Predicting pasture and forest landowner intention to create early successional habitat

As 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 or >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 mow...

随着人类土地利用活动在景观中持续扩张，私有土地所有者的管理实践已成为有效保护工作的核心组成部分。早期演替生境（Early Successional Habitats, ESH）及其依赖的物种是美国东部地区的优先保护对象，此前在私有土地上创建ESH的工作主要聚焦于森林土地所有者与木材采伐活动。森林景观中的私有牧草地为创建与维持ESH提供了额外途径，但目前学界对土地所有者关于牧场管理策略的价值认知与态度仍缺乏了解。为此，我们针对弗吉尼亚州5个县的私有土地所有者开展了问卷调查，纳入标准为土地面积不小于10.1公顷或海拔高于610米，最终有效样本量为503份（n=503）。本研究的核心目标是探究各类因素——包括土地所有者的价值取向、过往生境管理经验以及开展生境管理所面临的感知障碍——与私有土地所有者实施7种ESH管理策略（即减少割草……）的意愿之间的关联。