Friday, August 7, 2009
Exhibit Hall NE & SE, Albuquerque Convention Center
Julie E. Doll, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI and Randall D. Jackson, Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Background/Question/Methods More tallgrass prairie has been lost than any other terrestrial ecosystem in North America, and relict tallgrass prairie in the Midwestern United States remains a threatened plant community. However, there is increasing interest in prairie restoration, including reintroduction of prairie grass species to grazing farms. Potential ecological benefits of this approach include improved wildlife habitat and increased genetic diversity and ecosystem function while agronomic benefits could include improved forage quantity and seasonal distribution. With farmers owning approximately 70% of private land in the United States, restoring native grass species into agricultural lands has the potential for a large geographic impact, but the benefits of this integration can only be realized if farmers are willing to use native plants. Because of the important relationship between farmer attitudes and conservation behaviors, we assessed grass-based farmer (grazier) attitudes towards native grasses. We held focus groups with farmers to clarify grazing terminology and concepts and then developed a written questionnaire that was reviewed by experts in the fields of applied social research, survey methodology, and farming systems before being pilot-tested on a group of graziers. We mailed the questionnaire to 800 Wisconsin graziers and achieved a response rate of 56%. We used indices, descriptive statistics, and classification trees to interpret the survey data. Results/Conclusions Our results show that a large percentage of farmers think it is likely that there are environmental benefits to native grasses, including improved soil conditions (46%), environmental conditions (44%), and wildlife habitat (30%). Thirty-five percent of respondents reported that they are interested in native grasses for pasture use. However, the large majority of farmers stated that they are unfamiliar with the identification and establishment of native grasses. The most important predictor of farmer interest in native grasses was their perception of how native grasses affect the environment. Both environmental and financial factors were ranked as highly important to farmers when considering the implementation of conservation projects; among the highest factors were the potential of projects to protect the environment and conserve/improve resources. Our results show that environmental concerns are important to farmers. They also highlight the need to augment research on establishment and management of native grasses in grazing systems and to improve our understanding of how native grasses affect ecosystem services. Further efforts are needed to educate farmers about native grass identification, establishment techniques, and management issues.
