Digital Video in the Classroom: Communication Skills for Future Natural Resource Professionals

The Natural Resource Communications course in Oregon State University’s College of Forestry is designed to provide students with the skills to be effective members of a resource organization and techniques for working in the public arena. The course focuses on teamwork and group dynamics, meeting management skills, public relations, interpretation, and public education and outreach. The course has been incorporating student digital video production as a capstone experience synthesizing these skills into a tangible product

Public Priorities for Rangeland Management: A Regional Survey of Citizens in the Great Basin

Healthy sagebrush communities in the Great Basin are rapidly disappearing due to invasion of non-native plants, catastrophic wildfires, and encroachment of pinyon-juniper woodlands. Land management options, including the use of prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, and herbicides can reduce the potential for wildfire and restore healthy plant communities. Public acceptance of management actions is a critical component of developing and implementing successful long-term land management plans. This study examined citizens\u27 opinions and perceptions about rangeland management in the Great Basin

Acceptance, Acceptability, and Trust for Sagebrush Restoration Options in the Great Basin: A Longitudinal Perspective

In surveys of residents in three urban and three rural locations in the Great Basin we examined the social acceptability of six management practices showing promise for restoring sagebrush-dominated rangelands. Unlike most studies of range management perceptions that have relied on single measurements, we used longitudinal data from a questionnaire mailed in 2006 to residents that were resurveyed in 2010. Overall, 698 respondents comprised the panel. Respondents\u27 self-reported levels of knowledge about the health and management of Great Basin rangelands decreased from 2006 to 2010. In both years, mean acceptance was greater for the use of prescribed fire, grazing, felling, and mowing, but relatively low for chaining and herbicide use. Overall, acceptability ratings were similar in 2006 and 2010 but individually about half of the acceptance responses differed between years. Practices were more acceptable to respondents who expressed greater concern about threats posed by inaction, except that the threat of wildfire was negatively associated with acceptance for prescribed burning. Acceptance was not significantly related to concern about overall health of Great Basin rangelands, or to self-reported knowledge level. Rural/urban residence and general attitudes toward environmental protection were sometimes influential, but more so in 2006 than in 2010. By far the best predictor of acceptance was trust in agencies\u27 ability to implement the practice. In both years respondents were more likely to judge a practice acceptable than to trust agencies to use the practice. Positive or negative change in trust level was the most significant predictor of change in acceptability judgment from 2006 to 2010. Results suggest that efforts to increase acceptance of practices among Great Basin stakeholders should focus on activities designed to build trust rather than simply providing more or better information

Social Science at the Wildland-Urban Interface: A Compendium of Research Results to Create Fire-Adapted Communities

Over the past decade, a growing body of research has been conducted on the human dimensions of wildland fire. Building on a relatively small number of foundational studies, this research now addresses a wide range of topics including mitigation activities on private lands, fuels reduction treatments on public land, community impacts and resident behaviors during fire, acceptance of approaches to postfire restoration and recovery, and fire management policy and decisionmaking. As this research has matured, there has been a recognition of the need to examine the full body of resulting literature to synthesize disparate findings and identify lessons learned across studies. These lessons can then be applied to fostering fire-adapted communities—those communities that understand their risk and have taken action to mitigate their vulnerability and increase resilience. This compendium of social science research findings related to fire-adapted communities has resulted from a project funded by the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP). As part of these efforts, the research team reviewed more than 200 publications of research results. Then the team convened a workshop with 16 scientists with extensive experience in the human dimensions of fire management issues. Workshop participants evaluated collective findings and discussed their application to support fire management activities. In addition to this compendium, project outputs were: 1) a synthesis of published literature specific to eight management questions identified by the JFSP, 2) a list of future research needs, 3) a bibliography, including abstracts, with accompanying subject area guide, and 4) a video featuring the experiences of agency personnel and community leaders in successful collaborative fire planning settings. This video is accompanied by a field guide for use by agency managers to more effectively participate in building fire-safe communities. In the sections that follow, we describe our approach to completing this review and present key findings from the literature. Our discussion is organized around five major topical areas: 1) homeowner/community mitigation, 2) public acceptance of fuels treatments on public lands, 3) homeowner actions during a fire, 4) postfire response and recovery, and 5) wildland fire policy and planning. The compendium concludes with a presentation of management implications and a bibliography of all material in this review

Interest group evaluations of ecological, social, and management criteria for wilderness campsites

