Tatyana B. Ruseva

Variations in the social networks of forest owners: The effect of management activity, resource professionals, and ownership size

Social networks play an important role in the communication of information among forest owners and how owners process that information in making land management decisions. This article examines variations in the social network characteristics of family forest owners using survey data and interviews with 42 owners in south-central Indiana. We examine how network structure and content vary by harvesting activity, information sources, ownership attributes, sociodemographic characteristics, and location. Quantitative measures of network size and diversity, along with a qualitative understanding of network content and function are discussed and compared for active and passive forest managers. We find that active managers (people who had a recent timber harvest) had at least twice as many social ties related to forest management compared to passive managers, particularly after accounting for parcel ownership size, forest area, and total landholding size. Learning and service were the main functions of these networks, with learning being the most frequently cited reason for talking to others regardless of the management profile of forest owners. The study contributes to a growing interest in mixed-methods approaches to network studies and research on social networks in private forestry.

Mapping Cropland in Smallholder-Dominated Savannas: Integrating Remote Sensing Techniques and Probabilistic Modeling

Traditional smallholder farming systems dominate the savanna range countries of sub-Saharan Africa and provide the foundation for the region’s food security. Despite continued expansion of smallholder farming into the surrounding savanna landscapes, food insecurity in the region persists. Central to the monitoring of food security in these countries, and to understanding the processes behind it, are reliable, high-quality datasets of cultivated land. Remote sensing has been frequently used for this purpose but distinguishing crops under certain stages of growth from savanna woodlands has remained a major challenge. Yet, crop production in dryland ecosystems is most vulnerable to seasonal climate variability, amplifying the need for high quality products showing the distribution and extent of cropland. The key objective in this analysis is the development of a classification protocol for African savanna landscapes, emphasizing the delineation of cropland. We integrate remote sensing techniques with probabilistic modeling into an innovative workflow. We present summary results for this methodology applied to a land cover classification of Zambia’s Southern Province. Five primary land cover categories are classified for the study area, producing an overall map accuracy of 88.18%. Omission error within the cropland class is 12.11% and commission error 9.76%.

Public-Private Interactions in the Conservation of Private Forests in the United States

This chapter discusses the investment decisions of private and public actors in the USA regarding the management and conservation of private forests. Managed by nearly 11 million private owners, these forestlands provide valuable ecological, economic, and social benefits to society. What happens on these lands as a result of public and private investment decisions has implications for society, both in the present and in the future. First, this chapter reviews the interactions between private and public actors in private forestry. A typology is proposed that characterizes public and private investments in forestlands based on their target audiences (e.g., a private investment decision for largely public benefit). This chapter next explores the different ownership features and uses of forests over time and space. The discussion centers on the challenges and opportunities of governing private forests as a bundle of property rights within the proposed typology of public-private interactions in private forestry.

Additionality and permanence standards in California's Forest Offset Protocol: A review of project and program level implications

A key component of Californias cap-and-trade program is the use of carbon offsets as compliance instruments for reducing statewide GHG emissions. Under this program, offsets are tradable credits representing real, verifiable, quantifiable, enforceable, permanent, and additional reductions or removals of GHG emissions. This paper focuses on the permanence and additionality standards for offset credits as defined and operationalized in Californias Compliance Offset Protocol for U.S. Forest Projects. Drawing on a review of the protocol, interviews, current offset projects, and existing literature, we discuss how additionality and permanence standards relate to project participation and overall program effectiveness. Specifically, we provide an overview of offset credits as compliance instruments in Californias cap-and-trade program, the timeline for a forest offset project, and the factors shaping participation in offset projects. We then discuss the implications of permanence and additionality at both the project and program levels. Largely consistent with previous work, we find that stringent standards for permanent and additional project activities can present barriers to participation, but also, that there may be a trade-off between project quality and quantity (i.e. levels of participation) when considering overall program effectiveness. We summarize what this implies for Californias forest offset program and provide suggestions for improvements in light of potential program diffusion and policy learning.

