The Role of Community Identity in Cattlemen Response to Florida Panther Recovery Efforts

ABSTRACT

The concept of community identity has often been employed to explain ways in which communities respond to agents that impact community well-being. Using a case study of the Florida cattlemen community, we examine how cattlemen understand and perceive regulatory efforts to recover the Florida panther on private ranch lands. The data comes from participants in the Florida cattlemen community, and was collected through in-depth interviews (n = 13), group interviews (n = 32), and written comments associated with a survey about panther conservation (n = 78). Our findings indicate that some cattlemen in Florida have a strong sense of community identity. Perceptions of government actions and variation in economic risks are critical factors in understanding how this community responds to federal interventions. Our findings suggest that the concept of community identity can be used to explain the responses of agricultural landowners to governmental policies that are perceived as a threat to collective identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Cattlemen
• community identity
• endangered species
• government regulation
• landowner incentives
• panther

Acknowledgments

We thank the Florida Cattlemen’s Association for helping us connect with individuals to participate in this study.

Notes

Almost 40% of cattle operations in Florida have fewer than 20 cows. Because of their small size, these operations are unlikely to be enrolled by government agencies in programs that aim to protect large areas of contiguous habitat.

Out of privacy concerns the FCA did not release its mailing list to us; therefore, we were unable to identify and target valid survey recipients. Based on the proportion of valid responses received (e.g., a response from an individual actively engaged in cattle ranching) we estimate a 9–10% response rate. Postsurvey interviews revealed that some individuals who received the anonymous survey refused to respond out of concern that their answers could be used by government agencies to identify them and impose ESA regulations on their lands or operations.

Mitigation may be accomplished by placing conservation easements on habitat of similar ecological value to the panther, purchasing credits from a habitat conservation bank, or the development of a Habitat Conservation Plan (Kreye and Pienaar 2015).

This issue has recently been addressed by including a FCA representative on the Florida Panther Recovery Implementation Team.