To achieve the ambitious habitat goals of the American Woodcock Conservation Plan, management on private lands to increase early successional habitat (ESH) is critical.

In 2008, The Wildlife Management Institute contracted with D.J. Case & Associates to "Investigate communication strategies to integrate private landowner habitat management interests and capacities into programs designed to implement the American Woodcock Conservation Plan through identification of critical audiences, testing of key messages and documentation of optimal delivery mechanisms."

After nearly two years of information gathering and research, a Comprehensive Communication Strategy was released in December 2009.

The Communications Strategy is focused specifically on owners of small (10- to 100-acre) woodlands in the 10 states that are part of BCRs 14 and 28 (ME, CT, VT, NH, NY, PA, OH, MD, VA, and WV). This project was not designed to address communication needs of large landowners, industrial landowners, or public lands. However, the work is designed to provide foundational insights, approaches and communications strategies that may be applicable in other areas as well.

Separate reports that provide much more detail on every aspect of the background research are provided below.

1. Literature Review (Annotated Bibliography for the Investigating Communication Strategies to Support Implementation of the North American Woodcock Conservation Plan Project) – the Team collected and reviewed pertinent literature regarding private, non-industrial woodland owners and management of their forested lands.
2. Interviews (Summary of Semi-Structured Interviews with Natural Resource Professionals) – the Team identified and spoke with 30 key natural resource professionals who engage in early successional habitat management and outreach on private lands, to learn about their efforts, messages, audiences, and assessment of such efforts.
3. Focus Groups
   
   1. Phase I (Summary of Focus Group Meetings with Private Landowners) – the Team conducted four focus groups (one in NH, one in NY, and two in PA) with private, non-industrial woodland owners to determine the fundamental reasons why they might choose to either actively manage their land for early successional forest habitat or not, and to test the appeal of potential messages that might be used in a communications and outreach campaign aimed at increasing the acreage of private lands being managed for early successional forest habitat.
   2. Phase II (Message Testing Focus Group Meetings with Private Landowners (Phase II)) – the Team conducted an additional set of three focus groups (two in NY and one in PA) to test communication vehicles (images, messages, tag lines, and print ads) that might be used to encourage private landowner participation in early successional habitat management, and to compare and contrast the characteristics of Phase I focus group participants with those of this Phase II focus group work.
4. NWOS Survey Analysis (Analysis of National Woodland Owner Survey Data for Bird Conservation Regions 14 and 28) – the Team reviewed results of the National Woodland Owner Survey for small woodland owners in BCRs 14 and 28, to determine understanding of and attitudes toward forest ownership and management, and other conservation issues. They also compared demographics of and results from survey participants with participants in Phase II Focus Groups, to determine to what degree focus group participants were "representative" of the broader woodland owner population, and whether results and insights obtained in focus groups could be applied to the broader population.

These are final results from a 2-year study funded by the Webless Migratory Game Bird Research Program (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).