Attitudes and perceptions about ecological resources and hazards of people living around the Savannah river site

The Savannah River Site (SRS) in southwestern South Carolina is the largest and most contaminated of the DOE sites. The attitudes and perceptions of people living in the immediate vicinity of the site were examined via interviews at the Aiken Trials horse show. Aiken is the closet major city to SRS. The questionnaire was divided into six parts dealing with demography, hunting and fishing activities, future land use at SRS, severity of selected environmental problems, willingness to spend federal funds for these problems, and evaluation of concerns about SRS. Assessment of the interviews showed few significant gender differences in recreational rates, attitudes about federal spending, and future land-use preferences or concerns. The highest ranked future land use for SRS was as a National Environmental Research Park, followed by continued nuclear production, hiking, hunting, camping, and fishing. Peoples were generally equally concerned with economic and environmental issues. People living directly around the site were more interested in expanding the activities that would have a direct economic impact locally, while those living further away favored increased recreational usage of the site.