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Understanding why private property owners take actions to conserve bats has become increasingly important in U.S. states where the fungus causing white-nose syndrome (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) has decimated bat populations. We surveyed property owners in three New York State counties (n = 2,500) and used multiple linear regression analyses to test predictors of intentions to conserve bats. Intentions to take actions that contribute to bat conservation directly were predicted by severity of rabies consequences, sense of bat conservation self efficacy, beliefs about responsibility for bat conservation, and attitudes toward bats (R² =.39). Intentions to take actions that conserve bats indirectly were predicted by biospheric value orientations, beliefs about responsibility for bat conservation, and attitudes toward bats (R² =.27). The relationship between beliefs about rabies and intentions to take actions that contribute to bat conservation highlights the need for coordinated risk communication between public health and wildlife conservation organizations.

Hunter education (HE) is offered in all 50 states, with oversight provided by state wildlife agencies (SWAs). The vast majority of HE courses are taught by volunteers. Recruiting and retaining volu...

As a fundamental social process, communication can help natural resource managers prevent or manage many human–wildlife conflicts, but research on how to present effectively information that contributes to the reduction of human–wildlife conflicts is scant. We examined the effectiveness of point-of-reference and gain-versus-loss framing in heightening intentions to prevent human–black bear conflicts. We randomly assigned 811 participants to one of six message conditions as part of a 3 (point of reference: family versus community versus bear) × 2 (message framing: gain versus loss) between-subjects factorial design or a control condition. The findings show that a match between loss framing and low-construal referencing point (e.g., family-referencing), and a congruency between gain framing and high-construal referencing point (e.g., bear-referencing) lead to higher risk perception and behavioral intentions. This study provides guidance for continuing research and design of risk communication in the context of human–bear conflicts.

To test the effects of message framing on intentions to participate in seven behaviors to prevent coyote problems, we randomly assigned 461 participants to a control (no message) group or one of fo...

The trend in wildlife management over the last two decades has been to develop locally based approaches for responsiveness to local conditions, but some state wildlife agencies are finding the amount of staff time required to service this approach prohibitive. Although local engagement strategies have been lauded as assuring that public trust obligations of state government to citizens are met, we can expect that states with a local focus as their operational level of stakeholder engagement may opt to change their approach to reflect their resource limitations. We argue for comprehensive regional level effort to understand stakeholders augmented with local engagement processes where needed to deal with special circumstances in smaller areas within a region. Such an approach can be anticipated to have implications for stakeholder engagement and human dimensions research needs, which we discuss in the context of public trust resource administration and good governance of wildlife resources.

Decades of decline in the number of hunters in the United States have made hunter recruitment and retention (HRR) a high priority within the North American wildlife management community. Sociodemographic changes (e.g., urbanization, shifting racial/ethnic composition, parcelization of rural properties) suggest a need to re-examine conventional knowledge of HRR processes and develop insight that reflects contemporary contexts. In this article, we emphasize the “social habitat” for hunting and adopt a social–ecological model of hunting behavior to explore the myriad factors that interact to influence HRR at multiple scales. We examine the dynamic, hierarchical social structures that influence HRR, including forces that operate at the individual, micro (e.g., family), meso (e.g., community), and macro (e.g., society) levels. The review suggests that future research addressing HRR could expand to account for a broader, more diverse social habitat for hunting that includes these multiple scales.

Fish and wildlife disease outbreaks are increasing globally, negatively affecting wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. Responding to such outbreaks presents a challenge for fish and wildlife age...

The degree to which professionals can improve wildlife management processes and outcomes depends in part on their ability to integrate knowledge from multiple disciplines, including those that deta...

Problematic human–black bear interactions have increased in North America. Research is needed to clarify influences on human concern about and reaction to bear behavior, such that wildlife managers can better understand and maintain stakeholder acceptance capacity for bears. This article uses mail survey data (n = 1,038, response rate = 42%) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test a conceptual model of factors affecting concern about bears and predisposition to contact authorities for assistance. Findings support hypotheses that both variables are influenced by wildlife value orientation, personal experience with bears, and television viewing. Use of print media is not a predictor of concern or behavioral predisposition, leading to rejection of those hypotheses. Strong wildlife benefits beliefs and neutral personal experience with bear presence attenuate concern, while exposure to television has the opposite effect. Findings suggest that improving measures of personal experience and basic beliefs w...

