Private timberland owners of Michigan, 1994 [microform]

94 Pages·1998·4.2 MB·English

by  Leatherberry, Earl C

document
Historic, archived
Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

A United States Private Timberland
—=j Departmentof
Agriculture Owners
of Michigan,
Forest
Service 1994
North Central
Forest Experiment
Station Earl C. Leatherberry, Neal P. Kingsley, and Thomas W. Birch
Resource Bulletin
NC-191
North Central Forest Experiment Station
—
Forest Service U.S. Department ofAgriculture
1992 Folwell Avenue
St. Paul, Minnesota 55108
Manuscript approved for publication March 27, 1998
1998
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 1
An Overview ofMichigan's Private Timberland Resource 2
Private Timberland Owners 3
Number ofPrivate Timberland Ownership Units 3
Size ofPrivate Timberland Holdings 3
Tenure Patterns AmongTimberland Owners 4
Number ofTracts Owned 4
Distance ofTimberland From Residence 5
Forms ofOwnership 5
Selected Characteristics ofIndividual Timberland Owners 6
Selected Characteristics ofCorporate and OtherTimberland Owners 7
Tenure Among Ownership Groups 7
Owner Objectives and Motives 8
Reasons for OwningTimberland 8
Primary Benefits Received From OwningTimberland 8
Primary Benefits Expected From OwningTimberland 9
OwnerTimber Harvest Activities 9
Harvest History 9
Reasons for HarvestingTimber 9
Products Harvested 10
Reasons for Not HarvestingTimber 10
Harvest Plans 11
Forestry ManagementAssistance 12
Knowledge ofManagementAssistance Resources 12
Use ofManagement Assistance 13
Comparing Owners Who Harvest to Owners Who Do Not Harvest 13
Recreational Use ofPrivate Timberland 14
Recreational Use and Availability 14
RestrictingAccess by Posting 15
Reasons for PostingTimberland 16
Summary and Conclusions 16
Literature Cited 17
Acknowledgment 18
Appendix 18
Study Methods 18
Sampling Errors 19
Definition ofTerms 20
Questionnaire 23
Table Titles 37
Tables 40

