National Woodland Owner Survey Update
By Brett Butler, National Woodland Owner Survey Coordinator - Data collection for the first five years of the NWOS has been completed! We are currently processing the data and hope to have preliminary results out for review within a few months. Following finalization of the results, a 5-year comprehensive report will be published that will include state-level results. In addition, we are working on a revised web site that will include a web-based tool for customized data retrievals.
The Next NWOS
The NWOS is implemented on an annual basis, but periodically we pause to assess our progress and plot our path forward. This enables us to comply with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements and to ensure we are delivering the best products to meet the needs of the users of these data. Since we are now wrapping up the first five years of the NWOS, now is an appropriate time to pause. The next iteration of the NWOS is planned for 2008, but it will be a double-intensification survey to ensure our sampling intensity stays on target. During the review process, we will assess all of the information collected by the NWOS and determine what questions should be kept, dropped, modified, or added. One goal of the next iteration will be to open up a significant percentage of the survey for state-level questions. Later this year, we will be contacting you and others to help us assess and improve the NWOS.
The Family Forest Research Center
In an effort to increase the utility of the National Woodland Owner Survey and to further research related to family forest owners, the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Forest Inventory and Analysis program has initiated the Family Forest Research Center (FFRC). It is collocated with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to allow for greater synergies between federal and non-federal agencies and organizations. Although the FFRC is collocated with UMass, the FFRC and NWOS are still federal projects serving national audiences. The major projects with which the FFRC has been involved with to date are the Sustaining Family Forests Initiative (http://sustainingfamilyforests.org/) and the Next Generation Owner study (http://www.pinchot.org). As the FFRC develops, we hope to foster and participate in more innovative projects such as these.
If you have any questions about the National Woodland Owner Survey or the Family Forest Research Center, please contact Brett at: bbutler01@fs.fed.us or (413) 545-1387.
