[ Wisconsin ] In the next few weeks, researchers will contact an estimated 300 Wisconsin private non-industrial forestland owners in order to interview their offspring about the family forestlands as part of a landmark forestry study. The comprehensive 30-to-45-minute telephone interview will focus on the attitudes and values of those who will make decisions about the forested land they likely will inherit from their parents—or whether they will retain ownership of the land at all. “Within a relatively short period of time, there will be a major shift in Wisconsin and throughout the United States in the ownership of privately owned forest,” said Al Sample, president of the Pinchot Institute, one of the survey’s sponsors. “We are facing the largest intergenerational transfer of private forest lands in our history, most of which will take place within the next two decades. Previous studies have shown that the new owners of forest lands don’t necessarily share their parents’ values or the hands-on commitment to keeping this property undeveloped.”

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org