Private Timberland Owners of
Michigan, 1994
Earl C. Leatherberry, Neal P. Kingsley, and Thomas W. Birch
INTRODUCTION about one-third ofall the land in Michigan, are
demographically or organizationally diverse.
There are 36.4 million acres ofland in Michi- They hold timberland for different reasons,
gan, and about half (19.3 million acres) are and their motives vary in deciding how to use
—
forested. The vast majority 97 percent or the land. Some are long-term owners and
—
18.6 million acres ofMichigan's forest land others only recently acquired timberland.
is classified as timberland. The term timber- Their holdings range from a few acres to
land refers to forest land that is producing or thousands ofacres oftimberland.
capable ofproducing industrial wood crops
and is not excluded from timber harvest. The This bulletin reports findings from a 1994
remaining 3 percent ofMichigan's forest land survey ofMichigan private timberland owners.
is classified as reserved forest land (575,000 The objectives ofthe survey were: (1) to
acres) or other forest land (90,000 acres). On identify and profile private timberland owners;
reserved forest land, timber harvesting is (2) to ascertain their objectives and motives for
administratively prohibited, and on other owning timberland, including benefits received
forest land, sites are ofvery low productivity. from owning timberland and expected benefits;
(See Appendix for complete definition ofterms (3) to determine their timber harvest activities,
used in this bulletin.) including why they harvest or do not harvest,
and their timber harvest plans; (4) to deter-
Michigan's timberland plays an important role mine their knowledge and use ofprofessional
in sustaining the forest products, outdoor forestry management assistance; and (5) to
recreation, and tourism industries, and in ascertain theirview toward public access to
shaping the ecological character ofthe envi- their land.
ronment. The public, through various govern-
mental agencies, owns about a third (6.6 The findings presented here have been statisti-
million acres) ofMichigan's timberland (table cally expanded from a sample to estimate the
1). The remaining 12 million acres oftimber- total population ofprivate owners and the
land is held by private owners, primarily timberland they own. Readers are advised to
individuals or family groups, but also partner- read the definition ofterms and the discussion
ships, trusts, and corporations ofvarying ofthe study methods and sampling errors in
sizes. Private timberland owners, holders of the appendix.
Earl C. Leatherberry, Resource Analyst, years with the Northeastern Forest Experi-
received a bachelor's degree in geography from ment Station beforejoining the North Central
North Carolina Central University and a Forest Experiment Station in 1987 as Pro-
master's degree in geography from the Univer- gram Manager ofthe Forest Inventory and
sity ofMichigan. Hejoined the Forest Service Analysis Unit in St. Paul, Minnesota.
in 1973 and has been with the Forest Inven-
tory and Analysis Unit at the North Central Thomas W. Birch, Forester, received
Forest Experiment Station in St. Paul, Minne- bachelor's and master's degrees in forestry
sota, since 1985. from Michigan State University. Hejoined the
Forest Service in 1974 and is currentlywith
Neal P. Kingsley, Research Forester (retired), the Forest Inventory and Analysis Unit at the
received a bachelor's degree in forestry and a Northeastern Forest Experiment Station in
master's degree in forest economics from the Radnor, Pennsylvania.
University ofNew Hampshire. He worked 25
—
—
In 1981, Carpenter and Hansen (1985) sur- The Upper Peninsula the Eastern Upper
veyed a sample ofMichigan nonindustrial Peninsula (Eastern UP) and the Western Upper
—
timberland owners. Their survey procedures Peninsula (Western UP) Units is predomi-
were similar to those we used and some of nantly rural in character; few towns there have
their findings can be compared to those from populations ofmore than 10,000 people. The
this survey. Further, information presented region contains only 29 percent ofthe State's
here complements published reports contain- land area, but 42 percent ofthe private tim-
ing detailed information about the extent of berland. Many ofthe State's primary wood-
timberland, the amount ofwood fiber present, using mills are located there. In the Eastern
its physical condition, and the growth and UP Unit, there are an estimated 2,074,600
removal rates associated with the resource acres ofprivate timberland. Private owners
(Leatherberry and Spencer 1996, Schmidt et hold 54 percent ofthe Eastern UP's timber-
al 1997). land. The maple-beech-birch and the spruce-
fir groups are the dominant forest type groups
AN OVERVIEW OF MICHIGAN'S PRIVATE each occupying about a third ofthe Eastern
TIMBERLAND RESOURCE UP's timberland area. Sawtimber stands
predominate, occupying 41 percent ofthe
Michigan is divided into four Forest Survey unit's timberland area. The Western UP Unit
Units along county boundaries (fig. 1). Two contains 25 percent ofthe State's timberland
units are in the Upper Peninsula and two are area with about two-thirds (3,002,200 acres)
in the Lower Peninsula. Each unit represents held by private owners. The predominant
relatively homogeneous areas based on topog- timber type in the Western UP is maple-beech-
raphy and other physiographic considerations birch. Approximately halfofthe unit's timber-
as well as the industrial/economic character of land is in sawtimber-size stands.
the region.
The Lower Peninsula has extensive agricul-
tural and urban/industrial development.
However, the region contains nearly 7 million
acres ofprivately owned timberland. In the
Northern Lower Peninsula (Northern LP) Unit,
there are 4,299,700 acres ofprivate timber-
land. Maple-beech-birch and aspen are the
major hardwood forest types, occupying 29
percent and 20 percent, ofthe Northern LP
Unit's timberland area, respectively. Red,
jack, and white pines are the dominant soft-
wood forest types, together occupying about
17 percent ofthe unit's timberland area.
Approximately 40 percent ofthe timberland in
the Northern LP Unit supports sawtimber-size
stands. In 1990, nearly halfofMichigan's
saw-log production was harvested there. The
Southern Lower Peninsula (Southern LP) Unit
has 2,662,900 acres ofprivate timberland,
where maple-beech-birch and oak-hickory are
the dominant forest types. Approximately 57
percent ofthe timberland in this unit supports
