Wildlife-Related Recreation, Meaning, and Environmental Concern

It has been suggested that participating in outdoor recreation exposes people to environmental degradation and increases their concern about such degradation on a broader scale. However, research has not supported a strong connection between outdoor recreation participation and environmental concern. Focusing on wildlife-related recreation, we hypothesized that the meaning of an activity to an individual would mediate the relationship between participation and environmental concern. A mail-back survey of hunting and fishing license holders in Washington ( n = 602) was used. Using structural modeling, we compared a model of a direct relationship between wildlife-related recreation participation and environmental concern with two models where the meaning of wildlife-related recreation fully and partially mediated the participation/environmental concern relationship. Full mediation was supported for bow hunting, fly-fishing, and wildlife and nature viewing, and partial mediation was supported for artificial lure and bait fishing. No mediation occurred for firearm hunting. Given the questionable fit of most models tested, the actual relationship between recreation participation and environmental concern may be more complex than previous research has suggested. Continued research on the role of activity meaning in influencing the participation/concern relationship, while also exploring the role of other personal and social factors, should be conducted.