NASS Review - NWOS

National Woodland Owner Survey Review
By Peter Quan, USDA-NASS
June 7, 2015
There are about 830 million acres of forest land in the US. Most forestland are publically owned
in the Western part of the US; in sharp contrast, most are privately owned in the Eastern side.
The purpose for the survey (keep abreast of forestland resources); the target population (private
forest land and private forest and owners), sampling frame (all US land) and sampling design
(stratified SRS and stratified PPS); and survey administration process are all properly addressed.
In a 2012 Journal of Forestry research article (Private Forest Landowners: Estimating
Population Parameters, 110(7): 362-370), Metcalf et al. stated the estimators used for the
National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) were biased.
A 2013 Journal of Forestry research article (Methods for Estimating Private Forest Ownership
Statistics: Revised Methods for the USDA Forest Service's National Woodland Owner Survey)
by Dickson and Butler addressed these concerns. The Supporting Statement OMB No. 05960078 exhibits the estimator revisions from the 2013 article.
Furthermore, Supporting Statement OMB No. 0596-0078 properly discusses:
1. Sampling all of the operators in the largest stratum (Large Corporate Private) which is
similar to NASS’s strategy.
2. How to maximize response rates and to deal with non-response that is very similar to
NASS’s procedures: pre-notice, initial questionnaire, reminder, second questionnaire,
telephone interview, and electronic version option.