Emily J Wilkins, PhD (Former Employee)

Wildlife-related recreationists play an important role in conservation. Understanding constraints to wildlife-related activities is critical for maintaining or increasing participation in activities like birdwatching and hunting. A mail-out survey was administered to a generalized sample representative of U.S. residents (i.e., not specific to birdwatching or hunting) in early 2017 to...

Light pollution is a global phenomenon where anthropogenic light sources continue to grow unabated, affecting both social and ecological systems. This is leaving parks and protected areas as some of the last vestiges of naturally dark environments for protecting views of the night sky. Yet, even parks and protected areas have outdoor lighting. Alternative lighting practices are needed to...

This study examines the influence of drought indicators on recreational visitation patterns to National Park Service units in California (USA) from 1980 to 2019. We considered mountain, arid, and coastal park types across a climate gradient where seasonal recreational opportunities are directly or indirectly dependent on water resources. Significant departures from the normal...

With researchers increasingly interested in big data research, this conceptual paper describes how large datasets, secondary data, and associated analysis techniques can be used to understand outdoor recreation. Some types of large, secondary datasets that have been increasingly used in outdoor recreation research include social media, mobile device data, and trip reports or online...

The purpose of the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) Visitor Satisfaction Survey is to measure visitors’ opinions about BOR facilities, services, and recreational opportunities. This effort helps BOR meet requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and other BOR and Department of the Interior (DOI) strategic planning efforts. This survey manual provides the...

Outdoor recreation facilitates important connections to nature and wildlife but is perceived differently across population segments. As such, we expected that current and past socio-demographic characteristics of individuals would influence intention to participate in outdoor recreation. We solicited 5,000 U.S. residents. (n = 1,030, 23% response) to describe their perceptions of hunting...