Browsing by Author "Grooms, Bennett"

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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.
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    Supporting Wildlife Recreationists in Virginia: Survey report to inform the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources' Wildlife Viewing Plan
    Grooms, Bennett; Rutter, Jonathan D.; Barnes, Jessica C.; Peele, Ashley; Dayer, Ashley A. (2020-12-08)
    In support of its mission to conserve and manage wildlife populations and habitat for the benefit of present and future generations; connect people to Virginia’s outdoors through boating, education, fishing, hunting, trapping, wildlife viewing, and other wildlife-related activities; and protect people and property by promoting safe outdoor experiences and managing human-wildlife conflicts (DWR, 2020), the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) has embarked on an “R3 initiative” to increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation of participants in hunting, fishing, recreational shooting, boating, and wildlife viewing. In an effort to improve engagement with Virginia’s wildlife recreationists, DWR commissioned social science research to better understand the activities, attitudes, and experiences of hunters, anglers, birders, and other wildlife viewers in the Commonwealth. Surveys and focus groups conducted as components of that study provided insights that can improve R3 planning for all four recreation groups. This report focuses on survey findings that will inform the development of a ten-year Wildlife Viewing Plan, the agency’s first comprehensive plan for engaging with and supporting Virginia recreationists who participate in wildlife viewing. While DWR’s relationships with hunters and anglers are long-standing, an analysis conducted by agency staff and stakeholders at an R3 workshop in August 2017 identified limited engagement between wildlife viewers and the agency as a threat to DWR’s ability to achieve its R3 objectives and overall mission (DWR, n.d.).The analyses in this report can help the agency make strategic and data-driven decisions about how to better support the recreation activities of this growing constituency, understand how they relate to those who identify as other recreation types, and engage viewers in supporting DWR’s conservation work.
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    Wildlife Recreationists in Virginia: Focus Group Results
    Grooms, Bennett; Dayer, Ashley A.; Peele, Ashley (Virginia Tech, 2019-02)