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The number of family forest owners in the USA has increased continuously in recent decades, and the fate of much of US forests lies in the hands of this diverse and dynamic group of people. The National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) is a recurring and comprehensive national survey of US private forest owners, including family forest owners. The NWOS includes an open-ended question that explores forest owners’ motivations and values related to their woodland. The open-ended question format allows respondents to express their own frame of reference in their own words, rather than respond to predetermined, fixed-response categories of motivations. This paper describes the system of values and motivations that emerged from analysis of responses to the open-ended question, and compares these findings to a closed-ended, fixed-response question also included in the NWOS. Diverse and …