Attachments to special places on public lands: An analysis of activities, reason for attachments, and community connections

People develop a type of attachment to some places on public lairds that co nstitutes a unique "sense of place" that involves emotional connections wit h and intense caring for these landscapes. These emotional attachments to p laces (locales regarded as "special places") are important for ecosystem ma nagement strategies and other efforts to incorporate considerations of soci al factors into the management of public lands. Such connections with place s can be a source of heightened levels of concern about management practice s. This inductive analysis of open-ended survey responses (n = 434) explore s the types of activities people do at special places and reveals the impor tance of recreational activities in people's connections with special place s in southern Utah. The primary reasons why places on public lands are rega rded as special are because of the environmental features of a place or bec ause of interactions with significant others at the locale. The reasons a p lace is considered special do not vary according to the activities done at special places. An analysis of four communities with different social/cultu ral orientations to public land use and management reveals that these orien tations are related to the activities people engage in at places they consi der special, but not the reasons places are regarded as special.