Values of protected area landscapes shape the behaviors of subsistence users in Interior Alaska

Abstract

Diverse values expressed by people living around protected areas provide insight into shared reasons why agreements and tensions may exist yet are underrepresented in research with subsistence users. We administered a mixed-mode survey to residents living near Denali National Park and Preserve and Denali State Park in Interior Alaska, USA, to understand how values placed on landscapes by multiple interest groups could lead to actions benefitting the environment. We discovered four dominant groupings of specific values-centered on pristine nature, communal cohesion, relational fulfillment, and capacity growth-that signaled broad agreement on reasons why Denali landscapes are important. Results from a latent variable path model showed that these values worked in conjunction with previous experience to explain levels of environmental concern, and in turn, pro-environmental behavior. Communal cohesion, in particular, drove subsistence users' concerns and behaviors, whereas pristine nature was the basis for behavioral decision-making among non-subsistence users.

Keywords: Behavior change; Environmental concern; Indigenous peoples and local communities; Protected areas; Social science.