Wildlife managers conducting situation analyses typically turn to key informants to gain insight into community experiences and opinions. Although expedient, relying only on informants has shortcomings. We examined informants as potential sources of information about community residents with respect to human–coyote issues in Westchester County, New York. We employed a mixed-method approach that included both interviews with informants (n = 40) and a telephone survey of residents (n = 1,160). Although we found agreement on some measures, disparities between key informants' and residents' perceptions of coyotes in the community were revealed, suggesting caution about reliance on informants to guide management decisions. This study highlights the value of multiple data sources to improve insight and increase confidence in efforts to assess community perspectives regarding suburban wildlife issues.

We completed a content analysis of newspaper, radio, and television reports (n = 117) available to people in New York State between January 1999 and March 2002, to characterize how news stories differed with regard to problem identification, attributions of responsibility, and proposed solutions to black bear management problems. Nearly all reports could be characterized as episodic rather than thematic (i.e., focused on specific events rather than general outcomes or conditions). Reports identified few bear-related problems, suggested few solutions to problems, and tended to attribute responsibility for solving problems to individuals, not government agencies. We suggest that wildlife managers make efforts to raise stakeholder awareness about a wider array of bear–human interactions and effects of interactions than are reported by mass media as management issues emerge. By improving media relations plans and investing in stakeholder issue education, wildlife agencies can enable communities to create fram...

The discovery of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in New York in March 2005 resulted in a major effort by state and federal natural resource agencies to contain the disease, protect wild deer herds, and inform the public about the disease. One of the most urgent information needs of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) concerned the level of awareness of CWD among hunters and other New York residents. A “rapid response” survey effort was designed jointly by staff from the Human Dimensions Research Unit at Cornell University and NYSDEC. The survey assessed the effect of the discovery of CWD on hunters' plans to hunt deer in fall 2005. The results showed hunters were much more aware of the discovery of CWD than the general public. Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) was perceived by most respondents as a highly credible source of information on CWD, and the various agencies were rated above the midpoint between not trusting at all and greatly trusting information on CWD.

Community involvement with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) management in suburban areas has increased recently, presenting wildlife agencies, interest groups, local governments, and other stakeholders with challenges and opportunities for collaboration. Community-based deer management requires that stakeholders involved have capacity to engage in situation analysis, decision making, and management implementation (in some cases). The authors interviewed 55 stakeholders involved in collaborative deer management in six suburban communities in New York and Massachusetts, identifying dimensions of stakeholder capacity and capacity-developing intervention for effective collaboration. Capacity dimensions identified included: partnerships, credibility, funding, relationships, common purpose, knowledge, and leadership. Intervention dimensions included: stakeholder involvement, education, communication, assessment, agency flexibility, and planning. Using a public-issue evolution model, this article descr...

Wildlife professionals need better ways to integrate ecological and human dimensions of wildlife management. A focus on impacts, guided by a structured decision process, will orient wildlife management toward rigorous, integrative decision making. Impacts are important socially defined effects of events and interactions related to wildlife that merit management. To manage impacts we propose adaptive impact management (AIM). This approach has seven primary components: situational analysis, objective setting, development of system model(s), identification and selection of management alternatives, actual management interventions, monitoring, and refinement of models and eventually interventions. Adaptive impact management builds upon strengths of systems thinking and conventional adaptive management, yet differs in that fundamental objectives of management are impacts on society, rather than conditions of a wildlife population or habitat. Emphasis is placed on stakeholder involvement in management and shared...

The authors surveyed 619 participants in a national fishing education program (Hooked on Fishing-Not on Drugs) designed for youth in Grades 6-8. The survey of the youth assessed fishing and aquatic stewardship outcomes associated with different levels of program exposure (i.e., no program, programs without fishing, and programs with fishing). Youth who participated in programs that included experience-based fishing were more likely to report several desired fishing and stewardship outcomes. These data support the assumption that such programs are more likely to influence antecedents to environmentally responsible behavior than are programs without experience-based fishing.

(1999). Suburban deer management: A case study in the village of Cayuga Heights, New York. Human Dimensions of Wildlife: Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 59-60.