Community Benefits From Managed Resource Areas

Abstract

This research develops a theoretically informed measurement instrument for assessing local community members' perceptions of benefits that managed resource areas provide to their communities. We suggest five distinct types of community benefits dominate individuals' perceptions. These community benefits are ecological, economic, quality of life, physical and aesthetic, and social solidarity. We empirically tested the community benefits measurement instrument for construct validity with data collected from five samples of residents living adjacent to four managed resource areas.

KEYWORDS:

• Community benefits
• desired management outcomes
• scale development
• outcomes-focused management