People living in and around the state-owned forests have been illegally using wood for fuelwood because of social, economic and cultural problems in Turkey The forestry sector has little share in gross national product due to the fact that the raw material is used as fuelwood instead of being used in industry. in this study, a socio-economic model consisting of 10 variables with regard to the consumption of fuelwood is examined by the principal components analysis. Forty-seven villages of the Macka Region of Trabzon Province were selected as the case study area for this research. Data required for this study were obtained through household surveys and Forestry Ministry Records. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.