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In the United States, collaboration between landowners and endangered species conservation (ESC) organizations is required to accomplish conservation goals. However, collective action for ESC is stymied by governance legitimacy deficits. Strategic communication is a tool used to accomplish organizational goals that can restore legitimacy through communications that re-align governance institutions with societal notions of appropriateness. Strategic communication, though, has yet to be investigated in the context of landowners and ESC. To illustrate how strategic communication can increase ESC collaboration, we surveyed 956 owners in Houston toad range in Texas to elicit their preferences for stewardship and communication constructs. Findings revealed distinct segments of landowners based on their stewardship preferences that preferred different types of communications. If ESC agencies are to enhance legitimacy amongst an increasingly heterogeneous landowner audience, they will want to adopt landowner-centric governance and communication strategies that account for differences in landowner conservation values, ESC experiences, and organizational expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of private lands conservation (PLC) for endangered species continues to grow as habitat is increasingly lost or fragmented. In Texas, nearly 98% of all property is privately owned, rendering PLC critical for protecting endangered species. Despite case studies regarding factors leading to stewardship outcomes for endangered species, a knowledge gap exists regarding PLC for endangered species. To help address this gap, we situate findings from 30 key informant interviews and two focus groups within a novel stewardship framework to understand how PLC interventions for the endangered Houston toad (Anaxyrus houstonensis) appeal to landowners. Our approach revealed that local changes in conservation norms and networks can build relationships between resource-deficient landowners and practitioners that increase awareness and trust, combating barriers to PLC. Enhanced networks and cultural transformation facilitated by demographic changes and decentralized governance can allow stewardship obligations to supersede culturally embedded rural myths and attitudes of anti-government sentiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]