Over the past 35 years, Responsive Management has conducted more than 1,000 research studies on how people relate to the natural world. In recent years we have significantly increased both our capacity and our workload, completing roughly 40 projects annually on a range of topics for state, federal, and NGO clients around the country. Our research continues to be used to guide policy and programmatic efforts, assess public attitudes toward key management issues, resolve conflicts, and inform new communications and outreach initiatives.
As one example, we have just completed the latest iteration of the nation’s longest-running trend study on attitudes toward wildlife and natural resources, Arizona Residents’ Attitudes Toward the Game and Fish Department and Outdoor Recreation. Responsive Management has conducted this biennial survey for the Department since 1992.
We have also been working with a growing number of fish and wildlife agencies on conservation relevancy projects: these studies entail in-depth consulting and new data collection to understand how the work of the agencies can stay top of mind with residents, including those who may not hunt or fish. For these projects, we are proud to partner with two of the most knowledgeable and experienced relevancy experts in the nation, Dr. Dan Decker of Cornell University and Dr. Cynthia Jacobson of Innovative Outcomes.
Relevancy work has become more important in light of the changing demographics of the United States, including an overall increasing population and growing populations of urban residents, older residents, minority residents, and immigrants. Meanwhile, hunting participation is gradually declining, and agency funding from the Pittman-Robertson excise tax is increasingly coming from non-hunting firearm owners and sport shooters. Additionally, people are becoming more protective in their views of wildlife and less utilitarian.
Forward-thinking agencies are keeping up with these changes by working to expand their stakeholder and constituent groups and to keep conservation relevant to all residents. Agencies that remain engaged, well-funded, and highly visible are able to accomplish great things for their state’s fish and wildlife resources.
In this way, relevancy work represents a path for agencies to expand their work, rather than shift away from traditional constituencies.
The same demographic and societal changes noted above have driven agencies and organizations to pursue R3 strategies to recruit, retain, and reactivate hunters, anglers, and sport shooters. The reality, though, is that agency relevancy and R3 are essentially two sides of the same coin: how to ensure the sustainability of the agencies through dedicated funding and public support.
Agency relevancy and R3 are essentially two sides of the same coin, driven by changes in national demographics, wildlife values, the funding base for wildlife conservation, and shifting attitudes toward consumptive wildlife-based outdoor recreation.
Responsive Management has been involved in R3 research before it was even known as “R3” (the concept of recruitment and retention was later expanded to include reactivation). As early as 1993, our firm sought to better understand recruitment and retention issues in a study called Factors Related to Hunting and Fishing Participation.
That study marked the foundation of our ongoing trend surveys to monitor public approval of hunting, fishing, trapping, and sport shooting. Responsive Management has since contracted with the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports (CAHSS) to conduct the trend survey annually over the next five years.
We have also had the privilege of partnering with major NGOs such as Pheasants Forever, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the National African American Gun Association, and the Outdoor Stewards of Conservation Foundation on nationwide Multistate Conservation Grant studies to develop R3 strategies for specific audiences such as females and Black Americans.
We also continue to conduct hunter harvest and game check compliance surveys for agencies across the United States, as well as wildlife management studies on specific topics such as moose management in Maine and chronic wasting disease in Pennsylvania.
Our staff looks forward to opportunities to interface with our fellow community members at national and regional conferences and other engagements. For example, Executive Director Mark Damian Duda recently delivered keynote speeches at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Annual Workshop as well as the 20th Annual NASC Sportsman-Legislator Summit coordinated by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation. Senior Research Associate Andrea Criscione presented findings at the R3 Symposium coordinated by CAHSS and will soon attend the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ Annual Meeting. Additionally, Senior Research Associate Tom Beppler presented research at the most recent Association for Conservation Information Conference and will also be a session speaker at the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ annual conference in October.
Responsive Management has long recognized that high-quality data collection is critical to producing valid and accurate results. Our firm employs all of the major survey data collection methods, including telephone, mail, online, and mixed-mode; we are also dedicated to using probability-based samples and conducting our research according to the highest industry standards for training, administration, and analysis. We consistently apply in our work the lessons and insights gained through 35 years of experience conducting surveys, and we are proud that our research has been upheld in U.S. Courts and used in peer-reviewed journals.
The differences between gold standard data collection methodologies and lesser-quality approaches can be seen in surveys offering competing estimations of the number of target and sport shooters in America. Over the past decade, Responsive Management’s participation trend surveys for the National Shooting Sports Foundation have documented a steady rise in the number of target and sport shooters in the United States, with recent surveys indicating that upwards of 50 million people engage in some type of target or sport shooting activity. Yet other industry surveys have put the number of target/sport shooters much lower (for instance, one study consistently indicated that less than 20 million sport shooters participate from year to year). However, the number of U.S. target shooters documented in the latest National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation is far closer to Responsive Management’s estimates: 46.2 million participants.
As part of our general polling work, Responsive Management works with a major Virginia university to conduct an ongoing Commonwealth poll, which offers a snapshot of Virginia residents’ opinions on key issues, including political races. While our firm remains neutral and unbiased in our survey questions and sampling approaches, we are gratified to have predicted the outcomes of several recent political races within one or two percentage points—a verifiable indicator of the quality of our work.
