The forest-land owners of New Jersey

Abstract

Results of a mail canvass of forest-land owners in New Jersey, conducted in conjunction with the second forest survey of the State, show that there are 63,600 owners of the 1,537,900 acres of privately owned commercial forest land in the State. These owners hold an average of 24.2 acres each. However, more than half of the ownerships are of less than 10 acres, so the private commercial forest land is extremely fragmented. Few owners hold forested land for timber production. New Jersey forest-land owners hold their land either as part of their residence or as a real-estate investment. Only 1 percent of the owners hold forest land for timber production. These owners hold 2 percent of the private commercial forest land. Despite this, 51 percent of the private forest land in the State is held by owners who express a willingness to harvest timber. New Jersey forest-land owners frequently utilize the services of a forester when they do harvest. Only about one-third of the privately owned commercial forest land in the State is available to the public for any form of recreation.

Citation

Kingsley, Neal P. 1975. The forest-land owners of New Jersey. Resour. Bull. NE-39. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 24p.