Community forests (CFs) are a forest ownership and governance approach that enable community members and other key stakeholders to cooperatively manage local forests to produce a range of benefits that align with local community priorities. While well-studied internationally, there is a lack of research that systematically documents how CFs can contribute to rural prosperity in the U.S. amidst ongoing socioeconomic and environmental change. We adapt a framework developed to characterize the contributions of forests to rural prosperity in the international context to investigate the environmental, economic, and social benefits from CFs. In examining 18 in-depth CF case studies, we find that establishing CFs increases access to and control over local forests by local communities, allowing them to manage forests according to local priorities and needs. Economically, many CFs bring in earned income and employment, directly and indirectly, from forest products and services, and support local businesses through tourism and recreation. Social benefits of CFs include access to recreation opportunities, enhancing social relations, and building community identity, security, and empowerment. In extending existing rural prosperity frameworks, we propose that environmental benefits of CFs, including forest protection and restoration and reducing wildfire risk, also play a key role in enhancing rural prosperity. Evidence from these cases suggests that local governance of forests for the production of local benefits using a CF model is a promising approach to enhancing rural prosperity in the U.S.

The Community Forestry (CF) program in Nepal is often lauded as a successful global example of the participatory forest management model, particularly for restoring degraded forest in the midhills However, recent socio-economic, demographic, ecological, and governance change have transformed forest-people relationships, creating uncertainty about the program's long-term sustainability. In this context, this study aims to identify the socio-ecological and institutional factors shaping community forest users' perceptions of the future of CF in Nepal. Using survey data from 873 households collected in 2023 in Salyan and Pyuthan districts, we employed an ordered logit regression model within a social-ecological systems (SES) framework to analyze perception outcomes. The majority of respondents (67%) expressed optimism regarding the CF program in the study region. The results suggest that long-term migration, off-farm income, raising livestock, and CFUGs' engagement with local forestry officials are significant factors that explain the positive outlook of community forestry in Nepal. Conversely, we identified wildlife crop raiding, female household heads, and local government involvement as significant negative factors affecting the perceived future of community forestry in Nepal. This study extends the SES framework to explain perception-based outcomes in CF under changing rural contexts. The findings highlight the need to adapt CF programs and policies to evolving socio-economic and governance contexts and revitalize local collective efforts for sustainable forest management. Future research could examine longitudinal perception changes and integrate ecological indicators to better assess system resilience.

Timber sales from the US National Forest System (NFS) can provide ecological and economic benefits. Unsold (“no-bid”) offerings can result in delays, additional costs, and missed targets. We used mixed methods, including analysis of administrative data, synthesis of research, and semi-structured interviews to understand situations considered “no-bid” offerings by different stakeholders. We measured prevalence, identified causes, and generated a framework for communicating interlinkages. From 2007 to 2020, the volume not sold at first offering was 11.9% nationally. However, a substantial amount is sold subsequently, leaving 2.7% never sold. Regions with the highest percentage never sold include Alaska, Southwestern, and Pacific Southwest. A new conceptual framework developed from a literature review and interviews with NFS and industry employees identified proximate causes and underlying factors. Proximate causes include road construction, equipment requirements, and timber condition; whereas underlying factors include staffing, communication, and appraisal methods. These insights can aid communication and help develop future strategies.

Forests generate numerous services upon which society depends. In the United States, much of this comes from private owners including small-scale family forest owners, who may face barriers to participating in timber and ecosystem services markets, and economic drivers that induce them to convert forests to other land uses. This study focuses on state-administered financial payment programs for private forest landowners, which provide payments in exchange for doing something socially desirable, or refraining from doing something socially undesirable related to the management or use of their forested land, with the motivation of maintaining ecosystem services. A questionnaire was sent to all state forest agencies seeking information on these programs, to document and account for this component of payments for ecosystem services made to private forest landowners from 2005 to 2019. Most (94

State preferential forest property tax programs (PFPTP) are commonly used to incentivize landowners to keep their land in a forested condition. For those PFPTPs that offer multiple enrollment periods, an important decision landowners face is the length of time they commit their land to the program, especially if the program's financial benefits are linked to the length of time enrolled. This study explores what factors influence the program length commitment decisions forest landowners make when choosing to participate in a PFPTP that offers multiple commitment lengths and associated financial benefits. To do so, it used enrollment data from Minnesota's Sustainable Forest Incentives Act (SFIA). The SFIA is a state PFPTP that provides annual compensation to enrollees in return for agreeing not to develop their land. It offers enrollees the choice of multiple program commitment lengths, each with a different annual payment. We developed a theoretical model of how a profit-maximizing forest landowner would choose one of several commitment length options available, given their opportunity cost of not being able to sell their forest land for development while enrolled. This model was tested using over 1100 unique SFIA enrollments from 2002 to 2021, which found the program commitment length SFIA enrollees select is not driven by their desire to maximize the financial benefit of enrolling. A second model was then developed to evaluate how owner and forest land characteristics are associated with the choice of SFIA commitment length, finding several attributes are significantly associated with their commitment length decision.

