University of Georgia doctoral student Sakura Evans, under the supervision of Dr. Ted Gragson, will conduct research on the role of culture in decision-making and behavior by examining intra-community patterns of management and decision-making among landowners in Southern Appalachia. Riparian zones (areas near waterways) are critical areas for habitat preservation, yet urbanization, agriculture, and household land use practices are resulting in the degradation of riparian ecosystems. Past research has focused on the impacts of human land use on stream and riparian health but has overlooked the cognitive processes informing decision-making and behavior that result in riparian degradation. Efforts focused solely on repairing degradation without understanding the causes will ultimately fail.
To investigate the cultural models underlying landowners' decisions regarding their riparian property, Evans' research will use qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. Ethnographic methods will include semi-structured interviews with landowners, land-use histories, walking tours of streams and riparian zones, and socio-demographic data collection. Textual analysis of interview material and field notes will inform a culturally contextualized social survey designed to elicit landowners' opinions of riparian conditions, perceptions of riparian degradation, and support for riparian protection.
This research will contribute to a greater understanding of the variability found within culture, while also uncovering the shared cultural models of the natural environment within a community. The project will also support landowners' preferences for riparian protection and management, necessary for reversing harmful land use practices at the household level, while also protecting water quality and quantity at the regional level. This research will also contribute to the analysis of regional socio-ecological processes within the scope of the 2008-2014 objectives of the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research Program (DEB-0823293).
Water is arguably the most vital element necessary to sustain life on this planet, making the management of water resources an issue of critical importance. As rural land is increasingly fragmented and sold to private buyers and developers in southern Appalachia, the impact of land use decision-making at the household level becomes a serious threat to stream health and water quality. These impacts are being further exacerbated by increased population density and development, suggesting that stream health and water quality may become compromised as the region continues to grow. Although the region currently boasts good water quality, this may quickly change as population growth and development continue, and episodic droughts and extreme weather events due to regional climate change become more frequent. Therefore, understanding how landowners perceive water and streams, how these perceptions guide their stream management decision-making, and determining whether different landowner groups are perceiving and managing streams in different ways, provides an opportunity for informed interventions in local education, restoration, and conservation, as well as a framework for facilitating behavior change on a regional scale. This research examined the impacts of exurbanization, defined as the influx of urban migrants into rural communities, on water resources in southern Appalachia by 1) reviewing how two different landowner groups, Newcomer and Generational landowners, perceive water, 2) examining their stream management practices and the motivations driving stream management decision-making at the household level, and 3) determining whether exurbanization is resulting in differential stream management among Newcomer and Generational landowners. Outcome 1: Perceptions of Water Although Newcomer and Generational landowners demonstrated small differences in their perceptions of water, both landowner groups perceived water as a shared resource for the community, always trying to make sure their stream management didn't negatively impact their neighbors or larger community. Furthermore, both landowner groups also shared perceptions about the impact of exurbanization on water resources, specifically concerns about impacts to water quantity and quality from increased population growth and development. Landowners perceived water scarcity as a real threat and view drought and increased population growth as the cause. And lastly, both groups felt local government had demonstrated an inability to protect water resources into the future, highlighting a lack of leadership from county commissioners and the failure to enforce existing regulations established to protect local water resources. Outcome 2: Stream and Riparian Management Landowners identified weather/climate, and development/construction as the cause of stream degradation on their property, demonstrating that landowners are aware of these impacts on local stream health. However, landowners failed to identify individual stream management as a threat to stream health and water quality, showing that landowners are failing to acknowledge their own impacts on stream health and water quality. Specifically, the removal of riparian vegetation and large woody debris (LWD) from streams, with 57% of all respondents removing all or part of the riparian vegetation from the stream on their property, and 60% of respondents removing LWD from their streams. Property type and length of ownership were both highly significant indicators of riparian removal, while age was a significant indicator of LWD removal. Common motivations for riparian and LWD removal were Tradition/Habit and Aesthetics. Outcome 3: Effects of Exurbanization on Stream Management To determine whether Newcomer and Generational landowners were having differential impacts on stream health and water quality, the two groups were analyzed across five variables: 1) sociodemographic variables, 2) environmental values, 3) preference for stream appearance, 4) stream management, and 5) perceptions of stream quality. Newcomer and Generational landowners are sociodemographically different, but there appears to be a sense of agreement between the two groups across larger environmental values, including quality of life, stewardship, and water quality, but they differ on values affecting their private property rights and water use. No significant differences were found for stream preference, and there was a large degree of agreement on which streams appeared healthy, clean, unnatural, and unattractive. No significant differences were found for riparian or LWD removal, however Generational landowners were more likely to perceive changes to stream quality compared to Newcomers. Stream management by private landowners is directly impacting stream health and water quality throughout southern Appalachia, with over half of all landowners surveyed removing riparian vegetation and large woody debris from their streams on a regular basis. However, at present exurbanization is not resulting in differential stream management by Newcomer and Generational landowners. If policy aimed at better management of water resources is to be effective, it must be informed by research grounded in the processes of human-environment relations. Understanding landowner perceptions of water and how those perceptions guide stream management decision-making can provide an opportunity for engaging in socially relevant forms of intervention, and in the long-term will contribute to widespread behavior change on a regional scale.
