Recreation Research Update
Pacific Southwest Research Station
Wildland Recreation and Urban Cultures
Ethnicity and Recreation: An Abridged
Annotated Bibliography
This unpublished report was compiled by Dr.
Edwin Gómez (Old Dominion University), and it was
prepared for researchers and practitioners interested in
the relationship between ethnicity and recreation.
Except for key articles in the race/ethnicity and
leisure/recreation literature, this annotated bibliography
reviews articles published in the 1990s through to 2002,
with one 2003 reference on acculturation. Ninety-four
articles were annotated for this bibliography, and five
additional citations of special issues and compilations
were included.
The primary focus was placed on journal articles,
proceedings, and technical reports. The goal for the
bibliography was to present a variety of articles that
incorporated conceptual issues and definitions,
critiques, qualitative/quantitative research, and articles
that provide valuable insight. The annotated
bibliography was divided into five sections: (1)
Environment, Outdoor Recreation, & Leisure Space (10
articles); (2) Acculturation Scales and Concepts (21
articles); (3) General Studies, Commentaries, and
Reviews (17 articles); (4) Studies focused on African
Americans (18 articles); Studies focused on
Latino/Hispanic Americans (13 articles); Studies
focused on Asian Americans (9 articles); Studies
focused on Native Americans (3 articles); and a final
section on books, compilations, and special issues
related to race/ethnicity.
Practitioners/managers interested in the relationship
between ethnicity and recreation can use the annotated
bibliography, especially as it relates to resource
management. Additionally, the section on acculturation
should prove to be insightful for researchers who are
developing ways of measuring the phenomenon, as well
as practitioners whose organizations interact with
various immigrant groups. Highlights include African
American experiences in Australia, as well as a
reference that defines the differences between the terms
“Latino,” “Chicano,” “Hispanic,” and the historical
context for these terms. For more information about
this study contact Debbie Chavez at 909-680-1558 or
dchavez@fs.fed.us.
January 2004 No. 47
Caring for the Land and Serving People
The Roles of Trust and Concern in
Threatened and Endangered Species
Management
In our last research update we summarized a study
of southwesterners’ opinions on threatened and
endangered species management. In this summary we
provide a bit more of the findings for readers.
George Cvetkovich (Western Washington
University) and I have been conducting a series of
studies examining the role of trust in natural resource
management. Trust is measured in keeping with the
salient values similarity model. The model predicts that
when individual members of the public believe they
have similar salient values (those most important to
them in actions/thoughts) to the Forest Service, trust
will result. We have found that “shared values” is
highly predictive of overall trust. Further, judgments of
shared values and trust significantly predict attitudes
towards various management alternatives. We also have
found variations in this. Actions inconsistent with
shared values are still acceptable, if reasons for the
inconsistencies seem justified to the individual.
Examples of justifications acceptable to some
individuals include limited resources or strong interest
group opposition.
We combined approval and effectiveness ratings of
five possible threatened and endangered species
management interventions. We then predicted the
approval / effectiveness ratings based on trust and
salient values, concern about t & e species, knowledge
about t & e species, prior National Forest visitation,
language of survey, age, education and gender. In four
of the five interventions, concern and trust were the
most significant predictors of the approval /
effectiveness ratings. The third most important
predictor was self-rated knowledge about threatened
and endangered species. Those who were most
concerned about species, and trusted the Forest Service
the most, tended to conclude that each of the
interventions was both more acceptable and effective.
In contrast, those who indicated they knew the most
about t & e species tended to conclude that the
interventions were less acceptable and effective.
Females tended to rate the interventions as more
acceptable and effective than did males.
These findings suggest that approaches to
implementing interventions to protect threatened and
USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Wildland Recreation and Urban Cultures, 4955 Canyon Crest Drive, Riverside, CA 92507
endangered species should incorporate information
about values, concern about species, rationale for each
intervention, technical aspects to satisfy those with
greater knowledge about species, and any constraints or
considerations that directly affect management choices.
For more information about this study contact Pat
Winter at 909-680-1557 or pwinter@fs.fed.us.
Outdoor Recreation Impacts from Fire
Events: Learning From BAER Reports
One way to understand the impact of fire events on
forestlands is to examine Burned Area Emergency
Response (BAER) reports. BAER reports are
constructed by National Forests after fire events to
identify immediate and future threats to life, property
and natural resources, and to acquire funding to
mitigate these problems. Outdoor recreation, per se, is
not included within BAER reports because the loss of
recreation-related facilities/amenities is not generally
considered an emergency; indeed recreation managers
cannot access the funds used by forests to respond to
fire events. However, after evaluating BAER reports
from 2001 and 2002 from Forest Service regions across
the US, some direct impacts on and future risks to
outdoor recreation due to the resource damage caused
by fire have been identified.
