Interest in the incorporation of riparian buffers and forest farming were modeled following agricultural conservation and agroforestry adoption studies. Attitudes, individual characteristics, economic diversity of landowners' household portfolio, and physical and ecological conditions were explanatory variables in Logit regression models of interest. Habitus and field, the values and institutions of farm operators, were included in the framework.

Farmer-to-farmer outreach was used within a targeted watershed to promote the installation of conservation buffers. In this program called “FarmLink”, four farmers/landowners were employed part-time as “advisors” and trained by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Natural Resources District personnel. Topics included basic buffer design and benefits, availability of incentive programs, and sales techniques. These individuals then contacted their neighbors to explain the need for and benefits of buffers and other conservation practices.

Land tenure has long been considered a critical factor in determining the adoption and long-term maintenance of agroforestry practices. Empirical evidence from non-US settings has consistently shown that secure land tenure is positively associated with agroforestry adoption. In the US, over 40% of private agricultural land is farmed by someone other than the owner.

Reallocation of regular size parcels is accepted as the core of land consolidation. For fast and efficient progress in projects, usage of computer technology has been essential. In this case study, a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS)-based land reallocation model was developed to provide reallocating newly created regular size parcels to landowners in land consolidation projects. Reallocation results of the SDSS-based land reallocation model and conventional land reallocation models are compared.

For 3 years, the Future of Australia's Threatened Ecosystems (FATE) Program has been working towards achieving multiple benefits for rangelands by applying conservation through sustainable use (CSU) approaches to the kangaroo industry. A critical component of this work is landholder involvement in kangaroo management that results in commercial gain. We are developing strategies for landholders to add value to the harvest at the same time as achieving better control over the impact that kangaroos can have on their land.

With sea level rise, erosion, and human disturbances affecting coastal areas, strategies to protect and stabilize existing shorelines are needed. One popular solution to stabilize while conserving intertidal habitat is the use of “living shoreline” techniques which are designed to mimic natural shoreline communities by using native plants and animals. However, little information is available on the success of living shoreline stabilization.

An automated web-form generator system was created to rapidly produce dynamic web-based inventory and assessment worksheets that are used by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to describe the condition of natural resources on farms and ranches. These worksheets are used by NRCS as part of the criteria for creating a conservation plan to qualify landowners for payments under the USDA Farm Bill Conservation Title. Presently, most worksheets are filled out by hand or in personal computer spreadsheets.

The management of wildlife and its impacts on biodiversity is likely to be most successful where ecological understanding is integrated with the economic and social drivers for management, and where the attitudes and behaviour of stakeholders are fully understood. Collaboration between stakeholders at the landscape level is suggested as the most efficient ‘model’ for the management of many wildlife species such as deer. However, there has been limited research to evaluate the effectiveness of collaborative management for deer or how it is perceived by individual landowners.

Market mechanisms for forest environmental services are increasingly used for promoting environmental conservation, and their impacts on development are of considerable interest. In Costa Rica a national scheme of Payment for Environmental Services (PSA) rewards landowners for the services provided by different forest land-uses. We evaluated the impacts of reforestation under the PSA on local development in the North of the country.

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) projects are being designed and implemented across tropical countries, intending to curb the contribution of deforestation to greenhouse gas emissions. An important aspect of REDD implementation is the baseline against which reductions are measured. The baseline estimates the business-as-usual emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. We solve a dynamic model of land conversion from forest to agriculture in the presence of REDD, and assess the performance of four baselines.

One consequence of the transition of rural communities from industrialised agriculture and natural resource extraction to sustainable development principles has been the rise of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). CBNRM entails collaborative efforts, typically involving local, state and federal agencies, private firms and landowners, non-governmental organisations such as environmental and economic development groups, and watershed councils. There are no agreed-upon metrics or even broadly accepted approaches for assessing the effectiveness of these new institutions.