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Browsing by Author "Dayer, Ashley A."

Now showing 1 - 20 of 68
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    Accessible birding in the United States: constraints to and facilitators of birding with disabilities
    Sinkular, Emily N.; Dayer, Ashley A.; McGregor, Freya A.; Karns, Morgan J. (Taylor & Francis, 2024-03-26)
    While approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population has a disability, many people with disabilities remain excluded from equitable participation in birding. In this study, we compared the constraints and facilitators of birders with and without disabilities from a nationwide survey of U.S. wildlife viewers. Next, we analyzed open-ended responses in a survey of birders with disabilities to characterize constraints and facilitators using models of disabilities, or different frames of reference to understand disabilities. We found that birders with disabilities, compared to those without, experienced constraints to birding to a greater extent. However, birders with and without disabilities expressed interest in various facilitators (e.g. access to more high-quality birding locations, information about birding), suggesting that facilitators can benefit both groups. Birders invoked multiple models when describing their constraints to and facilitators of birding, highlighting a need for a multi-faceted approach to fostering greater levels of inclusivity in birding.
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    Arkansas Results of the Wildlife Viewer Survey: Enhancing relevancy and engaging support from a broader constituency
    Pototsky, P. Christy; Sinkular, Emily N.; Dayer, Ashley A. (2022-11-29)
    Wildlife viewing is among the fastest growing outdoor recreation activities in the United States, with significant implications for the work of wildlife agencies. While important insights have emerged piece-meal from a number of surveys, agencies lack generalizable information about wildlife viewers (those who intentionally observe, feed, or photograph wildlife; travel to parks, protected areas, or other natural spaces with the purpose of feeding, observing, or photographing wildlife, and those who maintain plantings or natural areas for the benefit of wildlife) behaviors, experiences, perceptions, needs, and preferences. This information is essential for more meaningful and substantive engagement for state agencies with this often underserved constituency. Through a 2021 AFWA MultiState Conservation Grant, Virginia Tech and the AFWA Wildlife Viewing and Nature Tourism Working Group conducted national and state level surveys to gather more data on wildlife viewers. This report contains results from the survey in Arkansas. This work was funded by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Multistate Conservation Grant Program (grant # F21AP00617-00) and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
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    Atlantic Flyway Disturbance Project -- Social Science Report: Land Manager Survey
    Comber, Carolyn; Dayer, Ashley A. (2019-08-26)
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    Behavior and conservation: hellbender reproductive behavioral responses to poor water quality and the value of private lands research for conservation outreach
    O'Brien, Rebecca Sarah (Virginia Tech, 2023-09-01)
    The behavior of humans and animals is an important component of conservation. The way people behave can cause environmental harm, but it also can be a solution to conservation challenges. Similarly, wildlife can respond to changing environments in ways that are detrimental to their survival, but they can also in some cases adapt or even thrive in human-impacted environments. In this dissertation, I discuss the ways in which human and hellbender behaviors relate to conservation. First, using survey and interview data, I explore the reasons why private landowners allow access to their property for research. I find that landowners are more likely to allow research on their property if they have previously allowed research, if they are interested in learning about the research taking place, if they have larger properties, and if they had positive attitudes towards conservation. Conversely, they are less likely to allow access to their property if they are concerned that doing so might restrict free use of their property. Other possible predictors that I investigate, such as landowner demographics, landowner trust in science, and landowner attitudes towards hellbenders are not significant predictors of allowing research. I next explore the effects of engaging landowners in research either via citizen science or "traditional" private lands research where scientists work on the landowner's property, but the landowner is not involved in data collection. I assess the effects of these types of engagement on landowner conservation knowledge, attitudes, awareness, and behavioral intentions and compare the effects across these two treatment groups and a control. I find similar changes in both the traditional and citizen science treatment groups, with involvement in the research leading to greater conservation knowledge, increased awareness of conservation concerns, more positive attitudes towards conservation, and/or more conservation behavioral intentions. However, I observe limited behavior change in any treatment group, and I identify a lack of efficacy and a hesitancy to accept responsibility for water quality degradation as possible barriers to behavior change. My investigations of animal behavior utilize custom-built underwater infrared camera technology to study hellbender reproductive behavior. I first add to current understanding of hellbender breeding behavior by describing the basic hellbender mating sequence, identifying the presence of potential alternative mating tactics, and describing two novel behaviors, including possible signal production via wave-based communication and a unique egg laying behavior by female hellbenders. I then measure the extent to which hellbender males (which provide the parental care) may help protect their offspring from low oxygen and high siltation, and I assess the possibility of trade-offs between parental care behaviors that benefit the eggs and self-maintenance behaviors that benefit the parent. I find that guarding male hellbenders increase both their parental care behaviors and their self-maintenance behaviors in response to low dissolved oxygen, but that they also show evidence of a trade-off between the two, with males ceasing parental care in favor of self-maintenance at sufficiently low levels of dissolved oxygen. Males show no parental response to high levels of silt. My findings add to our understanding of human and animal behavior and highlight the importance of behavioral flexibility to conservation. I find that hellbenders can to some extent modify their behaviors to compensate for the impacts of poor stream management on their own and their offspring's health, and I find that engaging landowners in research can encourage changes in awareness, attitudes, and behavioral intentions regarding conservation.
