Private timberlands in the South are held in more than 4.9 million tracts. The number of private ownerships is increasing, and tract sizes are decreasing.
In 1994, two-thirds of all private timberland tracts were <10 acres, but they accounted for only 4 percent of the total private timberland acreage. Tracts >500 acres represented nearly one-half the total private acreage.
Southern nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) owners have widely diverse ownership use and management objectives, beliefs, values, and interests.
Primary reasons for NIPF ownership in the South include rural area residence, land investment growth, farm or domestic use, enjoyment of natural resources, estate purposes, and outdoor recreation.
Although representing a small percentage of all private timberland owners, owners interested primarily in timber production make management decisions for more than one-third of all private timberland.
Available research information is insufficient to define an average private southern forest landowner.
Factors that can influence the ways in which private owners manage their land include income, personal values, tract size, residence, long-term plans, knowledge of alternative management options and benefits, taxation policies, and government assistance programs.
Research information about objectives or behaviors of subgroups of the general southern NIPF population is limited and inconclusive, except for those who have participated in government cost-share programs.
Little research information is available about owner corporations, partnerships, clubs, and other entities, including timber investment and management organizations (TIMOs). Nonindustrial corporate owners control 11 percent of the South’s total private timberland acreage. Forest industries control 21 percent of the total private acreage.
In 1994, 1.4 million private owners had intentions to harvest timber on more than 112 million acres within the following decade. The <1 percent of owners holding tracts >500 acres controlled 65 percent of the timberland intended for harvest.
In 1994, private owners who indicated they would never harvest timber from their land controlled only 12 percent of the total private timberland acreage.
Government cost-share programs have assisted a small percentage of the total NIPF owner population. The programs seem to be most popular with owners interested in timber and wildlife production. Related motivational factors include management costs, available capital, taxes, and resource commodity values.
Many southerners, including forest landowners, feel that private property rights are important but secondary to environmental protection needs.
