Private Landowners Research Articles

Framework for integrated Ecosystem Services assessment of the costs and benefits of large scale landscape restoration illustrated with a case study in Mediterranean Spain

To prevent landscape degradation and the continuing loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, decisions regarding landscape restoration should be based on their ‘true’ costs and benefits (i.e. broader welfare effects), including all externalities (positive and negative). In this paper, we present a framework consisting of nine steps to analyze, quantify and, where possible, monetize and capture the effects of changes in land use and management on the true costs and benefits. To illustrate this framework we applied it to large scale landscape restoration in a dryland region in SE Spain that is facing serious land degradation. Based on fieldwork involving several farms and expert interviews between 2017 and 2019, and additional literature review, we compared the costs and benefits, using the so-called Social- or Integrated Cost-Benefit Analyses (i-CBA) approach, of three land use systems: a multi-functional sustainable land use system (MFU) with those of almond monoculture under conventional management (CM) and under sustainable land management (SLM). Our study demonstrates that conventional financial CBA favors short-term, usually non-sustainable, land use. Using i-CBA gives a more realistic insight in the true welfare effects of landscape restoration. Our analysis also shows that a transition from conventional monoculture to multi-functional sustainable land use at the farm-level is only financially feasible when all externalities are accounted for and compensated. Our integrated approach enables the identification of opportunities and mechanisms to optimize multifunctional land use and capture the ‘full value’ of landscape restoration through so-called blended financing mechanisms. Eventually, sustainable land management can then become the norm rather than the exception because it is both financially more profitable for the private land owner and economically, environmentally and socially more beneficial to the community and society as a whole.

Spatially explicit modeling of wetland conservation costs in Canadian agricultural landscapes

AbstractAgriculture is an important source of food, employment, and tax revenue to society. However, agricultural expansion is an important driver of global natural ecosystem degradation, including wetlands. Economic theory shows that wetland loss is caused by a mismatch between the private wetland conservation costs borne by landowners and the public benefits generated. We develop a spatially explicit wetland management model to estimate the private economic benefit of wetland drainage in an agricultural landscape in Alberta, Canada. We estimate a full wetland supply curve and show that the private economic benefits of wetland drainage are highly heterogeneous within a watershed. We then combine these private costs of wetland conservation with non‐monetary measures of public ecosystem benefits to assess four wetland conservation policy targeting scenarios. We find a positive correlation between the opportunity cost of wetland conservation on private landowners and the amount of environmental benefits wetlands offer, suggesting that conserving the wetlands that impose the lowest opportunity cost may not be optimal targets for wetland conservation policy. We contribute to wetland conservation economics by demonstrating that targeted wetland conservation policies can be more effective than a uniform conservation policy that assumes wetlands within agricultural landscapes have the same costs and benefits.

Rapid Ecological Integrity Assessment Metrics to Restore Wildlife Habitat and Biodiversity for Shortleaf Pine–Oak Ecosystems

Open woodlands dominated by shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) and oak are historically an important component of the landscape across the southeastern United States. These ecosystems support numerous wildlife species, many of which have declined in recent years as the amount and condition of their habitat have declined. Land managers and private landowners need guidance on how to efficiently and accurately quantify the condition and wildlife habitat value of the pine stands that they manage. Here we provide a set of rapid assessment metrics, based on NatureServe’s ecological integrity assessment (EIA) method, to (a) identify exemplary tracts that provide the best habitat for key wildlife species, and (b) monitor restoration efforts to assess progress toward the improved quality of existing tracts. To ensure an ecologically appropriate scaling of metrics, we distinguished six types of shortleaf pine–oak woodland: A.—Interior Highlands shortleaf pine–oak (including A.1—shortleaf pine–oak forest and woodlands; A.2—shortleaf pine–bluestem woodlands); B—montane longleaf pine–shortleaf pine woodlands; C—southern Appalachian pine–oak woodlands; D—West Gulf coastal plain shortleaf pine–oak woodlands; and E—southeast coastal plain and Piedmont shortleaf pine–oak woodlands. We relied on a narrative conceptual model and peer review-based indicator selection to identify a core set of 15 stand-level metrics (two were optional). Individual assessment points (thresholds) and ratings (Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor) were developed that were sensitive to the distinct attributes of each of the five shortleaf pine–oak and Appalachian pine–oak types. Values for the metrics can all be collected using rapid field methods, such as using basal area prisms and ocular (visual) estimates of cover. Protocols for the consistent application of these EIA methods are provided. A case study is presented from the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee. These methods provide improved and rapid EIA metrics for all shortleaf pine–oak ecosystems in the southeastern US to help guide conservation-minded landowners in assessing the biodiversity and priority wildlife values of shortleaf pine–oak and southern Appalachian pine–oak ecosystems.

