

@mastersthesis {6874,
	title = {Landowner perceptions of protecting and establishing riparian forests in central {Pennsylvania}},
	year = {2000},
	note = {9966804},
	school = {The Pennsylvania State University},
	type = {phdPh.{D}.},
	address = {Ann Arbor},
	abstract = {Although the ecological importance of riparian forests has become widely recognized, selecting the best policies for reforesting riparian zones also requires an understanding of societal perceptions. Much of the land suited for streamside forests is privately owned, so that implementing effective streamland management depends on communicating proven advantages to these landowners. This study explored riparian-landowner opinions, knowledge, and willingness to participate in initiatives in central Pennsylvania and was intended to assist with the development of educational materials, incentives, and other appropriate policies for protecting and establishing riparian forests on private lands. Investigation of the study population, which included over 800 landowners, employed a two-phase approach. The first phase, mostly qualitative in nature, consisted of 40 semi-structured interviews of landowners on their riparian lands. In the second phase, which was mainly quantitative, a mail questionnaire was sent to all other landowners in the sampling frame. The study population was driven by competing considerations. On the one hand, riparian landowners expressed a community obligation to consider the downstream consequences of the way they managed their streamlands. On the other hand, riparian landowners failed to appreciate their own contributions to water pollution, and many were reluctant to abandon the ordered landscapes to which they were accustomed. Riparian landowners showed a remarkable openness to protecting and establishing riparian forests, and they expressed great interest in seeing examples of streamside forests on property like theirs and in professional advice for managing their streamlands. A sense of connectivity, oneness, or community with nature predicted and explained general environmental concern and behavior but not landowner willingness to protect or establish riparian forests on their own land. Except for the owners of forested streamlands, riparian landowners shared an overriding concern about flooding, and the prevailing strategy for coping with high water was to keep riparian lands clear of woody vegetation in order to keep high water moving through. Tax breaks and financial assistance were preferred over government regulations, and most riparian landowners thought it would be unfair to expect farmers to take their streamlands out of production without compensation.},
	keywords = {0451:Social psychology, 0478:Forestry, 0630:Welfare, Biological sciences, Forestry, Landowner perceptions, Pennsylvania, Psychology, Riparian forests, Social psychology, Social sciences, Welfare},
	url = {http://search.proquest.com/docview/304614509?accountid=14270},
	author = {Dutcher, Daniel D}
}
