Treesearch

Deciduous shrubs are widely distributed throughout temperate and boreal conifer forests and influence a wide range of ecological processes and forest resources. In the interior western U.S., many deciduous shrubs are highly preferred forage by wild (elk, Cervus canadensis; deer, Odocoileus spp.) and domestic (cattle) ungulates which can influence shrub abundance, composition, structural characteristics, and related ecological processes and interactions. Stand disturbances and silvicultural practices can also affect shrub assemblages and managers in the interior western U.S. are increasingly...

This chapter examines the potential that collaboration holds for operationalizing sustainable recreation management on public lands. Additionally, we synthesize the professional and academic literature on collaboration and partnerships to spotlight promising new conceptual frameworks, analytic tools, and management best practices that can contribute to this goal. Finally, we identify a research agenda that can assess the efficacy of collaborative approaches to outdoor recreation governance, planning, and management. Continuous monitoring of collaboration dynamics, capacity, structures, and...

This chapter explores how changes in 2012 to the U.S. Forest Service’s land and resource management planning rule transformed the orientation of forest planning from being agency driven to becoming more collaborative and offering greater opportunities for public participation. We also highlight new technologies and approaches to reduce conflict among wide-ranging interests in the planning process. In closing, we provide insight on lessons learned from the Nantahala-Pisgah forest plan revision process that might inform how citizens advocate for their values in future forest plans, including...

This chapter discusses ways in which recreation on public lands can serve as a resource for environmental conservation, highlighting the role of recreationists as stewards of the land and key contributors to sustainable landscapes.

In chapter 7 of this report, Francisco Valenzuela discussed how digital technology is changing the character of recreational experiences on public lands. Chapter 17 highlights the potential and pitfalls of using social media in research and monitoring on public lands. Recent research has revealed that social media can be a powerful tool in quantifying visitor use and utility on public lands. It can also provide managers with rich qualitative information about visitor experiences, satisfaction, and engagement that can be leveraged to achieve a more enjoyable recreation experience while...

The socioeconomic and biophysical contexts in which natural resource management takes place have been rapidly changing in recent decades. These changing contexts are bringing new complexity to the management of natural resources generally, and the question of how best to manage outdoor recreation specifically. We propose that this greater complexity is best addressed by research using a systems thinking approach able to account for the combined influence and interactions among relevant social, political, economic, and biophysical factors that influence recreation uses and values associated...

Sustainability science “transcends the concerns of its foundational disciplines and focuses instead on understanding the complex dynamics that arise from interactions between human and environmental systems” (Clark 2007: 1737). This is reflected by McCool and Kline (2019), who stated that “…a systems thinking approach views problems within a context of interacting social and ecological systems…,” and that implementing systems thinking requires that we “explicitly recognize connections and relationships between people and their natural heritage.” Thus, systems thinking requires integrating...

This chapter synthesizes the organizational change literature germane to adaptive change in public-sector organizations. Specifically, we analyze the organizational changes needed to integrate sustainability into government-sponsored science, analytic planning tools, and management best practices. Next, a common set of organizational change factors are posited that contribute to successful change in public-sector organizations. These organizational change factors are elaborated by examining two descriptive organizational change cases from the natural resource governance field—first, the...

Anthropologist Clifford Geertz described language as a cultural practice that provides a “template or blueprint for the organization of social and psychological processes” (1973: 216). Language matters because the way we speak becomes the blueprint for how we construct and manage our world. It holds power in framing issues, forming knowledge, and normalizing certain ways of interacting with the environment. The ways that we talk about recreation, including the very term “recreation,” reproduce assumptions about people and places while influencing management actions and outcomes. This...

This chapter explores the historical use and application of the term “outdoor recreation” as an organizing theme for sustainable public land management planning. We suggest that agencies need a more encompassing concept and approach to management involving people—one that recognizes the variety of connections that people have with natural and cultural landscapes, whether for leisure, lifestyle, livelihood, or health. This perspective suggests the need to move from a “recreation as leisure” focus to more of a “recreation as human connections” approach to public land management that better...