Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Heterogeneity Of Recreationists In A Park And Protected Area, Olivia A. Darugna, Mark A. Kaemingk, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Limited information and resources have caused many parks and protected areas (PPAs) to functionally manage recreationists as a single homogeneous group, despite potential negative social and ecological consequences. We aimed to evaluate the homogeneity of recreationists at the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) by 1) quantifying frequencies of consumptive (i.e., hunting), intermediate-consumptive (i.e., fishing), and non-consumptive recreational-activity groups (e.g., wildlife viewing), and 2) evaluating sociodemographic differences among these groups. We used onsite surveys to determine that Valentine NWR supports heterogeneous groups of recreationists. The intermediate-consumptive group was most frequent (77% of all parties). All three recreational-activity groups varied in party …

Droughtscape, Winter 2022, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

DroughtScape, Winter 2022

The Global Impact Of Covid-19 And Tourism On Conservation Rangers' Guardianship Capabilities, Zachary Bockler

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted wildlife rangers with an emphasis on the influences of tourism rates. Two sets of data are used: one is a survey of rangers around the world and the other looks at global governmental tourism data. While coming from a routine activities perspective, the problem of decreased capable guardianship becomes apparent in the form of massively decreased tourism arrivals and troubling ranger perceptions. This data allows for the establishment of tourism trends and changes during COVID. The findings of this thesis link the downturn in tourism with impacts on formal and informal …

Synergistic Impacts Of Climate Change And Human Induced Stressors On The Apalachicola Bay Food Web, Kira Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Apalachicola Bay, an estuary located in northwest Florida, is likely to experience an increase in climate change and human-induced stressors, such as sea level rise and changes in freshwater inflow, in the future. A coupled hydrodynamic and food web modeling approach was used to simulate future scenarios of low and high river flow and sea level rise in Apalachicola Bay from 2020 to 2049 and demonstrate the range of temporal and spatial changes in water temperature, salinity, fisheries species populations and the broader food web. Concurrent with model development, a survey of Apalachicola Bay stakeholders was conducted to assess stakeholder …

Distribution Of Particulate Organic Carbon – Fluxes And Inventories – In Growth-Faulted Coastal Wetlands, Samuel Joel Whitehead

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Coastal wetlands along the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOMx) are critically important but threatened environments which provide significant and diverse economic, social, and environmental value. These environments are essential components to the global carbon cycle, serving as one of the most efficient terrestrial carbon sinks. Since onset of the Industrial Revolution increasing rates of coastal wetland loss have been documented due to a variety of anthropogenic activities, neotectonic processes, subsidence, and rising sea-levels. This research utilized an array of methods and sedimentological analyses to test the hypothesis that growth-fault induced changes at Earth’s surface affects the delivery to, and storage …

Evaluating Restoration Outcomes: Red Spruce Reforestation In The West Virginia Highlands, Benjamin Rhodes

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Red spruce (Picea rubens) is the keystone species of the red spruce-northern hardwood forest, a unique high-elevation plant community that supports hundreds of animal species in the Central Appalachians. These forests were devastated by the Industrial Logging Era of the late 1800s and early 1900s, and they remain in a degraded and fragmented state. Current restoration efforts include red spruce plantings on old field sites and reclaimed coal mines. This project seeks to aid those efforts by evaluating restoration outcomes for vegetation and soils along a ten-year chronosequence. Specifically, the study aims to determine whether restoration site soils …

Bat Activity On West Virginia Mined Lands Restored Via The Forestry Reclamation Approach, Briana C. Snyder

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) is a practical guide to reforesting surface mined lands. Bats, as a unique group of species with declining populations, could benefit from this reforestation. In order to determine if the FRA is providing suitable bat foraging habitat, I surveyed bat activity at created depressional wetlands on 1-year old and 8-year old FRA restored lands (FRA1; FRA8), as well as at naturally formed wetlands in regenerating forest on traditionally reclaimed mined land (~40 years old; REGEN) and wetlands in mature forest not previously mined (MAT). I passively recorded echolocation calls for 12 nights across sixteen sites …

Gene Silencing Provides Insights Into Bark Beetle Biology And Creates Potential For Broad Scale Forest Protection, Beth R. Kyre