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    Birds are not the only ones impacted by guidance to cease bird feeding
    Dayer, Ashley A.; Pototsky, P. Christy; Hall, Richard J.; Hawley, Dana M.; Phillips, Tina B.; Bonter, David N.; Dietsch, Allan M.; Greig, Emma; Hochachka, Wesley M. (Wiley, 2023)
    1. Humans have a particularly strong connection with birds, driving the enormous popularity of residential bird feeding in much of the world. 2. We conducted a web search to document US state wildlife management agency responses to two recent avian disease outbreaks, finding that 23 agencies made recommendations to cease feeding wild birds in 2021–2022. 3. The psychological benefits of bird feeding for humans are well-documented but often overlooked in management decisions in response to avian disease outbreaks. 4. Likewise, ecological evidence does not necessarily support ceasing bird feeding to reduce the spread of every avian disease. 5. Ecological and social science need to be applied in tandem to ensure that well-intended guidance to cease feeding of birds does not have unintended consequences.
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    Bridging the research-implementation gap in avian conservation with translational ecology
    Saunders, Sarah P.; Wu, Joanna X.; Gow, Elizabeth A.; Adams, Evan; Bateman, Brooke L.; Bayard, Trina; Beilke, Stephanie; Dayer, Ashley A.; Fournier, Auriel M., V; Fox, Kara; Heglund, Patricia; Lerman, Susannah B.; Michel, Nicole L.; Paxton, Eben H.; Sekercioglu, Cagan H.; Smith, Melanie A.; Thogmartin, Wayne; Woodrey, Mark S.; van Riper, Charles, III (Oxford University Press, 2021-08-01)
    The recognized gap between research and implementation in avian conservation can be overcome with translational ecology, an intentional approach in which science producers and users from multiple disciplines work collaboratively to co-develop and deliver ecological research that addresses management and conservation issues. Avian conservation naturally lends itself to translational ecology because birds are well studied, typically widespread, often exhibit migratory behaviors transcending geopolitical boundaries, and necessitate coordinated conservation efforts to accommodate resource and habitat needs across the full annual cycle. In this perspective, we highlight several case studies from bird conservation practitioners and the ornithological and conservation social sciences exemplifying the 6 core translational ecology principles introduced in previous studies: collaboration, engagement, commitment, communication, process, and decision-framing. We demonstrate that following translational approaches can lead to improved conservation decision-making and delivery of outcomes via co-development of research and products that are accessible to broader audiences and applicable to specific management decisions (e.g., policy briefs and decision-support tools). We also identify key challenges faced during scientific producer-user engagement, potential tactics for overcoming these challenges, and lessons learned for overcoming the research-implementation gap. Finally, we recommend strategies for building a stronger translational ecology culture to further improve the integration of these principles into avian conservation decisions. By embracing translational ecology, avian conservationists and ornithologists can be well positioned to ensure that future management decisions are scientifically informed and that scientific research is sufficiently relevant to managers. Ultimately, such teamwork can help close the research-implementation gap in the conservation sciences during a time when environmental issues are threatening avian communities and their habitats at exceptional rates and at broadening spatial scales worldwide.
