The Experts below are selected from a list of 41676 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Robert K. Grala - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a practice oriented approach to foster private Landowner participation in ecosystem service conservation and restoration at a landscape scale
Ecosystem services, 2020Co-Authors: Sara Mason, Robert K. Grala, Lydia P Olander, Christopher S Galik, Jason S GordonAbstract:Abstract Large landscape conservation planning often requires managers to coordinate with private Landowners, especially in regions like the southern and western U.S. where private Landownership dominates. It is often difficult to design conservation programs that incorporate varying Landowner perceptions, values, and ownership objectives. Simple and transferable methods are needed to inform the design of landscape-scale conservation and restoration programs, and we propose that this can be done by targeting ecosystem services (ES) of interest to private Landowners. Targeting multiple ecosystem benefits can identify areas that provide cost-effective conservation investments. The approach described here consists of three complementary steps: mapping potential ES provision, assessing Landowner interest in these ES, and determining which institutions are most effective for engaging Landowners. We integrate these three streams of information to identify areas where Landowner and conservation priorities align with ES benefits, and where interaction with familiar organizations is likely increase Landowner engagement in conservation practices. Though we applied the approach to a landscape in the U.S., the methods are designed to be transferable to other regions. Creating transferable and replicable methods can help accelerate deployment by conservation and restoration organizations interested in ES and Landowner engagement.
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a stochastic programming model with endogenous uncertainty for incentivizing fuel reduction treatment under uncertain Landowner behavior
European Journal of Operational Research, 2019Co-Authors: Tanveer Hossain Bhuiyan, Maxwell C Moseley, Hugh R Medal, Eghbal Rashidi, Robert K. GralaAbstract:Abstract Reducing the potential damage caused by a wildfire is a problem of significant importance to land and fire managers. Fuel reduction treatment is a well-known method of reducing the risk of fire occurrence and spread on landscapes. However, officials seeking fuel reduction treatments on privately owned lands can only encourage it through incentive programs such as cost-share programs. This research developed a methodology that provides the basis for a decision-making tool to help managers allocate limited cost-share resources among a set of Landowners to maximize wildfire risk reduction by implementing a hazardous fuel reduction treatment. A key feature of the methodology is that it incorporates uncertainty in the Landowners’ decision of whether or not to implement treatment on their lands. The methodology is based on a stochastic programming model with endogenous uncertainty where the probability that a Landowner accepts a cost-share offer to implement a fuel reduction treatment on their land depends on the offer amount. To estimate the probability that a Landowner accepts a given cost-share offer amount, we used a predictive modeling technique to analyze Landowner survey data. The results provide insight about the effects of different cost-share allocation strategies on the expected damage. Numerical experiments show that the risk-based allocation provides up to 37.3% more reduction in damage compared to other strategies that allocate equal cost-share amounts among Landowners. Additionally, the results show that the solution quality is substantially sensitive to changes in the number of resource allocation levels.
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evaluating non industrial private forest Landowner willingness to manage for forest carbon sequestration in the southern united states
Forest Policy and Economics, 2017Co-Authors: Puskar N Khanal, Donald L. Grebner, Stephen C. Grado, Robert K. Grala, Ian A. Munn, James E. HendersonAbstract:Forest carbon sequestration is considered one of the most efficient strategies for climate change mitigation, and forests provide significant carbon storage in the United States. Non-industrial private forest (NIPF) ownership is the dominant ownership group in the southern US, but little is understood about Landowners' willingness to manage forests for carbon sequestration. This study examines NIPF Landowner willingness to delay final timber harvest for additional carbon sequestration despite unknowns about positive or negative impacts to profitability that result from carbon price fluctuations. Survey data from 735 Landowners in the southern United States were used to estimate a probit model analyzing their participation behavior. Landowner willingness to participate in carbon sequestration practices was 55%, 25%, and 16% when such practices were more profitable, revenue neutral or less profitable than timber management only, respectively. Although many Landowners would require a significant monetary incentive to participate in carbon sequestration, others would participate with little or no incentive. Those having recreational goals for their property were the most likely group to participate in carbon sequestration. Management changes (i.e., management plan and verification requirements) and carbon revenue were the two most important determinants of their probability of participation. In summary, this study provides a better understanding of the relationship between Landowner participation and socioeconomic details, sequestration program attributes, attitudes, and behaviors. Designing education, incentive, and assistance programs that align with Landowners' recreational goals would result in a low-cost carbon sequestration policy.
