Helping landowners learn from their peers about harvest options

How do management decisions affect the economics of harvest outcomes? And what economic outcomes have impacts on harvest management?

Northwest Natural Resource Group (NNRG) and Oregon State University (OSU) have collaborated on a research project to understand the range of outcomes local forest owners have achieved from timber harvests. The purpose of this study is to help landowners learn from the experiences of peers with similar forests and similar management goals for their land. 

Many thanks to the 80+ dedicated landowners who participated in the study!

Published Results

Our study was published in November 2024 in Small-Scale Forestry. You can find more information and access the full published study below.

Abstract

Understanding the financial implications of forest harvest practices aimed at increasing the structural and tree species diversity in homogenous stands is crucial for many landowners when making management decisions. We surveyed landowners interested in managing for a variety of ecosystem services and documented over 80 harvest operations. These showed the wide range of settings, including pre-treatment stands conditions, under which restoration treatments can be profitable. In the documented operations, the profitability of the harvest depended mainly on a suite of factors associated with the initial stand conditions, and environmental and financial settings. Treatments in stands that were previously managed for timber production had higher profitability due to removal of higher value trees. Applying such treatments in stands that already had a diversity of tree species and sizes provided less income. Other factors, such as slope and the amount of removal, were also influential. Four case studies provide examples showing how landowners adjusted their treatments and took advantage of beneficial settings and conditions to make treatments aimed at diversifying forests profitable. This, combined with an understanding that leaving high value trees in the stand is an investment, made it feasible for landowners to achieve ecological goals within their management constraints.

Citation: Puettmann, K.J., Braybrook, R., Zuckerman, S. et al. Financial Outcomes of Harvests Aimed at Diversifying Forests in Western Oregon and Washington. Small-scale Forestry (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-024-09582-2

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Preliminary results

The project researchers presented preliminary results from the study at the virtual Community Forest Forum in October 2020. Check out the event recording to get a sneak peek into the research findings!

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Contact the researchers

If you have any questions about this study, you can contact the researchers:

• Klaus Puettmann at klaus.puettmann@oregonstate.edu 
• Rowan Braybrook at rowan@nnrg.org 

Klaus Puettmann is a Professor in Silviculture Alternatives with the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. Rowan Braybrook is the Director of Programs at Northwest Natural Resource Group.

This project is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), under grant award 2017-68006-26394, Enabling Data-Driven Decision Making for Small Forest Producers.

This research was conducted by Northwest Natural Resource Group and Oregon State University.

     

FUNDING FOR THIS PROJECT IS PROVIDED BY

Agriculture and Food Research Initiative

Photos by Matt Freeman-Gleason