Minorities and youth in Fisheries and Wildlife

I met with Rebecca Goggins, the intern and incoming student coordinator (and professor extraordinaire) yesterday. We discussed the FW 441 project when she asked what we were looking for I told her that I couldn't speak for the group but that I am interested in knowing the ethnographic statistics for the Fisheries and Wildlife Program and what influenced peoples' decisions to join us. Being the wonderful person she is, Rebecca found several articles for me to read and e-mailed me copies of the surveys she gives to first year Fisheries and Wildlife students and of the final data for 2008 students. The results are not too surprising, few minorities (though hispanics and American Indians dominate the minority responses), more males than females, big game more popular than waterfowl or upland game birds (big game is the most popular), conservation is the dominant "interest" and getting into academia is one of the least desired fields to go into after graduation. Perhaps more interesting than the information from OSU is the results of a study involving teenagers and forestry (natural resources as a whole, done by Clemson University). This study found that seniors in high school are quite concerned about the environment, are most concerned about issues regularly in the media and don't want to go to college to study natural resources fields. Most students didn't realize that money could be made in natural resources and had only a vague idea of what natural resource careers entail. Even more interesting is that most students interested in careers involving natural resources have no plans to attend college. Interesting and completely pertanent to what we're trying to do with this class. We meet tonight to discuss survey questions. I hope it isn't as frustrating as I feel it's going to be. Dana (the professor) has suggested making an agenda and working to get everyone to stick to it. Wish me luck! If you're interested, I'm attaching the reference for the article, I'll see if I can find an e-version later.

Hager, S., Straka, T., Irwin, H. 2007. What Do Teenagers Think of Environmental Issues and Natural Resources Management Careers? Journal of Forestry, pps 95-98.