ARIZONA RESIDENTS’ OPINIONS ON
THE ARIZONA GAME AND FISH DEPARTMENT
AND ITS ACTIVITIES
TELEPHONE SURVEY AND TRENDS STUDY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Conducted for the Arizona Game and Fish Department
by Responsive Management
May 2002
ARIZONA RESIDENTS’ OPINIONS ON
THE ARIZONA GAME AND FISH DEPARTMENT
AND ITS ACTIVITIES
TELEPHONE SURVEY AND TRENDS STUDY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
May 2002
Responsive Management National Office
Mark Damian Duda, Executive Director
Peter E. De Michele, Ph.D., Director of Research
Martin Jones, Research Associate
Carol Zurawski, Research Associate
Steven J. Bissell, Ph.D., Qualitative Research Director
Ping Wang, Ph.D., Quantitative Research Associate
James B. Herrick, Ph.D., Research Associate
William Testerman, Director of Survey Center
Alison Lanier, Business Manager
130 Franklin Street
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Phone: 540/432-1888 Fax: 540/432-1892
E-mail: [email protected]
www.responsivemanagement.com
Acknowledgements
Responsive Management would like to thank Mr. Jeff Casper of the Arizona Game and Fish
Department for his input, support, and guidance on this project.
Arizona Game and Fish Department Trends Survey 2002 – Executive Summary
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This study was conducted on behalf of the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) to
assess residents’ opinions on and attitudes toward the Department and its activities. The study
entailed a telephone survey of 1,504 Arizona residents. The study also included trends analysis
for selected questions, based on biennial surveys conducted for the AGFD in 1992, 1994, 1996,
1998, and 2000.
The survey discussed seven specific activities:

fishing,

observing/feeding/identifying wildlife at home,

boating,

indirect enjoyment of wildlife (the activity identified as “indirect enjoyment of wildlife”
includes, but is not limited to, watching television programs about wildlife, reading books
or articles about wildlife, or visiting zoos or aquariums),

off-highway driving,

hunting,

watching/feeding/photographing wildlife away from home.
This report is the first of three reports discussing the results of the surveys—the Executive
Summary. The second report is the summary analyses; the third report includes the detailed
analyses.
PARTICIPATION IN WILDLIFE-RELATED ACTIVITIES

The survey results indicated that “passive” activities had higher rates of participation than
did “active” activities. The rates changed only slightly from the previous study in 2000.

Regarding participation in multiple activities, the analyses showed that a very high
percentage of participants in each activity also participated in indirect enjoyment of
wildlife.
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Responsive Management
AWARENESS OF THE AGFD AND ITS ACTIVITIES

In the 2002 survey, 36% of respondents named the “Arizona Game and Fish Department”
as the primary state agency with responsibility for managing Arizona’s wildlife
resources, a slight increase over 2000, when 34% gave this answer.

For each of the seven activities, those who had participated in that activity within the past
12 months were more likely than those who had not participated in that activity to have
correctly named the AGFD as the agency that has primary responsibility for managing
Arizona’s wildlife. In general, hunters, anglers, and boaters were most aware of the
AGFD.
RATING OF THE AGFD AND OPINIONS ON AGFD’S ACTIVITIES

The percentage answering that the AGFD’s job rating is “excellent” or “good” was 68%
in 2002, slightly higher than in any other survey (these data include those who answered
“don’t know”). When those answering “don’t know” are removed from the data, the
survey results show that 86% of those expressing an opinion gave the AGFD an
“excellent” or “good” job rating.

In 2002, the program areas with the highest rating (excluding those answering “don’t
know”) were fisheries management and enforcement of fishing laws (both had 84%
saying “excellent” or “good”) and game management (83%).

The program areas with the lowest percentage giving an “excellent” or “good” rating in
2002 are off-highway vehicle management (57%), watercraft safety (62%), and providing
environmental education programs (65%).

The percentage of those giving a rating of “excellent” or “good” (among those who
expressed an opinion) regarding the job that the AGFD does at watercraft safety, offhighway vehicle management, and provision of wildlife information increased slightly
from 2000 to 2002; the percentage giving “excellent” or “good” ratings to all other
program areas declined slightly from 2000 to 2002.
OPINIONS ON ISSUE PRIORITIES

A majority of respondents thought that more emphasis should be placed on providing
environmental education programs (55%) and providing wildlife information (52%).
Arizona Game and Fish Department Trends Survey 2002 – Executive Summary

3
The program areas with lowest percentages who felt that more emphasis should be placed
on that program area are enforcement of fishing laws (19%), fisheries management
(25%), and issuance of watercraft registrations (28%).

For every program area, except fisheries management and enforcement of fishing laws,
more respondents indicated that “more emphasis” should be placed on the program area
than indicated that “about the same” or “less emphasis” should be placed on the program
area. For fisheries management and enforcement of fishing laws, more respondents
indicated that “about the same” emphasis should be placed than indicated that “more
emphasis” should be placed on that program area.

Polluted air/water/soil is the issue with the greatest percentage of respondents having said
that it was a problem (90%), followed by alcohol consumption by boaters (84%),
vandalism of outdoor recreation areas (81%), reckless boat operation (76%), and illegal
off-highway or off-trail driving (76%).

The issue that has the lowest percentage having said it was a problem is commercial use
of wildlife (52%), and this is the issue that had the lowest percentage of respondents
having said it was a major problem (24%).

For all the given potential problem areas except alcohol consumption by boaters, the
percentage of respondents who believed the given problem was “major” declined slightly
since 1997 (a law enforcement survey was conducted in 1997 that was separate from the
aforementioned biennial surveys). Alcohol consumption by boaters was considered a
major problem by 49% of respondents in 1997; it was considered a major problem by
61% of respondents in 2002.