Barbara Harrison, Research Associate, The University of Georgia
David H. Newman, Associate Professor, The University of Georgia
Ginger Macheski, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice, Valdosta State University

Warnell School of Forest Resources, The University of Georgia, Athens, 1 Oct. 1997.

Introduction

Continued economic growth and the resulting encroachment on previously undeveloped land and forests has caused increasing public concerns. These include issues of sustainability, wildlife protection, wetlands conservation, and others. In many areas, this has led to concerns that increasing levels of regulation may be coming for forest landowners. The purpose of our study was to determine what the Georgia public wants and what it knows about its forests through a series of attitudinal and knowledge questions. It is hoped this information will identify emerging public concerns and allow the forest sector to better address the most contentious or misunderstood issues concerning forest management and use.

There have been a number of environmental polls, on everything from oil exploration to scenic interpretations, but relatively few on forest resource issues in the Southeast, and Georgia in particular. Considering Georgia's changing demographics and its leading role in the timber and wood products industry, it represents a good opportunity to study public opinion and knowledge regarding forest issues.

Several factors have led to Georgia's current position as a leading timber producer, including the industry's shift from the Pacific Northwest to the South, its conducive regulatory and labor situation, and the conversion of millions of acres of farmland to forest which began in the 1930s. These changes raised development and growth rates and led to the establishment of the infrastructure necessary to support an expanding timber products industry.

While this growth in the forest sector has occurred, the result has been a widening gap between rural and urban populations. As a result, Georgia's demographic structure has shifted to represent a more concentrated urban population with a smaller, diffuse rural population. It is a diverse population that appears to be increasingly concerned about the environment.

Part of the campaign to ensure the viability of the forests and the industries that depend on them was found in the 1989 proposal of the Conservation Use Amendment, or as it was known, Amendment 3. Amendment 3 was created and promoted by a coalition of forestry and conservation concerns who worked cooperatively to redesign the law to tax timber only at the time of harvest and provide property tax incentives for forest land protection. The passage and continued support of Amendment 3 gave an indication of Georgians' positive attitudes regarding forests and forest owners.

Methodology

A random sample of Georgia residents, 18 years of age or older, was taken for a telephone survey. The surveys took approximately 15 minutes to complete and were administered from April 10 to May 16, 1996, between 5:30 and 9:30 p.m. on the first four working days of each week. To ensure that the survey was administered to a representative sample of the Georgia population, phone numbers and replicates were obtained from Survey Sampling, Inc. The interviewers employed the Standardized Survey Interviewing style of questioning in order to ameliorate the introduction of interviewer bias. Out of 1192 calls, 861 completed surveys were recorded. Seventeen surveys lacked complete data, leaving 844 for the final analysis or a 71% response rate.

The issues covered by the questionnaire included various silvicultural practices, perceptions of private and public forest management, the proper balance between the environment and the economy, and the role of government regulations in forest management. The responses were analyzed according to various demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, education level, race, residence, and forest land ownership.

The survey was based on two earlier surveys, one by Bliss et al. (1997) in conjunction with Auburn University, and one administered by the Georgia Forestry Association in 1989. Final changes, question design, and coding were implemented by Valdosta State and University of Georgia personnel.

The completed surveys were coded and then entered into a computerized database management system. Response frequencies and population percentages were derived from the database and form the summary statistics tables used in our analysis. Valid percentages were created by excluding the Don't Know/Refused/Not Applicable responses, which we defined as non-responses. Only valid percentages were used in the statistical analysis, except in situations where the number of non-responses was unusually large.

Results

A summary of the survey demographics is found in Table 1. The majority (62%) of respondents were female. Respondent ages were distributed in a rather uniform fashion with 24% less than 30 years old, 48% between 30 and 50 years old, and the remaining 28% over 50 years old. A total of 87% of the sample had graduated from high school, and 30% had completed college or continued further. The survey was heavily represented by Caucasians, who accounted for 70% of the sample

Table 1. Survey Demographics

Respondents					Characteristics

		n	%	valid n	valid %
Age
Under 30		199	23.6	199	23.6
30 - 50		400	47.4	400	48
Over 50		235	27.8	235	28.2
DK/RF/NA(1)		10	1.2	0	0.0
		844	100.0	834	100.0
Gender
Male		311	36.9	311	37.8
Female		512	60.7	512	62.2
DK/RF/NA(1)		21	2.5	0	0.0
		844	100.1*	823	100.0
Education
Some H.S.		107	12.7	107	12.9
H.S. graduate		233	27.6	233	28.0
Some post-secondary		239	28.3	239	28.8
College graduate		252	29.9	252	30.3
DK/RF/NA(1)		13	1.5	0	0.0
		844	100.0	831	100.0
Race
White		569	67.4	569	69.6
African-American		213	25.2	213	26.0
Other		36	4.3	36	4.4
DK/RF/NA(1)		26	3.1	0	0.0
		844	100.1	818	100.0
Residence
Rural		372	44.1	372	45.1
Urban		450	53.3	450	54.5
Other		3	0.4	3	0.4
DK/RF/NA(1)		19	2.3	0	0.0
		844	100.1*	825	100.0
Forest Land Owner
Yes		130	15.4	130	15.6
No		704	83.4	704	84.4
DK/RF/NA(1)		10	1.2	0	0.0
		844	100.0	834	100.0

*Result of rounding error.

