Gregory E. Frey

Dr. Frey conducts research with the goal of empowering land users to improve their own lives in a way that also provides benefits to society.

His main current research areas include forest taxation, non-timber forest products, and common property.

Forest taxation

Taxes drive people crazy. Private forest landowners say that taxes that are either too high or poorly designed force them to make decisions that are not the best for the land or for society. Since forests in the US East are about two-thirds privately owned, this has consequences for all of us. Dr. Frey is leading research into how tax policies engage and affect landowners, and how they change the way they manage forests such as when to harvest timber, sell land, or invest in improvements.

Non-timber forest products

People use forests for all kinds of things. Of course, trees are used for lumber, paper, and firewood, and forests provide clean air and water. But there are other important forest products that come from the fruits, roots, bark, stems, and leaves of various forest plants. You may have used some of those products yourself as food, art supplies, or remedies. They are often overlooked in forest management and economic analysis, but many people do rely on them to make ends meet. Dr. Frey is leading a group to synthesize past research and conduct new research into harvesting, markets, and regulations for these products, so we can improve forest management and people’s lives.

Common-pool resources

When a property owner dies without a will, the land becomes common property among heirs. Since decisions have to be unanimous, the land becomes difficult to manage or improve, and often ends up being sold to developers. However, communal ownership occurs in many other countries, and they have strong community institutions that make and implement decisions. Dr. Frey is interested in whether international community-owned forests are successful and profitable, and if so, how. Can we apply those lessons to property owned jointly by children or grandchildren of deceased forest landowners in the US?

Dr. Frey's past research has been related to the economic and social benefits of various forest management systems and policies. He has particularly investigated systems and policies that have potential to benefit small and limited-resource forest users, and those that provide ecosystem services to society. He has lived, worked, and conducted forest economics and policy research in both the US South and Latin America.

One line of Dr. Frey's research has been related to the economic returns, risks, and perceptions of agroforestry systems, when compared to conventional forestry and agricultural systems. He has been involved in research teams related to non-timber forest products, forest farming, silvopasture, and alley cropping.

Dr. Frey has been involved in research on timber investment returns worldwide along with the effects of policies and programs such as loans, subsidies, and payments for services such as carbon sequestration, as well as certification of sustainable forest management. He has also been involved in the policy development process in various Latin American countries to reduce deforestation as a strategy to conserve forest carbon and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

• Effects of federal, state, and local income and property tax provisions and programs
• Community-based forest management
• Policies and programs affecting limited-resource and underserved forest landowners
• Markets, values, and policies for agroforestry systems & non-timber forest products
• Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) and climate change policy
• United States and Latin America

Dr. Frey conducts research with the goal of empowering land users to improve their own lives in a way that also provides benefits to society.

Forest cover, when well-managed and well-located throughout a landscape can provide numerous benefits for individuals, communities, our nation, and the world. Numerous interventions have been attempted by organizations worldwide, to varying degrees of success, to increase overall forest cover and better manage existing forests, in order to maximize benefits to society. In every case, these policies and programs are an attempt to change the behavior of people, particularly local resource users. The success of a policy or program depends on market and non-market values of resource users under the legal framework for tenure of forest resources in a particular country or administrative region.