The frequency of tracts of timber offered for sale that do not receive any bids, also known as no-bids, is a concern for public land managers. No-bids can delay forest management and result in lost revenue to federal and state agencies. We used data collected by the USDA Forest Service (Forest Service) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) to assess the impact of appraisal adjustments on the appraised value of federal and state timber tracts offered for sale in Minnesota and quantify the impact of appraisal characteristics on the likelihood of a sale. We found that Forest Service appraisers are adjusting appraisal values sufficiently to the point where buyers are indifferent between sales at different price points. However, MN DNR appraisers appear to not have had sufficient adjustments, because buyers are more likely to buy higher-valued sale offerings. This study is the first to assess adjustment factors on no-bid sales, as well as assess some sale characteristics that result in successive no-bids. Successive no-bids are timber tracts that are put up for sale multiple times and repeatedly result in a no-bid. This trend results in lost time and revenue to the agency, more so than a no-bid that occurs only once. We are the first to assess characteristics of successive sales and discuss avenues for future research. Furthermore, we are the first to assess adjustment characteristics of sale offerings. Implications from these findings can provide insight for timber sale managers on how to adjust sale values to increase the likelihood of a final sale and reduce the likelihood of successive no-bids.

Previous research shows that forest preservation can protect water quality, but it is less clear what the net economic costs of forest preservation might be for drinking water utilities. Economic valuation of forest benefits for drinking water is complex in part because the potential economic benefit is indirectly related to forest preservation through the benefit of forests for water quality. We contribute to a growing literature on land use-water quality interactions by linking ecological production and economic valuation functions that relate to changes in forest cover and water quality. We estimate potential avoided drinking water treatment costs by analyzing water quality impacts of projected land use change, using changes in nutrient concentrations. Specifically, we use observations from a survey conducted in the Southeastern US to explore which factors influence the variation in reported treatment costs. We then integrate the primary data with simulated outputs from a detailed ecological production function to project the potential long-term cost implications of land use change (including forest loss) in the region. Our findings suggest that a 1 % reduction in turbidity and TOC would reduce treatment costs by 0.046 %-0.091 % and 0.951 %-1.144 %, respectively. Further, while we find evidence of modest net cost impacts overall (<10 % for most facilities) under potential future land use change, we find a 1 % forest loss could increase treatment costs by 1.7 %. These results highlight the potential economic value of forest preservation in water supply systems and could inform source water protection strategies by water utilities through forest management incentives. Keywords: Forest Loss, Water treatment costs, Water quality.

Family forest ownerships are classified in federal income tax law as either personal use, investment, or trade or business, and this classification determines the tax rates, deductions, credits, and filing requirements that apply. Tax classification, therefore, has implications for landowners’ overall profit potential and the economic sustainability of forest management. However, the relative proportion of family forest owners in each tax classification has never been estimated before, though many studies have looked at the typologies of family forest owners based on their forest management behavior including participation in policy tools in the past. We develop a novel framework for categorizing family forest owners within discrete tax classifications. By leveraging the data from the National Woodland Owner Survey, we estimate the distribution of owners across tax classification and account for the area of forestland covered under various tax provisions. Additionally, we construct logit models to understand demographic and ownership variables associated with the likelihood of landowners belonging to different tax classifications. The estimates based on our categorization criteria to replicate tax classifications indicate that approximately 12% of family forestlands held in parcels of four hectares or more across the country may be owned by business owners, 49% by investment owners, and 39% by personal use owners. Variation in demographic and forest ownership characteristics were noted among landowners estimated to fall under different tax classifications. The findings of the study are expected to have implications for tax policy and sustainable forest management in the country. It will assist policymakers, land managers, and other concerned stakeholders in understanding how changes in tax law affect family forest owners and how they manage their forests. Information about tax classification criteria used in this study can also be helpful for landowner education and extension purposes. The results obtained can assist in mapping natural disasters and connecting them to the deductibility of casualty losses based on landowner's tax classification in the future.

