Michael G. Sorice

Incentive structure of and private landowner participation in an endangered species conservation program.

In the United States, voluntary incentive programs that aid conservation of plant and wildlife species on private lands provide a structural solution to the problem of protecting endangered species by reducing costs and enhancing benefits to landowners. We explored the potential for incentives to encourage landowners to manage land cover for the benefit of endangered songbirds in central Texas (U.S.A.) by asking landowners to indicate their preferences for financial incentives, technical assistance, and regulatory assurances. We identified owners of potential songbird habitat and collected data in face-to-face interviews and self-administered questionnaires. We used a latent-class stated-choice model to identify 3 classes of landowners whose choices varied on the basis of their attitudes and perceived social norms: (1) strong positive attitude, perceived social pressure to participate, and willing to participate with relatively few incentives, (2) weak positive attitude, perceived no social pressure to participate, and required strongest incentives, and (3) negative attitude, perceived social pressure not to enroll, and unwilling to participate regardless of incentive structure. Given this heterogeneity in preferences, conservation incentives may increase management of land cover to benefit endangered species on private lands to some degree; however, exclusive reliance on incentives may be insufficient. Promoting conservation on private lands may be enhanced by integrating incentives into an approach that incorporates other strategies for conservation, including social networks and collaborative processes that reinforce social norms.

Managing Scuba Divers to Meet Ecological Goals for Coral Reef Conservation

Abstract Marine protected areas increasingly are challenged to maintain or increase tourism benefits while adequately protecting resources. Although carrying capacity strategies can be used to cope with use-related impacts, there is little understanding of divers themselves, their management preferences, and how preferences relate to conservation goals. By using a stated preference choice modeling approach, we investigated the choices divers make in selecting diving trips to marine protected areas as defined by use level, access, level of supervision, fees, conservation education, and diving expectations. Logit models showed that divers preferred a more restrictive management scenario over the status quo. Divers favored reductions in the level of site use and increased levels of conservation education. Divers did not favor fees to access protected areas, having less access to the resource, or extensive supervision. Finally, divers were much more willing to accept increasingly restrictive management scenarios when they could expect to see increased marine life.

Managing Endangered Species within the Use/Preservation Paradox: Understanding and Defining Harassment of the West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus)

As the popularity of interacting with marine mammals in the wild increases, managers face the challenge of providing use while simultaneously protecting the target species. Because the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) is protected from harassment by formal legislation, there is some concern regarding manatee encounters in Crystal River, Florida, USA, where tourists swim with the endangered animals. This study examined how the construct of harassment is defined and specifically applied to manatee encounters. Three major themes emerged: stakeholders impose their own values when interpreting formal definitions of harassment; a definition of harassment is difficult to apply in the field; and enforcement efforts are confounded by these and other variables in the setting. Thus, the issue of harassment is not a technical one but largely an issue of social value. Management implications are discussed and a management framework is recommended to find common ground and establish best practices.

Changing landowners, changing ecosystem? Land-ownership motivations as drivers of land management practices.

Motivations for owning rural land are shifting from an agricultural-production orientation to a preference for natural and cultural amenities. Resultant changes in land management have significant implications for the type and distribution of landscape-level disturbances that affect the delivery of ecosystem services. We examined the relationship between motivations for owning land and the implementation of conservation land management practices by landowners in the Southern Great Plains of the United States. Using a mail survey, we classified landowners into three groups: agricultural production, multiple-objective, and lifestyle-oriented. Cross tabulations of landowner group with past, current, and future use of 12 different land management practices (related to prescribed grazing, vegetation management, restoration, and water management) found that lifestyle-oriented landowners were overall less likely to adopt these practices. To the degree that the cultural landscape of rural lands transitions from production-oriented to lifestyle-oriented landowners, the ecological landscape and the associated flow of ecosystem services will likely change. This poses new challenges to natural resource managers regarding education, outreach, and policy; however, a better understanding about the net ecological consequences of lower rates of adoption of conservation management practices requires consideration of the ecological tradeoffs associated with the changing resource dependency of rural landowners.

Exploring Level of Support for Management Restrictions Using a Self-Classification Measure of Recreation Specialization

A single-item composite self-classification measure of recreational specialization is used to examine preferences for increasingly restrictive marine protected area management scenarios. Whether the self-classification measure can accurately classify respondents as casual, active, and committed divers was examined. A questionnaire was sent to 646 scuba divers recruited for the study, and a 78% response rate was obtained. The categories accurately predicted responses to a multiple indicator approach with a high level of replicability. These categories were used to estimate three stated preference models. Results for casual and active divers were as expected, but committed divers were the least favorable toward trip profiles with greater management restrictions. Alternative explanations worthy of future research are identified and discussed.

