POSTER

Minority and Limited Resource Landowners and Forests in the South:

Developing a Research Agenda. 

John Schelhas
Southern Research Station
USDA Forest Service
100 Campbell Hall
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee, AL 36088
Phone: 334-727-8121.  Email: jschelhas@fs.fed.us

Robert Zabawa
G.W. Carver Agricultural Experiment Station
100 Campbell Hall
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee, AL 36088

            Abstract:  In spite of the great socio-economic importance of forests in the South, we still know relatively little about the relationships between forests and minority and limited resource landowners.  A social science research program in this area has been developed by the Alabama Consortium on Forestry Research and Education, beginning in 1993.  Consortium research is addressing questions related to: (a) the rural development needs of minority landowners and communities, and how these might be addressed by forest-related rural enterprises, (b) the relationship between shifting land use patterns (agriculture to forestry), the emergence of a globalized economy, and minority land ownership and use in the South, (c) the relationships between public and private forest lands; (d) ways in which government and non-governmental forest related outreach and assistance programs can better meet the needs of minority and limited resource landowners.  These research efforts will help enable the development of new outreach efforts that help minority landowners and communities interact with and/or benefit from: (a) the National Forests and other public lands; (b) production activities of private small-scale forest landowners; (c) value-added forest-related industries; and (d) forest-related educational programs at the land grant institutions.  This paper will provide a summary of current information on the relationship between minority and limited resource landowners and forests in Alabama and the Mid-South, drawing on completed consortium research projects and other sources.  After highlighting gaps in our knowledge, a preliminary strategic research agenda will be presented.

Forests and Minority and Limited Resource Landowners

1.  Forests are of great and increasing social economic importance in the South, and vital farm forestry and forest industry are important to farmers and rural economies.

            For example, in Alabama:

  • Forestry has gone from 10% of farm agricultural and forestry cash receipts in 1978 (state total of $2.1 billion), to 22% of receipts in 1998 (state total of $4.7 billion) (Crews 2000).
  • Timber, in 1998, ranked second among farm sources of income (behind broilers)(Crews 2000).
  • The forestry and forest products industry is one of the most important, if not the most important, industry in Alabama.  It accounts for 14% of all manufacturing jobs in the state (second only to apparel and other textiles), 15% of the manufacturing payroll (more than any other industry), and generates the largest value added (20% of state total) and largest value of shipments of any industry in the state (18% of state total). (Bliss and Muehlenfield 1995).

2.  Minorities and poor people are in danger of being left behind in these changes, and careful attention must be paid to their interests in forestry research, outreach, and management. 

During the 20th Century, black landownership and farming have declined at rates that have exceeded those for whites, and black farm size has continued to substantially lag behind white farm size (Zabawa 1991).

Minority and limited resource landowners have historically been underserved by extensions and assistance programs in the South (Dismukes et al. 1997, Civil Rights Action Team 1997).

In spite of the statewide and regional economic benefits of the forestry industry (Flick and Teeter 1998), there are continuing shortfalls in human capital development in many forest dependent communities that threaten the long term economic and social well-being of these communities (Joshi et al. 2000).  

3.  There has been insufficient research, outreach, and education on minority and limited resource landowners and forests in the South.

We do not know how many minority and limited resource forest landowners there are, where thy are, how they use and manage their forests, and how they value their forests.  A two-county study in southeastern Alabama by Gan and Kolison (1999) is an exception.

We do not know how forests and forestry can meet the rural development needs of minority and limited resource landowners and communities.

We do not know much about the relationships between minority and limited resource landowners and the national forests in the south.

4.  If forests, and government and private forestry programs, are to provide an equitable distribution of benefits to all segments of society in the South, we need to fill in the gaps in our knowledge through systematic research on the relationships between people and forests with special attention to those populations who have been traditionally underserved because of race/ethnicity, gender, or resource limitations.


The Alabama Consortium on

Forestry Education and Research

(established 1992)

  • 1.  Members:

    • Universities: Alabama A&M University, Auburn University, Tuskegee University
    • USDA Forest Service: Southern Research Station (Law, Economics and Policy Research Work Unit), National Forests of Alabama 
    • State Forestry: Alabama Forestry Commission

    2.  Objective:

    The purpose of the consortium is to enhance the environmental, social, and economic benefits from forest resources of Alabama and other states through expanded education of undergraduate and graduate students, collaborative research programs, and technology transfer.