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    Building a Comprehensive Understanding of Disturbance Mitigation in Migrating Shorebirds
    Mengak, Lara Frances (Virginia Tech, 2019-01-17)
    Human disturbance is a serious threat facing shorebirds, and reducing disturbance presents a significant conservation challenge. It requires an understanding of the complex factors that influence both shorebird biology and human behavior related to shorebirds and coastal environments. This thesis used information from ecological and social science fields, along with the applied knowledge of conservation practitioners to build a more holistic understanding of human-shorebird interactions, specifically related to human disturbance of migrating shorebirds. Further, this research provides practical solutions for better managing these interactions. To accomplish this, we used the Delphi technique, an iterative group communication process, to bring scientists and managers together to develop a shared definition of "human disturbance to shorebirds" and a list of priority disturbance categories that affect migratory shorebirds. Next, we collated and synthesized literature on human disturbance during migration and drivers of human behavior related to disturbance or potential management actions. Then, through manager interviews, we examined how shorebird management decisions are made during migration and explored how managers balance the needs of shorebirds and public use of their sites. The disturbance definition and priority disturbance categories, literature synthesis, and manager interviews were used to create a best practices guidance document for reducing human disturbance to migratory shorebirds in the Northeastern U.S. Finally, we conducted a survey of beachgoers to evaluate a shorebird conservation outreach campaign and examined the factors that influence pro-shorebird behavior change. This research demonstrates how integrating social and ecological information and expert opinion can inform conservation and management.
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    Colorado Results of the Wildlife Viewer Survey: Enhancing relevancy and engaging support from a broader constituency
    Sinkular, Emily N.; Pausley, Emma R.; Pototsky, P. Christy; Dayer, Ashley A. (Virginia Tech, 2023-02-28)
    Wildlife viewing is among the fastest growing outdoor recreation activities in the United States, with significant implications for the work of wildlife agencies. While important insights have emerged piece-meal from a number of surveys, agencies lack generalizable information about wildlife viewers (those who intentionally observe, feed, or photograph wildlife; travel to parks, protected areas, or other natural spaces with the purpose of feeding, observing, or photographing wildlife, and those who maintain plantings or natural areas for the benefit of wildlife) behaviors, experiences, perceptions, needs, and preferences. This information is essential for more meaningful and substantive engagement for state agencies with this often underserved constituency. Through a 2021 AFWA MultiState Conservation Grant, Virginia Tech and the AFWA Wildlife Viewing and Nature Tourism Working Group conducted national and state level surveys to gather more data on wildlife viewers. This report contains results from the survey in Colorado. This work was funded by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Multistate Conservation Grant Program (grant # F21AP00617-00) and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
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    Conservation Behavior Outcomes and Drivers of Participation in a Conservation Research Program on Private Lands
    Green, Rachael Elizabeth (Virginia Tech, 2022-05-24)
    Private lands encompass over half of the continental United States and serve as critical habitat for the majority of federally threatened and endangered species. Despite the importance of private lands for conservation, they remain understudied by conservation scientists. Conservation research programs that study private lands biodiversity not only help to fill this research gap but may also contribute more broadly to private lands conservation by influencing the conservation behaviors of individuals that participate in the program. However, little is known about how conservation behavior outcomes may differ across varying levels of participation in a program and what factors may influence this conservation behavior change. This thesis focuses specifically on conservation behavior outcomes associated with participation in a conservation research program and participants' perceived impact on conservation behaviors. For my first chapter, I interviewed private landowners that had provided property access to the Smithsonian conservation research program, Virginia Working Landscapes (VWL), between 2010 and 2020. We found that landowners perceived their participation in VWL influenced their conservation behaviors across multiple categories; yet, land stewardship behaviors were more commonly positively influenced than social environmentalism or environmental citizenship behaviors. Landowners also reported that various aspects of the program including program events, on-site interactions with staff and citizen scientists, and landowner reports had the strongest influence on their engagement in conservation behaviors, while other aspects such as program newsletters and annual reports influenced their engagement in conservation behaviors to a lesser degree. For my second chapter, I surveyed citizen scientists and non-citizen scientists that were associated with VWL between 2010 and 2020. VWL citizen scientists had significantly higher perceived impacts of the program on their engagement in conservation behaviors compared to non-citizen scientists. The strongest predictors of respondents' perceptions of VWL's impact on their conservation behaviors include participation as a citizen scientist, program-related normative beliefs, attendance at program events, and reading program newsletters, while characteristics of the participants (i.e. demographics, actual behavioral control, personal norms, environmental attitude) were not predictive of perceptions of impact. Findings from this thesis can inform efforts to influence program participants' conservation behaviors. In particular, program managers may increase conservation outcomes through incorporating citizen science opportunities; fostering direct interactions between landowners, citizen scientists, researchers, and peers; training citizen scientists in effective science communication skills; and tailoring program communications to specific target audiences.
