Ulrich Schraml
Institute of Forest Policy, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Abstract:
Forest and wood enjoy a high prestige in urban societies, however, forestry in
general is held at a lower level of esteem. This hypothesis has been supported by several
national and regional surveys throughout Europe and is often presented as an obligatory
concomitant phenomenon of urbanisation processes.
Nevertheless, psychological studies indicate the importance of the social context for the
evolution of peoples’ preferences. Hence, personal communication with members of the
forestry community may also influence the expectations of individuals towards forest
management. Approximately 1.5 million people in Germany own forests, therefore, the
chance of knowing one or more forest owners is relatively high, even in urban areas. The
role of forest owners as propagators of forestry core beliefs may be important.
Within this context, the role of forest owners in interpersonal networks has been anal-
ysed in its importance in the evolution of preferences and expectations. The data was
taken from a nation-wide survey based on telephone interviews with 2800 people. Im-
portant questions that can be answered with this study are 1) How many people know a
forest owner? 2) What kind of relationship do they have with the forest owner? 3) Do
they talk about forest management and, if so, how often? 4) What do people learn about
forest owners’ practices? 5) Do people address expectations to forest owners? 6) Do the
networks influence the expectations people have towards forest management?
The results of this study are compared to results gained by network analyses in other
fields and studies of small scale forest owner research.
Key words:
opinion leaders, communication, multi-purpose forestry, Germany, urban-
rural linkages
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