{"id":29199,"date":"2024-02-16T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bipartisan-conservation-poll-shows-increasing-concern-over-environmental-issues-in-western-states\/"},"modified":"2024-02-16T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T15:00:00","slug":"bipartisan-conservation-poll-shows-increasing-concern-over-environmental-issues-in-western-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bipartisan-conservation-poll-shows-increasing-concern-over-environmental-issues-in-western-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Bipartisan conservation poll shows increasing concern over environmental issues in Western States"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rocky
Rocky Mountain hazy layers in he late afternoon sun, seen looking west along Interstate 70 from Buffalo Herd Overlook, Sept. 21, 2023. (Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News)<\/span>Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 14th annual Conservation in the West Poll from the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project said anxieties regarding many environmental topics had reached new highs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIssues that are the highest in 14 years of conducting this survey,\u201d said Lori Weigel, one of the project\u2019s pollsters. \u201cThey are at the highest levels of concern ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The poll contacted people online or by phone, with at least 400 voters in each of the eight Mountain West states \u2013 Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Weigel is a Colorado-based Republican pollster and conducts the survey with Democratic pollster Dave Metz, who lives in California.<\/p>\n

Issues that saw increased concern included climate change, wildlife habitats, water supplies, pollution, and loss of natural areas. Overall, 85% of Western voters said a candidate\u2019s focus on conservation issues was important in deciding whether to support the candidate. For 37% of voters, conservation issues were the primary factor in their choice of who to support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s striking here is both the breadth and the intensity of support,\u201d Metz said.<\/p>\n

In one example, nearly 80% of voters said more emphasis should be put on protecting migration routes \u2013 for species like elk or pronghorn \u2013 than on \u201ceconomically productive\u201d uses of those lands, such as new home developments, roads, or oil and gas production.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may be a lot that divides voters across the country, but in the West, there is nearly universal consensus in favor of conservation,\u201d Katrina Miller-Stevens, Director of the State of the Rockies Project, said in a news release on the survey.<\/p>\n

However, that does not mean there were no partisan or state-specific differences in voter\u2019s level of support for certain issues. For example, 60% of Colorado voters rated the loss of fish and wildlife habitat as \u201cExtremely Serious\u201d or \u201cVery Serious.\u201d In Wyoming \u2013 far more sparsely populated and conservative \u2013 that total was 48 percent. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 76% of Arizona voters were similarly concerned about inadequate water supplies, compared to 37% of Wyoming voters and 46% of voters in Montana. However, 53% of Wyoming voters were seriously worried about their children not spending enough time outdoors, versus 49% of Colorado respondents.<\/p>\n

The pollsters also \u201cover-sampled\u201d underrepresented groups, like Black and Native American voters. Maite Arce, President and CEO of the Hispanic Access Foundation, said those communities often bear a disproportionate brunt of environmental hazards and often live in areas with less availability of wild lands. Polling results show minority groups have conservation worries that extend beyond environmental concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201c[These issues] are integral to their health, mental health, jobs, local economies,\u201d Arce said. \u201cThese elements also play a pivotal role in preserving culture and heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides being shared publicly, the polling data is used throughout the year by Colorado College students in their research. Weigel and Metz also travel to Washington D.C. most years to discuss their findings with members of Congress.<\/p>\n

There was one bright spot the pollsters found in this year\u2019s results. Voters appeared to be looking more intently for news and information on conservation issues, through podcasts, traditional news sources, and other means. Metz said voters also showed more optimism and thought many conservation problems were solvable, even as their worries grew.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we ask questions about some of these challenges that we\u2019re facing \u2026 people think we can figure it out,\u201d Metz said. \u201cThey think there are paths forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: Colorado Public Radio partners with Colorado College to operate KRCC<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mountain hazy layers in he late afternoon sun, seen looking west along Interstate 70 from Buffalo Herd Overlook, Sept. 21, 2023. (Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News)Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News The 14th annual Conservation in the West Poll from the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project said anxieties regarding many environmental topics had reached new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,1030,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-environment","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29199"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}