The success of conservation efforts for imperiled and endangered wildlife species relies on private landowners, yet a definitive model of landowner cooperation remains elusive. We use a case study to explore the multiple pathways by which demographics, rootedness, resource dependence, environmental attitudes, social influence, and program structure intersect to jointly explain participation in a federally funded cost-share program to help prevent the Lesser Prairie-Chicken from being listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. We conducted structured interviews across three ecoregions with 64 participants and 22 nonparticipants. We analyzed the data using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, an approach that identifies the multiple combinations of conditions related to engagement in the program. We found that two concepts, landowner characteristics and social influence, were most commonly associated with participation while profiles representing typical landowner tropes performed poorly. Finally, the positive effect of encouragement by agency representatives suggests that agency staff play a central role in determining participation. It also suggests landowners' decision processes may not be as deliberative as the literature on private lands conservation suggests. The results of our case study suggest new avenues for research that explicitly consider the role of heuristics in decisions to participate.
K E Y W O R D Sdecision making, endangered species, incentive program, lesser prairie-chicken, prelisting conservation, private landowners, private lands, qualitative comparative analysis, southern great plains, Tympanuchus pallidicinctus
| INTRODUCTIONAn increased number of species are receiving protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) due to increasing human demands on natural resources and their resulting negative impacts to wildlife populations. Nearly two-thirds of these federally listed species occupy private land, and approximately one-third occupy only private lands (Evans et al., 2016). Achieving private landowner cooperation with endangered species recovery efforts has historically been challenging due to concern over land regulation (Norris, 2004).
This article explores the changing relationships between the USDA Forest Service and 10 small, forest-based communities in the Northwest Forest Plan area in Washington, Oregon, and California. Interviews with 158 community members and agency personnel indicated that community member interviewees were largely dissatisfied with the agency’s current level of community engagement. Interviewees believed that loss of staff was the primary factor contributing to declining engagement, along with increasing turnover and long-distance commuting. Interviewees offered explanations for increasing employee turnover and commuting, including lack of housing, lack of employment for spouses, lack of services for children, social isolation, improving road conditions making long-distance commuting easier, agency incentives and culture, decreasing social cohesion among agency staff, unpaid overtime responsibilities, and agency hiring practices. Community member perceptions regarding long-term changes in community well-being and agency-community relationships were more negative than agency staff’s perceptions.
Study Implications: We found evidence that staffing declines, turnover, and long-distance commuting may contribute to decreasing agency engagement in some communities, and that diminished engagement by federal forest management agency employees may contribute to negative attitudes toward the agency. Agency employee interviewees suggested that incentives (i.e., promotions, opportunities to live elsewhere), internal conflicts, and a lack of opportunities and services for their families are reasons that staff commute from neighboring communities or leave their jobs. Our findings suggest that the USDA Forest Service may improve agency-community relationships by supporting its staff in ways that reduce turnover and long-distance commuting and incentivize community engagement.
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