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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Forest Management In A Changing Climate: Integrating Social And Biopysical Sciences To Inform Adaptive Responses To Future Uncertainty, Peter Breigenzer Dec 2023

Forest Management In A Changing Climate: Integrating Social And Biopysical Sciences To Inform Adaptive Responses To Future Uncertainty, Peter Breigenzer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forests provide numerous ecological and socio-economic benefits, yet climate change is creating novel and extreme conditions that threaten forests and disrupt traditional management practices. To address future uncertainty about how to manage forests amid a rapidly changing climate, researchers have developed adaptive management strategies that move away from using historical ecological baselines as management goals. However, despite increases in adaptive forest management frameworks, there are still concerns that private woodland owners (PWOs; also known as family forest owners or non-industrial private landowners) are not adopting beneficial practices. Additionally, since tree canopies often buffer understory microclimates (i.e., fine scale variation in …


Quantifying Spatial Heterogeneity Of Wild Blueberries And Crop Water Stress Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Technologies, Kallol Barai Aug 2022

Quantifying Spatial Heterogeneity Of Wild Blueberries And Crop Water Stress Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Technologies, Kallol Barai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The wild blueberry is one of the major crops of Maine, with significant economic value and potential health benefits. Due to global climate change, drought impacts have been increasing significantly in recent years in the northeast region of the USA, causing significant economic losses in the agricultural sectors. It has been predicted to increase further in the future. Changing patterns of the elevated atmospheric temperatures, increased rainfall variabilities, and more frequent drought events have made the wild blueberry industry of Maine vulnerable, suggesting the adoption of novel approaches to mitigate the negative impacts of global climate changes. Also, wild blueberry …


The Future Of Maine's Forests Under Alternative Socioeconomic, Climate And Conservation Pathways, Jianheng Zhao Dec 2020

The Future Of Maine's Forests Under Alternative Socioeconomic, Climate And Conservation Pathways, Jianheng Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maine is a historically important timber supply region in North America and understanding the potential change in forestlands and their product industries affected by climate change and various socio-economic conditions can better improve the forest healthy and sustain a sustainable product industry. A statistical harvest choice model for the state of Maine was developed in chapter 1. It was estimated using a multinomial logit model of two products, under varying management intensities, and ownership classifications across varying market conditions. Results indicate that stumpage prices have a significant effect on forest landowners' harvest decisions and that the expansion of conservation land …


Fostering Climate Change Resilience: A Socio-Ecological Forest Systems Approach, Alyssa R. Soucy Aug 2020

Fostering Climate Change Resilience: A Socio-Ecological Forest Systems Approach, Alyssa R. Soucy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As climate change continues to impact socio-ecological systems, those that rely on natural resources are highly sensitive to climatic changes. Maine’s forest industry provides for the economic and social well-being of many residents and is especially vulnerable to climate change impacts. Changes in growing season length and timing, forest health threats imposed by insects and pathogens, extreme weather events, shifting forest composition, and changes in natural disturbance severity and frequency have already begun, and are projected to continue, to impact forest systems in the Northeastern U.S. While climate change presents a threat to forest systems, opportunities also arise due to …


Mountain Livelihoods In A Time Of Change: A Case Study Of Upper Mustang In Nepal, Sandesh Shrestha Aug 2019

Mountain Livelihoods In A Time Of Change: A Case Study Of Upper Mustang In Nepal, Sandesh Shrestha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A case study was conducted in a remote Himalayan village—Yara—in the Upper Mustang region of Nepal. The goal of this study was to understand and assess the livelihood strategies of local people in the village. The study focused on understanding the socio-economic and environmental driving factors of livelihood vulnerability, prevalent livelihood activities, emergent livelihood strategies, and resulting livelihood outcomes in the village. We used multiple data generation methods, which included both qualitative social science and quantitative biophysical components. For the qualitative component, we utilized multiple data generation methods including key informant interviews, semi-structured household interviews, group discussions, and field observations. …


Immersed In Fire: The Use Of Virtual Reality As An Attitude Assessor And Boundary Object In Wildland Fire Management, Casey Olechnowicz May 2018

