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Many land-grant institutions with agriculture and natural resource programs in the United States offer online courses to meet student demand. The goal of this study was to understand how major educational stakeholders, including instructors and students, perceive the benefits and limitations of online teaching and learning in agriculture and natural resource sciences. This study utilized a mixed mode data collection method, which involved informal meetings as well as online survey administration. The data were analyzed through strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)-Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) framework. The study results offer novel perspectives on the perceived utility and challenges of several attributes of online learning including work-home balance, lack of social interactions, virtual classroom opportunities for working professionals, and academic integrity and cyber scam issues among others. Our findings may be beneficial to academic administrators, instructors, and institutions in identifying opportunities, challenges, and adopting programmatic strategies to improve effectiveness of online learning.

Emerald ash borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis), an invasive nonnative beetle, is responsible for the mortality of ash trees in the eastern and midwestern United States. Despite efforts to contain this beetle through various control options, human-induced spread of EAB has caused damage to ash forests in many states. Because most ash trees are under private ownership, it is important to understand how landowners evaluate the risk of EAB and perceive the effectiveness of various control options. A mail survey of private forest landowners was conducted in Kentucky in 2020 to assess their awareness and perception of various control options of EAB infestation. Results from this survey suggest that landowners are concerned about EAB and the associated increased risks, reduced quality of scenic views, and increased cleanup costs. Landowners experiencing EAB infestation believed that EAB management needs collective actions and that current efforts by government agencies are not sufficient. However, few landowners are taking actions themselves to manage EAB on their property. These findings shed light on the extent to which landowners are concerned about EAB impact and emphasize the need for development of effective control options and outreach programs to increase landowner engagement and actions in EAB control and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses a segmentation technique to classify landowners into four relevant groups to explore their information-seeking behavior about the red oak borer—an insect pest found primarily in the Ozark and Ouachita regions of Arkansas. Cluster Analysis technique was used to classify landowners into four groups—amenity focused rural, amenity focused urban, passive rural, and passive urban landowners—based on ownership objectives and rural and urban residence of the landowner. A relatively higher proportion (58%) of amenity focused rural landowners were familiar with red oak borer problems while the level of familiarity was more or less similar among passive rural (35%), amenity focused urban (36%), and passive urban (33%) landowners. Urban residents primarily received information about the red oak borer through moss media whereas rural residents relied on personal communication. Those that had taken some steps to reduce red oak borer impacts ranged from 14 to 19% among amenity focused urban, passive rural, and amenity focused rural landowners while none of the passive urban landowners had taken any action. The results from our study also suggest that targeting landowners based on their ownership oblectives may be useful to stimulate forest management. If suitably targeted to amenity focused landowners, personal communication, although expensive and time-consuming, can be fruitful and a more efficient way to optimize resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the attitudes of forest landowners about the Safe Harbor Program for the red-cockaded woodpecker in North and South Carolina. Use of burning, chemical or mechanical methods to control understory hardwoods; Forest characteristics and management; Landowners' opinions about alternatives to the program.

Explores the magnitude and importance of factors influencing the fragmentation of private forest landscapes in the United States. Attempts to provide empirical evidence concerning the validity of literature about the causes of parcelization; Significance of forest deaths, urbanization, income, regulatory uncertainty and financial assistance for landowners on parcelization.