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Dendroctonus bark beetles are among the most economically and ecologically significant forest pests in North America and play a critical role in the overall health of conifer forest ecosystems. Dendroctonus bark beetles influence ecosystem benefits and biodiversity and drive forest succession, and adversely affect timber production, forest management, and recreation. As temperatures surge and climatic fluctuations become more extreme, catastrophic bark beetle outbreaks are increasing in frequency, escalating pressures on highly vulnerable conifer forests already compromised by heat and drought. Eruptive outbreaks of Dendroctonus beetles are largely unhindered by traditional silvicultural management; these practices further disrupt forest ecosystem services, including …

The Diffusion Of A Discipline: Examining Social Marketing's Institutionalization Within Environmental Contexts, Liz Foote

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As a social change discipline, social marketing has demonstrated its effectiveness in addressing many types of wicked problems. However, despite its utility in environmental contexts, it is neither well known nor widespread in its uptake in these settings. This study’s purpose is to reveal opportunities to drive the adoption, implementation, and diffusion (“institutionalization”) of social marketing within the domains of environmental sustainability and natural resource conservation. This research considers the use of social marketing as an innovative practice within a diffusion of innovations framework and uses a systems lens to examine early adopter social marketing professionals and the institutional contexts …

Largemouth Bass In The Upper Mississippi River: An Evaluation Of Management Strategies And Understanding Potential Factors Influencing Dynamic Rate Functions, Kylie Beth Sterling

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Upper Mississippi River (UMR) supports ecologically and economically important commercial and recreational fisheries. One recreational fishery in the UMR is the Largemouth Bass fishery. Recreational fisheries can be effectively managed using information on population dynamics, though little is known about Largemouth Bass population dynamics in large river ecosystems. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to 1) evaluate recruitment, growth, and mortality of three Largemouth Bass populations in the UMR, specifically within Pools 4, 8, and 13, and 2) to use those estimates of recruitment, growth and mortality to inform exploitation models to evaluate best management practices for each …

Decomposition And Macroinvertebrate Shredder Colonization Of Autumnal Shed Sycamore Leaves In Mining-Contaminated Streams, Leslie Marie Hatch

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Leaf decomposition in streams is an important ecological function facilitated by bacteria, fungi, and macroinvertebrates. Metal contamination can decrease leaf decomposition rates and reduce macroinvertebrate abundance and diversity. In the current study, I focused on mining-contamination in well-buffered streams in two different Missouri mining districts with varying extents of mining contamination, Big River and Pierson Creek. I measured decomposition rates of sycamore leaves, and abundance and diversity of macroinvertebrate shredders in leaf pack experiments with a full-factorial design to determine the effects of metal contamination of leaves and stream substrates. Comparisons were made between leaf packs upstream and downstream of …

Downstream Dispersal Of Fine Tailings, Chat And Metals In Channel Sediment Of Big River, Old Lead Belt, Southeast Missouri, Jennifer Pace Witt

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

In St. François County, Missouri, compromised above-ground tailings piles and containment ponds from historical mining activities in the Old Lead Belt released considerable amounts of dolomitic, Pb- and Zn-contaminated waste sediments to the Big River, contributing to significant downstream floodplain and channel sediment contamination. Previous studies have documented the effects of heavy metals on Big River biota and water quality, as well as benthic habitat disruption resulting from the influx of small sediments. Few have considered the effects and future contamination risk of the coarse waste sediments (2-16 mm in diameter), locally called “chat”, which retain high Pb and Zn …

(Re)Empowering The Community: A Case Study Of Namibia's Legal Evolution Of Wildlife Governance, Stefan Carpenter

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article will introduce the theoretical foundation of the CBC [Community-Based Conservation] approach. It will then use Namibia as a case study to both: (a) illustrate the sort of historical, political, and economic drivers that motivate the adoption of CBC across the global south, and (b) highlight the existence of potential structural weaknesses present in even the most lauded CBC programs. Finally, this Article will present some of the common theoretical and results-based criticisms of CBC and discuss broader lessons that can be drawn from the Namibian experience. The analyses in this Article draw from academic literature, Namibia’s statutes and …

Evaluating Avian Use Of Cover Crops In The Corn Belt, Megan Figura

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The tallgrass prairie of North America has changed drastically since colonial settlement, with up to 99% of this region converted for agriculture and other land-uses. Concurrent with grassland conversion, grassland birds have experienced the most extreme, consistent, and widespread population declines of any avian guild. Agricultural lands in the U.S. Midwest were able to provide adequate habitat for several bird species until the 1950’s; however, altered and intensified management practices have degraded much of remaining suitable habitat and undermined ecosystem functions. Consequently, many grassland birds have been identified as Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in many State Wildlife Action …