Occurrence of declining bird species on privately owned longleaf pine restoration sites

Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests have become a major focus of large-scale restoration efforts across the southeastern United States over the past two decades, but the success of these efforts are not often measured. One example is Partners for Fish and Wildlife (PFW), which is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and designed to assist private landowners with longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) planting. An objective of this program is to provide habitat for species like the Bachman’s Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis), which is reliant on fire-maintained longleaf pine savannas. To assess this program’s success, we conducted avian point counts and vegetation surveys in longleaf pine stands enrolled in the Mississippi PFW program during 2018–2019. We surveyed 51 stands (≥16 ha; ≤16 years old) and conducted 194 point count surveys. Across all stands, coverage of woody vegetation averaged 38% (SD = 20%), herbaceous cover 39% (23%), and canopy closure 68% (25%). We detected 6 Bachman’s Sparrows in 3 stands at 4 points (5.8% of stands, 2.1% of points), indicating the stands are providing inappropriate conditions for this species due to inadequate prescribed burning. We detected Prairie Warblers (Setophaga discolor) in 37 stands (72%) and at 94 points (48%), and Northern Bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) in 43 stands (83%) and at 101 points (52%), indicating PFW stands are providing habitat for declining shrubland species. If providing habitat for grassland birds like Bachman’s Sparrow continues to be an objective for PFW stands in the Southeast, we recommend stricter requirements for landowner enrollment in the program (e.g., agreements to maintain a burn interval of ∼2 years), and more assistance in meeting those requirements. More broadly, maintenance of appropriate disturbance regimes will be critical to restoration of disturbance-dependent forests and may require longer-term investment than is customary.

Perspectives on research protocols on Indigenous conservation lands: Outcomes from a talking circle

SummaryEcological field researchers mostly work on other people's lands. Agreements to do this work are standard practice, but the way that researchers must approach and determine agreements is changing rapidly. The rise in agency of Indigenous peoples and the massive increase in Indigenous‐owned and managed lands, coupled with the rise in other private‐ and corporate‐owned conservation lands, have had direct impacts on researchers. Most of these impacts are beneficial to researchers, and benefit sharing has now become the norm wherein Indigenous people and private conservation landholders expect equitable beneficial returns from the research. Likewise, research questions are more frequently driven by landholders. New rules about engaging with Indigenous people and other private landholders need to be understood by researchers, because these rules can determine the outcomes of applications to work on other people's lands and the research conducted. This article presents some experience and observations from Indigenous landholders who have worked with research protocols and other people who have worked on Indigenous lands. Some learned principles that can benefit researchers are presented.Implications for managers Research protocols determine if and how research is to be conducted, how landholders are to be engaged and acknowledged and what and how research outcomes are to be published and reported Agreements must be reached between researchers and landholders before research is conducted Agreements are becoming more legally binding Joint authorship is becoming more common, and this may influence how the scientific methods and process are understood Cultural and social matters are core to research protocol negotiation in many instances and may require researchers to think differently from the ways in which they have been educated.

