Assessment of non-industrial private forest landowner willingness to harvest woody biomass in support of bioenergy production in Mississippi

Harvesting woody biomass for biofuel has become an important research topic. In Mississippi, feasibility of utilizing woody biomass for bioenergy lies in the willingness to harvest by non-industrial private forest (NIPF) landowners, who control 71% of forestlands. A mail survey of Mississippi NIPF landowners elicited preferences concerning utilizing logging residues for bioenergy. When presented with hypothetical situations that compared bioenergy utilization attributes along with those of standard harvesting practices, more landowners preferred the bioenergy scenarios, even when more money was offered for standard harvesting. Older landowners with larger landholdings were less likely to prefer bioenergy scenarios. Higher educated landowners who were financially motivated, concerned with climate change, and considered habitat management an important goal were more likely to prefer bioenergy scenarios over standard harvesting. Available markets for logging residues could increase NIPF harvest rates based solely on the different harvesting attributes, which should increase availability of feedstocks for producers