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Project Context

Project Context. Develop and establish collaborative processes between private forestland owners and land management agency personnel to sustain ecosystems across the Central Hardwood Region. Project Context.

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Project Context

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  1. Project Context • Develop and establish collaborative processes between private forestland owners and land management agency personnel to sustain ecosystems across the Central Hardwood Region

  2. Project Context • Provide private forestland owners with science-based information with which they can make educated land management decisions

  3. Missouri Study Sites Upper St. Francis and Black River Watersheds Ozark Highland Ecological Section

  4. Black River Watershed St. Francis Watershed USGS Unit: 11010007 Lake area: 4,227 acres Total area: 1,925 sq. miles

  5. Do Fences Really Make Good Neighbors? A Collaborative Ecosystem Stewardship Approach to Private Land Conservation Community Watershed Ecosystem Faren Wolter McCord William B. Kurtz, Ph.D. University of Missouri – Columbia Department of Forestry Funded by USDA Cooperative State Research Extension and Education Service Neighbors

  6. Objective One • Identify private forest landowner characteristics and beliefs that indicate a willingness to work collaboratively with other landowners and natural resource professionals to manage their resources sustainably

  7. Objective Two • Identify and analyze incentives and mechanisms by which private forestland owners may form collaborative land management alliances

  8. Objective Three • Determine if and how the presence of a coordinated private landowner group affects expressed resource management objectives of individual landowners

  9. Methodology • Selection of Study Cells • Research Approach • Collaborative Landowner Group

  10. Study Cells 214 and 215

  11. Research Approach • Interview natural resource professionals working in the focal watershed • Interview all private forestland owners of 8.5ha (20 acres) within the study areas

  12. Collaborative Ecosystem Stewardship Group

  13. Completed Interviews • 13 key informant interviews • Local landowner interviews 4 consented 13 declined 19 not yet reached • Absentee landowner interviews 6 consented 7 declined 9 not yet reached

  14. Preliminary Key Informant Interview Conclusions • Natural resource issues - excessive timber harvesting - compromised water quality • Landowner long-term view of natural resources - very short-term oriented - little land change past 70 years

  15. Preliminary Key Informant Interview Conclusions • Landowner characteristics - independent, self-reliant and very private - trust issues with state and federal government agencies • Landowner willingness to collaborate - capable but not willing

  16. Preliminary Landowner Interview Conclusions • Natural resource issues - no specific concerns - fear more land regulations • Landowner long-term view of natural resources - little natural resource change in their lifetime

  17. Preliminary Landowner Interview Conclusions • Landowner characteristics - long generational attachment to the land - strong distrust and suspicion toward any government agency • Landowner willingness to collaborate - existing informal network

  18. Key Interview Points • Approximately 95% of forestland in the Missouri Ozarks is privately owned • Historically entrenched trust and private property rights issues • Inconsistent land management

  19. Implications • Must contact the landowners through existing social and professional networks • Fostering the development of a collaborative ecosystem stewardship alliance will be challenging

  20. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

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