The poster will share the results of a collaborative research project with the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that manages the City of Scottsdale, Arizona’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve. The study asks whether and how being a volunteer ‘steward’ with the Conservancy affects one’s relationship to the community, measured through the concepts of sense of place and place attachment. Having a strong sense of place, defined as the attachment and meaning generated in the person-environment interaction (Hummon, 1992), is an important quality-of- life indicator that has broad impacts for both individual and community health (Salovey et al., 2000).

Surveys (n=275) were administered to all stewards in Fall 2016 through the weekly volunteer email, as well as to new stewards prior to their orientation (n=37). The survey measured place attachment in the Preserve and in the Phoenix metropolitan area using Williams and Vaske’s (2003) twelve-question, two-dimensional place attachment model. Results (forthcoming) will test the intensity of attachments across occupation status, seasonal residency status, and hourly commitment to the organization. It is hypothesized that Preserve attachment will be positively correlated with increased commitment and retirement status. Being a seasonal resident, or residing further from the metropolitan core will be negatively correlated with attachment at the metropolitan level.

Results will contribute to an academic and practical understanding of the role of environmental volunteerism in building community relationships. Community stakeholders in the Phoenix Metro Valley and beyond increasingly recognize the importance of residential connections to place and the potential role of civic engagement in fostering that bond (Center for the Future of Arizona, 2013; Beatley, 2005).