Socioeconomic Behavior of Cattle Ranchers, with Implications for Rural Community Development in the West

Smith, Arthur H.; Martin, William E.

doi:10.2307/1238704

Cited by 81 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Because this will change ecosystem characteristics through the cessation of grazing, it will likely change the ecosystem services produced at the ranch and pasture levels, but ultimately also at the landscape level, especially given the uncertainty about whether or not a new generation of ranchers will hold the same amenity values and continue to fund them (Brunson and Huntsinger 2008). Across the western United States, multiple studies have shown that most ranching families subsidize their ranches with off-ranch income (Smith and Martin 1972, Gentner and Tanaka 2002, Huntsinger et al 2010b. As discussed by Oviedo et al (2012), the decline of commercial production could eventually lead to the subdivision of ranches, implying a potential threat from subsequent habitat and http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol19/iss1/art8/ landscape fragmentation.…”

Section: The Landscape Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem Services are Social–ecological Services in a Traditional Pastoral System: the Case of California’s Mediterranean Rangelands

Huntsinger¹,

Oviedo²

2014

E&S

129

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ABSTRACT. When attempting to value ecosystem services and support their production, two critical aspects may be neglected. The term "ecosystem services" implies that they are a function of natural processes; yet, human interaction with the environment may be key to the production of many. This can contribute to a misconception that ecosystem service production depends on, or is enhanced by, the coercion or removal of human industry. Second, in programs designed to encourage ecosystem service production and maintenance, too often the inter-relationship of such services with social and ecological processes and drivers at multiple scales is ignored. Thinking of such services as "social-ecological services" can reinforce the importance of human culture, perspectives, and economies to the production of ecosystem services. Using a social-ecological systems perspective, we explore the integral role of human activity and decisions at pasture, ranch, and landscape scales. Just as it does for understanding ecosystems, a hierarchical, multiscaled framework facilitates exploring the complexity of social-ecological systems as producers of ecosystem services, to develop approaches for the conservation of such services. Using California's Mediterranean rangelands as a study area, we suggest that using a multiscaled approach that considers the importance of the differing drivers and processes at each scale and the interactions among scales, and that incorporates social-ecological systems concepts, may help avoid mistakes caused by narrow assumptions about "natural" systems, and a lack of understanding of the need for integrated, multiscaled conservation programs.

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Section: The Landscape Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem Services are Social–ecological Services in a Traditional Pastoral System: the Case of California’s Mediterranean Rangelands

Huntsinger¹,

Oviedo²

2014

E&S

129

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“…This approach is useful for understanding the contribution of private amenities to land prices but does not offer a direct estimation of monetary income values. Others have also studied the role of private amenities in U.S. rangelands using alternative approaches (Huntsinger et al 2010;Smith and Martin 1972).…”

Section: Valuing Private Amenitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Income value of private amenities assessed in California oak woodlands

Oviedo¹,

Huntsinger²,

Campos³

et al. 2012

Cal Ag

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Landowners in California were surveyed using a contingent valuation technique to assess its usefulness in estimating the monetary income value of private amenities from their oak woodland properties. Private amenities -such as recreation, scenic beauty and a rural lifestyle -are considered an important influence on rangeland owners, but few studies have attempted to place a monetary income value on them. Landowners were asked to estimate the maximum amount of earnings that they were willing to forgo before selling their property to invest in more commercially profitable, nonagrarian assets, and the proportion of the land price that they thought was explained by private amenities from their land. On average, landowners were willing to pay $54 per acre annually for private amenities, and they attributed 57% of the land price to them. Regression analysis revealed that the landowners' willingness to pay per acre decreased as property size increased. This approach sheds light on how landowners value the benefits of land ownership and offers insights for outreach and policy development for privately owned oak woodlands. P rivate amenities from California oak woodlands -including benefits such as recreational opportunities, scenic beauty, living in the country, and protecting wildlife and water qualityare important influences on landowner decisions and income (Huntsinger et al. 2010). Efforts to value these amenities in California and other Western states have included analyses of the relationship between land prices and property size (Pope 1985), tree density (Diamond et al. 1987), distance to open space (Standiford and Scott 2002) and production value (Torell et al. 2005). The most common commercial land use in oak woodlands is livestock grazing (Huntsinger et al. 2010), but throughout the West, private amenities are believed to be an important factor in explaining why land prices for ranches exceed their commercial production value (Torell et al. 2005). With land-use change and fragmentation threatening the extensive habitat and watershed benefits provided by private oak woodlands, understanding landowners' decisions and values is a conservation priority.Advocates of conserving areas that produce crops, livestock, hunting or timber, as well as other ecosystem services, call them "working landscapes," a term that fits oak woodlands well. The concept of ecosystem services is commonly defined as the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Continued ecosystem services from oak woodlands depend largely on the commercial profitability of ranches, their amenity value to their owners and the opportunity costs of competing land uses -in other words, on the cost of maintaining oak woodland ownership measured as the foregone benefits from using the land for something else or selling it. Estimating values for private amenities can contribute to our understanding of landowners' decisions and their responsiveness to outreach and policies for oak woodlands. This is also important for assessing the economic value of the natural res...

