2016 Volume 62 Issue 1 Pages 84-95
Previous studies on family forest owners in Japan focused on forest resources, labor force, means of livelihood, and forestry practice. However, information had been scarcely investigated. We focused on information about forestation subsidy which is essential to forestry and that about the Collective Forest Management Plan (CFMP) which is required for the subsidy. This study analyzes to what extent family forest owners have the information, how the information is transmitted, and what effect the information gives on their harvesting behavior. The results are as follows. Forest extension officers transmitted the information mainly through forest owners' associations. The associations disseminated the information by means of brochures and at their meetings. A questionnaire survey among the members of the associations also showed that the associations are the most significant transmitters. A strategy of associations to develop the CFMPs was to extend a harvesting contract area to adjacent areas. Causal-linkage models suggested that transmitting the information of the CFMP could enhance thinning activities with sales. The results also suggested that the owners who had an adviser or held a reasonable reservation price tended to take these activities, and that clear cutting and thinning with sales had correlation, implying that consultation is effective.
