Examining how the public views fire should be of great importance to decision-makers, especially how the public sees fire management's impact on recreation and how that impact affects the public's behavior.

Recreation is among the many benefits of forest lands, and in some areas rests among the top outputs represented by a forest. Increased development in the wildland-urban interface, along with continued increases in population in many urban centers, has resulted in increased human impact on forest lands, including recreation use.

However, little has been done to examine public perceptions of fire and fire management related to recreation. The increased expectation that public holds for involvement and access to information linked to governance, and in particular resource management, is inherent in agency-public interactions, and adds importance to understanding public values.

Understanding the human side to support or oppose management practices is an essential piece of effective fire management. A series of studies was designed to examine public values and perceptions regarding fire and fire management related to recreation. Findings suggest there are a number of considerations that the public holds significant in their perceptions about fire management. These considerations are instructive for fire managers, communicators and educators.

PUBLIC TRUST

One consideration of importance to the public regarding fire management is trust in the managing agency. A line of inquiry using the salient-values similarity model of trust reflects this importance. This model of trust states that the public will be more likely to trust a managing agency, such as the Forest Service, to manage fires when they believe that their salient values, goals and thoughts about fire management are similar to the managing agency.

Residents of Arizona, California, Colorado and New Mexico, contacted through a telephone survey, confirmed the importance of perceived similarity of values in predicting trust. Also of interest was the finding that trust and shared values were highly predictive of the public's ratings (including effectiveness and degree of approval) on various management interventions that could be used in recreation settings to manage fire and fire risk.

Concern about wildland and wilderness fires also was revealed as influential in ratings of management actions. Ratings that were examined included the posting of signs in recreation settings informing recreationists of fire risk and how to reduce it, banning mechanically based uses (such as off-highway vehicles), placing restrictions on use (such as fires in fire rings only), closing some areas during fire season, controlled burns, and using chipping or other mechanical means.

Also instructive was the finding that not all agency actions had to be in line with the salient values and goals the public believed they shared with the Forest Service, as long as the inconsistency was believed to be justified (for example, being due to limited resources or extenuating circumstances). The allowance for justified inconsistencies suggests that trust in a managing agency may be more resilient than has been previously suggested. It seems that the primary values being managed for are an important aspect of communicating with the public about fire management. Additionally, it's important to communicate the reasons behind management actions, especially when management seems to be in contradiction to those primary values.

Other work has focused on developing a cognitive model of people's fire-related behaviors. For example, one study involving recreationists looked at how to measure people's core natural resource values and how they are linked to fire related attitudes, preferences or individual behaviors. In particular, this work measured values as expressed in basic beliefs such as freedom, trust, personal responsibility, anthropocentrism, biocentrism, and management-related concepts such as believed benefits or potential harm caused by fire.

Results from urban-proximate national forests in California, Colorado and Washington showed that recreationists' beliefs about the potential benefit or harm of fire and a sense of freedom, in addition to trust, were the most influential beliefs in predicting support for each of the three fire management actions studied (containing a fire, immediately putting a fire out, or letting it burn).

BIG ATTRACTIONS

Visitors to the Big Sur region of the Los Padres National Forest, a popular recreation destination due to its scenic beauty and spectacular coastal range environment, offered additional insight into recreation and fire management. Activities experienced by study participants during their trip to Big Sur were camping, hiking, walking for pleasure, beachcombing, picnicking, wild/marine life viewing and sightseeing. The highest-rated observed fire-management practices were fireworks prohibition, evidence of a wildland fire, prescribed fire evidence, and fire restrictions when backpacking. Fire practices that most influenced visit quality were large bonfires, no fires in pits/grills, and evidence of campfires in non-designated areas.

More important than direct experience with fire was the degree of attachment to the recreation setting. Those who held stronger place meanings for the recreation setting expressed more concerns about the various management actions presented. These study participants did not seem to be overly concerned with fire management, although they did report some recreation constraints that may deserve attention by managers.

Forest Service resource managers were also asked about fire and fire activity effects on outdoor recreation management and visitors. Overall, these managers perceived that most of the actions they take with regards to fire do not limit or only slightly limit visitors' pursuit of recreational opportunities. Findings also suggest that managers surveyed did not perceive their actions related to fire management as limiting visitors' pursuit of recreational experiences.

Many of these respondents felt that some recreation-related events (such as campfires in non-designated areas) moderately affected their decisions concerning fire management. These managers perceived moderate to slight conflicts with day-use areas, trails, campgrounds and access roads. More than half reported that visitors were not limited by campground closures from smoke, visible evidence of wildland fires, natural ecologically beneficial fires, fires from logging brush, and out of control fire from logging operations.

WHAT MANAGERS CAN DO

Wildfires can pose a serious threat to tourism, a main economic engine in virtually all states. A survey of tourists to Florida counties that had a recent wildfire assessed their perceptions of risk, attitudes and knowledge toward wildfire, and behavioral changes due to them.

In general, wildfires had a minimal impact on past Florida trips and most felt there was little risk for future trips. The majority reported that, in general, they would not let wildfires keep them from traveling to their final destination in Florida. However, three situations would lead to a substantial alteration of future trips: the presence of high fire danger conditions; reported health problems from smoke and ash, and the spread of fire to a nearby vacation region.

Based on this series of studies it seems that public perceptions of and reactions to fire management in recreation settings are complex and multi-dimensional. The public takes into account trust, the meaning of the place involved in the fire risk, and benefits versus risk of fire when evaluating fire management. Some effects of fire and fire management to the recreation and tourism experience were reported, including future planned trips.

Based on these findings we suggest that communications regarding fire management affecting recreation areas and opportunities include the nature of risk involved, the techniques that will be used for management and the reasons behind them, unique considerations of that area, and the role of publics in those management actions. Results also suggest the need to consider both manager and visitor perceptions about fire and fire management, including impacts on recreation experiences and tourism planning.

All three authors are research social scientists and co-project leaders with the Wildland Recreation and Urban Cultures Research Work Unit, Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service.

Dr. Patricia Winter's research focuses on environmental attitudes and behaviors including approaches to increasing responsibility, cultural diversity and land management, public acceptability of various land management practices, and social trust.

Dr. Deborah Chavez's work is primarily focused on ethnicity and recreation preferences, emerging technologies and impacts on land management, the social aspects of recreation and fire management, and crime on national forest lands.

Dr. James Absher's research interests include models of social causation related to fire, customer service models, market analysis, visitor communication, and volunteer management.