Coupled Human-Biophysical Framework to Predict Conservation Effectiveness

Agricultural productivity and environmental quality are threatened by poor targeting and implementation of Best Management Practices (BMPs), which may unnecessarily take land out of production and reduce social and environmental benefits gained from conservation practices. Significant progress on reducing non-point sediment and nutrient pollution has been hindered by low BMP adoption rates, limited maintenance and poor performance in some settings. This project combines high-resolution, process-based bio-physical modeling with individual-agent socio-economic modeling to evaluate optimal combinations of site-specific BMPs at the watershed scale to enhance BMP adoption and effectiveness, while not compromising agricultural productivity and water quality. The primary goal will be evaluation of sociological, economic and bio-physical barriers to BMP adoption and maintenance at the watershed scale, focusing specifically on USDA priorities of: barriers to BMP adoption; bundling conservation measures; watershed-scale impacts of conservation practices and agricultural wetland mitigation banks. Outreach efforts will involve communicating directly with producers and state and local agency staff via surveys, interviews, presentations and a project website that will synthesize results and provide a mechanism for direct feedback from producers, agency staff and other stakeholders.