Treesearch

Presettlement ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests of the Colorado Front Range were open and heterogeneous. Logging, grazing, and fire suppression over past 100 to150 years have altered stand structure by changing diameter distributions and increasing overstory density. In an effort to guide forest restoration toward presettlement conditions, we are currently using the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) to validate estimates of 1900 forest structure, and calibrate the model for future use, for an unmanaged landscape (unlogged, ungrazed, but fires suppressed since 1900). In 1997, tree data...

Differences in the transport rate and size of bedload exist for varying levels of flow in coarse-grained channels. For gravel-bed rivers, at least two phases of bedload transport, with notably differing qualities, have been described in the literature. Phase I consists primarily of sand and small gravel moving at relatively low rates over a stable channel surface. Transport rates during Phase II are considerably greater than Phase I and more coarse grains are moved, including material from both the channel surface and subsurface. Transition from Phase I to Phase II indicates initiation and...

Broad-scale maps of forest characteristics are needed throughout the United States for a wide variety of forest land management applications. Inexpensive maps can be produced by modelling forest class and structure variables collected in nationwide forest inventories as functions of satellite-based information. But little work has been directed at comparing modelling techniques to determine which tools are best suited to mapping tasks given multiple objectives and logistical constraints. Consequently, five modelling techniques were compared for mapping forest characteristics in the...

This paper presents the argument for interdisciplinary wilderness research. The idea of interdisciplinarity is grounded in theories of emotion and psychological growth that are compatible with basic knowledge in other scientific disciplines, and in particular with concepts related to evolution. Considering humans as biological knowledge systems, designed by natural selection to solve the problems faced by our evolutionary ancestors, some attributes of wilderness are hypothesized to be associated with the quality of positive, emotional experiences. This paper assumes that psychological...

Pressures are growing on undeveloped (wild) places in the Circumpolar North. Among them are economic development, oil and gas exploration and extraction, development of geothermal energy resources, development of heavy industry close to energy sources, and lack of appreciation for “other” orientations toward wilderness resources. An international seminar in Anchorage, Alaska, in May of 2001, was the first step in providing basic input to an analysis of values associated with Circumpolar North wilderness and the constraints and contributors (factors of influence) that either limit or...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is revising the long-range plan for Alaska’s Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, over half of which is designated as the Togiak Wilderness Area. Many of the planning issues are social rather than biological, involving public use and its effects on Refuge resources and opportunities. Planners, managers, and stakeholders are finding themselves in the human ecotone, where two or more legal, social, and cultural edges intersect to produce an abundance and diversity of conflicts, challenges, and opportunities. Planning in the human ecotone requires collaboration,...

This paper provides a short summary on the development of tourism in Greenland, the cultural context, and the protection of the nature resources on which tourism heavily depends. Existing research projects related to tourism in Greenland and the focus of these projects are briefly summarized. In general, most research in Greenland focuses on natural resources, but tourism is emerging as a prioritized topic. Existing research on tourism in Greenland has some shortcomings in content and structure. It is suggested that more integrated, cross-disciplinary research on tourism and its relation...

Iceland’s natural resources include an abundance of geothermal energy and hydropower, of which only 10 to 15 percent is currently being utilized. These are clean, renewable sources of energy. The cost to convert these resources to electricity is relatively low, making them attractive and highly marketable for industrial development, particularly for heavy industry. About 100 proposed power projects are in the process of being evaluated under the Master Plan for Hydro and Geothermal Energy Resources.

Traditional ecological knowledge is the system of experiential knowledge gained by continual observation and transmitted among members of a community. It includes spiritual aspects of the proper relationship between humans and their environment. In this context, the Arctic is considered to be “peopled land.” More recent uses of the term “wilderness” recognize the presence of certain types of human activity, among them traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering. Protecting these activities often requires protection of basic ecological processes, and thus is compatible with the overall...

The land and the sea have been direct links to survival to a hardy group of people in the northern extremes of the Earth. Each group is separate to its own domain, and their land and sea differ even if the distance between them is not great. The rules of the land and the sea are unwritten, and they have been presented to the new generations by Elders through the stories of the land and the sea since dawn immemorial. Cultural heritage is a virtue in itself; it is a value so profound that it continues to be imbedded deeply in the hearts, minds, and souls of the people who have weathered...