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Determinants of Trust for Public Lands: Fire and Fuels Management on the Bitterroot National Forest

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Abstract

Management of public lands occurs today with high levels of scrutiny and controversy. To succeed, managers seek the support, involvement, and endorsement of the public. This study examines trust as an indicator of managerial success and attempts to identify and measure the components that most influence it. A review of trust literature yielded 14 attributes that were hypothesized to contribute to trust, grouped into the three dimensions of Shared Norms and Values, Willingness to Endorse, and Perceived Efficacy. Operationalizing these attributes and dimensions, a telephone survey was administered to a sample of Montana, USA, residents living adjacent to the Bitterroot National Forest (n = 1,152). Each of the attributes was measured in the context of federal lands fire and fuel management. Structural equation modeling showed that all 14 attributes were found to be influential contributors to levels of trust. Results suggest that if managers are to maintain or increase levels of public trust, they need to consider each of trust’s attributes as they make social, ecological, and economic resource decisions.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded in part by the Joint Fire Science Program, the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project, the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, and The University of Montana. The authors would like to sincerely thank those organizations, the Bitterroot National Forest, and Jim Sylvester and John Baldridge at The University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Forest Foundation, Building 27, Suite 3, Fort Missoula Road, Missoula, MT, 59804, USA

    Adam Lijeblad

  2. College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA

    William T. Borrie

  3. Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, 790 E. Beckwith, Missoula, MT, 59801, USA

    Alan E. Watson

Authors
  1. Adam Lijeblad
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  2. William T. Borrie
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  3. Alan E. Watson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to William T. Borrie.

Appendix

Appendix

Table A1 Text and response formats of survey questions
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Lijeblad, A., Borrie, W.T. & Watson, A.E. Determinants of Trust for Public Lands: Fire and Fuels Management on the Bitterroot National Forest. Environmental Management 43, 571–584 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-008-9230-3

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