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“…Drawing on questionnaires of Liffman et al (2000), Gentner (1999), Smith and Martin (1972), and Bartlett et al (1989), the authors constructed a survey exploring motivations for staying in ranching versus leaving ranching. The survey was pre-tested on ranchers in Larimer County, Colo.…”

Section: Rancher Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Newcomers to the trade may have more job options and financial resources, allowing them to be somewhat more economically sacrificial in their attitudes towards ranching. They know they are giving up a higher standard of living for ranching and perhaps are more resigned to being "satisficers" (Smith and Martin 1972). Not surprisingly, homesteaders also find passing the ranch on to children and maintaining tradition as reasons to stay (Table 4).…”

Section: Hypothesis 3: Legacy On the Landmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ranching motivations in 2 Colorado counties

Rowe¹,

Bartlett²,

Swanson³

2001

REM

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The objectives of this Colorado study were to assess primary reasons ranchers choose to stay or sell the ranch, compare the motivations for ranching between a traditional agriculturally based county and a rapidly developing county, and assess whether factors such as length of tenure, fiscal dependency on ranching, and dependency on public lands play roles in decisions to sell. Personal interviews were conducted with 37 ranchers. While land use conversion occurs for a wide variety of reasons, lack of heirs and detrimental public policy were important reasons given for selling ranches. Responses showed Routt County (a rapidly developing county) ranchers were more likely to sell due to land use conversion related issues than Moffat County ranchers (p = 0.056). Ranchers with a longer legacy on their land reported that profitability, having likely heirs, and continuing tradition enhanced their reasons to stay. Groups more "at risk" of selling were non-homesteading ranchers close to retirement, larger ranches, and ranchers dependent on ranching for income with declining profits. Large ranch owners experiencing land use conflicts with non-ranchers and ranchers modestly dependent on public forage experiencing changes in public policy regulations and land use conflicts also indicated a higher proclivity to sell. Noting how groups of ranchers are impacted by different changes can help refine community efforts related to land use conversion and create more thoughtful policy measures.

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Socioeconomic Behavior of Cattle Ranchers, with Implications for Rural Community Development in the West

Cited by 81 publications

References 8 publications

Ecosystem Services are Social–ecological Services in a Traditional Pastoral System: the Case of California’s Mediterranean Rangelands

Ecosystem Services are Social–ecological Services in a Traditional Pastoral System: the Case of California’s Mediterranean Rangelands

Income value of private amenities assessed in California oak woodlands

Ranching motivations in 2 Colorado counties

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Socioeconomic Behavior of Cattle Ranchers, with Implications for Rural Community Development in the West

Cited by 81 publications

References 8 publications

Ecosystem Services are Social&#8211;ecological Services in a Traditional Pastoral System: the Case of California&#8217;s Mediterranean Rangelands

Ecosystem Services are Social&#8211;ecological Services in a Traditional Pastoral System: the Case of California&#8217;s Mediterranean Rangelands

Income value of private amenities assessed in California oak woodlands

Ranching motivations in 2 Colorado counties

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Ecosystem Services are Social–ecological Services in a Traditional Pastoral System: the Case of California’s Mediterranean Rangelands

Ecosystem Services are Social–ecological Services in a Traditional Pastoral System: the Case of California’s Mediterranean Rangelands