The impact of attitudes on streamside forest management practice by landowners in Far North Queensland

Landowners (100 males and 21 females) within the catchment of the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon located between the Barron and the South Johnstone Rivers responded to a postal survey assessing attitudes towards their streamside forests. 121 useable questionnaires were used to identify the underlying components within landowner's attitudes. Factor analysis revealed two components, namely, awareness of human impact on local streamside forest, and appreciation of environmental benefits and functions of streamside forest. Only factor 2, appreciation of environment benefits and functions of streamside forest, was found to significantly predict good streamside forest managementpractices as self-reported by landowners. There is a need to understand the human impact on streamside zones.