Extensive use of wilderness campsites has caused resource deterioration in numerous backcountry locations. Resource managers are responsible for maintaining natural wilderness-like conditions in these areas and providing opportunities for the public to use and enjoy them. This requires that realistic standards for resource impacts be determined and that publicly supported management programs be implemented. This study examines six interest group evaluations of selected criteria for wilderness campsites to help identify ecological and social impact norms and establish appropriate management policies. Two papers are presented in this thesis to address these subjects. The first explores group norms for bare ground and fire ring impacts. Little research has been previously conducted on the norms of organized groups for ecological impacts. This study evaluates normative data and compares similarities and differences among groups. Results indicate that for most groups, all but the most severe impact levels were acceptable. While certain differences exist, agreement rates allow some consolidation of groups for evaluation purposes. Findings also imply that other campsite attributes may be more important to users than the presence of ecological impacts. The second paper examines the role of ecological and social attributes in the campsite selection process and assesses interest group support for management policies which could be implemented to keep impacts within acceptable limits. Results suggest a low level of concern over ecological attributes and that social factors or other campsite features are more important than the condition of the site itself. It appears visitors will continue to camp on impacted sites to achieve other objectives, and continued demand for these sites may make rehabilitation difficult. Visitor support for increased management action was high overall. Findings suggest user groups support controls for site improvement (e.g. closing sites for recovery), as well as management actions which regulate wilderness access (e.g. requiring a permit). Controls on types of uses inside the wilderness (e.g. limiting the use of campfires) were supported at lower levels

Management implications of displacement and product shift : longitudinal research on the Rogue River

While resource managers often rely on feedback from recreation users on which to base long-term decisions, displacement (when users dissatisfied with crowding or resource impacts move on to more remote sites) and product shift (users respond to increased densities by changing their definition of the recreation experience) are viewed as elements which may confound the reliability of this information. Concerned that these processes may obscure broad social and environmental changes that occur over time, researchers have sought to explain contributory factors. However, single study cross-sectional research makes it difficult to measure impacts on the changing user. Instead, longitudinal research has a greater capacity to determine specific reasons for displacement and to analyze the factors contributing to product shift. This thesis uses findings from longitudinal research (one 14-year panel study and two successive cross-sectional studies) to examine displacement and product shift among floaters on the Wild and Scenic Rogue River in Southwest Oregon. Displacement results largely supported five hypotheses: (1) on-site social, resource, and management factors are displacers, (2) external influences that are out of managerial control can cause use to be discontinued or decreased, (3) individual visitor characteristics influence succession-displacement decisions and are useful as indicators, (4) the river's permit system is an involuntary displacer and fosters alternative strategies for running the river, and (5) users employ behavioral coping mechanisms to avoid encounters. Previous product shift research suggests that as use levels increase (1) visitors will cognitively adjust their experience definitions rather than become dissatisfied, (2) perceived crowding will not change, (3) encounter norms will increase to accommodate additional contacts, and (4) satisfaction will remain high. Findings generally supported the hypotheses, although several incongruities exposed by the panel data suggest that there may be limits on product shift assumptions. Long-term repeat visitors did not shift their encounter norms and their satisfaction ratings decreased over the 14-year study period. In addition to the research findings, benefits of using the longitudinal methodology and implications for management are discussed

Acceptance, Acceptability, and Trust for Sagebrush Restoration Options in the Great Basin: A Longitudinal Perspective

In surveys of residents in three urban and three rural locations in the Great Basin we examined the social acceptability of six management practices showing promise for restoring sagebrush-dominated rangelands. Unlike most studies of range management perceptions that have relied on single measurements, we used longitudinal data from a questionnaire mailed in 2006 to residents that were resurveyed in 2010. Overall, 698 respondents comprised the panel. Respondents' self-reported levels of knowledge about the health and management of Great Basin rangelands decreased from 2006 to 2010. In both years, mean acceptance was greater for the use of prescribed fire, grazing, felling, and mowing, but relatively low for chaining and herbicide use. Overall, acceptability ratings were similar in 2006 and 2010 but individually about half of the acceptance responses differed between years. Practices were more acceptable to respondents who expressed greater concern about threats posed by inaction, except that the threat of wildfire was negatively associated with acceptance for prescribed burning. Acceptance was not significantly related to concern about overall health of Great Basin rangelands, or to self-reported knowledge level. Rural/urban residence and general attitudes toward environmental protection were sometimes influential, but more so in 2006 than in 2010. By far the best predictor of acceptance was trust in agencies' ability to implement the practice. In both years respondents were more likely to judge a practice acceptable than to trust agencies to use the practice. Positive or negative change in trust level was the most significant predictor of change in acceptability judgment from 2006 to 2010. Results suggest that efforts to increase acceptance of practices among Great Basin stakeholders should focus on activities designed to build trust rather than simply providing more or better information.Keywords: public perceptions, mail survey, fuels reduction, wildfire ris

