Collaborative Conservation in the Great Plains: Opportunities and Barriers for Cross-Property Private-lands Management

Collaborative Conservation in the Great Plains: Opportunities and Barriers for Cross-Property Private-lands Management

Summary

This mixed-methods study began with interviews of 11 ranchers in three states. Interviews focused on opinions of different management strategies that would encourage landscape-scale management for habitat heterogeneity. I transcribed each of these interviews, which resulted in 131 pages of single-spaced textual data. These data were analyzed through a thematic analysis, and the following six themes emerged: wildlife, love for prairies, need for control, neighborly relations, purposeful versus poor management, and sharing experiences. These themes were used to help develop the quantitative survey, which will be sent to nearly 3000 ranchers across Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota in 2016.

Objectives/Performance Targets

The first objective of this study has been met through the qualitative interview process, although the specific focus has been altered slightly to better reflect the need to understand ranchers’ opinions of habitat heterogeneity prior to engaging them in discussions on how to manage for heterogeneity across landscapes. The second objective is in process currently, with the development of the survey taking place in December 2015. The survey was mailed to ranchers in February 2016 after completing scale development and pilot testing.

Accomplishments/Milestones

1. Complete: Interviews were completed in September 2015, and transcriptions were completed soon thereafter.
2. Complete: Preliminary thematic analysis of interview data was completed in December 2015.
3. Complete: Survey development (designing a new scale for assessing attitudes about habitat heterogeneity and landscape management).
4. In process: Implementation of survey in the Northern Great Plains.
5. To be completed: Data analysis and dissemination of results to ranchers and other relevant audiences through extension publications.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

This research will benefit producers in the North Central Region by creating a better understanding of their needs, and how conservationists and ranchers can work together to create space for declining wildlife populations. Many of the ranchers I spoke with appreciate wildlife. What they don’t appreciate is having conservationists talking at them without a good grounding in the needs of ranching or concerns of ranchers. Ranchers’ lamented that conservationists often act and speak as though conservationists know best, but ranchers need to make a living and are certain that wildlife and beef production can coexist. When we understand ranchers’ attitudes and beliefs about habitat heterogeneity and wildlife, and how personal characteristics and management strategies contribute to these beliefs and intended behaviors, we can start to create conservation and outreach programs that speak better to ranchers. This research is the first step to better engagement of the ranchers who manage millions of acres of private rangeland in the Northern Great Plains.

Collaborators: