The cooperation of private forest owners on scales larger than one individual property: international examples and potential application in the United States

A relatively small number of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners in the United States has recently expressed interest in cooperating with one another at scales broader than their individual properties. There are many good reasons to do so, which would enhance their individual ownership benefits, as well as the suite of greater public benefits that accrue from a privately owned forest landscape. An Internet and literature review of private forest owner cooperation in temperate nations with developed economies resulted in a broad array of evidence of longstanding and successful activities from 19 countries. Forms of cooperation and resulting activities vary, ranging from low levels of commitment for purposes of information/education, to more structured participation for financial and marketing purposes. Likewise, the origins of cooperation differ from country to country, though common elements emerge (e.g. the role of government, reaction to a stimulus or threat). This review and analysis of private forest owner cooperation provides examples of tactics and successful results that contribute towards the development of potential cooperation of private forest owners in places where such activity is contemplated.