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The
Comprehensive
Access
Management
Typology
Access for
fishing and hunting involves the physical
opportunities and locations to fish and hunt as
well as sportsmen's perceptions regarding fishing
and hunting access issues. The practical
reality of whether fewer fishing and hunting
opportunities exist, and the perception
that access is becoming a greater problem,
represent two separate but related issues. The
reality of less hunting and fishing
access is a physical constraint to
fishing and hunting, whereas the perception
that access is becoming more difficult is a
psychological constraint. Another
important factor is whether the area in question
is public or private, because the ways to gain
access can vary greatly depending on this factor.
To gain a better understanding of
access issues, it is helpful to consider the
Comprehensive Access Management Typology, which
was developed by Responsive Management
researchers. The interplay among the typology's
factors means that management plans need to take
all of them into account. They can be very
effective when used as the basis for examining
access issues and for developing management plans
to enhance access.
Comprehensive
Access Management Typology
Physical Aspects
of
Access
Availability:
The actual land available for fishing and
hunting.
Accessibility: The
ability to get to the land. Problems of
accessibility may include public lands blocked by
intervening private lands, public lands that are
distant from roads and difficult to get to, or
roads and trails that are gated or restricted.
Accommodation:
Ease of mobility and the experience once
sportsmen are on the land. Crowding may be a
concern for sportsmen who seek isolated areas for
fishing and hunting and prefer not to encounter
others. As another example, sportsmen may be able
to gain access, but the conditions of roads and
trails may make maneuverability difficult, or
prohibitions on ATVs may make access to public
lands difficult or impossible.
Social/Psychological
Aspects of Access
Awareness:
Information and knowledge, and sportsmen's
awareness of the access options open to them. Lack
of knowledge regarding a place to fish or hunt can
be just as much of a problem as an actual lack of
places to fish or hunt. Awareness also pertains to
knowing where information can be found and how to
use it.
Assumptions:
Sportsmen's perceptions about fishing and hunting
opportunities. Perceptions include barriers that
actually exist and barriers that sportsmen believe
to exist but really do not.
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Fishing
Access in the United
States |
 AS FISH AND WILDLIFE
PROFESSIONALS WELL KNOW,
fishing participation has been steadily
declining over the past several years. Common
reasons cited by anglers as factors that
negatively affect their fishing participation
include many social factors, such as work and
family obligations and a general lack of time.
However, when social factors are separated from
resource-based factors (i.e., factors that fish
and wildlife agencies can effectively influence),
access emerges as a consistently identified
resource-based issue among anglers.
The American Sportfishing Association and
Responsive Management recently collaborated on a
study to gain a comprehensive understanding of the
myriad issues concerning access that affect
anglers and landowners in the United States, as
well as the opinions and attitudes of federal and
state agency professionals who make decisions
regarding angler access. The study was conducted
under a Multi-State Conservation Grant from the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and administered by
the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The
study quantified the issues of greatest concern
and importance regarding fishing access to guide
development and advancement of programs to
facilitate and improve access to waters by
anglers.
Mark Damian Duda
Executive
Director |
 Overview
The ultimate goal
of this project was to provide the needed
information by examining interaction among the
three groups most relevant to fishing access. The
study entailed focus groups of those whose work
pertains wholly or in part to fishing access, such
as state and federal agency employees (hereinafter
referred to as "professionals"); focus groups with
landowners whose property has water access; focus
groups of anglers; a multi-modal survey of
professionals; a telephone survey of landowners
with water access nationwide; and a telephone
survey of anglers nationwide. This article
discusses the multi-modal and telephone surveys.
Survey of
Professionals
For the
survey of professionals, a multi-modal survey
approach was used, as such an approach allows each
respondent to take the survey at the most
convenient time and in the format with which he or
she is most comfortable. The completed surveys
were entered into Responsive Management's database
by data entry personnel (for professionals who
chose the PDF survey option) or were entered
by telephone interviewers during the telephone
interview (for those professionals who chose to
take the survey by telephone) using Questionnaire
Programming Language (QPL), which is software
designed for telephone surveying and data
collection. Responsive Management obtained 400
completed questionnaires from professionals.