sawtimber-size stands. See Leatherberry and
Spencer (1996) and Schmidt et al. (1997) for a
more detailed discussion ofMichigan's forest
resources.
Figure 1. Forest Survey Units ofMichigan,
1994.
—
PRIVATE TIMBERLAND OWNERS Unit Average size
of holding
Number ofPrivate Timberland (acres)
Ownership Units
Eastern Upper Peninsula 63.1
In 1994, an estimated 353,135 private owner- Western Upper Peninsula 118.7
ship units held 12,039,400 acres oftimberland Northern Lower Peninsula 32.0
in Michigan. In their 1981 study. Carpenter Southern Lower Peninsula 16.6
and Hansen (1985) estimated that 384,700 State average 34.1
nonindustrial private owners held 8,798,400
acres oftimberland. The 1994 estimate has a In Michigan, there are a large number of
sampling error of 7.6 percent, or + 28,251. small-tract private timberland owners, and
This means that ifthe study were repeated, two correspondingly, a relatively small number of
out ofthree times the resulting estimate ofthe large-tract owners (table 2, fig. 2). Nearly half
number ofowners would be between 324,884 (46 percent) ofthe owners hold less than 10
and 381,386. The 1981 estimate has a sam- acres oftimberland, accounting for 6 percent
pling error of± 7 percent (± 26,929), meaning ofthe private timberland acreage. While,
that ifthe study were repeated, two out ofthree small-tract owners predominate, a significant
times the resulting estimate would be between proportion ofprivate timberland is controlled
357,771 and 41 1,629. Because the sampling by owners oflarge holdings. To illustrate, on
error ranges ofboth estimates overlap, the two average, each owner holds 34 acres; however,
estimates are considered to be statistically ifowners holding fewer than 10 acres are
valid estimates ofthe population ofprivate excluded, the average size ofholding rises to
—
timberland owners in Michigan. 59 acres. Furthermore, a few owners less
—
than 1 percent hold about one-fifth ofall
The most recent estimates include industrial private timberland in Michigan. Those own-
timberland owners. However that estimate ers, mostly forest industries, each hold timber-
may be lower than Carpenter and Hansen land totaling more than 5,000 acres.
(1985) because, ifone study, by chance,
sampled a smaller proportion ofownerships in Notwithstanding the spatial variability in size
the smallest size class, it is conceivable that ofholding, nearly halfofall private timberland
the number ofthe smallest ownerships would is held by owners who have fewer than 100
be underestimated. Indeed this may well have
been the case. The average estimated size of
ownerships in the 1- to 9-acre size class in the
1994 studywas 4.2 acres (table 2), but in 1981
itwas 3.2 acres (Carpenter and Hansen 1985).
In two similar studies using the same estima-
tion technique in Southern New England
(Kingsley 1976) and in New Hampshire (Birch
1989), the average size in the 1- to 9-acre class
was 3.5 and 3.2 acres, respectively. We have
concluded that although Carpenter and
Hansen's (1985) estimate and our estimate are
not statistically different, our sample appears
to have underestimated the 1- to 9-acre class.
Size ofPrivate Timberland Holdings
The average size oftimberland holdingvaries
substantially throughout Michigan. Generally,
50-99 100- 200-
the larger holdings are found in the Upper 199 499
Peninsula and the smaller ones are found in Sizeof holding
the Lower Peninsula, especially in the Southern (acres)
LP Unit as shown in the next column:
Figure 2. Distribution ofprivate owners by
size ofholding, Michigan, 1994.
3
—
acres. It is this halfof the timberland resource Land tenure patterns among owners who
where concern about fragmentation and rapid acquired timberland before 1980 suggest that
turnover is concentrated, but fragmentation timberland fragmentation or parcelization is
may not be a major problem. For example, the not a pervasive problem in Michigan. As
distribution statewide by size class ofowner- shown in the previous column, many owners
ship changed only slightly between surveys as who acquired timberland before 1980 have
shown below: simply held their land in tact, but some occa-
sionally increased or decreased their holdings.
Size of ownership Year of survey
1981 1994 Number ofTracts Owned
(acres) (percent of owners)
Most owners hold timberland in a single
1-9 54 46 contiguous tract. However, single tract owners
10-49 36 41 hold less than half(46 percent) ofthe State's
50-99 6 8 private timberland acreage (table 3, fig. 3).
100+ 4 5 Sixteen percent ofthe owners hold timberland
Total 100 100 acreage in two tracts, accounting for 16 per-
cent ofthe private timberland. Only 8 percent
Also, the proportion ofprivate owners with ofthe owners hold timberland in three or more
fewer than 100 acres oftimberland each did tracts, but they own 38 percent ofthe State's
not change very much. However, a notable private timberland acreage.
exception was the decrease in the 1- to 9-acre
class from 54 to 46 percent ofthe private
timberland owners. In 1981, owners with
timberland in the 1- to 9-acre class controlled
663 thousand acres, and in 1994 they held
669 thousand acres. With proportionally fewer
owners holding about the same amount of
land, the average size ofholding increased.
Carpenter and Hansen (1985) reported that
owners holding fewer than 100 acres in 1981
owned an average of 14.2 acres. In 1994, the
average size ofholdings for owners offewer
than 100 acres was 17.6 acres.
Tenure Patterns Among Timberland Owners
Timberland, like other commodities or assets,
may change owners. However, owners of
timberland in Michigan are generally long-
term owners; an estimated 61 percent ofthem 1 2 3 or more
acquired timberland before 1980 as shown in Numberoftractsowned
the tabulation below:
Figure 3. Distribution ofprivate ownership
Land tenure pattern Percent of Percent of units by numberoftracts owned, Michigan,
"
and activity owners acres 1994.
Acquired after 1980 33 25
Acquired before 1980 61 64 The percentage ofowners holding one tract of
Increased holding 16 19 timberland is fairly evenly distributed across
Decreased holding 11 17 units at around 75 percent. However, in terms
Both increased & ofacreage oftimberland held in multiple
decreased holding 5 11 tracts, the units differ considerably. In the
No change in holding 68 53 two Upper Peninsula units, more than two-
No answer 6 11 thirds of the timberland acreage is held by
Total 100 100 100 100 multiple tract owners. In contrast, in the
Northern LP Unit, slightly less than half the
4