Over the past 35 years, Responsive Management has conducted research for every federal natural resource agency, every state fish and wildlife agency, every major conservation NGO, numerous major industry groups and manufacturers, and many of the nation’s top universities. Our university clients include Clemson University, Duke University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, Yale University, and dozens of others. The trust universities place in our methods and results is a testament to our ability to conduct survey research the right way.
As another testament to our experience and reputation, Responsive Management was recently awarded a Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Program (ProTech) contract under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service. The new contract will allow us to serve as a prime contractor on new survey research projects for NOAA over the next five years. This award adds to our long-term contracts with agencies in Georgia, Arizona, and Washington State, among others.
Below are some notable examples of our current and recently completed projects:
Conservation Relevancy and Agency Funding
Finding Pathways to Increasing Conservation Relevance: individual studies completed in Connecticut, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nevada, and Ohio; West Virginia study currently underway (conducted in partnership with Cynthia Jacobson of Innovative Outcomes and Dan Decker of Cornell University)Arizona Residents’ Attitudes Toward the Game and Fish Department and Outdoor Recreation: 2024 Trend UpdateNon-Hunting Sport Shooters’ and Firearm Owners’ Attitudes Toward the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration ProgramMassachusetts Residents’ Attitudes Toward Wildlife Conservation
Wildlife Management
Attitudes Toward Moose Management in MaineDeer Management in Georgia: Survey of Residents, Hunters, and LandownersPennsylvania Residents’ Opinions on and Attitudes Toward Nongame WildlifePennsylvania Residents’ Attitudes Toward Wildlife ManagementPennsylvania Residents’ Attitudes Toward Chronic Wasting DiseaseRhode Island Residents’ Attitudes Toward Wildlife, Interactions with the Agency, and Experience with Human-Wildlife ConflictsRhode Island Hunters’ Attitudes Toward Wildlife and Hunting ManagementMaine Residents’ Attitudes Toward Wildlife Management and Their Participation in Wildlife-Related RecreationTrap Use, Furbearers Trapped, and Trapper Characteristics in the United States: 2024 Trend UpdateWashington Residents’ Attitudes Toward Wildlife ManagementVermont Small Game Hunter Survey: Attitudes, Opinions, Preferences, and EffortVermont Deer Hunter Survey: Attitudes, Opinions, Preferences, and EffortVermont Bear Hunter Survey: Attitudes, Opinions, Preferences, and EffortVermont Residents’ Attitudes Toward Furbearer ManagementOregon Residents’, Hunters’, and Stakeholders’ Attitudes Toward PoachingHunting and Trapping in West VirginiaWest Virginia Residents’ Opinions on Black Bears and Black Bear Management
Fisheries Management
Maine Anglers’ Participation in and Opinions on Freshwater Fishing: 2024 Trend UpdateTrout Fishing in PennsylvaniaThe Expenditures of Pennsylvania Trout AnglersSummer and Winter Crab Catch in Washington StateParticipation and Preferences of Washington Anglers
Hunter Harvest
Florida Hunters’ Harvest of Turkey in the 2024 Spring SeasonAlabama Hunter Harvest 2023-2024Georgia Spring Turkey Harvest 2024Harvest of Wildlife in Georgia During the 2023-2024 SeasonMississippi Hunter Harvest Survey 2023-2024
R3 Strategies for Hunting, Fishing, and Sport Shooting
Developing Firearm Ownership and Sport Shooting R3 Communications for Black AmericansOne but Not Done: Providing the Next Steps to Female Hunters, Shooters, and ArchersProliferation of Hunting With AR-Platform / Modern Sporting RiflesHow to Reactivate Non-Participating Firearm OwnersDevelopment of a Hunter Avidity Model to Assess and Improve R3 ParticipationHunting and Recreational Shooting Among Active Military PersonnelReview of Research on Fishing and Boating RetentionFirearm Ownership and Sport Shooting ParticipationHow to Talk About Hunting: Research-Based Communications StrategiesAssessing the Quality and Availability of Hunting and Shooting Access in the United StatesAn Assessment of the Outdoor Adventures Education ProgramOutdoor Education in Nevada
Attitudes Toward Hunting, Fishing, and Sport Shooting
Americans’ Attitudes Toward Hunting and Sport Shooting: National Trend StudyWhy Is Cultural Support for Hunting and Sport Shooting Declining? Understanding the Factors Driving the Recent Declines in Approval (in partnership with the Outdoor Stewards of Conservation Foundation)Michigan Residents’ Attitudes Toward Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife Conservation
Climate and the Environment
Delaware Residents’ Opinions on Climate Change and Sea Level Rise: 2024 Trend UpdateEnvironmental Justice Needs Assessment for the Long Island Sound WatershedMaryland Coastal Training and Climate Change Education Market Analysis and Needs AssessmentUnderstanding How the Public Receives, Interprets, and Responds to Fire Risk Communications
Outdoor Recreation
Outdoor Recreation in Delaware: Survey Research in Support of the State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP): 2024 UpdateOpinions of Electric Bicycle Use on Florida's Wildlife Management Area SystemNew Jersey Residents’ Participation in and Attitudes Toward Outdoor RecreationIowa Residents’ Participation in and Attitudes Toward Outdoor RecreationParticipation in and Expenditures on Outdoor Recreation in Florida
