Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

High Peaks Back - Country Trails Plan, Benjamin Godsoe

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The High Peaks Trails Plan is a regional vision for back-country trails in Maine's High Peaks region. The plan identifies challenges and opportunities which face the trails community, and outlines several strategies for trails groups to move forward together to overcome mutual challenges.

Spatial And Temporal Participation In Recreational Fishing, Dustin R. Martin

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Buffering inland fisheries against large-scale changes in ecosystem function, climate regimes, and societal valuations of natural resources requires progressive management approaches that incorporate fish and angler dynamics at large spatial and temporal scales. Current paradigms of inland fishery management generally utilize waterbody-specific, fish-centric frameworks designed to regulate fish populations directly, and anglers indirectly, through fish stock enhancement and harvest regulation. In reality, anglers are the most manageable component of a fishery but management of anglers requires explicit consideration of their behavior (e.g., spatial and temporal patterns of participant use), which, unlike fish populations, operates at a scale larger than a …

Development And Application Of A Gis-Based Long Island Sound Eelgrass Habitat Suitability Index Model, Jamie M.P. Vaudrey, Justin Eddings, Christopher Pickerell, Lorne Brousseau, Charles Yarish

Department of Marine Sciences

The primary objectives of the Eelgrass Habitat Suitability Index Model (EHSI Model) are to assist in the evaluation of sites being considered for eelgrass restoration efforts in the Long Island Sound (LIS) area and to identify areas where water quality issues reduce or eliminate the potential for natural eelgrass colonization. To achieve this goal, geospatial processing of data available from the Long Island Sound area was conducted using ArcGIS v10.0 including the 3D Analyst and Spatial Analyst extensions. The result is a series of maps presented in this report and a GIS-based model available for users to interact with the …

Landscape Ecological Analysis Of Patterns Influencing Bat Activity In Southeast Glacial Plains Of Wisconsin, Angela Leckie Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Nearly half of the world's bat species are threatened by anthropogenic land use. To contribute to the conservation of these cryptic mammals, it is imperative to understand bat habitat selection in human-dominated landscapes. Bat activity was calculated using active acoustic surveys conducted June and July for three years along river and lake transects in an agricultural matrix. Using multiple logistic regression and ANOVA regression tree analyses, I examined the relationship between bat activity of four species and habitat structure at multiple scales.

Aquatic features were determined to be the greatest predictor of bat activity with rivers supporting greater amount of …

Mass Bays Resource Inventory: Summary And Findings From The Review Of Plans And Assessments, Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Urban Harbors Institute Publications

The Massachusetts Bays Program (MBP) contracted with the Urban Harbors Institute (UHI) of the University of Massachusetts Boston to conduct a review of papers, presentations, reports, and other relevant material produced from 1996 (the last CCMP) to present, that might inform the MBP’s update of their Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). The review focused on five topics identified as priority topics by the MBP: water quality, invasive species, climate change/vulnerability, continuity of estuarine habitat, and estuarine habitat protection in the geographic region of the Mass Bays Program, particularly the 47 nearshore estuaries and embayments identified in the 2012 MBP …

Recreational Angler Perspectives Of Nonnative Fish Species And Mercury Advisories, Christopher J. Edwards

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The central Everglades serve as a Wildlife Management Area and as a Water Conservation Area for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area. It is also home to over 22 nonnative freshwater fish species and carries restrictive fish consumption guidelines for Mercury. In my study, boat anglers and canal bank anglers were personally interviewed in the field, to research their awareness and perspectives of these potential environmental and health threats. The study found 78% of anglers were aware of the presence of nonnative fish species, but favored native fish species, and that 69% were aware of mercury advisories, but did not eat …

Global Fossil Energy Markets And Climate Change Mitigation: An Analysis With Remind, Nico Bauer, Ioanna Mouratiadou, Gunnar Luderer, Lavinia Baumstark, Robert J. Brecha, Ottmar Edenhofer, Elmar Kriegler