Keith A Olsen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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objective and perceived wildfire risk and its influence on private forest Landowners fuel reduction activities in oregon s usa ponderosa pine ecoregion
International Journal of Wildland Fire, 2014Co-Authors: Paige A Fischer, Susan Charnley, Aland A Ager, Jeffrey D. Kline, Keith A OlsenAbstract:Policymakers seek ways to encourage fuel reduction among private forest Landowners to augment similar efforts on federal and state lands. Motivating Landowners to contribute to landscape-level wildfire protection requires an understanding of factors that underlie Landowner behaviour regarding wildfire. We developed a conceptual framework describing Landowners’ propensity to conduct fuel reduction as a function of objective and subjective factors relating to wildfire risk. We tested our conceptual framework using probit analysis of empirical data from a survey of non-industrial private forest Landowners in the ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) region of eastern Oregon (USA). Our empirical results confirm the conceptual framework and suggest that Landowners’ perceptions of wildfire risk and propensity to conduct fuel treatments are correlated with hazardous fuel conditions on or near their parcels, whether they have housing or timber assets at risk, and their past experience with wildfire, financial capacity for conducting treatments and membership in forestry and fire protection organisations. Our results suggest that policies that increase awareness of hazardous fuel conditions on their property and potential for losses in residential and timber assets, and that enhance social networks through which awareness and risk perception are formed, could help to encourage fuel reduction among private forest Landowners.
Joanna Di Tommaso - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the willingness of non industrial private forest owners to enter california s carbon offset market
Environmental Management, 2017Co-Authors: Erin Clover Kelly, Gregg J Gold, Joanna Di TommasoAbstract:While non-industrial private forest Landowners have a significant amount of forest landholdings in the US, they are underrepresented in the California cap-and-trade market forest offset program. Additional participation could benefit both the market and non-industrial private forest Landowners. We developed a mail questionnaire which served as both a survey instrument and outreach tool about the market. Questions covered forest ownership objectives, Landowners’ future plans for forests, views of climate change, and attitudes and intentions regarding forest carbon offset project development. We sampled from five Northern California counties for a total of 143 usable surveys. Three different groups of Landowners were identified based on their management objectives: amenity (including protecting nature and recreation); legacy (passing land to children and/or maintaining a farm or ranch); and income. Landowner objective groups differed on several key variables, particularly related to potential motivations for joining the market, while all Landowners expressed concerns about protocol requirements. Regardless of ownership objectives, over half expressed that receiving revenue from their forests would be an important motivator to join, though most were unwilling to satisfy protocol requirements, even after learning of the potential benefits of program participation. Thus, participation appears to be limited by the costly and complex project development process, as well as a lack of Landowner awareness. Extending these lessons, we assert that different Landowners may approach payment for ecosystem services programs with different needs, awareness, and motivations, which provide important lessons for those who conduct Landowner outreach and for PES program designers.
Sophia Davidova - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Common Agricultural Policy direct payments and distributional conflicts over rented land within corporate farms in the New Member States
Land Use Policy, 2007Co-Authors: Laure Latruffe, Sophia DavidovaAbstract:This paper aims to investigate whether distributional issues within corporate farms in the New Member States will be exacerbated by the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) direct payments. The paper focuses on the specific impact of the payments on the land rented to the corporate farms by private Landowners. If the latter are not satisfied with the level of rent they receive, they have the option to end their rental contract and withdraw their land from the farm. Before accession to the European Union the Landowners did not have strong incentives to withdraw, as the other opportunities available were not associated with higher returns on land ownership. However, this situation might change as the Landowners can now cash the CAP direct payments themselves, providing they keep their land in good agricultural and environmental condition. Propositions generated by a simple game, representing the negotiations between a corporate farm manager and an individual Landowner about the level of the rent, suggest that the CAP direct payments might induce more rent renegotiations but that overall withdrawals will be infrequent. The results from a survey of Landowners in corporate farms in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic seemed to corroborate these a priori expectations. The investigation of the determinants of Landowners’ intended behaviour showed that what seems to be important in the decision-making is the relationship between Landowners and managers. Those Landowners who have frequent contacts and close relations with the farm are less likely to withdraw.