Squatters, access to land, and production of national narratives in post-colonial Kenya

ABSTRACT This article harnesses the concept of the “usable past” to explore multiple strategies employed by squatters in post-colonial Kenya to access land since the 1960s. It argues that the conventional land reform program inherited at independence has largely failed to solve landlessness and the squatter problem. Consequently, inspired by past promises and pledges – exemplified by the optimism of the 1950s nationalist struggle, the pre-independence promises by nationalists to eliminate landlessness, and the independence government’s commitment to end poverty through agricultural enterprises – squatters have over the decades devised effective strategies to fend off competing interests in land. These interests – mainly government agencies, commercial companies, and private landowners – have been forced to accede to the squatters’ initiatives. While these initiatives have been relatively successful in addressing landlessness, they have by no means succeeded in eliminating the most vexing aspect of Kenya’s national land problem. Nevertheless, this success attests to their effectiveness outside government channels.

Hydraulic retrofits can economically increase water and phosphorus retentions in end-of-the-farm stormwater systems

Aging agricultural stormwater detention systems (SDSs) are losing their ability to retain phosphorus (P) due to saturation. Soil P saturation leads to P retention being primarily dependent on water volume retention. The water quality and economic feasibility of hydraulic modifications were evaluated at an SDS in the Everglades basin. Modifications included compartmentalizing and increasing the retention volume by raising the discharge control elevation. Measurements showed increase in volumetric retention from 49% to 72% and P retention from 52% to 76%. Model simulations for a 25-year period showed that volume and P retentions could be as high as 92% with modifications, depending on the rainfall distribution. Economic analyses showed that modifications can provide additional water storage at $10/ac-ft ($81/ha-m) and P retention at $14/kg, which is more economical than the respective costs of 103/ac-ft ($835/ha-m) and $355-$909/kg P for the state-funded treatment systems. Basin-wide scale-up showed a potential reduction of 43,000 kg P per year. Modification costs are conservative since we assumed that additional water and P would be retained once every two years due to the occurrence of drier/wetter than normal years. Everglades is facing a multitude of challenges such as the timing and amounts of excess discharges of freshwater and P. We propose a payment for environmental services (PES) approach which lets the state choose the services depending on the specific challenges, such as excess water or P or both. Given the large-scale presence of SDSs or similar features globally, a public-private partnership to modify their hydraulic design can help achieve environmental goals, economically benefitting both the public (buyer) and private landowners (sellers).

Northern Bobwhite Occupancy Patterns on Multiple Spatial Scales Across Arkansas

AbstractNorthern bobwhite Colinus virginianus populations have been rapidly declining in the eastern, central, and southern United States for decades. Land use change and an incompatibility between northern bobwhite resource needs and human land use practices have driven declines. Here, we applied occupancy analyses on two spatial scales (state level and ecoregion level) to more than 5,000 northern bobwhite surveys conducted over 6 y across the entire state of Arkansas to explore patterns in occupancy and land use variables, and to identify priority areas for management and conservation. At the state level, northern bobwhite occupied 29% of sites and northern bobwhite were most likely to occur in areas with a high percentage of early successional habitat (grassland, pasture, and shrubland). The statewide model predicted that northern bobwhite were likely to occur (≥ 75% predicted occupancy) in < 20% of the state. Arkansas is comprised of five distinct ecoregions, and analyses at the ecoregion spatial scale showed that habitat associations of northern bobwhite could vary between ecoregions. For example, early successional habitat best predicted northern bobwhite occupancy in both the Arkansas River Valley and Ozark Mountains ecoregions, and other habitat associations such as the proportion of herbaceous habitat and hay-pasture habitat, respectively, further refined predictions. Contrastingly, richness of land cover classes alone best predicted northern bobwhite occupancy in the Ouachita Mountains ecoregion. Ecoregion-level models were thus more discerning than the state-level model and should be more helpful to managers in identifying priority conservation areas. However, in two of five ecoregions, surveys too rarely encountered northern bobwhite to accurately predict their occurrence. We found that likely occupied northern bobwhite habitat lay primarily on private properties (95%), but that numerous public entities own and manage land identified as suitable or likely occupied. We conclude that management of northern bobwhite in Arkansas could benefit from cooperation among state, federal, and military partners, as well as surrounding private landowners and that ecoregion-specific models may be more useful in identifying priority areas for management. Our approach incorporates multiple landscape scales when using remote sensing technology in conjunction with monitoring data and could have important application for the management of northern bobwhite and other grassland bird species.

Addressing the Early-Successional Habitat Needs of At-Risk Species on Privately Owned Lands in the Eastern United States

Public lands alone are insufficient to address the needs of most at-risk wildlife species in the U.S. As a result, a variety of voluntary incentive programs have emerged to recruit private landowners into conservation efforts that restore and manage the habitats needed by specific species. We review the role of one such effort, Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW), initiated by the Natural Resources Conservation Service in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Using two at-risk species in the eastern U.S. (where private lands dominate), we show the substantial potential that WLFW has for restoring and maintaining needed habitats. Monitoring how effective these efforts are on populations of the target species has been challenging, and both monitoring and implementation are being modified in response to new information. Identifying landowner motivations is essential for developing long-term relationships and conservation success. As WLFW projects develop, they are moving toward a more holistic ecosystem approach, within which the conservation goals of at-risk species are embedded.

Land use intensification coupled with free‐roaming dogs as potential defaunation drivers of mesocarnivores in agricultural landscapes

Abstract Land use intensification, by which habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and increased land ownership subdivision occurs, represents one of the largest threats to biodiversity. The extent to which land use intensification affects the presence of native mesocarnivores is largely unexplored, with great implications for all working landscapes where agriculture and native wildlife co‐occur. We obtained mesocarnivore detection/non‐detection data from 180 4‐km2 sampling units in agricultural landscapes of southern Chile from January to April 2019. We used these data to (a) investigate the associations of private land ownership subdivision, forest fragmentation and forest loss with the occurrence of mesocarnivores using single‐species occupancy models, (b) assess patterns of mesocarnivore co‐occurrence with free‐roaming domestic mesocarnivores (e.g. cats and dogs) using two‐species occupancy models and (c) determine whether co‐occurrence of native and domestic mesocarnivores led to alterations in species’ temporal activity. Land ownership subdivision, rather than habitat loss or fragmentation, had the greatest impact on native mesocarnivore occurrence, with some influence of domestic dogs. Mesocarnivore community occurrence varied from a native to domestic species composition as private land ownership subdivision increased. Native mesocarnivores altered their behaviour temporally when co‐occurring with domestics. Lastly, the presence of domestic dogs was associated with an absence of native mesocarnivores, which merits further investigation into the contribution of domestic dogs to a defaunation process in agricultural areas. Policy implications. Our evidence supports focusing efforts in three key dimensions to advance biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. First, private land subdivision represents a robust proxy for measuring anthropogenic impacts on mesocarnivores, and we advocate its use to inform agricultural policy to mitigate a potential defaunation process. Second, there is a need to further engage with landowners and evaluate values, motivation, willingness and action to protect remnant native vegetation and slow land use change. And, lastly, improvements to legislation and conservation marketing strategies on responsible pet ownership are critical to ameliorating the negative impacts of dogs on native wildlife species.

The dilemma of upland footpaths – understanding private landowner engagement in the provision of a public good

ABSTRACT With a right to responsible access across almost all land in Scotland, millions of recreationists make free use of an extensive upland path network. These paths provide easy access to some of the most spectacular, but most fragile habitats in the country. This path network is expected to come under increasing pressure from both use and climate. With many hundreds of kilometres already in poor condition, a new strategy to sustainably manage this important resource is required. As key stakeholders in the management of upland paths, understanding landowner engagement is key. Based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with land management representatives we found a diverging sense of responsibility for path management along the private/non-private landownership divide, but a positive attitude towards public access across the board. This resulted in a generally positive intention to engage in upland path management. Principal factors influencing engagement are; landowner awareness of the complex and nuanced issues associated with path degradation, the perceived benefits of path works, and the availability of and access to appropriate funding. From this, a typology of behaviours was developed. More than one behaviour type was identified on most properties, with engagement increasing in-line with severity of path degradation.

Private landowners and the facilitation of an invasive species

• We explored private landowner perceptions about the invasive Kentucky bluegrass in the US northern Great Plains. • Landowner responses to a mail survey indicated little to no preventative action. • We also employed a scenario approach to assess landowner perceptions based on changes to ecosystem services. • Scenario results indicated that the early stage of invasion was considered slightly acceptable. At the late stage, when negative impacts are most severe for landowner livelihoods, bluegrass was rated as slightly unacceptable. • Cascading impacts will become more evident and incentivizing early action to prevent further invasion is key to maintaining these working landscapes.

Unlocking and securing ecological infrastructure investments: The needs and willingness to invest and institutional support mechanisms used

Ecological infrastructure (EI) is a natural and near-natural functioning ecosystem that delivers a range of essential services to humankind. Examples include mountain catchments, wetlands, coastal dunes, and riparian corridors. In a world where EI is underinvested, rapid degradation and threats such as unsustainable veld-fire regimes, droughts, climate change, and invasive alien plants persist in dominating the ecological landscape. In South Africa, there are government programmes that encourage the restoration, rehabilitation and protection of EI. However, inadequate funding allocations constrain scaling-up and thus necessitate the unlocking of public and private sector investments to augment resources for ecosystem-based management interventions. A systematic literature review was conducted at a global scale to (1) understand the drivers behind EI investments, (2) understand the willingness and desire of private landowners and land users to participate and contribute to EI investments and (3) identify institutional support mechanisms used to encourage investments. Results suggest that the need to invest is driven by growing degradation of EI and the urgency to meet environmental sustainability goals. The willingness to invest is stimulated by the use of economic-based policies and compensatory mechanisms. Public–private partnerships, public policy, and market-based conservation instruments are institutional arrangements executed to protect EI. These include processes and systems used by the institutions to legislate and manage interventions towards fulfilling the conservation objective. Our review contributes to the EI investment research agenda by recommending coordinated efforts to encourage EI investment from both public and private partners. These measures will help to secure financial resources and mobilise investments beyond monetary terms by coordinating planning and developing capacity and reform policies.Significance: Reviewing international experiences on ecological infrastructure investments will help to inform the Natural Resources Management programmes’ efforts to upscale the investments essential to conserve natural ecosystems. The lessons from the systematic review will further reveal other related natural ecosystem investment processes from which to learn. Therefore, gaining a global understanding of these lessons provides evidence-based advice for policy development and decision-making processes which seek to protect natural ecosystems for present and future generations.

Mechanical thinning without prescribed fire moderates wildfire behavior in an Eastern Oregon, USA ponderosa pine forest

