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To participate or not to participate: a look at landowner participation in voluntary conservation programs from different perspectives

Hall, Brandi Nicole
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406900078

Abstract Details

2004, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Natural Resources.
As they say, there are two sides to every story. Voluntary land conservation programs are no different. This research examines voluntary land conservation programs from both the program agent and landowner point of view. As organizations become more and more dependent on voluntary programs to achieve their objectives, it is important to understand why people participate in these programs in order to continue to attract new participants. In particular, the United States Department of Agriculture offers several voluntary land conservation programs to promote open space maintenance and environmentally sound farming practices. Yet another popular form of voluntary land conservation is the conservation easement offered through government and non¬-government organizations. These programs are the basis for this research. This research posits that participating in a voluntary conservation program is essentially the adoption of an innovation. Theories by both E. M. Rogers and L. A. Brown are considered. Combining these theories provides both a demand and supply side look at adoption of innovations. Additionally, program participation literature is considered. Using a mixture of these theories provides a more complete picture of participating in voluntary conservation programs. Methods of this research include qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey. In-person interviews were conducted with Natural Resources Conservation Service district conservationists. These agents have direct contact with landowners who wish to and do participate in voluntary conservation programs offered through their agency. Open-ended questions were asked to obtain the agents’ point of view on program participation. Additionally, an 1800 subject landowner survey was conducted to obtain the landowner point of view on voluntary conservation programs. One urban and one rural county in each of two states were used as the population from which the survey sample was taken. Analysis focuses on participation as a function of urban proximity. Regression modeling shows that rural landowners participate in more voluntary conservation programs than urban landowners. Similar results were found for landowners’ willingness to participate in voluntary conservation programs. Additionally, landowner views of program agents showed that certain agent characteristics are important to them. However, these are not necessarily the characteristics landowners are seeing at present in their program agents. The agency the agent represents also affects a landowner’s willingness to participate in voluntary conservation programs.
Tomas M. Koontz (Advisor)
Jeff Sharp (Committee Member)
Elena Irwin (Committee Member)
123 p.
Natural Resource Management

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hall, B. N. (2004). To participate or not to participate: a look at landowner participation in voluntary conservation programs from different perspectives [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406900078

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hall, Brandi. To participate or not to participate: a look at landowner participation in voluntary conservation programs from different perspectives. 2004. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406900078.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hall, Brandi. "To participate or not to participate: a look at landowner participation in voluntary conservation programs from different perspectives." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406900078

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1406900078
190
© 2004, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.