Analyzing risks to protected areas using the human modification framework: a Colorado case study

Abstract

A framework that organizes natural and protected areas is often used to help understand the potential risks to natural areas and aspects of their ecological and human dimensions. The spatial (or landscape) context of these dynamics is also a critical, but, rarely considered, factor. Common classification systems include the U.S. Geological (USGS) Gap Analysis Program GAP) stewardship coding scheme, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Protected Area Management Categories, and the American Planning Association (APA) Land-Based Classification Standards. The GAP and IUCN frameworks are coarse classifications (four to eight categories), whereas the APA focuses primarily on private land uses. To address these limitations, we develop here more refined implementation methods based on the human modification framework, which conceptually is rooted in characterizing the degree to which natural processes are free or controlled, and the degree to which landscape patterns are natural or artificial. To provide useful and tighter coupling of specific threats and spatial data surrogates, we refine the conceptual basis by identifying three primary types of human activities that cause modification of natural systems and patterns. These are land uses categorized as urban/built-up, recreation, and production/extraction. We detail specific metrics and common data used as surrogates that can provide a stronger basis for characterizing the degree of human modification. We illustrate our methods by presenting analysis results for a Colorado case study.

Parent Publication

• Advances in threat assessment and their application to forest and rangeland management—Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Citation

Theobald, David M.; Wade, Alisa; Wilcox, Grant; Peterson, Nate. 2010. Analyzing risks to protected areas using the human modification framework: a Colorado case study. In: Pye, John M.; Rauscher, H. Michael; Sands, Yasmeen; Lee, Danny C.; Beatty, Jerome S., tech. eds. 2010. Advances in threat assessment and their application to forest and rangeland management. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-802. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest and Southern Research Stations: 157-170.