Reducing fuels to better manage risk of high severity wildfire in seasonally dry, fire-prone forests of the western U.S. is an important goal of forest managers, including private landowners, non-governmental organizations, tribal, state, and local governments, and federal agencies. Managing fire risk is a critical objective of the U.S. Forest Service, which emphasizes the use of thinning to reduce tree density and ladder fuels followed by prescribed fire to reduce surface fuel. But the area of Forest Service land treated with thinning and prescribed fire is lagging far behind the area treated only with mechanical thinning due to regulatory and logistical challenges in prescribed fire implementation. Determining if mechanical thinning alone (without prescribed fire) can achieve adequate fire risk reduction has important implications for addressing the fire and fuel management goals set by Congress and the Administration, as well as the management objectives set by non-federal actors. In this study, we report on the effects of mechanical thinning and standard post-thinning fuels management but without prescribed fire on modeled fire behavior and changes in fuel loading over time in a ponderosa pine forest in Eastern Oregon. Thinning without prescribed fire significantly reduced potential crown fire immediately following thinning and also moderated surface modeled fire behavior beginning 2–3 years following thinning. Although small (<7.6 cm diameter) woody surface fuel loading increased following thinning, other ground and surface fuels (i.e., litter and duff) declined substantially, which we attribute to surface disturbance from ground-based logging, decreased deposition of litter, and increased decomposition. These results suggest that fuel reduction and fire risk management objectives can be met with mechanical thinning alone for a number of years. Prescribed fire is likely necessary to extend the effectiveness of mechanical thinning after significant tree or shrub regeneration. Continued monitoring will allow managers to use prescribed fire most efficiently to achieve fire and fuel management objectives.

Henry George’s Reforms as Economic Impetus for Lev Tolstoy’s Moral Doctrine

ABSTRACT Tolstoy became acquainted with the works of Henry George as he was writing his treatise “What Then Should We Do?” George’s economic ideas fascinated him so much that he stepped away from the treatise to spend time trying to comprehend the American economist’s solutions. At first, the project of a single land tax did not appeal to him, and he writes in his treatise, “George proposes we recognize all land as state property, and therefore all taxes, both direct and indirect, should be replaced by rents. That is, everyone who uses the land should pay the state the value of its rent. What would that be? … It would be slavery, as determined by the volume of land use.” However, from the moment he read Progress and Poverty and Social Problems Tolstoy unequivocally agreed with George’s position that “private ownership of land is theft,” though it took time for him to comprehend and adopt George’s position on the single land tax.

Evolution of shared land ownership in agriculture of modern Russia

The article provides a brief analysis of the content and results of the implementation of models for organizing agricultural production during the land reform in Russia in the 80-90s. The article contains the main stages of land reform, confirmed by legislative and regulatory legal acts of the state. It has been established that shared land ownership in agriculture has a number of specific economic functions: quasi-property, goods, capital and property. The studies demonstrated that the allocation of land shares and their transformation into land plots is a condition for the implementation of the production function of quasi-ownership of land shares. For this reason, land shares, including unclaimed ones, not allocated to land plots, should not be classified as full-fledged private land ownership. When equity ownership is included into the authorized capital of an economic entity, and the agreement on the transfer of rights with the legal successor is not assigned, the right holder loses all rights to the transferred land shares. The existence of such an agreement does not guarantee that the right holder will receive any payments for the use of such property by the legal successor. Individuals who invested land shares in the authorized capital of an economic entity did not have any economic benefit from the reform, and those who converted land shares into a land plot received land property, the price of which has risen in dozen times since the beginning of the land reform.

Novel Use of Species Distribution Modeling to Identify High Priority Sites for American Woodcock Habitat Management

Most species distribution models (SDMs) predict the probability of presence (POP) of a species at any location based on an analysis of known occurrences and environmental variables; however, such SDMs cannot predict how much the POP of a species that requires young forest would change if a new patch of young forest is created at a certain location. We developed a new SDM tool to identify and prioritize sites where forest management efforts to create young forest vegetation would likely have the most positive effect for Scolopax minor (American Woodcock), an important umbrella species for other birds that require similar habitat. The primary output of the tool was a 50-m raster of the predicted POP in any upland forest location in the state after young forest is created. We conducted a preliminary assessment of the predictions of the tool, and concluded that our new tool can allow land managers to identify optimal locations on their properties to create young forest for woodcock, and help conservation agencies identify private landowners with suitable properties for improving woodcock habitat.

