Playa Lakes Joint Venture staff recently finished a social science literature review focused on the motivations, barriers, and future needs of producers to combat invasive woody plant encroachment on their rangelands.
“We are really excited to get this data out into the hands of folks who are working on this issue,” says Ryan Roberts, PLJV Social Science Specialist and lead author on the report. “The findings can particularly benefit applied social scientists and conservation delivery practitioners who are developing projects or are already working with producers regularly on grassland management-related issues.”
The literature review is part of a three-year Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant focused on invasive woody plant management. The goal of the project is to develop an effective outreach model by integrating social science insights into targeted strategic communications that increase brush management and prescribed fire on rangelands. The model is being piloted across six focus areas in Kansas and Oklahoma.
“Social science insights are rarely fully integrated into marketing and outreach efforts aimed at changing behaviors,” says Roberts, “so it’s exciting to be part of a project that is demonstrating the applicability and usefulness of this approach.”
The first year of the grant focused on collecting social science information about management needs and barriers to participation in management activities through six focus groups and individual stakeholder interviews. Now those insights are being used to create targeted communication messages and products that address those barriers and increase participation in management actions. After testing the messages, the project team will work with state and local partners to implement targeted marketing communications campaigns and producer-focused outreach events.
“By utilizing the data we’ve been able to gather from our social science process, we’re able to create more effective and meaningful communication messages that will be impactful to producers in areas that are threatened by invasive woody plants,” says Lindsay Shorter, PLJV Grassland Conservation Marketing Manager.
Roberts and Shorter will begin testing the key messages this winter in six follow-up focus groups across the project area, then will refine them before developing a communications guide. The social science insights and communication messages can then be used by partners across the region. Stay tuned for a comprehensive social science report coming out early next year.