Poster #112 - Bridging Policy and Practice: How Service Providers Shape Access to Revegetation Programs across U.S. States

• In Event: Saturday Poster Luncheon

Abstract

Within the United States’ federalist system, states exercise substantial discretion in the design and implementation of conservation and land-use programs, resulting in considerable variation in how private landowners access financial and technical assistance. Although nearly 60% of U.S. land and 58% of forest area are privately owned, little is known about how differences across states shape program accessibility and participation, particularly for underserved private landowners.  This study examines how service providers (SPs) —including foresters, agronomists, and other natural resource professionals —mediate the effects of state policy variation on landowner participation in revegetation programs. Positioned at the intersection of public policy and private land management, SPs act as “boundary spanners,” translating program requirements, navigating institutional complexity, and facilitating access to resources. Few studies have empirically examined how their collaborative practices shape opportunities for engagement and natural capital investment. Research on boundary-spanning suggests that competencies, such as building trust, negotiating diverse interests, and navigating complexity are essential (Williams 2002). Additional practices involve translating and aligning perspectives across diverse contexts (Quick & Feldman 2014).  SPs play a particularly important role in outreach and engagement of underserved landowners, many of whom face historic and ongoing barriers to program participation. For these groups, collaboration with service providers may be the most critical pathway to learning and accessing financial and technical assistance. Understanding how SPs, as boundary spanners, engage with these landowners is therefore key to addressing program accessibility and limitations.  Using 40 semi-structured interviews with service providers in North Carolina and Indiana collected November 2025-April 2026, and a primary database of state revegetation assistance programs (n=88), this paper compares how different institutional arrangements and resource environments influence outreach strategies, collaboration, and program delivery. Preliminary findings indicate that variation in state program funding, administrative requirements, and interagency coordination significantly shapes SP capacity to engage landowners. Trust-building, sustained relationships, and cross-organizational collaboration emerge as critical mechanisms through which SPs mitigate barriers to participation—especially for historically underserved populations. By linking state-level program data and on-the-ground implementation and participation outcomes, this study contributes to a broader understanding of how decentralized governance structures influence environmental program effectiveness and equity. The findings offer policy-relevant insights for making programs more accessible in view of varying states' capacity. This directly speaks to APPAM’s call for examining how differences across states shape policy impacts and well-being.


References:

Quick, Kathryn S. and Feldman, Martha S. 2014 Boundaries as Junctures: Collaborative Boundary Work for Building Efficient Resilience. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 24, Issue 3, July 2014, Pages 673–695.
Williams, Paul. 2002. The Competent Boundary Spanner. Public Administration 80(1): 103–24.

Author

• Tatyana B Ruseva, Appalachian State University
  Presenting Author