Forest conservation on privately owned lands is a cornerstone of the Brazilian environmental policy framework. Brazilian legislation requires that all farms in the country maintain and protect forest areas known as Legal Reserves. Since Legal Reserves have major implications for forest conservation and agricultural production, it is key that we understand landholders' perceptions towards Legal Reserves. We applied Q methodology to identify different perspectives of medium and large landholders on Legal Reserves and their relation to agricultural intensification in the municipality of Paragominas, eastern Amazon. We conducted 31 interviews in which landholders sorted 36 statements in a quasi-normal distribution array. Three groups of landholders were identified: 1) Land use planning enthusiasts (n = 16) were interested in zoning initiatives to explore alternative landscape designs and legislation that may deliver better conservation and production outcomes; 2) Agrochemical-based agriculture supporters (n = 7) held the most critical views against Legal Reserves and perceived their costs as higher than the potential environmental and life quality benefits; 3) Policy complacent-market responders (n = 4) showed no interest in Legal Reserves reforms and were the most market driven group.. While Paragominas has achieved notable successes in halting large-scale deforestation through a social “Green Municipality” pact, addressing persisting forest degradation and fragmentation in the region remains a key priority. Local governance initiatives that account for multi-stakeholder perceptions on forest conservation can foster dialogue and mutual understanding to effectively conserve and restore Legal Reserves. Insights on large landholders' perceptions on Legal Reserves can inform such governance processes to reconcile forest conservation and sustainable agricultural intensification in Paragominas.

私有土地上的森林保护是巴西环境政策框架的基石。巴西法律要求该国的所有农场都必须维护和保护被称为“法定保护区”的森林地区。由于法定储量对森林保护和农业生产具有重大影响，因此关键是我们了解土地所有者对法定储量的看法。我们使用Q方法论来确定大中型土地所有者对法定储量的不同观点，以及它们在亚马逊东部帕拉戈米纳斯市与农业集约化的关系。我们进行了31次访谈，其中土地所有者以准正态分布数组对36条陈述进行了排序。确定了三类土地所有者：1）土地使用规划爱好者（n = 16）对分区计划感兴趣，以探索可提供更好保护和生产成果的替代景观设计和立法；2）以农药为基础的农业支持者（n  = 7）对法定储量持最批评的看法，并认为其成本高于潜在的环境和生活质量效益；3）政策自满市场响应者（n = 4）对合法储备金改革不感兴趣，并且是最受市场推动的群体。尽管帕拉戈米纳斯通过一项社会“绿色市政协定”在制止大规模毁林方面取得了显著成功，但解决了该地区持续的森林退化和碎片化问题仍然存在关键的优先事项。考虑到多方利益相关者对森林保护的看法的地方治理倡议可以促进对话和相互理解，以有效地保护和恢复合法储备。对大地主对法定储备的看法的见解可为此类治理程序提供信息，以调和Paragominas的森林保护和可持续农业集约化。