Public perceptions, intentions, and behaviors influence cultural, legal, and public policy decisions toward the management, consumption, and preservation of natural resources. In order for rangeland management decisions to be socially sustainable (especially on public lands), they must achieve and retain some minimum threshold of acceptability with citizens. This indicator would provide for regular measurement of preferences, attitudes, and intentions with respect to rangelands (and potentially other natural resource-based lands such as forests).
Communities may partly depend economically on ranching (non-confined raising of animals on rangelands) as a direct or indirect source of income and economic opportunity.
This indicator measures the degree of dependence of ranch families on livestock production for household income. Surveys have shown few ranchers rely totally on the ranch for household income. Higher dependence on the ranch for income may relate to the level of grazing during drought and the ability (or inclination) to follow sustainable grazing practices that might affect ecological sustainability. testable hypothesis might be: As income dependence on the ranch increases, ecological sustainability may be negatively affected.
State forestry agencies hire employees from the same pool as private logging and consultant firms. To stay competitive, salaries and other compensations must be commensurate with the employment, or state employees will be hard to recruit and retain.
The US Forest Service (USFS) plays a key role in forestry and forest ecology in the US. The research arm of the USFS is a trusted entity by manyThe US Forest Service (USFS) plays a key role in forestry and forest ecology in the US. The research arm of the USFS is a trusted entity by many involved in often contentious discussions about forestry. involved in often contentious discussions about forestry.
Rural communities dependent on forestry/logging can benefit in various ways from wood processing after the trees are cut. Retaining wood processing beyond the original cut, sometimes to the point of final wood products (e.g., furniture, flooring) can benefit local communities by adding jobs that would otherwise be exported to other states or countries.
Agriculture- and recreation-based industries appear to be two of the primary sector groups of the economy related to rangelands and rangeland sustainability. While neither occurs exclusively on rangelands, tracking what happens to them in rangeland-dominated counties should indicate the pressures being placed on rangelands. As population grows and economies change, we expect there to be a differential effect on rangelands. Of course, the values that comprise this indicator will only reflect production that flows through the economy. Nonmarket values that accrue to people from such things as recreation (beyond that captured in markets) and ecosystem services provided by rangelands will be missed by this indicator.
This indicator measures over-all human welfare. It can provide decision makers with information as to which policy choices contribute most to general community well-being. It shows local well-being, and points to social changes that can most influence the economic health of rural communities.
This indicator is a direct measure of the income benefits to communities from wood product manufacturing. When compared to cost of living and the total value of manufacturing, companies, communities and workers can understand the meaning of the total production-related payroll.
