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  • Jackson, H. N.; Redmore, L.; Cheek, C. A.; Zaveleta Cheek, J. 2026. To hunt or not to hunt: Is it that simple for female hunters?. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 53, 101012.
    View Article via DOI for To hunt or not to hunt: Is it that simple for female hunters?
    View Abstract for To hunt or not to hunt: Is it that simple for female hunters?

    Abstract for Jackson, H. N.; Redmore, L.; Cheek, C. A.; Zaveleta Cheek, J. (2026). To hunt or not to hunt: Is it that simple for female hunters?

    Natural resource agencies and researchers have often focused efforts to reduce the constraints women face in hunting. However, many women continue to hunt despite these barriers, suggesting a need to understand the complex decisions they make. This study explores the decision space that women navigate despite logistical, cultural, and personal constraints. This mixed method study used free lists (n = 50) and semi-structured interviews (n = 22) to identify the most salient decisions women make to go hunting. These included decisions about gear, household responsibilities, hunting partners, land access, and pre-planning. Interviews revealed how women strategically make decisions to navigate constraints by connecting actions across domains such as safety, time, and social support. Gear decisions, for example, were shaped by cost, safety, and confidence, and some women expressed insecurity about lacking the “right” equipment. Many participants also emphasized peer support and sought community with other women. Hunting also required prioritizing personal time, often in tension with expectations around caregiving and household roles. These findings suggest that state agencies and conservation organizations can play an active role in supporting women—not only through outreach and education, but by facilitating access to peer networks and reducing gear-related barriers. Programs like gear libraries or donation drives may reduce early-entry obstacles and help foster confidence. Efforts to reframe women\'s leisure as necessary may help women who struggle with guilt around household duties. Overall, this study highlights women\'s agency to navigate barriers, make complex decisions, act on their hunting goals, and it offers practical insights to improve recruitment and retention.

  • Hulugh, V.; Redmore, L.; Zaveleta Cheek, J. 2026. Assessing Conservation Planning in South Dakota: Challenges and Opportunities in Collaboration, Public Participation, and Climate Information. Park Stewardship Forum 42(1), 150-161.
    View Article via DOI for Assessing Conservation Planning in South Dakota: Challenges and Opportunities in Collaboration, Public Participation, and Climate Information
    View Abstract for Assessing Conservation Planning in South Dakota: Challenges and Opportunities in Collaboration, Public Participation, and Climate Information

    Abstract for Hulugh, V.; Redmore, L.; Zaveleta Cheek, J. (2026). Assessing Conservation Planning in South Dakota: Challenges and Opportunities in Collaboration, Public Participation, and Climate Information

    Conservation planning protects habitats, supports biodiversity, and sustains ecosystem functions that support human and ecological well-being. Natural resource managers are expected to make sound management decisions and balance competing interests in a social-ecological context. However, they face challenges related to effective collaboration, public participation in decision-making, and the application of climate information. This study describes conservation planning challenges in South Dakota, a predominantly rural state where over 80% of land is privately owned, and natural resources are highly valued. We used an inductive, qualitative research approach, including in-depth interviews with 35 experts and content analysis of 56 conservation plans. Our study identifies the absence of complementary goals among federal, state, and non-profit organizations. Managers have concerns that current methods of public engagement are inadequate and often result in low engagement during the public participation process. Limited understanding and application of climate data were prevalent among managers. Our findings indicate that managers face multiple, complex demands in conservation planning. Conservation outcomes can be more sustainable when collaborative efforts are complementary, public perspectives are incorporated, and clear guidance exists for using climate tools. This study positions relationships as an important social foundation for conservation success. The insights from this study inform policy and practice by offering considerations for improving collaboration, public participation, and the use of scientific data.

  • Wiley, B. C.; Carim, K. J.; O’Malley, K. G. 2026. Environmental DNA Sampling Identifies Different Nonnative and Native Salmonid Species Assemblages. Northwest Science.
    View Abstract for Environmental DNA Sampling Identifies Different Nonnative and Native Salmonid Species Assemblages

    Abstract for Wiley, B. C.; Carim, K. J.; O’Malley, K. G. (2026). Environmental DNA Sampling Identifies Different Nonnative and Native Salmonid Species Assemblages

    Wilderness areas often provide critical habitat for native fishes. However, remoteness of wilderness areas can limit fish monitoring efforts, such that changes in nonnative and native fish distributions may not be detected and management responses may be delayed. Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling offers a non-invasive, cost-effective, and efficient method to monitor aquatic species across remote waterways. Here, we used eDNA sampling to assess distributions of nonnative brook trout and native bull trout and redband trout across sections of Monument Rock and Strawberry Mountain Wilderness Areas in eastern Oregon. In Monument Rock, brook trout and bull trout were not detected, supporting previous findings that brook trout have not colonized the area and that bull trout are likely extirpated. Redband trout were detected at 29 of 34 sites despite recent environmental disturbances. All three species were detected in Strawberry Mountain. Brook trout were detected at 10 of 17 sites, indicating that the species has likely expanded upstream since prior surveys. Bull trout were detected at seven sites and redband trout were detected at four sites, confirming that native salmonids persist despite decades of occurrence with brook trout. Interestingly, brook trout eDNA concentrations were higher near High Lake where the species was first introduced, while native salmonid eDNA concentrations were higher at locations further from the lake. Overall, this study provides a baseline for the distributions of three salmonid species and a framework for using eDNA sampling to monitor fish distributions in remote wilderness areas.

  • Clemens, B. J.; Carim, K. J.; Weaver, M. H. 2025. Addressing knowledge–action gaps created by recent taxonomic and classification changes in lampreys. Fisheries vuaf115.
    View Article via DOI for Addressing knowledge–action gaps created by recent taxonomic and classification changes in lampreys
    View Abstract for Addressing knowledge–action gaps created by recent taxonomic and classification changes in lampreys

    Abstract for Clemens, B. J.; Carim, K. J.; Weaver, M. H. (2025). Addressing knowledge–action gaps created by recent taxonomic and classification changes in lampreys

    Knowledge–action gaps (KAGs) are gaps between knowledge and the application of that knowledge, which can result in management actions that are not based on the best available science. Awareness of KAGs and ways to address them are increasing—for example, forming collaborative relationships between scientists and managers to coproduce and apply scientific knowledge and brokering this knowledge with interested parties. Here, we present a new conceptual model that integrates knowledge coproduction with knowledge brokering. We also present a new example of addressing KAGs that involves changes to the taxonomic classification for some lamprey species. Taxonomic name changes among fishes are common and can initially cause confusion; therefore, it is essential to broker this information. In our example, new information led to a reclassification of lampreys from the genus Lampetra to Occidentis and synonymized Western Brook Lamprey (formally L. richardsoni) with Western River Lamprey O. ayresii (formally L. ayresii). This information was coproduced by an international team of state, federal, and academic biologists. This collaborative approach and subsequent knowledge brokering are important because the new taxonomic classifications of lampreys are not reflected in preexisting policies and outreach materials in the state of Oregon. We highlight mechanisms for knowledge brokering and the roles that all knowledge coproducers must play in reducing KAGs.

  • Carim, K. J.; Adkins, H.; Murdoch, R.; Simantel, L.; Stephens, A.; Webster, M.; Hefty, K.; Eby, L. A. 2025. Conserving freshwater biodiversity in U. S. protected areas – Management intervention and the RAD Framework. Environmental Management 76(2), 43.
    View Article via DOI for Conserving freshwater biodiversity in U. S. protected areas – Management intervention and the RAD Framework
    View Abstract for Conserving freshwater biodiversity in U. S. protected areas – Management intervention and the RAD Framework

    Abstract for Carim, K. J.; Adkins, H.; Murdoch, R.; Simantel, L.; Stephens, A.; Webster, M.; Hefty, K.; Eby, L. A. (2025). Conserving freshwater biodiversity in U. S. protected areas – Management intervention and the RAD Framework

    Protected areas are considered a critical antidote to global biodiversity loss. Yet, protected areas have not effectively preserved freshwater biodiversity compared to other taxonomic groups, in part because they are not designed or managed with freshwater ecosystems in mind. Additionally, historical and current human activities have degraded freshwater biodiversity, and climate driven transformation constrains the ability of protected areas to preserve freshwater biodiversity into the future. Management intervention is an important tool to ensure protected areas support current and future ecological, socio-cultural, and economic values surrounding freshwater biodiversity. Yet applying interventions is challenging because many protected areas limit human manipulation and control. The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a tool for weighing management approaches in an expanded decision space. As such, the RAD framework may help identify the most appropriate approaches to address ecological transformation while balancing the mandates and values of a given protected area. In this paper, we review federally protected areas of the United States and their varied ability to support freshwater biodiversity. We then recast past management approaches through a RAD lens, examining how they resist, accept, or direct freshwater biodiversity loss in these protected areas. This illustrates how elements of the RAD framework are already being applied and provides a foundation for managers to more formally resist, accept, or direct freshwater biodiversity loss in protected areas moving forward. We conclude with considerations for applying the RAD framework at the intersection of freshwater biodiversity and protected areas to benefit values of current and future generations.

  • L. Redmore, M.A. Petriello, A. Stronza. 2025. Good practices for community-based conservation in the Anthropocene. Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, second edition, Book.
    View Article via DOI for Good practices for community-based conservation in the Anthropocene
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    Abstract for Redmore, L.; Patriello, M.; Stronza, A. (2025). Good practices for community-based conservation in the Anthropocene

    Community-based conservation (CBC) emerged in the 1980s as part of a paradigm shift from unpeopled protected areas to people-centered efforts to connect conservation and development. Although well intentioned, the change prompted a focus on communities as either passive subjects or secondary participants of mostly top-down, externally-initiated interventions—many which framed people as separate from nature and, therefore, as a threat to it. As conservationists embrace a new paradigm first characterized by geologists as the “Anthropocene,” conservation priorities and successes increasingly emphasize the inseparability of human-environment relationships. We argue that this new paradigm reframes prior aspirations and assumptions about conservation by cementing “community” as the gold standard for conservation effectiveness. We draw from recent literature to highlight five good practices emerging from CBC in the Anthropocene. These practices emphasize shifting from top-down “people-centered” CBC to bottom-up “people-driven” CBC to empower communities to position themselves as active agents of conservation. Conservationists have a growing body of knowledge to draw from to enact fair CBC practice and research in the Anthropocene.

  • Kellie J. Carim, Claude B. Renaud, Michael K. Young, Margaret F. Docker. 2025. Recognition of the lamprey genus Occidentis as distinct from Lampetra: Comment on Hughes et al.. Zootaxa.
    View Article via DOI for Recognition of the lamprey genus Occidentis as distinct from Lampetra: Comment on Hughes et al.
    View USDA TreeSearch Record for Recognition of the lamprey genus Occidentis as distinct from Lampetra: Comment on Hughes et al.
    View Abstract for Recognition of the lamprey genus Occidentis as distinct from Lampetra: Comment on Hughes et al.

    Abstract for Carim, K.; Renaud, C. B.; Young, M. K.; Docker, M. F. (2025). Recognition of the lamprey genus Occidentis as distinct from Lampetra: Comment on Hughes et al.

    Knowledge–action gaps (KAGs) are gaps between knowledge and the application of that knowledge, which can result in management actions that are not based on the best available science. Awareness of KAGs and ways to address them are increasing—for example, forming collaborative relationships between scientists and managers to coproduce and apply scientific knowledge and brokering this knowledge with interested parties. Here, we present a new conceptual model that integrates knowledge coproduction with knowledge brokering. We also present a new example of addressing KAGs that involves changes to the taxonomic classification for some lamprey species. Taxonomic name changes among fishes are common and can initially cause confusion; therefore, it is essential to broker this information. In our example, new information led to a reclassification of lampreys from the genus Lampetra to Occidentis and synonymized Western Brook Lamprey (formally L. richardsoni) with Western River Lamprey O. ayresii (formally L. ayresii). This information was coproduced by an international team of state, federal, and academic biologists. This collaborative approach and subsequent knowledge brokering are important because the new taxonomic classifications of lampreys are not reflected in preexisting policies and outreach materials in the state of Oregon. We highlight mechanisms for knowledge brokering and the roles that all knowledge coproducers must play in reducing KAGs.

  • Clare E Boerigter, Sean A Parks, Jonathan W Long, Jonathan D Coop, Melanie Armstrong, Don L Hankins, Serra Hoagland. 2025. Guardians and gardeners: Managing wilderness for the 21st century. BioScience.
    View Article via DOI for Guardians and gardeners: Managing wilderness for the 21st century
    View Abstract for Guardians and gardeners: Managing wilderness for the 21st century

    Abstract for Boerigter, C.; Parks, S.; Long, J.; Coop, J. D.; Armstrong, M.; Hankins, D. L.; Hoagland, S. (2025). Guardians and gardeners: Managing wilderness for the 21st century

    The 1964 Wilderness Act is a landmark piece of legislation, providing robust protections from development, mechanization, and resource extraction to landscapes designated by the US Congress as federal wilderness. Today, the National Wilderness Preservation System, which includes 806 wilderness areas and 111 million acres, represents the world\'s largest highly protected conservation network. However, a long-standing ethos of nonmanagement—exemplified by the philosophy that managers should be guardians but not gardeners—obscures long legacies of Indigenous stewardship and may not sustain essential wilderness values in a time of unprecedented ecological stressors. Many wildernesses are increasingly subject to complex and compounding unintentional (as well as intentional) human influences. In this article, we consider how a guardians and gardeners approach would acknowledge Indigenous influence, recognize contemporary and future environmental challenges, and provide managers the necessary rationale to respond to these complex realities. In the twenty-first century, it may be necessary to carefully, thoughtfully, and compassionately reimagine the dominant wilderness philosophy.

  • Sean A Parks,Kira L Hefty, Jaclyn F Rushing, Sara A Goeking, Diana F Tomback, Sharon M Hood, J Christopher Toney, Destin L Harrell, James Lindstrom, Cameron E Naficy, Michèle R Slaton, Benjamin S Soderquist, E J Taylor. 2025. Whitebark pine in the United States projected to experience an 80% reduction in climatically suitable area by the mid-21st century. Environmental Research Letters.
    View Article via DOI for Whitebark pine in the United States projected to experience an 80% reduction in climatically suitable area by the mid-21st century
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    View Abstract for Whitebark pine in the United States projected to experience an 80% reduction in climatically suitable area by the mid-21st century

    Abstract for Parks, S.; Hefty, K.; Rushing, J.; Goeking, S. A.; Tomback, D. F.; Hood, S. M.; Toney, J. C.; Harrell, D. L.; Lindstrom, J.; Naficy, C. E.; Slaton, M. R.; Soderquist, B. S.; Taylor, D. L. (2025). Whitebark pine in the United States projected to experience an 80% reduction in climatically suitable area by the mid-21st century

    Whitebark pine (WBP; Pinus albicaulis) is a five-needle conifer tree species native to the western United States (US) and southwestern Canada. In the US, this ecologically important species is listed as ‘threatened’ under the Endangered Species Act because of population declines from compound stressors, including climate change, introduced white pine blister rust (WPBR), widespread outbreaks of mountain pine beetle, and altered fire regimes. Species recovery depends primarily on planting WBP seedlings that are resistant to WPBR, but suitable planting locations are likely to shift under climate warming. We modeled and mapped WBP climatic suitability in the US using forest inventory data and fine-scale (~220 m) climate datasets under reference period (1961–1990) and mid-21st century climatic conditions. We projected an 80% reduction in the area climatically suitable for WBP by the mid-21st century. Moreover, 75% of the climatically suitable area for WBP under mid-21st century climate is located in designated wilderness areas and national parks. This could challenge WBP recovery efforts, as these protected areas strive to reduce human manipulation of ecological systems. WBP climate suitability maps resulting from our models can be used to identify priority or ‘target areas’ where planting will have the highest likelihood of success and to identify areas within the WPB’s current range that are most vulnerable to rapid change should high-severity wildfires or mountain pine beetle outbreaks occur. Mapping WBP reference period and mid-21st century climate suitability is a fundamental step to efficiently prioritize restoration areas and develop a successful recovery program.

  • Redmore, L.; Carim, K.; Rushing, J. F. 2025. Bridging the waters: Comparative insights on Federal-Tribal shared stewardship of Wild and Scenic Rivers. International Journal of Wilderness 31(2).
    View USDA TreeSearch Record for Bridging the waters: Comparative insights on Federal-Tribal shared stewardship of Wild and Scenic Rivers
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    Abstract for Redmore, L.; Carim, K.; Rushing, J. F. (2025). Bridging the waters: Comparative insights on Federal-Tribal shared stewardship of Wild and Scenic Rivers

    Over the past three decades, joint land and water management approaches involving two or more parties have been increasingly applied across the US federal government, including through shared stewardship arrangements with American Indian Tribes (Washburn 2022). Shared stewardship refers to voluntary partnerships to align goals, share data, and coordinate action around decisions regarding land and water, with or without the transfer of legal decision-making authority (US Department of Agriculture [USDA] 2018). Many scholars recognize that shared stewardship approaches can strengthen Tribal treaty rights, maintain or restore Tribal dignity and land relationships, and incorporate Indigenous Knowledge and values to benefit land stewardship (SteenAdams et al. 2023; King 2007). Many Tribes have a strong interest in ensuring holistic environmental management of resources held in trust by the federal government. However, shared stewardship may involve difficult trade-offs for Tribes, including a lack of enforcement power or capacity to engage in management beyond Tribal jurisdiction (Stokes 2002).

  • Matthew P. Harris, Jonathan D. Coop, Jared A. Balik, Jessika R. Mc Farland, Sean A. Parks, Camille S. Stevens-Rumann. 2025. Aspen impedes wildfire spread in southwestern United States landscapes. Ecological Applications.
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    Abstract for Harris, M. P.; Coop, J. D.; Balik, J. A.; McFarland, J.; Parks, S.; Stevens-Rumann, C. S. (2025). Aspen impedes wildfire spread in southwestern United States landscapes

    Aspen (Populus tremuloides) forests are generally thought to impede fire spread, yet the extent of this effect is not well quantified in relation to other vegetation types. We examined the influence of aspen cover on interpolated daily fire spread rates, the relative abundance of aspen at fire perimeters versus burn interiors, and whether these relationships shifted under more fire-conducive atmospheric conditions. Our study incorporated 314 fires occurring between 2001 and 2020 in the southwestern United States and a suite of gridded vegetation, topography, and fire weather predictor variables. We found that aspen slows fire progression: as aspen cover on the landscape increased, daily area burned and linear spread rate decreased. Where aspen cover was <10%, daily fire growth averaged 1112?ha/day and maximum linear spread was 2.1?km/day; where aspen exceeded 25%, these values dropped to 368?ha/day and 1.3?km/day. Aspen also serves as a barrier to fire spread, demonstrated through a higher proportion of aspen cover at fire perimeters than in burn interiors. Finally, though favorable fire weather conditions increased fire growth rates, differences between aspens and conifers persisted. Our results affirm that aspen stands can act as a firebreak, with clear applications for vegetation management. For example, interventions that shift conifer to aspen cover could lessen the risk of fire for nearby values at risk (e.g., communities, infrastructure) but still support forest ecosystem function. Further, wildfire-driven conversion from conifer to aspen forest types in some landscapes may produce a negative feedback that could dampen expected increases in fire activity under a warmer and drier climate.

  • Jaclyn Fox Rushing, Elena R. Thomas, Jennifer M. Thomsen, Christopher A. Armatas, and William L. Rice. 2025. Negotiating constraints to recreation in Everglades national Park among underserved South Florida Residents. Annals of the American Geographers.
    View Article via DOI for Negotiating constraints to recreation in Everglades national Park among underserved South Florida Residents
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    View Abstract for Negotiating constraints to recreation in Everglades national Park among underserved South Florida Residents

    Abstract for Rushing, J. F.; Thomas, E. R.; Thomsen, J. M.; Armatas, C.; Rice, W. L. (2025). Negotiating constraints to recreation in Everglades national Park among underserved South Florida Residents

    Everglades National Park (EVER) is located within fifty miles of Miami, Florida. Miami-Dade County is home to approximately 2.7 million people with 71.6 percent of the population identifying as Hispanic or Latino. Despite proximity to this diverse urban area, the demographics of EVER’s visitors largely do not represent the surrounding community. Conceptual frameworks of constraints can facilitate understanding of low park visitation among traditionally underserved communities; however, they have been criticized for being relatively superficial due to their predominantly quantitative modeling approaches. Through semistructured interviews with underserved residents of South Florida, this research sought to understand constraints and constraint negotiation to visiting EVER. Participants identified several individual, interpersonal, contextual, and systemic constraints to recreating in EVER. Additionally, participants identified a variety of ways to negotiate these constraints through collective and individual strategies. Implications of this research further our understanding of the role of place, constraints, and negotiation in wilderness and U.S. national park visitation among traditionally underserved communities. This research informs EVER park managers on how to better serve the surrounding South Florida community through identification of detailed, place-based constraints and ways the park could engage in collective negotiation strategies to address them.

  • Svetlana V. Yegorova , Solomon Z. Dobrowski , Laurie Yung, Sean A. Parks, R. Kyle Bocinsky, Kimberley T. Davis, Caitlin Littlefield , Marco P. Maneta, Carina Wyborn, Patrick Wurster, Robin Rank, Douglas Brinkerhoff and Thomas Colligan. 2025. Spatial climate analogs in climate change research, impact assessment and decision-making. BioScience.
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    Abstract for Yegorova, S. V.; Dobrowski, S. Z.; Yung, L.; Parks, S.; Bocinsky, R. K.; Davis, K. T.; Littlefield, C. E.; Maneta, M. P.; Wyborn, C.; Wurster, P.; Rank, R.; Brinkerhoff, D.; Colligan, T. (2025). Spatial climate analogs in climate change research, impact assessment and decision-making

    Climate adaptation requires actionable scientific information about potential climate impacts. Spatial climate analogs answer the question, ‘where does the future climate of a focal location occur today?’ Analogs provide a means to develop measures of climate change exposure and can be applied to project climate change impacts. Although analogs are the basis for empirical models, recent applications of analogs have been structured as spatial models, which can contribute distinct information compared to more commonly used nonspatial approaches. Analogs may improve our ability to communicate climate change impacts for science and nonscience audiences. We review approaches for identifying analogs, summarize their applications, highlight understudied features, and examine evidence of their utility for science communication. We conclude by identifying research needs: the establishment of best practices for analog identification, the adoption of validation methods for analog impact models, and the evaluation of the utility of analogs for communication.

  • Kira Hefty, Jaclyn Fox Rushing, Sean Parks, Teresa Hollingsworth. 2025. RAD Decisions in Rad Landscapes: Climate Adaptation for Whitebark Pine in Wilderness. Nutcracker Notes, the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation newsletter.
    View USDA TreeSearch Record for RAD Decisions in Rad Landscapes: Climate Adaptation for Whitebark Pine in Wilderness
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    Abstract for Hefty, K.; Rushing, J.; Parks, S.; Hollingsworth, T. (2025). RAD Decisions in Rad Landscapes: Climate Adaptation for Whitebark Pine in Wilderness

    Whitebark pine, a geographically widespread upper subalpine tree species, exists largely within federally designated Wilderness areas (herein, wilderness) that are afforded greater protection from direct human manipulation as compared to surrounding public and privately owned lands. Nevertheless, climate change, associated disturbances, historical fire suppression, disease, and other factors are causing an increase in tree mortality of this federally threatened foundation species in parts of its range. The 1964 Wilderness Act mandates that wilderness areas are preserved in their “natural” condition,“untrammeled by man”(Pub. L. 88-577). However, the pervasive effects of human-induced climate change challenges natural resource managers and stewards to consider new decisions regarding whitebark pine restoration within wilderness. In this context, two dominant questions arise: 1) What kinds of management actions-if any-may be required to preserve or restore whitebark pine within wilderness and, 2) Can these actions be implemented while upholding the original intent of the Wilderness Act?

  • Jedediah F. Brodie, Andrew Gonzalez, Jayasilan Mohd-Azlan, Cara R. Nelson, Gary Tabor, Divya Vasudev, Katherine A. Zeller, Robert J. Fletcher Jr. 2025. A well-connected Earth: Linking the science and conservation of organismal movement. Science.
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    Abstract for Brodie, J.; Gonzalez, A.; Jayasilan, M. -.; Nelson, C. R.; Tabor, G.; Vasudev, D.; Zeller, K.; Fletcher, R. J. J. (2025). A well-connected Earth: Linking the science and conservation of organismal movement

    Global biodiversity targets focus on landscape and seascape connectivity as a foundational component of biodiversity conservation, including networks of connected protected areas. Recent advances allow the measurement and prediction of organismal movements at multiple scales. We provide a definition of connectivity that links movement to persistence and ecological function. Connectivity science can guide planning for biodiversity, ecosystem services, ecological restoration, and climate adaptation. Ongoing climate change and land and sea use are closing the window of opportunity for connectivity conservation. A coordinated global effort is required to implement scientific knowledge and to monitor, map, protect, and restore areas that promote movement and maintain well-connected ecosystems for biodiversity in the long term.

  • Kira L. Hefty, Nicholas A. Povak, Patricia N. Manley, Samuel W. Flake, Katherine A. Zeller. 2025. Spatiotemporal Patterns of [Bio]Diversity and [Bio]Diversity-Stability Relationships as a Function of Compounding Disturbances and Forest Management. Conservation Biology.
    View Article via DOI for Spatiotemporal Patterns of [Bio]Diversity and [Bio]Diversity-Stability Relationships as a Function of Compounding Disturbances and Forest Management
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    View Abstract for Spatiotemporal Patterns of [Bio]Diversity and [Bio]Diversity-Stability Relationships as a Function of Compounding Disturbances and Forest Management

    Abstract for Hefty, K.; Povak, N. A.; Manly, P.; Flake, S. W.; Zeller, K. (2025). Spatiotemporal Patterns of [Bio]Diversity and [Bio]Diversity-Stability Relationships as a Function of Compounding Disturbances and Forest Management

    Consistent with the diversity-stability hypothesis, high wildlife diversity has been associated with increased resilience and stability of ecosystem services and functions. Nevertheless, ecological non-stationarity associated with climate change challenges the concept of stability. Furthermore, ambiguity surrounding appropriate diversity metrics to use has hindered the ability of natural resource managers to leverage the potential benefits of biodiversity conservation.

  • Gavin Jones, RMRS; Craig Thompson, USDA FS; Sarah C. Sawyer, USDA FS; Kari Norman, RMRS; Tanya Hayes, Seattle University; Don Hankins, Cal State Chico; Sean Parks USDA FS RMRS. 2025. Conserving landscape dynamics, not just landscapes. BioScience.
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    Abstract for Jones, G.; Thompson, C.; Sawyer, S. C.; Norman, K.; Hayes, T.; Hankins, D. L.; Parks, S. (2025). Conserving landscape dynamics, not just landscapes

    Protected areas form the backbone of modern conservation. However, the current policies and practices in protected areas reinforce a static view of nature. This view is further enabled by cultural resistance to change, including efforts to mitigate or exclude keystone ecosystem processes (e.g., characteristic wildfire) that create and maintain desired conditions. This protectionist model of conservation undervalues the human role in generating landscape dynamics and will be ineffective over the long term and increasingly in the short term. Under climatic change, resisting natural landscape dynamics will backfire and heighten vulnerability to ecosystem transformation through large-scale disturbance (e.g., megafires and megadroughts). Within protected areas, there is an urgent need to rethink what we are protecting: the current landscape conditions or the landscape dynamics that generate those conditions. Cast in a different light, protected areas could be the cornerstones for a new era of conserving landscape dynamics across broader geographies.

  • D.A. Bell, K.J. Carim, R. Kovach, L.A. Eby, C. Barfoot, S. Painter, A. Lodmell, S.J. Amish, S. Smith, L. Rosenthal, B. Larkin, P. Ramsey, A. R. Whiteley. 2025. Genomic insights into inbreeding and local adaptation of trout populations to inform genetic rescue. Evolutionary Applications.
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    View Abstract for Genomic insights into inbreeding and local adaptation of trout populations to inform genetic rescue

    Abstract for Bell, D.; Carim, K.; Kovach, R.; Eby, L.; Barfoot, C.; Painter, S.; Lodmell, A.; Amish, S. J.; Smith, S.; Rosenthal, L.; Larkin, B.; Ramsey, P.; Whiteley, A. (2025). Genomic insights into inbreeding and local adaptation of trout populations to inform genetic rescue

    Genetic rescue, specifically translocation to facilitate gene flow among populations and reduce the effects of inbreeding, is an increasingly used approach in conservation. However, this approach comes with trade-offs, wherein gene flow may reduce fitness when populations have adaptive differentiation (i.e., outbreeding depression). A better understanding of the interaction between isolation, inbreeding, and adaptive divergence in key traits, such as life history traits, will help to inform genetic rescue efforts. Stream-dwelling salmonids, such as the westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus lewisi; WCT), are well-suited for examining these trade-offs because they are increasingly isolated by habitat degradation, exhibit substantial variation in life history traits among populations, and include many species of conservation concern. However, few genomic studies have examined the potential trade-offs in inbreeding versus outbreeding depression in salmonids. We used >?150,000 SNPs to examine genomic variation and inbreeding coefficients in 565 individuals across 25 WCT populations that differed in their isolation status and demographic histories. Analyses of runs of homozygosity revealed that several isolated WCT populations had “flatlined” having extremely low genetic variation and high inbreeding coefficients. Additionally, we conducted genome scans to identify potential outlier loci that could explain life history differences among 10 isolated populations. Genome scans identified one candidate genomic region that influenced maximum length and age-1 to age-2 growth. However, the limited number of candidate loci suggests that the life history traits examined may be driven by many genes of small effect or phenotypic plasticity. Although adaptive differentiation should be considered, the high inbreeding coefficients in several populations suggest that genetic rescue may benefit the most genetically depauperate WCT populations.

  • R. J. Heim, A. V. Rocha, V. Zemlianskii, K. Barrett, H. Bültmann, A. Breen, G. V. Frost, T. Nettleton Hollingsworth, R. Jandt, M. Kozlova, A. Kurka, M. Torre Jorgenson, S. M. Landhäusser, M. M. Loranty, E. A. Miller, K. Narita, E. Pravdolyubova, Norbert Hölzel, and Gabriela Schaepman-Strub. 2025. Arctic tundra ecosystems under fire: Alternative ecosystem states in a changing climate? Journal of Ecology.
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    View Abstract for Arctic tundra ecosystems under fire—Alternative ecosystem states in a changing climate?

    Abstract for Heim, R.; Rocha, A. V.; Zemlianskii, V.; Barrett, K.; Bültmann, H.; Breen, A.; Frost, G. V.; Hollingsworth, T.; Jandt, R.; Kozlova, M.; Kurka, A.; Jorgenson, M. T.; Landhäusser, S. M.; Loranty, M. M.; Miller, E.; Narita, K.; Pravdolyubova, E.; Hölzel, N.; Schaepman-Strub, G. (2025). Arctic tundra ecosystems under fire—Alternative ecosystem states in a changing climate?

    1. Climate change is expected to induce shifts in the composition, structure and functioning of Arctic tundra ecosystems. Increases in the frequency and severity of tundra fires have the potential to catalyse vegetation transitions with far-reaching local, regional and global consequences. 2. We propose that post-fire tundra recovery, coupled with climate change, may not necessarily lead to pre-fire conditions. Our hypothesis, based on surveys and literature, suggests two climate–fire driven trajectories. One trajectory results in increased woody vegetation under low fire frequency; the other results in grass dominance under high frequency. 3. Future research should address uncertainties regarding possible tundra ecosystem shifts linked to fires, using methods that encompass greater temporal and spatial scales than previously addressed. More case studies, especially in underrepresented regions and ecosystem types, are essential to broaden the empirical basis for forecasts and potential fire management strategies. 4. Synthesis. Our review synthesises current knowledge on post-fire vegetation trajectories in Arctic tundra ecosystems, highlighting potential transitions and alternative ecosystem states and their implications. We discuss challenges in defining and predicting these trajectories as well as future directions.

  • William L. Rice, Kelsey E. Phillips, Christopher A. Armatas, Nicholas A. Pitas, Suiwen Sharon Zou, Abigail Fuesler. 2025. A systematic review of visitor preferences concerning recreation allocation. Socio-Ecological Practice Research.
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    View Abstract for A systematic review of visitor preferences concerning recreation allocation

    Abstract for Rice, W. L.; Phillips, K. E.; Armatas, C.; Pitas, N. A.; Zou, S. S.; Fuesler, A. (2025). A systematic review of visitor preferences concerning recreation allocation

    The process of fairly allocating limited recreation opportunities across, and within, a broad range of user groups presents a challenging task to recreation managers, planners, and policy makers. The practice of recreation allocation can be controversial. Recreationists share deep values toward access to high-quality recreation opportunities, and recreationists tend to examine decisions of recreation allocation with a serious level of scrutiny when a use limit is implemented. Despite the controversy that recreation allocation decisions can generate, research-based guidance to inform decisions of recreation allocation is limited and has not been summarized to date. To support recreation allocation decision-making, as well as future research on the topic, we conducted a systematic review of visitor perceptions, preferences, and behaviors related to recreation allocation, including both allotment (allocation between groups) and rationing (allocation within groups). Using a PRISMA framework and a population, intervention, comparison, and outcomes search strategy, this review includes a systematic search of the recreation research literature and an analysis of fifty-two research items meeting the search criteria. Primary conclusions of this review include: (1) certain rationing strategies tend to favor certain groups, (2) preferences are often heterogeneous across user groups, (3) perspectives on rationing mechanisms are strongly influenced by perceived fairness—regardless of the mechanism, (4) willingness to accept a rationing strategy is contingent on the perceived chance of successfully accessing the resource, and (5) much of the research on recreation allocation is significantly dated relative to advancements in technology and recreation participation.

  • Armatas, Martin, Watson, Rice. 2025. International Wilderness in the Twenty-First Century: A Global Review. Wilderness Management (book). Stewardship and Protection of Resources and Values. Eds: Chad P. Dawson, John C. Hendee. 2025.
  • Sean Parks. 2025. Fire in wilderness ecosystems (book chapter in 'Wilderness Management'). Wilderness Management (book). Stewardship and Protection of Resources and Values. Eds: Chad P. Dawson, John C. Hendee. 2025.
  • Jessika R. Mc Farland, Jonathan D. Coop, Jared A. Balik, Kyle C. Rodman, Sean A. Parks, Camille S. Stevens-Rumann. 2025. Extreme fire spread events burn more severely and homogenize post-fire landscapes in the southwestern United States. Global Change Biology.
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    View Abstract for Extreme fire spread events burn more severely and homogenize post-fire landscapes in the southwestern United States

    Abstract for McFarland, J. R.; Coop, J. D.; Balik, J. A.; Rodman, K. C.; Parks, S.; Stevens-Rumann, C. S. (2025). Extreme fire spread events burn more severely and homogenize post-fire landscapes in the southwestern United States

    Extreme fire spread events rapidly burn large areas with disproportionate impacts on people and ecosystems. Such events are associated with warmer and drier fire seasons and are expected to increase in the future. Our understanding of the landscape outcomes of extreme events is limited, particularly regarding whether they burn more severely or produce spatial patterns less conducive to ecosystem recovery. To assess relationships between fire spread rates and landscape burn severity patterns, we used satellite fire detections to create day-of-burning maps for 623 fires comprising 4267 single-day events within forested ecoregions of the southwestern United States. We related satellite-measured burn severity and a suite of high-severity patch metrics to daily area burned. Extreme fire spread events (defined here as burning >?4900?ha/day) exhibited higher mean burn severity, a greater proportion of area burned severely, and increased like adjacencies between high-severity pixels. Furthermore, increasing daily area burned also resulted in greater distances within high-severity patches to live tree seed sources. High-severity patch size and total high-severity core area were substantially higher for fires containing one or more extreme spread events than for fires without an extreme event. Larger and more homogenous high-severity patches produced during extreme events can limit tree regeneration and set the stage for protracted forest conversion. These landscape outcomes are expected to be magnified under future climate scenarios, accelerating fire-driven forest loss and long-term ecological change.

  • S.A.Parks, C.H.Guiterman, E.Q.Margolis, M.Lonergan, E. Whitman, J.T. Abatzoglou, D.A. Falk, J.D. Johnston, L.D. Daniels, C.W. Lafon, R.A. Loehman, K.F. Kipfmueller, C.E. Naficy, M.A. Parisien, J.Portier, M.C. Stambaugh, A.P.Williams, A.P. Wion, L.L. Yocom. 2025. A fire deficit persists across diverse North American forests despite recent increases in area burned. Nature Communications.
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    View Abstract for A fire deficit persists across diverse North American forests despite recent increases in area burned

    Abstract for Parks, S.; Guiterman, C.; Margolis, E.; Lonergan, M.; Whitman, E.; Abatzoglou, J. T.; Falk, D.; Johnston, J.; Daniels, L.; Lafon, C.; Loehman, R.; Kipfmueller, K.; Naficy, C. E.; Parisien, M. -.; Portier, J.; Stambaugh, M.; Williams, A. P.; Wion, A.; Yocom, L. (2025). A fire deficit persists across diverse North American forests despite recent increases in area burned

    Rapid increases in wildfire area burned across North American forests pose novel challenges for managers and society. Increasing area burned raises questions about whether, and to what degree, contemporary fire regimes (1984–2022) are still departed from historical fire regimes (pre-1880). We use the North American tree-ring fire-scar network (NAFSN), a multi-century record comprising >1800 fire-scar sites spanning diverse forest types, and contemporary fire perimeters to ask whether there is a contemporary fire surplus or fire deficit, and whether recent fire years are unprecedented relative to historical fire regimes. Our results indicate, despite increasing area burned in recent decades, that a widespread fire deficit persists across a range of forest types and recent years with exceptionally high area burned are not unprecedented when considering the multi-century perspective offered by fire-scarred trees. For example, ‘record’ contemporary fire years such as 2020 burned 6% of NAFSN sites—the historical average—well below the historical maximum of 29% sites that burned in 1748. Although contemporary fire extent is not unprecedented across many North American forests, there is abundant evidence that unprecedented contemporary fire severity is driving forest loss in many ecosystems and adversely impacting human lives, infrastructure, and water supplies.

  • Redmore, L., Rushing, J., Armatas, C., Wright, V., & Helmy, O. 2025. Examining and strengthening the role of science in wilderness decision-making. Park Stewardship Forum.
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    Abstract for Redmore, L.; Rushing, J.; Armatas, C.; Wright, V.; Helmy, O. (2025). Examining and strengthening the role of science in wilderness decision-making

    Public land management decisions rely on science but there is a disconnect between research and practical application; this is referred to as the research–management gap. Within the context of the United States (US) National Wilderness Preservation System, this gap has implications across 111 million acres of land managed by four federal agencies. To better understand how to bridge research with management within the US wilderness context, we conducted facilitated conversations with 68 wilderness managers using interactive virtual whiteboards to guide conversations around decision contexts, the role of science in wilderness management decision-making, and opportunities to improve the use of science in wilderness management. We found that wilderness managers operate within four main decision contexts (operational, relational, informational, and policy), and that they rely on a variety of sources of information, with science as one of many sources, to guide management action and decisions, both directly and indirectly. Bridging the research–management gap requires a two-tiered approach: (1) bottom-up, working with local managers to develop, apply, and interpret relevant science in a co-produced manner; and (2) top-down, working with agency and wilderness leaders to champion the integration of research into policy and management directives. Better working relationships between managers and scientists could improve the adoption of science in wilderness management as well as improve how scientists understand the range of competing policies, programs, and priorities that guide wilderness managers.

  • Clarita Lefthand-Begay, Lauren Redmore, Christopher Armatas, Jesse Brisbois, Kunsang Choden, Dara Craig, Angelo Baca, Jaime Martin, Michael Ross, Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, Alfred Lomahquahu & Monte Mills. 2025. From paternalism to self-determination: Examining evolving Tribal-federal relationships and co-management arrangements through three case studies. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
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    View Abstract for From paternalism to self-determination: Examining evolving Tribal-federal relationships and co-management arrangements through three case studies

    Abstract for Lefthand-Begay, C.; Redmore, L.; Armatas, C.; Brisbois, J.; Choden, K.; Craig, D.; Baca, A.; Martin, J.; Ross, M.; Lopez-Whiteskunk, R.; Lomahquahu, A.; Mills, M. (2025). From paternalism to self-determination: Examining evolving Tribal-federal relationships and co-management arrangements through three case studies

    As governments around the world seek to develop and implement co-management practices with Indigenous peoples and local communities, there are many questions about how to foster collaborative and just agreements that support self-determination. Despite policy advancements enabling more co-management and shared stewardship within the United States (U.S.), possibilities for co-management are complicated by historical injustices that have hindered Tribal access to ancestral land and cultural practices. We use a multiple case study approach, examining three case studies from the Western U.S. that illustrate challenges facing Tribes and interventions used to improve land management relationships. The first case study focuses on the relationship between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the U.S. government and highlights that historical injustices continue to affect Tribal land management. The second case study explores the collaborative management of Bears Ears National Monument, showcasing a decolonized approach endorsed by Tribes seeking to reclaim their inherent rights to the land. The third case study examines the Snoqualmie Tribe as an example of a sovereign Tribe embodying the concept of “Land Back.” Tribes have utilized strategies, such as co-management, coalition building, and land reacquisition, to maintain control over lands important to their populations. These strategies promote power-sharing, resource distribution, trust-building, and the integration of Indigenous knowledge with Western science. Nonetheless, failure to recognize and account for the weight of broken treaties, discriminatory laws and policies, and the historical trauma caused by these injustices emphasizes the importance of understanding the dynamics surrounding Tribal land management. As government-led land management paradigms around the world shift to consider self-determination of Indigenous nations and communities as a critical piece of improved stewardship, decision makers have many historically-informed dynamics to consider when shaping future co-management practices. KEYWORDS: co-management, Indigenous, “Land Back”, stewardship, Tribes, and sovereignty.

  • E. Margolis, A. Wion, J. Abatzoglou, L. Daniels, D. Falk, C. Guiterman, J. Johnston, K. Kipfmueller, C. Lafon, R. Loehman, M. Lonergan, C. Naficy, M.A. Parisien, S. Parks, J. Portier, M. Stambaugh, E. Whitman, A. Park Williams, L. Yocom. 2025. Spatiotemporal synchrony of climate and fire occurrence across North America forests (1750-1880). Global Ecology and Biogeography.
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    View Abstract for Spatiotemporal synchrony of climate and fire occurrence across North America forests (1750-1880)

    Abstract for Margolis, E.; Wion, A.; Abatzoglou, J. T.; Daniels, L.; Falk, D.; Guiterman, C.; Johnston, J.; Kipfmueller, K.; Lafon, C.; Lonergan, M.; Naficy, C. E.; Parisien, M. -.; Parks, S.; Portier, J.; Stambaugh, M.; Whitman, E.; Williams, A. P.; Yocom, L. (2025). Spatiotemporal synchrony of climate and fire occurrence across North America forests (1750-1880)

    Aim Increasing aridity has driven widespread synchronous fire occurrence in recent decades across North America. The lack of historical (pre-1880) fire records limits our ability to understand long-term continental fire-climate dynamics. The goal of this study is to use tree-ring reconstructions to determine the relationships between spatiotemporal patterns in historical climate and widespread fire occurrence in North American forests, and whether they are stable through time. This information will address a major knowledge gap required to inform projections of future fire. Location North American Forests. Time Period 1750–1880?CE. Major Taxa Studied Trees. Methods We applied regionalisation methods to tree-ring reconstructions of historical summer soil moisture and annual fire occurrence to independently identify broad- and fine-scale climate and fire regions based on common inter-annual variability. We then tested whether the regions were stable through time and for spatial correspondence between the climate and fire regions. Last, we used correlation analysis to quantify the strength of the fire-climate associations through time. Results We found that broad-scale historical patterns in climate and fire have strong spatial coherence. Although climate and fire regions vary over time, large core areas of the regions were stable. The association between climate and fire varied through time and was strongest in western North America, likely due to a combination of factors, such as the magnitude of drought frequency and severity, as well as varying use of fire by human communities. Main Conclusions The historical perspective gained through tree-ring reconstructions of climate and fire patterns and their association suggests that climate-driven synchrony of fire across large areas of the continent in recent decades is not unprecedented, will likely continue into the future, and may exhibit similar spatial patterns.

  • Redmore, Lauren, Jaclyn Fox Rushing, and Kellie Carim. "Comparative case study to identify opportunities to strengthen federal-tribal shared stewardship of Wild and Scenic Rivers." Missoula, MT: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. 12 p. (2025).
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    Abstract for Redmore , L., J. F. Rushing, K. J. Carim (2025). Comparing case studies to identify opportunities to strengthen federal-Tribal shared stewardship of Wild and Scenic Rivers

    In recent years, the U.S. Federal government has advanced shared stewardship (see Study Background for definition) of Federal lands with American Indian Tribes across land management agencies. Yet little is understood about how these efforts are carried out in the context of Wild and Scenic Rivers (WSRs). The WSRs are managed across four Federal land management agencies: the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Rivers designated under the WSR Act are managed to protect their free-flowing, undammed quality, along with Outstandingly Remarkable Values (ORVs). The ORVs are rare, unique, or exemplary features at a regional or national scale and are categorized as scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values. These values are identified in the enabling legislation at the time of designation or in the Comprehensive River Management Plan (CRMP), which outlines management of the river designation (USDA 2020). To better understand what leads to successful Federal-Tribal WSR shared stewardship, we interviewed WSR staff and Tribes to build a comparative case study between two rivers managed by the Forest Service: the Eleven Point WSR in Missouri and the Fossil Creek WSR in Arizona. We conducted one-on-one interviews with key Forest Service representatives across both rivers (n=14) and one group interview on Fossil Creek with three Yavapai-Apache (YAN) Tribal representatives to identify and examine key perspectives of shared stewardship. Interviews revealed that historical context remains foundational to Federal-Tribal relationships, especially regarding the continued impacts of forced removal and relocation of the Tribes. However, Tribes retained strong connections to their homelands, and Federal government representatives leveraged the WSR designation to develop innovative approaches to protect those connections. Mutual respect was required to implement shared stewardship, and was built through early, frequent, and clear communication and commitment to relationship building. Efforts by Forest Service representatives to meet Tribal representatives at their desired times and locations was critical for this relationship building. In both cases, a confluence of natural resource-related issues on Federal lands, including those impacting the WSR ORVs, led Federal and Tribal leaders to collaboratively initiate shared stewardship efforts for the WSR. Flexible deadlines combined with proactive management of WSRs also enabled Tribal representatives to respond to requests for comment and to develop a shared vision alongside Forest Service representatives (fig. 1). Shared stewardship outcomes varied and included the formalization of work agreements and management plans, increased Tribal access to customary lands, shared resource monitoring, and reinforced lines of communication between governments. We identified several opportunities to build Federal capacity for engaging in WSR shared stewardship with Tribes, including those that are most immediately actionable (short-term), and those that may take longer to implement (mediumand long-term) (table 1).

  • Christopher A. Armatas, Teresa N. Hollingsworth, Caspen Black & Jason J. Taylor. 2024. Reflecting on the co-production ideal through practice. Socio-Ecological Practice Research.
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    Abstract for Armatas, C.; Hollingsworth, T.; Black, C.; Taylor, J. (2024). Reflecting on the co-production ideal through practice

    Co-production, or integrating a range of perspectives from researchers and non-researchers into the knowledge development process, is considered valuable for increasing the potential that scientific results will be applied by practitioners. While the literature around co-production often touts the benefits of such work, there is less focus on the potential costs of co-production, and discussions often lack nuance about the specific meaning of co-production in a particular context. In this perspective essay, we use an example co-production process focused on the development of a science agenda for a federal research program to consider the ideal of co-production. Specifically, we reflect on the appropriate level of non-researcher involvement throughout the full cycle of research, and position our process within the diverse range of existing co-production approaches. We suggest that the ideal of co-production is not necessarily one that integrates the maximum amount of non-research involvement throughout the full cycle of research at all costs, but one that focuses on mitigating the research-management gap while limiting the risks to those involved.

  • Armatas, Christopher A., Teresa N. Hollingsworth, Caspen Black, and Jason J. Taylor. 2024. Co-production as an ideal and a practice: Reflections from engaging diverse partners in science planning. Socio-Ecological Practice Research.
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    Abstract for Armatas, C.; Hollingsworth, T.; Black, C.; Taylor, J. (2024). Co-production as an ideal and a practice: Reflections from engaging diverse partners in science planning

    Co-production, or integrating a range of perspectives from researchers and non-researchers into the knowledge development process, is considered valuable for increasing the potential that scientific results will be applied by practitioners. While the literature around co-production often touts the benefits of such work, there is less focus on the potential costs of co-production, and discussions often lack nuance about the specific meaning of co-production in a particular context. In this perspective essay, we use an example co-production process focused on the development of a science agenda for a federal research program to consider the ideal of co-production. Specifically, we reflect on the appropriate level of non-researcher involvement throughout the full cycle of research, and position our process within the diverse range of existing co-production approaches. We suggest that the ideal of co-production is not necessarily one that integrates the maximum amount of non-research involvement throughout the full cycle of research at all costs, but one that focuses on mitigating the research-management gap while limiting the risks to those involved.

  • Kellie J. Carim ,Grace Auringer,Margaret F. Docker,Claude B. Renaud,Benjamin J. Clemens,Monica R. Blanchard,Christina Parker,Michael K. Young. 2024. Species diversity in the new lamprey genus Occidentis, formerly classified as western North American `Lampetra'. PLoS One (Public Library of Science).
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    Abstract for Carim, K.; Auringer, G.; Docker, M. F.; Renaud, C. B.; Clemens, B.; Blanchard, M.; Parker, C.; Young, M. K. (2024). Species diversity in the new lamprey genus Occidentis, formerly classified as western North American `Lampetra'

    Accurate taxonomy is fundamental to the study and conservation of biodiversity. Because of their morphological similarities, most brook and river lampreys in western North America have been placed in the genus Lampetra along with lampreys from Eurasia and eastern North America. However, molecular-based phylogenetic studies dating back several decades indicate that lampreys from Pacific drainages are genetically distinct from Atlantic Lampetra. Reviewing previous phylogenetic analysis of two mitochondrial and two nuclear genes for Northern Hemisphere lampreys, we assign these western North American brook and river lampreys to a new genus, Occidentis. To assess species diversity within Occidentis, we performed a species delimitation analysis using all publicly available cytochrome b sequences of the genus. Similar to previous studies, O. ayresii and O. richardsoni were not reciprocally monophyletic and are best categorized as life history variants of a single species. In addition to O. pacifica, O. hubbsi, and the diverse O. ayresii species complex, as many as seven undescribed candidate species from Oregon and California were identified, supporting results from previous studies with more geographically limited datasets. One specimen from Paynes Creek, California, was identified as a candidate species, although this single individual showed minimal interspecific divergence (1.34%) with O. hubbsi. Further genetic assessment along with information on morphology and phylogeography is needed to determine whether the variation observed between groups of candidate species represents distinct species or divergent lineages within a species complex. Additional sampling will inform whether there are additional species not currently represented in this dataset. Thus, the number of species formally recognized under Occidentis is subject to change with new information. Systematic assessment of the distribution and phylogenetic complexity within Occidentis will enhance our understanding of its evolutionary history and taxonomic diversity, which will guide efforts to conserve the biodiversity of lampreys.

  • Sophia Winkler-Schor, Harold N. Eyster, Diele Lobo, Lauren Redmore, Andrew J. Wright, Victoria M. Lukasik, Wendy Chávez-Páez, Brooke Tully, Sarah Beard, Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill, Catherine Christen, Zoe Nyssa. 2024. Enhancing disciplinary diversity and inclusion in conservation science and practice based on a case study of the Society for Conservation Biology. Conservation Biology.
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    Abstract for Winkler-Schor, S.; Eyster, H. N.; Lobo, D.; Redmore, L.; Wright, A.; Lukasik, V.; Chávez-Páez, W.; Tully, B.; Beard, S.; Blount-Hill, K. -.; Christen, C.; Nyssa, Z. (2024). Enhancing disciplinary diversity and inclusion in conservation science and practice based on a case study of the Society for Conservation Biology

    Effective conservation requires a variety of perspectives that center on different ways of knowing. Disciplinary diversity and inclusion (DDI) offers an important means of integrating different ways of knowing into pressing conservation challenges. However, DDI means more than multiple disciplinary approaches to conservation; cognitive diversity and epistemic justice are key. In 2020, the Disciplinary Inclusion Task Force was formed via a grassroots movement of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) to assess the extent of DDI and to chart a path to increase DDI. First, we assessed past and present SCB governance documents. Next, we surveyed current SCB members (n = 577). Finally, we surveyed nonmember conservationists (n = 213). Members who were not biological scientists perceived SCB as less diverse (21.4% vs. 16%) and not equitable (21.8% vs. 161%), and, although the majority (44) of nonmembers reported that their work aligned reasonably well with the mission of the SCB, they thought the organization focused on biological sciences. Despite SCB\'s mission to be diverse and inclusive, realizing this mission will likely require diverse epistemological perspectives and shifting from top-down models of knowledge transfer. In centering on DDI, SCB can achieve its aspirations of connecting members across disciplines and ways of knowing to foster diverse perspectives and practices. We recommend that SCB and other organizations develop mechanisms to increase recruitment and retention of diverse members and leadership as well as expand strategic partnerships to flatten disciplinary hierarchies and promote inclusivity.

  • Ryan Brzozowski, Sean M. Mahoney, Hendrik J. Combrink, Kira L. Hefty, Bret Pasch. 2024. Impact of forest management on the communication distance of an endangered tree squirrel. Journal of Wildlife Management.
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    Abstract for Brzozowski, R.; Mahoney, S. M.; Combrink, H. J.; Hefty, K.; Pasch, B. (2024). Impact of forest management on the communication distance of an endangered tree squirrel

    Long-distance acoustic signals mediate important social interactions between animals, and the structure of the environment can influence sound transmission to affect communication distance. Anthropogenic disturbances such as fire suppression alter forest structure and can potentially affect acoustic interactions by altering sound attenuation patterns. In the spruce-fir and mixed-conifer forests of the Pinaleño Mountains, Arizona, USA, that harbor endangered Mount Graham red squirrels (Tamiasciurus fremonti grahamensis), numerous historical anthropogenic disturbances have altered forest characteristics and contributed to habitat degradation and loss. In this study, we assessed how recent forest management treatments influenced the attenuation of red squirrel territorial rattle vocalizations. In June 2023–August 2023, we broadcast and recorded rattles 5.4?m above the forest floor at various distances (1, 10, 20, and 40?m) to mimic hypothetical senders and receivers. We used on-the-ground measurements and lidar to quantify forest structure relative to patterns of sound attenuation in 3 treatments: thinning, understory fuel reduction, and untreated control plots. Across all treatments, we found that increasing tree basal area resulted in higher attenuation, with rattles being approximately 6?dB lower in amplitude in the most dense compared to the least dense plots, equivalent to a doubling in squirrel communication distance. Additionally, rattles on untreated control plots experienced more attenuation than thinned (~3?dB) and fuel-reduced (~1.5?dB) plots. A lidar-derived measure of canopy structure was a better predictor of rattle attenuation than lower resolution on-the-ground measurements. In the short-term, forest thinning may facilitate development of acoustic social neighborhoods that increase squirrel fitness, though alternative costs of more open forests exist. More generally, our results indicate that forest management can affect the efficacy of acoustic communication and that integration of signaling and sensory ecology with remote sensing can inform wildlife conservation.

  • Christopher A. Armatas, William T. Borrie. 2024. A pragmatist ecological economics - Normative foundations and a framework for actionable knowledge. Ecological Applications.
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    Abstract for Armatas, C.; Borrie, W. T. (2024). A pragmatist ecological economics - Normative foundations and a framework for actionable knowledge

    Ecological economics envisions problem-solving collaborative efforts characterized by disciplinary diversity and participants within and outside of research professions. Pursuit of its ambitious vision has led to ambiguity in terms of ecological economics\' paradigms, methodology, and subject matter. There remains a need for comprehensive methodologies and for nuanced discussions of methodological pluralism and action-oriented research practice. We present a pragmatist ecological economics as one foundation to practicing ecological economics. We synthesize the basic normative assumptions of a pragmatist philosophy with the foundational goals of ecological economics. This synthesis provides potential researchers with foundations including a basic scientific worldview, a topical focus on a quasi-distinct portion of human-nature relationships, two broad burning questions, a basic menu of methods, and action-oriented goals for applying ecological economics in practice. Methodological pluralism is embraced, and conflicting normative assumptions are reconciled with the recognition that singular inquiries provide incomplete or partial knowledge, not competing knowledge. By integrating into applied contexts, in large part by building relationships with practitioners and the diverse publics, we suggest that there is opportunity to co-develop processes and forums that at least can help us understand one another better on our collective effort toward sustainability.

  • David M. Theobald, Alexander V. Kumar, Kevin Doherty, Katherine A. Zeller, Todd B. Cross. 2024. Well-connected core areas retain ecological integrity of sagebrush ecosystems amidst overall declines from 2001-2021. Rangeland Ecology and Management.
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    Abstract for Theobald, D. M.; Kumar, A. V.; Doherty, K.; Zeller, K.; Cross, T. B. (2024). Well-connected core areas retain ecological integrity of sagebrush ecosystems amidst overall declines from 2001-2021

    Conservation of species’ mobility and ecological integrity is necessary for the productivity of the sagebrush biome in the western United States. Building on the recently developed Sagebrush Conservation Design (SCD) that mapped sagebrush ecological integrity (SEI)—defined as the higher cover of sagebrush and perennial grass and reduced threats due to invasive annual grass, tree encroachment, and human disturbance—we modeled the structural connectivity of sagebrush ecosystems to better incorporate the role of landscape-level processes into assessments of integrity. Because integrity can vary spatially, as well as temporally, we quantified both interannual variability and trends in variability in SEI from 2001–2021. We used the resultant map to identify areas with high structural landscape connectivity (i.e., “well-connected cores”), then determined the coincident core sagebrush areas (CSAs) that represent functioning sagebrush ecosystem with few landscape threats, and growth opportunity areas (GOAs) that represent functioning systems impacted by one or more threats as originally defined and mapped in the SCD. We found that CSAs were located in areas with higher landscape connectivity, and the biome-wide average of SEI declined by 30% from 2001 to 2021, although the structural connectivity biome-wide declined one-third less (by 20%). CSAs located in areas with high connectivity had 25% higher SEI values on average than those with low connectivity, and the trend in declining SEI values was slower. Our datasets of landscape connectivity can be combined with other SCD products to provide a broader ecosystem context—both spatially and temporally. Our results can be used to inform, refine, focus, and prioritize conservation and management efforts to those CSAs and GOAs we identified as particularly well connected and which may be more resilient to recently altered dynamics and declines—those that will serve to anchor efforts to conserve the sagebrush biome in light of changing land use and climate.

  • Emma J. Mc Clure, Jonathan D. Coop, Christopher H. Guiterman, Ellis Q. Margolis & Sean A. Parks. 2024. Contemporary fires are less frequent but more severe in dry conifer forests of the southwestern United States. Communications Earth and Environment.
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    Abstract for McClure, E.; Coop, J. D.; Guiterman, C.; Margolis, E.; Parks, S. (2024). Contemporary fires are less frequent but more severe in dry conifer forests of the southwestern United States

    Wildfires in the southwestern United States are increasingly frequent and severe, but whether these trends exceed historical norms remains contested. Here we combine dendroecological records, satellite-derived burn severity, and field measured tree mortality to compare historical (1700-1880) and contemporary (1985-2020) fire regimes at tree-ring fire-scar sites in Arizona and New Mexico. We found that contemporary fire frequency, including recent, record fire years, is still <20% of historical levels. Since 1985, the fire return interval averages 58.8 years, compared to 11.4 years before 1880. Fire severity, however, has increased. At sites where trees historically survived many fires over centuries, 42% of recent fires resulted in high tree mortality. Suppressed wildfires tended to burn more severely than prescribed burns and wildfires managed for resource benefit. These findings suggest that expanded use of low-severity prescribed and managed fire would help restore forest resilience and historical fire regimes in dry conifer forests.

  • Kira L. Hefty, Jeffrey K. Gillan, Jena Trejo & John L. Koprowski. 2024. Effectiveness of pre-fire forest treatments on post-fire forest condition and resilience. Fire Ecology.
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    Abstract for Hefty, K.; Gillan, J. K.; Trejo, J.; Koprowski, J. L. (2024). Effectiveness of pre-fire forest treatments on post-fire forest condition and resilience

    Background Western forests in the United States are facing multiple threats that have the potential to permanently alter forest composition and structure. In particular, wildfire can either have beneficial or adverse effects on overall forest health and resilience. Monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of existing forest treatment plans for meeting forest management goals is becoming more critical to increase the capacity for managers to prepare for and accommodate uncertainty associated with changing disturbance regimes. We used a combination of fine-scale vegetation and microclimate surveys on 57 plots, active remotely sensed data (light detection and ranging: LiDAR), and high-resolution satellite imagery to evaluate the effectiveness of an existing management strategy to increase disturbance resistance and resilience of an isolated mixed-conifer forest following a recent large-scale wildfire in southeastern Arizona, USA. We specifically assessed the effectiveness of forest overstory live tree thinning treatments (silviculture) as well as understory fuel reduction treatments (fuel) for influencing post-fire abiotic and biotic conditions, reducing direct post-fire tree mortality, and increasing resilience as compared to untreated forest stands. Results We found that forest silviculture and fuel reduction treatments implemented prior to a large wildfire had mixed results on post-fire fine-scale vegetation composition and structure, microclimate conditions, tree mortality, and tree resilience. Fine-scale vegetation characteristics within silviculture- and fuel-treated forest units displayed higher herbaceous diversity and decreased density of new tree snags as compared to untreated units post-fire. Relevant to seedling emergence, we found that variance in spring soil moisture content was lower overall in treated units; however, units that received overstory thinning (silviculture) treatments were also associated with higher average summer high soil temperatures as compared to untreated units. Additionally, direct tree mortality and rate of recovery of trees post-fire differed between two treatment types (silviculture and fuel reduction) when compared to untreated units and among contrasting levels of burn severity. Post-fire tree mortality and tree resilience did not differ between control and silviculture units; however, these characteristics did differ between control and fuel units. Unlike control units, probability of tree mortality changed little between burn severity categories in fuel treatments (53.4% of mortality occurring in unburned/low vs. 46.7% in moderate/high severity) and resilience increased an average of 2.04% for trees from unburned/low to moderate/high-severity burn categories. Conclusions Our methodology could be applied to any forested system experiencing increasing intensity and frequency of wildfire. Our results indicate that post-fire forest conditions and resilience are influenced by forest management strategies, particularly fuel reduction treatments. To accommodate uncertainty associated with changing disturbance regimes and climate change, implementing post-fire and post-treatment assessments and monitoring as presented in this study will be essential for developing attainable goals and for maintaining desired forest conditions.

  • Lauren Redmore. 2024. Understanding human-elephant interactions across time is key to illuminate pathways towards coexistence. Ecology and Society.
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    Abstract for Redmore, L. (2024). Understanding human-elephant interactions across time is key to illuminate pathways towards coexistence

    Research on human-elephant interactions (HEI) seeks to better understand relationships between people and elephants with the goal of reducing unwanted interactions for the long-term survival of elephants in social-ecological systems. Many examinations of HEI often rely on a short temporal scale of several seasons to several years, often because of limited data availability across time. These examinations offer limited understanding of processes that influence HEI and mutual adaptations of people and elephants. In this synthesis, I present an ethnographic case study from the Okavango Delta, Botswana, where human and elephant populations have increased in the past 20 years. I use bricolage, a practice of using available materials at hand, to weave together diverse historical and current scholarship and primary data to understand dynamics of HEI and coadaptation across three different periods (pre-colonial, colonial, and post-independence). I show that people and elephants were coadapted in the pre-colonial period when people were highly mobile and hunted elephants with rudimentary technologies in ways that supported human development across southern Africa with minimal impact on elephants. European colonization brought sweeping changes, including through the introduction of guns and the development of the ivory trade that led to massive declines in elephant populations. Development policies that were magnified in the years following independence, including the establishment of land policies that settled communities, additionally disrupted the formally fluid nature of HEI. Simultaneously, wildlife conservation policies that coincided with dramatic increases in elephant populations shape how people perceive HEI and elephants as a predominant environmental force today. I argue that the incorporation of wider historical contexts, where necessary through the practice of bricolage, reveals coadaptation across time and offers understanding of possibilities of coexistence where people and elephants thrive alongside each other.

  • X. Walker, S.Hart, W.D. Hansen, M.Jean, C. Brown, F.S. Chapin III, R. Hewitt, T.N. Hollingsworth, M.C. Mack, J.F. Johnstone. 2024. Factors limiting the potential range expansion of lodgepole pine in Interior Alaska. Ecological Applications.
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    Abstract for Walker, X. J.; Hart, S.; Hansen, W. D.; Jean, M.; Brown, C. D.; Chapin, F. S. I.; Hewitt, R. E.; Hollingsworth, T.; Mack, M. C.; Johnstone, J. F. (2024). Factors limiting the potential range expansion of lodgepole pine in Interior Alaska

    Understanding the factors influencing species range limits is increasingly crucial in anticipating migrations due to human-caused climate change. In the boreal biome, ongoing climate change and the associated increases in the rate, size, and severity of disturbances may alter the distributions of boreal tree species. Notably, Interior Alaska lacks native pine, a biogeographical anomaly that carries implications for ecosystem structure and function. The current range of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) in the adjacent Yukon Territory may expand into Interior Alaska, particularly with human assistance. Evaluating the potential for pine expansion in Alaska requires testing constraints on range limits such as dispersal limitations, environmental tolerance limits, and positive or negative biotic interactions. In this study, we used field experiments with pine seeds and transplanted seedlings, complemented by model simulations, to assess the abiotic and biotic factors influencing lodgepole pine seedling establishment and growth after fire in Interior Alaska. We found that pine could successfully recruit, survive, grow, and reproduce across our broadly distributed network of experimental sites. Our results show that both mammalian herbivory and competition from native tree species are unlikely to constrain pine growth and that environmental conditions commonly found in Interior Alaska fall well within the tolerance limits for pine. If dispersal constraints are released, lodgepole pine could have a geographically expansive range in Alaska, and once established, its growth is sufficient to support pine-dominated stands. Given the impacts of lodgepole pine on ecosystem processes such as increases in timber production, carbon sequestration, landscape flammability, and reduced forage quality, natural or human-assisted migration of this species is likely to substantially alter responses of Alaskan forest ecosystems to climate change.

  • Elmore, J. W., T. M. Wilcox, M. K. Young, S. M. Kopp, K. J. Carim, D. H. Mason, T. W. Franklin, M. K. Schwartz. 2024. The riverscape on a chip: High-throughput qPCR enables basin-wide fishery assessments. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatics Sciences.
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    Abstract for Elmore, J.; Wilcox, T.; Young, M. K.; Kopp, S.; Carim, K.; Mason, D. H.; Franklin, T. W.; Schwartz, M. K. (2024). The riverscape on a chip: High-throughput qPCR enables basin-wide fishery assessments

    To achieve reliable detection of environmental DNA (eDNA) from multiple species, a method which combines the specificity of single-taxon assays with the broad taxonomic coverage of metabarcoding is needed. High-throughput quantitative PCR (HT-qPCR) has emerged as one such method that holds particular promise for ecological applications. Here, we present the development and validation of a HT-qPCR biochip (i.e., biochip) protocol for a suite of western North American fishes with high cultural, economic, and ecological significance. Coupling this biochip with systematically distributed eDNA samples collected by citizen scientists, we evaluated the distribution of multiple species throughout a large river basin in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Patterns of detection using the biochip were comparable to those using single-taxon qPCR (ST-qPCR; mean concordance = 0.917), despite the biochip using 90% less DNA per taxon and reducing costs by an estimated 40%. Comparisons between biochip results and distributions derived from conventional methods demonstrate that this approach not only offers more reliable and high-resolution distribution data for these species but also achieves this more efficiently than traditional sampling methods.

  • Clare E. Boerigter, Sean A. Parks, Jonathan W. Long, Jonathan D. Coop, Melanie Armstrong & Don L. Hankins. 2024. Untrammeling the wilderness: restoring natural conditions through the return of human-ignited fire. Fire Ecology.
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    Abstract for Boerigter, C.; Parks, S.; Long, J.; Coop, J. D.; Armstrong, M.; Hankins, D. L. (2024). Untrammeling the wilderness: restoring natural conditions through the return of human-ignited fire

    Historical and contemporary policies and practices, including the suppression of lightning-ignited fires and the removal of intentional fires ignited by Indigenous peoples, have resulted in over a century of fire exclusion across many of the USA’s landscapes. Within many designated wilderness areas, this intentional exclusion of fire has clearly altered ecological processes and thus constitutes a fundamental and ubiquitous act of trammeling. Through a framework that recognizes four orders of trammeling, we demonstrate the substantial, long-term, and negative effects of fire exclusion on the natural conditions of fire-adapted wilderness ecosystems. In order to untrammel more than a century of fire exclusion, the implementation of active programs of intentional burning may be necessary across some wilderness landscapes. We also suggest greater recognition and accommodation of Indigenous cultural burning, a practice which Tribes used to shape and maintain many fire-adapted landscapes for thousands of years before Euro-American colonization, including landscapes today designated as wilderness. Human-ignited fire may be critical to restoring the natural character of fire-adapted wilderness landscapes and can also support ecocultural restoration efforts sought by Indigenous peoples.

  • Lauren Redmore. 2024. Flooded: Development, Democracy and Brazil's Belo Monte Dam. Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews.
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    Abstract for Lauren Redmore, Klein, P. T. (2022). (2024). Flooded: Development, Democracy and Brazil's Belo Monte Dam (A Review)

    Stakeholders and rights-holders around the world are increasingly calling on the private sector and governments to ensure that development projects respond to and respect their needs, while advancing multiple goals of job creation, rural development, conservation, and more. Yet how projects meet diverse needs and goals is underexamined, in particular as private companies’ and governments’ needs and goals do not necessarily align with those of the people who will be affected by them. Additionally, the stakes may be particularly high in a world affected by climate change, where “green energy” projects promise to advance global decarbonization goals, potentially at the expense of local communities and environments. In a democracy, how do “green energy” development projects (mis)align with the interests of multiple and diverse stakeholders, and what are the outcomes of those (mis)alignments? Peter Taylor Klein\'s 2022 book Flooded: Development, Democracy, and Brazil\'s Belo Monte Dam offers a rare glimpse into the inner messy mechanisms of democracy at work in the process of bringing to life Brazil\'s Belo Monte Dam, the fourth-largest dam in the world. Through an ethnographic look across half a decade of fieldwork (2013 through 2017), Klein interrogates the challenges and opportunities of participatory governance toward shaping on-the-ground project outcomes. In addition, Klein\'s work brings to light the dynamic social processes at work behind the scenes, often driven by key players in Indigenous and rural community activism, environmental conservation, and development. Klein’s ethnographic fieldwork began shortly after the start of construction and follows key activists and agents as they navigate the processes of democracy at work around the politics and practices of dam construction, including community relocation, group dynamics within participatory spaces, government-civil society-private sector relationships, and more. What emerges from Klein\'s work is a picture of the messiness of democracy in progress, where timelines have no neatly encapsulated beginning or end, only a trajectory toward an evolving goal. While Flooded tells a multifaceted story about the diverse and competing interests involved in advocating for a better dam-building process, Klein\'s ethnography reveals the centrality of historical influences on rural and urban residents’ ability to self-advocate in the dam-building process. Specifically, Klein\'s work highlights that long-standing social and environmental grassroots movements in the region laid the groundwork for activism in conversation with Belo Monte. Yet Flooded reminds readers that grassroots activists are just as likely to have conflicting goals as they are to be aligned. What is powerful in this context is, in fact, the centrality of diverse voices—activism toward a common goal of securing voices for the politically voiceless. No singular story emerges from Klein\'s work, but rather the nuanced nature of relationships between community members, community leaders, activists, advocates, and allies toward the end of democracy-building through the Belo Monte project. Klein\'s work reminds us that all material projects are socially created and reliant, within a democracy, on activism and advocacy to push and pull a project toward one that is more environmentally and socially just. One powerful highlight of Klein\'s work is the invaluable role of women in rural and Indigenous activism, advocacy, and social mobilization as the conditions of the dam are negotiated. Women feature prominently throughout Flooded as vocal leaders for environmental considerations and maintaining cultural lifeways, creating grassroots organizations to give voice to rural and Indigenous communities. Women were also prominent lawyers and government officers, helping marginalized community members navigate bureaucratic processes around land loss and relocation. Klein highlights how these women not only worked within their positions to reduce harm to affected communities, but also found creative ways to work together to mobilize and protect people from the effects of the dam. Their work often put them in danger at the front lines of activism, but they never backed down from their commitment to their causes. Critically, Klein\'s work reminds us about the fraught nature of just energy transitions. The Belo Monte dam was leveraged by proponents as a project to decarbonize a country with growing energy demands. Yet, as many critics of the dam pointed out, site-level impacts of the dam, both social and environmental, were just one consideration—critically, there remain questions about whether large-scale dams offer possibilities for just transition futures at all. Klein\'s in-depth documentation of the complex and sometimes conflicting processes of social mobilization highlights that there is no singular perspective on what a just transition means for residents, and that this is a moving target as on-the-ground social and environmental conditions change. Flooded may offer important lessons for communities and activists around the world as they advance their own visions of a more just future in the face of future climate change and related projects. This book is a useful read for graduate students and professionals in fields such as urban planning and rural development, environmental studies, and political science for consideration of how on-the-ground work surrounding development projects can inform improved social and environmental outcomes. Lessons from this book can be especially useful for current and future professionals working in the field of corporate social responsibility. This is because Klein offers insights into both the challenges of making meaning out of the diversity of interpretations and values ascribed to development projects and the complexity of navigating diverse perspectives in practice. Students of anthropology can glean from this book lessons about ethnographic research methodologies and some of the challenges doing fieldwork in politically charged contexts, including through a tense stand-off between Klein and collaborators hoping to study the processes of dam-making in a pro-dam community. Overall, this book was a quick and informative read and a good reminder that, through theoretically grounded ethnography, it is possible to make meaning out of a complex story.

  • Jazlynn Hall, Manette E. Sandor, Brian J. Harvey, Sean A. Parks, Anna T. Trugman, A. Park Williams, Winslow D. Hansen. 2024. Forest carbon storage in the western United States: distribution, drivers, and trends. Earth's Future.
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    Abstract for Hall, J.; Sandor, M. E.; Harvey, B. J.; Parks, S.; Trugman, A. T.; Williams, A. P.; Hansen, W. D. (2024). Forest carbon storage in the western United States: distribution, drivers, and trends

    Forests are a large carbon sink and could serve as natural climate solutions that help moderate future warming. Thus, establishing forest carbon baselines is essential for tracking climate-mitigation targets. Western US forests are natural climate solution hotspots but are profoundly threatened by drought and altered disturbance regimes. How these factors shape spatial patterns of carbon storage and carbon change over time is poorly resolved. Here, we estimate live and dead forest carbon density in 19 forested western US ecoregions with national inventory data (2005–2019) to determine: (a) current carbon distributions, (b) underpinning drivers, and (c) recent trends. Potential drivers of current carbon included harvest, wildfire, insect and disease, topography, and climate. Using random forests, we evaluated driver importance and relationships with current live and dead carbon within ecoregions. We assessed trends using linear models. Pacific Northwest (PNW) and Southwest (SW) ecoregions were most and least carbon dense, respectively. Climate was an important carbon driver in the SW and Lower Rockies. Fire reduced live and increased dead carbon, and was most important in the Upper Rockies and California. No ecoregion was unaffected by fire. Harvest and private ownership reduced carbon, particularly in the PNW. Since 2005, live carbon declined across much of the western US, likely from drought and fire. Carbon has increased in PNW ecoregions, likely recovering from past harvest, but recent record fire years may alter trajectories. Our results provide insight into western US forest carbon function and future vulnerabilities, which is vital for effective climate change mitigation strategies.

  • Quinn E. Barber, Piyush Jain, Ellen Whitman, Dan K. Thompson, Luc Guindon, Sean A. Parks, Xianli Wang, Matthew G. Hethcoat & Marc-André Parisien. 2024. The Canadian Fire Spread Dataset. Scientific Data.
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    Abstract for Barber, Q.; Jain, P.; Whitman, E.; Thompson, D.; Guindon, L.; Parks, S.; Wang, X.; Hethcoat, M.; Parisien, M. -. (2024). The Canadian Fire Spread Dataset

    Satellite data are effective for mapping wildfires, particularly in remote locations where monitoring is rare. Geolocated fire detections can be used for enhanced fire management and fire modelling through daily fire progression mapping. Here we present the Canadian Fire Spread Dataset (CFSDS), encompassing interpolated progressions for fires >1,000?ha in Canada from 2002–2021, representing the day-of-burning and 50 environmental covariates for every pixel. Day-of-burning was calculated by ordinary kriging of active fire detections from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, enabling a substantial improvement in coverage and resolution over existing datasets. Day of burning at each pixel was used to identify environmental conditions of burning such as daily weather, derived weather metrics, topography, and forest fuels characteristics. This dataset can be used in a broad range of research and management applications, such as retrospective analysis of fire spread, as a benchmark dataset for validating statistical or machine-learning models, and for forecasting the effects of climate change on fire activity.

  • Katherine A. Zeller, Mark A. Ditmer, John R. Squires, William L. Rice, James Wilder, Don De Long, Ashley Egan, Niah Pennington, Chris A. Wang, Jacinta Plucinski, Jesse R. Barber. 2024. Experimental recreationist noise alters behavior and space use of wildlife. Current Biology.
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    Abstract for Zeller, K.; Ditmer, M. A.; Squires, J.; Rice, W. L.; Wilder, J.; DeLong, D.; Egan, A.; Pennington, N.; Wang, C.; Plucinski, J.; Barber, J. (2024). Experimental recreationist noise alters behavior and space use of wildlife

    Providing outdoor recreational opportunities to people and protecting wildlife are dual goals of many land managers. However, recreation is associated with negative effects on wildlife, ranging from increased stress hormones1,2 to shifts in habitat use3,4,5 to lowered reproductive success.6,7 Noise from recreational activities can be far reaching and have similar negative effects on wildlife, yet the impacts of these auditory encounters are less studied and are often unobservable. We designed a field-based experiment to both isolate and quantify the effects of recreation noise on several mammal species and test the effects of different recreation types and group sizes. Animals entering our sampling arrays triggered cameras to record video and broadcast recreation noise from speakers ~20 m away. Our design allowed us to observe and classify behaviors of wildlife as they were exposed to acoustic stimuli. We found wildlife were 3.1–4.7 times more likely to flee and were vigilant for 2.2–3.0 times longer upon hearing recreation noise compared with controls (natural sounds and no noise). Wildlife abundance at our sampling arrays was 1.5 times lower the week following recreation noise deployments. Noise from larger groups of vocal hikers and mountain bikers caused the highest probability of fleeing (6–8 times more likely to flee). Elk were the most sensitive species to recreation noise, and large carnivores were the least sensitive. Our findings indicate that recreation noise alone caused anti-predator responses in wildlife, and as outdoor recreation continues to increase in popularity and geographic extent,8,9 noise from recreation may result in degraded or indirect wildlife habitat loss.

  • Ellen Whitman, Quinn E Barber, Piyush Jain, Sean A Parks, Luc Guindon, Dan K Thompson, Marc-André Parisien. 2024. A modest increase in fire weather overcomes resistance to fire spread in recently burned boreal forests. Global Change Biology.
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    Abstract for Whitman, E.; Barber, Q.; Jain, P.; Parks, S.; Guindon, L.; Thompson, D.; Parisien, M. -. (2024). A modest increase in fire weather overcomes resistance to fire spread in recently burned boreal forests

    Recently burned boreal forests have lower aboveground fuel loads, generating a negative feedback to subsequent wildfires. Despite this feedback, short-interval reburns (=20?years between fires) are possible under extreme weather conditions. Reburns have consequences for ecosystem recovery, leading to enduring vegetation change. In this study, we characterize the strength of the fire-fuel feedback in recently burned Canadian boreal forests and the weather conditions that overwhelm resistance to fire spread in recently burned areas. We used a dataset of daily fire spread for thousands of large boreal fires, interpolated from remotely sensed thermal anomalies to which we associated local weather from ERA5-Land for each day of a fire\'s duration. We classified days with >3?ha of fire growth as spread days and defined burned pixels overlapping a fire perimeter =20?years old as short-interval reburns. Results of a logistic regression showed that the odds of fire spread in recently burned areas were ~50% lower than in long-interval fires; however, all Canadian boreal ecozones experienced short-interval reburning (1981–2021), with over 100,000?ha reburning annually. As fire weather conditions intensify, the resistance to fire spread declines, allowing fire to spread in recently burned areas. The weather associated with short-interval fire spread days was more extreme than the conditions during long-interval spread, but overall differences were modest (e.g. relative humidity 2.6% lower). The frequency of fire weather conducive to short-interval fire spread has significantly increased in the western boreal forest due to climate warming and drying (1981–2021). Our results suggest an ongoing degradation of fire-fuel feedbacks, which is likely to continue with climatic warming and drying.

  • William L. Rice and Christopher A. Armatas. 2024. Wildland encounter norms across time and activity type: Stable preferences and shifting thresholds. Leisure Research, Journal of.
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    Abstract for Rice, W. L.; Armatas, C. (2024). Wildland encounter norms across time and activity type: Stable preferences and shifting thresholds

    Social and ecological conditions are constantly changing, but research concerning how visitors to wildlands perceive such changes across time is both limited and narrow. With a focus on the social settings of recreation experiences, this study provides an understanding of how perceptions of wildland visitors have changed over time. Specifically, across three time periods (1989, 1994, and 2022) within a wildland unit in Montana (USA), we found that preferences for encounters with other visitors remained relatively stable, levels of acceptable encounters (or thresholds) increased across time in some instances, and levels of acceptable encounters varied across the activity types that visitors encountered. By expanding evaluative norms research to include both activity type and multiple time periods, we contribute to both theory and application of wildland recreation management.

  • Jared A. Balik , Jonathan D. Coop, Meg A. Krawchuk. 2024. Biogeographic patterns of daily wildfire spread and extremes across North America. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.
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    Abstract for Balik, J. A.; Coop, J. D.; Krawchuk, M. A.; Naficy, C. E.; Parisien, M. -.; Parks, S.; Stevens-Rumann, C. S.; Whitman, E. (2024). Biogeographic patterns of daily wildfire spread and extremes across North America

    Introduction: Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency of extreme single-day fire spread events, with major ecological and social implications. In contrast with well-documented spatio-temporal patterns of wildfire ignitions and perimeters, daily progression remains poorly understood across continental spatial scales, particularly for extreme single-day events (“blow ups”). Here, we characterize daily wildfire spread across North America, including occurrence of extreme single-day events, duration and seasonality of fire and extremes, and ecoregional climatic niches of fire in terms of Actual Evapotranspiration (AET) and Climatic Water Deficit (CWD) annual climate normals.Methods: Remotely sensed daily progression of 9,636 wildfires =400 ha was used to characterize ecoregional patterns of fire growth, extreme single-day events, duration, and seasonality. To explore occurrence, extent, and impacts of single-day extremes among ecoregions, we considered complementary ecoregional and continental extreme thresholds (Ecoregional or Continental Mean Daily Area Burned + 2SD). Ecoregional spread rates were regressed against AET and CWD to explore climatic influence on spread.Results: We found three-fold differences in mean Daily Area Burned among 10 North American ecoregions, ranging from 260?ha?day-1 in the Marine West Coast Forests to 751?ha?day-1 in Mediterranean California. Ecoregional extreme thresholds ranged from 3,829?ha?day-1 to 16,626?ha?day-1, relative to a continental threshold of 7,173?ha?day-1. The ~3% of events classified as extreme cumulatively account for 16–55% of total area burned among ecoregions. We observed four-fold differences in mean fire duration, ranging from 2.7?days in the Great Plains to 10.5?days in Northwestern Forested Mountains. Regions with shorter fire durations also had greater daily area burned, suggesting a paradigm of fast-growing short-duration fires in some regions and slow-growing long-duration fires elsewhere. CWD had a weak positive relationship with spread rate and extreme thresholds, and there was no pattern for AET.Discussion: Regions with shorter fire durations had greater daily area burned, suggesting a paradigm of fast-growing short-duration fires in some regions and slow-growing long-duration fires elsewhere. Although climatic conditions can set the stage for ignition and influence vegetation and fuels, finer-scale mechanisms likely drive variation in daily spread. Daily fire progression offers valuable insights into the regional and seasonal distributions of extreme single-day spread events, and how these events shape net fire effects.

  • Cawson, Jane G., Luke Collins, Sean A. Parks, Rachael H. Nolan, and Trent D. Penman. 2024. Atmospheric dryness removes barriers to the development of large forest fires. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology.
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    Abstract for Cawson, J.; Collins, L.; Parks, S.; Nolan, R.; Penman, T. (2024). Atmospheric dryness removes barriers to the development of large forest fires

    Large forest fires have far-reaching impacts on the environment, human health, infrastructure and the economy. Forest fires become large when all forest types across a landscape are dry enough to burn. Mesic forests are the slowest to dry and can act as a barrier to fire growth when they are too wet to burn. Therefore, identifying the factors influencing fire occurrence in mesic forests is important for gauging fire risk across large landscapes. We quantified the key factors influencing the likelihood that an active wildfire would propagate through mesic forest. We analysed 35 large forest fires (> 2500 ha) that occurred in Victoria, Australia where mesic and drier eucalypt forests are interspersed across mountainous terrain. We used a random forest model to evaluate 15 meteorological, topographic and disturbance variables as potential predictors of fire occurrence. These variables were extracted for points within burnt and unburnt patches of mesic forest. The likelihood of an active wildfire spreading through mesic forest increased by 65 % as vapour pressure deficit (VPD, i.e., atmospheric dryness) rose from 2.5 to 7 kPa. Other variables had substantially less influence (< 20 % change in fire occurrence) and their effects were further reduced when VPD was very high (> 6.5 kPa). Mesic forests were less likely to burn in areas with lower aridity, shallower slopes, and more sheltered topographic positions. Mesic forests 13–15 years following stand-replacing disturbance had 6 % higher chance of burning than long undisturbed forests (50 years post-disturbance). Overall, we show that topography and disturbance history cannot substantially counter the effects of high VPD. Therefore, the effectiveness of mesic forest as a barrier to the development of large forest fires is weakening as the climate warms. Our analysis also identifies areas less likely to burn, even under high VPD conditions. These areas could be prioritised as wildfire refugia.

  • Katherine A. Zeller , Bradley W. Compton. 2024. Measuring ecological connectivity with ecological distance and dynamic resistant kernels. Landscape Ecology.
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    Abstract for Zeller, K.; Compton, B. W.; Finn, S.; Palm, E. (2024). Measuring ecological connectivity with ecological distance and dynamic resistant kernels

    Context Species-agnostic connectivity models are often used to inform management over broad spatial scales. The four main approaches to species-agnostic models parameterize resistance to movement based on naturalness, structural features, climate, or geodiversity variables. Though all four of these factors simultaneously affect species movement and flow of ecological processes, they are rarely combined. Objectives We built upon an approach that uses all four of these factors to model current and future ecological connectivity for the Crown of the Continent Ecoregion, in Canada and the USA. Methods We estimated resistance for each pixel on the landscape based on multivariate ecological distances to surrounding pixels. We then modeled connectivity with resistant kernels at different scales, and dynamically in response to future climates from 2020 to 2080. Results Across the study area, we found median connectivity values decreased by 17–50% from 2020 to 2080 depending on the scale, with broader scales experiencing greater losses in connectivity. Though often considered natural conduits for movement, stream and valley bottoms generally lost connectivity through time. Wilderness areas had significantly higher connectivity values than unprotected lands for all time steps and scales, indicating their importance for maintaining future connectivity of ecological processes. Conclusions We offer an updated approach for species-agnostic connectivity modeling that combines naturalness, structural features, and topo-climatic layers while considering multiple scales of ecological processes over a large spatial extent and dynamism through time. This approach can be applied to other landscapes to produce products for short- and long-term management of connectivity and ecological resilience.

  • WILLIAM L. RICE and CHRISTOPHER A. ARMATAS. 2024. Answering the Dam Question: Visitor Perspectives on Removing and Maintaining Dams in Wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness.
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    Abstract for Rice, W. L.; Armatas, C. (2024). Answering the Dam Question: Visitor Perspectives on Removing and Maintaining Dams in Wilderness

    Managers of designated wilderness in the United States are challenged by the complex issue of how to address existing dams and water storage. Dams can exist in wilderness, as they are considered a special provision that can provide a variety of benefits to society; however, dams are also considered a potential threat to wilderness character. We review the issue of dams in wilderness, and then present the results from a study in the Rattlesnake Wilderness in Montana where visitor opinions around dam removal or maintenance were assessed. Our aim through this present research is to examine public agreement or disagreement with removing or maintaining dams in a federally designated wilderness. The findings demonstrate a nuanced perspective among visitors, with support for assessing dams on a case-by-case basis and recognizing the importance of managing wilderness for climate change resiliency.

  • Mark R. Kreider, Philip E. Higuera, Sean A. Parks, William L. Rice, Nadia White & Andrew J. Larson. 2024. Fire suppression makes wildfires more severe and accentuates impacts of climate change and fuel accumulation. Nature Communications.
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    Abstract for Kreider, M. R.; Higuera, P. E.; Parks, S.; Rice, W. L.; White, N.; Larson, A. J. (2024). Fire suppression makes wildfires more severe and accentuates impacts of climate change and fuel accumulation

    Fire suppression is the primary management response to wildfires in many areas globally. By removing less-extreme wildfires, this approach ensures that remaining wildfires burn under more extreme conditions. Here, we term this the “suppression bias” and use a simulation model to highlight how this bias fundamentally impacts wildfire activity, independent of fuel accumulation and climate change. We illustrate how attempting to suppress all wildfires necessarily means that fires will burn with more severe and less diverse ecological impacts, with burned area increasing at faster rates than expected from fuel accumulation or climate change. Over a human lifespan, the modeled impacts of the suppression bias exceed those from fuel accumulation or climate change alone, suggesting that suppression may exert a significant and underappreciated influence on patterns of fire globally. Managing wildfires to safely burn under low and moderate conditions is thus a critical tool to address the growing wildfire crisis.

  • Michael A. Petriello, Lauren Redmore, Aby L. Sène, Dhananjaya Katju, Lilian Barraclough, Sara Boyd, Carly Madge, Anastasia Papadopoulos, Reddi S. Yalamala. 2024. The scope of empowerment for conservation and communities. Conservation Biology.
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    Abstract for Patriello, M.; Redmore, L.; Sene-Harper, A.; Dhananjaya, K.; Barraclough, L.; Boyd, S.; Madge, C.; Papadopoulos, A.; Yalamala, R. S. (2024). The scope of empowerment for conservation and communities

    Conservationists increasingly position conservation that is mutually beneficial to people and biodiversity on the promise of empowerment of people through participatory discourse, metrics, processes, and outcomes. Empowerment represents multidimensional concepts and theories that permeate the interlinking levels of power, from the psychological to the political, and social scales in which conservation operates. The multifaceted nature of empowerment makes it challenging to understand, pursue, and evaluate as a central philosophical commitment and goal-oriented practice in conservation. Moreover, definitional and methodological uncertainty may disempower interested and affected groups because they can foster conceptual assumptions that reinforce institutionalized barriers to systemic changes. Despite these complexities, there are no targeted reviews of empowerment in conservation. We conducted a scoping review of the conservation literature to synthesize the meanings and uses of empowerment in the field. We reviewed 121 of the most cited conservation articles that invoked or assessed empowerment from 1992 to 2017 to document geographic, conceptual, and methodological trends in the scales and theories of empowerment deployed by conservationists. Research claiming or assessing empowerment through conservation often focused on communities in the Global South. Most studies relied on qualitative and mixed methods (78%) collected largely from male or non-Indigenous participants. Few studies (30%) defined the 20 types of empowerment they referenced. Fewer studies (3%) applied empowerment theories in their work. Our findings show that empowerment discourse of local and Indigenous communities permeates the discourse of people-centered conservation. Yet, overreliance on empowerment\'s rhetorical promise and minimal engagement with theory (e.g., postcolonial theory) risks disempowering people by obscuring empowerment\'s foundational value to conservation and communities and oversimplifying the complex realities of people-centered conservation. Lasting change could come from more meaningful engagement with empowerment, including coproducing definitions and measures with and for disempowered social groups to tackle widespread power disparities in conservation today.

  • A.P.Calderón, P.Landaverde-Gonzalez, C.Wultsch, R.Foster, B.Harmsen, O.Figueroa, R.Garcia-Anleu, F.Castañeda, G.Amato, V.Grimm, S.Kramer-Schadt, K.A. Zeller. 2024. Modeling jaguar gene flow in fragmented landscapes offers insights into functional population connectivity. Landscape Ecology.
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    Abstract for Calderón, A. P.; Landaverde-Gonzalez, P.; Wultsch, C.; Foster, R.; Harmsen, B.; Figueroa, O.; Garcia-Anleu, R.; Castañeda, F. E.; Amato, G.; Grimm, V.; Kramer-Schadt, S.; Zeller, K. (2024). Modeling jaguar gene flow in fragmented landscapes offers insights into functional population connectivity

    Abstract Context Preserving functional connectivity is a conservation priority to secure the long-term viability of geographically dispersed subpopulations, such as the jaguar (Panthera onca) populations in Central America. However, managing connectivity in this region is limited due to the scarcity of local assessments of the connectivity between existing populations, some of which exhibit low levels of gene flow and genetic admixture. Objectives We selected the jaguar as a model species to understand how gene flow of large carnivores is shaped in a heavily human-impacted landscape in the Neotropics. We assessed the impact of landscape features and spatial scale on jaguar gene flow across northern Central America, predicted synoptic, landscape-wide functional connectivity across the region; and compared connectivity predictions based on models of gene flow, habitat suitability, and expert knowledge. Methods We employed genetic data based on 335 faecal samples collected from 72 individual jaguars. We parameterized gene flow resistance surfaces using linear mixed effects models and the maximum likelihood population-effects method. We evaluated nine landscape variables at six spatial scales, selecting the optimal scale and transformation for each variable according to univariate models and AIC. To predict jaguar gene flow, we developed multivariate models and implemented resistant kernels to forecast functional connectivity between jaguar populations across the study region under three dispersal distance scenarios. Furthermore, we compared the connectivity estimates based on gene flow against those based on habitat suitability and the corridors delineated by expert knowledge in the region. Results Low resistance to jaguar gene flow was associated with greater tree cover and vegetation, lower areas of built-up, and intermediate distances from water bodies. Notably, tree cover affected jaguar gene flow on a smaller scale compared to the rest of variables. Higher connectivity, indicated by lower resistance, was found within and around the largest jaguar conservation units (JCUs) such as the Reserva-de-Biosfera-Transfronteriza, Selva-Maya and Maya-Mountains. This contrasted with the smallest JCUs, like Sierra-Santa-Cruz and Sierra-de-las-Minas in eastern Guatemala, and Cordillera-Nombre-de-Dios in Honduras. Across the region, lower connectivity was observed in the Caribbean connection between eastern Guatemala and midwestern Honduras, as well as in the Honduran and Nicaraguan Miskito area. Models based on gene flow and habitat suitability were similar in their predictions of areas of high connectivity; however, the habitat suitability models predicted larger areas of low connectivity than did the gene flow models. Moreover, the expert knowledge corridors were consistent with areas of high and medium connectivity as predicted by the gene flow model. Conclusions Gene flow of jaguars is positively driven by the presence of forest and water sources, while human impact (built-up and non-vegetation areas) has a negative effect. Areas of lowest resistance largely correspond to the location of JCUs, which serve as crucial reservoirs of high-quality jaguar habitat within the region. While the largest JCU in the region displayed high connectivity, the low connectivity between the smallest JCUs (i.e. Sierra-Santa-Cruz, Sierra-de-las-Minas and Cordillera-Nombre-de-Dios) underscores the need for conservation attention in these areas. Conservation and management actions such as habitat loss-prevention/restoration and anthropogenic impact mitigation should be prioritized in the binational region of Guatemala-Honduras, a key connectivity bottleneck between the species’ northern and southern ranges. Similarly, attention is warranted in the Honduran-Nicaraguan Miskito area.

  • Thomas, Elena R.; Rice, William L.; Armatas, Christopher A.; Thomsen, Jennifer M. 2024. The Effect of Place Attachment and Leisure Identity on Wildland Stewardship, Leisure Sciences. Leisure Sciences.
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    Abstract for Thomas, E. R.; Rice, W. L.; Armatas, C.; Thomsen, J. M. (2024). The Effect of Place Attachment and Leisure Identity on Wildland Stewardship, Leisure Sciences

    With increasing outdoor recreation participation in the U.S., managers face the challenge of balancing visitor experiences with the protection of natural resources. To address declining management capacity, agencies seek to involve both new and established recreationists in local stewardship behaviors. However, community involvement in stewardship efforts is hindered by a lack of understanding of the connection between recreationists’ antecedent conditions and their behavioral intentions. This study focuses on a wildland recreation setting near a western U.S. city to examine the relationship between place attachment, leisure identity salience, and local environmental stewardship behavioral intention. The results show that place identity influences willingness to engage in place-specific proactive stewardship, while leisure identity is predictive of engagement in Leave-No-Trace behaviors. The findings highlight the importance of targeting place and leisure identity in messaging strategies and forming partnerships with recreation organizations to encourage stewardship and engage the local community in land management.

  • Armatas, C.A., L.K. Cerveny, K. Quiocho, J.J. Sánchez, K.M. Leong, C.J. Gaither, G. Bottitta, D.R. Williams, D. Schwarzmann. 2023. Embracing the public participation process for developing desired conditions: building relationships for actionable knowledge. Interagency Visitor Use Management Council Website Publication (on-line PDF).
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    Abstract for Armatas, C.; Cerveny, L.; Quiocho, K.; Sánchez, J. J.; Leong, K. M.; Gaither, C. J.; Bottitta-Williamson, G.; Williams, D. R.; Schwarzmann, D. (2023). Embracing the public participation process for developing desired conditions: building relationships for actionable knowledge

    Introduction: Guiding Principles for Public Participation and Questions For Practitioners to Consider The Interagency Visitor Use Management Council (Council) provides guidance on visitor use management (VUM) policies and aims to develop legally defensible and effective interagency implementation tools for VUM. The Council underscores the critical nature of desired conditions development by referring to the challenging task as the heart of visitor use management (Interagency Visitor Use Management Council 2021). The Council defines desired conditions as “statements of aspiration that describe resource conditions, visitor experiences and opportunities, and facilities and services that an agency strives to achieve and maintain in a particular area” (Interagency Visitor Use Management Council 2021:13). To develop new and relevant desired conditions, change previous desired conditions, or understand the appropriateness of maintaining established desired conditions, the Council stresses the importance of engaging the public.

  • Parks, S. A.; Holsinger, L. M.; Abatzoglou, J. T.; Littlefield, C. E.; Zeller, K. A. 2023. Response to concerns raised about the likelihood of protected areas serving as steppingstones for species responding to climate change. Global Change Biology.
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    Abstract for Parks, S.; Holsinger, L.; Abatzoglou, J. T.; Littlefield, C. E.; Zeller, K. (2023). Response to concerns raised about the likelihood of protected areas serving as steppingstones for species responding to climate change

    Our recent contribution to Global Change Biology found that, globally, two-thirds of protected area units and over half of protected land area are unlikely to serve as steppingstones for many species under a warming climate (Parks et al., 2023). In response, Gillingham and Thomas (2023) point to previous evidence that protected areas have acted as steppingstones based on three studies from Great Britain that examined range shifts.

  • Waupoose Jr., Bryant and Redmore, L. 2023. Medicine Fish Is Leading the Way to Heal, Build, and Inspire Menominee Youth through the Wild and Scenic Wolf River: An interview with Bryant Waupoose Jr., Founder of Medicine Fish. International Journal of Wilderness.
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    Abstract for Redmore, J. (2023). Medicine Fish Is Leading the Way to Heal, Build, and Inspire Menominee Youth through the Wild and Scenic Wolf River: An interview with Bryant Waupoose Jr., Founder of Medicine Fish

    From a bird’s eye view, the Menominee Reservation is a forested oasis in sharp relief from neighboring landscapes of dairy farms spanning northeastern Wisconsin. The Menominee people have cared for the land and waters for over 10,000 years, and the land and waters have given life back to the people (Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin 2004). Garden beds where early Menominee people planted traditional first foods and elder plants-plants that sustained the Menominee culturally, spiritually, and physically-as the last glaciers retreated are still visible across their lands today and represent a modern marvel of integrated farming (Morales 2017). Today, the Tribe operates a successful timber company, and their management practices are widely recognized for increasing the quality of their forest (Buckley 2023). But the land represents much more than economic and environmental opportunity-it is the embodiment of self-determination for the Tribe and one that Tribal members do not take for granted.

  • Redmore, Lauren, Fox-Middleton, K., Crum, K., Gregory, M., Motahari, C., Powers, M., Sainz Armendariz, R., Santos, A.G., & Schram von Haupt, L. 2023. Toward an Interagency Toolbox in Wilderness: Findings from Five Focus Group Discussions with Wilderness Professionals. International Journal of Wilderness.
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    Abstract for Redmore, L.; Fox-Middleton, K.; Crum, K. -.; Motahari, M.; Powers, C.; Sainz Armendariz, R.; Santos, A. G.; Schram von Haupt, L. (2023). Toward an Interagency Toolbox in Wilderness: Findings from Five Focus Group Discussions with Wilderness Professionals

    US federal land management agencies serve the American people and work to ensure that all Americans connect with and value wilderness. As a result, wilderness managers may prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), though may lack wilderness-specific tools and resources to foster commitments to DEI. As agencies and organizations turn to virtual resources to share information - what we refer to as toolboxes - questions remain about their utility and potential to impact DEI outcomes in wilderness. This article describes the process and results of five virtual focus group discussions with wilderness managers and key partners aimed at better understanding DEI toolbox-related needs, as well as the limitations of a DEI toolbox and opportunities to maximize potential impact of any DEI-related efforts. Key findings highlight that an interagency DEI toolbox for wilderness management could collate resources and lessons learned from innovation happening across the National Wilderness Preservation System. Yet wilderness-specific DEI goals are currently ambiguous and would benefit from clear articulation to track the impact of efforts. Participants emphasized needing leadership support and funds to advance innovation and partnerships with diverse organizations. Findings also highlight challenges associated with recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce, and navigating a wilderness culture that some participants feel has sidelined diverse connections with and stewardship of wilderness. A DEI toolbox could benefit practitioners - but could be most impactful if considered as complementary to other federal initiatives seeking to diversify workforces, fund innovation, and grow partnership with organizations representing underserved communities.

  • Rodman, K. C.; Davis, K. T.; Parks, S. A.; Chapman, T. B.; Coop, J. D.; Iniguez, J. M.; Roccaforte, J. P.; Sanchez Meador, A. J.; Springer, J. D.; Stevens-Rumann, C. S.; Stoddard, M. T.; Waltz, A. E. M.; Wasserman, Tzeidle N. 2023. Refuge-yeah or refuge-nah? Predicting locations of forest resistance and recruitment in a fiery world. Global Change Biology.
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    Abstract for Rodman, K. C.; Davis, K. T.; Parks, S.; Chapman, T. B.; Coop, J. D.; Iniguez, J. M.; Roccaforte, J. P.; Sánchez Meador, A. J.; Springer, J. D.; Stevens-Rumann, C. S.; Stoddard, M. T.; Waltz, A. E. M.; Wasserman, T. N.; Wasserman, T. N. (2023). Refuge-yeah or refuge-nah? Predicting locations of forest resistance and recruitment in a fiery world

    Climate warming, land use change, and altered fire regimes are driving ecological transformations that can have critical effects on Earth\'s biota. Fire refugia—locations that are burned less frequently or severely than their surroundings—may act as sites of relative stability during this period of rapid change by being resistant to fire and supporting post-fire recovery in adjacent areas. Because of their value to forest ecosystem persistence, there is an urgent need to anticipate where refugia are most likely to be found and where they align with environmental conditions that support post-fire tree recruitment. Using biophysical predictors and patterns of burn severity from 1180 recent fire events, we mapped the locations of potential fire refugia across upland conifer forests in the southwestern United States (US) (99,428?km2 of forest area), a region that is highly vulnerable to fire-driven transformation. We found that low pre-fire forest cover, flat slopes or topographic concavities, moderate weather conditions, spring-season burning, and areas affected by low- to moderate-severity fire within the previous 15?years were most commonly associated with refugia. Based on current (i.e., 2021) conditions, we predicted that 67.6% and 18.1% of conifer forests in our study area would contain refugia under moderate and extreme fire weather, respectively. However, potential refugia were 36.4% (moderate weather) and 31.2% (extreme weather) more common across forests that experienced recent fires, supporting the increased use of prescribed and resource objective fires during moderate weather conditions to promote fire-resistant landscapes. When overlaid with models of tree recruitment, 23.2% (moderate weather) and 6.4% (extreme weather) of forests were classified as refugia with a high potential to support post-fire recruitment in the surrounding landscape. These locations may be disproportionately valuable for ecosystem sustainability, providing habitat for fire-sensitive species and maintaining forest persistence in an increasingly fire-prone world.

  • Rushing, Jaclyn Fox; Thomsen, Jennifer M. 2023. Assessing complexity and stakeholder and rightsholder trust in outdoor recreation management on the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail: A research note. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration.
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    Abstract for Rushing, J. F.; Thomsen, J. M. (2023). Assessing complexity and stakeholder and rightsholder trust in outdoor recreation management on the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail: A research note

    The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail (PNT) traverses 1,200 miles from the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean. The portion of the trail in Northwest Montana and the Idaho Panhandle is at the nexus of a complex conflict situation involving outdoor recreation, wildlife conservation, and social-cultural values. This evolving conflict has gained national attention due to the diverse stakeholder interests and litigation against the US Forest Service, who administers the trail. The tension among the stakeholder groups and the various ecological and social-cultural dimensions at play illuminate the complexity of managing long-distance trails. Administrators of long-distance trails must evaluate and mitigate social, ecological, and cultural risks. This research note explores complexity and trust ecology among key PNT stakeholders, and discusses opportunities for incorporating trust research in transboundary recreation planning and research.

  • Lauren Redmore and Sène-Harper, Aby. 2023. Reflections on Wilderness 60 Years after the Civil Rights and Wilderness Acts. International Journal of Wilderness.
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    Abstract for Sene-Harper, L. (2023). Reflections on Wilderness 60 Years after the Civil Rights and Wilderness Acts

    America’s dominant narrative of the origin of a beloved wilderness often centers Aldo Leopold in a heroic fight at the turn of the century against rapid industrialization that occurred at the expense of nature. Wild spaces, so the story goes, needed preservation from and for the people, so that future generations would know what it means to be self-reliant in pristine nature far away from civilization (Nash 2014). These future generations could experience a re-creation of the ancient human connection to nature. In this story, wilderness is at once a safeguard for the environment and wild beings, and an escape for modern humans from the ills of industrial society (Rashkow 2014; Cronon 1996).

  • Elena R. Thomas, Jaclyn F. Rushing, William L. Rice, Jennifer M. Thomsen, Christopher A. Armatas. 2023. Exploring underserved communities’ perspectives on wilderness character in everglades national park. International Journal of Wilderness.
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    Abstract for Thomas, E. R.; Rushing, J.; Rice, W. L.; Thomsen, J. M.; Armatas, C. (2023). Exploring underserved communities’ perspectives on wilderness character in everglades national park

    Issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion are becoming increasingly important to park and protected area managers. Recently, several Executive Orders have established policies and priorities for steering public lands to better serve the diversity of the US public. Certain groups, compared to the US population at large, are underrepresented as visitors to parks and protected areas in the US, including BIPOC communities (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color), women, people with disabilities, veterans, people with lower socioeconomic status, and the elderly. This disparity in visitation may be even more pronounced in federally designated wilderness areas. We present a qualitative study focused on the relationships of traditionally underserved groups with Everglades National Park, specifically focusing on perceptions of wilderness character in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness. Findings illuminate both perceived benefits of wilderness, including positive mental health, ecosystem services, and a connection to unique aspects of wilderness character in the Everglades, as well as conflicted feelings about wilderness as a place that underemphasizes historic interactions of underrepresented communities with the landscape. We discuss management implications, particularly ways to focus protected area efforts to broaden the relevancy of wilderness lands and better serve diverse populations within local communities.

  • Peng, L., L. He, M. Shen, M. Zhao, and C.A. Armatas. 2023. Understanding stakeholder perceptions of environmental justice: A study of tourism in the Erhai Lake Basin, Yunnan Province, China. Ecology and Society.
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    Abstract for Peng, L.; He, L.; Shen, M.; Zhao, M.; Armatas, C. (2023). Understanding stakeholder perceptions of environmental justice: A study of tourism in the Erhai Lake Basin, Yunnan Province, China

    Environmental justice is an important component of sustainable tourism, but stakeholder perspectives related to environmental justice may vary. Using Q-methodology, we investigated different stakeholder perceptions related to environmental justice within the context of tourism and ecological restoration. Specifically, in the Erhai Lake basin, China, we explore perspectives around an ecological restoration effort that included the government mandated closure of 1900 establishments (inns and restaurants) in response to environmental degradation. We identify and explore four environmental justice perspectives: the togetherness, protection, operator loss, and local loss perspectives. These four perspectives are contextualized within three dimensions of environmental justice (ie, distribution, recognition, and participation). Our findings highlight differing views related to who is affected most by the inn closures (eg, future generations, local residents, inn owners), and general consensus related to the outcomes of the process being more important than the process itself. Finally, we discuss potential reasons for these differing perspectives and recommend ways to improve environmental justice among different stakeholders. This research can facilitate sustainable development of tourism by highlighting the facets of ecological restoration policy implementation most important to stakeholders, including recognition of diverse stakeholder concerns and identities, clear and well supported rationale for policy design, and increased equity in the distribution of costs and benefits of policies.

  • Zeller, Katherine A.; Povak, Nicholas A.; Manley, Patricia; Flake, Samuel W.; Hefty, Kira L. 2023. Managing for biodiversity: The effects of climate, management and natural disturbance on wildlife species richness. Diversity and Distributions.
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    Abstract for Zeller, K.; Povak, N. A.; Manly, P.; Flake, S. W.; Hefty, K. (2023). Managing for biodiversity: The effects of climate, management and natural disturbance on wildlife species richness

    Aim Managers are increasingly facing an uncertain future given changing climates and ecological trajectories. The interacting effects of climate, natural disturbance, and management actions complicate future projections, and there is a need for approaches that integrate these factors—especially for predicting future vegetation and species richness. Location Central Sierra Nevada Mountains, USA. Methods We used outputs from a spatially explicit landscape disturbance succession model that incorporated forest management actions, disturbance, and climate to estimate habitat and potential species richness for 202 vertebrate species and five functional groups from 2020 to 2100. We examined species richness outcomes of three forest management scenarios under three climate trajectories. We modelled broadscale drivers of landscape-level species richness, and proximate effects of management and disturbance at each pixel. Results Climate and forest management scenario had significant effects on potential species richness across the landscape, particularly at lower elevations; however, only management had significant effects at higher elevations. We found no effect of the interaction between climate and management scenario. The historical climate and the minimal management scenario generally resulted in higher species richness compared with other scenarios. Positive proximate effects generally included mechanical thinning and prescribed fire, as well as low and medium severity fire and beetle outbreaks. High severity fire had a consistently negative effect on species richness. We also quantified the contribution of protected areas and found that protected areas had higher species richness compared with ecologically similar unprotected lands, especially in climate futures that deviated from the historical climate. Main Conclusions Our findings highlight that managing for biodiversity is complex, and effects of climate, disturbance, and management differ among species, functional groups, topography and scales. However, landscape disturbance succession models provide a science-based tool for untangling broadscale drivers and proximate effects of biodiversity and managing for ecological integrity in a changing climate.

  • Jaffe, Melissa R.; Kreider, Mark R.; Affleck, David L.; Higuera, Philip E.; Seielstad, Carl A.; Parks, Sean A.; and Larson, Andrew J. 2023. Mesic mixed-conifer forests are resilient to both historical high-severity fire and contemporary reburns in the US Northern Rocky Mountains. Forest Ecology and Management.
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    View Abstract for Mesic mixed-conifer forests are resilient to both historical high-severity fire and contemporary reburns in the US Northern Rocky Mountains

    Abstract for Jaffe, M.; Kreider, M. R.; Affleck, D. L.; Higuera, P. E.; Seielstad, C. A.; Parks, S.; Larson, A. J. (2023). Mesic mixed-conifer forests are resilient to both historical high-severity fire and contemporary reburns in the US Northern Rocky Mountains

    High-severity fires and short-interval reburns strongly influence forest structure and composition and may overwhelm forest ecosystem resilience and catalyze persistent shifts to non-forest conditions. Recent increases in annual area burned and severity in the western United States (US) highlight the need to better understand the long-term effects of high-severity fire, including interactions with subsequent fires. In the early 20th century, the northern US Rocky Mountains experienced several fire seasons with widespread, high-severity fires, under fire weather comparable with extreme conditions today. The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in north-central Idaho has remained an active fire regime with limited suppression and management, making it an ideal location to investigate long-term effects of initial high-severity fires, as well as ecosystem resilience to contemporary reburning. Using field sampling informed by fire history data from 1870 to 2020, we investigated the influence of fire frequency (once, twice, and thrice burned from 1910 to 2017) on forest structure, conifer regeneration, and fuel loading in mesic mixed-conifer forests that burned at high severity in either 1910 or 1934. Tree regeneration was abundant across all three burn histories, and 99% of sample sites were <200 m from the nearest conifer seed source when sampled in 2021. Abundance of snags and coarse woody material was less affected by fire frequency and more impacted by time since last fire. High shrub biomass occurred only on steep southwest aspects with low overstory basal area and was not related to burn history. Live tree composition and density differed across forests with contrasting recent fire histories, but even thrice-burned sites supported abundant conifer tree regeneration, indicating that northern Rocky Mountain mesic mixed-conifer forests that experienced fire during the twentieth century currently remain resilient to wildfire. Wildfire as an ecological process in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness likely contributed to ecosystem resilience.

  • Ditmer, M. A.; Wittemyer, G.; Zeller, K. A.; Breck, S. W.; Fletcher, R. J., Jr.; Crook, K. R. 2023. Predicting dispersal and conflict risk for wolf recolonization in Colorado. Applied Ecology.
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    Abstract for Ditmer, M. A.; Wittemyer, G.; Zeller, K.; Breck, S. W.; Fletcher, R. J. J.; Crooks, K. R. (2023). Predicting dispersal and conflict risk for wolf recolonization in Colorado

    The colonization of suitable yet unoccupied habitat due to natural dispersal or human introduction can benefit recovery of threatened species. Predicting habitat suitability and conflict potential of colonization areas can facilitate conservation planning. Planning for reintroduction of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to the US state of Colorado is underway. Assessing which occupancy sites minimize the likelihood of human–wolf conflict during dispersal events and seasonal movements is critical to the success of this initiative. We used a spatial absorbing Markov chain (SAMC) framework, which extends random walk theory and probabilistically accounts for both movement behaviour and mortality risk, to compare the viability of potential occupancy sites (public lands >500?km2 to minimally meet wolf pack range area). The SAMC framework produced spatially explicit predictions of wolf dispersal, philopatry and conflict risk ahead of recolonization prior to reintroduction efforts. Our SAMC model included: (1) movement resistance based on terrain, roads and housing density; (2) mortality risk and potential conflict (absorption) based on livestock presence, social tolerance, land ownership and state boundaries; and (3) site fidelity based on habitat quality. Using this model, we compared 21 public land units by deriving predictions of: (A) relative survival time outside each site, (B) intensity of use and retention time within each site and (C) the probability of use on adjacent public lands. We also predicted and mapped potential conflict hotspots associated with each site. Among the units assessed, a complex of USFS Wilderness areas near Aspen, chiefly the Hunter-Fryingpan and Collegiate Peaks Wilderness areas, had the best overall rankings when comparing predictions of each metric. The area balances high-quality, well-connected habitat with relatively low livestock density and high social tolerance. Synthesis and applications. Our findings highlight the utility of the SAMC framework for assessing colonization areas and the capacity to identify locations for effective proactive management, especially of conflict prone species. The flexibility of the SAMC framework enables predicting likely areas of philopatry and human–wildlife conflict using spatially explicit metrics which can improve the success of conservation translocations and management of species with changing geographic extents.

  • Center for Public Lands, Western Colorado University; Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service. 2023. Prescribed Fire and U.S. Wilderness Areas: Barriers and Opportunities for Wilderness Fire Management in a Time of Change. Western Colorado University, Center for Public Lands.
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    Abstract for Center for Public Lands, Western Colorado University; Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service (2023). Prescribed Fire and U.S. Wilderness Areas: Barriers and Opportunities for Wilderness Fire Management in a Time of Change

    Fire is one of the greatest gifts given to humankind. Fire has lived on the North American continent since its beginning, shaping ecosystems and shaped by people. In the modern era, the balance between fire, land, and people has been unsettled, disrupting both ecosystems and society. Many of these challenges are expected to worsen in the years to come. Fire is a powerful force that humans have used to create a reciprocal relationship with the land, but which also carries danger. The power of fire to harm people and transform place led to land management policies that formed the basis of a century or more of widespread fire exclusion across North America. However, fire exclusion has produced many unintended and unwanted consequences. Landscapes across the continent increasingly do not resemble the lands historically shaped by millennia of lightning strikes and generations of fire use by Indigenous stewards. In rethinking our current relationships with fire and the land, we find opportunities to regain the living power of fire for land stewardship. This includes caring for places designated as wilderness, which are intended to be free from the influences of modern humans.

  • Parks, Sean; Holsinger, L.M.; Blankenship, K.; Dillon, G.K..; Goeking, S.A.; Swaty, R. 2023. Contemporary wildfires are more severe compared to the historical reference period in western US dry conifer forests. Forest Ecology and Management.
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    Abstract for Parks, S.; Holsinger, L.; Blankenship, K.; Dillon, G.; Goeking, S. A.; Swaty, R. L. (2023). Contemporary wildfires are more severe compared to the historical reference period in western US dry conifer forests

    Dry conifer forests in the western US historically experienced frequent fire prior to European American colonization. Mean fire return interval ranged from about 5–35 years, with the majority of fires burning at low-to-moderate severity. The arrival of European Americans initiated notable reductions in fire frequency through the cessation of Indigenous burning, livestock grazing, and fire suppression. These activities effectively excluded fire from most dry conifer forests, thereby allowing live and dead fuels to accumulate. There are concerns that this fuel accumulation is causing contemporary fires (since 1985) to burn more severely compared to pre-colonization time periods, thereby increasing potential for enduring fire-catalyzed conversions to non-forest. Here, we used satellite-derived fire severity data to characterize the prevalence of contemporary (1985–2020) stand-replacing fire in dry conifer forests within four broad ecoregions for all fires, non-wilderness fires, wilderness fires, and prescribed fires. Our results indicate, that as a proportion of area burned, contemporary fires experienced 2.9 to 13.6 times more stand-replacing fire (depending on the ecoregion) compared to the pre-colonization period. Non-wilderness areas exhibit somewhat higher prevalence of stand-replacing fire, relative to the historical fire regime, than wilderness areas (where logging is prohibited). The relatively small difference between non-wilderness and wilderness suggests that fuel accumulation resulting from fire exclusion has played a larger role than historical logging activities on the prevalence of contemporary stand-replacing fire. Prescribed fires do not exhibit a higher prevalence of stand-replacing fire compared to the historical fire regime. We conducted a parallel analysis in the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico, USA, is it is arguably the best example of an unrestrained fire regime (many fires are not suppressed) in western US dry conifer forests. The Gila Wilderness proportionally experienced only 1.8 times more stand-replacing fire compared to the historical reference period; in contrast, the southwest ecoregion experienced 5.9 times more stand-replacing fire. Fire will inevitably burn a given forest no matter how much money and personnel we commit to fire prevention and suppression, and because of the high prevalence of stand-replacing fire, the long-term persistence of dry conifer forests is jeopardized. Unless forest managers are provided the social license and enabling conditions to substantially accelerate efforts to restore conditions resistant to stand-replacing fire, we anticipate that the extent of dry conifer forests will continue to erode as fire-catalyzed conversions increasingly unfold across the western US.

  • Zhu, X., D Chen, M. Kogure, E. Hoy, L. Berner, A. Breen, A. Chatterjee, S, Davidson, G. Frost, T. Hollingsworth, G. Iwahana, R. Jandt…. 2023. A synthesized field survey database of vegetation and active layer properties for the Alaskan tundra (1972–2020). Earth System Science Data.
    View Article via DOI for A synthesized field survey database of vegetation and active layer properties for the Alaskan tundra (1972–2020)
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    Abstract for Zhu, X.; Chen, D.; Kogure, M.; Hoy, E.; Berner, L.; Breen, A.; Chatterjee, A.; Davidson, S.; Frost, G. V.; Hollingsworth, T.; Iwahana, G.; Jandt, R.; Kade, A.; Loboda, T.; Macander, M.; Mack, M. C.; Miller, C.; Miller, E.; Natali, S. M.; Raynolds, M.; Rocha, A. V.; Tsuyuzaki, S.; Tweedie, C.; Walker, D.; Williams, M.; Xu, X.; Zhang, Y.; French, N.; Goetz, S. (2023). A synthesized field survey database of vegetation and active layer properties for the Alaskan tundra (1972–2020)

    Studies in recent decades have shown strong evidence of physical and biological changes in the Arctic tundra, largely in response to rapid rates of warming. Given the important implications of these changes for ecosystem services, hydrology, surface energy balance, carbon budgets, and climate feedbacks, research on the trends and patterns of these changes is becoming increasingly important and can help better constrain estimates of local, regional, and global impacts as well as inform mitigation and adaptation strategies. Despite this great need, scientific understanding of tundra ecology and change remains limited, largely due to the inaccessibility of this region and less intensive studies compared to other terrestrial biomes. A synthesis of existing datasets from past field studies can make field data more accessible and open up possibilities for collaborative research as well as for investigating and informing future studies. Here, we synthesize field datasets of vegetation and active-layer properties from the Alaskan tundra, one of the most well-studied tundra regions. Given the potentially increasing intensive fire regimes in the tundra, fire history and severity attributes have been added to data points where available. The resulting database is a resource that future investigators can employ to analyze spatial and temporal patterns in soil, vegetation, and fire disturbance-related environmental variables across the Alaskan tundra. This database, titled the Synthesized Alaskan Tundra Field Database (SATFiD), can be accessed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) for Biogeochemical Dynamics

  • Barry, T., T. Christensen, C. Behe, C. Coon, J.M. Culp, S. Fletcher, M. Gill, W. Goedkoop, R. Hindrum, C. Jacobson, K.F. Lárusson, J. Lento, M. Marissink, D. Mclennan. 2023. Development of a multi-scale monitoring programme: approaches for the Arctic and lessons learnt from the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme. Frontiers in Conservation Science, section Global Biodiversity Threats.
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    Abstract for Barry, T.; Christensen, T.; Behe, C.; Coon, C.; Culp, J. M.; Vongraven, D.; Fletcher, S.; Gill, M.; Goedkoop, W.; Hindrum, R.; Jacobson, C.; Jones, T.; Lárusson, K. F.; Lento, J.; Marissink, M.; McLennan, D.; Price, C.; Rönkä, M.; Svoboda, M.; Thaulow, I.; Taylor, J.; Wegeberg, S.; Schmidt, N. M.; Smith, R.; Petersen, Æ. (2023). Development of a multi-scale monitoring programme: approaches for the Arctic and lessons learnt from the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme

    The Arctic Council working group, the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) established the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP), an international network of scientists, governments, Indigenous organizations, and conservation groups working to harmonize and integrate efforts to extend and develop monitoring and assessment of the Arctic’s biodiversity. Its relevance stretches beyond the Arctic to a broad range of regional and global initiatives and agreements. This paper describes the process and approach taken in the last two decades to develop and implement the CBMP. It documents challenges encountered, lessons learnt, and solutions, and considers how it has been a model for national, regional, and global monitoring programmes; explores how it has impacted Arctic biodiversity monitoring, assessment, and policy and concludes with observations on key issues and next steps. The following are overarching prerequisites identified in the implementation of the CBMP: effective coordination, sufficient and sustained funding, improved standards and protocols, co-production of knowledge and equitable involvement of IK approaches, data management to facilitating regional analysis and comparisons, communication and outreach to raising awareness and engagement in the programme, ensuring resources to engage in international fora to ensuring programme implementation.

  • Hoecker, T. J., Parks, S. A., Krosby, M.; Dobroeski, S. Z. 2023. Widespread exposure to altered fire regimes under 2° C warming is projected to transform conifer forests of the western United States.. Communications Earth and Environment.
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    View Abstract for Widespread exposure to altered fire regimes under 2° C warming is projected to transform conifer forests of the western United States.

    Abstract for Hoecker, T. J.; Parks, S.; Krosby, M.; Dobrowski, S. Z. (2023). Widespread exposure to altered fire regimes under 2° C warming is projected to transform conifer forests of the western United States.

    Changes in wildfire frequency and severity are altering conifer forests and pose threats to biodiversity and natural climate solutions. Where and when feedbacks between vegetation and fire could mediate forest transformation are unresolved. Here, for the western United States, we used climate analogs to measure exposure to fire-regime change; quantified the direction and spatial distribution of changes in burn severity; and intersected exposure with fire-resistance trait data. We measured exposure as multivariate dissimilarities between contemporary distributions of fire frequency, burn severity, and vegetation productivity and distributions supported by a 2?°C-warmer climate. We project exposure to fire-regime change across 65% of western US conifer forests and mean burn severity to ultimately decline across 63% because of feedbacks with forest productivity and fire frequency. We find that forests occupying disparate portions of climate space are vulnerable to projected fire-regime changes. Forests may adapt to future disturbance regimes, but trajectories remain uncertain.

  • Palm, Eric C.; Landguth, Erin L.; Holden, Zachary A.; Day, Casey C.; Lamb, Clayton T.; Frame, Paul F.; Morehouse, Andrea T.; Mowat, Garth; Proctor, Michael F.; Sawaya, Michael A.; Stenhouse, Gordon; Whittington, Jesse; Zeller, Katherine A. 2023. Corridor-based approach with spatial cross-validation reveals scale-dependent effects of geographic distance, human footprint and canopy cover on grizzly bear genetic connectivity. Molecular Ecology.
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    Abstract for Palm, E.; Landguth, E. L.; Holden, Z. A.; Day, C. C.; Lamb, C. T.; Frame, P. F.; Morehouse, A. T.; Mowat, G.; Proctor, M.; Sawaya, M. F.; Stenhouse, G.; Whittington, J.; Zeller, K. (2023). Corridor-based approach with spatial cross-validation reveals scale-dependent effects of geographic distance, human footprint and canopy cover on grizzly bear genetic connectivity

    Understanding how human infrastructure and other landscape attributes affect genetic differentiation in animals is an important step for identifying and maintaining dispersal corridors for these species. We built upon recent advances in the field of landscape genetics by using an individual-based and multiscale approach to predict landscape-level genetic connectivity for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) across ~100,000?km2 in Canada\'s southern Rocky Mountains. We used a genetic dataset with 1156 unique individuals genotyped at nine microsatellite loci to identify landscape characteristics that influence grizzly bear gene flow at multiple spatial scales and map predicted genetic connectivity through a matrix of rugged terrain, large protected areas, highways and a growing human footprint. Our corridor-based modelling approach used a machine learning algorithm that objectively parameterized landscape resistance, incorporated spatial cross validation and variable selection and explicitly accounted for isolation by distance. This approach avoided overfitting, discarded variables that did not improve model performance across withheld test datasets and spatial predictive capacity compared to random cross-validation. We found that across all spatial scales, geographic distance explained more variation in genetic differentiation in grizzly bears than landscape variables. Human footprint inhibited connectivity across all spatial scales, while open canopies inhibited connectivity at the broadest spatial scale. Our results highlight the negative effect of human footprint on genetic connectivity, provide strong evidence for using spatial cross-validation in landscape genetics analyses and show that multiscale analyses provide additional information on how landscape variables affect genetic differentiation.

  • Kreider, Mark R.; Jaffe, Melissa R.; Berkey, Julia K.; Parks, Sean A.; Larson, Andrew J. 2023. The scientific value of fire in wilderness. Fire Ecology.
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    Abstract for Kreider, M. R.; Jaffe, M.; Berkey, J. K.; Parks, S.; Larson, A. J. (2023). The scientific value of fire in wilderness

    Background Wilderness areas are important natural laboratories for scientists and managers working to understand fire. In the last half-century, shifts in the culture and policy of land management agencies have facilitated the management practice of letting some naturally ignited fires burn, allowing fire to fulfill its ecological role and increasing the extent of fire-related research opportunities. With the goal of identifying the global scientific advances enabled by this paradigm shift in wilderness fire management, we conducted a systematic review of publications that either (1) selected protected areas for investigation because of an active fire regime enabled by wilderness fire management, (2) studied modern fires or fire regimes deliberately located in a wilderness area, or (3) conducted applied research to support wilderness fire management. Results Our systematic review returned a sample of 222 publications that met these criteria, with an increase in wilderness fire science over time. Studies largely occurred in the USA and were concentrated in a relatively small number of protected areas, particularly in the Northern Rocky Mountains. As a result, this sample of wilderness fire science is highly skewed toward areas of temperate mixed-conifer forests and historical mixed-severity fire regimes. Common principal subjects of publications included fire effects (44%), wilderness fire management (18%), or fire regimes (17%), and studies tended to focus on vegetation, disturbance, or wilderness management as response variables. Conclusions This work identifies major scientific contributions facilitated by fire in wilderness, including self-limitation of fire, the effects of active fire regimes on forest and aquatic systems, barriers and potential solutions to wilderness fire management, and the effect of fire on wilderness recreation and visitor experiences. Our work reveals geographic and bioclimatic areas where more research attention is needed and highlights under-represented wilderness areas that could serve to fill these gaps. Finally, we identify priorities for future wilderness fire research, including the past and potential role of Indigenous and prescribed burning, the effects of changing climate and fire regimes on ecosystem processes, and how to overcome barriers to wilderness fire management.

  • Wultsch, C.; Zeller, K. A.; Welfelt, L. S.; Beausoleil, R. A. 2023. Genetic diversity, gene flow, and source sink dynamics of cougars in the Pacific Northwest. Conservation Genetics.
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    Abstract for Wultsch, C.; Zeller, K.; Welfelt, L. S.; Beausoleil, R. A. (2023). Genetic diversity, gene flow, and source sink dynamics of cougars in the Pacific Northwest

    Conservation and management of wide-ranging carnivores like cougars (Puma concolor), which occur across human-altered landscapes can benefit from an in-depth understanding of their genetic status. Here, we apply the largest collection of multi-locus genotypes currently available for cougars (n?=?1,903) to provide a comprehensive assessment of genetic diversity, gene flow, and source-sink dynamics for cougars occurring across Washington, United States and south-central British Columbia, Canada. We found that cougars in the Olympic, Cascade, Kettle, Selkirk, and Blue Mountains ecosystems are genetically differentiated into two clusters with varying degrees of admixture, indicating moderate levels of gene flow across the area with the exception of the Olympic Peninsula and the Blue Mountains which form more distinct genetic groups. We detected several first-generation migrants confirming long-distance movements within our study system, but also observed that migration rates between areas were asymmetrical, which is an indication of genetic source-sink dynamics. Genetic diversity and inbreeding followed a clinal east-to-west pattern with Olympic Peninsula cougars having the lowest genetic diversity and highest inbreeding coefficients among all sites. Spatial autocorrelation results for cougars did not follow sex-specific patterns suggesting that anthropogenic pressures such as habitat fragmentation and/or mortality sources may have an impact on their spatial dynamics. As cougar habitat in the northwestern United States continues to be affected by rising levels of urbanization and anthropogenic activities, long-term regional genetic monitoring represents a critical decision-support tool for formulating effective cougar conservation and management actions to prevent further genetic decline and promote long-term persistence of cougar populations.

  • Taylor, J.J., T.N. Hollingsworth, C.A. Armatas, K.J. Carim, K.L. Hefty, O. Helmy, L.M. Holsinger, D. Paige, S.A. Parks, L.E. Redmore, J.F. Rushing, E.J. Taylor, and K.A. Zeller. 2023. The Future of Wilderness Research: A 10-Year Wilderness Science Strategic Plan for the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. International Journal of Wilderness.
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    Abstract for Taylor, J.; Hollingsworth, T.; Armatas, C.; Carim, K.; Hefty, K.; Helmy, O.; Holsinger, L.; Paige, D.; Parks, S.; Redmore, L.; Rushing, J.; Taylor, E.; Zeller, K. (2023). The Future of Wilderness Research: A 10-Year Wilderness Science Strategic Plan for the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute

    The Earth is changing faster than at any time in recorded history. Globally, we are facing largescale losses in biodiversity and associated ecosystem function, changes in disturbance regimes, and widespread human migration and cultural loss (e.g., IPCC 2021). In the United States, we face many related challenges, including intensifying wildfire and climatic events, species and habitat loss, increasing demand for environmental and social justice, and rapid social change such as urbanization. In 1964, the Wilderness Act codified formal protections for lands we know today as designated wilderness collectively, the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS), the most environmentally protected public lands in the United States. Wilderness is not only part of our national story. It also provides myriad benefits: from spiritual renewal and recreation opportunities to clean air and water, habitat for plants and wildlife, food and economic security, and opportunities to conduct scientific studies. Consequently, wilderness is important to many people as part of our collective past, present, and future. Wilderness can mean many different things to different people and expectations for uses, such as recreation and subsistence activities, vary depending on differences in cultural background, belief systems, and education, to name a few. Long-term protection required by law, combined with an increasing rate of climate change and a growing understanding of how Indigenous peoples cared for the lands now designated as wilderness, results in a complex wilderness stewardship landscape.

  • Dilts, T. E.; Zeller, K. A.; Cushman, S. A.; Larrucea, E. S.; Crowell, M. M.; Byer, N. W.; Shoemaker, K. T.; Matocq, M. D. 2023. Pygmy rabbit habitat network reveals threats and opportunities for management and conservation. Landscape Ecology.
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    Abstract for Dilts, T. E.; Zeller, K.; Cushman, S. A.; Larrucea, E. S.; Crowell, M. M.; Byer, N. W.; Shoemaker, K. T.; Matocq, M. D. (2023). Pygmy rabbit habitat network reveals threats and opportunities for management and conservation

    Context Identifying core habitat areas and corridors is a first step to ensuring suitable areas are available to support movement and gene flow. The pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) is a species of concern and a sagebrush obligate of the arid Great Basin, yet a habitat network of core areas and corridors for this species has not been assessed. Methods Using a multiscale habitat modeling approach, we mapped pygmy rabbit habitat suitability and identified important variables that define habitat suitability. Movement pinch points in the Snake River plain and from Nevada west to Oregon/Idaho were identified from our connectivity analyses. Results Vegetation and climate variables were key for predicting pygmy rabbit habitat suitability constituting 38% and 31% of total variable importance respectively. Vegetation variables were consistently selected at fine spatial scales (90–720 m) whereas all other types of variables varied in their spatial scale. The level of protection for corridors compared to core areas differed depending upon the metric. Core areas had a greater percentage of sage-grouse priority Habitat Management Area but a lower percentage of total Habitat Management Area compared to corridors. Threats were consistently higher for corridors compared to core areas across a wide range of metrics. Conclusions The network of corridors and core areas from this analysis provide land managers with a starting point to develop site-specific plans to enhance pygmy rabbit habitat and connectivity. Corridors tended to have less protection under the sage-grouse priority areas than core areas and appear to be potentially more susceptible to climate-change range retraction.

