URBAN NEIGHBORS WILDLIFE-RELATED ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS NEAR FEDERALLY PROTECTED AREAS IN TUCSON, ARIZONA, USA

Urban development adjacent to protected natural areas may result in re duced scenic beauty, recreational opportunities, and tourism associate d with the natural amenities of these areas. Conservation of the biolo gical, recreational, and scenic resources in parks and preserves requi res an understanding of the relationships between the protected areas and their suburban neighbors. This information can be useful to both r esource managers concerned with protecting wildlife and natural resour ces and urban planners concerned with maintaining an attractive reside ntial environment for people. As part of several studies on urban cons ervation issues being conducted at the University of Arizona, we condu cted a mail survey of households within 1.6 km (1 mile) of large feder al landholdings adjacent to Tucson, Arizona (Pusch Ridge Wilderness, m anaged by the U.S. Forest Service, and Saguaro National Park, managed by the U.S. National Park Service). Our sample size was 690. Over 80% of the households completed the survey, providing information about th eir interests in wildlife resources and about their attitudes and beha viors relating to the public natural areas adjacent to their homes. Is sues covered by the survey included interactions with wildlife (57% of the households fed wild birds and 26% fed other wildlife), importance of living near protected areas (69% reported ''proximity to protected areas an important factor in choice of home location''), attitudes to ward various kinds of development in the neighborhood, and problems ca used by wildlife at people's homes. These and other findings were anal yzed in terms of their implications for the managers of protected area s and for metropolitan planning.