Gatekeepers, Shareholders, and Evangelists: Expanding Communication Networks of African American Forest Landowners in North Carolina

Abstract

The Sustainable Forestry and African American Land Retention Program (SFLR) was launched in 2012 to increase adoption of sustainable forestry practices among African American landowners in the southeastern United States to prevent land loss, increase forest health, and build economic assets. One of its main goals was to build communication networks through which African American landowners could obtain and share information about forestry practices and landowner assistance programs independent of public agencies. To measure and examine the growth of these communication networks over a three-year period (2014-2017), we conducted 87 interviews with landowners (24 of whom were interviewed multiple times), SFLR personnel, and Federal and State staff members in North Carolina. We used complementary methods of data gathering and analysis, including social network analysis and qualitative analysis. Our results showed expanding communication networks will be sustained independently of the program over time, although there is still a heavy reliance on program personnel.

Keywords:

• African American landowners
• mixed-method approach
• qualitative analysis
• social network analysis
• sustainable forestry

Notes

Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to all the respondents for their time and valuable insights. Authors are also thankful to Krystyna Wolniakowski for undertaking the first round of social network surveys.

Notes

1 The most common NRCS landowner assistance programs used by SFLR participants are EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program), CRP (Conservation Reserve Program), and CAP (Conservation Activity Plans).

2 A SNA focusing on an individual to understand the overall composition of the network.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported through a grant from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities to the University of Georgia (PI: Dr. Puneet Dwivedi).