The North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) represents the foundational and successful effort to manage waterfowl and migratory bird in North America. Continued success of NAWMP depends on maintaining relevance to partners and society over time. Social science research supports NAWMP by providing a better understanding of what people value regarding waterfowl and their habitats.
The original research effort included four components: focus groups in each flyway to identify preferences in recreational experiences; surveys of hunters and other waterfowl conservationists (that is, members of organizations supporting migratory bird conservation including viewers); a survey of waterfowl management professionals; and a survey of the general public that includes individuals not necessarily vested in waterfowl management issues.
The survey efforts are complete, producing datasets representing recreational hunter and birdwatching values in the United States and Canada, along with the public in the United States. The research team has leveraged this data to investigate the preferences of hunters and birdwatchers, constraints to participation, involvement, and behavior.
North American Waterfowl Management Plan survey regional profile—Southeast region
Executive SummaryGaining a better understanding of the human dimensions of waterfowl management to inform the North American Waterfowl Management Plan is a valuable but challenging goal for the future success of waterfowl management. Increasing engagement with key stakeholder groups will lead to more support and effective waterfowl management. Social systems are complex because...
Authors
Nicholas Cole, David C. Fulton
What waterfowl hunters want: Exploring heterogeneity in hunting trip preferences
Canadian and American waterfowl hunters were surveyed to identify their hunting trip preferences. Respondents were individuals that were now participating or had participated in waterfowl hunting, and most had hunted the majority of the last five years. We identified four latent classes of waterfowl hunters that varied in their preferences for harvest, access effort, length of travel...
Authors
Katherine A. Sainsbury, Howard W. Harshaw, David C. Fulton, Nicholas Cole, Ashley A. Dayer, Jennie N. Duberstein, Andrew H. Raedeke, Rudy Schuster, Mark P. Vrtiska
Perceived constraints to participating in wildlife-related recreation
Wildlife-related recreationists play an important role in conservation. Understanding constraints to wildlife-related activities is critical for maintaining or increasing participation in activities like birdwatching and hunting. A mail-out survey was administered to a generalized sample representative of U.S. residents (i.e., not specific to birdwatching or hunting) in early 2017 to...
Authors
Nicholas Cole, Emily J. Wilkins, Kaylin (Contractor) Renee Clements, Rudy Schuster, Ashley A. Dayer, H. W. Harshaw, David C. Fulton, Jennifer N. Duberstein, Andrew H. Raedeke
Exploring the relevance of the multidimensionality of wildlife recreationists to conservation behaviors: A case study in Virginia
Wildlife recreationists' participation in conservation behaviors could provide key support to the conservation efforts of state fish and wildlife agencies. However, little is known about how identifying with multiple forms of wildlife recreation (i.e., hunters, anglers, birders, wildlife viewers) may influence participation in conservation behaviors, specifically for supporting state...
Authors
Bennett Grooms, Ashley A. Dayer, Jessica Barnes, Ashley Peele, Jonathan D. Rutter, Nicholas Cole
Highly specialized recreationists contribute the most to the citizen science project eBird
Contributory citizen science projects (hereafter “contributory projects”) are a powerful tool for avian conservation science. Large-scale projects such as eBird have produced data that have advanced science and contributed to many conservation applications. These projects also provide a means to engage the public in scientific data collection. A common challenge across contributory...
Authors
Connor J. Rosenblatt, Ashley A. Dayer, Jennifer N. Duberstein, Tina B. Phillips, H. W. Harshaw, David C. Fulton, Nicholas Cole, Andrew H. Raedeke, Jonathan D. Rutter, Christopher L. Wood
Testing a continuous measure of recreation specialization among birdwatchers
Recreation specialization is a framework that can be used to explain the variation among outdoor recreationists’ preferences, attitudes, and behaviors. Recreation specialization has been operationalized using several approaches, including summative indices, cluster analysis, and self-classification categorical measures. Although these approaches measure the multiple dimensions of the...
Authors
H.W. Harshaw, Nicholas Cole, Ashley A. Dayer, Jonathan D. Rutter, David C. Fulton, Andrew H. Raedeke, Rudy Schuster, Jennifer N. Duberstein
Rural-urban differences in hunting and birdwatching attitudes and participation
Outdoor recreation facilitates important connections to nature and wildlife but is perceived differently across population segments. As such, we expected that current and past socio-demographic characteristics of individuals would influence intention to participate in outdoor recreation. We solicited 5,000 U.S. residents. (n = 1,030, 23% response) to describe their perceptions of hunting...
Authors
Emily J. Wilkins, Nicholas Cole, Holly M. Miller, Rudy Schuster, Ashley A. Dayer, Jennifer N. Duberstein, David C. Fulton, Howard W. Harshaw, Andrew H. Raedeke
Does proximity to wetlands matter? A landscape-level analysis of the influence of local wetlands on the public’s concern for ecosystem services and conservation involvement
The success of landscape-level conservation depends on public support and an understanding of public opinion. However, perceptions of wetlands’ importance may differ based on proximity to a wetland. This study used a mail-out survey across the entire U.S. (n=1,030) to investigate the public’s knowledge of local wetlands, visitation to wetlands, concern over losing ecosystem services...
Authors
Emily J. Wilkins, Wilson Sinclair, Holly M. Miller, Rudy M. Shuster
Below are partners associated with this project.
