Climate change beliefs and forest management in eastern Oregon: implications for individual adaptive capacity

Abstract

2018. Climate change beliefs and forest management in eastern Oregon: implications for individual adaptive capacity. Ecology and Society 23(4):1. https:// ABSTRACT. The management decisions of private landowners affect forest structure and composition, and may impact the resilience of forested regions. In this case study we assessed barriers to both intentional and incidental climate-adaptive forest management among nonindustrial private forest owners in eastern Oregon, USA. In this context, incidental adaptations result from synergies between climate-adaptive forest management and actions motivated by goals such as wildfire mitigation, which landowners may prioritize regardless of concerns about climate change. Through semistructured interviews we used qualitative analyses to identify barriers to adaptation, including subjective (cognitive and experiential) and structural barriers (social, political, and economic) by comparing individual cases. Overall, we found that intentional climate change adaptation had low salience among participants, though a large majority of forest owners were active managers motivated by other goals, contributing to widespread incidental adaptation. We found that nonindustrial private forest owners who engaged in or considered intentional climate adaptation actions generally believed that anthropogenic climate change is occurring. Many respondents perceived local environmental change, notably reduced snowpack, but this was not associated with adaptive actions or intentions. The few participants who considered or implemented intentional climate adaptation actions generally had written forest management plans containing both forest inventories and specific management goals. Improving access to resources for forest management planning may enhance fire-and climate-smart forest management by facilitating scenario visioning and formalizing intentions. Although climate change beliefs were subjective barriers to intentional climate adaptation, many of the same structural barriers limited intentional and incidental adaptation. Place-based education, reliable funding mechanisms, and cooperative approaches among landowners may enhance adaptive capacity and promote the resilience of these nonindustrial private forestlands.

How will climate change shape climate opinion?

“…Studies that examine subjective experience ask participants to self-report whether they have personally experienced a specific weather-related phenomenon, trend, or extreme event [13-15, 24, 32, 36, 38, 46-50], whether they have experienced its effects [21,25,[51][52][53][54], or if they have generally experienced unusual weather patterns [55,56]. Alternatively, some studies ask participants if they have personally experienced the effects of climate change itself [37,[57][58][59]. In some studies, survey questions about personal experience are also combined with external observational data on weather conditions or trends [15,20,32,36,38,39,46,50,60,61].…”

“…These articles all rely on cross-sectional or panel analysis of survey datasets. Only two articles we reviewed approached the study of opinion through qualitative interview-based or ethnographic lenses [57,78]. For example [57], draws from 50 interviews with landowners in Oregon.…”

“…Only two articles we reviewed approached the study of opinion through qualitative interview-based or ethnographic lenses [57,78]. For example [57], draws from 50 interviews with landowners in Oregon. These studies remind us that public attitudes towards climate change should not simply be reduced to survey scales.…”

“…(United States) Blennow et al, 2012[55] Strength of belief in climate change and perception of local effects were found to predict climate adaptation opinions among private forest owners. (Portugal, Germany, Sweden) Boag et al, 2018[57] Although forest managers were aware of local environmental change, awareness was not associated with adaptive action to climate change.…”

Heterogeneity among clam harvesters in northwest Mexico shapes individual adaptive capacity

“…Fisheries portfolio diversification reduces the risk to fishers of interannual variation in stock abundance and market value (Kasperski andHolland 2013, Finkbeiner 2015) and is a signal of fishers' adaptive capacity. Maintaining or expanding alternate sources of income via livelihood diversification (Béné 2009, Galappaththi et al 2019, or relying on social networks to provide employment or cover basic needs, can help fishers navigate times when primary target species are scarce (Lofgren 1972, Perry et al 2011, Boag et al 2018. Another common adaptation strategy among fishers is mobility, or moving to follow sources of income Fogarty 2012, Sievanen 2014).…”