Natural resource enterprises: Providing ecosystem services and incentivizing conservation on private lands

Background/Question/Methods: Private landowners were found to diversify incomes from forests and other lands in the US through fee-access outdoor recreation, including hunting, angling, wildlife watching, and other nature-based activities (Jones et al. 2005). The Natural Resource Enterprises (NRE) Program at Mississippi State University educates private landowners, resource agencies, and local communities about recreational enterprises, conservation, and integration of these activities with sustainable forestry and other land uses through educational workshops. Fee access recreational businesses and associated conservation conducted on private lands support human society, wildlife populations and habitats, and environmental protection and resiliency. Since 2005, the NRE Program has conducted nearly 100 landowner workshops in 12 US states and Sweden and trained 4,000 participants in outdoor recreational business development and associated conservation practices. In addition to workshops, outreach programming also includes web-based publications, how-to videos, and podcasts.

Results/Conclusions:

Mail survey study results revealed that our programming has initiated over 1,200 new outdoor recreational businesses on over 1 million acres of forest and agricultural lands, generating nearly $17 million in annual incomes while fostering natural resource conservation on family-owned forests and farms in the US. Given these economic incentives, landowners are more inclined to conduct conservation practices on private lands, thereby enhancing wildlife habitats, watershed integrity, water quality and quantity, biologically diverse landscapes, coastal zone protection, and conservation of natural resources on the land base. NRE development on rural lands benefits landowners and local communities economically and provides incentives for ecosystem services supported by sustainable forests and agricultural lands.