Program design and landowner participation: providing choice and flexibility

Grassland conversion to woody plants on rangelands in the Southern Great Plains of the United States is highly resilient making restoration challenging and costly for private landowners. Incentive programs can be flexible,... [ view full abstract ]

Grassland conversion to woody plants on rangelands in the Southern Great Plains of the United States is highly resilient making restoration challenging and costly for private landowners. Incentive programs can be flexible, powerful tools to promote grassland restoration by reducing the direct costs of doing so. Program architects continue to embrace payment level as the key driver influencing participation despite recent indications that payments are only one of a suite of motivating factors. While the relationships between program components and conservation outcomes are important, without sufficient participation, voluntary PES programs will fail to achieve landscape-scale conservation outcomes. Viewed through the lens of the prospective participant, enrollment and engagement rests on the concept of program desirability, which is not only a function of the payment provided but the context in which the program is delivered. We tested the idea that participation in programs decreases when landowners believe programs are controlling—i.e., they reduce the amount of choice and flexibility afforded to the landowner.

We employed a stated preference choice model in a survey of landowners to assess their preferences for five USDA “Conservation Practices” cost-share programs to maintain or enhance rangelands. Our survey also asked landowners to indicate the degree to which they perceive cost-share programs provide them with choice and flexibility. Based on a sample of 394 landowners in central Texas (64% response rate), we found that the probability of participation increased as the perception of programs supporting choice and flexibility increased. Our results show that landowners do focus on more than price when deciding to participate in a program. Program structure and administration serve as nonmonetary factors that influence the desirability of a program. Given the instrumental role of participation in the success of incentive programs, further research unpacking the relationship between program design and participation is needed.