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Abstract
Forest management practices on public forests are controversial with many organizational and individual stakeholders. Forest managers' understanding of the attitudes of stakeholders is necessary to honor statutory requirements and the social contract under which they operate. The human dimension component of the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment (HEE) in Indiana included a study of recreationists' and neighboring landowners' forest management attitudes by examining the acceptability of alternative management practices on Morgan-Monroe State Forest (MMSF) before and after providing brief explanations of alternative management practices. An on-site survey of recreationists and a mail survey of landowners neighboring MMSF were used. Both surveys also included an investigation of the influence of information about timber management practices on respondents' attitudes. As expected, as forest stand density increased, so did the acceptability of management practices, desirability of forest scenes, and likelihood of visiting managed forests for both recreationists and neighboring landowners. Results indicate that informational interventions had a statistically significant influence on the acceptability of forest management practices, but the practical change in attitudes was small. Ordinal regression models indicated that landowner attitudes about the benefits derived by harvesting timber had a small influence on the acceptability of some treatments. It is arguable whether the increase in the acceptability of forest practices resulting from informational intervention is large enough to change stakeholders' positions regarding how MMSF should be managed.
Parent Publication
Keywords
bats,
beetles,
birds,
Central Hardwoods,
experiment,
forest management,
human attitudes,
Indiana,
moths,
oak,
reptiles,
salamanders,
silviculture,
small mammals,
wildlife
Citation
Rogers, Shannon C.; Hoover, William L.; Allred, Shorna B. 2013. Public acceptability of forest management practices at Morgan-Monroe State Forest. In: Swihart, Robert K.; Saunders, Michael R.; Kalb, Rebecca A.; Haulton, G. Scott; Michler, Charles H., eds. 2013. The Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment: a framework for studying responses to forest management. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-108. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 254-286.
