Social science integration at state and federal fish and wildlife organizations in the United States

Increasingly, conservation professionals and scholars recognize the need for more holistic integration of social science in fish and wildlife management. This call is often framed around the complexity of 21st century conservation challenges and changing societal values toward fish and wildlife and its management. Fish and wildlife management agencies must engage with conservation social sciences to proactively address pressing conservation challenges, such as climate change, habitat degradation, wildfire, and biodiversity loss, and to identify, understand, and be responsive to changing societal needs, interests, and preferences. However, little data exist on fish and wildlife organizations' abilities to address and effectively incorporate social science information into decision-making processes, policy, or practice. We examined how social science is conducted, supported, and integrated in state and federal fish and wildlife agencies in the United States and the barriers that might stymie successful integration. We surveyed social scientists working in these organizations through an online questionnaire. Although most state and federal social scientists believed social science information is important to their agency, support (e.g., adequate funding, staffing, professional development opportunities) was limited and barriers (i.e., knowledge, capacity, institutional, and ideological) stymied successful integration. To increase support and minimize barriers to integration, we recommend increasing or reallocating funds to hire social scientists to meet agency needs, clearly communicating the importance of conservation social science to staff, providing or funding social science training for all staff, and incorporating social science research methods and best practices in agency decision-making, planning, and policy efforts. Implementing the aforementioned strategies can improve agencies' abilities to address complex conservation challenges and ensure agencies meet their public trust responsibilities through increased application of social science in fish and wildlife organizations.