A national survey of public values related to wildlife, funded by a multi-state conservation grant and led by a research team from Colorado State University (CSU), is taking shape. This effort builds on the 2005 "Wildlife Values in the West" project sponsored by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA). That survey helped western states better understand their constituencies, people's views on their relationships to wildlife, and likely public responses to a number of management scenarios. The new survey, scheduled for 2016 expands the survey to all 50 states and will include questions about governance of wildlife. States have the opportunity to choose the level of detail desired in survey results and add questions related to state-specific conservation issues if they desire, but need to contact the survey's managers soon if interested.

Chris Smith, the Wildlife Management Institute's Western Field Representative is an advisor to the research team. "Biology sets the boundaries for wildlife management, but human values drive every decision ? from saving an endangered species to allocating harvest between different types of hunters," Smith said. "The results of this survey will give western states insight into how wildlife-related values have changed over the past decade and give the rest of the country important baseline data. But time is running out for states that want to maximize the benefits from this survey to link up with the research team."

The "America's Wildlife Values" project is led by Dr. Mike Manfredo and Dr. Tara Teel with the Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources at CSU. Mike and Tara also led the WAFWA study in 2005. They are joined in this national effort by Mark Damian Duda, Executive Director of Responsive Management; Dr. David Fulton, Assistant Unit Leader in the Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit; Dr. Jeremy Bruskotter from the Ohio State University; Dr. Loren Chase, Human Dimensions Program Manager at Arizona Game and Fish Department; Dr. Lou Cornicelli, Wildlife Research Manager at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; Ollie Torgerson, Executive Secretary of the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies; Jeff Vonk, former Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks; Larry Kruckenberg, Executive Secretary of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies; and PhD students Andrew Don Carlos and Leeann Sullivan. Dr. Shawn Riley, with the Michigan State University and WMI's Smith are advising on the wildlife governance elements of the survey.

Each state has three options for their level of participation. Option 1 includes sampling of the entire state population to measure basic wildlife-related values, with results summarized by state in a nation-wide report. The multi-state conservation grant covers the cost for this level of sampling for all 50 states, so Dr. Manfredo said, "Option 1 is the ?default' for any state that does not choose to do more." Option 2 allows a state to add questions to the survey if the state wants more information about specific issues. Examples might include attitudes toward the recovery of large carnivores or the use of certain management techniques for urban deer or nuisance wildlife. Option 3 provides for increased sampling intensity to allow finer-resolution analysis, such as differences in values regionally or by county within the state, or by urban vs. rural population. Dr. Teel said states that want to go with Option 2 or 3 will have to cover the added costs. The additional expense for Option 2 is $10,000 for adding approximately one page of survey questions. The expense for Option 3 would depend on the number of added surveys administered within the state. As of now, 11 states have opted for level 2 (7 are WAFWA repeat states) and 6 (including 4 WAFWA repeat states) have opted for level 3. Seventeen states have not yet decided on their level of participation. Those states will need to decide soon, or settle for results from Option 1.

In addition to exploring people's wildlife-related values, as the WAFWA study did, the new survey will also include questions related to people's attitudes regarding wildlife governance. Topics that may be explored include preferences for wildlife conservation funding and the extent of public trust in their fish and wildlife agencies. This aspect of the survey will provide important information regarding the alignment between public and agency values related to governance which should be useful to states as they develop strategies to expand their base of political and financial support.

The survey will be conducted by mail, with the initial distribution of questionnaires anticipated in early 2016. Initial results should be available by the end of 2016. Complete assessment of the results will be done by 2017.

Additional information about the project is available online. States that have not connected with the research team to date should do so as soon as possible by contacting CSU's Project Manager, Andrew Don Carlos.