Jesse Caputo

Amherst, MA 01003-4230
United States
Private landowners — individuals, families, trusts, corporations, NGOs and other private organizations — own nearly 60% of the forested land in the U.S., and the decisions made by these landowners overwhelmingly influence the ecological trajectory of our nation's forest resource. Jesse's research focuses on developing a better understanding of these landowners: their needs, motivations, objectives, and activities. To do so, he assists in implementing and analyzing the National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS), a product of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. Some of his specific roles with the NWOS team include managing the NWOS database (NWOS-DB) and raw NWOS data; calculating, publishing, disseminating basic population-level estimates of private landowner attributes; and maintaining and developing the NWOS Dashboard (NWOS-DASH). Much of Jesse's research incorporates linking NWOS data with spatial data and/or ancillary quantitative data, in order to leverage the unique information captured by the NWOS within a larger and richer data ecosystem.
Another particular area of interest for Jesse is understanding what makes landowners "tick" — i.e., using social science theory and techniques in order to better understand how owning forestland influences the identity, values, and wellbeing of landowners. This includes research into the ecosystem services — or the social and physical benefits — that private forests deliver to landowners and their family, friends, and neighbors.
- Brett Butler, Jesse Caputo, Jesse Henderson, Scott Pugh, Kurt Riitters, Emma M. Sass. 2022. Cross-Boundary Sustainability: Assessment across Forest Ownership Categories in the Conterminous USA Using the Montréal Process Criteria and Indicators Framework
- Brett J. Butler, Jesse Caputo, Jesse D. Henderson, Scott A. Pugh, Kurt Riitters, Emma M. Sass. 2022. An assessment of the sustainability of family forests in the U.S.A.
- Emma Sass, Jesse Caputo, Brett Butler. 2022. United States Family Forest Owners' Awareness of and Participation in Carbon Sequestration Programs: Initial Findings from the USDA Forest Service National Woodland Owner Survey
- Brian Danley, Jesse Caputo, Brett J. Butler. 2022. A Burning Concern: Family Forest Owner Wildfire Concerns Across Regions, Scales, and Owner Characteristics
- David W. Shanafelt, Jesse Caputo, Jens Abildtrup, Brett J. Butler. 2022. If A Tree Falls in A Forest, Why Do People Care? An Analysis of Private Family Forest Owners' Reasons for Owning Forest in the United States National Woodland Owner Survey
- Brett J. Butler, Jesse Caputo, Susan J. Crocker, James D. Garner, Bryan J. Hemmer, Cassandra M. Kurtz, Tonya W. Lister, Randall S. Morin, Mark D. Nelson, Ronald J. Piva, Scott A. Pugh, Rachel Riemann, Brian F. Walters, Christopher W. Woodall. 2022. Southern New England Forests 2017: summary report
- Thomas C. Goff, Thomas A. Albright, Brett J. Butler, Jesse Caputo, Susan J. Crocker, Dale D. Gormanson, Cassandra M. Kurtz, Tonya W. Lister, Dacia M. Meneguzzo, Randall S. Morin, Mark D. Nelson, Ronald J. Piva, Rachel Riemann, Sjana Schanning, Brian F. Walters, James A. Westfall, Christopher W. Woodall. 2022. Delaware forests 2018: summary report
- Brett Butler, Jesse Caputo, Amanda Robillard, Emma Sass, Chris Sutherland. 2021. One Size Does Not Fit All: Relationships between Size of Family Forest Holdings and Owner Attitudes and Behaviors
- Brett J. Butler, Sarah M. Butler, Jesse Caputo, Jacqueline Dias, Amanda Robillard, Emma M. Sass. 2021. Family forest ownerships of the United States, 2018: results from the USDA Forest Service, National Woodland Owner Survey
- Emma Sass, Marla Markowski-Lindsay, Brett Butler, Jesse Caputo, Andrew Hartsell, Emily Huff, Amanda Robillard. 2021. Dynamics of Large Corporate Forestland Ownerships in the United States
- Brett J. Butler, Jesse Caputo. 2021. Weighting for the USDA Forest Service, National Woodland Owner Survey
- Vance Harris, Jesse Caputo, Andrew Finley, Brett J. Butler, Forrest Bowlick, Paul Catanzaro. 2021. Small-Area Estimation for the USDA Forest Service, National Woodland Owner Survey: Creating a Fine-Scale Land Cover and Ownership Layer to Support County-Level Population Estimates
- Jesse Caputo, Brett Butler, Thomas Brandeis, Kurt Riitters. 2020. Changes in land use, forest ownership, parcel size, and fragmentation in forests of the U.S. South