AgEBB-MU CAFNR Extension
Green Horizons
Volume 20, Number 2
May 2016
Forest Management
By the Numbers: The National Woodland Owner
Survery in Missouri, Part II
By STEVE WESTIN | Missouri Department of Conservation
This article continues our look at the Missouri results from the National Woodland Owner Survey of 2013. The first of this series of articles was published in the Fall 2015 issue of Green Horizons and primarily covered how many owners of forested land Missouri has, and the size of their woodlands. In this article we will explore more about why Missouri's woodland owners own their land, the recent management activities they have carried out, and what they plan to do in the next five years.
Before we delve further into the Survey results, a quick word about why we place so much emphasis on privately owned woodlands. Though individuals are often surrounded by privately owned woods, many think that Missouri's forests are mostly owned by some government agency such as the U.S. Forest Service (Mark Twain National Forest), or the Missouri Department of Conservation (Conservation Areas across the state) because they have big signs and are open for public use. In fact, 83% of Missouri's wooded lands are in private ownership and most of that land is owned by individuals and families.
These private woodlands provide benefits for all Missourians, including: protecting and enhancing soil resources, and filtering and regulating the flow of water running into our streams and rivers which provide habitat for aquatic life of all kinds, as well as drinking water for many people. They also clean the air we breathe, provide wildlife habitat, and finally serve as a source of raw materials, furnishing our forest products industry with the wood to create all the things our society uses on a daily basis that are made
of wood. In short, private forests provide public benefits!