Treesearch

Citizen monitoring and restoration is increasingly viewed as a means to involve local communities in wilderness stewardship. This paper examines research on volunteers participating in five monitoring and restoration programs in Western Montana. Volunteers reported that they gained valuable skills, felt more connected with local wilderness areas, and made an important contribution to wilderness management as a result of participation in volunteer projects. Volunteers also reported that they are more likely to participate in public involvement processes related to wilderness management...

Managing New Zealand’s protected natural and historic heritage falls largely on the Department of Conservation (DOC), which manages close to a third of the country’s land area and increasing proportions of the coastal/marine setting. Providing public access to this shared heritage through a range of recreation opportunities is a key management outcome for DOC. This allows New Zealanders to derive beneficial outcomes from the protected lands and places, and become more connected to their conservation. Management of outdoor recreation includes significant roles for the public, based on a...

Overlapping designations of park, preserve, and wilderness are assigned to Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in south-central Alaska. The Park was established in 1980 as a result of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Consisting of over four million acres, it includes homelands and hunting and fishing grounds for the inland Dena’ina, a northern Athabaskan-speaking people, who still engage in subsistence practices within the park. Dena’ina understandings of the environment include multiple spiritual dimensions. The Park and Preserve are also used by sport...

The USDA Forest Service applied a performance management/ accountability system to the 407 wildernesses it oversees by defining and tracking critical work. Work elements were consolidated and packaged into the “10 Year Wilderness Stewardship Challenge.” The goal of the Challenge is to have 100 percent of wildernesses administered by the Forest Service managed to a defined level of stewardship by 2014, to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act. Positive results for wilderness have included greater visibility and improved competitive advantage in a time of tight budgets,...

This paper provides an estimate of the economic value of wild salmon ecosystems in the major watershed of Bristol Bay, Alaska. The analysis utilizes both regional economic and social benefit-cost accounting frameworks. Key sectors analyzed include subsistence, commercial fishing, sport fishing, hunting, and nonconsumptive wildlife viewing and tourism. The mixed cash-subsistence economy of Bristol Bay supports a population of 7,611 (2000 census) that is 67 percent Alaska Native. Estimated expenditures and net economic values for all sectors were based on a literature review and available...

As Alaska’s largest land management agency, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has responsibility for over 87 million acres (35 million ha) of public lands throughout the state. By using datasets and Landsat scenes within a Geographical Information System (GIS), this study prioritizes wilderness protection through the ranking of BLM blocks (contiguous land parcels), in Alaska based on proximity to current ‘development.’ Development is defined as 1,000 m (3,280.8 ft) around towns, active oil and gas leasing, mining claims, infrastructure, dams, and disturbance (visible scars on Landsat...

The USDA Forest Service Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC) offers technical expertise, technology transfer, and new equipment development to federal, state, and private forest nurseries. Current and recently completed projects at MTDC include a container block steam sterilizer, shielded herbicide sprayer, time-domain reflectometry (TDR) nursery soil moisture meter, modified brushes for the Woodward Flail-Vac Seed Stripper, greenhouse top mower, and several other projects in progress. MTDC has its reports and fabrication drawings available for viewing at http://www.fs.fed.us/e...

An analysis of co-managing structures and land use issues in three case studies of arctic wilderness politics shows that more formal and informal power sharing by government officials with local people results in less conflict. Greater input and control by nearby communities may also help to protect wilderness ecosystems and traditional values of northern cultures. Especially for hunting and gathering societies, agency managers should work more closely with rural communities to realize the local virtues of vested interests, traditional knowledge, and voluntary compliance. But the success...

A fertilization rate of 2 or 3 mg nitrogen (N) per week for 20 weeks yielded longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) seedlings grown inside a greenhouse that survived well and produced good root collar diameter (RCD) growth the first year after outplanting. Of a range of fertilization rates (0.5 to 4 mg N/week), the 2 mg rate yielded seedlings that did not require needle clipping during nursery production, but increased their RCD by 150% the first year after outplanting. The lower rates (3 mg N also survived well and RCD growth after one season in the field was 14% more than that of the 2 mg N...

Pitch canker disease causes a multitude of problems in all life stages of southern pines. It occurs in most southern states and can affect mature stands, plantations, seed orchards, and nurseries. It is now also known to occur in California and at least 6 other countries. Recent occurrences in the western Gulf region are typical of those farther east. Long-term solutions to the disease should include exploitation of genetic resistance in hosts.