Private Forest Landowners’ Perspectives on Feral Hog Management and Control in Arkansas, Louisiana, and East Texas

Abstract

Feral hogs (Sus scrofa) are a rapidly increasingly nonnative invasive species that has spread widely across the Southern United States, impacting water quality and causing severe damage to tree regeneration. As a result, controlling feral hogs is an urgent issue for many forest landowners and silviculturists. To provide land managers in the Western Gulf Region (WGR) with a better sense of the extent of feral hog damage and landowner perspectives on controlling this invasive species, we sent 4,500 mail surveys in the summer of 2021 to randomly selected landowners in Arkansas, Louisiana, and east Texas. A subsample of private forest landowners was selected for this study to explore their perceptions of feral hogs in this region. Results indicated that most private forest landowners are familiar with feral hogs, especially Texas forest landowners (>90 percent reported familiar), and generally have overwhelmingly negative attitudes toward them. Regarding the control and management methods, trapping and shooting are the most acceptable and effective methods among the private forest landowners in the WGR. These findings will help silviculturists better understand private forest landowners’ perspectives on feral hogs and the most acceptable control and management methods. For example, exploring suitable silvicultural practices (such as trapping the planting area, substituting appropriate tree species, and more) to avoid feral hog damage is not only a key topic among silviculturists but also among private forest landowners. Understanding forest landowners’ concerns and motivations for feral hog control should also lead to the development and deployment of more effective management tools, control policies, and educational programs for feral hogs in the study area.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the 22nd Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference

Citation

Mineau, Alyssa; Tian, Nana; Gan, Jianbang; Holley, Gordon. 2024. Private Forest Landowners’ Perspectives on Feral Hog Management and Control in Arkansas, Louisiana, and East Texas. In: Bragg, Don C.; Oswald, Brian P.; Koerth, Nancy E., eds. Proceedings of the 22nd biennial southern silvicultural research conference. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-274. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station: 232–238. https://doi.org/10.2737/SRS-GTR-274-Pap37.