Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Civic Recreation: Outdoor Recreationists as Advocates, Stewards, and Managers of Natural Resources

  • Published:
Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recently, groups representing the human-powered outdoor recreation community are playing an important role in natural resource management and conservation. Such civic recreation—recreation-based stewardship and advocacy aimed at preserving, creating, and restoring recreational resources—offers promise in an era of limited capacity on the part of land managers and efforts to promote innovative, participatory, and collaborative civic environmentalism. Despite this growing trend, little research has looked at these civic recreation organizations or their role in natural resource management. Drawing from a mixed-method research design combining an exploratory case study of local civic recreation organizations with survey research, this article aims to describe civic recreation in practice and explores how it fits into natural resource management of the twenty-first century. Specifically, the goal is to understand why, how, and to what end these organizations emerge and function. The findings reveal that civic recreation organizations often emerge as grassroots initiatives to either address a threat to access or implement the vision of an innovative leader who seeks to create a recreational resource. These organizations primarily focus on direct stewardship, collaboration with land managers, and innovative private−public partnerships for the purposes of preserving or creating recreational resources. Outcomes and benefits span environmental, community, and management domains, offering promise to an era of collaborative and community-based natural resource management.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Armitage D (2005) Adaptive capacity and community-based natural resource management. Environ Manag 35(6):703–715

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Assessment, ME (2005) Ecosystems and human well-being: biodiversity synthesis. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, 86

  • Attarian A (2001) Trends in outdoor adventure education. J Exp Educ 24(3):141–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Attarian A, Keith J (2006) Climbing management: a guide to climbing issues and the development of a climbing management plan. https://www.accessfund.org/uploads/ClimbingManagementGuide_AccessFund.pdf

  • Auerbach CF, Silverstein LB (2003) Qualitative data: an introduction to coding and analysis. NYU Press, New York, NY

  • Baber WF (2010) Democratic deliberation and environmental practice: the case of natural resource management. Environ Pract 12(03):195–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett NJ, Whitty TS, Finkbeiner E, Pittman J, Bassett H, Gelcich S, Allison EH (2018) Environmental stewardship: a conceptual review and analytical framework. Environ Manag 61(4):597–614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkes F (1997) New and not-so-new directions in the use of the commons: co-management. Common Prop Resour Dig 42(1):5–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Breivik G (2010) Trends in adventure sports in a post-modern society. Sport Soc 13(2):260–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brinkman E, Seekamp E, Davenport MA, Brehm JM (2012) Community capacity for watershed conservation: a quantitative assessment of indicators and core dimensions. Environ Manag 50:736–749

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlsson L, Berkes F (2005) Co-management: concepts and methodological implications. J Environ Manage 75(1):65–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chavez DJ (1996) Mountain biking: issues and actions for USDA Forest Service managers. Res. Paper PSW-RP-226, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture, Albany, CA, 33p, p 226

  • Conrad CT, Daoust T (2008) Community-based monitoring frameworks: increasing the effectiveness of environmental stewardship. Environ Manag 41(3):358–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper CB, Dickinson J, Phillips T, Bonney R (2007) Citizen science as a tool for conservation in residential ecosystems. Ecol Soc 12(2):11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dennis S, Zube EH (1988) Voluntary association membership of outdoor recreationists: an exploratory study. Leis Sci 10(4):229–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dillman DA, Smyth JD, Christian LM (2009) Internet, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: the tailored design method. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ

  • Ewert A, Attarian A, Hollenhorst S, Russell K, Voight A (2006) Evolving adventure pursuits on public lands: emerging challenges for management and public policy. J Park Recreat Admin 24(2)

  • Fisher DR, Campbell LK, Svendsen ES (2012) The organisational structure of urban environmental stewardship. Environ Polit 21(1):26–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher DR, Svendsen ES, Connolly J (2015) Urban environmental stewardship and civic engagement: how planting trees strengthens the roots of democracy. Routledge.

  • Grafton RQ (2005) Social capital and fisheries governance. Ocean Coast Manag 48(9):753–766

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutiérrez NL, Hilborn R, Defeo O (2011) Leadership, social capital and incentives promote successful fisheries. Nature 470(7334):386–389

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenhorst SJ, Schuett MA, Olson D (1995) Conflicts and issues related to mountain biking in the National Forests: a multimethodological approach. In: Chavez DJ (tech. coord.) Proceedings of the Second Symposium on Social Aspects and Recreation Research, February 23−25, 1994, San Diego, California. Gen. Tech. Rep PSW-GTR-156, vol. 156. Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture, Albany, CA, p 7−10

  • Imperial MT (2005) Using collaboration as a governance strategy lessons from six watershed management programs. Adm Soc 37(3):281–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacoby AP, Babchuk N (1963) Instrumental and expressive voluntary-associations. Sociol Social Res 47(4):461–471

    Google Scholar 

  • John D (1994) Civic environmentalism: alternatives to regulation in states and communities. CQ Press

  • Jordan RC, Gray SA, Howe DV, Brooks WR, Ehrenfeld JG (2011) Knowledge gain and behavioral change in citizen-science programs. Conserv Biol 25(6):1148–1154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kant S, Lee S (2004) A social choice approach to sustainable forest management: an analysis of multiple forest values in Northwestern Ontario. For Policy Econ 6(3):215–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knopman DS, Susman MM, Landy MK (1999) Civic environmentalism: tackling tough land-use problems with innovative governance. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 41(10):24–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Krasny M, Tidball K (2015) Civic ecology: adaptation and transformation from the ground up. MIT Press

