Bread Forests and New Fields: The Ecology of Reforestation and Forest Clearing among Small-Woodland Owners in Portugal

Abstract

Many American foresters suspect that owners of nonindustrial private forests manage their holdings in a less-than-professional manner! According to Thomas Birch, for example, "Small woodland tracts by and large remain outside the sphere of economic management'? Other forestersdescribe small-woodland owners as careful managers, pointing out that though such owners may have no contact with formal forestry programs, they often have important technical skills acquired through lifeexperience.In a study of black small-woodland owners in North Carolina, for example, Joyce HilliardClark and Clyde Chesney describe their subjects as thoughtful and rational. 3