As part of Living Lab Central’s ongoing work, researchers are conducting semi-structured interviews with district rangers in the Basel region to identify effective ways of engaging small forest owners (SFOs) in enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The interviews focus on how rangers collaborate with small private forest owners in their daily work. Topics include communication strategies, forest management arrangements, contract conditions, and support frameworks that have proven effective in encouraging participation in fragmented, small-scale forest landscapes.
The outreach serves two complementary objectives. First, the insights gathered will inform the design of an upcoming survey on forest management preferences among SFOs. Second, both the interview findings and survey results will feed into the development of an agent-based model. This model aims to simulate how different coordination mechanisms and incentive structures influence participation by forest owners and impact ecological outcomes at the landscape level.
By incorporating the practical knowledge of district rangers—ranging from successful approaches to persistent challenges—the initiative seeks to ensure that the model reflects real-world institutional dynamics rather than theoretical assumptions. The results are expected to support the development of more effective strategies for engaging small forest owners in sustainable forest management.