    3.  Activities

    • Education:  Cooperative and mutually beneficial activities between the three forestry schools in Alabama, including 3/2 (undergraduate/graduate)programs, facility sharing, and joint instructional activities.
    • Research: Developing collaborative research projects between consortium partners on social issues and forest operations.
    • Outreach: Jointly developing outreach and extension programs for minority and limited resource landowners, for example on estate planning and forestry.

    Consortium Social Science Research Projects, 1994-2000

    1. Public participation for ecosystem management: Identifying effective public participation procedures, values, and perceptions.  Alabama A&M University.  1994-1997
    2. Identifying effective public participation procedures, bio-indicators for ecosystem management, and economic tradeoffs.   Alabama A&M University and Auburn University.  1994-1996.
    3. Socio-demographic profile and spatial distribution of landowners in and around Tuskegee National Forest .  Auburn University and Tuskegee University.  1994-1997
    4. Post-contract plans for CRP acres: A Case Study of Alabama Farmers.  Alabama A&M University, Auburn University, and Tuskegee University.  1995-1997.
    5. Forest tenure and rural well-being in Alabama.    Alabama A&M University and Tuskegee University.  1995-1997
    6. The origins of the Tuskegee National Forest: 19th and 20th Century land development and resettlement programs in Alabama.  Tuskegee University, USDA Forest Service, Alabama A&M University.  1996-1999.
    7. The socioeconomic impacts of reduced public timber harvest on local communities:  A case study in Alabama and a decision making model for National Forests in the United States.  Tuskegee University.  1996-2000.
    8. Maintaining the estate of limited resource forest landowners.  Auburn University, Tuskegee University.  1998-2001.
    9. Evaluation of program participation behavior of limited resource forest landowners in Alabama.  Alabama A&M University, Tuskegee University, and Auburn University.  1999-2001.
    10. Social and Economic Relationships between Forests and People in Rural Alabama: Characterizing Underserved Populations in Selected Counties.  Auburn University, Tuskegee University, and Alabama A&M.  2000-2002.
    11. The Role of Minority Landowners and Entrepreneurs in Forestry and Forest Products Economies of the United States: The Case of Alabama’s Black Belt.  Alabama A&M University, 2000-2002. 

    Publications:

    Bliss, John C., Mary L. Sisock, and Thomas W. Birch.  1998.  Ownership Matters:  Forestland Concentration in Rural Alabama.  Society and Natural Resources 11(4):404-410.

    Busby, Rodney L., and Stephen H. Kolison, Jr.  1998.  Incorporating Socio-economic Information in National Forest Plan Evaluation.  In:  Proceedings of the 1997 Convention of the Society of American Foresters.  SAF-98-02:242-254.  Bethesda, Md.:  Society of American Foresters.

    Essex, Lou D.  1998.  Resettlement and Community Development in Skyline Farms, Jackson County Alabama.  M.S. Thesis.  Alabama A&M University, Normal, Alabama.

    Gan, Jianbang, and Stephen Kolison.  1999.  Minority Forest Landowners in Southeastern Alabama.  Southern Journal of Applied Forestry 23(3):175-178.

    Heard, Michael S.  1998.  Attitudes and Perceptions of Forest Stakeholders Regarding Land Management Planning on U.S. Forest service Lands in Alabama.  Ph.D. Dissertation.  University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee.

    Hendrix, Shannon Rae.  1998.  Factors Affecting Conservation Practice Behavior of CRP Participants in Alabama.  M.S. Thesis, Alabama A&M University.

    Mehmood, Sayeed R., and Daowei Zhang.  1998.  Factors Influencing the Enactment of State Property Rights Laws.  In Valuing Non-Timber Forest Resources:  Timber is Passe, edited by Richard A. Kluender, pp 183-188.  Proceedings of the 1997  Southern Forest Economics Workers Meeting.  Little Rock, Arkansas.  University of Arkansas at Monticello.

    Murdock, Phillip C.  1999.  The Socio-economic Impacts of Reduced Timber Harvesting in Alabama Forests on Local Communities.  M.S. Thesis, Tuskegee University.

    Onianwa, Okwudili O., Gerald C. Wheelock, Mark R. Dubois, and Sarah T. Warren.  1999.  Assessing the Retention Potential of Conservation Reserve Program Practices in Alabama.  Souther Journal of Applied Forestry.  23(2):83-87.

    Warren, Sarah T., and Robert E. Zabawa.  1998.  The Origins of the Tuskegee National Forest:  Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Resettlement and Land Development Programs in the Black Belt Region of Alabama.  Agricultural History 72(2):487-508.

