Dissertation Research: Social and Environmental Consequences of Land Tenure among Marin County Ranchers

在美国，公众对私人使用联邦土地的看法变得越来越有争议，尤其是在西部，那里的农民严重依赖私人和联邦土地来维持可行的经营。本研究的重点是了解牧场主对私人和联邦土地的使用如何影响他们在面对外部经济、政治和文化威胁时选择的策略。在此过程中，它询问了土地使用权如何影响环境利用模式、牧场社区的社会结构以及农学家的经济决策。研究将在雷耶斯岬国家海岸（PRNS）和加州马林县附近的一块私人土地上进行。学生将研究土地所有权和景观评估如何促进和阻碍牧场寿命和环境完整性。免费清单、结构化调查、深度访谈和日常工作日记将用于获取北加州两组匹配牧场主的土地使用实践、经济环境以及对土地的看法和价值观的信息：1)牧场主主要使用PRNS的联邦土地，2)Tomales湾的一组匹配牧场主，他们主要使用Tomales湾以东的私人土地。网络分析将用于对比每个社区内的社会互动。对牧场边界的历史分析、前邻居访谈、个人和县的经济数据和税收记录将用于检验经济战略。这项研究将检验土地保有制影响生产战略的假设；在这样做的过程中，它通过探索私人和联邦所有权对资源管理的影响，为财产理论做出了贡献。这项研究还表明，一个发展中的合作理论体系与一个复杂的、市场一体化的农业社会的相关性。

Public sentiment toward private use of federal lands has become increasingly contentious in the United States, particularly in the West where agriculturists rely heavily on both private and federal lands to maintain viable operations. This research focuses on understanding how ranchers' use of private and federal lands affects the strategies they choose in the face of external economic, political, and cultural threats. In so doing, it asks how land tenure affects environmental use patterns, the social structure of ranching communities, and economic decisions made by agriculturists. Research will be conducted on Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) and in a nearby portion of private land in Marin County, California. The student will examine the ways in which land tenure and landscape valuation variously promote and discourage ranch longevity and environmental integrity. Free listing, structured surveys, in-depth interviews, and daily work diaries will be used to elicit information on the land use practices, economic circumstances, and perceptions and values regarding the land for two matched sets of ranchers in Northern California: 1) ranchers using primarily the federal lands of PRNS, with 2) a matched set of ranchers across Tomales Bay, who primarily use private lands east of Tomales Bay. Network analysis will be used to contrast social interactions within each community. Historical analysis of ranch boundaries, former neighbor interviews, and personal and county economic data and tax records will be used to examine economic strategies. The research will test the hypothesis that land tenure shapes productive strategies; in so doing, it contributes to property theory by exploring the effects of private and federal tenure on resource management. The research also shows the relevance of a developing body of theory on cooperation to a complex, market-integrated agricultural society.