College Students' Beliefs about Wildlife Conservation: Implications for the Future

Contemporary demographic and cultural shifts are presenting substantial challenges to America’s current system of wildlife conservation. Regulated hunting has long been a centerpiece of this system, but hunting participation... [ view full abstract ]

Contemporary demographic and cultural shifts are presenting substantial challenges to America’s current system of wildlife conservation. Regulated hunting has long been a centerpiece of this system, but hunting participation has been declining for decades. These trends have produced a management crisis, increasing pressure on wildlife professionals and policy-makers to devise innovative solutions.

Young adults, who represent the outdoor recreationists and conservationists of the future, are a critical piece of this puzzle. To better understand their beliefs about and support for hunting and conservation, we surveyed a randomly selected group of 5,101 undergraduate students at two major land grant universities during spring 2016. We found that 72% of students moderately or strongly approved of legal, regulated hunting, including 55% of non-hunters. Approval ratings were highest when hunting was conducted for conservation (controlling wildlife damaging ecosystems) or civic-oriented (controlling wildlife causing problems for people) purposes, followed by obtaining local meat. Both groups expressed general support for wildlife based on the “conservation caring” scale, with hunters scoring slightly higher than non-hunters. About 58% of respondents acknowledged that hunting provides financial contributions to wildlife conservation. This number was much higher among hunters (81%) than non-hunters (42%).

Hunters and non-hunters displayed similar patterns of support for various hypothetical conservation funding strategies. Strongest support was observed for “requiring companies that profit from natural resource extraction to contribute a portion of their annual revenue to conservation” (73% support), “rounding outdoor recreation equipment purchases to the nearest dollar with spare change supporting conservation” (65%), and “requiring outdoor recreation outfitters to contribute a portion of their annual revenue to conservation (58%). Strongest opposition was observed for any tax increase, including additional taxes on general outdoor recreation equipment (45% oppose) and hunting/fishing equipment (19%). Result align with the Blue Ribbon Panel on Sustaining America’s Diverse Fish & Wildlife Resources (2016) recommendations for dedicating revenues from energy development on federal lands to support conservation and transforming programs and agencies to engage broader constituencies (e.g., non-consumptive recreationists). College students appear ready to embrace these directives and help chart a new course for wildlife conservation in the United States. Will policy-makers follow?