Physics Faculty Publications

We analyze the dynamics of global fossil resource markets under different assumptions for the supply of fossil fuel resources, development pathways for energy demand, and climate policy settings. Resource markets, in particular the oil market, are characterized by a large discrepancy between costs of resource extraction and commodity prices on international markets. We explain this observation in terms of (a) the intertemporal scarcity rent, (b) regional price differentials arising from trade and transport costs, (c) heterogeneity and inertia in the extraction sector. These effects are captured by the REMIND model. We use the model to explore economic effects of changes …

Planning And Drought, James C. Schwab

National Drought Mitigation Center: Publications

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Drought: The Problem.............................................. 1

Water Impacts ............................................................................... 2

Public Health Impacts ......................................................... 4

Environmental Impacts ..................................................... 5

Built Environment Impacts................................................ 6

Secondary Hazards ......................................................... 9

Economic Impacts ................................................................... 10

Drought as a Challenge for Planners .......................................... 13

Chapter 2: Drought: The Knowledge Base ................................................... 15

Spatial and Seasonal Patterns of Drought ................................................................ 16

Drought and Climate Changes .................................................................................. 19

Tracking Drought: Tools and Resources ................................................................... 20

Using the Drought Resources Toolbox...................................................................... 22

Droughtscape- Fall 2013, National Drought Mitigation Center

Droughtscape, Quarterly Newsletter of NDMC, 2007-

CONTENTS

Director’s Report ....................1

Kansas community drought planning workshop Nov. 5 ...... 2

Drought impacts webinars .....3

Drought outlook & summary ... 4

Late summer drought brings more agricultural impacts ....... 6

Plans help ranchers weather drought ................................. 10

NDMC contributions to U2U project ..................................12

Drought Management Database archives strategies................13

QuickDRI will help spot flash droughts................................ 14

NDMC Co-Hosts NASA work- shop......................................15

Wilhite leads Integrated Drought Management Program work....... 15

Speaking of drought ............ 16

Managing #Drought tweet chat transcript ..............................17

Updated USDM website ....... 17

Species Censes & Local Conceptions Of Ornithological Fauna, Uzi, Alexandria Vandervest

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Uzi Island is a rapidly growing and developing island with a wealth of flora and fauna found in very few other places around the world. Study is needed in every field, this was a preliminary study into the residential and migrant bird species presence on Uzi Island. Birds were observed in two of the main habitats present on Uzi Island, intertidal/mangrove and coral-rag. Three transects were cut and laid through each of the two habitats and monitored in the morning and evening hours over the course of 20 days. A total of 1949 birds were recorded comprising 71 species (708 …

Mapping The Knowledge Economy Of Medicinal Plants In Northern Madagascar: Information And Resource Flow In Traditional Health Practices, Chanelle Adams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the wake of pharmaceutical success with alkaloid compounds found in the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), there has been increased attention towards identifying medicinal properties in the country’s rich flora. Both native and foreign companies seek profitable use of wild plant species found within Madagascar’s unique biodiversity. Many conservation organizations believe that the world’s forests in biological “hot spots” contain cures unknown to modern science and therefore, their preservation essential.

While the protection of these natural resources is important to Western medicine, it is even more vital for local people who depend on the forest as their primary …

Balancing Conservation And Development: A Case Study Of Economic Efficiency In Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, Louisa Dunwiddie, R.Turner Shaw

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study is a comprehensive economic analysis of Queen Elizabeth National Park’s revenue and expenditures. Queen Elizabeth National Park is located in Southwest Uganda. It is the most visited park in Uganda, welcoming over 34,000 visitors annually and generating more than $1,705,000 US per year in tourist expenditures. The researchers spent three weeks in the field at Queen Elizabeth National Park, and three weeks in the capital city of Kampala, Uganda to assemble a collection of literature, statistics, and interviews with all stakeholders to fully analyze the national park’s current level of economic efficiency. The study includes data on stakeholder …