  • Krasny ME, Tidball KG (2010) Civic ecology: Linking social and ecological approaches in extension. J Ext 48(1):1IAW1

    Google Scholar 

  • Krasny ME, Delia J (2015) Natural area stewardship as part of campus sustainability. J Clean Prod 106:87–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landy M, Rubin C (2001) Civic environmentalism: a new approach to policy. George C. Marshall Institute, Washington, DC

  • Leach WD, Pelkey NW, Sabatier PA (2002) Stakeholder partnerships as collaborative policymaking: evaluation criteria applied to watershed management in California and Washington. J Policy Anal Manag 21(4):645–670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Light A (2002) Restoring ecological citizenship. In: Minteer B. A. and Taylor B. P. (eds) Democracy and the claims of nature. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, p 153−172

  • Light A (2003) Urban ecological citizenship. J Social Philos 34(1):44–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu J, Schuett MA (2012) Examining the role of voluntary associations in environmental management: the case of the Sam Houston National Forest. Environ Manag 49(2):334–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris MH (2008) When it Works and Where it Fails: Spatial, Temporal, and Budgetary Constraints to Civic Environmentalism Soc Sci Q 89(5):1252–1276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miles MB, Huberman AM (1994) Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA

  • Outdoor Foundation (2018) Outdoor participation report. https://outdoorindustry.org/oia-participation/

  • Plummer R, Fitzgibbon J (2004) Co-management of natural resources: a proposed framework. Environ Manag 33(6):876–885

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plummer R, FitzGibbon J (2006) People matter: The importance of social capital in the co‐management of natural resources. In Natural Resources Forum (Vol. 30, No. 1, p 51–62). Blackwell Publishing Ltd

  • Pretty J (2003) Social capital and the collective management of resources. Science 302(5652):1912–1914

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pretty J, Ward H (2001) Social capital and the environment. World Dev 29(2):209–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam R (1995) Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. J Democracy 6(1):65–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam RB (2000) Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY

  • Reid HG, Taylor B (2003) John Dewey’s aesthetic ecology of public intelligence and the grounding of civic environmentalism. Ethics Environ 8(1):74–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romolini M, Brinkley W, Wolf KL (2012) What is urban environmental stewardship: constructing a practitioner-derived framework. US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station

  • Rothschild J, Stephenson MJ (2009) The meaning of democracy in nonprofit and community organizations. Am Behav Sci 52(6):800–806

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin HJ, Rubin IS (20 12) Qualitative interviewing: the art of hearing data. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA

  • Salamon LM, Anheier HK (1997) Defining the nonprofit sector: a cross-national analysis. Manchester University Press

  • Schild R (2016) Civic recreation: The promise of uniting outdoor recreation and environmentalism in the 21st century. Doctoral dissertation, University of Colorado at Boulder.

  • Schild R (2017) Fostering environmental citizenship: the motivations and outcomes of civic recreation. J Environ Plann Manage 61(5-6):1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuett MA, Selin SW, Carr DS (2001) Making it work: keys to successful collaboration in natural resource management. Environ Manag 27(4):587–593

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shandas V, Messer WB (2008) Fostering green communities through civic engagement: community-based environmental stewardship in the Portland area. J Am Plan Assoc 74(4):408–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shoup L, Ewing R (2010) The economic benefits of open space, recreation facilities, and walkable community design. Active Living Research. Retrieved from http://activelivingresearch.org/economic-benefits-open-space-recreation-facilities-and-walkable-community-design

  • Shutkin WA (2001) The land that could be: environmentalism and democracy in the twenty-first century. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

  • Sirianni C, Friedland LA (2001) Civic innovation in America: community empowerment, public policy, and the movement for civic renewal. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA

  • Svendsen ES, Campbell L (2008) Urban ecological stewardship: understanding the structure, function and network of community-based land management. Cities Environ 1(1):1–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner C, Fernandez-Gimenez M (2008) Does community-based collaborative resource management increase social capital? Soc Nat Resour: Int J 21(4):324–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber EP (2000) A new vanguard for the environment: grass-roots ecosystem management as a new environmental movement. Soc & Nat Resour 13(3):237–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westphal LM, Davis AY, Copp C, Ross LM, Bouman MJ, Fisher CL, Johnston MK (2014) Characteristics of stewardship in the Chicago Wilderness Region. Cities and the Environment 7(1):3

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolf KL, Blahna DJ, Brinkley W, Romolini M (2013) Environmental stewardship footprint research: linking human agency and ecosystem health in the Puget Sound region. Urban Ecosyst 16(1):13–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wondolleck JM, Yaffee SL (2000) Making collaboration work: lessons from innovation in natural resource management. Island Press

  • Yin RK (2014) Case study research: de sign and methods, vol. 5. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80461, USA

    Rebecca Schild

Authors
  1. Rebecca Schild
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca Schild.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schild, R. Civic Recreation: Outdoor Recreationists as Advocates, Stewards, and Managers of Natural Resources. Environmental Management 63, 629–646 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-019-01151-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-019-01151-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation