Friday's Findings - July 10 2020

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Summary: The North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) is an international initiative that was developed to conserve waterfowl populations and habitats on a continental scale. With a 2012 update of the plan, a fundamental shift was made to focus on people as well as on waterfowl populations and habitats. It now includes a goal of “Growing numbers of waterfowl hunters, other conservationists and citizens who enjoy and actively support waterfowl and wetlands conservation”. This effort represents the first of its kind to explicitly address the connections between ecological and social systems within a broad scale management plan. The North American Waterfowl Management Plan Committee established a Human Dimensions Working Group (HDWG) and a Public Engagement Team to develop coordinated, adaptive, strategic approaches to strengthen the connections between society and nature through hunting, bird watching, and participation in conservation. Beginning with a series of workshops with hunters and bird watchers in the U.S. and Canada, the HDWG surveyed waterfowl hunters (n = 9,144), bird watchers (n = 36,908), the public (n = 1,030), and waterfowl and wetlands professionals (n = 367). In this presentation, we will briefly discuss some of the advanced social science methods used to meet NAWAMP objectives and ways that the results may be applied to improved waterfowl and wetland conservation.