Reasons & Objectives for Owning Timberland

摘要

There are approximately 23 million acres of timberland in Alabama, which makes up 71 percent of the state's total land area. Alabama ranks second in the 48 contiguous states in private timberland coverage as approximately 94 percent of the timberlandin the state is privately owned. The majority of that private timberland (88 percent) is owned by non-industrial private forest (NIPF) landowners. Of the NIPF landowners in Alabama, approximately 70 percent are family forest owners that make up approximately 60 percent (13.7 million acres) of the total timberland. Family forest landowners are defined as a forest ownership type that includes families, individuals, trusts, and estates. Family forest landowners are unique in that they have diverse backgrounds, experiences, a wide range of management objectives, and a variety of reasons for owning their land. This article will discuss how family forest landowners in Alabama feel about forest management and how they compare to family forest landowners in the Southeast and the United States as a whole.