Rodney R. Zwick

Experiences with Beaver Damage and Attitudes of Massachusetts Residents Toward Beaver

Abstract As stakeholder attitudes, values, and management preferences become increasingly diverse, managing human–wildlife conflicts will become more difficult. This challenge is especially evident in Massachusetts, USA, where furbearer management has been constrained by passage of a ballot initiative that outlawed use of foothold and body-gripping traps except in specific instances involving threats to human health or safety. Without regulated trapping, beaver (Castor canadensis) populations and damage attributed to them have increased. To develop an understanding of public attitudes regarding beaver-related management issues, we surveyed a random sample of Massachusetts residents in the spring of 2002 within 3 geographic regions where beaver are prevalent, as well as all individuals who submitted a beaver-related complaint to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife in 1999 and 2000. We found that respondents held generally positive attitudes toward beaver. Respondents who experienced beaver-related problems tended to have less favorable or negative attitudes toward beaver than people who did not experience beaver damage. Attitudes toward beaver became increasingly negative as the severity of damage experienced by people increased. We believe continued public support for wildlife conservation will require implementation of strategies that are responsive to changing attitudes of an urban population and within social-acceptance and biological carrying capacities.

Demographics of voting on the 1996 Massachusetts ballot referendum

Abstract The influence of rural‐urban differences on wildlife management policy is typically viewed from a social psychological perspective. This study extends this focus by examining the rural‐urban continuum from a sociological outlook. Data for this investigation were obtained from town‐level voting results on a 1996 Massachusetts ballot referendum. The referendum contained three separated components, but was primarily viewed as an anti‐trapping law. The referendum passed by a margin of 2 to 1. We examined the relationship between place of residence and voting behavior to better understand rural‐urban differences relative to wildlife management. Those favoring passage tended to reside in urban and suburban communities of eastern Massachusetts. Almost all towns above a threshold of 400 people/mile2 voted for the referendum suggesting that a relationship exists between human population density and wildlife conservation.

Stakeholder Norms Toward Beaver Management in Massachusetts

Abstract In Massachusetts, USA, both human and beaver (Castor canadensis) population levels are increasing, beaver damage complaints are escalating, and beaver management options are restricted by the 1996 Wildlife Protection Act. We looked at the publics norms toward beavers in Massachusetts. In 2002 we sent a mail-back questionnaire to a random sample of 5,563 residents in 3 geographic regions in Massachusetts and to residents who submitted a beaver complaint to Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) in 1999–2000 (47.3% overall response rate). Respondents supported some form of beaver management. As severity of beaver damage was perceived to increase, respondents were more willing to accept lethal management and control of beavers. These results emphasize the importance of how tolerance and acceptability of wildlife are influenced by the type of activity the animal is engaged in, the type of management action that is proposed, the positive or negative perception of a species in the eye of the public, and the publics preference for future population levels. A full understanding of these 4 points will help tailor management accordingly, because this knowledge can define a threshold of acceptance by the public for anticipated management actions. Restoration of full beaver management authority to the cognizant wildlife management agency would facilitate application of normative information to determine appropriate management response for minimizing conflicts between humans and beavers.

Trappers and trapping in advanced industrial society: Economic and socio cultural values of furbearer utilization in the northeastern united states

The purchase of trapping licenses in the northeastern United States has been declining for several years. Despite the decline in trapping activity, participation by a core group of trappers persists. To elucidate the economic and sociocultural values associated with present‐day trapping activities in the northeastern United States, several state and federal agencies and two academic institutions cooperated in a multistate study of trapping attitudes, values, motivations, and behavior. Results suggest that trappers continue to participate in trapping for a variety of sociocultural values and motivations, including the multiple satisfactions derived from involvement in an enduring recreational central life interest. Trapping to procure income and to provide in‐kind contributions to the household economy represent important motives and meanings to a smaller segment of the respondent population.