Climate Change, Agency Decision-Making, and the Resilience of Land-Based Livelihoods

Abstract

Many rural communities in the Western United States are surrounded by public lands and are dependent on these landscapes for their livelihoods. Climate change threatens to effect land-based livelihoods, both through direct impacts and public land agency decision-making in response to impacts. This project was designed to understand how Bureau of Land Management (BLM) permittees, including ranching and recreation-based businesses, in Colorado are vulnerable to both climate change and management responses and how permittees and the BLM are and could adapt to these changes. Sixty interviews were conducted in two BLM field offices to gather permittee and agency employees’ observations of change, impacts, responses and suggestions for adaptive actions. Data suggested that permittees are dependent on BLM lands, sensitive to ecological and management changes, and that current management policies and structures are often a constraint to adaptation. Managers and permittees are already seeing synergistic impacts, and the BLM has capacity to facilitate or constrain adaptation actions. Participants suggested increased flexibility at all scales, timelier within season adjustments, and extension of current collaborative efforts to assist adaptation efforts and reduce impacts to these livelihoods.

“What’s Good for the Bees Will Be Good for Us!”—A Qualitative Study of the Factors Influencing Beekeeping Activity

“…For example, producing a high-quality product or environmental considerations (reduction of chemical use) may play a role in decision-making [19,20]. Some studies emphasize the social, demographic, psychological and philosophical characteristics of the farmer, the characteristics of the farming household, the structure of the farming enterprise, the broader social environment, the indicators of the innovation to be implemented, and the willingness to continue the enterprise as factors influencing the decision [21][22][23][24][25][26]. Policies and financial support also influence the entrepreneurʹs decision-making [24,[27][28][29].…”

Future Direction of Fuels Management in Sagebrush Rangelands

“…Although climate change impacts are routinely considered in project-level NEPA documents, decisions must fit within BLM Resource Management Plans that contain few mentions of climate change (Nave et al 2020). A recent study of BLM personnel and permittee beliefs about climate change adaptation found that interviewees believe there must be increased flexibility among both permittees and agency staffs, timelier adjustments within the grazing season in response to drought, and additional collaborative efforts to assist in adaptation efforts (Knapp et al 2020). While the study was more focused on grazing and recreation management than fuels management, the same principles could be applied, especially as pertains to the use of targeted grazing as a risk-reduction strategy.…”