The purpose of this project is to determine landownersâ perceptions on the use of
prescribed fire as a management tool. The majority of Texas rangelands are privately
owned, and the sustainable management of almost all of the stateâÂÂs rangelands is
contingent upon private land management decisions. Therefore, it is imperative for
policy makers and extension agencies to understand landownersâ perceptions, interests
and concerns about alternative land management techniques. This is especially
important for the use of prescribed fire, which has been identified as a critical
management tool for maintaining the productivity of most Texas rangelands yet many
landowners do not include it as an integral practice in managing their land. A better
understanding of landownersâ perspective of the use of fire could facilitate the increased
use of this management tool through the development of effective educational, costshare
and fire planning programs.
The study reported here consisted of a mail survey of all 185 members of the
Edwards Plateau Prescribed Burn Association (EPPBA) and 600 landowners in six
counties in Texas. Four of those counties were located in the Edwards Plateau (Sutton, Schleicher, Mason, Llano) and two counties were located in the Rolling Plains
(Throckmorton, Shackleford). In each county, 100 landowners possessing at least 50
acres of land were randomly selected for inclusion in the survey. The mail survey
approach followed DilmanâÂÂs five-step mailing procedure.
Fire is an important rangeland management tool, but in a state where the majority
of the land is privately owned fire suppression is still a dominant perspective. Our study
suggests that important efforts to increase the use of prescribed fire include, educational
programs about use of fire by landowners, increased assistance with prescribed fire
plans, cost-sharing programs for fire implementation, and reduction in the legal liability
associated with fire that burns out of control. Encouraging agencies to back educational
programs and help teach landowners about the effects and uses of fire (burn plan
assistance), and developing a resource pool to underwrite fire policies could increase the
interest in and risk associated with the use of prescribed fires to more effectively manage
rangelands in Texas, and elsewhere.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/5027 |
| Date | 25 April 2007 |
| Creators | Woodard, Justin Bradley |
| Contributors | Kreuter, Urs P. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | 391025 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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