Landowner Management Behavior Persistence after Habitat Incentive Programs

Voluntary incentive programs are critical for achieving wildlife habitat conservation outcomes on private lands. While landowner participation in incentive programs has been well studied, little research has focused on whether... [ view full abstract ]

Voluntary incentive programs are critical for achieving wildlife habitat conservation outcomes on private lands. While landowner participation in incentive programs has been well studied, little research has focused on whether and why landowners persist with habitat management behaviors after incentive payments end. We partnered with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Effects Assessment Project to study landowner behavior after participation in a young forest incentive program. We were also interested in how communications that incorporate biological monitoring results from properties enrolled in the incentive program could affect landowner perceptions. Our study population was 189 landowners with properties managed for young forest through an NRCS incentive program in MD, MN, NJ, PA, and WI. These properties were subsequently monitored to evaluate bird species composition in 2015 and/or 2016. Personalized result mailings incorporating this property-level biological data were developed for landowners, and deployed using a quasi-experimental research design. A treatment group of landowners was delivered result mailings in fall 2015 and 2016, while a second group of landowners who received no result mailings functioned as a pseudo-control group. We conducted a telephone survey from January- April 2017 (overall response rate= 57.9%) to assess post-program management intentions and the effect of result mailings. Our results show landowners have a high likelihood of re-enrollment in NRCS programs targeting young forest, and a high likelihood of management for young forest if further incentives were not available. However, without further incentives some management practices (herbicide treatment of invasive plants, establishing/maintaining native plantings) would be more prevalent than others (prescribed burning, cutting trees). Our results also indicate result mailings influenced landowner perceptions of target species response to habitat management, specifically the American Woodcock (Scolopax minor). These findings suggest young forest management is likely to continue through re-enrollment and without a program, but in the latter case management would be limited to a narrower suite of less intensive practices. Understanding these future management intentions is important for the future of young forest wildlife species. This research offers insights on landowner behavior after incentive programs and a unique application of biological monitoring data in private land conservation.