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Discussion and Conclusions

Except for the Mississippi River Basin and western Texas, southerners are becoming more numerous, better educated, more urbanized, and wealthier. There also remains a larger (albeit decreasing) proportion of women than men across the region. Together, these factors may explain why southern residents favor biocentric values over economic and utilitarian uses of forests. For example, biocentric values were notably higher (in the NSRE sample) among women than men (as well as among younger than older people). Other studies also found: (1) an overall increase in proenvironmental attitudes from the mid-1980s to a peak in recent years (Dunlap 1991, Dunlap and Scarce 1991, Steel and Lovrich 1997) and (2) higher proenvironmental attitudes and values among female, educated, and urban residents (e.g., Kellert and Berry 1987, Steel and Lovrich 1997, Steel and others 1994). Kellert and Berry (1987), for example, found gender to be the most important demographic influence on wildlife values, in regard to which men demonstrated significantly stronger utilitarian and scientific beliefs, while women had higher moralistic and humanistic beliefs. In other work, Dunlap and Scarce (1991) report findings showing that environmental concern is highest among female, educated, and urban residents.

By managing forests for nonhuman as well as human values, foresters can (1) introduce biological ecosystem management approaches that are socially and politically acceptable (Bengston 1994), (2) refine measurement techniques to recognize the total (economic and noneconomic) value of forests to society, (3) include a broader spectrum of interested publics in the decisionmaking process (Tarrant and others 1997), and (4) reduce potential conflict and resistance to management practices by responding to public views and opinions (Steel and others 1994). Furthermore, these goals must also be considered in light of the extensive industrial and nonindustrial private land that exists in the South, recognizing the multiple and varied outcomes desired by each landowner. Identifying the publics’ valuation of and attitudes toward forests is a first step in understanding the complexities of providing for multiple outcomes of our public and private forests and in addressing the potential costs and benefits to all foresters when making land management decisions.