Adoption of conservation practices by agricultural landowners in three Oregon watersheds

A community-based adaptive management framework is applied to the Calapooya Creek, Deer Creek, rand Myrtle Creek watersheds within the Umpqua River Basin in Southwestern Oregon. The objectives are to: 1) identify agricultural landowner participation in watershed conservation projects, and 2) determine the characteristics of participating and non-participating landowners. Data are derived from a 1998 landowner mail survey with a 53% response rate. Landowners implement upland conservation practices such as off-stream livestock water developments and rotational grazing more often than riparian fencing, riparian tree planting, and installing fish screens on irrigation diversions. The key factors in adoption of conservation practices include the use of irrigation, shared management decisions with a spouse, a belief in scientific experimentation, and discussion of conservation with others. The key factors predicting adoption of best management practices depended on the kind of best management practice implemented.