Three Essays on Silvopasture in the Southeastern U.S.: Landowner and Community Assets, Natural Resource Professionals’ Perceptions, and Landowner Engagement

Abstract

Today’s natural resource professionals (NRP) support landowners in pursuit of multiple objectives, including recreation, income, long-term value creation, and responsibly managing natural resources for future generations. One strategy to meet multiple objectives is silvopasture, an agroforestry practice which dynamically combines timber, forage, and livestock for multiple forest products on a single site. We applied the sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF) to the context of silvopasture managers in the Southeast and the role that NRPs play in enabling or constraining landowners’ application of silvopasture in pursuit of their objectives. We identified common management objectives of landowners who practice silvopasture, including wildlife habitat creation, income diversification, and aesthetics, as well as the knowledge and perspectives of the NRPs who support them. Two major human and social capital needs that influence landowners’ attainment of their goals are silvopasture-specific technical assistance and specialist support from forestry, forage, and livestock NRPs.