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    Early Successional Forest Management on Private Lands as a Coupled Human and Natural System
    Lutter, Seth H.; Dayer, Ashley A.; Rodewald, Amanda D.; McNeil, Darin J.; Larkin, Jeffery L. (MDPI, 2019-06-11)
    Facilitating voluntary conservation on private lands is a crucial element of policies that seek to mitigate forest habitat loss and fragmentation around the world. Previous research emphasizes the role of social factors (e.g., landowner characteristics, economics) in forest management, but environmental outcomes of past management can also affect landowner decisions. Our objective was to evaluate how positive outcomes for wildlife and habitat might reinforce or amplify landowner efforts to manage forest habitats. We applied the lens of coupled human and natural systems to investigate private lands management for early successional forests, which are declining along with associated wildlife in rural areas of the eastern U.S. Efforts to restore early successional forest in this region involve active forest management to create patches of successional forest in native, mature mixed hardwood stands. By integrating field-based monitoring of wildlife with surveys of landowner perceptions, we examined how landowners observed, interpreted, and responded to property-scale ecological outcomes of forest management. We recorded presence of Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) and American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) and estimated bird species richness in spring 2015 and/or 2016 on private properties located in the Appalachians (Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) and Upper Great Lakes (Minnesota, Wisconsin). These properties were enrolled in early successional forest management programs administered through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Bird surveys were paired with landowner responses to a telephone survey conducted from January to May 2017 (n=102). Most (71.6–81.6%) landowners’ perceptions of avian presence on their properties matched monitoring results. These perceptions were informed by personal observations and by outreach from agency partners and field technicians. Landowners who already completed their conservation program contracts (n= 85) continued managing early successional forests. Continued management for early successional habitat was positively associated with perceived benefits to birds, forest health, and scenery. Our findings give insight into how private landowners respond to environmental effects of forest management. We conclude that positive environmental outcomes of these conservation programs are related to continued early successional forest conservation by private landowners.
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    Ecosystem Transformation Across a Changing Social Landscape: Landowner Perceptions and Responses to Woody Plant Encroachment
    Rajala, Kiandra F. (Virginia Tech, 2019-01-15)
    The conversion of grasslands to woodlands is an ecosystem transformation that threatens grassland biodiversity, the provision of important ecosystem services, and the sustainability of rural livelihoods. A global phenomenon, woody plant encroachment (WPE) has been particularly problematic in the Southern Great Plains of the United States where the actions of private landowners are integral to sustaining grasslands. Increased diversity in landowners’ motivations for owning land have shifted the social landscape of rural areas necessitating a better understanding of landowners’ perspectives about WPE and their subsequent management actions. Towards this purpose, I employed a mail survey to private landowners in the Edwards Plateau of Texas, Central Great Plains of Oklahoma, and Flint Hills of Kansas to investigate landowner perceptions and management responses to WPE. First, I assessed landowners’ acceptance of WPE as a function of how they relate to their land (i.e., sense of place), their beliefs about the positive and negative consequences of woody plants, and their perceived threat of grassland conversion. Then, I examined the drivers of landowners’ goal intentions to manage woody plants and their current use of five adaptive management practices that prevent WPE. My results demonstrate that landowners vary in their sensitivity to WPE based on how they feel connected to their land. This was true even though most landowners had low acceptance thresholds for WPE, believed it led to numerous negative outcomes, and perceived it as increasingly threatening at greater levels of encroachment. Most landowners wanted to control or remove woody plants and were actively engaged in management practices to do so. These findings address uncertainties about landowners’ acceptance of WPE and grassland conservation actions and provide broad implications for how people perceive and respond to ecosystem transformation.