Exploring Progression along the Recreation Specialization Continuum Using a Latent Growth Approach

In recreation specialization the idea of progression largely has been relegated to an assumption. Fundamental questions about how leisure participants enter and progress through social subworlds remain. We examined panel data over a six-year period to look for evidence of progression among Texas anglers. Similar to previous studies, we were unable to detect forward movement along the specialization continuum. Results revealed strong individual differences in each subdimension of the developmental process. Our study adds to this literature by treating specialization in terms of its underlying subdimensions and by demonstrating latent growth modeling as a viable alternative to repeated measure analyses.

The role of prescribed burn associations in the application of prescribed fires in rangeland ecosystems

Risk and liability concerns regarding fire affect peoples attitudes toward fire and have led to human-induced alterations of fire regimes. This has, in turn, contributed to brush encroachment and degradation of many grasslands and savannas. Efforts to successfully restore such degraded ecosystems at the landscape scale in regions of the United States with high proportions of private lands require the reintroduction of fire. Prescribed Burn Associations (PBA) provide training, equipment, and labor to apply fire safely, facilitating the application of this rangeland management tool and thereby reducing the associated risk. PBAs help build networks and social capital among landowners who are interested in using fire. They can also change attitudes toward fire and enhance the social acceptability of using prescribed fire as a management practice. PBAs are an effective mechanism for promoting the widespread use of prescribed fire to restore and maintain the biophysical integrity of grasslands and savannas at the landscape scale. We report findings of a project aimed at determining the human dimensions of using prescribed fire to control woody plant encroachment in three different eco-regions of Texas. Specifically, we examine membership in PBAs as it relates to land manager decisions regarding the use of prescribed fire. Perceived risk has previously been identified as a key factor inhibiting the use of prescribed fire by landowners. Our results show that perceived constraints, due to lack of skill, knowledge, and access to equipment and membership in a PBAs are more important factors than risk perceptions in affecting landowner decisions about the use of fire. This emphasizes the potential for PBAs to reduce risk perceptions regarding the application of prescribed fire and, therefore, their importance for restoring brush-encroached grasslands and savannas.

Assessing the Role of Recreation Specialization in Fishing Site Substitution

Recreation specialization and site substitution are two distinct lines of research for understanding recreationists’ choices and behaviors. Although theoretically linked by a number of concepts, few studies have explored the predictive relationships from a developmental perspective. Using cross-sectional data from a statewide survey of Texas anglers, this article examined a model in which an anglers site substitution decision is a function of experience preferences, consumptive orientation, and place attachment. It was hypothesized that recreation specialization was indirectly related to site substitution via these concepts. Results supported the notion that as specialization increases, recreationists become place specialists, and agree with the proposition that dependency on a specific resource or site increases as specialization increases. Understanding theoretical and empirical linkages between specialization and site substitution will provide a basis for incorporating information about recreationists and their substitution decisions to provide more meaningful management implications across different situations.

A human-centered framework for innovation in conservation incentive programs

The promise of environmental conservation incentive programs that provide direct payments in exchange for conservation outcomes is that they enhance the value of engaging in stewardship behaviors. An insidious but important concern is that a narrow focus on optimizing payment levels can ultimately suppress program participation and subvert participants’ internal motivation to engage in long-term conservation behaviors. Increasing participation and engendering stewardship can be achieved by recognizing that participation is not simply a function of the payment; it is a function of the overall structure and administration of the program. Key to creating innovative and more sustainable programs is fitting them within the existing needs and values of target participants. By focusing on empathy for participants, co-designing program approaches, and learning from the rapid prototyping of program concepts, a human-centered approach to conservation incentive program design enhances the propensity for discovery of novel and innovative solutions to pressing conservation issues.

Integrating social marketing into sustainable resource management at Padre Island National Seashore: an attitude-based segmentation approach.

High demand for outdoor recreation and increasing diversity in outdoor recreation participants have imposed a great challenge on the National Park Service (NPS), which is tasked with the mission to provide open access for quality outdoor recreation and maintain the ecological integrity of the park system. In addition to management practices of education and restrictions, building a sense of natural resource stewardship among visitors may also facilitate the NPS ability to react to this challenge. The purpose of our study is to suggest a segmentation approach that is built on the social marketing framework and aimed at influencing visitor behaviors to support conservation. Attitude toward natural resource management, an indicator of natural resource stewardship, is used as the basis for segmenting park visitors. This segmentation approach is examined based on a survey of 987 visitors to the Padre Island National Seashore (PAIS) in Texas in 2003. Results of the K-means cluster analysis identify three visitor segments: Conservation-Oriented, Development-Oriented, and Status Quo visitors. This segmentation solution is verified using respondents’ socio-demographic backgrounds, use patterns, experience preferences, and attitudes toward a proposed regulation. Suggestions are provided to better target the three visitor segments and facilitate a sense of natural resource stewardship among them.