieve group goals. Multi-disciplinary literature review points to the likely influences of leadership, task type, social capital, resource inputs, processes, and temporal change attributes on collaborative conservation partnership goal achievement. Key informant interviews demonstrate that resource and social capital inputs derive disproportionately from particular actors, partnerships need flexibility to adapt to changes in available resources, leaders establish partnership activity levels, social capital is the foundation of resource access, and groups are diverse in the ways they deal with context-specific tasks, resources, and processes. Overall, collaborative conservation partnerships demonstrate potential to positively influence land stewardship and technology transfer. Growth requires expanding membership, establishing partnerships as a legitimate conservation medium, and maintaining diverse groups tailored to local contexts. / Master of Science