Ruminations on Economic Decision Modeling of Managing Forest Resources with a Focus on Family Forest Landowners

The classic wealth maximization modeling of forest landowners may not be useful when examining the behavior of family forest landowners in particular. My challenge to the forestry community is to think more broadly with respect to the economic modeling of management decisions by these landowners. I would propose that forest structure (e.g., trees per unit area versus diameter class/distribution) versus time, as opposed to volume versus time, is a superior and practical approach to model forest dynamics given these landowners' well-published preferences. I would also propose that a cost-minimization/least-cost model is also more consistent with their well-published preferences. These proposals, however, are not without their advantages and disadvantages that are examined briefly. Nonetheless, my conclusions are that scholarship based on a least-cost approach could provide insights that the classical wealth maximization modeling may not, given landownership trends.