ABSTRACT
The forestry community's ability to provide a sustained flow of goods and services from the nation’s forests is dependent on the availability of well developed and effectively operating institutions. Institutional forms of the sort include government organizations and processes as well as private organizations. Institutional frameworks important to forestry affect the allocation of resources and the distribution of benefits and costs. The institutional framework used to meet the investment needs of forestry must have an important position on the research agenda of any organization. The concept of private property rights in forest land is narrowing as land becomes an increasingly scarce resource and as the public’s interest in private forest land assumes broader proportions. A range of institutional mechanisms is available for pursuing the public’s interest in private forest lands. Interests in various uses of public forest lands are allocated in various ways— from almost purely market-type allocations to strictly administrative allocations.
