Ecological restoration is a key component of biological conservation. Nevertheless, unlike protection of existing areas, restoration changes existing land use and can therefore be more controversial. Some restoration projects negatively affect surrounding landowners, creating social constraints to restoration success. Just as negative off-site impacts (i.e., negative externalities) flow from industrial areas to natural areas, restoration projects can generate negative externalities for commercial land uses, such as agriculture.

The advent of grid electrification in the Sandveld region of South Africa in the 1980s increased the utilisation of groundwater resources for commercial irrigation purposes. In the wake of the consequent increased pressure on the resource, it behooves landowners to use water more productively and responsibly. This paper calculated the marginal product value (MPV) of irrigation water for potatoes and vine production in this region to assess and to allow the comparison of the productivity of irrigation water with other commodities and regions.

Increased development around Minnesota's lakes and their respective watersheds has degraded lake health in counties surrounding the St. Paul and Minneapolis metro areas. Confronted with the implications of degraded lakes, such as loss of property values and declining recreational experiences, lakefront landowners, and those using the lake for recreation, are increasingly looking for meaningful ways to engage in activities to improve lake water quality.

Optimum crop yield is greatly affected by proper planting and sowing times. The objective of this research was to develop an algorithm that uses the heat unit concept to determine the most suitable planting times for vegetable crops. The developed algorithm was programmed in a database environment with sample climatic data for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The model was tested by validation (comparison to experts’ estimations), verification (statistical comparison to formal published data), and evaluation (by professionals, landowners, and farmers).

Many deer populations in Europe and North America have increased in abundance over the last decades. The increasing populations potentially entail both ecological and economic challenges and opportunities, but in practice we still know little about the extent to which these opportunities are being exploited in different management systems. The Norwegian red deer population has increased in density and expanded rapidly since the 1950s. Traditionally, red deer hunting has been undertaken by the local landowner and his relatives and friends.

Increasingly, landowners are establishing hardwood plantations to satisfy their land management goals. Unfortunately, little is known about how competition control affects initial seedling survival and subsequent investment returns for hardwood plantations. This study examines five alternative competition control regimes for southern oak establishment. The regimes include no site preparation, disking only, sub-soiling with rotary mowing, herbicides only, and herbicides with rotary mowing and sub-soiling.

Loggers play a critical role in managing forest resources. This study focused on understanding loggers' attitudes-information that we believe would be useful for improving communications and ultimately improving forest practices. Through interviews and a mail survey, four themes emerged, providing insight into loggers' attitudes: (1) Pennsylvania loggers are proud of their industry, (2) Public pressure is affecting the logging industry, (3) Loggers are concerned about the future, and (4) Loggers, foresters, and landowners need to improve their communications.

The average forest landowner in Wisconsin owns fewer than 30 acres, and in 2014, landowners with as few as 10 acres of forestland were eligible to enroll in a tax program that required periodic timber harvests. These factors point to a need for loggers capable of profitably harvesting small parcels of timber. A series of in-person interviews were conducted with representatives of 15 Wisconsin logging firms previously identified as successful at harvesting small parcels of timber. Ninety-two percent of mechanized loggers had harvested parcels of 10 acres and smaller within the past year.

There has been increasing interest in the use of market-based approaches to add value for forestland and to assist with the conservation of natural resources. While markets for ecosystem services show potential for increasing forestland value, there is concern that the lack of an integrated program will simply add to the complexity of these services without generating significant public benefits.

Mechanical treatment of vegetation is done on public and private lands for many possible reasons, including enhancing wildlife habitat, increasing timber growth of residual stands, and improving resistance to damaging pests. Few studies, however, have focused on the circumstances under which mechanical wildfire hazard reduction treatments can yield positive net economic wildfire benefits for landowners and managers.

Land retirement is ceasing irrigation with the goal of reducing load, in general, of dissolved constituents and, in particular, of trace elements, present in subsurface drainage generated from irrigated lands. Retirement is achieved through a process of goal setting, strategy development and determining effects, developing land selection criteria, implementation, and monitoring. In this study, effects of land retirement are evaluated using hydrologic,soil and economic models as well as results from a field demonstration study.