Treesearch

Adaptive management as applied to tourism policy treats management policies as experiments that probe the responses of the system as human behavior changes. We present a conceptual systems model that incorporates the gap between observed and desired levels of the ecological footprint with respect to biocapacity. Addressing this gap (or "overshoot") can inform strategies to increase or decrease visitation or its associated consumption in the coming years. The feedback mechanism in this conceptual model incorporates a gap between observed and desired ecological footprint levels of tourists...

This paper briefly lists constraints and problems of traditional approaches to natural resource risk analysis and risk management. Such problems include disparate definitions of risk, multiple and conflicting objectives and decisions, conflicting interpretations of uncertainty, and failure of articulating decision criteria, risk attitudes, modeling assumptions, and weaknesses. Solving these problems can entail use of more recent decision-aiding tools and methods for multi-objective decisionmaking, use of methods for rigorously extracting knowledge from multiple experts, and decomposing...

Management of over 400 rare species thought to be associated with late successional and old-growth forest conditions on U.S. federal lands within the range of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) included a four-pronged "survey-and-manage" approach in 1994–2004 and 2006-2007, which included predisturbance surveys, strategic surveys, management of known sites to address species’ persistence, and adaptive management via an annual species review to improve management approaches. Although the objective of predisturbance surveys was to detect species in areas proposed for land...

Several keynote speakers at the fourth World Fisheries Congress emphasized the importance of understanding ecosystem processes if we are to effectively reconcile fisheries with conservation. Nowhere is this more important than in watershed management. Watershed processes determine the properties of freshwater ecosystems and thereby regulate the productivity of local fisheries, as well as other fisheries whose target species spend part of their life cycles in freshwater ecosystems. Fish are but one of many natural resources that compose the spectrum of ecological "goods and services"...

Headwater streams differ in susceptibility to debris flows and thus in importance as wood and sediment sources for larger rivers. Identifying and appropriately managing the most susceptible headwater streams is of interest. We developed and illustrated a method to delineate alternative aquatic conservation emphasis zones (ACEZs) considering probabilities for traversal by debris flows from headwater to fish-bearing streams. When ACEZs were substituted for currently prescribed riparian-management zones on non-fish-bearing streams, the total area decreased on federal lands but increased on...

This publication provides information about prescribed fire effects on habitats and populations of birds of the interior West and a synthesis of existing information on bird responses to fire across North America. Our literature synthesis indicated that aerial, ground, and bark insectivores favored recently burned habitats, whereas foliage gleaners preferred unburned habitats.

Why this book? In the last 50 years, societies everywhere have undergone rapid change in all aspects of life. New technology and globalization have accelerated use of natural resources, led to abandonment of customs and adoption of new lifestyles, and brought about changes in political systems and the roles of governments. This dynamism has produced closer ties among nations, placed nations in competition, and magnified the discrepancies in material well-being between developed and underdeveloped nations. Similarly, within nations, subcultures have drawn apart, each reacting to the...

Airborne laser scanning (LIDAR) can be a valuable tool in double-sampling forest survey designs. LIDAR-derived forest structure metrics are often highly correlated with important forest inventory variables, such as mean stand biomass, and LIDAR-based synthetic regression estimators have the potential to be highly efficient compared to single-stage estimators, which could lead to increased precision for inventory estimates. However, when a limited sample is available to develop the regression model, an estimate based solely on the synthetic regression estimator can yield biased results for...

This update reports changes in the Nation's timber resource since the Analysis of the Timber Situation in the United States was completed in 2003. Prospective trends in demands for and supplies of timber, and the factors that affect these trends are examined. These trends include changes in the U.S. economy, increased salvage of British Columbia beetle-killed timber, and a stronger U.S. dollar. Other prospective trends that might alter the future timber situation are discussed including changes in U.S. timberland area, reductions in southern pine plantation establishment, impacts of...

The purpose of this study was to estimate the variation in growth and survival that occur during the larval stage of Dicamptodon tenebrosus. We used mark-recapture to assess the rates of apparent survival and growth for two larval age classes (first-years and second/third-years), in winter and summer seasons and in the presence of culverts. By estimating the capture probability of larval D. tenebrosus, we also attempted to provide more accurate estimates of survival than simple recapture rates.