Beyond intrinsic: a call to combine scales on motivation and environmental values in wildlife and farmland conservation research

It has become common to explore farmer motivations for adopting land management changes on a scale from intrinsic to extrinsic, including in studies on “motivation crowding” that examine how external incentives can undermine or reinforce a farmer’s intrinsic reasons for protecting nature. We set out to do the same in a study on riparian management for the conservation of a species at risk in Nova Scotia, Canada. In our survey of 553 farmers in Nova Scotia, we received surprising results: similar agreement with statements on motivations to use riparian setbacks when wildlife is mentioned. All these statements corresponded to internal motivations found at the intrinsic end of the scale used. We postulate that environmental values associated with ‘wildlife’ triggered the positive responses. Environmental values influence farmer motivations toward conservation. We propose future studies on farmer motivations for adopting land management changes combine a scale on motivations with a scale on environmental values.