Nepal's community forestry (CF) program, a globally recognized model of participatory forest management, relies on voluntary local leaders to guide forest management and governance decisions. Sustaining voluntary leadership has become increasingly challenging because of outmigration, declining forest dependence, and growing urban influence on rural livelihoods. In this study, we explore the values and motivations of existing leaders of community forest user groups (CFUGs), which underpin the leadership characteristics in sustaining these local institutions. We surveyed 144 leaders of 49 CFUGs in Nepal's mid-hills and used their responses as indicators of leadership values, derived from the "Motivation to Lead" and related theoretical frameworks. Using exploratory factor analysis and a multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) model, we identify three motivation factors and examine their associations with leaders' individual and CF characteristics. The results suggest that, out of the 16 indicators, eight explain core values and motives clustered into three latent motivation factors, indicating three axes of leadership motivation in Nepal's CF program: environmental stewardship, altruism, and power and influence. Leaders were likely to be motivated by either environmental stewardship or altruism. However, leaders motivated by either altruism or environmental stewardship were also motivated by the power and influence. Furthermore, individual leadership characteristics such as leadership position and duration, and CF characteristics such as forest type, support from non-governmental organizations, fire incidences, and leadership experience in local governments, are associated with leadership motivation factors. These findings inform understanding of voluntary leadership drivers in CFUGs, for strengthening and sustaining community-based forest management in Nepal.

The southern United States (U.S.) produces approximately 60% of the Nation's timber products, almost entirely from private forests. This work explores the perspectives of stakeholders with regards to the interrelated impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) on the timber supply chain in the U.S. South. Four focus groups were held with key stakeholders to explore the effects of the pandemic on forest landowners, loggers, and wood mill workers. We compared focus group participant insights to published research and other summary information from reputable sources. We found that supply, demand, and government factors were interdependent and affected the timber supply chain heterogeneously during the pandemic. Focus group participant discussions generated many new hypotheses, which can be empirically or qualitatively tested in future analyses.

Managed burning of forests can provide benefits to society including mitigated wildfire risk, improved habitat, and more. However, adverse outcomes of escaped fire or smoke pose risks. I reviewed the evolution of the law regulating forest management burns, explored the current legal architecture, and analyzed the economic incentives for involved actors, in order to identify policy options. Liability standards through most of the twentieth century increasingly placed risk burden on landowners and burners, but increased recognition of the benefits of burns led many States to reverse this trend and limit the liability for a subset of qualified burns. Still, there is broad uncertainty about the liability, which can lead to increased costs for all sides. In view of the societal benefits of burning, States may consider how best to provide legal clarity, how to balance associated risks, and where to place the liability burden.

Research on community forests (CFs), primarily governed and managed by local forest users in the United States, is limited, despite their growth in numbers over the past decade. We conducted a survey to inventory CFs in the United States and better understand their ownership and governance structures, management objectives, benefits, and financing. The ninety-eight CFs in our inventory are on private, public, and tribal lands. They had various ways of soliciting input from, or sharing decision-making authority with, local groups, organizations, and citizens. Recreation and environmental services were the most important management goals, but timber production occurred on more than two-thirds of CFs, contributing to income on many CFs, along with a diversity of other income sources to fund operations. We discuss the difficulties in creating a comprehensive CF inventory and typology given the diversity of models that exist, reflecting local social and environmental conditions and the bottom-up nature of community forestry in the United States.Study Implications: Despite their small footprint in the United States, community forests are a rapidly developing model of forest ownership, governance, and management that helps protect forestlands and open space and demonstrates how market and nonmarket forest goods and services can be produced for broad and enduring community benefits. This study inventories and characterizes community forests in the United States to increase understanding of this model, its prevalence, and its potential. It provides a baseline of information that serves as a foundation for further exploration and research on the impacts and contributions of community forests.

Community forests (CFs) involve communities in decision-making about, management of and access to forests, and have potential to benefit both communities and forests. However, they lack a single definition, clear distinction from related topics, or method for identification. This perspectives article explores historical and current literature on CFs and proposes a conceptual framework for understanding CFs and related concepts in the U.S. context. Through that exploration, we propose a conceptual framework for understanding their meaning and relationship. We propose three potential pathways for identifying CFs in the U.S., each with advantages and disadvantages. CFs can be identified by using a criteria and indicators approach; by participation in programs or networks designated for CFs; or by their own self-identification as a CF. We suggest that using a hybrid of these approaches will produce the most robust process for knowing a community forest when we see one.

When National Forest System (NFS) tracts of timber are offered for sale and do not receive any bids from prospective buyers, mandated sales targets may be missed, additional costs can be incurred to the agency, and there is potentially lost opportunity for sustainable forest management. We validated NFS employee perceptions of unsold or “no-bid” offerings against observed no-bid sales. Using ordinary least squares, we regress three different definitions of timber sales against proximate and underlying factors influencing no-bids. We found statistical significance for some proximate factors, including small tree diameter at breast heigh, seasonal restrictions, and low volume sales. However, the sign of the coefficients for seasonal restrictions and low volume sales were not what we would have expected. Furthermore, we found statistical significance for underlying factors, including perceptions regarding market information and unplanned road costs with coefficient signs in the direction expected. Moreover, we provide some detailed suggestions for future data collection and other avenues for research. Although our data have some limitations, these findings further our understanding of public timber sales.

