CECS, Survey of wildlands professionals and the general public in California, 2022

Natural resource managers are increasingly required to make tradeoffs
between the economical, ecological, and social outcomes of different
management actions, in many cases making the ability to ensure public
acceptance an important part of the effective management of natural
resources. However, in comparison to our knowledge of the drivers of the
economic, and ecological aspects of natural-resource management, our
understanding of the drivers of social acceptance remains limited. Relying
on survey data collected in California, we examine what factors drive a
belief among the general public in the capacity of managers to limit the
occurrence of natural-resource events related to wildfires, water
shortages, and utility failures. These results are also compared with a
sample consisting of natural-resource professionals. Our results show that
the general public had a more positive view of management capacity than
did the professionals sampled, also displaying greater levels of trust and
belief in the efficiency of management, while being less concerned about
potential future risks. We also found structural differences in attitude
formation between the public and the natural-resource professionals.
Personal experience with natural-resource events and perceived future risk
drove beliefs about management capacity in both samples, while level of
trust and belief in the efficiency of management only had statistically
significant effects in the public sample. These findings suggest that
natural-resource management in California is likely to enjoy high levels
of social acceptance among the public, as long as interventions continue
to be perceived as effective. Findings also highlight structural
differences in attitude formation between the public and natural-resource
professionals in California.