There is a decline of biodiversity in Europe. Following the Biodiversity Convention (1992) EU countries, including Denmark, have agreed to a common EU 2020 target to halt the loss of biodiversity. In Denmark, forests play a major role for biodiversity conservation, as forests cover 14 % of the land area and half of the red listed species belong to forests. Of the forest area, 71 % is owned by private owners. Hereby private forest owners are key players in providing for biodiversity conservation in forests. But, what motivates the owner to take biodiversity conservation measures, with the possible costs and benefits incurred? Based on the theory of planned behaviour, the aim of this study is to investigate forest owners’ motivation to integrate nature concerns in forest management. As criteria for choosing a relevant case, we looked for a measure that has a potential to significantly improve biodiversity, has political attention, is tangible, constitutes something any forest owner can do even on a small area of land, involves potential trade-offs with other management goals, and, preferably something that most forest owners and their personal network would have an opinion about.
Based on these criteria, we selected the case of leaving coarse woody debris on the forest floor. A survey questionnaire was designed and sent to 1434 private forest owners in Denmark, 686 of whom answered. The presentation includes the first results of the analysis.