Landowner perceptions of ecosystem health in upper Great Lakes states riparian landscapes

Riparian landscapes in the Upper Great Lake states play a prominent role in defining the biophysical and sociocultural character of the region. People value riparian areas for their natural aesthetic appeal, as places for reflection and solitude, as destinations for recreation and tourism, and as source areas for extractive resource use. As transition zones between aquatic and terrestrial systems, riparian areas perform important ecological and physical functions including pollutant interception and capture, storage and delivery of organic material to aquatic systems, microclimate regulation, and provision of habitat for resident and transient species. As more people choose to live and recreate in riparian areas, the potential increases for human activities to degrade riparian health and diminish performance.; Natural resource management agencies are challenged with finding acceptable solutions to meet the changing demands of the public and adequately managing the resources under their care. To inform riparian management in the Upper Great Lakes states, qualitative and quantitative survey methods were used to identify benefits people associate with riparian landscapes, assess public perceptions of human impacts on riparian ecosystems, and gauge public support for management strategies to sustain the health of riparian landscapes. Survey data were compared across pre-existing land ownership characteristics and across unique groups identified through cluster analysis of landowner responses. Landowners' perceptions differed significantly with respect to the perceived benefits associated with riparian landscapes. This suggests that management messages aimed at groups exhibiting common benefit perceptions will be more effective than messages aimed at groups with common ownership characteristics.