Environmental Health and Protection Commons^™

Perceptions Of Wildlife Damage And Species Conservation: Lessons Learned From The Utah Prairie Dog, R. Dwayne Elmore, Terry A. Messmer, Mark W. Brunson

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The Utah praⁱrie dog (Cynomys parvidens), a federa^lly ^list^ed threatened species, causes damage to a^gricultur^al operations, yet ^little incentive exists for priv_ate la_ndowners to conserve them. Therefore, we surveyed Utah resi_dents to identify stakeho^lder attitud^es regarding prairie dog mana^gement. We assessed how perceptions of wildlife d^amage affect respondent attitudes regarding conservation among agricu^ltural producers, rural residents, and urban residents. Higher levels of perceived wildlife damage were reported for agriculture respondents …