Young Forest Conservation Incentive Programs: Explaining Re-Enrollment and Post-program Persistence

Area of Science:

• Conservation science
• Wildlife management
• Environmental policy

Background:

• Private landowners are vital for global conservation efforts.
• Incentive programs engage landowners in voluntary conservation, but post-program outcomes are understudied.
• Landowner motivations, cognitions, and resources influence continued conservation behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess factors influencing landowner intentions to re-enroll or persist with conservation management after participating in U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) young forest programs.
• To test the utility of landowner motivations, cognitions, and resources in explaining continued conservation management.

Main Methods:

• Telephone survey of 102 landowners enrolled in NRCS young forest programs in the eastern United States (January-May 2017).
• Comparison of multiple regression models to identify variables predicting re-enrollment and management persistence intentions.
• Analysis focused on landowner motivations (cost-share, environmental concerns, hunting) and agency trust.

Main Results:

• High agency trust and importance of cost-share, environmental concerns, and hunting predicted higher intentions to re-enroll in NRCS programs.
• Group landowners, those motivated by environmental concerns, and less by cost-share showed higher intentions for management persistence.
• Factors explaining re-enrollment and persistence intentions differed, underscoring the need for separate consideration.

Conclusions:

• Fostering trust through positive program experiences is key to sustained young forest management.
• Recruiting landowners with aligned motivations and resources can encourage continued conservation efforts.
• Conservation programs should consider distinct strategies for re-enrollment versus long-term management persistence.