Tradeoffs and win-wins between large landscape conservation and wildlife viewing in protected areas
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Abstract
Wildlife conservation around protected areas is critical and costly, yet its beneficiaries—particularly protected area visitors who enjoy viewing wide-ranging wildlife—rarely contribute towards landscape-scale conservation. We characterize the importance of wildlife viewing in two U.S. protected areas: Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We surveyed park visitors (N = 991) and used the travel cost method to test whether changes in the viewing experience would justify support for visitor-funded conservation. We find that benefits from wildlife viewing are substantial and dependent on protecting wide-ranging species and maintaining their abundance. Large carnivores, particularly grizzly bears, are especially important to wildlife viewers, who are willing to pay more to visit the parks by about 50%. Additionally, we gauged support for three conservation fundraising mechanisms within parks: a mandatory fee, a voluntary fund, and a tax on goods and services. Overall, we find that species population declines could have a greater effect on visitation than that from imposing conservation costs onto visitors, which visitors largely support regardless of income or politics. Our results demonstrate tradeoffs between maintaining visitor experience quality and protected area visitation, with a potential win-win for conservation beneficiaries to contribute towards action at a scale necessary for biodiversity protection.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Tradeoffs and win-wins between large landscape conservation and wildlife viewing in protected areas |
| Series title | Conservation Science and Practice |
| DOI | 10.1111/csp2.70051 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Publication Date | May 05, 2025 |
| Year Published | 2025 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Society for Conservation Biology |
| Contributing office(s) | Fort Collins Science Center |
| Description | e70051, 11 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | Wyoming |
| Other Geospatial | Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park |