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    Effects of biological monitoring and results outreach on private landowner conservation management
    Lutter, Seth H.; Dayer, Ashley A.; Heggenstaller, Emily; Larkin, Jeffery L. (PLOS, 2018-04-04)
    Sustained management efforts by private landowners are crucial for the long-term success of private land natural resource conservation and related environmental benefits. Landowner outreach is a primary means of recruiting private landowners into voluntary conservation incentive programs, and could also help sustain conservation behaviors through time. However, evaluation of outreach targeting landowners during or after participation in natural resource conservation incentive programs is lacking. We assessed two methods of landowner outreach associated with a Natural Resources Conservation Service incentive program targeting effective management of early successional forest habitat on private land in the Appalachians and Upper Great Lakes regions of the United States. While early successional forest habitat benefits many wildlife species, the program target species were the Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) and American Woodcock (Scolopax minor). After habitat management through the program occurred, biological technicians monitored wildlife and vegetation on enrolled properties and results were communicated to landowners in mailed packets. Our research focused on whether landowner interactions with technicians or receipt of result mailings could influence landowner post-program management intentions and management-related cognitions (e.g., agency trust, perceptions of outcomes). We conducted a telephone survey with landowners from January to May 2017, and analyzed survey data using quantitative group comparisons and qualitative coding methods. Landowners that accompanied biological technicians on monitoring site visits had higher agency trust and more positive perceptions of program outcomes. Result mailings did not improve landowner perceptions of program outcomes or agency trust, but did provide benefits such as increased landowner knowledge about birds. Neither outreach method was associated with more positive landowner post-program management intentions. Our findings underline the importance and potential of direct interactions between conservation biologists and landowners. These two forms of non-traditional outreach administered by biologists could be a worthwhile component of future conservation program evaluations on private lands.
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    Expanding Audience Engagement with State Wildlife Agencies: Strategies for Supporting Diverse Participation
    Jennings, Kelsey K. (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-03)
    State fish and wildlife agencies are increasingly expected to meet accelerating wildlife conservation needs while addressing systemic problems that limit who has historically been able to access wildlife and conservation. To effectively address both of these needs, agencies need to better understand their constituencies, including both long-standing supporters and those who have been historically excluded. This thesis set out to achieve this through three chapters. (i) Using a nationwide panel survey, we sought to understand how patterns of wildlife viewing differ between Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and White viewers, as well as what most strongly supports this participation. We found that participation rates differ across ethnoracial groups, with most BIPOC viewers participating less than White viewers, especially around their homes. Additionally, BIPOC viewers indicated that social support was a key factor in encouraging participation. Finally, despite wildlife viewing being of similar or greater importance to BIPOC participants, they generally self-identified less as viewers, suggesting historic exclusion from wildlife viewing locales may impact contemporary participation. (ii) Through a questionnaire of Minnesotans engaged with the MN Department of Natural Resources and their Nongame Wildlife Program, we examined what most encourages donations and volunteer participation. The findings of this chapter suggest that donors had specific motivations, namely supporting biodiversity and conservation, whereas volunteer motivations were more varied, such as place-based preferences and access to conservation professionals. (iii) Using a series of focus groups with outdoor recreation and community science practitioners and participants, we aimed to understand what encouraged BIPOC Minnesotans to participate in nature-based community science programs. We found that participants rely on numerous forms of cultural capital to persist in community science, especially in inhospitable environments. Often, this included utilizing social relationships and continuing to participate despite negative interactions. Overall, this research contributes to a growing body of literature aiming to understand diverse engagement in wildlife viewing and nature-based community science, as well as general engagement with state agencies. By laying a foundation for sustainable engagement and support of diverse communities, particularly BIPOC groups, this thesis provides insights and recommendations for fostering equitable conservation practices in an era of environmental change and social evolution.
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    Exploring Post-CRP Decision-Making in the Southern Great Plains
    Barnes, Jessica C.; Dayer, Ashley A. (Virginia Tech, 2021-11-30)
    The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a federal program that incentivizes the re-establishment of vegetative cover on formerly cropped land across the United States, has contributed significantly to soil health, water quality, and the status of wildlife populations. However, because CRP contracts are time-limited, the land use decisions made by landowners when their contracts end determine the durability of CRP’s benefits for soils, water, and wildlife, as well as the efficiency of federal expenditures. In order to understand the factors that might catalyze the persistence of CRP grasslands after contracts end, we conducted a two-phase, multi-year social science study of landowners’ experiences before, during, and after CRP in the southern Great Plains. Phase I, which was conducted from 2017-2019, included qualitative data collection through participant observation and interviews with landowners in the region, focus groups with current CRP contract holders, and a mail survey administered to landowners with current CRP contracts as well as those with contracts that had expired between 2011 and 2017. This report presents methods, results, and recommendations from Phase II, which was conducted from 2019-2021. Phase II was designed to follow up on and further explore key survey findings from Phase I through workshops with conservation practitioners and in-depth, qualitative interviews with landowners from the study area. Our conversations with landowners highlighted the intersecting biophysical, socio-economic, and institutional factors that shape decision-making about post-CRP land use in the southern Great Plains. In light of these factors, we make seven recommendations for the design and delivery of CRP that may promote the persistence of grasslands and associated environmental benefits after program participation ends.