Pathogen Prevalence In Domestic Sheep In Western Nebraska: Implications For Bighorn Sheep Conservation And Coexistence On A Multi-Use Landscape, Kaytlin Bohr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) and domestic sheep (Ovis aries) are members of the same genus and thus share multiple pathogens that can be spread between them. One specific respiratory pathogen of concern is Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (M. ovipneumoniae), which has been linked to pneumonia epizootics in bighorn sheep that are often characterized by all age die offs upon initial exposure followed by years of low lamb recruitment. Domestic sheep have been identified as one carrier of M. ovipneumoniae with transmission between sheep species occurring when there is close contact on the landscape. To prevent this cross-species transmission, importance has been placed …

Application Of Climate-Smart Forestry – Forest Manager Response To The Relevance Of European Definition And Indicators, Euan Bowditch, Giovanni Santopuoli, Boyżdar Neroj, Jan Svetlik Jan Svetlik, Mark Tominlson, Vivien Pohl, Admir Avdagić, Miren Del Rio, Tzetvan Zlatanov Tzetvan Zlatanov, Höhn Maria, Gabriela Jamnická, Yusuf Serengil, Murat Sarginci, Sigríður Júlía Brynleifsdóttir, Jerzy Lesinki, João C. Azevedo

Articles

Climate change impacts are an increasing threat to forests and current approaches to management. In 2020, Climate-smart Forestry (CSF) definition and set of indicators was published. This study further developed this work by testing the definition and indicators through a forest manager survey across fifteen member European countries. The survey covered topic areas of demographics, climate change impacts, definition and indicators assessment, as well as knowledge and communication. Overall, forest managers considered the threat of climate change to their forests as high or critical and 62% found the CSF definition clear and concise; however, the minority suggested greater simplification or …

Factors Affecting The Production Of Berries Of The Red Huckleberry Plant In The Redwood Experimental Forest, Kagat G. Mcquillen

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Vaccinium parvifolium (red huckleberry) is a culturally and commercially valued food for different coastal tribes of northwestern California.

Today some tribes are regaining access to ancestral lands, and Indigenous researchers are working to document information about culturally significant plant species and their management to reclaim traditional ecological knowledge and restore food sovereignty.

The present study, focused on red huckleberry, Vaccinium parvifolium, took place in the ancestral territory of the Yurok Tribe, currently managed by the US Forest Service as the Redwood Experimental Forest (REF) in Klamath, CA. Geographic Information Systems-based mapping, forest ecological field data collection, and a literature …

Estimating The Ecosystem Service Of Aleutian Cackling Goose Droppings On Pastures, Brian G. Fagundes

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The Aleutian cackling goose (Branta hutchinsii leucopareia) experienced a population low of 790 geese in 1974 and has recovered to the current estimate of 186,100 geese in 2021. Private livestock producers view geese as pasture competitors and use hazing and hunting to scare geese from private lands to adjacent public lands. I investigated if geese provide an ecosystem service via dropping fertilizing effects to improve pastures in northern California.

A greenhouse experiment was conducted from February-August 2019 at Cal Poly Humboldt, divided into two experiments: freshly sown ryegrass pasture and established plant and soil communities removed intact from …

Sediment Production From Forest Roads In Areas Affected By The August Complex Fire In Northern California, Zachary J. Gigone

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Wildfire activity is increasing in California and is an important factor affecting erosion rates. Landscapes recently affected by wildfire, areas that have been salvage logged after a fire, and unpaved forest roads are all major sources of sediment which can impair water quality and negatively impact many aquatic species. Therefore, this study was conducted to quantify erosion rates from native and gravel surfaced forest road segments after the August Complex fire, evaluate the impact of salvage logging activities on sediment production from roads, and understand the effect of soil burn severity on sediment production from these road segments. Finally, this …

Wilderness And The Geotag: Exploring The Claim That "Geotagging Ruins Nature" In The Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Wa, Mara Gans

All Master's Theses

This research explores the claim that “geotagging ruins nature” by quantifying and qualifying patterns in geotag use and visitors’ experiences in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, in Washington, United States. Many have raised concerns that geotags increase recreational visitation to public lands, which subsequently contributes to negative resource impacts. Others, however, claim that geotagging has made the outdoors more accessible to less privileged communities and raise concerns that condemning geotags will perpetuate the exclusion of certain groups from outdoor recreation. This debate is studied within federally designated Wilderness, which is legally defined as “untrammeled by man,” a definition rooted in problematic …