The ‘Boonies: Effects Of Habitat On The Behavior Of Papio Anubis Outside Of Lake Manyara National Park In Mto Wa Mbu, Tanzania, Madison Hoeninghausen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Human/wildlife conflict is a rapidly growing issue in the world today. As human population and development increase, wildlife habitat decreases, forcing humans and animals to share resources. One negative consequence of the human/wildlife interface is an alteration of behavior of wildlife in order to survive in new, high-stress environments. This study looks at the behavior of a troop of olive baboons residing on the border of Lake Manyara National Park in Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania. These animals leave the park each morning and spend their days in four surrounding habitats with varying levels of human presence: the main road, riverine …

Mongolian National Parks: Competing Interests And Institutional Viability In A Still Emerging Protected Areas System, Kieryn Wurts

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In Mongolia, 17% of the total landmass is designated as one of four kinds of “protected areas”—Strictly protected areas, national parks, nature reserves, and natural historical monuments. This study focuses primarily on national parks as a civil institution, through on the ground interviewing of ten individuals employed in the protected areas system, field-notes and observations, and community surveying totaling 38 respondents at two research locations, Hustai-Nuruu National Park and Lake Khovsgol National Park. Protected areas are constructed civil spaces, and as a result are sites of competing societal interests--the interests of scientists and conservationists, of tourism and business interests, and …

Water Access And Security For Mongolian Peri-Urban Communities In The Face Of Climate Change And Development, Heather Cook

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The paper attempts to assess how water access and security in Mongolian ger districts is impacted by the competing forces of climate change and development. The development of Mongolia is, understandably, a priority of the government and much of the populace, as are the impacts of climate change, which are well documented and acknowledged. Furthermore, these processes both have potentially adverse impacts on the overall well being of communities. In the context of water access and security, the need to strike this balance becomes even more acute. These factors can all be seen playing out in the city of Sainshand, …

Poaching As A Threat To Biodiversity And A Barrier To Sustainable Development In Western Uganda: A Case Study Of Queen Elizabeth National Park, Rwenzori Mountains National Park, Kibale National Park, And Surrounding Areas, Madeleine Torraca Jones

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite efforts of the international community and individual countries to end poaching activities and target the markets which drive these activities, poaching continues to be a global problem. This paper will discuss the methods, findings, and recommendations that have resulted from a study on poaching in western Uganda. Uganda is both a transit country for illegal animal species and their derivatives from neighboring countries as well as a home to a number of species that are targeted by poachers. This makes Uganda an area of importance to the study of persistent poaching. Many of Uganda’s protected areas and native species, …

Vulnerability, Environmental Security, And Adaptation Awareness In Samoa, Katie Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Climate change remains a prevalent problem for today’s international community, particularly for Pacific Island countries. This study examines the current influence of climate change on Samoa by looking at the three tenets of vulnerability: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. These aspects of climatic change correlate and build off one another, ultimately elucidating the basic vulnerability of any given region. It also analyzes how environmentally secure Samoa is and will be, using Thomas Homer- Dixon’s theory on climate change and conflict. Finally, this paper seeks to outline the current system of adaptation awareness that exists between government, community and foreign aid …

Las Raíces De La Deforestación En El Departamento Pando, Jeremy Levine-Drizin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research paper examines the phenomenon of the recent trend of deforestation in the Pando department in northwestern Bolivia. Historically, the economy of Pando has always been based primarily in agro-forestal extraction activities that provided income to communities without the need to destroy the surrounding forests. The most important of these agro-forestal products have been rubber (primarily during the beginning of the 20th century) and more recently Castaña (Brazilian Nut). Recently however, as the result of various forces, the inhabitants of Pando have begun to cut down there forests at an alarming rate. The most relevant causes of this phenomenon …

Upland Habitat Quality And Historic Landscape Composition Influence Genetic Variation Of A Pond-Breeding Salamander, Stephen C. Richter, Steve J. Price, Chelsea S. Kross, Jeremiah R. Alexander, Michael E. Dorcas

