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A typology of private woodlot owners in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2008-06-24
Author(s)
Abstract
Structural changes in the socioeconomic fabric of rural society in Atlantic Canada and forest ownership in particular have lead to new types of woodlot owners according to their motivations for holding forest properties. These shifts result in increased unpredictability for those in charge of designing policies related to private forest management. In this context, a typology of woodlot owners in Cape Breton, could help inform important questions related to forest policy, for example about how policy instruments can reach these owners and how extension services can address them. In this article we develop an empirically-based typology of woodlot owners in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, something which has not been looked at so far. Based on data obtained through a mail-survey, we employ cluster analysis to group individual owners into five types. These types differ not only in terms of stated attitudes towards woodlot ownership but also, as revealed by a second-stage analysis based on multinomial logit regression, in terms of observable features of the woodlot and socioeconomic characteristics of the owners. The results will help to forecast future changes in the typology of forest owners since these observable characteristics explain to a large extent ownership type. Furthermore their future behaviors with emphasis on for example keeping, selling, protecting, or harvesting can be predicted to some extent.
Language
English
Keywords
forest owner attitudes
cluster analysis
multinomial logit
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Book title
Regional Studies and the Rural-Urban Dynamic: An Interdisciplinary Perspective
Event Title
CRS (Center of Regional Studies
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
43802