Synthesizing beaver coexistence messaging with the capability, opportunity, and motivation behavior model

In the western United States, conservation practitioners are increasingly working with private landowners to restore habitat for North American beavers (Castor canadensis) and to use nonlethal mitigation techniques when beavers damage crops and infrastructure. Effective communication is critical for promoting coexistence, yet on-the-ground conservation messaging seldom links to behavior change theories. We conducted 23 semistructured interviews with practitioners to examine the approaches they used to communicate with private landowners about beaver coexistence in Oregon (USA). Although we did not set out to interview practitioners about their messages targeting capability, opportunity, and motivation (elements of the COM-B model of behavior), we used the COM-B model to synthesize the primary dimensions of practitioners’ complex, real-world communication about human–wildlife coexistence. We found that practitioners used multiple communication channels to listen for and respond to landowners’ capability, opportunity, and motivation. They tailored messages to affirm and enhance knowledge and skills, identify and address site-specific and social contexts, and align beaver impacts with landowner goals. Our findings suggest the COM-B model can go beyond guiding audience analysis and behavioral intervention design to help practitioners tailor real-time communication with landowners about coexistence behavior. The model, based on our use of COM-B to analyze existing communication, could be used to provide practitioners with techniques for making sense of their existing communication efforts, for identifying gaps, and for dynamically tailoring their communication.