Little is known about the conservation of intermittent and ephemeral streams on private lands despite the importance of these waterways for ecosystem and hydrologic outcomes. Our case study of a watershed of central New York State considers landowners’ attitudes toward perennial and intermittent streams on their property. We combine social science survey responses with aerial imagery to assess the underlying drivers of landowners’ attitudes about their streams, and the extent to which these attitudes shape riparian conservation behaviors on their properties. We find that stream flow regularity directly and positively shapes landowners’ stream attitudes, with landowners of perennially flowing streams holding their streams in higher regard than landowners with streams of intermittent flows. Landowners with forest and wetlands as the primary land cover had more riparian buffer coverage on their properties than agricultural landowners. Landowners with a weaker perceived land use efficacy also had greater buffer coverage. Our findings suggest that landowners in headwater regions do not perceive their influence on downstream water quality, and that outreach efforts should emphasize the importance and conservation of headwater streams and associated water quality outcomes.

中文翻译：

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上游思考：土地所有者的态度如何影响森林河岸缓冲覆盖率？

尽管这些水道对生态系统和水文结果很重要，但对私人土地上间歇性和短暂性河流的保护知之甚少。我们对纽约州中部流域的案例研究考虑了土地所有者对其财产中常年和间歇性溪流的态度。我们将社会科学调查响应与航拍图像相结合，以评估土地所有者对其河流态度的潜在驱动因素，以及这些态度在多大程度上影响其财产的河岸保护行为。我们发现河流流动规律直接和积极地塑造了土地所有者的河流态度，常年流动河流的土地所有者比间歇性河流的土地所有者更重视河流。以森林和湿地为主要土地覆盖的土地所有者比农业土地所有者拥有更多的河岸缓冲覆盖率。感知土地利用效率较弱的土地所有者也有更大的缓冲覆盖范围。我们的研究结果表明，上游地区的土地所有者没有意识到他们对下游水质的影响，外展工作应该强调上游河流的重要性和保护以及相关的水质结果。