Humans as agents of change in forest landscapes

Forest systems play a crucial role in biogeochemical cycling and provide a variety of ecosystem services at multiple scales. Considerable progress has been made in understanding the dynamics of tropical and temperate deforestation and land-use and cover change. However, less attention has been dedicated to understanding the social and biophysical conditions under which reforestation occurs. Recent research documents the experiences of many countries that have undergone transitions from a period of high deforestation to a period of declining deforestation or even net reforestation. However, these transitions take place across a range of temporal and spatial scales. Here, we review global forest-cover trends and social processes affecting forest cover and then focus on a comparison of reforestation in the states of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Indiana, United States. Both states have undergone extensive deforestation but now show forest restoration alongside continuing deforestation. Our focus on forest change at the state level permits a detailed examination of deforestation and reforestation dynamics and of the diverse social factors that underlie these changes. Among these factors, human values and attitudes appear most important.

Adherence to Accounting Principles

With considerable reliance on somewhat qualitative judgments, estimates, models, and assumed factors, the quality of a forest carbon accounting system can be reviewed by examining the extent to which the processes, procedures, and methods prescribed by the offset protocol adhere to its underlying accounting principles. We can examine the extent to which increased adherence to one principle results in a tradeoff of diminished adherence to another principle, and consider how the implementation of these underlying principles impacts achievement of the offset protocol’s stated objective.

Overview of the Compliance Offset Protocol for U.S. Forest Projects

The Forest Offset Protocol lays out the requirements and methods for quantifying the net GHG emission and removals resulting from voluntary project activities undertaken on forested land. The ARB’s compliance offset protocol was built off of the Climate Action Reserve’s Forest Project Protocol Version 3.2 (CAR 2010). The Forest Offset Protocol covers three types of project activities, the carbon pools included in each project type, and requirements for project eligibility, monitoring, and commitments.

Some Strategic Alternatives to Program Design, Management, and Implementation

In the forest offset program, sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere has quite a number of factors that are uncertain or pose a risk. The uncertainty among the different factors can vary by region or by project. The uncertainty can also be reduced using a variety of strategies. The risks may be different under a variety of circumstances and may be reduced by one of several actions.

Flow of Calculations for Quantifying Net GHG Reductions and Removals

Calculation of offset credits requires a chain of measurements, estimates, and modeling exercises. It requires measuring what did happen, estimating what likely happened, and modeling what might have happened. It requires dealing with uncertainty and risk. It differs importantly from conventional inventory processes in that it deals with some things that can be counted and some that cannot. And the California offset program deals with these calculations in a conservative way so that errors are on the side that credits are unlikely to be given for offsets not produced but there are likely to be offsets created for which credit is not given. This section describes the core details of what goes into the calculation process and indicates some of the ancillary data that are required. It does not discuss the physical measurements required to document the amount of carbon actually stored on site in the forest ecosystem as these have been widely discussed and the California requirements are consistent with popularly accepted procedures.

Role of Forest Service Data and Methodologies

Calculating forest offset credits under the California Forest Offset Protocol is heavily dependent on data from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and on methodologies developed by the USFS. The USFS data include both archived data and continuing data compilations. They include both published and unpublished data. The driving data source for calculating forest offset credits is, in fact, the U.S. Forest Service. The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program (USDA Forest Service 2016) within the Forest Service, employs a multi-phase inventory of U.S. forest attributes, with each phase contributing to the subsequent phase. To quote from the FIA web site: “The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the U.S. Forest Service provides the information needed to assess America’s forests. As the Nation’s continuous forest census, our program projects how forests are likely to appear 10 to 50 years from now. This enables us to evaluate whether current forest management practices are sustainable in the long run and to assess whether current policies will allow the next generation to enjoy America’s forests as we do today. FIA reports on status and trends in forest area and location; in the species, size, and health of trees; in total tree growth, mortality, and removals by harvest; in wood production and utilization rates by various products; and in forest land ownership.” USFS historic and continuing data and methods compilations are integral to the calculations in the ARB offset protocol and many are directly linked from the California Air Resources Board web site (California ARB 2015a).