Reservation Prices and Willingness to Accept Price Offers for Nonindustrial Forest Landowners in Western Virginia

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whatmotivates nonindustrial private forest landownersto accept bids of various levels for harvesting.Through the use of a survey we specificallyconsider what preferences and landownercharacteristics effect these decisions.Landowners were randomly selected from countiesin Southwest Virginia. The participants werepresented a payment table in which they were askedto indicate the level of certainty with which theywould accept bids of various levels for theirtimber. The information obtained for the surveywas used in a LOGIT model to examine whichvariables were most important both in determiningthe certainty respondents attached to differentbid levels, and the likelihood of accepting a bidof any size. Our most important results show thatfactors such as bequest motives, tract size,absentee status, and environmental preferencesinfluence the bid acceptance decision forlandowners in the sample.