Collaborative research as boundary work: learning between rice growers and conservation professionals to support habitat conservation on private lands

Multi-stakeholder initiatives for biodiversity conservation on working landscapes often necessitate strategies to facilitate learning in order to foster successful collaboration. To investigate the learning processes that both undergird and result from collaborative efforts, this case study employs the concept of boundary work as a lens to examine learning between rice growers and conservation professionals in California’s Central Valley, who were engaged in a collaborative research project focused on migratory bird conservation. Through analysis of workshop observations, project documents, and interviews with rice growers and conservation professionals, we identified five distinct factors of the collaborative research process that influenced learning amongst these two groups: having mutually beneficial goals, sharing ownership of the collaborative research process, building trust, integrating knowledge, and institutional alignment. We also examined and identified learning outcomes for both rice growers and conservation professionals, which included new knowledge of the social-ecological system, new practices around farming and collaboration, and shifting identities. Our findings suggest that applying these factors and outcomes for learning when structuring collaborative research, and other multi-stakeholder initiatives, can foster learning amongst diverse stakeholder groups to support new approaches for balancing resource use and adaptive management.

Hunter Concerns and Intention to Hunt in Forested Areas Affected by Wildlife Disease

Deer hunting is a major forest-based recreation activity in the US South. However, the recent discovery of chronic wasting disease (CWD) threatens deer hunting in the region. Stakeholders are interested in understanding how hunters perceive the risk and change their hunting behavior. This study found a significant change in hunters’ concerns after the first deer season since the discovery of CWD in Tennessee, USA. Results also showed that hunters’ short- and long-term intentions to hunt deer in the region were positively related to previous experience of hunting in CWD-affected areas, beliefs in the effectiveness of herd reduction to control CWD, concerns regarding potential decline in deer quality and changes in hunting regulations due to CWD, and trust in wildlife agency action. Hunters who hunt on public land and were concerned with deer and human health risk were less likely to hunt in the CWD region. These results are useful in understanding hunter behavior in response to wildlife disease and identifying variables that may help project immediate as well as long-term change in hunting demand in affected regions. Study Implications As two-thirds of forestlands in the USA are under private ownership and public hunting lands are limited or crowded in many regions, deer hunting occurs mostly on private lands. Managers of private and public forestlands that provide recreation access for hunting benefit from a better understanding of how wildlife diseases affect user perception and demand for deer hunting on their lands. One such disease issue that has threatened the hunting industry in the nation is chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer. Results from this study inform on how hunters perceive the risk of disease, how their relative tolerance changes over time, and what factors determine their intention to hunt in forests with diseased deer. These findings are useful in understanding hunter’s behavior in response to wildlife disease in forest lands and highlight variables that may determine hunting demand in affected regions both in the short- and long-term.

Politics will complicate Kenya's northern conflicts

Significance Initially, the clashes were portrayed as sporadic and drought-related, with the dominant explanation being that bandits had invaded private lands seeking pasture for livestock. However, a closer look at recurring patterns of insecurity in the region suggest the clashes have an organised component with strong historical and political roots. Impacts Clashes will likely spill over into neighbouring Baringo, Isiolo, Samburu and Turkana counties as the 2022 polls approach. Increasing militarisation in the region poses risks of violent extremism or organised criminality emerging. Growing insecurity will have increasingly adverse effects on economic activities, particularly tourism.

Public Attitudes towards Birds and Private Forest Land Conservation

The eastern United States is dominantd by private forest lands, which are important for supporting a significant proportion of global bird populations. Here, we examine public attitudes towards bird conservation, government involvement in private lands issues, and private forest management objectives with an aim to better understand how these perceptions may shape broader attitudes about bird conservation. Data were collected using psychometric scales and a statewide web survey of the general public in Pennsylvania, USA (n = 656). Findings reveal four unique perspectives about birds and important correlations with conservation support on private lands. Respondents with positive views about landowner assistance programs often had more complex attitudes towards birds and were associated with relational and ethical perspectives about birds. We conclude that future public education efforts might cultivate in learners a more robust understanding of bird conservation if they included private forest lands values and culture in their programs.

How urban forest can support Protected Areas connectivity?

The highly modified urban matrix becomes an inhospitable environment for many species because the natural vegetation fragments are highly fragmented and often isolated in the landscape. Protected Areas (PAs) located closer or within urban areas may not achieve their goal of protecting local or regional biodiversity. Thus, the proposition of ecological corridors aims to connect the PAs, providing the dispersion of species in anthropogenic landscapes. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the PAs connectivity in an urban landscape and understand if urban forest fragments can support their connectivity, generating important information for biodiversity conservation and urban planning. For this, we used models based on Graph Theory to assess the functional connectivity among PAs. The focal species used were Atlantic Forest birds. We used the participatory technique to assess their dispersal capabilities, and this information was used to create a resistance surface map. The focal species movement in the landscape was modeled through Graph Theory. This model evaluated the functional connectivity and extracted the least-cost paths between PAs and other forest fragments that designed the urban ecological network. We identified that few PAs are connected in the urban landscape of Sorocaba city and its surroundings and 28 forest fragments that are important to support the connectivity among PAs. Among these, only four fragments are located within a PA. The other 24 forest fragments located outside PAs should be the center of attention for forest conservation and restoration actions, as they can improve the connectivity between the PAs. Our results show that PAs connectivity in urban landscapes depends on incentives for native vegetation conservation on private lands once most of the important forest fragments for the PAs connectivity are located in these areas. In addition, the restoration of riparian zones is important because they compose a great ecological corridor in the urban landscape. Strategies that increase the permeability of the matrix (e.g., increasing green spaces and gardens) and restoring target fragments are also important. Finally, land-use planning, focusing on natural ecosystem conservation and combating urban sprawl, is necessary to promote PAs connectivity in urban landscapes.

Including Condition into Ecological Maps Changes Everything—A Study of Ecological Condition in the Conterminous United States

In 2021, the Biden administration signed an executive order to protect 30% of American lands by 2030. Accomplishing this ambitious goal in the U.S. requires understanding the relative contribution of public and private lands toward supporting biodiversity. New approaches are needed because existing approaches focus on quantity of habitat without incorporating quality. To fill this need, we developed a 30 m resolution national habitat condition index (HCI) that integrates quality and quantity measures of habitat. We hypothesized that including an evaluation of the quality of habitat at landscape scales, both in conservation-focused preserves and working lands would provide a better assessment of the value of geographies for conservation. We divided the conterminous U.S. by major land cover type and into natural and cultivated lands and then spatially mapped multiple anthropogenic stressors, proximity to aquatic habitat, and vegetation departure from expected natural disturbance regimes. Each map layer was then scored for site impact and distance decay and combined into a final national index. Field observations providing scored relative ecological conditions were used for HCI calibration and validation at both CONUS and regional scales. Finally, we evaluate lands by management (conservation versus working lands) and ownership (public versus private) testing the value of these lands for conservation. While we found regional differences across CONUS, functional habitat was largely independent of protection status: working lands provide clear habitat and other values. These results are relevant for guiding strategies to achieve the U.S. 30 by 30 goals. Where similar data exist in other countries, analogous modeling could be used to meet their national conservation commitments.

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.