Public Acceptance of Wildland Fire and Fuel Management: Panel Responses in Seven Locations

Wildland fire affects both public and private resources throughout the United States. A century of fire suppression has contributed to changing ecological conditions and accumulated fuel loads. Managers have used a variety of approaches to address these conditions and reduce the likelihood of wildland fires that may result in adverse ecological impacts and threaten communities. Public acceptance is a critical component of developing and implementing successful management programs. This study examines the factors that influence citizen support for agency fuel reduction treatments over time—particularly prescribed fire and mechanical vegetation removal. This paper presents findings from a longitudinal study examining resident beliefs and attitudes regarding fire management and fuels treatments in seven states: Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The study was implemented in two phases over a 6-year period using mail surveys to residents of communities adjacent to federal lands in each location. Questions replicated measures from the original project as well as some new items to allow a more in-depth analysis of key concepts. The study design enables comparisons over time as well as between locations. We also assess the factors that influence acceptance of both prescribed fire and mechanical vegetation removal. Findings demonstrate a relative stability of attitudes toward fuels management approaches over time and suggest that this acceptance is strongly influenced by confidence in resource managers and beliefs that the treatments would result in positive outcomes.Keywords: Wildland fire management, Public acceptance, Fuels reductio

Policy tools to encourage community-level defensible space in the United States: A tale of six communities

Within the wildland-urban interface (WUI), wildfire risk contains both individual and collective components. The likelihood that a particular home will be threatened by wildfire in any given year is low, but at a broader scale the likelihood that a home somewhere in the WUI will be threatened is substantially higher. From a risk mitigation perspective, individuals may take a number of actions to reduce risk exposure, but their risk is lowered even further when neighboring properties also take mitigation measures. Collectively, risk mitigation on individual properties lowers both individual and community-level risk. Multiple factors contribute to whether or not an individual will take action to reduce their risk; when an individual opts to not implement risk mitigation measures that would be beneficial from a community standpoint, community leaders can use a variety of policy tools to encourage the individual to adopt an action or change their behavior. As proposed by Schneider and Ingram in 1990, these include passing rules or regulations, building capacity, providing incentives, and establishing community norms. As part of a larger longitudinal study on WUI communities in the western United States, we reviewed approaches used by six communities in Idaho, Oregon and Utah to mitigate interdependent wildfire risk at two points in time. Each community’s approach was different, being well suited to meet the community’s specific needs. The most consistent policy tool utilized across communities was capacity-building, primarily through raising awareness of fire hazards and potential mitigation behaviors and leveraging external resources. Another commonality was the involvement of a central group or individual that provided leadership by initiating and championing the mitigation effort and serving as a link to external resources. There are a number of other communities in the WUI that are also at risk for wildfire; these findings can be useful to community members and agency personnel who are seeking to engage residents to reduce individual and collective risk. Within our communities, several different approaches have been effective at encouraging homeowners to adopt and maintain mitigation activities ranging from collective efforts organized locally to others developed externally to provide incentives or potential punishments for not adopting treatments. Understanding the diversity of approaches and activities that have fostered mitigation can help managers identify what will work best for their specific communities.Keywords: Mitigation, Community risk, Wildfire, Diffusion of Innovation

Social science research related to wildfire management: an overview of recent findings and future research needs

As with other aspects of natural-resource management, the approach to managing wildland fires has evolved over time as scientific understanding has advanced and the broader context surrounding management decisions has changed. Prior to 2000 the primary focus of most fire research was on the physical and ecological aspects of fire; social science research was limited to a small number of studies. However, as more people moved into fire-prone areas interest grew in understanding relevant social dynamics. This growing interest was supported by increased funding for fire research overall with the creation of the Joint Fire Science Program in 1998 and the National Fire Plan in 2000. In subsequent years, a significant body of research has developed on the human dimensions of wildland fire covering diverse topics including: attitudes towards pre-fire mitigation, social acceptability of fire and fuels management, community preparedness, public response during fires, citizen–agency communications and post-fire recovery. This paper reports on two aspects of a Joint Fire Science Program project intended to take stock of the key social science lessons provided to date: a basic review of findings in the non-economic fire social science literature and identification of future research needs.Keywords: Communication and outreach, Fuels management, Homeowner mitigation, Community preparedness, Risk perception, trust, Public acceptance, Citizen–agency interaction