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Understanding the temporal and spatial scale at which habitat alteration impacts populations is important for conservation and management. Amphibians have declined more than other vertebrates, and pond-breeding species are particularly susceptible to habitat loss and fragmentation because they have terrestrial and aquatic life stages. One approach to management of pond-breeding species is protection of core upland habitat surrounding the breeding pond. We used genetic variation as an indicator of population status in a common amphibian species, spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), to determine how amount of suitable upland habitat relates to population status in the greater Charlotte, North Carolina, …

Elucidating The Population Dynamics Of Japanese Knotweed Using Integral Projection Models, Joseph T. Dauer, Eelke Jongejans

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Plant demographic studies coupled with population modeling are crucial components of invasive plant management because they inform managers when in a plant’s life cycle it is most susceptible to control efforts. Providing land managers with appropriate data can be especially challenging when there is limited data on potentially important transitions that occur belowground. For 2 years, we monitored 4 clonal Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) infestations for emergence, survival, shoot height until leaf senescence, dry shoot biomass after senescence, and rhizome connections for 424 shoots. We developed an integral projection model using both final autumn shoot height and shoot …

Behavioral Niche Partitioning In A Sympatric Tiger Beetle Assemblage And Implications For The Endangered Salt Creek Tiger Beetle, Tierney R. Brosius, Leon G. Higley

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

How behavioral patterns are related to niche partitioning is an important question in understanding how closely related species within ecological communities function. Behavioral niche partitioning associated with thermoregulation is well documented in tiger beetles as a group. Co-occurring species of salt flat tiger beetles have adapted many thermoregulatory behaviors to cope with this harsh ecosystem. On first examination these beetles appear to occur in overlapping microhabitats and therefore compete for resources. To determine if behavioral niche partitioning is allowing multiple species to occur within the same harsh salt flat ecosystem we observed Cicindela nevadica lincolniana, Cicindela circumpicta, Cicindela fulgida, and …

Technical Appendix: Economic Impact Of Commercial Fisheries On Local County Economies From Catch In California National Marine Sanctuaries 2010, 2011 And 2012, Vernon R. Leeworthy, Desiree Jerome, Kelsey Schueler

Working Papers

This report documents the data and methods of estimation used in estimating the economic impact of commercial fishing catch from all four National Marine Sanctuaries in California on local county economies in terms of harvest revenue received by fishermen and the associated economic impacts, including multiplier impacts, on total output, value added, income and the number of full- and part-time jobs.

This report is part of a series of reports meeting the priorities in the “Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) West Coast Region Socioeconomic Plan FY 2013 – FY 2014” and “national program priorities” on establishing the connection between …

The Carbon Rent Economics Of Climate Policy, Matthias Kalkuhl, Robert J. Brecha

Physics Faculty Publications

By reducing the demand for fossil fuels, climate policy can reduce scarcity rents for fossil resource owners. As mitigation policies ultimately aim to limit emissions, a new scarcity for “space” in the atmosphere to deposit emissions is created. The associated scarcity rent, or climate rent (that is, for example, directly visible in permit prices under an emission trading scheme) can be higher or lower than the original fossil resource rent. In this paper, we analyze analytically and numerically the impact of mitigation targets, resource availability, backstop costs, discount rates and demand parameters on fossil resource rents and the climate rent. …

Agenda: Arizona V. California At 50: The Legacy And Future Of Governance, Reserved Rights, And Water Transfers, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Arizona v. California at 50: The Legacy and Future of Governance, Reserved Rights, and Water Transfers (Martz Summer Conference, August 15-16)

The Colorado River is an economic, environmental and cultural lifeline of the southwestern United States, and the allocation of its scarce waters are a source of ongoing controversy. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Arizona v. California. While the case was an important landmark in the still-evolving relationship between these two Lower Basin states, it remains most relevant today by the way in which it clarified federal rights and responsibilities. This is especially true in the areas of federal (including tribal) reserved rights, the role of the Interior Secretary in Lower Basin water …

