Using Social Media to Discover Public Values, Interests, and Perceptions about Cattle Grazing on Park Lands

• Published in: Environmental management (New York) Vol. 53; no. 2; pp. 454 - 464
• Main Author: Barry, Sheila J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01.02.2014; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Attitudes; Biodiversity; Cattle; Community; cows; Cultural resources; Decision Making; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; education programs; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental protection; Forestry Management; fuel loading; Grazing; grazing lands; habitats; hearings; Herbivory; Humans; Internet; Land management; Livestock; Local government; Management decisions; managers; Natural resource management; Natural resources; Nature Conservation; open space; parks; Parks & recreation areas; Perceptions; photography; professionals; Public Facilities; Public hearings; Public lands; Public Opinion; Range management; Rangelands; recreation; resource management; San Francisco; Social Media; Social networks; surveys; Values; vegetation; Virtual communities; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; wildlife; Wildlife conservation; Wildlife habitats; San Francisco; USA; INE, USA, California, San Francisco Bay; Cows; Public land grazing; Endangered species; Recreation; Social media; Photo-sharing
• ISSN: 0364-152X; 1432-1009
• DOI: 10.1007/s00267-013-0216-4

In the western United States, livestock grazing often co-exists with recreation, cultural resource management and biodiversity protection on federal and state protected rangelands as well as on many local government open space areas. While the value of livestock grazing for managing rangeland vegetation to reduce fire fuel loads and improve wildlife habitat is increasingly recognized by resource management professionals, public concerns, and conflict between recreationist and livestock have led to reductions in public land grazing. Traditional public input methods yield a constrained picture of people’s attitudes toward cows and public land grazing. Public meetings, hearings, and surveys, the most commonly used mechanisms for public land managers to solicit public opinion, tend to foster participation of organized special interests or, in the case of surveys, focus on a specific topic. General public input is limited. This study explored the use of personal photography in social media to gain insight into public perceptions of livestock grazing in public spaces. Key findings of this study include that many recreationist in grazed San Francisco Bay Area parks shared views, interests, and concerns about cows and grazing on the photo-sharing website, Flickrᵀᴹ that seldom show up at a public meeting or in surveys. Results suggest that social media analysis can help develop a more nuanced understanding of public viewpoints useful in making decisions and creating outreach and education programs for public grazing lands. This study demonstrates that using such media can be useful in gaining an understanding of public concerns about natural resource management.