Self-efficacy toward prescribed burning among female and male family forest landowners in Georgia, US

Abstract

Around 9.6 million family forest landowners (FFLs) collectively own 36% of the forestland in the United States (US), playing a vital role in managing and shaping the forests across the country. There is an array of forest management practices that these families can pursue on their forestlands, including prescribed burning, which, although controversial, is a tool with many social and environmental benefits, such as hazardous fuels and wildfire reduction. Drawing on mail survey data of FFLs in Georgia, US, this study examines, through partial-least squares structural equation modeling and significance testing, how gendered self-efficacy (i.e., beliefs about gender roles in forestry, confidence in forest management skills, and knowledge about prescribed burning), predict prescribed burning intentions among female and male forest landowners. Our results show that male respondents believe in masculine gender roles in forestry, have more confidence in their forest management skills, and more confidence in their self-reported knowledge about prescribed fire, compared to their female counterparts. Exhibiting high self-efficacy in terms of confidence in own's forest management skills and prescribed burning knowledge increases the likelihood of prescribed burning intentions among FFLs. On the other hand, low self-efficacy among female FFLs is a negative predictor for their prescribed burning intentions in the next five years. We conclude that boosting female forest landowners' self-efficacy through same-gender peer learning groups would potentially increase their prescribed burning intentions, benefiting their forestlands, the southern forested landscape, and society.