ORIGINAL PAPER Claudia Bieling Non-industrial private-forest owners: possibilities for increasing adoption of close-to-nature forest management Received: 30 June 2003 / Accepted: 29 October 2003 / Published online: 24 December 2004 Ó Springer-Verlag 2004 Abstract The concept of close-to-nature management combines an economic use of forests with nature con- servation. Today, this compromise between central interests in forest management is seen as an appropriate model for the majority of the forestland in Germany. In attempting to implement the concept nationwide, the category of privately owned forests, which make up 46% of Germany’s forested area, has received increasing political attention. The adoption of close-to-nature forestry practices within private forests is difficult to de- scribe due to exceedingly diverse owner-specific factors. Applying a socio-psychological behavioural model that combines the theory of planned behaviour, the cultural theory and the modernisation theory, this article presents an analysis of how non-industrial private-forest (NIPF) owners in the Black Forest region of Germany assess and implement close-to-nature forestry practices. The study is based on a written survey of approximately 900 ran- domly selected owners of forestlands ranging in size from 0.1–200 ha. The main factors identified that affect the adoption of close-to-nature forestry practices include perceptions of forest conditions and of opportunities to influence these conditions as well as the influences of social surroundings on the forest owners. Owners were classified into three types based on multiple characteristic features: economically interested, conceptually inter- ested, and uninterested forest owners. Based on these results, opportunities to encourage NIPF owners to use close-to-nature forestry practices were explored. Keywords Theory of planned behaviour Æ Cultural theory Æ Modernisation Æ Cluster analysis Æ Typology Introduction Attempts at forest conversion are part of the general paradigm shift in forest policy that has been evident in Germany since the beginning of the 1990s (Volz 1991; Mosandl 1993). One of the central tenets of this new forest policy is so-called close-to-nature or ecologically sound forestry, which is based on the combination of nature conservation and the economic use of forests (see Schmidt 1997; SRU 2000). The concept includes active forest management with timber harvest and thus should not be mistaken for approaches explicitly intending to preserve natural processes, e.g. in wilder- ness areas. Close-to-nature management tries to in- crease the stability, species and structural diversity and health of forests while maintaining timber production. Typical practices include the promotion of natural regeneration, thinning from above and partial or non- removal of dead wood. Through its combination of nature conservation and economic interests, this new approach is seen as an appropriate model for the majority of forested areas. As 46% of Germany’s for- ests are held by private owners (Ko¨pf 2002, p 187), this ownership category has become the centre of attention for policy makers. The prerequisites for the overall advancement of close-to-nature forest management are especially heterogeneous for private-forest owners. More than forests under any other ownership type, private forests are influenced by a multitude of factors (e.g. the importance of economic success to the owner or his/her orientation toward family norms) that are different for each individual person. The implementa- tion of forest management concepts depends on the extent to which the concepts fit into these general owner-specific conditions. These general conditions have been described in more detail for one type of forest owner in Germany: farmer owners of relatively large forests, who typically have economic objectives, have been relatively thoroughly re- searched in the study region of Baden-Wu¨rttemberg C. Bieling Institute for Forest and Environmental Policy, Albert-Ludwigs-Universita¨t, Tennenbacher Str. 4, 79106 Freiburg, Germany E-mail: claudia.bieling@ifp.uni-freiburg.de Tel.: +49-761-2033713 Fax: +49-761-2033705 Eur J Forest Res (2004) 123: 293–303 DOI 10.1007/s10342-004-0042-6