HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN URBAN RIPARIAN CORRIDORS

摘要

Successful riparian management depends on human care of these corridors over time. Conventional wisdom says that knowledgeable citizens will protect these systems. Yet, urban riparian landscapes continue to degrade. Why? One reason is that these linear systems traverse long distances through different neighborhoods and form the boundaries for many backyards. Corridors are vulnerable to community actions, but also to the behavior of individuals. Human behavior within urban riparian corridors has been a part of a multi-disciplinary, 3-year study at the University of Washington funded by EPA and NSF's Waters and Watersheds Program. The underlying questions were: (1) Do individual residents degrade or protect riparian corridors in their backyards? (2) Is individual behavior in riparian corridors broadly predictable? (3) Does an individual's behavior agree with his/her stated attitudes toward the corridors? The results suggest changes for community planning, management and education concerning riparian corridors.