Forestry in the Southeastern United States has long focused on converting natural stands into pine plantations or managing exclusively for hardwoods. Little consideration has been given to managing stands containing pine and hardwood mixtures, as these stands were considered inferior in terms of productivity and/or quality. Recent declines in small-diameter softwood markets and logging workforce have, however, begun to stress the traditional pine production model in some locations, raising interest in management alternatives. Here, we provide biological, economic, and sociocultural rationale for pine-hardwood mixtures as an alternative strategy for landowners with multiple management objectives. To support this idea, an illustration compares a mixed-species plantation to pine and hardwood monocultures under a variety of simulated scenarios to demonstrate growth potential and economic and biological resilience. Moreover, to identify scenarios where managing pine-hardwood mixtures would be most appropriate, and to help conceptualize landowner interest in mixed stands, we present a guide combining biological, economic, and sociocultural factors that we anticipate influencing the adoption of mixed-stand management. The aim of this conceptual paper is not to suggest that mixed-species stand management should become the dominant management paradigm; rather, we seek to encourage researchers and land managers to consider it as part of the broader silvicultural toolbox.

Urban forests (trees growing in urban and peri-urban areas, including villages and large cities) are vital to mitigating the effects of climate change and urbanization but require special considerations such as risk mitigation in developed landscapes. Despite abundant research on risk perceptions of natural hazards, there is limited knowledge about risk perceptions associated with urban trees. As such, this research examines community perceptions of urban tree risk mitigation with a focus on four cities in the U.S. south. To better understand risk perceptions and mitigation, this study employs key informant interviews with community members. Guided by a socio-ecological resilience framework, the findings identify factors affecting resident attitudes towards tree management on the individual parcel and the community levels. The findings benefit tree risk governance in the face of climate variability, which increases societal and environmental vulnerability in urban settings.

Fuel reduction treatments implemented by nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners affect wildfire hazard potential on both their tracts and surrounding lands. However, it is not clear how concerned they are about wildfire damages and what actions they are willing to take to lower wildfire hazard. This study determined the landowner concern level about wildfire damages and identified factors affecting their concern and fuel treatment implementation using seemingly unrelated and binary probit models, respectively. Approximately, 68% of landowners were concerned about property damage due to wildfires, and 45% implemented some fuel reduction treatments. The most common and least costly fuel treatment was prescribed burning ($18/acre) followed by chemical ($59/acre) and mechanical ($127/acre) treatments. Raising awareness about potential monetary losses due to wildfires, assisting landowners in preparing written forest management plans, and prioritizing areas with predominant pine cover will encourage landowner participation in hazardous fuel reduction programs and facilitate more effective wildfire mitigation.

Open spaces, including waterfront areas, are critical to coastal communities and provide many benefits, including recreation opportunities, economic development, ecological benefits, and other ecosystem services. However, it is not clear how values of waterfront ecosystem services vary across geographical areas which prevents development and adoption of site-specific natural resource conservation plans and suitable long-term land management strategies. This study estimated the monetary value of distance to different waterfront types in coastal counties of Mississippi and Alabama (U.S.) using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) approach as an extension to a traditional hedonic pricing method (HPM). In addition, the study utilized publicly available data from the U.S. Census Bureau instead of certified rolls of county property assessors and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data which can be costly and difficult to obtain. Residents valued most waterfront types which was reflected in greater assessed prices for houses in proximity to these waterfronts. However, the value of ecosystem services associated with waterfronts differed geospatially. The marginal implicit prices ranged from −$6343 to $6773 per km depending on a waterfront type. These estimates will be useful to city developers, land-use planners, and other stakeholders to make more informed and balanced decisions related to natural resource preservation associated with coastal areas, land-use planning, and zoning. In addition, information from this study can be used in developing healthy living environments where local economy can benefit from increased property tax revenues associated with waterfronts and their ecosystem services.

Forest landowner activities change over the lifespan of the forest and ownership cycle. Patterns of change emerge which suggest the evolving nature of forest landownership and Non-industrial Private Forest (NIPF) landowners’ interest in their land. The objective of this study was to examine trends in NIPF landowners’ distribution of forestry expenses in their management activities over time. First, 2010 Mississippi NIPF landowners were randomly selected from a property tax roll list. Our analysis compared study results of Arano et al. (2002) with a 2016 survey that was conducted by the authors of this paper. Both studies drew on assessments of timber management expenditures that were conducted on behalf of a state government department of revenue to determine ad valorem taxes for forest land. As such, both studies contained similar survey questions with 12 forestry-related activities grouped into four major categories: (1) Fees for Professional Services (e.g., consulting foresters, surveyors), (2) Timber Management Expenditures (e.g., site preparation, planting), (3) Other Management Expenditures (e.g., road construction), and (4) Property Taxes. Like the 2002 article, results here are presented as descriptive statistics. In both survey cycles, Timber Management Expenditures represented the largest component of annual expenditures in both the 1990s and 2015. The largest decrease in reported expenditures occurred for Other Management Expenditures. By broadly describing differences in expenditures over time, this study provides insights into the involvement of NIPF landowners in management activities on forest land such as reforestation after final harvest, thinning, and timber stand improvement, which can impact forest products’ supply over time.