Does the public value ecosystem services secured by pine savanna restoration and bobwhite management on private lands?

Abstract

Private land stewardship in the southeastern United States is crucial to attain pine savanna restoration and conservation of the threatened northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). Both government and privately funded conservation efforts secure numerous ecosystem services, including groundwater recharge, scenic open spaces, and biodiversity. Yet, we have incomplete information on whether the public values these ecosystem services. From June 15th to July 19th, 2022, we administered stated preference choice experiment surveys to 770 members of the public in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina to ascertain if the public values ecosystem services provided by pine savanna and bobwhite conservation. We analyzed data using hybrid mixed logit models. Respondents positively valued recovery of threatened bobwhite and gopher tortoise populations and high levels of groundwater recharge and scenic open space. Respondents with higher moral obligations to prevent land use conversion (personal norms, awareness of consequences, and ascription of responsibility related to conservation) were more likely to support allocation of taxes to pine savanna restoration on private lands. Respondents' moral obligation to prevent land use conversion was positively correlated with their engagement in outdoor recreational activities. Our findings indicate that the public values pine savanna and bobwhite conservation efforts on private lands in the Southeast, and that outreach related to pine savanna restoration efforts should appeal to people's moral obligation to support conservation of biodiversity, habitat restoration, and the provision of ecosystem services.

HIGHLIGHTS • We use hybrid mixed logit models to analyze preferences for pine savanna restoration. • Moral obligation to prevent land use conversion depends on political orientation. • Recreational activities and moral obligation influence support for restoration programs. • Respondents placed greatest value on bobwhite recovery and high groundwater recharge.