EC77-865 Have It Your Way By Making A Will

Making a will is not the sad and gloomy picture painted by some people. Quite the contrary! A person who makes a will is creating his or her own blueprint for the future. A will, like life insurance, social security, or retirement plans, provides security and peace of mind. The person who has a will made can rest assured that property and loved ones will be taken care of precisely in the manner he or she desires. This publication presents basic information about wills, one of the most important documents a person can make or possess. This information can be useful both to those who have already made a will and those who have not.

A Tool Box Half Full: How Social Science can Help Solve Human–Wildlife Conflict

There is a growing recognition among wildlife managers that focusing management on wildlife often provides a temporary fix to human–wildlife conflicts, whereas changing human behavior can provide long-term solutions. Human dimensions research of wildlife conflicts frequently focuses on stakeholders’ characteristics, problem identification, and acceptability of management, and less frequently on human behavior and evaluation of management actions to change that behavior. Consequently, little information exists to assess overall success of management. We draw on our experience studying human–bear conflicts, and argue for more human dimensions studies that focus on change in human behavior to measure management success. We call for help from social scientists to conduct applied experiments utilizing two methods, direct observation and self-reported data, to measure change in behavior. We are optimistic these approaches will help fill the managers’ tool box and lead to better integration of human dimensions into human–wildlife conflict management.