The length and determinants of forestland ownerships in Mississippi from 1999 to 2019

• Published in: Forest policy and economics Vol. 129; p. 102517
• Main Authors: Kuluppuarachchi, Mahesha K., Sun, Changyou, Gordon, Jason S., Grebner, Donald L., Munn, Ian A., Yang, Jia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.08.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Absentee landowners; Cox hazard model; Duration analysis; Forestry; Forests; Land ownership; Ownership; Ownership duration; Social factors; Socioeconomic factors; Time-dependent covariates; United States > US; Mississippi; Ownership duration; Absentee landowners; Duration analysis; Cox hazard model; Time-dependent covariates
• ISSN: 1389-9341; 1872-7050
• DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2021.102517

More than half of the United States' forestland is owned by millions of private forest landowners with small parcels. The length of forestland ownerships and its determinants are examined using duration analysis on a sample of parcels in Mississippi from 1999 to 2019. Overall, forestland ownership duration is short. About 46% of all the sampled parcels were sold at least once over the 21 years, and on average, the ownership duration of these sold parcels is only 5.4 years. The median survival time of new ownership in this sample is 12.2 years only. The forested acreage of a parcel, the residence location of an owner, and several socioeconomic variables have influenced land ownership duration. •Duration analysis is used to examine the length of forestland ownerships and its determinants.•Forestland ownership duration is short, with an average length of 5.4 years.•Two-thirds of the landowners lived within 92 km from the forestland.•The forested acreage of a parcel and the residence location of an owner affected ownership duration.