 Surveys of Landowners and
Anglers
For the surveys of landowners
and anglers, telephones were selected as the
preferred sampling medium because of the almost
universal ownership of telephones among these
groups. Additionally, telephone surveys, relative
to mail or Internet surveys, allow for more
scientific sampling and data collection for large
heterogeneous groups and are more timely and more
cost-effective. Telephone surveys also have fewer
negative effects on the environment than do mail
surveys because of reduced use of paper and
reduced energy consumption for delivering and
returning the questionnaires.
The landowner sample was obtained from a
sample provider that used real estate records of
landowners likely to have water on or by their
property. From this sample, screener questions in
the survey allowed interviewers to identify
landowners whose property has water access.
Responsive Management obtained a total of 4,017
completed interviews with landowners.
The sample of anglers was obtained from
fishing license records, and it was scientifically
proportioned to be representative of the United
States as a whole (even accounting for the fact
that some states with saltwater bodies do not
require a fishing license for saltwater fishing).
Responsive Management obtained a total of 4,131
completed interviews with anglers.
Some of the main findings of the research
include the
following:
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| Public Lands Are Important
to Anglers
Whereas access for hunting is highly
dependent on private land, access for fishing is
highly dependent on public land. The study found
that two-thirds of anglers use public land mostly;
the overwhelming majority use public land either
mostly or equally with private land. While private
land access is important, prioritization of
strategies must account for the fact that most
anglers use public land more than they do private
land for gaining access to the water.
 Angler Access Is Tied to
Boating AccessThe survey found that about half of
freshwater anglers primarily use a boat while
fishing, overwhelmingly private boats. In
addition, a large majority of saltwater anglers
use a boat to fish their primary body of water.
And when anglers were asked what efforts would be
effective for making it easier for them to access
freshwater/saltwater fishing in general, three of
the top six efforts mentioned as being very or
somewhat effective referred to boating access.
Because angler access is tied to boating access in
this way, the importance of public access points
and facilities for boating needs to be accounted
for in improving angler access.
Anglers Feel
Positive About Private Land Access, But Fish and
Wildlife Professionals Do
Not
Those anglers who
access their primary fishing location via private
land give mostly positive ratings of access from
private land: 70% give a rating of excellent or
good, and 28% give a rating of fair or poor; 3%
say they don't know. Among professionals, only 12%
give a rating of excellent or good regarding
access for freshwater fishing from private lands
in their state, while 74% give a rating of fair or
poor; 12% say they don't know.
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 The Effect of Landowner
Liability on Access Is Viewed Differently by
Anglers, Professionals, and
Landowners
The surveys of each group found that anglers
and professionals are more likely (compared to
landowners) to think that a program to reduce
landowner liability would be effective at
improving access. Compared to the 25% of
landowners who think it would be effective, 66% of
anglers and 71% of professionals think such a
program would be effective. In fact, the survey
found that, when it comes to allowing access to
their land, landowners are not primarily concerned
with liability but with privacy, wanting to
personally use the water for fishing (which may
tend to limit how much they want others to use the
same spot), followed by littering and poor
behavior of anglers and other recreationists, and
then liability.
Communication With Landowners and
Anglers Regarding Access Programs Needs to Be More
Effective
 Awareness of fishing access
programs and resources is low: only 9% of anglers
indicated being aware of any fishing access
programs or resources. While some anglers who are
not aware may not need assistance with access,
some might benefit from access programs and/or
resources. Landowners are even less aware of any
programs that assist landowners in providing
access, including any programs that may assist
them with problems pertaining to fishing access.
Only 3% of landowners indicated being aware of any
such programs. The full report, including further
information on respondent characteristics, access
characteristics and ratings, strategies for
improving access, and demographics, is available
here (1.1MB PDF). A printable
version of this article is available here (791KB
PDF). |
| Responsive
Management would like to thank Gordon Robertson of
the American Sportfishing Association for his
assistance with this
project. |
| PHOTOS:
DAVID CLINE / USFWS; RESPONSIVE MANAGEMENT; LUTHER
GOLDMAN / USFWS; R. WILL ROACH / USFWS; GINNY
COHEN / USFWS; RESPONSIVE MANAGEMENT; PEDRO
RAMIREZ JR. /
USFWS. | |
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