Goodwill hunting? Exploring the role of hunters as ecosystem stewards.

The expanded role of wildlife management and conservation in addressing diverse social and ecological goals necessitates an examination of the role that hunters have served and can serve in ecosystem stewardship. The notion of ecological stewardship is presented as a moral norm a personal ethic of right and wrong that influences our attitudes and behaviors toward conservation issues and one that requires consideration of the impacts of our lifestyle choices on environmental quality. The definition distinguishes the term from "institutional stewardship" provided by agencies' roles in conserving natural resources. The need for hunter cooperation and participation in achieving wildlife management goals is described, followed by a critique of the traditional assumption that participation in hunting leads to stewardship on a personal level. A review of the research literature and several recent case-study examples suggests that hunters often hold attitudes and engage in behaviors that are not supportive of broad-based, ecological objectives. Finally, we address opportunities to enhance hunter stewardship through appeals to social norms and strengthened hunter education training that fosters moral norms and ecological understanding. Hunters as ecosystem stewards * Holsman 809 stewardship. For example, Bob Lange, Division Chief for Federal Aid of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, recently supplied the following rationale for his agency's sponsorship of special early-season youth waterfowl hunts: "While the (USFWS) encourages youth participation in all wildlife activities, the opportunity to provide families with memorable outdoor experiences through hunting is unique. Hunting offers everyone the opportunity to learn about animal behavior, the ecosystems that feed wildlife, and also the chance to actually become part of the natural It is likely tha surroundings. Hunting on this spe. cial day introduces youth to the control wlll b ethical use and stewardship of the future. waterfowl, and encourages family participation" (Lange 1999:15). Lange's invocation of "stewardship" typifies use of the term in conservation circles, a use that promulgates the notion that stewardship results from hunting, yet the term itself remains poorly defined. By stewardship, what exactly do we mean? What are our expectations or aspirations for those we refer to as stewards or partners in conservation efforts? This paper is an attempt o explore the hypothesis that participation in hunting is associated with individual stewardship. First, I discuss a formal definition for ecosystem stewardship proposed by Dixon et al. (1995) and provide examples of the need for stewardship attitudes and behaviors in the current era of wildlife management. Second, I review and critically analyze the historical foundations for the assumption that hunting promotes stewardship. Third, I review the research that has explored, explicitly and implicitly, the extent to which a relationship between participation in hunting and stewardship can be inferred. Fourth, I discuss agency oppor. . . . . . tunltles tor encouraglng steware shlp among consumptlve users of wildlife resources. There are several reasons it is prudent o critically examine hunters' roles in stewardship as wildlife management emerges into a new era. First, although many of us would acknowledge that hunting provides a public service with many associated benefits (Witter 1999), evaluation of hunting and of hunters by the nonhunting public is increasing, as evidenced by the trend in ballot initiatives seeking to restrict or eliminate certain types of hunting and trapping (Minnis 1998). Traditional justifications for allowing regulated sport hunting (e.g., population regulation) are increasingly ringing hollow among the nonhunting public and even some wildlife professionals (Woolf and Roseberry 1998, Brown et al. 2000). It is likely that more persuasive rationales than population control will be needed to maintain recreational hunting in the future. Establishing evidence that participation in hunting signif1cantly contributes to the development of individual stewardship of natural resources may cast hunting in a better light with nonhunters. Second, agencies are increasingly interested in and involved with efforts to recruit and retain consumptive users (Dann and Peyton 1996). Agency sponsorship of programs to promote hunting, even among underrepresented groups, can appear self-serving unless there is a it more persuasive rationales than population te needed to maintain recreational hunting in greater redeeming value for recruiting more hunters than perpetuation of income from license sales. Similar to the first issue, it would make agency-sponsored recruitment efforts more acceptable if an irrefutable connection between hunting participation and stewardship could be made. Third, the focus of traditional wildlife conservation continues to broaden its scope. Efforts to restore game species and habitats that hunters so grandly supported in the past have been achieved (too successfully in some cases) and agency priorities are shifting. There is a need for stewards to support plans to reduce game species when necessary to restore or maintain diversity, protect endangered species, or nurture cological health. Many hunting practices such as feeding and baiting undermine attempts to manage wildlife populations and impact on broader goals. The question ultimately to be addressed is whether the hunting community is meeting the expectations and needs for stewardship, especially in light of expanding resource management goals. _