The purpose of this section is to compare the responses of the Hispanic population to those of the Caucasian population surveyed in an attempt to understand the differences between each population concerning Lake Trafford. Out of the 40 people that we surveyed 26 of them were Hispanics and 14 were Caucasian. Analyzing the results a few conclusions can be made. Possibly the most important observation is that the Caucasian population seemed to be a lot more emotionally attached or involved with the lake than the Hispanic population. When asked the, "List the reason Lake Trafford Restoration is important to you personally," and, "List all the benefits of restoration," the Caucasians gave more personal answers and reasons than the Hispanic population. Furthermore, from the people that were surveyed more of the Caucasians seem to use the lake for fishing and to conduct business. Also, the Caucasian population seems to use the lake more frequently for other recreational activities other than fishing. Lastly, the Caucasian population seems to be a lot more actively involved in fund raising for the lake compared to the Hispanic population.

As mentioned previously when asked to list why the restoration was important and to list the benefits of the restoration the Caucasians gave a more detailed and sometimes more emotional answers than the Hispanic population. One example of this is the response of the Hispanics when asked to list the importance of the restoration, 40% of them said none, or gave no answer, and 30% of them said for cleaner water. On the other hand the Caucasians gave a 40% response as the fish being the most important reason for the restoration and second was for business at 20%. Another example is when asked to list the benefits of the restoration. The majority of the Hispanic population gave a response of none, 70%, the next greatest was for the fishing at 15% response. As for the Caucasians 50% of the response was that it was better for the fish then second was for the economy at 20% response.

Concerning the use of the lake of the population surveyed 43% of the Caucasians lived on or near the lake versus only 19% of the Hispanics. As mentioned before more of the Caucasian population conducts business on the lake. To be more precise only the Caucasian population uses the lake for business, 43% of them use the lake for business compared to 0% of the Hispanic population. When asked if they fished in the lake 79% of the Caucasians said yes as did 54% of the Hispanics. Furthermore, 71% of the Caucasians eat the fish they catch compared to 42% for the Hispanics. We went further to ask if they have ever swam in the lake and got 7% as a positive response from the Caucasian population and 0% from the Hispanic population. Finally, we asked if they will ever swim in the lake and got 14% of the Caucasians answering yes and only 4% of the Hispanics.

Other questions we asked had to do with the recreational use of the lake other than fishing or swimming. We wanted to gain an understanding of what other types of recreation the lake was being used for by our population. Again we are comparing the use of the lake by our Caucasian population to that of the Hispanic population. We asked the question, "What other forms of recreation do you participate in on the lake?" From the answers we received it seems as though the Caucasian population uses the lake a lot more often for other recreational activities other than fishing. For the Hispanic population 80% of them said they didn’t use the lake for any other recreational use and 20% of them said they used it for sight seeing. On the other hand, the Caucasian population gave various answers. For example 40% of them said they used the lake for boating, 25% of them used it for airboat riding, and we also got various other answers such as frog gigging, beer drinking, and for photography each accounting for 5% of the responses received. We also asked them when the last time was that they used the lake and then asked them why they had stopped using it if it had been a while since their last visit. For 80% of the Caucasians the question didn’t apply because they used the lake regularly or didn’t use it at all. Similarly for 60% of the Hispanic population the question didn’t apply either because they didn’t use the lake or because they were regular users. The Caucasians gave answers such as sold boat 5%, because of the bad smell 5%, got a new position 5%, and no time 5% as the reason for not using or visiting the lake recently. The Hispanic population gave answers such as no reason 10%, don’t know 10%, didn’t feel like it 10%, no time 10%, no opportunity 5%, and no transportation 5%. Transportation didn’t present a big problem for either of the groups, 60% of the Hispanics and 55% of the Caucasians got to the lake by car. The rest of the Hispanic population got a ride from someone else 5% and for the Caucasian population the rest got a ride 5%, walked 30%, went by motor home 5%, or rode a bike to the lake 5%.

The last subject for discussion is the involvement of the population in fund raising for the lake. The difference between the two populations is alarming. The Caucasian population us very actively involved with fund raising with 79% compared to only 4% of the Hispanic population. The people who did get involved gave reasons such as worrying for the future 15%, their love for the lake 18%, and various other answers such as to help the Marina 9%, and liking the lake activities 9%, for getting involved in the fund raising.

In conclusion, it appears as though the Caucasian population is more in tune with Lake Trafford. Not only do they use the lake more fir fishing, but also for other recreational activities as compared to the Hispanic population. The Caucasians gave more personal answers to most of the questions asked compared to the Hispanics. A possible reason for this is that they have more invested in the lake. It also demonstrates a more emotional attachment to the lake by the Caucasians. Furthermore, the Caucasians were more involved in fundraising for the lake at a much higher percentage than the Hispanic population. There are some possible explanations for the differences between the populations. Among them is the greater number of the Caucasian population either live on the lake or conduct business on the lake explaining the greater involvement and attachment to the lake. Another explanation is under standing the differences in culture. Fishing isn’t an activity that the Hispanics, or more specific the Mexicans, are usually highly involved in. Last, a concern that the Hispanic population expressed during the surveys is the need for a license before fishing in the lake. Although some of them resolve the issue by fishing with cans and string instead of rods it still presents a problem for some of the Hispanic population I spoke to. Some of the Hispanic population surveyed either didn’t know about the lake or weren’t exactly sure of the location of the lake. A possible solution is education. Giving them information on how to obtain a license for fishing and making them aware of the lake, and what it has to offer them, might improve the participation of the Hispanic population with Lake Trafford.

By: Laura Lopez