Nonindustrial Private Forestland Owners : Estimating responses to economic and demographic changes

The potential effects of wood chip mill harvests on forest management practices of NIPF landowners in North Carolina were analyzed. The study estimated the impacts of changes in timber market returns to NIPF owners. Economic welfare effects of producer and consumer surpluses attributable to market adjustments were also calculated. Potential savings from reduced site preparation costs from cleaner harvests were estimated. Additionally, the potential changes in financial returns to growing timber with wood chip markets were estimated using discounted cash flow analyses of typical forest management returns. A second component of this research involved the analysis of archival tax data on the North Carolina Use-Value Property Tax Program. An analysis of the effects of property values, property taxes and population density on landowner decisions to sell, subdivide, or withdraw their properties from the use-value program in North Carolina was conducted. Parcel level tax data from nine counties representing the three geophysical regions and urban levels of North Carolina for the period 1987 through 1999 were collected and analyzed using logistic regression.