Non-industrial Private Forests (NIPF) landowners constitute a major component of the forested land portfolio in the Southeastern United States. The lands they possess provide a variety of social benefits but many aspects of how these landowners manage their properties exist. The goal of this research was to determine overall landowner awareness regarding wildfire programs and education and identify interrelationships among management strategies, demographic variables, and experiences. Specifically, it was hypothesized that landowner program awareness, interest in biomass utilization, and wildfire mitigation strategies would be influenced by the type of information they received, management activities, and other factors. Seven logit models were constructed to analyze these interrelationships. Results revealed that the type and quality of information landowners received was important in most cases. Landowners not receiving any information were less likely to take action to prevent or mitigate wildfire damage to their property. Wildfire education was highly valued by participants. Knowledge of existing biomass utilization programs was almost non-existent. However, the desire to obtain information on this topic was high. In general, state agencies were utilized more than federal agencies, and landowners felt that cost-share programs and marketability of removed biomass would encourage participation in wildfire prevention activities.

Most energy sources are derived from the sun, directly or indirectly. Stopping the increase of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will likely require more reliance on current rather than ancient terrestrial solar input. Yet which forms of renewable energy are most appropriately used is a significant question for the twenty-first century. This dissertation concerns the potential supply of biomass energy crops as a renewable energy source in Massachusetts. Biomass represents a low-efficiency solar collector, and supplying society with an important portion of its energy from biomass would require a great deal of land. The cellulosic biomass crop evaluated in this research is switchgrass, among the most studied of possible biomass crops. The study looks at biomass energy crop potential from three perspectives. First, a biomass crop supply function is developed for switchgrass by 1) using a GIS model to estimate land availability by current land use and soil type; 2) using a crop-growth simulation model to estimate potential switchgrass yields; 3) estimating marginal production cost by land parcel; and 4) calculating a supply function from marginal production costs. Total technical potential is estimated to be about 1.3 million dry metric tons of switchgrass per year, though financial constraints would likely limit production to some portion of the estimated 125,000 metric tons per year that could be produced on existing grasslands. Next, the study examines circumstances under which landowners might opt to make land available for biomass crop production. The social challenge of minimizing biomass energy cost is described. Potential biomass crop landowner decisions are characterized in a theoretical utility maximization model, with results suggesting that non-price attributes of crop production are likely important to landowners. Finally, an empirical study using a landowner survey assesses interest in growing biomass crops, and uses contingent valuation (CV) to estimate landowner willingness to accept (WTA) land rent for biomass crops. The median estimate is $321/ha/yr, with a much-higher mean estimate of $658/ha/yr (based on a parametric estimator). While the realistic potential for biomass crops is some fraction of technically feasible potential, there are other potentially important roles for biomass crops in Massachusetts, for example in preserving unused farmland that would otherwise revert to forest.

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.