Advancing place attachment: dimensionality in boating access settings

Virginia’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) owns or cooperatively manages ~230 boating access (BA) facilities. Fiscal and personnel constraints, combined with an increase in traditional water-based... [ view full abstract ]

Virginia’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) owns or cooperatively manages ~230 boating access (BA) facilities. Fiscal and personnel constraints, combined with an increase in traditional water-based recreational activities and other emerging uses of boating access sites, create multiple and different challenges for the agency. In response, our research investigates two issues: building on the theoretical knowledge of place attachment and expanding its association to diverse water-based recreation settings, we examine the psychometric properties of an a priori scale that captures respondents’ intensity of attachment across four dimensions (place identity, place dependence, affective attachment, and social bonding); and understanding the practical, emotional, symbolic attachments that agency constituents have to natural settings and the places that provide access to the desired resource.  These issues are becoming more crucial to developing and implementing effective management plans and policy that are deemed acceptable and legitimate to the public.  Based on current literature and VDGIF’s need for information applicable to management challenges, we used an a priori first-order, 4-factor correlated measurement model to test 12 quantitative measures adapted from a scale developed by Kyle et al. (2009) as means to assess dimensions of place attachment in boating access site settings in Virginia, an approach that has not been explored previously.  The model tests mixed-method statewide mail survey data collected from residents who use VDGIF-owned or cooperatively managed boating access sites. Additionally, coded and sorted qualitative survey data informs model interpretation and applied management considerations. Using Cronbach’s alphas, 3 of 4 dimensions demonstrate good internal consistency and reliability; place dependence does not.  Confirmatory factor analysis structural coefficient estimates trend similarly to results of previous studies, which suggest that, for BA users in Virginia, place attachment is diverse and multidimensional.  Maximum likelihood method determined the overall fit of the measurement model. Results provide VDGIF managers a more holistic understanding of their constituents’ attachments to water-based settings. Moreover, the information allows managers to prioritize maintenance activities, refine resource allocations for existing sites, and guide potential acquisition of new BA sites.