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Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2016

  • Title: Social and Biophysical Variation in Regional Timber Harvest Regimes
  • Primary Author: Jonathan Thompson (Harvard Forest)
  • Additional Authors: Brett Butler (USDA Forest Service); Charles Canham (Institute for Ecosystem Studies); David Kittredge (University of Massachusetts - Amherst ); Luca Morreale (Boston University); Jonathan Thompson (Harvard Forest)
  • Abstract:

    In terms of adult tree mortality, harvesting is the most prevalent disturbance in northeastern United States’ forests. Properties of harvest regimes, including the frequency and intensity of harvest, strongly influence the composition and structure of the region’s forests. An earlier study demonstrated the important role of stand structure and species composition as predictors of harvest in the northeast U.S. We extend this work to investigate how social variables further influence properties of harvest regimes. By coupling the Forest Inventory and Analysis database to U.S. Census and National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) data, we quantified social and biophysical variation in the rate and intensity of harvesting throughout the twenty-state region. Forest ownership class is predictive of harvest probability and harvest intensity. Privately owned forests are harvested more frequently than public, and within private forests, corporate-owned lands are harvested 25% more frequently than family-owned forest. Among public owner classes, federally-owned lands are harvested least frequently, followed by state-owned. The frequency and intensity of harvest on municipally owned forests are more similar to harvest on private lands. Social context variables, including local home prices, population density and distance to roads, help explain the intensity but not the frequency of harvesting. Family-owned forests are by far the most abundant owner class; however, demographic data about these owners (e.g., their age, educational attainment, length of land tenure, retired status) collected by the NWOS show little relationship to aggregate harvest behavior. Instead, significant predictors for harvesting on family-owned forests include live tree basal area, forest type, and distance from roads. Just as with natural disturbance regimes, harvest regimes are predictable in terms of their frequency, intensity, and dispersion; and like their natural counterparts, these variables are determined by several important dimensions of environmental context. In contrast to natural disturbance regimes, the important dimensions of context for harvesting include a combination of social and biophysical variables.

  • Research Category: Conservation and Management
    Regional Studies

  • Figures:
    • Fig 3 overlaid bars.jpeg
    Fig5_ProportionHarvested.jpeg