Geology topics

Lily A. Sweikert

Publications and source records attributed to Lily A. Sweikert.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2020

Minnesota landowners’ trust in their department of natural resources, salient values similarity and wildlife value orientations

Due to extensive land conversion over the last century, much of the native prairie pothole ecosystem has been converted to agricultural or other human uses. The prairie pothole ecosystem is found in the northern plains of Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana. Because most of the land in this region is privately owned and used for agricultural production, most impacts to wildlife habitat are the result of decisions by individual landowners. Landowner trust in natural resource management agencies is important for agencies to effectively accomplish their mission. We measured the nature (competence and fairness) and level of trust that western Minnesota landowners have in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MnDNR) and landowners’ wildlife value orientations (WVO). Landowners rated MnDNR slightly higher in competence than fairness; however, these two dimensions were strongly correlated. We developed a MnDNR trust scale (six items) and a three-cluster model dividing landowners along the MnDNR trust scale, which we named Negative (28%), Neutral (43%), and Positive (29%). We provide evidence supporting the salient values similarity (SVS) model that states people have trust in agencies holding similar values; landowners reporting greater importance for wildlife consideration when making land-use decisions also reported greater trust in the MnDNR. In addition, mutualist landowners had the highest trust in the MnDNR and utilitarian landowners the lowest level of trust, which is opposite of the trust relationship reported for the general public with state wildlife agencies. Based on the SVS model, our results suggest that mutualist landowners perceive greater congruence with MnDNR goals related to wildlife habitat compared to utilitarian landowners.

Minnesota↗

USGS2019

Wildlife value orientation of landowners from five states in the upper midwest, USA

Five Upper Midwest states (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa) participated in a Plains and Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative (PPP-LCC) funded survey of landowners. All five surveys included a 13-item wildlife value orientation (WVO) scale to provide insight into how landowners in this region make land use decisions that affect wildlife habitat. Most landowners were utilitarian (59%), 11% were identified as mutualists, and pluralists and distanced landowners were 15% each. Pluralist and mutualist landowners placed more importance on wildlife considerations when making land use decisions compared to utilitarian and distanced landowners. However, landowners’ WVO was not related to their participation in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Bill conservation programs. The proportion of WVO types among landowners varied considerably by age cohort. The proportion of utilitarians was highest for landowners born during the 1970s age cohorts and has since declined.

Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dako↗

USGS2019

Understanding conservation decisions of agriculture producers

Most land in the United States (US) is privately owned and used for agriculture. To address the effect of agriculture on wildlife, conservation professionals and organizations need to understand the land use decisions made by farmers and ranchers. We developed a tool for categorizing farmers and ranchers by their conservation land use values (LUVs) to understand how those values affect their land use motivations and resultant decisions. We defined land as the whole natural environment including soil, water, plants, fish, and wildlife. We used principal axis factoring and reliability analysis to identify statements representing human-centered values and nature-centered values of farmers and ranchers. We tested the validity of the combined statements with a survey of South Dakota’s private landowners (N = 4,000, [Jan through May 2016]) resulting in the LUV scale. Crossing the average scores on the human-centered and nature-centered statements identified 4 LUV types: humans first (20%), nature first (29%), interconnected (29%), and disconnected (22%). Analysis of variance and chi-square tests showed that, compared to the humans first and disconnected LUV types, the nature first and interconnected LUV types reported significantly greater importance of the following: most categories of types of wildlife in their land use decisions; conservation-related motivations for participating in a United States Farm Bill Conservation Program; conservation-related motivations for land use decisions; and participation in conservation-related behaviors. Conservation professionals and organizations may use the LUV scale to better understand landowners’ land use decisions to evaluate and inform conservation policy, programs, messaging, and improve conservation outcomes.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗

USGS2019

Evaluating the role of Farm Bill conservation program participation in conserving America’s grasslands

Grasslands are one of the most imperiled ecosystems in the world and the majority of the grassland ecosystem in the United States is privately owned and used for agriculture. Conversion of grasslands to row crops is expanding, fueled by commodity price increases, technological improvements, and agricultural policy. The U.S. government primarily uses voluntary incentive-based conservation programs to address the environmental impacts of agriculture and encourage conservation on private land. To investigate the utility of these programs to conserve grasslands, we surveyed private landowners in the Plains and Prairie Pothole Ecoregion (PPPE), one of America’s most at-risk grassland areas, about their land use, environmental attitudes and values, and reasons for or against participating in a Farm Bill conservation program. Agricultural landowners with large land holdings, who value hunting, and have positive environmental values, attitudes, and behaviors, were more likely to participate in a program. Financial considerations and a desire for autonomy limited participation. While program participants had less land in grass than nonparticipants and were more likely to convert planted grass to row crops and/or remove wetlands, they were also less likely to convert virgin sod to row crops. These findings signal the need for additional research and tools other than FBCPs to conserve the PPPE grasslands.

Land Use Policy↗

USGS2019

Age, succesion planning & wildlife values of Upper Midwest landowners

It is well known that farmers are getting older; in the United States the average age of farmers is 58.3 years old and the rate of increase in age is accelerating. The average farmer age increased 10 years from 47.6 years old to 57.1 in a four year period (2003-2007). It is not necessarily a problem that farmers are getting older because farmers often retire later than workers in other parts of the labor force. The concern is that aging farmers are not being replaced by younger farmers since start-up costs have become insurmountable for many beginning farmers. Consequently, the age distribution of farmers has become highly skewed towards the older end of the spectrum. All the projections call for a massive transfer of land in the next decade which can have significant consequences as well as opportunities for wildlife management. For example, paid conservation programs may be especially attractive to older farmers who do not want to quit farming “cold turkey” by providing income for enrolling some land in these programs as well as reduce their work load. Our surveys of landowners in North Dakota, South Dakota and western Minnesota included questions asking landowners about their future plans for their land when they are no longer able to run their farm/ranch. About 54% of the landowners do not have any plans to change the size of their operations in the next 10 years, about 7% plan to decrease their operations and 31% plan to increase (8% undecided). These findings were strongly related to landowner age and current size of their farm/ranch. Most landowners (55%) have a strong desire to pass their farm/ranch operations on to family members and most (63%) were interested in conservation programs that would allow family members to continue with current farming/ranching operations. Most landowners’ future plans were not related to landowners’ land use and wildlife values, but for a small subset of landowners, land use and wildlife values were related to their succession plans.

Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota↗

USGS2018

A values-based private landowner typology to improve grassland conservation initiatives

Many conservation initiatives are based on natural science alone, despite an extensive body of literature demonstrating that the incorporation of social science generates more successful and lasting outcomes. The Land Use Value (LUV) scale is an example of a social science tool that grassland conservation practitioners can use to improve their understanding of the land use decisions of private agricultural landowners. Drawing on data from a mail survey, we demonstrated the utility of the LUV scale to segment agricultural producers by four LUV types (Humans First, Nature First, Interconnected, and Disconnected) with significantly different motivations and land use behaviors. This information can be used to evaluate and align grassland conservation practices, policies, and messaging with the LUV types of private agricultural landowners. Tools like the LUV scale are critical to building the social science capacity of conservation professionals and organizations, in order to improve the efficacy of conservation initiatives.

Society and Natural Resources↗