Perceptions of NRCS Assistance with Prescribed Fires on U.S. Private Lands: A Regionally Stratified Case Study

The benefits of prescribed fires are recognized throughout the United States, but the ability to assist with prescribed fire application on private land by government agencies has many possible constraints and challenges. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a federal agency, is mandated to assist private landowners with meeting land management objectives, but the ability of employees to utilize prescribed fire as a management tool is complex. We conducted a regionally stratified online survey of NRCS employees across the United States to determine the barriers inhibiting their ability to assist private landowners with prescribed fire application. In January of 2020, we recruited 101 NRCS rangeland and grazing land specialists to participate in the survey with 50 completing the survey (regional sample size: Central n = 14, Northeast n = 5, Southeast n = 12, West n = 19). A majority (82%) of respondents thought prescribed fires were staying the same or increasing in number. Regional differences in assistance types were significant for conducting burns and providing technical education, but not for other assistance types. Regional differences for perceived constraints were also significant for how the public understands the risks of prescribed fire and the ecological constraints but not for state policy, federal policy, liability, or public understanding of prescribed fire benefits. Overall and across regions, the NRCS survey participants perceived federal policies, liability, and private landowners’ lack knowledge of prescribed fire limits their ability to assist in the utilization of prescribed fire. Creating a national policy that allows a streamlined process for NRCS employees to assist with prescribed fire implementation and collaborative initiatives to improve private landowner knowledge gaps has the potential to improve prescribed fire application across the United States.

US Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines: Supreme Court Decision Reveals a Constitutional High‐Wire Act

On June 29th, 2021 the US Supreme Court confirmed by the narrowest of margins what for more than 80 years was always assumed to be true for US interstate natural gas pipelines, by the industry and economists such as myself. We assumed that the 1938 Natural Gas Act (NGA), through its Section 7(c) certification process, gave pipeline companies possessing a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) “certificate of public convenience and necessity” the ability to invoke eminent domain throughout the United States. Such eminent domain authority stems from the US Constitution's Commerce Clause, which permits interstate gas pipelines to pursue court action if they cannot negotiate acceptable terms of transfer with private and public landowners in the states and localities they transit, to establish a fair value for “taken” land for a route authorized by the FERC.

Predicting Pasture and Forest Landowner Intention to Create Early Successional Habitat

ABSTRACTAs human land uses expand across the landscape, the management practices of private landowners are an essential part of effective conservation. Early successional habitats (ESH) and the species that depend on them are a priority in the eastern United States, and efforts to create ESH on private lands has primarily focused on forest landowners and timber harvests. Private pasture lands in a forested landscape present an additional opportunity to create and maintain ESH, yet our understanding of landowner values and attitudes about management strategies in pastures is lacking. To address this, we surveyed private landowners in 5 Virginia counties who own ≥10.1 ha at &gt;610 m elevation (n = 503). Our primary objective was to understand how a variety of factors such as landowner values, past experience with habitat management, and perceived barriers to carrying out habitat management are associated with private landowner intention to carry out 7 ESH management strategies (i.e., reduced mowing, reduced grazing, timber harvests within forest, timber harvests at a field‐forest border, prescribed fire, use of machinery, and use of herbicides to control invasive species) for the benefit of wildlife in the next 5 years. We used boosted regression trees to determine which factors best predicted the intention to carry out each management strategy. We were able to predict accuracy &gt;75% of the time for landowner intention to engage in open pasture and timber management strategies. Landowner values were not consistent across the different management strategies; landowners likely to reduce mowing or grazing valued ecological aspects of their land (e.g., pollinator habitat, water quality), whereas landowners likely to harvest timber valued hunting and revenue. Past experience with wildlife management was the strongest predictor of likelihood to reduce mowing and grazing. Our results suggest that expanding outreach efforts to include pasture management options would engage a broader set of landowners in creating ESH, especially if such efforts highlighted the benefits to pollinator species, water quality, and enhanced opportunities for hunting and other types of recreation. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.