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Economics Unit

Evaluation of the Forest Stewardship Planning Program

Investigators:

Robert J. Moulton, Southern Research Station
J. Dixon Esseks, Northern Illinois University

Description:

This study is a national evaluation of the Forest Stewardship Planning program and its effectiveness to participating private forest landowners and the public.

The Forestry Title of the 1990 Farm Bill authorizes the USDA Forest Service, in cooperation with the respective state foresters and other natural resource professionals, to assist private landowners in preparing whole property, multiple resource plans, and landowners must have approved written Stewardship Plans to be eligible to receive federal technical and cost share assistance under the Stewardship Incentive Program (SIP). Federal funding for SIP, however, is lagging far behind the needs identified through the planning process, so the future of the Forest Stewardship Planning program may well rest on its own merits, that is, the extent to which Stewardship Plans are useful to private landowners and prompts them to practice good stewardship in activities, such as timber harvesting, and to make additional investments to implement resource practices (e.g., protection and enhancement of riparian areas and forested wetlands, enhancement of fish and wildlife habitat, investments in reforestation and stand management) even in the face of declining federal cost share assistance.

Problem Area(s): Public programs
Status: Ongoing

modified: 13-MAR-2000
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