The North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) represents the foundational and successful effort to manage waterfowl and migratory bird in North America. Continued success of NAWMP depends on maintaining relevance to partners and society over time. Social science research supports NAWMP by providing a better understanding of what people value regarding waterfowl and their habitats.
The original research effort included four components: focus groups in each flyway to identify preferences in recreational experiences; surveys of hunters and other waterfowl conservationists (that is, members of organizations supporting migratory bird conservation including viewers); a survey of waterfowl management professionals; and a survey of the general public that includes individuals not necessarily vested in waterfowl management issues.
The survey efforts are complete, producing datasets representing recreational hunter and birdwatching values in the United States and Canada, along with the public in the United States. The research team has leveraged this data to investigate the preferences of hunters and birdwatchers, constraints to participation, involvement, and behavior.
North American Waterfowl Management Plan survey regional profile—Southeast region
Executive SummaryGaining a better understanding of the human dimensions of waterfowl management to inform the North American Waterfowl Management Plan is a valuable but challenging goal for the future success of waterfowl management. Increasing engagement with key stakeholder groups will lead to more support and effective waterfowl management. Social systems are complex because...
Authors
Nicholas Cole, David C. Fulton
What waterfowl hunters want: Exploring heterogeneity in hunting trip preferences
Canadian and American waterfowl hunters were surveyed to identify their hunting trip preferences. Respondents were individuals that were now participating or had participated in waterfowl hunting, and most had hunted the majority of the last five years. We identified four latent classes of waterfowl hunters that varied in their preferences for harvest, access effort, length of travel...
Authors
Katherine A. Sainsbury, Howard W. Harshaw, David C. Fulton, Nicholas Cole, Ashley A. Dayer, Jennie N. Duberstein, Andrew H. Raedeke, Rudy Schuster, Mark P. Vrtiska
Perceived constraints to participating in wildlife-related recreation
Wildlife-related recreationists play an important role in conservation. Understanding constraints to wildlife-related activities is critical for maintaining or increasing participation in activities like birdwatching and hunting. A mail-out survey was administered to a generalized sample representative of U.S. residents (i.e., not specific to birdwatching or hunting) in early 2017 to...
Authors
Nicholas Cole, Emily J. Wilkins, Kaylin (Contractor) Renee Clements, Rudy Schuster, Ashley A. Dayer, H. W. Harshaw, David C. Fulton, Jennifer N. Duberstein, Andrew H. Raedeke
Exploring the relevance of the multidimensionality of wildlife recreationists to conservation behaviors: A case study in Virginia
Wildlife recreationists' participation in conservation behaviors could provide key support to the conservation efforts of state fish and wildlife agencies. However, little is known about how identifying with multiple forms of wildlife recreation (i.e., hunters, anglers, birders, wildlife viewers) may influence participation in conservation behaviors, specifically for supporting state...
Authors
Bennett Grooms, Ashley A. Dayer, Jessica Barnes, Ashley Peele, Jonathan D. Rutter, Nicholas Cole
Highly specialized recreationists contribute the most to the citizen science project eBird
Contributory citizen science projects (hereafter “contributory projects”) are a powerful tool for avian conservation science. Large-scale projects such as eBird have produced data that have advanced science and contributed to many conservation applications. These projects also provide a means to engage the public in scientific data collection. A common challenge across contributory...
Authors
Connor J. Rosenblatt, Ashley A. Dayer, Jennifer N. Duberstein, Tina B. Phillips, H. W. Harshaw, David C. Fulton, Nicholas Cole, Andrew H. Raedeke, Jonathan D. Rutter, Christopher L. Wood
Testing a continuous measure of recreation specialization among birdwatchers
Recreation specialization is a framework that can be used to explain the variation among outdoor recreationists’ preferences, attitudes, and behaviors. Recreation specialization has been operationalized using several approaches, including summative indices, cluster analysis, and self-classification categorical measures. Although these approaches measure the multiple dimensions of the...
Authors
H.W. Harshaw, Nicholas Cole, Ashley A. Dayer, Jonathan D. Rutter, David C. Fulton, Andrew H. Raedeke, Rudy Schuster, Jennifer N. Duberstein
Rural-urban differences in hunting and birdwatching attitudes and participation
Outdoor recreation facilitates important connections to nature and wildlife but is perceived differently across population segments. As such, we expected that current and past socio-demographic characteristics of individuals would influence intention to participate in outdoor recreation. We solicited 5,000 U.S. residents. (n = 1,030, 23% response) to describe their perceptions of hunting...
Authors
Emily J. Wilkins, Nicholas Cole, Holly M. Miller, Rudy Schuster, Ashley A. Dayer, Jennifer N. Duberstein, David C. Fulton, Howard W. Harshaw, Andrew H. Raedeke
Does proximity to wetlands matter? A landscape-level analysis of the influence of local wetlands on the public’s concern for ecosystem services and conservation involvement
The success of landscape-level conservation depends on public support and an understanding of public opinion. However, perceptions of wetlands’ importance may differ based on proximity to a wetland. This study used a mail-out survey across the entire U.S. (n=1,030) to investigate the public’s knowledge of local wetlands, visitation to wetlands, concern over losing ecosystem services...
Authors
Emily J. Wilkins, Wilson Sinclair, Holly M. Miller, Rudy M. Shuster
Below are partners associated with this project.