Landowner Decisions and Motivations on the Tennessee Northern Cumberland Plateau: Willingness to Participate in Government Assistance Programs and Reasons for Owning Woodland

The Tennessee northern Cumberland Plateau is a region rich in history and biodiversity that is currently being faced with increased immigration of retirees and new landowners. This influx of people will lead to parcelization of large tracts of forestland, decreases in timber and water quality, and loss of wildlife and biodiversity. For these reasons it is important that the practice of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) be adopted in the region. SFM is a tool that can be used to increase biodiversity, improve timber quality, and help to sustain the regional economy. This thesis provides results from two different models that can be used by resource managers to target forest landowners with appropriate information to assist with enrollment in government assistance programs and/or make forest management decisions that meet landowner objectives for forest ownership while still providing timber harvests. Results in Chapter II reveal that landowners would benefit from personal contact with a resource manager when enrolling in assistance programs. Chapter III results reveal that landowners’ motivations for owning woodland can be described as privacy, utility, and heritage – each group correlating with different landowner and land characteristics. To promote SFM it is important that resource managers provide appropriate information and personal contact with landowners to help in assistance program enrollment and achieve landowner objectives in ways that improve biodiversity, improve timber and wildlife health, and yield timber.