Classifying private landowners to improve understanding of management decisions and conservation opportunities in urbanizing forested landscapes

Abstract

Viewed as coupled natural and human systems, urbanizing forested landscapes exhibit fascinating and complex dynamics, where landowner decisions and biophysical processes together influence conservation and development outcomes. To improve understanding of land management decisions and conservation opportunities on private lands in these landscapes, we developed a landowner typology that accounts for heterogeneity among landowners that goes beyond ownership objectives and investigated its usefulness in predicting individual private landowners' stated intentions to implement diverse land management actions. Using survey responses collected from private landowners in two metropolitan areas in Maine, USA, we focused on understanding differences in owners' stated likelihood of implementing four conservation practices (i.e., forest management plan, conservation easement, water quality protection, and wildlife habitat conservation) and three land tenure actions (i.e., land sales and large and small subdivisions). Cluster analysis based on measures of place attachment values, stewardship beliefs, and forest production objectives revealed four distinct landowner classes that, in turn, increased the explanatory power of our predictive models of management intentions. Our findings support consideration of heterogeneity beyond production objectives to improve understanding of landowner decision-making, the design and performance of conservation programs, and engagement with landowners. Adjusting data, analysis, and communication strategies to recognize these multiple motivations of landowners has potential to advance the science and practice of conserving forested landscapes.

Keywords: Forest conservation; Land conservation; Land management; Landowner typology; Landscape planning; Private landowners.