Like a squirrel, but bigger: applying human dimensions research to a European bison reintroduction project in the Netherlands

Managing wildlife and natural resources is no longer an insular issue of managing the natural sciences and processes involved. With an increasingly human dominated landscape, managers must now consider the social element of all management decisions. Incorporating the Human Dimensions of Wildlife Management (HDWM) is more commonplace in management decisions in North America but is still a relatively emerging concept for European decision-makers. The more human-dominated a landscape, the more intertwined social sciences become to natural resource decision-making. Incorporating HDWM to natural resource and wildlife management decisions can increase public participation in the planning and decision-making process. This thesis studies a European bison reintroduction in The Netherlands, the most human-dominated landscape in western Europe, through a human dimension lens. HDWM is an important element for reintroduction projects as this information can help managers gain public trust and ownership towards them. Recreational users of the reintroduction area were surveyed to determine base knowledge levels, perceptions, attitudes, and values towards European bison and ecosystem services provided by their presence on the landscape. Through the information gathered, this study determined that recreational users were generally supportive of bison on the landscape and understood there was some value in the species being present. However, it also shows knowledge gaps towards European bison themselves and the ecosystem services they provide