LANDOWNER PERCEPTIONS OF WOODY PLANT ENCROACHMENT AND PRESCRIBED FIRE LIABILITY
Abstract
Prescribed fire is an affordable and effective tool in managing woody plant
encroachment, but landowners’ liability perceptions contribute to their inconsistent
application of fire. Personal liability concerns can be exacerbated or allayed by social
and legal factors. This research focuses on the extent landowner perceptions regarding
prescribed fire liability influence their willingness to participate in prescribed burns for
woody plant management. Questionnaires mailed to 1918 landowners in 16 counties of
Oklahoma and Texas evaluated several factors that might affect their willingness to
burn. These include: attitudes concerning woody plants and fire; use of land
management practices; knowledge about prescribed fire; Prescribed Burn Associations
(PBAs) membership; and landowner characteristics. Membership in a PBA was
positively correlated with landowner willingness to burn their own or a neighbor’s
property while a perception of general personal liability was negatively related with
willingness to burn. Percentage of income earned from rural property, place of residence,
state of residence, education level, perceived relative affordability of prescribed fire as a
woody plant management tool, and burn bans were all factors that significantly
influenced landowner willingness to burn depending on situational context, i.e. on their
property v. another person’s property. The results of this study contribute to our
understanding of landowner decision-making with respect to social and legal concerns
over prescribed fire and suggest a need for increased connection of landowners with
local prescribed burn associations, communication between policy makers and
landowners, and reduction of barriers to landowners who wish to apply prescribed fire.
Subject
Woody plant encroachmentprescribed fire
prescribed burn association
liability
Texas
Oklahoma
landowner perceptions
Citation
Abney, Alexandra Anne (2017). LANDOWNER PERCEPTIONS OF WOODY PLANT ENCROACHMENT AND PRESCRIBED FIRE LIABILITY. Master's thesis, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /173034.