Immersed In Fire: The Use Of Virtual Reality As An Attitude Assessor And Boundary Object In Wildland Fire Management, Casey Olechnowicz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interest in using prescribed burning as a forest management tool to promote forest health and regeneration is growing in Maine. The goal for this research was to better understand the way that the public perceives prescribed burning practices in wildland-urban interfaces, with an emphasis placed on how immersive imagery, closely related to virtual reality (VR), compares to traditional communication methods. We specifically focus on the social acceptability of prescribed burning and analyze how the level of immersive imagery is related to that acceptability (Ahn, 2015; Bricken, 1990; Fogg, Cuellar, and Danielson, 2009; Smith 2015; Wiederhold, Davis, and Wiederhold, 1998). The …


The Growth, Yield, And Financial Performance Of Isolated Eastern White Pine (Pinus Strobus L.) Reserve Trees, Christopher E. Zellers Aug 2010

The Growth, Yield, And Financial Performance Of Isolated Eastern White Pine (Pinus Strobus L.) Reserve Trees, Christopher E. Zellers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ability of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) to persist as emergent trees makes this species well suited to silvicultural systems in which they are retained as isolated reserves after a regeneration harvest. While such systems are implemented throughout the Acadian spruce-fir region of Maine, little is known about the growth response and financial performance of eastern white pine following complete release from competition. In this study, 77 trees from 8 sites throughout the Acadian spruce-fir region were sampled tree and crown measurements, and increment cores were extracted at breast height, as well as from the top of …


An Exploratory Look At An Evolving Tourism Industry: Maine's Nature-Based Tourism Industry In Transition, Marc Edwards Jan 2003

An Exploratory Look At An Evolving Tourism Industry: Maine's Nature-Based Tourism Industry In Transition, Marc Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maine's natural resources have been attracting visitors to the State for more than 150 years, from artists drawn to the beauty and wildness of the coast, such as Thomas Cole in 1844, to Henry David Thoreau's well-documented trip to Katahdin popularized in his collection of essays The Maine Woods. Early artists like Cole lodged with local farmers and Thoreau's journeys into the Maine woods were aided by Native American and local guides. These early artists and adventurers could be said to be among the first nature-based tourists in Maine, while those who provided lodging and guide services were among the …


Future Of South Korean National Parks -- A Delphi Study, Byung-Kyu Lee Jan 2003

Future Of South Korean National Parks -- A Delphi Study, Byung-Kyu Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a three-wave Delphi survey of a panel of 40 key experts of Korean National Parks conducted between February 2001 and March in 2002, four major issues -- (A) Park philosophy not clearly articulated; (B) Inadequate emphasis on ecosystem protection; (C) Widespread deficiency of management tools; and (D) Visitor services needed -- were asked to get the panel's opinions regarding 'importance' (1 = most important; 4 = least important) and 'likelihood' of being resolved (1= resolved in 5 years; 4 = not resolved in 5 years) of these four issues in Wave 3. In terms of 'importance,' Issue A (Park …


Public Conservation Land And Economic Growth In The Northern Forest Region, David Lewis Aug 2001

Public Conservation Land And Economic Growth In The Northern Forest Region, David Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental issues frequently revolve around a perceived tradeoff between the economy and the environment. In the Northern Forest region, one of the most important environmental policy issues of recent years has been the ownership of vast stretches of undeveloped forestland. Specifically, the possibility of increasing public conservation ownership on these lands has emerged. Opponents of conservation lands often argue that employment will decline significantly when land is diverted from commodity-oriented uses such as forest products production. Proponents of conservation lands frequently cite the amenity benefits of conservation lands and the potential to diversify and stimulate the economy by designating more …


Visitor Behaviors And Resource Impacts At Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Rex Turner Jan 2001

Visitor Behaviors And Resource Impacts At Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Rex Turner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The summit of Cadillac Mountain, located in Maine's Acadia National Park, can be reached via three hiking trails and a scenic auto road. This site attracts over an estimated two million visitors per year. Most of this visitation is concentrated from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The sensitive sub-alpine nature of the site, coupled with high visitation rates, has created a scenario where significant vegetation and soil damage occurs. Additionally, Acadia National Park has experienced chronic problems at this site stemming from visitors altering, destroying, or constructing cairns (pyramid shaped piles of rocks built by trail crews to mark trails …