Direct impacts of fire on outdoor recreation were
found in campgrounds, recreation areas, off-highway
vehicle areas, hiking trails, roads providing access to
recreation opportunities, recreation residences, bridges,
general use or dispersed recreation areas and privatelyowned lodges/resort areas. There were also potential
risks identified in these reports related to outdoor
recreation. These included risks to camps (Boy Scouts,
etc.), campgrounds, picnic areas, recreation areas,
lakes/streamside areas, off-highway vehicle areas,
hiking trails, roads providing access to recreation
opportunities, recreation residences,
historical/archeological sites, privately-owned
lodges/resorts, general/dispersed recreation areas and
support businesses/facilities (such as stores).
The information provided by the BAER reports
suggested substantial direct impacts of fire on outdoor
recreation and substantial risks to recreation
opportunities in the future. Though these reports do not
offer evidence about behavioral impacts or perceptions
of recreation visitors, they do assist in understanding
impact to outdoor recreation settings and opportunities
immediately after fire events and in the future. For
more information about this study contact Debbie
Chavez at 909-680-1558 or dchavez@fs.fed.us.
There is still time to register and join us at the 4th
Social Aspects and Recreation Research (SARR)
Symposium February 4-6, 2004 in San Francisco,
California. For information go to our website:
www.rfl.psw.fs.fed.us/recreation/sarr2004.html
Unit Publications
Absher, J.; Baker, D.; Anderek, K.; Knopf, R.; Absher,
E. 2003. A comparison of two management-focused
surveys of environmental volunteers. In From Theory to
Practice: The Dynamics of Building a Discipline and a
Sector: 32nd Annual ARNOVA Conference; 2003
November 20-22; Denver, CO. Indianapolis, IN:
Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and
Voluntary Action, [on CD ROM only] 2 p.
Absher, J. D.; Bright, A. D.; Vaske, J. J.; Kneeshaw, K.
2003. Understanding wildland fire basic beliefs and
social norms as antecedents to fire management
education and communications. In Urban and Rural
Communities Living in Fire Prone Environments:
Managing the Future of Global Problems, Conference
Program: 3rd International Wildland and Fire Conference
and Exhibition incorporating 10th Annual Australasian Fire
Authorities Council Conference; 2003 October 3-6;
Sydney, Australia. Sydney, Australia: 3rd International
Wildland Fire Conference and Exhibition, [on CD ROM
only] 9 p.
Burns, R.C.; Graefe, A.R.; Absher, J.D. 2003. Alternate
measurement approaches to recreational customer
satisfaction: Satisfaction-only versus gap scores. Leisure
Sciences 25, 4, 363-380.
Chavez, D.J.; Olson, D.D.; Madrid, K. 2003. Day use of
National Forest series: The Inyo National Forest, 2003.
Unpublished report. Riverside, CA: Pacific Southwest
Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture. 34 p.
Kasul, R.L.; Chang, W.; Absher, J.D.; Jackson, R.S.;
Tolley, P.M. 2003. An investigation of issues associated
with monitoring satisfaction of advance reservation
customers of the National Recreation Reservation
Service. Unpublished report. 65 p.
Manning, R.E. 2003. Social climate change: A
sociology of environmental philosophy. In Minteer, B.A.
and Manning, R.E. (eds). Reconstructing Conservation:
Finding Common Ground. Washington, D.C: Island Press,
p. 207-222.
Widner, C.J.; Martin, S.R.; Absher, J. 2003. An
evaluation of the effectiveness of interpretive services at
Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. In Covel, J. (ed).,
Sinclair, P., Dennis, S. and Dennis, S. (associate eds). 2003
Interpretive Sourcebook, Proceedings of the National
Interpreters Workshop; 2003 November 11-15; Sparks, NV.
Fort Collins, CO: National Association for Interpretation: p.
119-120.
Winter, P.L.; Cvetkovich, G.T. 2003. Southwesterners'
opinions on the management of threatened and
endangered species. Unpublished report. Riverside, CA:
Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S.
Department of Agriculture. 101 p.
Debbie Chavez, Update Coordinator ☀ 909.680.1558 ☀ email: dchavez@fs.fed.us ☀ http://www.rfl.psw.fs.fed.us/recreation/index.html