Redefining Absentee: Towards Understanding Place Attachment and Stewardship in Non-Residential Landowners in Texas, USA

Author:

Lopez Christina W.1ORCID,Spears Evgenia2,Hartwick Tyler C.1,Killough John C.1,Schuett Michael A.2

Affiliation:

1. The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA

2. Department of Rangeland, Wildlife & Fisheries Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA

Abstract

Approximately 30% of the private land in Texas, USA is under absentee ownership. Understanding who absentee landowners are and their land management behaviors is vital for the protection of privately owned landscapes and the ecosystem services that they support, including surface water quality. By focusing on absentee landowners with properties in five watersheds in Texas, we utilized the theory of place attachment to gain insights into absentee landowners’ land management decisions and their involvement in water quality conservation programs, such as watershed protection plans (WPPs). By conducting a mail-out survey, we obtained 100 responses, which were analyzed using an exploratory factor analysis and a series of nonparametric assessments. The results revealed that, contrary to the term “absentee”, the landowners in our study demonstrated strong feelings of place attachment and heightened land stewardship. Based on these findings, we suggest that instead of considering absentee landowners as obstacles to collaborative conservation initiatives, such as WPPs, natural resource practitioners should recognize and capitalize on the emotional attachment that these landowners have to their properties, thereby fostering their involvement. By demonstrating the owner–land relationship and its behavioral outcomes among absentee landowners, this study provides a novel contribution to the existing literature on place attachment in the context of private land management and conservation.

Publisher

MDPI AG

Reference84 articles.

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3. Land Use and Water-Quality Joint Dynamics of the Córrego da Formiga, Brazilian Cerrado Headwaters;Giongo;Geographies,2022

4. (2023, June 16). Private Landowners and Listed Species. Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Available online: https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/nongame/listed-species/landowner-tools.phtml#:~:text=Texas%20is%20a%20private%20lands,we%20enjoy%20in%20our%20state.

5. (2023, August 02). Watershed Protection Plans for Nonpoint Source Water Pollution. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Available online: https://www.tceq.texas.gov/waterquality/nonpoint-source/mgmt-plan/watershed-pp.html.

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