**Derived from survey questions 1, 2, 37, 38, 40, & 43.

1. DK/RF/NA includes Don't Know, Refused, or No Answer.

Discussion

Our results indicate that many conclusions of previous environmental surveys do not always apply to Georgia. This is perhaps due to Georgia's strong position in the forest products industry, or its changing demographic scheme. A surprisingly positive result, which contradicts the results of many other surveys, is that a majority of respondents do not express great concern regarding the treatment of forests in Georgia. Almost every survey and article dealing with the environment or natural resource issues reports a consistent, strong theme of environmental concern.

A possible explanation for this finding may rest with the wording of our survey question; it simply asks if respondents have 'any concerns about the way forests in Georgia are being treated'. Thus, the definition of the term 'concern' may be misconstrued. It can refer to a vested interest in forest issues, or apprehension about the management of the forests. Therefore, the response to the concern question may depend on the respondent's interpretation to the question. For our purposes, the apprehension definition was assumed to be the one chosen most often by the respondents, and it formed the basis for our analysis.

It is likely that as a forest products leader and the largest timber producing state in the Southeast, the public associates the forest industry's success with sound management practices. Support for this can be found in figure 5, where the majority of people feel forest landowners are doing a good job in several different areas of forest management, from replacing trees after harvest to protecting wildlife. The majority of the sample also supports the future development of a wide variety of forest industries, from the construction of lumber mills to the construction of chip mills. The fact that almost two-thirds of the state is forested could be another explanation for the lower than expected level of concern. The relatively large amount of forest cover, combined with a variety of public outreach programs may also contribute to a more positive image.

While a considerable majority of the sample is supportive of the forest products industries, approximately one-third of the respondents said that they did not have either a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of timber landowners and the forest products industry. These numbers may indicate that while a sizable majority are relatively satisfied with forest management in Georgia, many do not know who to attribute that success to - forest industry, private landowners, or government regulation. Another possible conclusion is that those who fall within the neutral category represent a group that could best benefit from future education efforts.

In contrast to high levels of support for current forest management practices and the rather pragmatic definition of trees as similar to an agricultural crop, there is also a high level of support for current and future government regulation of harvesting on private forest land. Over 47% of the sample feel there should be more regulations in Georgia. When questioned on what types of new regulations were needed, the responses focused on harvesting limits, regeneration guidelines, and enforcement issues. However, it is not clear as to how intense the public feels about the implementation of new regulations.

It may be worthwhile to clarify what regulations currently exist, how these are being adhered to, and by whom. There is substantial misconception regarding who owns the majority of forest land in Georgia. It may be possible that if the majority of people feel the land is being managed well, but do not realize that private non-industrial landowners are responsible for a good deal of that success, then that misconception may account for private landowner's relatively low approval rating. The respondents' perception of forest land ownership is the opposite of what it is in reality. Over 60% of the respondents could not give any answer to the question regarding percent of forest ownership and most of those who did respond had the ratio incorrect.

It is this apparent paradox that leads us to believe that the public is not confident in their understanding of forestry in Georgia. The uncertainty present in their responses regarding where to allow clearcutting when they are told the trees will grow back, the partitioning of forestland ownership, and their opinions of forest products companies and private timberland owners, all seem to suggest that there are a number areas where public education and information may be needed.

We hypothesized that rural residents and forest owners would regard forest management practices more favorably than urban residents and non-forest owners. In both cases our hypotheses have been shown to hold true. Forest owners and rural residents consistently exhibit more support of silvicultural practices and private property rights, and considerably less support for government regulation of forest practices. Presumably they are more aware of forest management practices because they are familiar with them through personal associations, forest industry location, employment opportunities, and a closer affinity with the land. This may also explain why they exhibit more concern about the forests. Their familiarity with the land allows them to see both the good and the bad forest practices. In addition, they are more likely to be affected by any new forest regulations.

Although Bliss et al. (1997) caution against the assumption that forest owners and non-forest owners are two distinct and different groups of people, we do see some indication of just such a result in our study. However, it should be noted that many of the deviations, though significant, do not represent major differences on all of the issues present in the survey. Often, the majority of both groups have the same response and it is the degree of support or non-support that differs significantly. This same relationship applies to all the significant differences we found.

Though the majority of respondents report a knowledge of clearcutting, the number of people who have never seen or heard of it seems fairly high (26%), and lends credence to our hypothesis that many Georgians possess incomplete knowledge of forest practices. We found that respondents who are female, over 50, and urban residents, are more likely to have never seen or heard of clearcutting.

It may be necessary to assess the forest products industry's methods of disseminating information, and the methods employed by environmental groups as well. By doing this, it could be possible to see how people pick and choose what they believe is accurate and relevant information used to frame their decisions. These same methods can then be used to clarify misconceptions or reach target audiences that display a lower level of comprehension regarding environmental and forest issues.

To summarize, our results show that the general public has a fairly positive image of people within and associated with the forest products industry. A majority also have a knowledge of and give support for more forest management practices than we had anticipated. Although this study points to some possible areas that should be addressed by those in the forest industry, it appears that those employed in the forestry sector have begun to realize that informing and involving the public is necessary not only for good public relations and improved community cooperation, but also for the long term maintenance of their ability to manage.

Literature Cited

Bliss, J., S. Nepal, R. Brooks, and M. Larsen. 1997. In the Mainstream: Environmental Attitudes of Mid-South Forest Owners. S.J.A.F. 21(1):27-43.