Sustaining Ecological and Economic Diversity Among Limited Resource Landholders by Expanding Opportunities for Management of Productive Woodlands

2001 Annual Report for LS01-126

Project Type: Research and Education
Funds awarded in 2001: $180,431.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2005
Region: Southern
State: North Carolina
Principal Investigator:
Sarah Warren
North Carolina State University

Sustaining Ecological and Economic Diversity Among Limited Resource Landholders by Expanding Opportunities for Management of Productive Woodlands

Summary

Combining productive and sustainable woodlands with farming systems raises quality of life and diversity, especially for landowners not always able to take full advantage of forest management opportunities. Our two goals are to strengthen the capacities of limited-resource, traditionally under-served forest landholders to sustainably and profitably manage their forest resources, and to identify opportunities for and constraints on their participation in timber and alternative forest-products sectors. Working with voluntary organizations, community leaders, and local and state agencies, the project team focuses on seven counties: Duplin, Halifax, Northampton, Robeson, Sampson and Warren counties in North Carolina, and Brunswick county in Virginia.

Objectives/Performance Targets

  1. To develop and apply methods for identifying and contacting landholders. This entails generating a sampling frame, administering a survey on decision making by client landholders, and evaluating the chosen and alternative methods for identifying client landholders. The results will inform Objectives 2 and 3.

    To describe and analyze the preferences, opportunities, and constraints that inform decision-making about woodland management within farming systems. The project collaborators will focus on client landholder decisions about managing and marketing forest products and services. Factors influencing decisions include access to information and training about silvicultural and management techniques, access to input markets for credit and forest management services, and access to output markets, particularly for emerging non-timber products and services. Other important factors are environmental regulations and incentive plans, availability of material and labor in the farming system, financial flows over seasons and years, and tenurial status such as use rights, heir-property, mortgage liabilities, absentee ownership, and tax schedules.

    To analyze and select technically proven options for woodland management that are sustainable and appropriate to farm family goals and economic systems. The research and outreach team will consider practices for pre- and post-harvest management, reforestation and wood certification programs, cooperative structures, and interim and alternative woodland income strategies such as game/hunting leases, pine straw collection, subsidized conservation easements, wild plant supply to nurseries, and small business opportunities. Methods of integrating woodland management with crop and livestock systems will also be considered. Priority will be given to options that: complement crop and livestock components of farming systems; are profitable on small landholdings or can be implemented cooperatively; supply growing non-timber product markets; are eligible for existing and proposed incentive programs; and enhance ecological and economic sustainability of diverse farm systems.

    To extend these options to the client population through education and outreach. The research team will provide outreach guidance to agencies, private voluntary organizations, and corporations that oversee sustainable and diverse farming system initiatives, through continuing education programming and other information dissemination. Case study families will host on-farm demonstrations of management options selected based on research findings about landholders, markets, and incentive programs. Other outreach activities will include workshops or field days that highlight the on-farm demonstrations and a pilot information campaign about available support and incentive programs for woodland management and markets.

Accomplishments/Milestones

For project outreach, introductions of the project themes, goals and objectives to state and national agencies were an early priority. In each study county, meetings with Cooperative Extension, Small Farmer Outreach Program, Farm Services Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Department of Forest Resources staff were and continue to be held. In several counties, meetings were also held with Native American tribal institutions. Additionally, interviews (both individual and group) of forest and farm landowners were initiated. Project collaborators hosted meetings of farmers, attended county fairs, attended agency meetings, and provided technical information to landowners requesting assistance. A press release (January 2002) also raised interest among landowners and local and state institutions. A project website has also been established (http://www.ncsu.edu/woodlands).

The first objective, identifying and contacting limited-resource landholders has been as time-consuming and problematic as initially expected. Landowner and land manager databases have been acquired from agency and private voluntary organizations; the process of narrowing down the larger database to construct a sampling frame is underway, but it still requires considerable effort. Reflecting these constraints, the research team has delayed the survey planned for Objective 1.

A draft survey instrument has been prepared and is under review, based on issues identified by the research collaborators. Its structure is intended to be comparable to other survey instruments used over the past ten years for studies of forest landholders in the southeast. Human subjects research protocols have been approved at NC State and NC A&T. For each study county, identification and selection of potential local survey enumerators continues. The literature on modeling forest management by private owners of small landholdings has been reviewed.

Part of project activities includes identifying an appropriate instrument for obtaining information from case study subjects. A Farm Service Agency document (FmHA 431-2) has been obtained that could be used, with slight modification, to obtain information needed to construct both balance sheets and income statements for farm households.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

All activities have addressed Objectives 1 and to a lesser extent Objective 4. As originally expected, obtaining a sound database of limited-resource, traditionally under-served forest landholders for our survey is difficult, with constraints at county, state, and national levels. We have responded to landowner queries about forest management at meetings, during interviews, and resulting from press coverage. However, the greatest impact to date has been public approval both of the objectives and methods originally proposed. We believe that our initial discussions and meetings have served to raise the profile of project issues among agency personnel. All agree that the project is important and timely.

Collaborators:

Savi Horne

savi@landloss.org
Executive Director
Land Loss Prevention Project
P.O. Box 179
Durham, NC 27702
Office Phone: 9196825969
Gary Grant

tillery@aol.com
Executive Director
Concerned Citizens of Tillery
P.O. Box 61
Tillery, NC 27887
Office Phone: 2528263017
Website: http://members.aol.com/tillery/
Frederick Cubbage

fred_cubbage@ncsu.edu
Professor
North Carolina State University
Box 8008
Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources
Raleigh, NC 27695-8008
Office Phone: 9195157789
Website: http://natural-resources.ncsu.edu/for/faculty/cubbage.html
Susan Moore

susan_moore@ncsu.edu
Director of Educational Outreach
North Carolina State University
Box 8003
Department of Forestry
Raleigh, NC 27695-8003
Office Phone: 9195153184
Website: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/forest/feop/
Benjamin Gray, Jr.

grayb@ncat.edu
Assistant Professor
North Carolina A&T State University
A-27, C.H. Moore Agricultural Research Facility
Department of Agribusiness
Greensboro, NC 27411
Office Phone: 3363347072
Website: http://www.ag.ncat.edu/academics/edecon/faculty/bgray/Default.htm
Godfrey Chima Ejimakor

ejimakor@ncat.edu
Associate Professor
North Carolina A&T State University
Department of Agricultural Economics and Education
145 Carver Hall, 1601 East Market Street
Greensboro, NC 27411
Office Phone: 3363347943
Website: http://www.ag.ncat.edu/academics/edecon/faculty/ejimakor/default.html
Rick Hamilton

rick_hamilton@ncsu.edu
Extension Specialist, Department Extension Leader
North Carolina State University
Box 8003
Department of Forestry
Raleigh, NC 27695-8003
Office Phone: 9195155574
Robert Williamson

robertw@ncat.edu
Natural Resources Specialist
North Carolina A&T State University
P.O. Box 21928
Cooperative Extension Program
Greensboro, NC 27420
Office Phone: 3363347957
Erin Sills

erin_sills@ncsu.edu
Associate Professor
North Carolina State University
Box 8008
Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources
Raleigh, NC 27695-8008
Office Phone: 9195157784
Website: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~sills/home.htm