Landowners' cognitions and motivations coupled with practice durability influence persistence in grazing agricultural conservation practices in southwest Virginia

Joshua B. Mouser; Ashley A. Dayer; Serena Ciparis; Sara Bottenfield; Paul L. Angermeier

doi:10.1111/csp2.70201

Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70273665

Landowners' cognitions and motivations coupled with practice durability influence persistence in grazing agricultural conservation practices in southwest Virginia

Joshua B. Mouser·Ashley A. Dayer·Serena Ciparis·Sara Bottenfield·Paul L. Angermeier

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Agricultural conservation practices are often used to protect stream health while continuing food production. However, recovery of stream health is often not as rapid or extensive as planned. The efficacy of practices may be improved by promoting their continued use by landowners (i.e., persistence) after cost-share contracts with government agencies end. Persistence rates and their drivers are typically unknown. Therefore, we mail-surveyed 889 landowners to understand persistence in grazing practices in southwest Virginia. Survey responses were analyzed quantitatively using logistic regression and qualitatively via coding. We found that persistence rates for vegetative practices, cattle-exclusion fencing, off-stream watering structures, and pasture management were 74%, 84%, 94%, and 94%, respectively. Both the quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that landowner cognitions (i.e., attitudes toward practices, environment, and agencies), environmental motivations, and practice durability influence persistence. Our results highlight that persistence could be encouraged by: (1) providing targeted messaging that demonstrates persistence benefits and aligns with landowners' motivations, (2) ensuring that responsibility to maintain practices is transferred during land-tenure changes, and (3) allocating more agency funding to practice maintenance.

Explore related subjects

Conservation Science and Practice Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 36.538485100358656° to 37.15010067210214° latitude; -83.04433182206326° to -81.74021235758092° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Joshua B. Mouser, Ashley A. Dayer, Serena Ciparis, Sara Bottenfield, Paul L. Angermeier. 2025-12-29. Landowners' cognitions and motivations coupled with practice durability influence persistence in grazing agricultural conservation practices in southwest Virginia. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70201

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2026

Restoring elk in Minnesota: Landowner support for restoring an elk population

Public support is critical to successfully restore wildlife populations and avoid future human–wildlife conflict. We used a structural equation model (SEM) to analyze 2550 survey responses from landowners in northeast Minnesota to examine the influence of four psychological constructs on support for restoring a wild, free-ranging elk ( Cervus canadensis ) population in the region. Our model included perceived risk from elk, social trust in the state wildlife agency, perceived personal control over impacts from elk, and attitudes toward elk. Perceived risk, perceived personal control, and social trust each had a direct, significant impact on attitudes toward elk. Attitudes had a significant, direct effect on support for restoring elk, and perceived risk had a significant, indirect effect on support. Our model explained 66% of variability in support for restoring an elk population and 50% of variability in attitudes toward elk. We found abundant support among landowners to restore an elk population in northeast Minnesota, but continued effort will be necessary to maintain support when elk restoration occurs. Our findings in northeast Minnesota suggest messaging should focus on helping landowners cope with potential threats through improving their trust in the state wildlife agency (i.e., social trust) and ability to avoid negative outcomes from an elk population (i.e., personal control).

northeast Minnesota↗

USGS2026

Adaptive capacity of alpine fauna in Australia

Climate change is leading to rapid and unprecedented changes to Australia's alpine ecosystems. The impacts of these changes at a species level are not fully understood, making it challenging to holistically assess the impacts of a changing climate in these ecosystems. To address this gap, we combine a literature review with expert opinion to conduct individual adaptive capacity analyses for 29 species of Australia's alpine animals. We conduct these analyses using a published framework which encompasses key themes, such as life history, capacity for movement, genetic variation, and distribution. Our results highlight diversity in the adaptive capacity of Australia's alpine animals and suggest that climate change will impact even closely related species in surprisingly disparate ways. Our study also provides an example of how to overcome perceived data deficiency and support conservation practitioners with what is known. We have created an important resource for land managers in Australia's Alps that systematically integrates diverse data to provide insight into the mechanisms behind the vulnerability of some of Australia's most threatened species to climate change. The evidence this study collates should be considered in conservation planning to ensure species-level natural history information is included in decisions about management actions to mitigate climate change impacts.

Conservation Science and Practice↗

USGS2026

What we know about wildlife outcomes of the conservation reserve program: A meta-analysis

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is one of the most extensive private-land conservation programs in the United States, aimed at mitigating habitat loss and supporting biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Individual studies of CRP effects on wildlife report mixed results, necessitating a comprehensive synthesis. We conducted a meta-analysis and vote-counting assessment of 96 studies (1009 case studies, i.e., individual analyses of a wildlife response to a CRP predictor variable) to evaluate effects on wildlife density, occurrence, reproduction, habitat use, and species diversity. Formal meta-analyses were performed for wildlife density and avian nest success. We found CRP generally benefited wildlife, with vote counting indicating positive effects in 32% of all comparisons (i.e., including comparisons to any type of non-CRP land) and in 64% of comparisons to cropland. Formal meta-analysis indicated avian nest success was significantly higher on CRP lands compared to non-CRP lands, but CRP enrollment did not consistently increase wildlife density, likely due to species-specific and ecological factors we did not account for. The literature was strongly biased toward birds (90% of case studies), with limited research on mammals, invertebrates, amphibians, and reptiles. High heterogeneity in effect sizes suggests that variation in conservation practices, study methodologies, and ecological contexts plays a critical role in shaping measured wildlife responses to CRP. Our results demonstrate CRP provides important benefits to wildlife, particularly by enhancing avian reproductive success. However, variation in wildlife effects highlights the need for studies that incorporate more detailed information on CRP management practices and increased research on non-avian taxa. Addressing these gaps may provide additional information allowing for the implementation of improved conservation strategies and maximize CRP's ecological benefits in agricultural landscapes.

Conservation Science and Practice↗