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CAP direct payments and distributional conflicts over rented land within corporate farms in the New Member States
2006Co-Authors: Laure Latruffe, Sophia DavidovaAbstract:This paper aims to investigate whether distributional issues within corporate farms in the New Member States will be exacerbated by the introduction of the CAP direct payments. The paper focuses on the specific impact of the payments on the land rented to the corporate farms by private Landowners. If the latter are not satisfied with the level of rent they receive, they have the option to end their rental contract and withdraw their land from the farm. Before the accession to the EU the Landowners did not have strong incentives to withdraw, as the other available opportunities were not associated with higher returns on land ownership. However, this situation might change as the Landowners can now cash the direct payments themselves, providing they keep their land in good agricultural and environmental condition. Propositions generated by a simple game, representing the negotiations between a corporate farm manager and an individual Landowner about the level of the rent, suggests that the CAP direct payments might induce more rent renegotiations but that overall withdrawals will be infrequent. The results from a survey of Landowners in corporate farms in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic seemed to corroborate these a priori expectations. The investigation of the determinants of Landowners’ intended behaviour showed that what seems to be important in the decision–making is the relationship between Landowners and managers. Landowners who have frequent contacts and close relations with the farm are less likely to withdraw.
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Viability of corporate farms in the New Member States in the context of CAP direct payments
2006Co-Authors: Laure Latruffe, Sophia DavidovaAbstract:This paper aims to investigate whether distributional issues within corporate farms in the New Member States will be exacerbated by the introduction of the CAP direct payments. The paper focuses on the specific impact of the payments on the land rented to the corporate farms by private Landowners. If the latter are not satisfied with the level of rent they receive, they have the option to end their rental contract and withdraw their land from the farm. Before the accession to the EU the Landowners did not have strong incentives to withdraw, as the other available opportunities were not associated with higher returns on land ownership. However, this situation might change as the Landowners can now cash the direct payments themselves, providing they keep their land in good agricultural and environmental condition. Propositions generated by a simple game, representing the negotiations between a corporate farm manager and an individual Landowner about the level of the rent, suggests that the CAP direct payments might induce more rent renegotiations but that overall withdrawals will be infrequent. The results from a survey of Landowners in corporate farms in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic seemed to corroborate these a priori expectations. The investigation of the determinants of Landowners’ intended behaviour showed that what seems to be important in the decision–making is the relationship between Landowners and managers. Landowners who have frequent contacts and close relations with the farm are less likely to withdraw.
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CAP direct payments and distributional conflicts within corporate farms in the New Member States: a game theory approach focusing on rented land
2005Co-Authors: Laure Latruffe, Sophia DavidovaAbstract:This paper aims to investigate whether distributional issues within corporate farms in the New Member States will be exacerbated by the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) direct payments. The paper focuses on the specific impact of the direct payments on the rent negotiations between corporate farms and private Landowners. If the latter are not satisfied with the level of rent they receive, they have the option to end their rental contract and withdraw their land from the farm. In this paper, game theory is used to model the negotiations between a corporate farm’s manager and a representative Landowner. The model suggests that the CAP direct payments might induce more rent renegotiations, and that the latter will be successful and thus not followed by withdrawals. Results from a survey of thirty-three Landowners in Slovakia and the Czech Republic corroborate these findings. They indicate a potential change in Landowners’ behaviour induced by the introduction of the CAP direct payments, namely that more Landowners intend to renegotiate their rent level in the next five years. All this leads to the conclusion that the CAP support will not result in the quick disappearance of corporate farms.
Jennifer Herrington - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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An evaluation of Landowners' conservation easements on their livelihoods and well-being
Biological Conservation, 2017Co-Authors: Katharine Horton, Heather A. L. Knight, Kathleen A. Galvin, Joshua H. Goldstein, Jennifer HerringtonAbstract:Abstract Private lands protected by conservation easements are crucial in aiding conservation efforts. While most research on measuring conservation efforts has historically been on ecological outcomes of protecting biodiversity, this study aims to measure the social outcomes of the impacts of conservation easements on private Landowners' livelihoods and well-being in Colorado. We conducted 35 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with Landowners who had completed conservation easements with The Nature Conservancy in Colorado. Using qualitative interview data, we analyzed what motivated Landowners to complete conservation easements with TNC and how the conservation easements influenced their well-being. Five dominant themes emerged from the analyses: 1) conservation, 2) financial, 3) legal and process, 4) personal and family, and 5) social and community. Landowner motivations were to protect the ecosystem, prevent development, and financial gain through tax incentives or income. Negative neighbor reactions, time to complete or amend the easement, and tax audits were some challenges experienced. Landowners revealed that community involvement, connections, and networking were unexpected benefits and brought positive change to their life because of easements. The results from this case study can be used to inform conservation strategies that more purposefully incorporate private Landowner experiences with conservation easements in planning to achieve biodiversity and conservation objectives. Coupling ecological conservation outcomes with conservation management practices and at the same time understanding the impact of conservation easements on Landowners' livelihoods and well-being will further advance conservation efforts on private lands in the future.
