Field Note: What Motivates Forest Landowners to Participate in Surveys? Lessons from a Methodological Experiment in the Southern United States

Abstract Surveys of family forest landowners commonly have low response rates, raising concerns about potential response bias and limited statistical power due to small sample sizes. This field note reports on a methodological experiment embedded in a survey of private forest landowners conducted in 2023 in the southern United States. The experiment consisted of six treatments combining three survey modes (web-only, mail-only, and push-to-the-web) and two incentive types (raffle lotteries for gift cards and $2 bill for mail-only). None of the treatments resulted in response rates over 10%. Mail-only treatments with a $2 bill incentive had the highest response rates, reaching up to 8%. Web-only treatments, even when incentivized, were less effective. Our findings emphasize the value of mixed-mode approaches and tangible incentives for engaging forest landowners in surveys. We also provide practical insights and guidance for researchers and policymakers to improve data collection in natural resource contexts.