"The strength of Americans 'domination' wildlife values, or the belief that nature should be conquered and the natural environment used for the benefit of humans, can be traced to the country from which their ancestors migrated"..........."For example, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Norway had the highest mastery scores, and Americans who claimed ancestry from those countries had high scores on domination toward wildlife"...........For those who live in bigger cities and who have achieved high levels of education and financial success at work, there is a more tolerant attitude toward wildlife............Known as 'mutualism', it is the belief that "wildlife deserves treatement equal to humans"...............If all of us can come to understand that in both practical and holistic terms, both using wildlife and wild places as well as cherishing and perpetuating them for futue generations can and should be merged into a plan that goes one step further than what Forester Gifford Pinchot and Environmentalist John Muir forged at the turn of the 20th century under the leadership of President Teddy Roosevelt..............."This 'working together' philosophy of land management and perpetuation of species can perhaps best be seen by looking at a map of a large national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite"..........."These parks (and many others) are connected to, or completely surround by national forests or grasslands managed by the Forest Service"................. "For more than 100 years the success of the dual strategy of conservation and preservation has grown more and more obvious to the millions who benefit from jobs created and those who enjoy the wild places"................If we can now infuse this strategey with a a dose of Aldo Leopold's LAND ETHIC(see below definition), then perhaps we just might achieve most of what both sides of the conservation/preservation debate seek

"Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land"..... "We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us".... "When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect"---20th Century American biologist and land manager Aldo Leopold

The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land"... "In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it".... "It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such"--20th Century American biologist and land manager Aldo Leopold

We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us"

— Albert Einstein

https://phys.org/news/2015-10-americans-tend-wildlife-ancestors.html

Americans tend to think about wildlife like their ancestors did

October 15, 2015 by Rob Novak

Researchers from Colorado State University and The Ohio State University have found evidence that we think about wildlife like our ancestors did.

More specifically, the strength of Americans' "domination" wildlife values, or the belief that nature should be conquered and the natural environment used for the benefit of humans, can be traced to the country from which their ancestors migrated.

Values are shifting

At the same time, researchers demonstrated that, overall, Americans' values toward wildlife are shifting from a domination view to the view that wildlife deserves treatment equal to humans. Researchers call this line of thought about wildlife "mutualism."

The study of values has important implications for human-environmental interactions, and the management of wildlife throughout the country. Wildlife managers serve diverse constituencies with wide ranging viewpoints on management approaches. If managers understand the value orientations of their constituents they can frame the feedback they receive in those contexts, and can communicate their decisions more effectively.

In a recently published article in Conservation Biology, researchers from CSU and OSU reported on their study that asked questions about values toward wildlife among residents of the western United States.

Link between values and ancestry

"From what we know about human values, we assumed that they would persist over many generations and be unlikely to change without a significant reason," said lead investigator Mike Manfredo, head of CSU's Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources. "Still, it was a bit surprising to find we could make such clear links between wildlife values and countries of ancestry."

The researchers, who also include Professor Tara Teel at CSU and Assistant Professor Alia Dietsch at OSU, conducted their investigation as part of a long-term research program designed to monitor change in wildlife values over time. The survey measured domination and mutualism values toward wildlife in addition to asking people their ancestors' country of origin.

The researchers grouped respondents by country of origin and then compared wildlife value scores to contemporary value scores for residents living in those same countries. These country's values scores were obtained from a global values survey that included a measure of "mastery" over the environment.

"The relationship was striking," said Manfredo. "For example, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Norway had the highest mastery scores, and Americans who claimed ancestry from those countries had high scores on domination toward wildlife."

Differences among urbanized states

Interestingly, while values toward the environment appear persistent, the researchers also found residents of more urbanized states with higher levels of income and education have lower levels of domination and a growing emphasis on mutualism.

In practical terms, those with mutualism values have very different environmental priorities than those with domination values. Mutualism is associated with concerns about declines in wildlife populations and limiting human use of the environment. In contrast, domination is associated with concerns for a healthy economy, private property rights, and lethal control of carnivores when they conflict with human interests.

Bull Elk

Can we expect values to keep changing in ways that appear to be more consistent with environmental sustainability? The findings are mixed, according to Manfredo.

"It appears as though that type of change is occurring with modernization," he said. "However, we simply do not know if it will continue and if it does, how fast it will occur."

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https://phys.org/news/2015-07-wildlife-built-up-areas-undervalued-urban.html#nRlv

Wildlife in built-up areas an undervalued part of our urban ecosystems

July 15, 2015 by Marie Daniels

Urban wildlife such as deer, foxes and badgers should be cherished for the ecological benefits they bring to towns and cities, rather than feared as potentially harmful pests, scientists argue in a new report.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2015-07-wildlife-built-up-areas-undervalued-urban.html#jCp