The future of wildlife conservation funding: What options do U.S. college students support?
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Dublin Core
Title
The future of wildlife conservation funding: What options do U.S. college students support?
Description
Insufficient funding is a major impediment to conservation efforts around the world. In the United States, a decline in hunting participation threatens sustainability of the “user-pay, public benefit” model that has supported wildlife conservation for nearly 100 years, forcing wildlife management agencies to contemplate alternative funding strategies. We investigated support for potential funding options among diverse college students, a rapidly expanding and politically active voting bloc with a potentially powerful influence on the future of conservation. From 2018 to 2020, we surveyed 17,203 undergraduate students at public universities across 22 states. Students preferred innovative approaches to conservation funding, with 72% supporting funding derived from industry sources (e.g., natural resource extraction companies), 63% supporting state sources (e.g., general sales tax), and 43% supporting conventional user-based sources such as license fees and excise taxes associated with outdoor recreation activities (e.g., hunting). Findings emphasize the need to broaden the base of support for conservation funding and highlight the importance of considering the preferences and perspectives of young adults and other diverse beneficiaries of wildlife conservation.
Bibliographic Citation
Larson, L. R., Peterson, M. N., Furstenberg, R. V., Vayer, V. R., Lee, K. J., Choi, D. Y., ... & Woosnam, K. M. (2021). The future of wildlife conservation funding: What options do US college students support?. Conservation Science and Practice, e505. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.505
Creator
Larson, Lincoln R.
Peterson, Markus Nils
Von Furstenberg, Richard
Vayer, Victoria R.
Lee, Kangjae Jerry
Choi, Daniel Y.
Stevenson, Kathryn
Ahlers, Adam A.
Anhalt-Depies, Christine
Bethke, Taniya
Bruskotter, Jeremy T.
Chizinski, Christopher J.
Clark, Brian
Dayer, Ashley A.
Dunning, Kelly Heber
Ghasemi, Benjamin
Gigliotti, Larry
Graefe, Alan
Irwin, Kris
Keith, Samuel J.
Kelly, Matt
Kyle, Gerard
Metcalf, Elizabeth
Morse, Wayde
Needham, Mark D.
Poudyal, Neelam C.
Quartuch, Michael R.
Rodriguez, Shari
Romulo, Chelsie
Sharp, Ryan L.
Siemer, William
Springer, Matthew T.
Stayton, Brett
Stedman, Richard
Stein, Taylor
Van Deelen, Timothy R.
Whiting, Jason
Winkler, Richelle L.
Woosnam, Kyle Maurice
Subject
Angling
College students
Conservation policy
Funding
Hunting
Public support
Wildlife management
Extent
12 pages
Date Created
2021-07-26
Type
Article
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Is Part Of
Conservation Science and Practice
Collection
Citation
Larson, Lincoln R. et al., “The future of wildlife conservation funding: What options do U.S. college students support?,” CPW Digital Collections, accessed May 6, 2024, https://cpw.cvlcollections.org/items/show/210.