Treesearch

Since the crumbling of its socialist dictatorship in 1989- 90, nature conservation efforts in Bulgaria have accelerated. New parks have been established, protected area management plans are being developed, and legislation has been passed standardizing protected area categories. Yet this small and relatively biodiversity-rich country in southeastern Europe has faced many challenges in the postsocialist era as it has sought to protect its wildlands. The postsocialist restitutions of forests and agricultural land to former owners have affected land ownership in some areas identified or...

Over 18 million people visit and enjoy the view of the world’s largest class caldera topography, which forms the important landscape element of National Park Aso. Aso grassland spreads and rare plants exist in the harmony of nature and human activities. This study was a Contingent Valuation (CV) survey to estimate the conservation value of Aso grassland. We hypothesized that the difference of presented bid amount and respondent’s latent willingness-to-pay (WTP) effects the stated WTP estimation. In multiple discrete choice CV, we identified the bid effect function and introduced it into...

An evolving network of protected areas along the southern Andes of Chile and Argentina-the heart of Patagonia-are in various stages of evaluation and potential Transboundary Protected Area designations. This paper examines three such efforts. The first proposal is the North Andean-Patagonia Regional Eco-Corridor, which was the subject of a recent bilateral meeting between Argentine and Chilean officials to set a framework for pursuing international status of this 180-mile (300-km) long corridor. The second effort is based on a recent private land acquisition of a large ranch in Chile’s...

Precision is crucial to campsite monitoring programs. Yet, little empirical research has ever been published on the level of precision of this type of monitoring programs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of agreement between observers of campsite impacts using a multi-parameter campsite monitoring program. Thirteen trained observers assessed 16 dispersed campsites on the Dixie National Forest in southern Utah. The data were analyzed using Cohen’s kappa statistic to determine the level of observer agreement beyond chance for each of the impact attributes and the condition...

The initiative to create a conservation corridor-the Heritage Park-linking the existing 62,000 ha (153,205 acre) Madikwe Game Reserve with the 49,000 ha (121,082 acre) Pilanesberg National Park, to form a 275,000 ha (679,540 acre) nature-based tourism anchor project and primary economic catalyst for a poor rural region, originated in 1999. An innovative park expansion model was required as the land linking the two successful parks belongs to tribal communities (land held in trust by the government for the communities), private landowners, and the state (agricultural land leases to local...

Wilderness preservation, as one branch of conservation, demonstrates a decidedly different cultural ethos than the utilitarian branch. Thus, preservation and utilitarian conservation represent different habits of thought fermenting in the cask of l9th century economic evolution. More specifically, the utilitarian branch of conservation can easily be viewed as an extension and adaptation of the agrarian habit of thought. The agrarian ethos is an attitude of the middle landscape, a place of pastoral and agrarian harmony—a place not industrialized, but not wild, where humans have been able to...

The Kruger National Park (KNP) faces greatly amplified problems than was the case in the early 1900s when the KNP was established. Areas surrounding the park have experienced a human population explosion with a rapid expansion of farming areas and rural settlements. In the 1970s the KNP was fenced. Ecologically the KNP became an island and previous regional animal movements were restricted to within its boundaries. A network of management roads was established and the KNP worked to keep the poaching onslaught at bay. However, the KNP may have succeeded in conserving its animal populations,...

In 1992, a National Forest Policy Statement created a political opportunity to protect wilderness across Australia. The following decade saw over a million hectares of wilderness reserved in the state of New South Wales (NSW) but, until recently, little progress was made elsewhere in Australia. The success in NSW, as opposed to other states, can largely be attributed to the activism of the NSW environment movement and its different relationship with both the political and executive arms of government. This relationship is structured through the NSW Wilderness Act, 1987, which was the first...

In the United States, federal public land managers are tasked with serving as stewards of land, but also as stewards of the relationships that people have with the land. By assessing the public’s trust in the actions of land managers, insight can be gained into how good of a job managers are doing. This paper outlines a number of factors that influence the public’s trust in managing agencies, and provides suggestions for monitoring the level of trust. The authors suggest that any efforts to increase the public’s trust require the general attentiveness of land managers.

Two Countries, One Forest (2C1Forest) is a collaboration of conservation organizations and researchers committed to the long-term ecological health of the Northern Appalachian/ Acadian ecoregion of the United States and Canada.