Why I Love Grasshopper Sparrows, Michele Patenaude

UVM Libraries Conference Day

Since 2001, Michele (a library circulation supervisor in her day job) has conducted a summer breeding-bird survey of Grasshopper Sparrows at Camp Johnson in Colchester, VT. Named Grasshopper Sparrows because their breeding call sounds like a grasshopper, this little brown bird is endemic to certain types of scrubby grasslands which are becoming more scarce in the Northeast. The Grasshopper Sparrow is also declining and the species is not on the list of Vermont Endangered Birds. Come to this presentation and learn about the bird, how Michele surveys them, why they are endangered, and why Michele loves these quiet, little brown …

Inconsistent Outcomes Of Heterogeneity-Based Management Underscore Importance Of Matching Evaluation To Conservation Objectives, Devan Allen Mcgranahan, David M. Engle, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Stephen L. Winter, James R. Miller, Diane M. Debinski

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Conservation policy often incentivizes managers of human-impacted areas to create landscape heterogeneity to maximize biodiversity. In rangeland, patchy disturbance regimes create landscape heterogeneity (patch contrast), but outcomes of heterogeneity-based management are rarely tested for a universal response. We analyzed four habitat variables—vegetation structure, plant functional group composition, litter cover, and bare ground—from five experimental rangelands in Oklahoma and Iowa, USA. We tested for response consistency to heterogeneity-based management across and within locations. We calculated effect sizes for each variable to compare patch contrast on pastures managed for heterogeneity (patch burn-grazing) and pastures managed for homogeneity (grazing with homogeneous fire regimes). …

Social-Ecological Dynamics Of Coral Reef Resource Use And Management, Sarah J. Freed

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation investigates social and ecological factors that facilitate effective management of coral reefs as social-ecological systems. Meta-analytical and field-based methods were employed to examine current management challenges and identify strategies that improve management effectiveness and coral reef health. A meta-analysis was used to evaluate biological indicators of reef health in relation to the types of fishing regulations in place (no-take areas, gear restriction areas, and periodic closures) and the actor groups (community-based, co-management, state, private) involved in management efforts for coral reef fisheries throughout the world. Other than enhancement of fish biomass within no-take areas that was significantly greater …

Individual And Population Level Resource Selection Patterns Of Mountain Lions Preying On Mule Deer Along An Urban-Wildland Gradient, John F. Benson, Jeff A. Sikich, Seth P. D. Riley

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Understanding population and individual-level behavioral responses of large carnivores to human disturbance is important for conserving top predators in fragmented landscapes. However, previous research has not investigated resource selection at predation sites of mountain lions in highly urbanized areas. We quantified selection of natural and anthropogenic landscape features by mountain lions at sites where they consumed their primary prey, mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), in and adjacent to urban, suburban, and rural areas in greater Los Angeles. We documented intersexual and individual-level variation in the environmental conditions present at mule deer feeding sites relative to their availability across home …

A Protected Area Influences Genotype-Specific Survival And The Structure Of A Canis Hybrid Zone, John F. Benson, Brent R. Patterson, Peter J. Mahoney

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

It is widely recognized that protected areas can strongly influence ecological systems and that hybridization is an important conservation issue. However, previous studies have not explicitly considered the influence of protected areas on hybridization dynamics. Eastern wolves are a species of special concern and their distribution is largely restricted to a protected population in Algonquin Provincial Park (APP), Ontario, Canada, where they are the numerically dominant canid. We studied intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing survival and cause-specific mortality of hybrid and parental canids in the three-species hybrid zone between eastern wolves, eastern coyotes, and gray wolves in and adjacent to …

Land Conservation In The Northeastern United States: An Assessment Of Historic Trends And Current Conditions, Robert J. Lilieholm, Spencer R. Meyer, Michelle L. Johnson, Christopher S. Cronan

Publications

This article discusses the evolution of land conservation efforts and outcomes in the Northeast, examine major drivers of landscape change, and review key conservation tools that have been used to protect public values at the local and landscape levels. We then assess the current status of land conservation, and draw lessons for other regions facing conservation challenges across mixed ownership landscapes under varying development and land-use pressures. Finally, we explore new and emerging trends in the factors driving land development and conservation activities in an effort to assess the challenges that lie ahead.