IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v14y2025i5p991-d1648932.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Broader View of Conservation: Mapping Nature and Culture of Working Lands in the Texas Hill Country

Author

Listed:
  • Joanna Weathersby

    (Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA)

  • Jason P. Julian

    (Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA)

Abstract

Working lands are (agri)cultural landscapes with natural value that provide tangible and intangible benefits to people. The development and loss of working landscapes and other rural lands have been increasing, especially in regions experiencing rapid urban growth. To address these issues and conservation needs, we conducted a multi-scale study that involved (1) an in-depth case study of a working ranch focused on conservation, and (2) a geospatial inventory of ecosystem services and cultural values across a Central Texas county that is still dominated by working landscapes yet is experiencing increasing urbanization. The purpose of these two complementary scales was to add a broader view of working landscape values by mapping the multiple benefits they provide and assessing where provisioning, regulating, and cultural benefits overlap. The ultimate objective of our study was to identify target zones for conservation planning. Based on categorical and spatial variation in the mapped benefits inventory, we identified four conservation target zones: Headwaters, Historic Towns, Geologic Significance, and Tourism Corridor. Finally, we framed these conservation target zones within the context of land use decisions and tradeoff analyses.

Suggested Citation

  • Joanna Weathersby & Jason P. Julian, 2025. "A Broader View of Conservation: Mapping Nature and Culture of Working Lands in the Texas Hill Country," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-39, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:5:p:991-:d:1648932
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/991/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/991/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bigelow, Daniel & Borchers, Allison, 2017. "Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2012," Economic Information Bulletin 263079, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Nora J. Mitchell & Brenda Barrett, 2015. "Heritage Values and Agricultural Landscapes: Towards a New Synthesis," Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(6), pages 701-716, August.
    3. Colleen C. Myles & Christi G. Townsend & Kourtney Collins, 2022. "Texas in Transition: Considering the Production of Grapes, Wine, and Place," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Lars Coenen & Bernhard Truffer, 2012. "Places and Spaces of Sustainability Transitions: Geographical Contributions to an Emerging Research and Policy Field," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 367-374, March.
    5. Christina W. Lopez & Madeline T. Wade & Jason P. Julian, 2023. "Nature–Human Relational Models in a Riverine Social–Ecological System: San Marcos River, TX, USA," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-49, March.
    6. Salvatore Ammirato & Alberto Michele Felicetti & Cinzia Raso & Bruno Antonio Pansera & Antonio Violi, 2020. "Agritourism and Sustainability: What We Can Learn from a Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-18, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lucyna Przezborska-Skobiej & Roma Rys-Jurek, 2024. "Revenues from Agritourism and their Determinants for the European Farms," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 905-920.
    2. Alieh Abadi & Mehdi Khakzand, 2022. "Extracting the qualitative dimensions of agritourism for the sustainable development of Charqoli village in Iran: the promotion of vernacular entrepreneurship and environment-oriented preservation per," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(11), pages 12609-12671, November.
    3. Artur Santoalha & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Diversifying in green technologies in European regions: does political support matter?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(2), pages 182-195, February.
    4. Cosmin Alin Popescu & Tiberiu Iancu & Gabriela Popescu & Tabita Adamov & Ramona Ciolac, 2023. "The Impact of Agritourism Activity on the Rural Environment: Findings from an Authentic Agritourist Area—Bukovina, Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-23, June.
    5. Hyunseok Kim & GianCarlo Moschini, 2018. "The Dynamics of Supply: U.S. Corn and Soybeans in the Biofuel Era," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 94(4), pages 593-613.
    6. Sabine Dörry & Christian Schulz, 2024. "Creating Low‐Carbon Economies: Probing Transition Dynamics through the Lens of Field Theory," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 115(5), pages 660-673, December.
    7. Sandra Fatorić & Erin Seekamp, 2017. "Are cultural heritage and resources threatened by climate change? A systematic literature review," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 227-254, May.
    8. Ruilong Gao & Siyu Zheng, 2024. "Coupling coordination between agriculture and tourism in the Qinba Mountain area: a case study of Shanyang County, Shanxi Province," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(12), pages 31859-31878, December.
    9. Jens Koehrsen, 2017. "Boundary Bridging Arrangements: A Boundary Work Approach to Local Energy Transitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-23, March.
    10. Hyejung Chang, 2020. "Propositions for the Aesthetic Continuity of Urban Landscapes," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(3), pages 21582440209, July.
    11. Hansmeier Hendrik & Kroll Henning, 2024. "The geography of eco-innovations and sustainability transitions: A systematic comparison," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 68(2), pages 125-143.
    12. Patricio Sarmiento-Mateos & Cecilia Arnaiz-Schmitz & Cristina Herrero-Jáuregui & Francisco D. Pineda & María F. Schmitz, 2019. "Designing Protected Areas for Social–Ecological Sustainability: Effectiveness of Management Guidelines for Preserving Cultural Landscapes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, May.
    13. Federico Ciliberto & GianCarlo Moschini & Edward D. Perry, 2019. "Valuing product innovation: genetically engineered varieties in US corn and soybeans," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 50(3), pages 615-644, September.
    14. Alina Emilia Maria Gherdan & Ramona Vasilica Bacter & Ramona Ciolac & Tiberiu Iancu & Cristina Maria Maerescu & Monica Angelica Dodu & Aurelia Ioana Chereji & Vasile Grigore Herman & Alexandra Ungurea, 2025. "Sustainable Agritourism Development in Romania’s North-West Mountain Region: A TOPSIS-Based Evaluation of Strategic Priorities," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-28, March.
    15. Broto, Vanesa Castán, 2017. "Energy landscapes and urban trajectories towards sustainability," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 755-764.
    16. Werth, Samantha & Almutairi, Kamel & Thoma, Greg & Mitloehner, Frank, 2021. "An economic assessment of U.S. ground beef in response to the introduction of plant-based meat alternatives," Conference papers 333254, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    17. Abdi Shukri Yasin & Zsuzsanna Bacsi, 2025. "Agritourism and Rural Development: A Global Bibliometric Analysis of the State of Research, Limitations, and Future Directions," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-22, April.
    18. Zhiqiang Gong & Zhuting Zhang & Jianqin Zhou & Jiami Zhou & Wenhui Wang, 2022. "The Evolutionary Process and Mechanism of Cultural Landscapes: An Integrated Perspective of Landscape Ecology and Evolutionary Economic Geography," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-18, November.
    19. Artur Santoalha & Davide Consoli & Fulvio Castellacci, 2019. "Do digital skills foster green diversification? A study of European regions," Working Papers on Innovation Studies 20191029, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo.
    20. Marco Bassetto & Leslie McGranahan, 2021. "Mobility, Population Growth, and Public Capital Spending in the United States," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 41, pages 255-277, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:5:p:991-:d:1648932. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.