The Public, Wildlife, and Wildlife Viewing

1. The Public, Wildlife, and Wildlife Viewing Presented at the2007 Watchable Wildlife Conference Wednesday, October 3, 2007 Mark Damian Duda Responsive Management

2. Topics • Trends • Latent Demand for Wildlife Viewing • Wildlife Viewing Satisfaction • Attitudes of Wildlife Viewers Toward Hunting • Public Attitudes Toward Natural Resources and Environmental Issues • Public Perceptions of Wildlife Issues • The Importance of Wildlife • Attitudes Toward Unethical Wildlife Viewing and Feeding Wildlife • Funding • Credibility • Sources of Information • Reasons for Residential Wildlife Viewing • Reasons for Nonresidential Wildlife Viewing • Birding • Participation in Nongame-Related Outdoor Activities • Developing Effective Information, Education, and Outreach Programs

4. Focus of Fish and Wildlife Management Fish and Wildlife Populations Fish and Wildlife Professionals Fish and Wildlife Habitats Human Populations

5. A simple summary of what our research uncovered on the customer attribute is this: the excellent companies really are close to their customers. That’s it. Other companies talk about it; the excellent companies do it.-Tom Peters and Robert Waterman

6. Trends

8. 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Related Recreation Preliminary Findings Hunting 2001 – 2006 4% 2001: 13.0 million 2006: 12.5 million

9. 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Related Recreation Preliminary Findings Big Game Hunting 2001 – 2006 2% Small Game Hunting 2001 – 2006 12% Migratory Bird Hunting 2001 – 2006 22%

11. 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Related Recreation Preliminary Findings Fishing 2001 – 2006 2001: 34.1 million 2006: 29.9 million

12. 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Related Recreation Preliminary Findings Wildlife Viewing 2001 – 2006 2001: 66.1 million 2006: 77.1 million

15. Latent Demand for Wildlife Viewing

18. Wildlife Viewing Markets:Wildlife Viewer Definitions

19. Wildlife Viewer Definitions • “Birder” • Birdwatcher • Wildlife Viewer • Wildlife Watcher • Primary Residential Wildlife Viewer • Primary Nonresidential Wildlife Viewer • Secondary Residential Wildlife Viewer • Secondary Nonresidential Wildlife Viewer • Ability to Identify a Specified Number of Birds

20. Wildlife Viewing Satisfaction

22. Attitudes of Wildlife Viewers Toward Hunting

24. Attitudes Toward Hunting,Measured by the Following QuestionIn general, do you approve or disapprove of hunting?(Asked of U.S. residents, 18 years of age or older) • Residential wildlife viewers are significantly more likely to approve of hunting. • Wildlife viewing trip takers are not more likely to approve/disapprove of hunting. • Birdwatchers are not more likely to approve/disapprove of hunting.

25. Public Attitudes Toward Natural Resources and Environmental Issues

31. Public Perceptions of Wildlife Issues

34. Ecological Values Are More Important Than Recreational Values • Top Priorities: • Water Resources • Law Enforcement • Endangered Species • Education • Habitat Protection

35. Ranking of Importance of Each of the Following • (ranked from highest to lowest mean rating of importance on a scale of 0 to 10 with 10 being the most important) • Conserving fish and wildlife habitat • Enforcing fish and game laws • Providing opportunities for hunting safety education • Providing opportunities for boating safety education • Protecting threatened and endangered species • Providing educational programs on state’s fish/wildlife • Protecting residents against diseases from wild animals • Managing wildlife populations • Restoring native fish and wildlife species to state • Managing fish populations overall • Providing opportunities for general public to view wildlife • Providing opportunities for recreational fishing • Protecting residents from harm from wildlife • Providing opportunities for legal hunting

39. The Importance of Wildlife

45. Attitudes Toward Unethical Wildlife Viewing and Feeding Wildlife