(Not) Counting Trees

This is the fifth in a series of posts on findings from a study of Managed Forest Law (MFL) participants. For other posts, click the tag, "MFL-stats." If you'd like to receive an e-mail when new posts are available, please contact me.

Over half of all those surveyed had harvested timber in the past. Those in the largest landholding size category* were more likely to have done so in the past (> 80%). For those who had harvested, nearly two-third of the harvests were MFL mandatory practices.

We then ask respondent to assess their harvest experiences on three dimensions: financial return, post-harvest conditions, and their control over the sale. For all three, respondents' satisfaction scores** were positive, but not overwhelmingly so. Satisfaction appears to increase slightly with landholding size category, but I have yet to test this statistically.

Moreover, satisfaction levels for the three dimensions spans the full range (i.e., “extremely dissatisfied” to “extremely satisfied”). Analyzing respondents' experiences might yield some additional insights.

*The study design relies on a sampling from three ownership size categories within the MFL: small (10-80 ac), medium (81-160 ac), and large (161-640 ac).
**Satisfaction was measured on a 7-point scale (-3 = "Extremely dissatisfied", -2 = "Very dissatisfied", -1 = "Somewhat dissatisfied", 0 = "Neither", 1 = "Somewhat satisfied", 2 = "Very satisfied", and 3 = "Extremely satisfied").