New forest owners and owners-to-be: apples and oranges?

This literature review focuses on two groups of landowners in the US
and Finland: those current family owners who have recently become forest owners, with a relatively short duration of ownership, and private individuals who can be expected to become forest owners in the future are compared. The former group is called ‘‘new owners,’’ and the latter ‘‘future owners,’’ respectively. This study aims to find what can be concluded about future owners from studies of new owners based on the assumption that new owners are interpreted to represent future owners in these studies. The data consists of eight studies conducted after the mid 90s. The literature analysis reveals that studies on current owners with short-term experience as forest owners might suggest some developments in ownership structure and service needs, and potentially confirm some forecast trends. Examples of these generation-bound findings, which can probably be generalized across future owners, are new owners’ higher level of education and higher likelihood of living in urban areas. Findings concerning certain behavioral patterns or structural features should be regarded cautiously. Former studies suggest that new owners are quite
active harvesters. New forest owners are younger, and younger owners seem to cut more than older owners. However, conclusions concerning future owners’ timber supply behavior are certainly different if they are based on the assumption of an age cohort effect as opposed to a life-cycle effect. Qualitative studies on future owners cannot reveal future owner and holding characteristics or behavioral patterns, but they can give insight on the often generation-bound values and objectives of forest ownership.