PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 6: Urban Ecology.

Monday, August 4 Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.

Linking environmental knowledge, land use, and policy: A survey of rural, urban, and suburban watersheds in west Georgia.

McDaniel, Josh ^*,1, Alley, Kelly ¹, Tures, Elizabeth¹, Chaney, Phillip ¹, ¹ Auburn University, Auburn, AL

ABSTRACT- Knowledge of the environment can be affected by a variety of variables including education, cultural traditions, geographic residence, occupation, economic pursuits, recreational activities, differential access to information, and unequal power relations. In this study, we explore variation in environmental knowledge by groups that are discrete in relation to demographic and socio-economic criteria. We also examine the connections between knowledge and human impacts on the environment. The changes in land use in an area of economic development and urbanization provide the setting against which we sort out these dynamics. Our objective is to identify the variables that increase or lower knowledge of environmental impacts of urbanization, and then relate our findings to actual household land use practices and participation in public policy debates. In this poster we present results regarding a survey done in rural, suburban, and urban watersheds in three rapidly urbanizing counties in West Georgia. We test hypotheses regarding the factors that influence different levels of environmental knowledge, land use practices, and perceptions regarding environmental policy. We also examine how variations in environmental knowledge influence land use practices that may impact water quality, biodiversity, and forest ecosystems at the household level. Explanatory variables for individual households include presence of different waste disposal systems and practices, recreational activities, pesticide/herbicide use on lawns, gardens, and timber lands, construction of streamside management zones (SMZs), and use of best management practices (BMPs) on timberlands. Finally, we assess how varying levels of knowledge affect individual participation in public policy platforms concerning regulatory mechanisms designed to promote environmental conservation and/or economic development. Variables of policy participation include membership in civic organizations and other non-governmenal organizations concerned with development/conservation issues, voting records, and attendance at public meetings concerning land use regulation and economic development.

Key words: urbanization, environmental knowledge, land use