Non-industrial private forest owners’ harvesting decisions : An empirical study of forest owners’ harvesting decisions in Norrbotten

Abstract: The forest plays a large role both nationally and internationally towards a sustainable planet. Therefore, understanding non-industrial private forest owners’ preferences is important to achieve the environmental targets, since they are a large ownership group in Sweden. The present study focusses on non-industrial private forest owners’ harvesting decisions in Norrbotten. Furthermore, the study extends to analyze how the forest owners’ preferences towards promotion of ecosystem services are affected if compensation is offered. To understand the harvesting decisions of non-industrial private forest owners’, an empirical approach was used where a questionnaire was constructed. The data were analyzed through logistic regression. The results suggest that non-industrial private forest owners’ harvesting decision is positively affected by previous experience in the forest, days present in the forest, membership in a forest cooperative and a price increase of timber. Forest owners with economic objectives harvest more than owners with no or other objectives. No significant relationship between nature- and economic objectives in the harvesting decisions were identified. The results related to willingness to promote ecosystem services for compensation indicated ambiguous results.