Refocusing the Concept of Wildlife Value Orientations

The concept of wildlife value orientations (WVO) was introduced more than 25 years ago to provide a theoretical foundation for understanding the diversity of public interest in fish, wildlife, and their management in North... [ view full abstract ]

The concept of wildlife value orientations (WVO) was introduced more than 25 years ago to provide a theoretical foundation for understanding the diversity of public interest in fish, wildlife, and their management in North America. Since that time period, it has been applied across Europe, Australia, South America and the U.S. to address a myriad of fish and wildlife issues. In this session, we hope to address current thinking on how the WVO concept has evolved and provide recent findings from a national level project. In particular, the session will provide a systems view of WVO that is a departure from the introductory belief hierarchy concept. WVO are discussed as dynamic, changing slowly over long time periods, but punctuated by abrupt change due to social ecological disruption. The role of anthropomorphism , a universal brain process, provides the foundation for emerging mutualistic WVO. WVO are cast in a multi-level context that encompasses individuals, agencies, and states that move across time with cross-level interactions. It will look at the role of WVO in defining groups that emerge around wildlife issues.  The session will be capped by a presentation on how the WVO are useful in a management context. Conceptual advances and management implications will be illustrated using data recently collected for all 50 US states in the America’s Wildlife Values project. Presentations by members of the America’s Wildlife Values research team will be followed by a panel discussion that will talk about the need for future research.