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Rivers are among the most heavily managed landscapes worldwide. The meanings people ascribe to river landscapes and their preferences for management have implications for public support for management decisions. This paper reports on a postal survey (N = 1,102) on perceived landscape qualities (place attachment, scenic beauty and safety perception) and public perceptions of a re-landscaping river intervention in four residential areas along the river Waal (The Netherlands). The objectives of this study were to (1) examine the relationship between place attachment and socio-demographic and geographic variables, and (2) explore the role of perceived landscape qualities in public perceptions of a planned river intervention. Multiple regression analyses showed that socio-demographic and geographic variables explain 21-41% of variation in place attachment dimensions (including place identity, place dependence, social bonding, and narrative bonding). We found that local residents have intermediate to strong bonds with the area and that village residents were more attached than city residents. Based on our findings, we note some conceptual differences between place identity, which received the highest score of the four dimensions, and narrative bonding, which focused on cultural-historical and learning aspects. Overall, the planned intervention was positively evaluated, especially in terms of improving flood safety. Social bonding, scenic beauty, and recreational value correlated positively with the evaluation scores. Our findings emphasize the importance of place as a social environment in residents' responses to re-landscaping river interventions and discuss opportunities to engage local 23 communities and sustain social processes in river management. 24

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The important role of direct experience in nature has sparked an interest in studying people's significant experiences in nature, yet few studies have addressed the nature experiences of biodiversity citizen scientists. For organizations involved in organizing biodiversity citizen science projects, or interested in improving recruitment and retention in existing projects, insight into which experiences in nature are especially memorable and impactful for participants can be used for effective communication or project design. To address this lacuna, this paper reports a thematic analysis of 1,450 significant nature experiences reported by Dutch biodiversity citizen scientists. Respondents narrate a wide variety of experiences, ranging from the general to the particular and from the extraordinary to the everyday appreciation of nature. Discovery, that is, encountering plants and animals the respondent has not seen before, appears to be a critical factor in shaping significant experiences of biodiversity citizen scientists. This thrill of discovery is experienced both in remote locations and close to home. This, along with the relative prominence of rare or unique species and a sense of surprise in reported experiences, indicates that many respondents are deeply impressed when nature managed to catch them off guard. In addition, we discuss the importance of learning both as a motivator for and result of nature engagement among biodiversity citizen scientists. Based on our findings, we formulate several points of attention for organizations aiming to recruit and retain committed citizen scientists for monitoring biodiversity, and discuss fruitful steps for further research.

Evolution has met with considerable religious opposition for 150 years and is still controversial among various religious groups. This article tries to understand the evolution controversy by reframing it as a phenomenon of public understanding of science. Three paradigms were used as hypotheses for the rejection of evolution by Dutch Protestant Christians: knowledge deficit, attitude deficit and trust deficit. Ten Dutch Protestants rejecting evolution were interviewed about their views concerning evolution and science. It was found that the main reason for rejecting evolution was an a priori decision to trust the Bible more than science. Any views on science and evolution were based on this decision, so all three hypotheses, which suggest an a posteriori decision, were found to be not sufficient to explain the rejection of evolution, even though both a knowledge deficit and a trust deficit were found for some participants. However, all respondents felt that their a priori decision was supported by scientific facts. All respondents stated that evolution does not meet the criteria for good science and is therefore as unscientific as the belief in creation. Excluding evolution from science allows the respondents to retain their positive attitudes towards science.