Browsing by Author "Rodewald, Amanda D."

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    Early Successional Forest Management on Private Lands as a Coupled Human and Natural System
    Lutter, Seth H.; Dayer, Ashley A.; Rodewald, Amanda D.; McNeil, Darin J.; Larkin, Jeffery L. (MDPI, 2019-06-11)
    Facilitating voluntary conservation on private lands is a crucial element of policies that seek to mitigate forest habitat loss and fragmentation around the world. Previous research emphasizes the role of social factors (e.g., landowner characteristics, economics) in forest management, but environmental outcomes of past management can also affect landowner decisions. Our objective was to evaluate how positive outcomes for wildlife and habitat might reinforce or amplify landowner efforts to manage forest habitats. We applied the lens of coupled human and natural systems to investigate private lands management for early successional forests, which are declining along with associated wildlife in rural areas of the eastern U.S. Efforts to restore early successional forest in this region involve active forest management to create patches of successional forest in native, mature mixed hardwood stands. By integrating field-based monitoring of wildlife with surveys of landowner perceptions, we examined how landowners observed, interpreted, and responded to property-scale ecological outcomes of forest management. We recorded presence of Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) and American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) and estimated bird species richness in spring 2015 and/or 2016 on private properties located in the Appalachians (Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) and Upper Great Lakes (Minnesota, Wisconsin). These properties were enrolled in early successional forest management programs administered through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Bird surveys were paired with landowner responses to a telephone survey conducted from January to May 2017 (n=102). Most (71.6–81.6%) landowners’ perceptions of avian presence on their properties matched monitoring results. These perceptions were informed by personal observations and by outreach from agency partners and field technicians. Landowners who already completed their conservation program contracts (n= 85) continued managing early successional forests. Continued management for early successional habitat was positively associated with perceived benefits to birds, forest health, and scenery. Our findings give insight into how private landowners respond to environmental effects of forest management. We conclude that positive environmental outcomes of these conservation programs are related to continued early successional forest conservation by private landowners.
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    Tapping birdwatchers to promote bird-friendly coffee consumption and conserve birds
    Williams, Alicia; Dayer, Ashley A.; Hernandez-Aguilera, J. Nicolas; Phillips, Tina B.; Faulkner-Grant, Holly; Gómez, Miguel I.; Rodewald, Amanda D. (John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2021-01-05)
    1. Though coffee was traditionally grown as an understory crop beneath mature trees (i.e. ‘shade-grown’ coffee), most farms have been converted to full-sun monocultures over time, which fail to support ecosystem services or biodiversity. The conversion from shade-to sun-grown coffee has prompted the development of environmentally focused certifications, such as Smithsonian Bird Friendly® coffee, as one market-based strategy to incentivize sustainable production of coffee. 2. Birdwatchers, of which there are 45 million in the US alone, are among the primary targets for coffee certifications—partly due to their high propensity to participate in and pay for conservation activities that benefit birds. Yet birdwatchers still represent a small market share of certifications, and their purchasing preferences relatively unknown. In 2016, we administered an online survey to 912 donors and/ or members of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who self-identified as coffee drinkers and ‘birdwatchers’ to assess their familiarity with, receptivity to purchase, and perceived constraints on purchasing certified coffee. 3. Nearly half (49%) of respondents reported considering bird habitat when purchasing coffee. However, only 38% of respondents were familiar with the Smithsonian Bird Friendly® certification and only 9% reported purchasing it. Consumers who were older, female, and more skilled at birdwatching were more likely to consider birds when purchasing coffee, whereas those with higher levels of education were less likely. The highest rated constraints on buying bird-friendly coffee were lack of awareness, cost, and lack of availability. 4. Because most birdwatchers considered both social and environmental impacts when purchasing coffee, they may be a promising market segment for many coffee certifications. Indeed, about half of the birdwatchers purchased organic (50%) and Fair Trade® (52%) certifications.