[PCA] ARTICLE: Social drivers of woody plant encroachment in TX

[Haidet, Megan]

I recently came across an interesting article examining the social drivers of woody plant encroachment in central Texas, recently published in the journal Ecology and Society. This article offers a glimpse into the decision making process of private landowners and ranchers and resulting management impacts. Through landowner interviews, researchers examined changes in ranching involvement and rural livelihoods more broadly are directly connected to three factors that contribute to grassland conversion. First the collapse of the sheep and goat market encouraged a large-scale decrease in browsing livestock on the landscape, which allowed for the growth of shrubs. Second, the increase in hunting leases as a way to make ends meet on the ranch encouraged a preference for-or at least a tolerance of-a shrubbier landscape. Finally, the decrease in labor availability on the ranch made the continual physical and financial burden of shrub control unrealistic for many landowners, especially as they aged.

http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss1/art19/

Cheers,
Megan

Megan Haidet
Program Specialist
Division of Plant Systems - Protection
Instutute of Food Production and Sustainability
National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA
Office - 202-401-6617
Email - Margaret.haidet at nifa.usda.gov<mailto:Margaret.haidet at nifa.usda.gov>





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