Year of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Name

Environmental Studies

Department or School/College

Environmental Studies

Committee Chair

Fletcher Brown, PhD

Commitee Members

Dr. Trent Atkins, Caroline Hughes

Keywords

place, volunteers, wildlife, community science, participatory, attachment

Publisher

University of Montana

Subject Categories

Community-Based Research | Environmental Studies | Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Abstract

Organizations can benefit from understanding person-place relationships and volunteer motivations as they recruit and sustain involvement in their community-based monitoring (CBM) programs. Place attachment, or the bond between people and their meaningful environments, is one lens through which to explore these relationships. Past studies have associated place attachment with environmentally responsible behaviors (ERB), such as CBM involvement. However, few studies have explored the relationship between place attachment and CBM in the context of volunteers’ attachment to the species of study.

The purpose of this research study was to explore the place-based relationships and motivations among volunteers of the Loon Preservation Committee (LPC), a Common Loon CBM organization in New Hampshire. The aim was to determine if volunteers’ attachment to place and loons varied with (1) residence status or (2) length of LPC involvement. Further, the aim was to identify how volunteers’ conservation identity related to their motivations to participate. To do so, this mixed-methods case study utilized a Likert scale survey (n = 239) and semi-structured follow-up interviews (n =10).

The findings of this study specifically suggest that CBM programs seeking to recruit and sustain volunteers should focus on supporting existing person-place bonds, as well as expanding networking opportunities among participants. This study did not find a significant relationship (p < 0.05) between place attachment and participants’ length of LPC involvement. Place attachment did not significantly vary with residence status either, contrasting a prevailing assumption that permanent residents form deeper attachments than seasonal ones. While these quantitative results were not significant, the interviews underscored the role of both personal and community dimensions in place-based relationships and volunteer motivations. The results also provided insights into volunteer-wildlife bonds, including a positive relationship between involvement length and species dependence. Lastly, the results revealed that identifying as a conservationist is not a requisite of CBM participation if an individual is personally invested in the species they are monitoring. If environmental objectives do not resonate with potential volunteers, CBM may find recruitment success by appealing to their personal investment in the subject of study.

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© Copyright 2023 Taylor Tewksbury