WR landowners' defining characteristic is that they own their land primarily for its beauty and recreational value. They assign high importance to benefits such as beauty, biodiversity, privacy, hunting and recreation. In contrast, they assign lower importance to financial reasons for owning woodland, such as investment and timber income.

WR landowners are the largest segment of owners. They constitute 40% of all woodland owners and own 35% of the total land owned by family forest owners who have between 10 and 999 acres of land.

Demographic Information

• WR owners' education and income levels are not significantly different from those reported for family forest owners overall. One-third of WR landowners have a college degree, and about two in five (42%) did not attend college at all. Half report annual household incomes under $50,000.
• WR owners tend to be somewhat younger than the general landowner population but, as with the other groups, about half are retired. Also similar to other landowner segments, the vast majority of WR landowners are Caucasian men.

Plot Size and Ownership Characteristics

• WR owners have smaller parcels of land compared to other landowner segments; the average plot size is 43 acres (as compared to an average of 50 acres for family landowners overall and 74 acres in the case of Supplemental Income owners). Less than half (42%) own two or more parcels of woodland. This group of landowners is the most likely to have a home or a cabin on their woodland(s), but the least likely to say their landholding includes a farm (30%).
• The average time for which WR owners have owned their woodland is 21 years, which is slightly less than the other landowner segments. Nevertheless, only 7% of this group are new owners who acquired their woods less than five years ago. Compared to other groups, WR owners are more likely to have purchased their woodland (84%) and the least likely to have inherited it (23%).

Top Concerns

• WR owners see their woods as beautiful and special tracts of land that need to be preserved in the face of real and potential threats. Their top concerns, expressed by more than 50% of those surveyed, are: keeping the land intact for heirs; insects; fear of trespassers; and a concern for high property taxes.

Harvesting Behavior

• WR owners are the least likely of all segments to report harvesting trees on their land (52%) and only 25% have done so in the past five years. They are also the least likely to report harvesting for commercial purposes (34%). Less than one-third (29%) say they consulted with a professional to help plan and/or execute a harvest.
• Given their recreational focus and conservation ethic, it comes as little surprise that the desire to improve the quality of remaining trees (21%) and a desire to salvage damaged trees (also 21%) are the most frequently mentioned reasons for cutting trees. Other top reasons for harvesting include feeling that the trees were mature (20%) or for personal use (19%). WR owners are also more likely than other segments to say they harvested trees to improve recreation (5%).

Proactive Land Management Activities

• The majority of WR owners (90%) say they plan none or minimal activity in their woods for the next five years. Most commonly, WR owners say they plan to harvest firewood (31%), intend to keep their land intact for heirs (12%), or collect non-timber forest products (11%).
• WR owners are the least likely to have sold some of their land: Only 23% report having sold some land at least once. WR owners typically sell their land to family members or other individuals (rather than to corporate interests).
• Compared to other segments of owners, WR owners (along with Uninvolved owners) are the least likely to have a management plan for their land (6%). The same percentage (6%) of WR owners participate in cost-share programs and they are the least likely of all segments to do so. Their awareness of certification programs is also lower than among other segments (14%). Very small numbers of WR owners are enrolled in certification programs (1%) or have conservation easements (2%).

Information Seeking: Behaviors and Channels

• Only a minority (21%) of WR owners say they have received woodland management advice. Similar to other landowner segments, those WR owners who have received advice most frequently cite their state foresters and forestry departments, followed by other landowners, the NRCS, extension services, and loggers.
• As with other segments, WR owners seek information from a variety of channels, and no one channel is best for them or likely to reach them all. Close to half (46%) of WR owners say they would like to receive woodland information through print materials like publications, books, or pamphlets, and a similar number (42%) say that talking with a forester or other natural resource professional would be useful. Newsletters, magazines, or newspapers (38%); videos (27%); and the Internet (26%) were also mentioned frequently. WR owners are more likely than other segments to mention the Internet as a preferred source. They also mention print publications, newsletters, videos and foresters more frequently than do other segments.

Learn about how to communicate with WR Owners »

Note: This description is based on data from the National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS, www.fia.fs.fed.us/nwos) and a series of focus groups conducted with woodland owners in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.