In this paper nonindustrial private forest owners' forest values and ownership objectives are empirically identified and the link between them and observed harvesting and silvicultural behaviour is established. The analysis is based on survey data on 245 Finnish forest owners. The forest owners are classified into four groups according to their ownership objectives. First, the objectives are condensed into three main dimensions using principal component analysis. Second, these combined variables are used as grouping criteria in K-means clustering analysis. The forest owners are divided into "multiobjective owners", "recreationists", "self-employed owners" and "hedgers". These groups are further identified by background variables using logit-models.
The results indicate that ownership objectives and general forest values are not very strongly correlated. Instead, the ownership structure and objectives seem to explain differences in harvesting and silvicultural behaviour, e.g., "multiobjective owners" seem to harvest more actively than "recreationists". The results can help forestry extension services in allocating their efforts and resources.
Key words: nonindustrial private forests, landowner objectives, forestry values, harvesting behavior, silvicultural behaviour
Correspondence: Heimo Karppinen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Unioninkatu 40 A, FIN-00170 Helsinki, Finland
Telefax: +358-0-625308
E-mail: heimo.karppinen@helsinki.fi