    Warren, S.T.  1995.  Forest landowners in and around the Tuskegee National Forest:  Interim Research Results.  Paper presented at the 1995 Professional Agricultural Workers’ Conference, Tuskegee University, December 3-6, 1995.

    Warren, Sarah T.  1998.  A Framework for Understanding Property Rights and Responsibilities in Forest Land.  In:  Meeting in the Middle:  Driving Forces, Forging Solutions.  Proceedings of the 1997 Convention of the Society of American Foresters.  SAF-98-02:218-224.  Bethesda, Md.:  Society of American Foresters.

    Zabawa, Robert, and Stephen Kolison, Jr.  1994.  An Alabama Consortium on Forestry Education and Research Study:  An Examination of Forestry-related Socio-economic Research Needs in the Mid-South.  Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama.

    Zabawa, Robert E., and Sarah T. Warren.  1998.  From Company to Community:  Agricultural Community Development on Macon County, Alabama, 1881 to the New Deal,  Agricultural History 72(2):459-467.

    Zhang, Daowei, Sarah Warren, and Conner Bailey.  1998.  The Role of Assistance Foresters in Nonindustrial Private Forest Management:  Alabama Landowners’ Perspectives.  Southern Journal of Applied Forestry  22(2):101-110.

    Zhang, Daowei, Sarah Warren, Conner Bailey.  1998.  The Role of Assistance Foresters in Nonindustrial Private Forest Management:  Alabama Landowners’ Perspectives.  In Valuing Non-Timber Forest Resources:  Timber is Passe, edited by Richard A. Kluender, pp 149-154.  Proceedings of the 1997  Southern Forest Economics Workers Meeting.  Little Rock, Arkansas.  University of Arkansas at Monticello.


    Developing a Research Agenda

    There are segments of the population who have been underserved by forests and forestry because of race/ethnicity, gender, or resource limitations.  Addressing these inequities requires better and more specific knowledge and understanding of the social, economic, and cultural relationships between all people and forests in the South.  Mot importantly, research must be problem-oriented and interdisciplinary to provide useful results and knowledge.  With this in mind, three strategically important research foci have been developed to orient future research:

    1.  Developing adequate and accurate information on the characteristics and needs of underserved landowners from existing data sources, such as census data and county records, and form surveys.  Important information for Alabama and the South include both descriptive and spatial data on land ownership, forests uses, forest values (economic, social, and cultural), relationships between National Forests and adjacent communities, participation in conservation extension and assistance programs, and the social and economic importance of the forest industry.

    2.  Understanding the changing role of forests in farming systems and rural economies in the South under the emerging globalized economy, and developing new strategies for forest related rural development.  Promising avenues for forest-related rural development include:  value added production, secondary manufacturing, specialty forest products, forestry techniques for limited resource landowners, hunting, and forest based recreation.

    3.  Understanding the impact of changes in national forest management on minority and limited resource communities and landowners.  National forests are being managed with much greater attention to their ecological and social relationships with surrounding lands, including ecosystem management, watershed management, and socio-economic impact.  Research on the relationships between national forests and their neighbors will play a fundamental role in evaluating alternative policy and management options, and enhancing their ecological, hydrological, social, and economic contributions to society.


    Literature Cited

    Bliss, John, and Ken Muehlenfeld.  1995.  Timber and the Economy of Alabama.  Alabama Cooperative Extensions System ANR-602, Auburn University, Auburn, AL.

    Civil Rights Action Team.  1997.

    Crews, Jerry R.  2000.  What Agribusiness Means to Alabama’s Economy.  Alabama Cooperative Extension System ANR-1107, Auburn University, Auburn, AL.

    Dismukes, Robert, Joy L. Harwood, and Susan E. Bentley.  1997.  Characteristics and Risk Management Needs of Limited Resource and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers. Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 733.  Commercial Agriculture Division, Economic Research Service, and Risk Management Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    Gan, Jianbang, and Stephen H. Kolison, Jr.  1999.  Minority Forest Landowners in Southeast Alabama.  Southern Journal of Applied Forestry 23(2):175-178.

    Joshi, Mahendra L., John C. Bliss, Conner Bailey, Lawrence J. Teeter, and Keith J. Ward.  2000. Investing in Industry, Underinvesting in Human Capital: Forest-Based Rural Development in Alabama.  Society and Natural Resources 13(4):291-

    Zabawa Robert.  1991.  The Black Farmer and Land in South-Central Alabama: Strategies to Preserve a Scarce Resource.  Human Ecology 19(1):61-81.

                                                                                                                                                                     

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