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Woodland management is critical for ensuring forests are sustainably managed, yet few forest landowners have management plans and are often unsure of where to turn for advice. In New York State, the Master Forest Owner (MFO) Volunteer program provides free support from trained volunteers, however participation in the program has declined since 2012. To encourage engagement with the program, we pilot tested a message consisting of descriptive norm, benefit appeal, and individual self-frame via a direct mail campaign. Compared to a control message, requests for visits with MFOs increased from receiving the treatment message via a cost-effective postcard.

This research offers an exploration of the social networks within two distinct watershed groups in the Hudson River, New York State, USA: citizen-based and agency-based organizations. Through a social network analysis of their operations and interactions, this study unveils the complex dynamics and roles of individual nodes in facilitating nine types of connections, such as political and financial, within these networks. The citizen-based organization demonstrated denser and more cohesive networks, suggesting robust relationships and enhanced resilience and adaptability. In contrast, the agency-based organization exhibited more hierarchical networks. This study employs both network-level and node-level analyses to examine the social networks within watershed groups. Our network-level analysis focuses on metrics such as density, average degree, and hierarchy, while our node-level analysis examines clustering coefficients and influence. It also explores ego networks through an analysis of their density and the effective size of structural holes. Our finding is that the social networks of the two groups are quite distinct, and there is limited exchange of information and resources between them. However, we discovered that effective communication among a few well-connected individuals (e.g., those with high influence values) within each group can enhance the effectiveness and resilience of these networks. These analyses aim to provide a detailed understanding of the social dynamics within regional watershed groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, various institutions have attempted to improve rural livelihoods in Haiti by implementing agroforestry. While agroforestry provides ecological and economic benefits, little is known about the long-term livelihood outcomes of agroforestry interventions in Haiti. Using the Community Capitals Framework (CCF), this study investigated multiple dimensions of agroforestry outcomes in practicing communities and compared them to communities not practicing agroforestry, in reference to a community-based agroforestry program initiated by the Haiti Timber Reintroduction Program (HTRIP). Data were collected using qualitative research methods of in-depth interviews and focus groups. The results indicate that community agroforestry makes positive contributions to all community capitals–some (social, human, financial, natural, cultural) more than others (built, political). We recommend that institutions pay particular attention to building social, human, and natural capital and how they contribute to financial capital, as this was the entry point for the spiraling up of capitals in rural Haitian communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]