Family Forest Owners’ Familiarity with Conservation Programs in Mississippi, USA

Abstract

Conservation programs such the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP), and Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) were introduced in the USA to create financial, educational, and technical incentives to enhance conservation of natural resources. This study examined Mississippi family forest owners’ familiarity with CRP, EQIP, WHIP, WRP, and conservation easements before the programmatic reorganization brought about by the Farm Bill of 2014. The research also determined the association of selected attitudinal and socioeconomic characteristics with landowner familiarity. A mail survey was sent to 2025 randomly selected family forest owners in Mississippi and an adjusted response rate of 37.1 % was obtained. Survey responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and five binary logistic regression models were used to determine factors associated with landowner familiarity with conservation programs. Familiarity with conservation programs was positively associated with male landowners, forest land size, forest and conservation organization membership, and having a written forest management plan (p < 0.05). Findings suggest that membership in forestry- and agriculture-based organizations can help improve landowner knowledge of ecosystem services and enhance familiarity with conservation programs.