Northeastern Family Forest Owner Gender Differences in Land-Based Estate Planning and the Role of Self-Efficacy

Understanding family forest owner (FFO) estate planning decisionmaking is fundamental to ensuring the survival of landscapes that provide many public goods, but little is known about how land-based estate planning differs by gender. Analyses of a survey of FFOs in northeastern United States indicated that female FFOs rate themselves with lower levels of land-based estate planning self-efficacy—being less prepared, confident, and financially able to move forward with planning the future of their land than males. Of the FFOs who had positive levels of land-based estate planning self-efficacy, females were more likely to want to keep their land undeveloped than males. Our research suggests that increasing land-based estate planning self-efficacy of female FFOs may lead to higher rates of keeping land undeveloped for regions with FFOs similar to those of the northeast. We recommend ways in which foresters and programs could play an important role in increasing land-based estate planning self-efficacy.