Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

Target Pests

Practices

Targeted grazing is an untapped vegetation management tool to control invasive weeds in the American West. A recent meta-analysis of targeted grazing experimental research found that the practice is broadly effective for short-term reduction of invasive weeds and to promote plant community richness and diversity (Marchetto, Wolf, and Larkin 2021). Despite enthusiasm about the potential of targeted grazing to control some of the West’s most difficult invasive weeds, implementation is patchy. Substantial uncertainties about the potential of the tool persist due to ecological variability, trade-offs with other conservation values, and social and institutional obstacles. The outcomes of targeted grazing depend on the specificities of not just the place, but the people involved and their goals. Successful implementation of targeted grazing for weed management therefore requires attention to the institutional and social constraints and levers in conjunction with ecological and biophysical factors.

The proposed project seeks to understand the potential of targeted grazing as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) toolbox on America’s National Forests by utilizing behavioral science and adaptive governance frameworks. The United States Forest Service (USFS) plays a central role in invasive weed and livestock management in the western United States and is therefore a key implementing institution for targeted grazing practice. USFS staff as well as livestock producers that graze their cattle and sheep on National Forests are interested in adopting the practice but need support to overcome barriers.

Through semi-structured interviews of USFS staff within the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain Regions, this project will investigate controls on individual agency staff behaviors that in turn influence the agency’s willingness and capacity to implement land management practices such as targeted grazing for invasive weed management. We have developed an integrated framework that combines existing knowledge of adaptive governance of the USFS with the Theory of Planned Behavior framework that has been used extensively within conservation social science (Ajzen 1998). The Theory of Planned Behavior describes relationships between the attitudes, norms, and efficacy perceptions that influence individual behavior, and can be used to enhance the adaptive governance model of the USFS (Figure 1). We will use our integrated framework to develop an interview protocol and to systematically analyze the relationships between psycho-social factors, governance context, and biophysical variables to not only better understand the controls on adaptive governance potential but to identify high leverage points for adoption of targeted grazing as a weed management tool.

The results of the research will address a range of Center goals by evaluating the social dimensions of an emerging IPM tool to address invasive species in landscapes impacted by a changing climate and fire regimes. Project findings will be shared with stakeholders to enhance understanding of key combinations of factors that are inhibiting or promoting adoption of new IPM practices. The proposed project is of direct regional significance to the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest, but its outcomes will be important to much of the American West that is similarly dominated by federal public lands and heavily impacted by invasive weeds.

1. Identify the psycho-social variables (attitudes, norms, perceptions of efficacy) of agency staff and institutional factors that influence actions to promote targeted grazing as an IPM tool across the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain Regions of the USFS.

2. Develop preliminary relationships between psycho-social, institutional, and biophysical factors that influence adoption of targeted grazing within the USFS, and use these relationships to identify potential levers to promote targeted grazing and adaptive capacity within the USFS to respond to invasive species.

As a Project Initiation grant, these initial findings will be achievable within the project’s timeframe. They will serve as a proof-of-concept for our approach to understanding targeted grazing potential through a behavioral science and adaptive governance lens. In addition, the preliminary relationships identified could serve as hypotheses for further investigation by our team and others, or even as entry points for future interventions by interested USFS stakeholders.

3. Contribute to agency and livestock producer understanding of the institutional and social factors that influence utilization of targeted grazing as a tool for management of invasive weeds in the American West.