Land-Use Planners and Regulators and the Multi-Species Recovery Plan: Exposure, Awareness, and Motivations

Janas Sinclair

Florida International University, North Miami, FL

Frank Mazzotti and Jocie Graham

University of Florida, Davie, FL

The South Florida ecosystem has been considerably damaged by development of natural lands in response to rapid population growth, and the result has been a growing number of animal and plant species listed as threatened or endangered. The government has taken action to restore the Everglades and the species that live in this ecosystem; in 1993 the Federal government began the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Initiative, and in 1998 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completed the South Florida Multi-Species Recovery Plan (MSRP) to address the Restoration Initiative’s goals concerning biodiversity and threatened and endangered species. The MSRP identifies recovery and restoration needs of threatened and endangered species along with their habitats in the South Florida ecosystem. Success of these efforts, however, may depend on land-use decisions made at the local level and the motivation of local officials to consider the impact of their decisions on threatened and endangered species.

In Florida land-use decisions are accomplished at the regional level by Regional Planning Councils and at the local level by county and municipal governments. While regional and local planners are, in all likelihood, willing to participate in the Restoration Initiative, they operate with limited time and resources and may not be actively seeking scientific input into their decision making process, and they may not be aware of documents such as the MSRP.

The purpose of this study was to (1) examine the quantity and type of information land-use decision makers have been exposed to regarding threatened and endangered species, (2) assess awareness and perceptions of the MSRP, and (3) identify factors that influence land-use decision makers’ motivations to seek information about threatened and endangered species. The theory of planned behavior (TOPB) was employed to accomplish the third objective. The TOPB is a social psychological theory that predicts motivation to engage in a particular behavior and models psychological processes that mediate the relationship between attitudes and behavior. According to the theory, the proximal cause of behavior is behavior intention, or one’s psychological propensity to engage in the behavior. Behavior intention is a function of (1) attitude toward personally engaging in the behavior (attitude toward the act), (2) beliefs about how significant other people would evaluate one’s engaging in the behavior (social norms), and (3) perceptions of one’s ability to perform the behavior (perceived behavioral control). Research has also found past behavior to be a significant predictor of motives to engage in environmental behavior.

A survey (N = 59) was administered to employees in offices relating to land-use planning or regulation in the nineteen counties of South Florida as defined as the boundary of the MSRP. The names and structure of these offices are not uniform throughout the counties, so county web sites and phone calls were used to identify relevant offices and personnel in these offices. The first wave of data was collected through the mail and the second wave was by telephone. The overall response rate was 28.5%. Respondents were asked how much threatened and endangered species information they had heard lately from five sources on a five-point scale ranging from “absolutely none” to “a great deal.” The means for all sources were relatively low. The mean for non-profit organizations (M = 3.00, SD = 1.17) was significantly greater than the other sources at alpha of .05. There were no statistical differences among the other means: media (M = 2.53, SD = 1.06), state government (M = 2.47, SD = 1.04), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (M = 2.47, SD = 1.19), Federal government (M = 2.34, SD = 1.17).

When asked whether they had heard of the MSRP, most respondents answered no (n = 34, 45.9%), while 25 (33.8%) answered yes. Respondents answering yes were asked to write in how they had heard about the MSRP. The most common answers were through one’s colleagues or job or through personally having a copy of the MSRP. Other answers were through conferences and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service meeting and notice. Awareness of the contents of the MSRP was also low. Respondents rated their awareness that the MSRP contained information about five topics on a five-point scale ranging from “not at all aware” to “very much aware.” Awareness was significantly higher that the MSRP contained information about threatened and endangered animal (M= 2.36, SD = 1.73) and plant species (M = 2.33, SD = 1.74) than restoration goals for these species (M = 2.24, SD = 1.64), habitat requirements for these species (M = 2.23, SD = 1.64), and ecological communities of South Florida (M = 2.12, SD = 1.58).

The remaining questions assessed the variables of the TOPB; all were measured with five-point response scales. Behavior intention was assessed by averaging three items, including “I intend to seek out information about threatened and endangered species in my region” (scale mean = 3.88, SD = 1.01). Three items measured attitude toward the act (“In your profession, working to protect threatened and endangered species is useful/useless;” scale mean = 4.35, SD = .72). Two items measured social norms, including “My colleagues believe that good stewardship of threatened and endangered species is very important” (scale mean = 3.86, SD = .86). Internal and external perceived behavior control (PBC) were each measured with two items. For internal PBC respondents indicated whether obtaining information about threatened and endangered species in their region would be easy/difficult (scale mean = 3.27, SD = .84). For external PBC questions focused on the degree to which external sources would make it difficult to protect threatened and endangered species (scale mean = 2.49, SD = 1.16). Finally, past behavior was measured with a single item, “How much effort would you say you’ve made in the last 12 months to look for information on threatened or endangered species in your region” (M = 2.69, SD = 1.30). A step-wise regression indicated that past behavior, attitude toward the act, and social norms predicted 42% of the variance in intention to seek information about threatened and endangered species.

Maximum Predictive Stepwise Regression Model

Model & variables R2 Standardized beta Partial correlations

1.  Past behavior .17 .53 .56

2.  1 + attitude toward act .38 .34 .38

3.  2 + social norms .42 .26 .29

The results provide direction for communicating with land-use decision makers, who are not currently receiving a great deal of information about threatened or endangered species and who are mostly unaware of the MSRP. Motivation to seek information about threatened and endangered species depended on past behavior, attitude toward the act, and social norms. Means for these variables were relatively high. To increase motivation, however, communications should be designed to provide some experience in accessing relevant data and to support and build favorable attitudes towards protecting threatened and endangered species among land-use planners and regulators and their colleagues.

This research was supported by grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Center for Natural Resources and the University of Florida.

Sinclair, Janas, Department of Advertising and Public Relations, Florida International University, North Miami, FL, 33181, Phone: 305-919-5259, Fax: 305-919-5215,