Small-scale and Amenity Focused Forestry: Filling a Market Niche

Urbanization, changing forest landowner values, and restructuring forest industry are creating challenges for the active management of small parcels of forestland. Many traditional service providers are reluctant to service small acreage parcels due to economies of scale, shrinking profit margins fo...

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Main Author: Nelson, Katie
Other Authors: Forestry
Format: Others
Published: Virginia Tech 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10919/33803
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-06282009-164252/
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spelling ndltd-VTETD-oai-vtechworks.lib.vt.edu-10919-338032020-09-26T05:36:54Z Small-scale and Amenity Focused Forestry: Filling a Market Niche Nelson, Katie Forestry Hull, Robert Bruce IV Stern, Marc J. Munsell, John F. small-scale forestry service providers amenity values diversification payment structure cooperation green infrastructure forest fragmentation market-based solutions Urbanization, changing forest landowner values, and restructuring forest industry are creating challenges for the active management of small parcels of forestland. Many traditional service providers are reluctant to service small acreage parcels due to economies of scale, shrinking profit margins for unprocessed stumpage, and changing landowner expectations. They do not understand traditional forestry operations and do not know where to look for service providers. A gap in our nationâ s forest system has emerged. A new market opportunity exists for service providers willing to work with small-scale forest landowners. In this study, over sixty forest service providers working with small acreage or amenity oriented clients were interviewed to determine how their business is structured, how they charge for the services they provide, what reactions they get from their clients, and how successful they perceive themselves to be. Informants came from a wide variety of professional backgrounds, including forestry, logging, arboriculture, landscaping, and woodworking. In addition, about 20 public-forest professionals were interviewed to determine how they and their programs are changing in response to emerging conditions. Successful service providers generally charge by some measure of time and materials rather than by commission. They exhibit a willingness to diversify their business to offer a bundle of services, and to cooperate with professionals in related industries. Value-added processing and creative marketing assist service providers in achieving a profit from small-scale tracts with traditionally low-value products. Lessons learned from these early adopters will assist other service providers interested in working with small acreage private landowners. Master of Science 2014-03-14T20:40:46Z 2014-03-14T20:40:46Z 2009-06-15 2009-06-28 2009-08-05 2009-08-05 Thesis etd-06282009-164252 http://hdl.handle.net/10919/33803 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-06282009-164252/ KNelsonThesisCorrected.pdf In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ application/pdf Virginia Tech
collection NDLTD
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic small-scale forestry service providers
amenity values
diversification
payment structure
cooperation
green infrastructure
forest fragmentation
market-based solutions
spellingShingle small-scale forestry service providers
amenity values
diversification
payment structure
cooperation
green infrastructure
forest fragmentation
market-based solutions
Nelson, Katie
Small-scale and Amenity Focused Forestry: Filling a Market Niche
description Urbanization, changing forest landowner values, and restructuring forest industry are creating challenges for the active management of small parcels of forestland. Many traditional service providers are reluctant to service small acreage parcels due to economies of scale, shrinking profit margins for unprocessed stumpage, and changing landowner expectations. They do not understand traditional forestry operations and do not know where to look for service providers. A gap in our nationâ s forest system has emerged. A new market opportunity exists for service providers willing to work with small-scale forest landowners. In this study, over sixty forest service providers working with small acreage or amenity oriented clients were interviewed to determine how their business is structured, how they charge for the services they provide, what reactions they get from their clients, and how successful they perceive themselves to be. Informants came from a wide variety of professional backgrounds, including forestry, logging, arboriculture, landscaping, and woodworking. In addition, about 20 public-forest professionals were interviewed to determine how they and their programs are changing in response to emerging conditions. Successful service providers generally charge by some measure of time and materials rather than by commission. They exhibit a willingness to diversify their business to offer a bundle of services, and to cooperate with professionals in related industries. Value-added processing and creative marketing assist service providers in achieving a profit from small-scale tracts with traditionally low-value products. Lessons learned from these early adopters will assist other service providers interested in working with small acreage private landowners. === Master of Science
author2 Forestry
author_facet Forestry
Nelson, Katie
author Nelson, Katie
author_sort Nelson, Katie
title Small-scale and Amenity Focused Forestry: Filling a Market Niche
title_short Small-scale and Amenity Focused Forestry: Filling a Market Niche
title_full Small-scale and Amenity Focused Forestry: Filling a Market Niche
title_fullStr Small-scale and Amenity Focused Forestry: Filling a Market Niche
title_full_unstemmed Small-scale and Amenity Focused Forestry: Filling a Market Niche
title_sort small-scale and amenity focused forestry: filling a market niche
publisher Virginia Tech
publishDate 2014
url http://hdl.handle.net/10919/33803
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-06282009-164252/
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