Exploring Links Between Education, Forest Management Intentions, and Economic Outcomes in Light of Gender Differences in the United States
Publisher: Forest Policy and Economics
Author(s): Anne Mooka and Puneet Dwivedi
Date: 2022
Topics: Gender, Governance, Renewable Resources
Countries: United States
Forests cover 34% of the land in the United States, and nearly 40% of these forests are owned by family forest landowners. While forests were traditionally owned and managed by men, a quarter of forest landowners in the United States were women in 2018. Yet, the effects of educational attainment and gender differences in forestland management intentions and economic outcomes such as receiving regular income from timber harvest and hunting leases are largely overlooked in the existing forestry literature. Using data of 157 female and 791 male forest landowners in Georgia, a vital forestry state located in the Southern United States, we used multi-group structural equation models (SEM) to explore the links between education, forest management intentions, and economic outcomes.