Over the past several decades, concern about loss of forest-based ecosystem services has caused all fifty states to adopt programs to lower property taxes on enrolled private forestland. Although there has been a moderate amount of research on the effectiveness of these preferential forest property tax programs (PFPTPs), most studies only assess individual states, explore perceptions without an empirical basis, or present seemingly contradictory findings. This manuscript presents a systematic review of literature to determine the strength of evidence supporting PFPTPs’ effectiveness at retaining and also promoting active management of private forests. There is moderate evidence that PFPTPs reduce forest land-use change, parcelization, or sales, although the effect apparently is relatively weak. There is very little evidence that PFPTPs encourage more active forest management. To design a PFPTP that does more to retain forests, studies indicate that a PFPTP may need fewer requirements and rules, whereas to encourage active management a PFPTP may need more. Thus, greater clarity of policy goals will help determine which approach is merited.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some governments instituted mandatory stay-at-home policies. As these policies made exceptions for essential industries such as the forest sector, it is not clear a priori whether and how these policies would affect forest-based employment. This study examined the effect of mandatory stay-at-home orders on employment in the forest sector in forest dependent counties in eleven southern states in the United States. We estimated panel event study models in addition to difference-in-difference models to evaluate the policy effects with respect to initial treatment as well as average effects to the treated counties during treatment. We found that employment in wood product manufacturing was lower on average in counties under a lockdown order compared with employment in counties without an active order. We also found that employment in the aggregate forest sector in counties that implemented the policy was significantly lower than employment in counties without the policy up to 9 months following initial enactment compared with the underlying difference between treated and control counties one month prior to treatment. Overall, our findings suggest that lockdown policies had a limited effect on employment in essential industries such as wood-based manufacturing sectors in the southern states.Study Implications: This study uses causal inference techniques to assess the effect of lockdown orders on forest-based employment in 11 southern states. Results suggest effects of lockdown orders were limited to the aggregate forest sector and wood product manufacturing, likely due to the rapid designation of the sector as essential and the reduced production of sawmills. The other industries within the sector were not significantly affected, implying that industries designated as essential may be more resilient to short-term shocks. These findings can be used to inform discussions on potential policy responses to future disasters, including how different interventions interact with one another.

Conversion of natural land cover can degrade water quality in water supply watersheds and increase treatment costs for Public Water Systems (PWSs), but there are few studies that have fully evaluated land cover and water quality re-lationships in mixed use watersheds across broad hydroclimatic settings. We related upstream land cover (forest, other natural land covers, development, and agriculture) to observed and modeled water quality across the southeastern US and specifically at 1746 PWS drinking water intake facilities. While there was considerable complexity and variability in the relationship between land cover and water quality, results suggest that Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphorus (TP) and Suspended Sediment (SS) concentrations decrease significantly with increasing forest cover, and increase with increasing developed or agricultural cover. Catchments with dominant (>90 %) agricultural land cover had the greatest export rates for TN, TP, and SS based on SPARROW model estimates, followed by developed-dominant, then forest-and other-natural-dominant catchments. Variability in modeled TN, TP, and SS export rates by land cover type was driven by variability in natural background sources and catchment characteristics that affected water quality even in forest-dominated catchments. Both intake setting (i.e., run-of-river or reservoir) and upstream land cover were important determinants of water quality at PWS intakes. Of all PWS intakes, 15 % had high raw water quality, and 85 % of those were on reservoirs. Of the run-of-river intakes with high raw water quality, 75 % had at least 50 % forest land cover upstream. In addition, PWS intakes obtaining surface water supply from smaller upstream catchments may experience the largest losses of natural land cover based on projections of land cover in 2070. These results illustrate the complexity and variability in the relationship between land cover and water quality at broad scales, but also suggest that forest conservation can enhance the resilience of drinking water supplies.

When the National Forest System (NFS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service offers a timber sale that receives no bids from prospective buyers, it can consume valuable resources, delay forest management activities, and cause the NFS to miss mandated targets.Previous work revealed that the drivers of no-bid sales have two distinct levels: proximate causes and underlying factors.To further explore these issues, researchers with the Forest Service Southern Research Station sent a survey to NFS personnel in February 2021 and requested that anyone involved in timber sales in any capacity respond.The survey received an estimated 38.3-percent response rate.Overall, the results suggest employees perceive that planning timelines and pressure, insufficient coordination and communication, market forces, low staffing levels, and lack of training and support work together to make no-bid sales more likely.The proposed solutions viewed as the most likely to lead to success were that Engineers could be more involved in early planning, colleagues could receive more training, and Line Officers could be more involved in communication with industry.There was variation in responses by NFS region and by position; for example, Regions 2, 3, 4, and 8 were more negative about market/appraisal and operational factors, while Regions 1 and 6 were more negative about policy and institutional factors.