Zhao Ma

Challenging the traditional forestry extension model:insights from the Woods Forum program in Massachusetts

Traditional forestry education and outreach activities tend to focus on transfer-of-knowledge, often through workshops initiated and led by professionals to “teach” landowners about forest management and conservation. Less than 10 percent of family forest owners in the US have a management plan, participated in cost-share programs, certified their forest land, or hold a conservation easement, suggesting flaws in this traditional model. Some researchers and practitioners have suggested the need for a paradigm shift away from transfer-of-knowledge to more facilitative, participatory approaches, among which peer learning has gained growing attention and is supported by a number of behavioral theories. By analyzing data from participant feedback of a peer learning pilot program in Massachusetts and a follow-up mail survey, this paper examines the perceived usefulness of peer-to-peer interactions and the effect of peer learning over time. The results suggest peer learning did not only appeal to landowners with forestry background, but also succeeded in attracting inexperienced landowners. Participants rated their peer-to-peer experience positively. The retention of information obtained through the program was reflected by participants’ ability to correctly identify foresters, land trust organizations, and reasonable sources of forestry or land management advice. Participants also shared a strong willingness to spread information obtained through peer learning. This study contributes to the identification of potential barriers to and opportunities for peer learning, informs forestry extension efforts in the US and beyond, and highlights the importance of integrating peer learning into the broader forestry education, technical assistance, and financial incentive programs to increase participation and promote sustainable forest management and conservation.

Water Quality Indices as Tools for Decision Making and Management

Water Quality Indices (WQIs) are composite indicators of water quality that pool together otherwise complex water quality data into an aggregate value that can be quickly and easily communicated to its intended audience. These indices have been used to provide comparisons of water quality status for different locations and at different times, which is helpful in prioritizing management efforts and funds. These WQIs can also be used as tools to predict potentially harmful conditions. They are also potentially valuable in assessing and communicating overall impacts of existing, planned, or proposed water quality interventions and management decisions. This manuscript presents a primarily literature-based look at WQI potentials with regard to their use as tools for decision making and management. Illustrations using monitoring data are also presented to provide additional information and comparisons to literature-based determinations. Of the existing WQIs, objective index formulations offer more flexible options for application allowing incorporation of varying determinant sets to capture location-specific conditions and changing water quality concerns. Incorporation of expert opinion at some level is important for the acceptability of WQIs as tools in water resources management. The use of the indices on a continuous basis provides long-term data which is helpful for decision making and management.

Perceptions of Utah ranchers toward carbon sequestration: policy implications for US rangelands.

Enhanced carbon sequestration is one means to mitigate climate change. Rangelands are arid and semi-arid lands, typified by relatively low and variable levels of net primary productivity, where carbon sequestration might be increased via alterations in land management. Rangelands are vast in size and dominate the land area in the western US and worldwide. It has been estimated that privately owned rangelands in the US could sequester an additional 60 million tons of carbon annually, roughly equal to five percent of the US annual CO(2) emissions. Ranchers are the target population that could implement changes in rangeland management to promote carbon sequestration, but little is known about how they might receive such programs. Therefore, for Utah, we conducted a combined mail and telephone survey of 495 randomly selected ranchers to assess their knowledge of and attitude toward carbon sequestration, possible benefits of carbon sequestration as perceived by ranchers, and factors influencing their likelihood of participating in carbon sequestration programs. Overall, despite that 70 percent of respondents had little or no self-reported knowledge about carbon sequestration, 63 percent had negative views about it. Ranchers reporting the most knowledge also tended to have the most negative attitudes. The least important benefit that might accrue to ranchers from carbon sequestration was seen as climate change mitigation, while the most important benefit was improved land stewardship. Only four percent of respondents indicated an unconditional willingness to participate in carbon sequestration programs, but 71 percent could be interested depending on new information received. Before carbon sequestration programs are developed for rangelands, further research is needed to clarify why more knowledge of carbon sequestration can lead to greater skepticism of relevant programs. We respect this finding, as it may be based on well-founded rancher concerns such as technical or administrative efficacy. If such concerns can be overcome, extension efforts should be tailored to emphasize the ecological merits of carbon sequestration for rangeland management, which will facilitate the ability of ranchers to achieve their personal goals.

Climate change adaptation: factors influencing Chinese smallholder farmers’ perceived self-efficacy and adaptation intent

Understanding how individuals perceive their ability to adapt to climate change is critical to understanding adaptation decision-making. Drawing on a survey of 483 smallholder farmer households in the Loess Plateau region of China, we examine the factors that shape smallholder farmer perceptions of their ability to adapt to climate change and their stated intent to do so. We apply a proportional odds ordered logistic regression model to identify the role that determinants of adaptive capacity play in shaping smallholders’ perceived self-efficacy and adaptation intent. Our study provides further evidence that self-efficacy beliefs are a strong, positive predictor of adaptation intent. Our study suggests that human capital, information and technology, material resources and infrastructure, wealth and financial capital, and institutions and entitlements all play an important role in shaping smallholder perceived self-efficacy, while state-society dependencies may reduce smallholder perceived self-efficacy. In addition, our study suggests that perceiving climate change risks and impacts do not necessarily lead to an intention to adapt. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of incorporating both the objective determinants of smallholders’ adaptive capacity and their subjective perceptions of these objective determinants into future climate change adaptation programs and policies in order to facilitate adaptive actions. Identifying factors that cause individuals to have a low estimation of their adaptive ability may allow planned adaptation interventions to address these perceived limitations and encourage adaptive behavior.

