Public trust thinking and public ownership of wildlife in Italy and the United States

Giacomelli, Stefano; Hare, Darragh; Gibbert, Michael; Blossey, Bernd

doi:10.1002/eet.1848

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Our study illustrates the value of sampling from the general public to obtain a more panoramic understanding of how people think about contentious wildlife decisions than would be possible from listening exclusively to representations from vocal special interest groups. Data on values of members of the public who do not typically express an interest in wildlife could be especially useful to public wildlife authorities seeking to incorporate a broader range of public values into their policies and programs (Decker et al, 2016;Giacomelli et al, 2019), or seeking to communicate justifications for contentious decisions to the public. Approximately 20% of respondents in both rural and urban areas answered "I don't know" to the item measuring their perceptions of the number of deer in Scotland prior to taking part in the study (Table 2), suggesting that members of the general public are not fully aware of Scotland's deer problem.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Perceptions of Deer Management in Scotland

Hare

Daniels

Blossey

2021

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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In Scotland, large deer populations are associated with negative ecological and socioeconomic impacts, such as damage to peatlands and forests, agricultural and commercial forestry losses, Lyme disease transmission, and road accidents. Increasing the annual deer cull might help address these negative impacts, but could be ethically controversial. A stratified sample of adults living in Scotland (n = 1,002) responded to our online questionnaire measuring perceptions of deer management, including the acceptability of increasing the deer cull if doing so would help achieve a variety of ecological and social objectives. Overall, respondents indicated that it would be acceptable to increase the deer cull if doing so would serve public interests by reducing negative impacts of deer, with deer welfare, environmental conservation, and public health and safety being the most relevant ethical considerations. Although rural and urban respondents reported significantly different experiences and perceptions of deer, their values (i.e., attitudes, beliefs, and policy preferences) regarding deer management were very similar. Understanding values of the general public, beyond vocal interest groups, can help inform decisions on contentious wildlife management issues.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Perceptions of Deer Management in Scotland

Hare

Daniels

Blossey

2021

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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“…In particular, we included human behaviors as a fundamental aspect to investigate before implementing conservation projects, such as reintroduction actions of endangered species or mitigations of existing threats [41,42], taking into account that conservation projects may change the environment in which people live and limit their activities, enhancing the need to develop measures to prevent detrimental conflicts [43]. Moreover, impediments to effective wildlife management in Italy appear to have been less well-studied compared to other countries [44].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Dimensions and Visitors’ Perspective in Freshwater Crayfish Conservation: The Case of a Protected Area in Italy

Mercugliano,

Messina,

Bonelli

et al. 2023

Diversity

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Human dimensions in endangered species conservation are often overlooked. However, including human dimensions in conservation projects can help conservationists integrate social and ecological dimensions and investigate individual or society’s perspectives toward conservation efforts. The aim of this study was to investigate how visitors of a protected area perceived the conservation of the native white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes), a species recently brought to disappearance by the introduction of the spiny-cheek crayfish (Faxonius limosus). From August to October 2017, we distributed a questionnaire to park visitors, aiming to: (i) identify behaviors that could affect the conservation of the native crayfish after reintroduction; (ii) investigate if visitors’ awareness and knowledge of native freshwater crayfish may increase approval for conservation initiatives. Of the 290 respondents, most (73%) had never heard of alien species. The respondents’ inclination to be favorable to resource investment and alien crayfish eradication and to perform specific educational training was significantly related to their knowledge of crayfish features. Knowledge of freshwater crayfish features resulted in being a main determinant in affecting visitors’ attitudes towards conservation initiatives. These results confirm that visitors’ awareness can increase approval for conservation programs and the importance of investigating the proper human dimensions before establishing management actions for endangered species.

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“…Wildlife program evaluation starts with critical review of the program plan, with an emphasis on objectives and methods. This pre-implementation checklist can help make sure the program has potential for success: Although our focus is on the conservation institution in the U.S., this checklist may be useful to resource managers in other jurisdictions, especially those where public ownership of wildlife, public trusteeship, and expectations of good governance exist (Sagarin and Turnipseed, 2012;Hare et al, 2018;Giacomelli et al, 2019). We anticipate that our more general pointthat wildlife conservation must pursue the "right" objectivesmight also apply in jurisdictions with alternative legal and institutional arrangements.…”

Section: Implications For What Constitutes "Success"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Successful Wildlife Conservation Requires Good Governance

Pomeranz¹,

Hare²,

Decker³

et al. 2021

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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Public wildlife management in the United States is transforming as agencies seek relevancy to broader constituencies. State agencies in the United States, while tasked with conserving wildlife for all beneficiaries of the wildlife trust, have tended to manage for a limited range of benefits in part due to a narrow funding model heavily dependent on hunting, fishing, and trapping license buyers. To best meet the needs, interests, and concerns of a broader suite of beneficiaries, agencies will need to reconsider how priorities for management are set. This presents an opportunity for conservation program design and evaluation to be elevated in importance. We argue that success in wildlife conservation in the U.S. requires assessment of both decision-making processes and management results in relation to four questions: conservation of what, under what authority, for what purposes, and for whom?

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Public trust thinking and public ownership of wildlife in Italy and the United States

Cited by 5 publications

References 44 publications

Public Perceptions of Deer Management in Scotland

Public Perceptions of Deer Management in Scotland

Human Dimensions and Visitors’ Perspective in Freshwater Crayfish Conservation: The Case of a Protected Area in Italy

Successful Wildlife Conservation Requires Good Governance

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