Landscape characteristics and social factors influencing attitudes toward roadside vegetation management
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Landscape characteristics and social factors influencing attitudes toward roadside vegetation management Daniel C. Hale . Anita T. Morzillo
Received: 26 April 2019 / Accepted: 18 July 2020 Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Context For the roadside forest, utility vegetation management is a driver of landscape change involving tradeoffs between reliable electric power and preservation of trees. However, little is known about public perceptions of vegetation management in the landscape context. Objectives Our objective was to evaluate social and residential context characteristics associated with resident attitudes toward roadside utility vegetation management across Connecticut. Methods We used a mail survey to collect social science data from residents in two study areas in Connecticut. We measured landscape characteristics associated with tree cover and development density at multiple scales around each respondent household. Random forest predictive models were used to assess attitudes toward vegetation management as explained by social and residential context variables. Results Respondents generally had positive attitudes toward vegetation management, agreeing that it
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01078-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. D. C. Hale A. T. Morzillo (&) Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT 06269-4087, USA e-mail: [email protected]
improves public safety and minimizes power outages. Social variables revealed that residents were more likely to have favorable attitudes if they had greater knowledge about trees, believed that trees should be used for human benefits, prioritized reduced power outages over forest aesthetics, and considered changes in the roadside forest to be acceptable. Residential context variables were not as strongly associated with attitudes as social variables, but did rank as important for two out of three attitudes variables. Conclusions Attitudes toward vegetation management may be influenced by residential context, yet likely are formed independently of it. Spatial heterogeneity of exurban land use and social characteristics suggest encompassing variability in approaches to roadside forest management policy. Keywords Attitudes Human dimensions Landscape ecology Random forest Roadside forest management Vegetation management
Introduction The roadside forest, described as all trees and vegetation along all types of roads, on all types of land ownership, across the urban–rural gradient, spans from the road to the distance at which a mature tree could fall and affect the road or utilities (Hammerling 2012). Given time spent travelling on roads (Weber
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Landscape Ecol
et al. 2014), in forested regions the roadside forest is an important interface at which humans perceive and experience nature
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