资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Family forest landowners in the United States have diverse ownership and management objectives. Assessing and monitoring regional patterns and trends in landowner motivations and management behavior may aid in understanding the conservation and economic implications of social change. This paper presents a regional analysis of family forest landowners in the southern United States by combining a GIS-based exploratory data analysis with spatially explicit information on landowner motivations and management behavior data obtained from the U.S. Forest Service National Woodland Owners Survey (NWOS). Results reveal that spatial auto-correlation was present in motivations reflecting tangible and pecuniary benefits (e.g. timber, investment, hunting), but not in motivations reflecting intangible and non-pecuniary benefits (e.g. privacy, beauty). Statistically significant clusters of landowners with similar motivations and management behaviors (i.e., hotspots/coldspots) were identified using local indicators of spatial association and visualized in a series of maps to discuss their policy and management implications. The findings are useful in understanding regional variations as well as concentrations in landownership motivation, management activities, and will guide stakeholders in locating areas of interest for conservation planning, strategic marketing, and education and outreach.