Sustainable conservation of wildlife is contingent upon the human context in which it occurs.
Humans regularly exert a powerful influence on the survival and persistence of species, yet social-science information is used only sporadically in conservation decisions. Using data obtained from a survey of 46,894 US residents, we developed and applied a spatially explicit “sociocultural index” to inform decision making through an understanding of public values toward wildlife. The classification is defined by opposing values of mutualism and domination, which have been previously shown to be highly predictive of attitudes on a wide range of policy issues.
Thanks to the Western and Midwest Associations of Fish and Wildlife Agencies for their sponsorship of this study, which was funded by state agency contributions and a grant awarded through the 2015 Multistate Conservation Grants Program. Thanks also to the following individuals for their contributions to the project: A Don Carlos, A Dietsch, L Sullivan, A Bright, D Fulton, D Smith,
L Kruckenberg, D VonDeBur, C Campbell, C Boyd, L Cornicelli, M Duda, A Criscione, and A Lanier.
© 2021 The Authors. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of the Ecological Society of America.
