Small-Scale Non-industrial Private Forest Ownership in the United States: Rationale and Implications for Forest Management

The paper explores rationales of the rise and expansion of small scale non-industrial private forestry. The historical aspects of the small scale of forests are also briefly reviewed. In particular, the paper seeks to explain the reason for the increasing number of nonindustrial private forest ownerships with smaller holding size or private forestland parcelization. The main arguments are that small-scale family forestry expands with economic needs that in turn reflect structural changes in demand for and supply of forest products and services. We suggest that the cause of the increasing number of small-scale family forests should be focus on changes in the demand for forest products and services, while the causes of shrinking forest landholding ownerships should be examined with reference to the supply of forestland. Under this interpretation, small-scale family forest owners behave more like forestland consumers than timber producers. Thus efficiency in small scale family forestry is reflected will be found in the efficiency of forestland consumption for non-timber purpose for transaction costs savings, not in efficiency of timer production. Policy analysts should expand their focus beyond the analysis of production to consumption and distribution efficiency.