FACULTY NEWS

Oliver Pergams’s research shows declining support for nature conservation.

Those Who Stay Active Outdoors Stay Active in Conservation

"The conservation movement needs to diversify its outreach strategy, engaging novel and diverse constituencies," says Oliver Pergams, visiting research assistant professor of biological sciences.  "In other words, not just target the white, highly educated, middle-aged and affluent."  He speaks from his own research, which indicates that serious hikers and backpackers tend to become supporters of environmental and conservation groups while casual woodland tourists do not.  For Pergams, this signifies a need for the conservation movement to diversify its outreach.  

In early 2008, Pergams and Patricia Zaradic, director of the Red Rock Institute in Pennsylvania, made headlines with a study showing that a steady decline in nature recreation since the late 1980s correlated strongly with a rise in playing video games, surfing the Internet and watching movies—an unhealthy trend they called "videophilia."  Now Pergams and Zaradic, along with Peter Kareiva, chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, have found that only people who engage in vigorous outdoor sports, like hiking and backpacking, tend later to become supporters of mainline conservation groups, while those who only go sightseeing or fishing do not. Their findings were reported on October 7 in PLoS ONE, an online publication of the Public Library of Science.

Pergams and his family hiking in Banff National Park this year.

To conduct this research, Pergams and his team updated data gathered for two previous papers: "Evidence for a Fundamental and Pervasive Shift Away from Nature-based Recreation" and "Linkage of Conservation Activity to Trends in the U.S. Economy," both from Pergams’ previous research.  Pergams explains, "We then performed correlations on all possible time-lags in years (a total of over 300 paired comparisons) on the raw data as well as on year-to-year percentage changes. We applied a stringent double filter to identify significant correlations, in part utilizing a randomization approach and a Mersenne-Twister algorithm. The results were significant correlations (both direct and inverse) for all possible time-lags between nature experience and later conservation contribution."

"The research shows that backpackers and hikers are most likely to support conservation non-governmental Organizations (NGO) 11-12 years after they hike," says Pergams. "Most backpackers are 25–44 years old, and by adding the 11–12 year time lag we found they are mostly over 35 by the time they contribute. Backpackers and hikers are also overwhelmingly European-American, mostly college-educated and have relatively high incomes."  The NGOs that were supported were the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Fund.  The typical backpacker gave $200 to $300 per year, after the dozen-year lag.

The researchers conclude that there are effectively "two Americas" when it comes to nature exposure and support for conservation. Oliver’s research correlated hiking and backpacking more strongly to the support of environmental and conservation groups, while fishing and public lands visitation—to State Parks, National Parks, and Bureau of Land Management lands—correlated less strongly to support.   These findings are a wake-up call to environmental groups that their base is shrinking, as giving can be predicted to fall during the next decade with the decline in hiking and backpacking since their popularity peaked from 1998 to 2000.

Also boding ill for the conservation groups is an economic study Pergams published in 2004 that showed that support for conservation depends on the broader economy and can be predicted by GDP and personal income. Pergams is concerned that the current economic crisis will add to the conservationists' woes caused by declines in hiking over the past dozen years. "It's a 'perfect storm' of lower personal and corporate income resulting in less conservation support, compounded by effects from the past decline in hiking and backpacking," he said. "It's tough times ahead."

Pergams says the key to conservation awareness and support is to reach children early with broad-based educational programs that introduce them to vigorous outdoor recreation.  "If you never get out into nature, you're not going to care about it when you get older," Pergams said. "The kids are where it's at, and we're losing our kids to other influences—they don't go outside."

Funding for the study was provided by the Nature Conservancy.

Adapted from a UIC News Bureau press release by Paul Francuch, October 5, 2009.  For more information, listen to NPR’s interview with Pergams on his findings.