Barriers to and opportunities for effective cumulative impact assessment within state-level environmental review frameworks in the United States

In the US, relatively little research has been done in recent years to inform the development and implementation of cumulative impact assessment (CIA) policy. Past studies have primarily focused on the requirements and practices of the National Environmental Policy Act, but little is known about the challenges and opportunities relating to CIA practices at the state level. By analysing data from a national survey of state environmental review programme administrators, this study identified the inability of state programmes to facilitate CIA practices as a major barrier to effective implementation, particularly reflected by the perceived lack of explicit procedures and data for conducting CIA. Important strategies for improvement included adopting detailed guidelines specifying what to include in an assessment and developing institutional mechanisms to encourage state agency co-ordination. Some differences in perception were observed across programmes due to the different types of state-level environmental review frameworks within which cumulative impacts are assessed. In addition, administrators from programmes without CIA requirements seemed to overestimate the cost and time needed to implement CIA. Changing their perception may contribute to the adoption of CIA procedures in these states.

Characterising the landscape of state environmental review policies and procedures in the United States: a national assessment

Following the intent of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, many states have adopted policies and procedures directing state agencies and local government units to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of development projects prior to their undertaking. In contrast to a rich literature on federal requirements, current understanding of state environmental review is narrowly focused and outdated. This paper seeks to provide information on the landscape of state environmental review policy frameworks. The paper identifies 37 states with formal environmental review requirements through a document review of state statutes, administrative rules and agency-prepared materials, and confirms this finding through a survey of state administrators. A two-tier classification is used to distinguish states based on the approach taken to address environmental review needs and the scope and depth of relevant policies and procedures implemented. This paper also provides a discussion of policy and programme attributes that may contribute to effective practice, and of the potential for adopting relevant legislation in states where environmental review is currently lacking.

Extending a Geographic Lens Towards Climate Justice, Part 2: Climate Action

There has been a recent increase of interest within the academic literature on the justice issues posed by climate change and the human responses to its present and forecasted effects. In two parts (here and in a previous article), we review and synthesize the recent literature by asking what climate justice concerns have been identified within three related realms: (i) the characterization of climate change itself and the assignment of responsibility for that change; (ii) the differential or uneven impacts of climate change; and (iii) the actions taken to address the problems associated with climate change, including both mitigation and adaptation. Here in Part 2, we focus on the justice concerns of climate action, examining the scholarship on climate change mitigation mechanisms formulated at the international level (i.e., REDD , CDM) and climate change adaptation projects and finance. We argue that geographers are well-positioned to conduct (and already well engaged in) research on the local climate justice paradoxes emerging from the currently uncritical focus of climate action policy on justice at the level of the national state.

Climate-Change Communication Within Public Natural Resource Agencies: Lessons Learned From the U.S. Forest Service

ABSTRACT By analyzing interview and survey data from U.S. Forest Service employees, we examined the strategies used for communicating about climate change within the agency and their effectiveness from the perspective of agency employees. We found a limited awareness among employees regarding climate policy. We found that horizontal information flow through informal social networks was an important way in which climate-change information was communicated. We also found a lack of confidence among employees in their ability to provide feedback to agency leadership. Our results suggest that (1) agency leadership’s ability to set priorities and deliver positive vision is important for increasing employee awareness and inspiring actions, (2) the agency could play a role in facilitating formal and informal networking among employees, and (3) using advanced information technologies may contribute to information flow horizontally and vertically, formally and informally.

Water Management Decision Making in the Face of Multiple Forms of Uncertainty and Risk

In the Wasatch Range Metropolitan Area of Northern Utah, water management decision makers confront multiple forms of uncertainty and risk. Adapting to these uncertainties and risks is critical for maintaining the long-term sustainability of the regions water supply. This study draws on interview data to assess the major challenges climatic and social changes pose to Utahs water future, as well as potential solutions. The study identifies the water management adaptation decision-making space shaped by the interacting institutional, social, economic, political, and biophysical processes that enable and constrain sustainable water management. The study finds water managers and other water actors see challenges related to reallocating water, including equitable water transfers and stakeholder cooperation, addressing population growth, and locating additional water supplies, as more problematic than the challenges posed by climate change. Furthermore, there is significant disagreement between water actors over how to best adapt to both climatic and social changes. This study concludes with a discussion of the path dependencies that present challenges to adaptive water management decision making, as well as opportunities for the pursuit of a new water management paradigm based on soft-path solutions. Such knowledge is useful for understanding the institutional and social adaptations needed for water management to successfully address future uncertainties and risks.

Human–Carnivore Interactions: Lessons Learned from Communities in the American West

Types, causes, and intensity of human–carnivore interactions are related to historical context, management policy, and human perception. We used four rural communities in the American West with varying histories and management policies to assess the complexities of human–carnivore interactions and to determine factors influencing individual willingness to coexist with carnivores. By analyzing focus group and interview data from 49 community members, we found that human perceptions towards carnivores and their management were influenced by self-perceived knowledge about carnivores, ability to be heard and have a voice in management decisions, and economic concerns rather than ecological factors. Willingness to coexist with carnivores and to adopt adaptive management were related to past carnivore experience and broader management policy frameworks. Our results suggest a need to better understand how different stakeholders interpret scientific information, what strategies can facilitate effective communication among stakeholders, and what makes stakeholders feel treated justly when human–carnivore conflicts occur.