Adoption of conservation easements among agricultural landowners in Colorado and Wyoming: The role of economic dependence and sense of place

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe inter-mountain west is one of the most highly urbanized and rapidly growing regions in the United States. Conservation easements are one common tool used to protect rural and agricultural land from urban development. This paper examines the attitudinal and demographic characteristics of agricultural landowners to predict adoption of conservation easements. The study has two primary objectives: (1) to broaden the literature on sense of place and place attachment by including a measure of economic dependence as one dimension, and (2) to examine the relation of this dimension with attitudes towards land trusts and participation in conservation easements. Agricultural landowners (N = 2266) in Colorado and Wyoming were surveyed about their sense of place for their land, their attitudes towards land trusts, and perceived need for land conservation. Factor analysis of 12 measures of sense of place indicated that place identity, conservation ethic, and economic dependence ere distinct dimensions of sense of place among agricultural landowners. Logistic regression analyses revealed that economic dependence had a significant and negative relation with landowner's trust of and trusts and placement of a conservation easement on agricultural land, whereas a conservation ethic and spiritual attachment are positively related. Two main implications for land trusts are that time spent contacting landowners is time well spent and intake questionnaires could be used to screen and owners for both a conservation ethic and a sense of economic dependence providing information hat might improve the possibility of reaching an easement agreement.

Place Matters: An Investigation of Farmers’ Attachment to Their Land

“…In this relationship, farmers are using the land to create a secure place and a living for their family. This supports previous research showing the importance of the relationship between economic dependence and sense of place for farmers (Crossa et al, 2011). Farmers work to create a secure financial living by engaging in production practices and economic ventures that will provide a stable income to ensure that the farm property will continue to be farmed in the future.…”

Perpetual private land conservation: the case for outdoor recreation and functional leisure

“…In recent years, scholarship has uncovered a host of variables that contribute to private landowners' decisions to place conservation easements, including environmental values, financial incentives, land use activities, membership in environmental organizations, and participation in other PLC programs (Elconin and Luzadis 1998, Kabii and Horowitz 2006, Kilgore et al 2007, Cross et al 2011, Farmer et al 2011a,b, 2016a, Brenner et al 2013). Protecting the environment (Erickson et al 2002) is another oft-cited nonmonetary benefit of land ownership that can motivate conservation behavior.…”

“…We also included total acreage enrolled in the ICFWP based on the outcomes of Farmer et al (2016a,b), outdoor recreation activity levels as a youth (Bixler and James 2005) and as an adult (Bliss 1989), perception of landscape change (Brenner et al 2013), membership in environmental organizations (Brenner et al 2013, Farmer et al 2016a, as well as four demographic variables: age, gender, educational attainment, and household income, all of which are well discussed as important variables in the conservation easement literature (Cross et al 2011, Farmer et al 2015. The dependent variable was a dichotomous indicator of whether individuals had placed a conservation easement or were interested in a conservation easement for their land (1), or were not interested and had not placed a conservation easement (0).…”

Abatement costs of soil conservation in China's Loess Plateau: Balancing income with conservation in an agricultural system

“…Without subsidies, and when loss of household income from agricultural production is considered, the sustainability of the worldwide conservation program GfG is questionable. Planting ecologically-friendly trees in place of intensive crop production benefits the environment, but fails to balance farmers' pursuit of income and the cultural importance of working lands (Cross et al, 2011). A balanced approach that considers these factors is possible, since agronomists provide solid scientific evidence that some cropping systems can balance both economic and environmental benefits (Laflen et al, 2000).…”