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    Exploring the relevance of the multidimensionality of wildlife recreationists to conservation behaviors: A case study in Virginia
    Grooms, Bennett; Dayer, Ashley A.; Barnes, Jessica C.; Peele, Ashley; Rutter, Jonathan D.; Cole, Nicholas W. (Wiley, 2023-04-20)
    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 fish and wildlife agencies and their conservation goals. Using a mixed-mode survey of Virginia wildlife recreationists, we explored the hypothesized relationship between individuals' participation in conservation behaviors and their identification with multiple forms of consumptive and nonconsumptive wildlife recreation. We found wildlife recreation identity is multidimensional, with many individuals identifying with consumptive and nonconsumptive identities simultaneously. Further, consumptive-only recreationists (i.e., hunters and/or anglers) participated in conservation behaviors less often than nonconsumptive-only recreationists (i.e., birders and/or wildlife viewers) and recreationists with both consumptive and nonconsumptive identities were less likely to support a state fish and wildlife agency in the future. Our findings underscore the importance of all types of wildlife recreationists, especially those with intersecting identities, as state fish and wildlife agencies work to advance conservation. Hence, developing multi-faceted engagement strategies may enhance support for state fish and wildlife agencies among their growing wildlife recreation constituency.
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    Exploring wildlife recreationists' conservation behaviors and perceptions of state fish and wildlife agencies to inform conservation engagement and support
    Grooms, Bennett (Virginia Tech, 2021-07-13)
    The success of state fish and wildlife agency conservation efforts depends highly on their engagement with wildlife recreationists, ranging from those with consumptive (i.e., hunters and anglers) to nonconsumptive (i.e., birders, wildlife viewers) interests. However, declines in their historic constituent base of consumptive recreationists, coupled with an increasingly diverse and interconnected group of nonconsumptive recreationists, has placed new pressures on state fish and wildlife agencies. Human dimensions research into recreationists' behaviors and perceptions can help these agencies determine how best to serve and involve wildlife recreationists, including developing services that fit their interests, engaging them in conservation activities, and providing them with a suite of funding and support mechanisms to contribute to conservation. Developing this understanding can be complicated though, due to the range of behaviors and perceptions wildlife recreationists have regarding conservation and the role of state fish and wildlife agencies. Given this need to better understand how state fish and wildlife agencies can successfully engage their growing and changing wildlife recreation constituency in order to advance conservation, we investigated the perceptions, behaviors, and interactions of Virginia wildlife recreationists relative to the state fish and wildlife agency, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR). Using a mixed-methods research design, we first looked into the intersection of wildlife recreation identities, to gain a clearer understanding about the implications of individuals who identify as multiple types of recreationists (i.e., consumptive-only, nonconsumptive-only, consumptive-viewers, and comprehensive recreationists). We also used recreation identity to explore how participation in conservation behaviors differs among recreationists. Next, to compare findings from our focus groups and survey, we explored how wildlife recreationist groups (i.e., birders or viewers, hunters or anglers, and multi-recreationists) felt served by a state fish and wildlife agency relative to agency services received by other recreation groups. Lasty, we investigated how recreation groups and level of familiarity with DWR predicted recreationists' future likelihood to financially contribute to the agency via voluntary and user-pay funding mechanisms. Our results highlight the opportunity that wildlife recreationists present for the future success of state fish and wildlife agencies, and the complex conservation challenges these agencies face in engaging with their growing and changing recreation constituencies. Wildlife recreationists are multidimensional in their recreational pursuits, and differ in their familiarity with and perceptions of state fish and wildlife agencies, which has implications for their future support of these agencies. Our findings illustrate the need for state fish and wildlife agencies to develop engagement strategies that provide multiple entry points into and interests in their conservation programs, while also working to enhance agency familiarity among nonconsumptive recreationists, and ensuring that all wildlife recreation groups feel valued in relation to one another.