  • De Van, M.R., J.F. Johnstone, M.C. Mack, T.N. Hollingsworth, and D.L. Taylor. 2023. Host identity affects the response of mycorrhizal fungal communities to increasing fire severity in Alaskan boreal forests. Fungal Ecology.
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    Abstract for DeVan, M. R.; Johnstone, J. F.; Mack, M. C.; Hollingsworth, T.; Taylor, D. L. (2023). Host identity affects the response of mycorrhizal fungal communities to increasing fire severity in Alaskan boreal forests

    Ongoing climate change in the boreal forests of western North America is associated with wildfires which are increasing in extent and severity, thus impacting mycorrhizal fungal communities through fungal mortality and shifts in host species and age. We planted three native tree species, Picea mariana, Picea glauca, and Populous tremuloides, and non-native Pinus contorta var. latifolia at 22 post-fire sites, encompassing wide variation in fire severity and environmental gradients, across Interior Alaska. We characterized fungal community composition using Illumina MiSeq. Fire severity had a greater impact on fungal composition than the environmental variables we considered. There were large shifts in fungal Phyla and guilds with high severity, but these shifts were dependent on host tree species. We also found pine-specific fungi on Pinus contorta var. latifolia. These data suggest that shifts in mycorrhizal fungal communities from increases in fire severity may be exacerbated by associated changes in plant successional trajectories and host composition.

  • Parks, S. A.; Holsinger, L. M.; Abatzoglou, J. T.; Littlefield, C. E.; Zeller, K. A. 2023. Protected areas not likely to serve as steppingstones for species undergoing climate-induced range shifts. Global Change Biology.
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    Abstract for Parks, S.; Holsinger, L.; Abatzoglou, J. T.; Littlefield, C. E.; Zeller, K. (2023). Protected areas not likely to serve as steppingstones for species undergoing climate-induced range shifts

    Species across the planet are shifting their ranges to track suitable climate conditions in response to climate change. Given that protected areas have higher quality habitat and often harbor higher levels of biodiversity compared to unprotected lands, it is often assumed that protected areas can serve as steppingstones for species undergoing climate-induced range shifts. However, there are several factors that may impede successful range shifts among protected areas, including the distance that must be traveled, unfavorable human land uses and climate conditions along potential movement routes, and lack of analogous climates. Through a species-agnostic lens, we evaluate these factors across the global terrestrial protected area network as measures of climate connectivity, which is defined as the ability of a landscape to facilitate or impede climate-induced movement. We found that over half of protected land area and two-thirds of the number of protected units across the globe are at risk of climate connectivity failure, casting doubt on whether many species can successfully undergo climate-induced range shifts among protected areas. Consequently, protected areas are unlikely to serve as steppingstones for a large number of species under a warming climate. As species disappear from protected areas without commensurate immigration of species suited to the emerging climate (due to climate connectivity failure), many protected areas may be left with a depauperate suite of species under climate change. Our findings are highly relevant given recent pledges to conserve 30% of the planet by 2030 (30?×?30), underscore the need for innovative land management strategies that allow for species range shifts, and suggest that assisted colonization may be necessary to promote species that are adapted to the emerging climate.

  • Carim, K. J.; Larson, D. C.; Helstab, J. M.; Young, M. K.; Docker, M. F. 2023. A revised taxonomy and estimate of species diversity for western North American Lampetra. Environmental Biology of Fishes.
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    Abstract for Carim, K.; Larson, D. C.; Helstab, J. M.; Young, M. K.; Docker, M. F. (2023). A revised taxonomy and estimate of species diversity for western North American Lampetra

    Lampreys are an ancient lineage of jawless fish for which the relationships among some lineages are uncertain. We addressed these information gaps for Lampetra species with a focus on western North America. Phylogenetic analysis using all publicly available sequences of two mitochondrial genes—cyt b and COI—supported designation of western North American Lampetra as a distinct genus from Lampetra in Europe, Asia, and eastern North America. Species delimitation analysis of cyt b sequences identified seven species, only three of which are currently recognized. Lampetra ayresii and L. richardsoni, regarded as separate under the “paired species concept,” were not genetically distinct; we recommend synonymizing L. richardsoni with L. ayresii because the latter has precedence, yet continuing to recognize each ecotype using its current common name. Other than the widespread L. ayresii clade, all other species exhibited limited ranges often restricted to one or two locations. Within headwaters of the Willamette River, L. ayresii demonstrated strong genetic structure and lack of gene flow among subbasins, indicating that the subbasin scale may represent an appropriate management unit. However, the appropriate management scale in other areas may differ based on evolutionary histories and gene flow. Subsequent work is needed across western North America to better delineate the ranges of the aforementioned species and to evaluate whether other unrecognized taxa in this lineage may be present.

  • Redmore, L.; Katholo, I.; Sene-Harper, A.; Songhurst, A.; Mc Culloch, G.; Stronza, A. 2023. The village, the elephant, and the state: Land access and vulnerability in rural Botswana. Human Ecology.
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    Abstract for Redmore, L.; Katholo, I.; Sene-Harper, A.; Songhurst, A.; McCulloch, G.; Stronza, A. (2023). The village, the elephant, and the state: Land access and vulnerability in rural Botswana

    Throughout the world, people resettle to reduce vulnerability to potentially dangerous wildlife, including elephants. In turn, they may become subject to development policies and practices that can either exacerbate or alleviate their vulnerability. Our ethnographic study in the Okavango Delta of Botswana, where 18,000 elephants share territory with 16,000 people, examines how resettlement decisions and settlement policies impacted vulnerability to elephants. We found that people who came into regular conflict with elephants frequently relocated from cattleposts to villages. Although people historically resettled near family, in 2015 a newly introduced “first-come, first-served” residential plot allocation policy spatially separated families within the village, creating further vulnerability for households relying on kinship networks. We found that government planning that incorporates locally available strategies, such as the ability to access support from kinship networks, may reduce vulnerability for those forced to resettle by elephant encroachment on their land.

  • Thomsen, Jennifer M.; Rice, William L.; Rushing, J. F.; Armatas, C. A. 2023. U.S. wilderness in the 21st century: A scoping review of wilderness visitor use management research from 2000 to 2020. Leisure Research, Journal of.
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    Abstract for Thomsen, J. M.; Rice, W. L.; Rushing, J. F.; Armatas, C. A. (2023). U.S. wilderness in the 21st century: A scoping review of wilderness visitor use management research from 2000 to 2020

    Now over twenty years into the 21st century, it is suggested that we are entering a new era of wilderness visitor use management (VUM). Yet, we lack a recent review of the literature assessing the latest research trends to advance wilderness VUM in a meaningful way. Accordingly, this research serves as both a review of the last twenty years of U.S. wilderness VUM research and a launching point into the next era. Our assessment adds to several previous benchmarks that demonstrate the progress of wilderness VUM research. This review evaluates trends in methodologies and themes of inquiry specific to VUM research in federally-designated wilderness over the past twenty years. The findings inform our discussion on emergent wilderness values and relevancy, approaches and settings of research, the evolving aspects of VUM in the wilderness, and the need for the synthesis of research across the National Wilderness Preservation System.

  • Zeller, K. A.; Wultsch, C.; Welfelt, L. S.; Beausoleil, R. A.; Landguth, E. L. 2022. Accounting for sex specific differences in gene flow and functional connectivity for cougars and implications for management. Landscape Ecology.
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    Abstract for Zeller, K.; Wultsch, C.; Welfelt, L. S.; Beausoleil, R. A.; Landguth, E. L. (2022). Accounting for sex specific differences in gene flow and functional connectivity for cougars and implications for management

    Context Maintenance of connectivity is a commonly recommended strategy for species management and conservation as habitat loss and fragmentation continues. Therefore, functional connectivity modeling is needed for species over large geographic areas. However, sex-specific functional connectivity is rarely considered, even though the results of such an analysis have the potential to influence applied management practices. Objectives We use a large (n?=?1902) genetic dataset to identify population level and sex-specific functional connectivity for cougars in Washington, USA. Methods We conducted a landscape genetics analysis that pseudo-optimized resistance surfaces for the full sample of cougars as well as for male and female groups. We then modeled connectivity across the top performing resistance surfaces with resistant kernels. Results The top resistance surface for females had higher resistance and lower connectivity than the males and had more spatial variability. However, we also observed greater resistance to movement and a lack of connectivity for males in and around the Olympic Peninsula. The resistance surface and connectivity models for all cougars contained both the broad features of the male models and the more heterogeneous features of the female models, indicating the importance of both local and regional dispersal and breeding. Conclusions In species with sex-specific differences in movement and dispersal, accounting for these differences can be important for understanding functional connectivity. For cougars in Washington, this revealed depressed connectivity for males on the Olympic Peninsula which may indicate a more immediate management concern for the future of this population than previously thought.

  • ed. Holmes, Thomas P. 2022. A perpetual flow of benefits: wilderness economic values in an evolving, multicultural society. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-101.Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Washington Office. 196 p. https://doi.org/10.2737/WO-GTR-101..
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    Abstract for ed. Holmes, Thomas P (2022). A perpetual flow of benefits: wilderness economic values in an evolving, multicultural society

    Wilderness is a culturally constructed concept that evolves over time with changes in socioeconomic, technological, demographic, and political conditions. Societal transformations, including growth of minority and underserved populations along with greater calls for environmental justice, in combination with changes in climatic variables (eg, temperature and precipitation) and natural disturbances (eg, wildfires, droughts, and invasive species) are creating new challenges for wilderness management agencies...

  • K.Doherty, D.Theobald, J.Bradford, L.Wiechman, G.Bedrosian, C.Boyd, M.Cahill, P.Coates, M.Creutzburg, M.Crist, S.Finn, A.Kumar, C.Littlefield, J.Maestas, K.Prentice, B.Prochazka, T.Remington, W.Sparklin, J.Tull, Z.Wurtzebach, K.Zeller. 2022. A Sagebrush Conservation Design to Proactively Restore America’s Sagebrush Biome. Not Applicable.
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    Abstract for Doherty, K.; Theobald, D. M.; Bradford, J.; Wiechman, L.; Bedrosian, G.; Boyd, C. S.; Cahill, M.; Coates, P. S.; Creutzburg, M. K.; Crist, M. R.; Finn, S.; Kumar, A. V.; Littlefield, C. E.; Maestas, J. D.; Prentice, K. L.; Prochazka, B. G.; Remington, T. E.; Sparklin, W. D.; Tull, J. C.; Wurtzebach, Z.; Zeller, K. (2022). A Sagebrush Conservation Design to Proactively Restore America’s Sagebrush Biome

    A working group of experts with diverse backgrounds and disciplinary expertise was assembled to conceptualize a spatially explicit conservation design to support and inform the Sagebrush Conservation Strategy Part 2. The goal was to leverage recent advancements in remotely sensed landcover products to develop spatially and temporally explicit maps of sagebrush rangeland condition and landscape threats. In addition, the group sought to provide a common basis for understanding the state of sagebrush rangelands through time. First, the study team developed a spatially explicit model to assess geographic patterns in sagebrush ecological integrity and used this model to identify core sagebrush areas (CSAs), growth opportunity areas (GOAs), and other rangeland areas (ORAs) across the biome. Among the identified rangelands, 13.6 percent were classified as CSAs; 34.4 percent, as GOAs; and 51.9 percent, as ORAs. This equated to 33.4 million acres of CSAs and 84.3 million acres of GOAs, or 117.7 million acres of CSAs and GOAs combined as of 2020. Second, the team sought to demonstrate the ecological relevance Agriculture of the identified CSAs and GOAs by comparing these data with independent datasets for sagebrush obligate species of conservation concern. Geographical patterns in sagebrush ecological integrity were strongly associated with high-priority species and displayed clear links to population performance for Centrocercus urophasianus (Bonaparte, 1827)(greater sage-grouse). The positive link to greater sage-grouse population trends in CSAs is important, as habitat management designations for this species have largely driven conservation actions across the sagebrush biome for the past several decades. Third, the team parsed out the type, location, and acres of primary threats within the different categories (CSAs, GOAs, and ORAs) to help focus active management by identifying places where multiagency and organization efforts can protect CSAs and GOAs that have higher levels of integrity with lower cumulative threats. The assessment of the condition of the sagebrush biome (that is, the location, amount, and conservation status) indicated that complex ecosystem function problems are driving~ 73 percent of the demonstrated threats within the CSAs and GOAs (rather than point-source problems, such as human development). Fourth, the team developed trend estimates for the identified CSAs and GOAs and three selected primary threats (invasive annual grasses, conifer encroachment, and human modification) to the sagebrush biome from 2001 to 2020. Results showed that an average of 1.3 million acres per year have transitioned to ORAs at an annual rate of-1.34 percent. Fifth, the team developed an approach to integrate climate change effects into the threat-based landscape conservation design and conducted an initial assessment on the magnitude of near-term climate effects in the context of observed historical trends. The team’s analysis suggests that climate change alone is unlikely to be the dominant threat to sagebrush ecological integrity in the next few decades, although interactions of climate with wildfire and invasive annual grasses may be an important threat, especially in the longer term.

  • Benzeev, Rayna, et al. "What’s governance got to do with it? Examining the relationship between governance and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon." PLoS One 17.6 (2022): e0269729.
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    Abstract for Benzeev, R.; Wilson, B.; Butler, M.; Massoca, P.; Paudel, K.; Redmore, L.; Zarbá, L. (2022). What’s governance got to do with it? Examining the relationship between governance and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

    Deforestation continues at rapid rates despite global conservation efforts. Evidence suggests that governance may play a critical role in influencing deforestation, and while a number of studies have demonstrated a clear relationship between national-level governance and deforestation, much remains to be known about the relative importance of subnational governance to deforestation outcomes. With a focus on the Brazilian Amazon, this study aims to understand the relationship between governance and deforestation at the municipal level. Drawing on the World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) as a guiding conceptual framework, and incorporating the additional dimension of environmental governance, we identified a wide array of publicly available data sources related to governance indicators that we used to select relevant governance variables. We compiled a dataset of 22 municipal-level governance variables covering the 2005–2018 period for 457 municipalities in the Brazilian Amazon. Using an econometric approach, we tested the relationship between governance variables and deforestation rates in a fixed-effects panel regression analysis. We found that municipalities with increasing numbers of agricultural companies tended to have higher rates of deforestation, municipalities with an environmental fund tended to have lower rates of deforestation, and municipalities that had previously elected a female mayor tended to have lower rates of deforestation. These results add to the wider conversation on the role of local-level governance, revealing that certain governance variables may contribute to halting deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

  • Carim, Kellie J., et al. "Mechanism of northern pike invasion in the Columbia River Basin." Management of Biological Invasions. 13 (1): 168-190. 13.1 (2022): 168-190.
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    Abstract for Carim, K. J.; Eby, L. A.; Miller, L. M.; McLellan, H.; Schwartz, M. K.; Dupuis, V. (2022). Mechanism of northern pike invasion in the Columbia River basin

    The spread of aquatic invasive species typically occurs through a combination of natural and human mediated dispersal. For many aquatic invasive species, natural dispersal is limited to aquatic corridors connecting habitat. In contrast, human transport may facilitate more distant dispersal and transport among disconnected waterbodies. Genetic information can serve as a powerful tool to track invasion histories and identify both the sources and mechanisms of invasive species dispersal. We used genetic information to understand invasion history and dynamics of expanding northern pike invasion in the Columbia River basin. Results indicate that the initial introduction of northern pike into the Pend Oreille River (in eastern Washington State) resulted from human transport of fish, not dispersal from established populations upstream. Subsequent reproduction and natural dispersal from the Pend Oreille River resulted in downstream expansion of northern pike into Lake Roosevelt, a reservoir within the mainstem Columbia River. These results highlight the need for a holistic approach to suppression of invasive species. Immediate efforts must address the biological mechanisms of natural dispersal. Sustained suppression and eradication must take a broad approach that includes coordination between management agencies, as well as policy and public outreach aimed at prevention of repeated human transport events. The genetic database created from this study has already been used to eliminate potential source populations for new northern pike invasions in Washington State outside the Columbia River basin. This highlights the utility of genetic monitoring for both immediate and long-term applications to managing aquatic species invasions.

  • Young, Michael K., et al. "Broad-scale eDNA sampling for describing aquatic species distributions in running waters: Pacific Lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus in the upper Snake River, USA." Journal of Fish Biology 101.5 (2022): 1312-1325.
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    Abstract for Young, M. K.; Isaak, D. J.; Nagel, D.; Horan, D. L.; Carim, K. J.; Franklin, T. W.; Zeller, V. A.; Roper, B.; Schwartz, M. K. (2022). Broad-scale eDNA sampling for describing aquatic species distributions in running waters: Pacific lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus in the upper Snake River, USA

    One of the most fundamental yet challenging tasks for aquatic ecologists is to precisely delineate the range of species, particularly those that are broadly distributed, require specialized sampling methods, and may be simultaneously declining and increasing in different portions of their range. An exemplar is the Pacific lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus, a jawless anadromous fish of conservation concern that is actively managed in many coastal basins in western North America. To efficiently determine its distribution across the accessible 56,168?km of the upper Snake River basin in the north-western United States, we first delimited potential habitat by using predictions from a species distribution model based on conventionally collected historical data and from the distribution of a potential surrogate, Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, which yielded a potential habitat network of 10,615?km. Within this area, we conducted a two-stage environmental DNA survey involving 394 new samples and 187 archived samples collected by professional biologists and citizen scientists using a single, standardized method from 2015 to 2021. We estimated that Pacific lamprey occupied 1875?km of lotic habitat in this basin, of which 1444?km may have been influenced by recent translocation efforts. Pacific lamprey DNA was consistently present throughout most river main stems, although detections became weaker or less frequent in the largest and warmest downstream channels and near their headwater extent. Pacific lamprey were detected in nearly all stocked tributaries, but there was no evidence of indigenous populations in such habitats. There was evidence of post-stocking movement because detections were 1.8–36.0 km upstream from release sites. By crafting a model-driven spatial sampling template and executing an eDNA-based sampling campaign led by professionals and volunteers, supplemented by previously collected samples, we established a benchmark for understanding the current range of Pacific lamprey across a large portion of its range in the interior Columbia River basin. This approach could be tailored to refine range estimates for other wide-ranging aquatic species of conservation concern.

  • Abatzoglou, J.T., Dobrowski, S.Z. & Parks, S.A. Multivariate climate departures have outpaced univariate changes across global lands. Sci Rep 10, 3891 (2020)
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    Abstract for Abatzoglou, J.T., Dobrowski, S.Z. &amp; Parks, S.A. (2020). Multivariate climate departures have outpaced univariate changes across global lands.

    Changes in individual climate variables have been widely documented over the past century. However, assessments that consider changes in the collective interaction amongst multiple climate variables are relevant for understanding climate impacts on ecological and human systems yet are less well documented than univariate changes. We calculate annual multivariate climate departures during 1958–2017 relative to a baseline 1958–1987 period that account for covariance among four variables important to Earth’s biota and associated systems: annual climatic water deficit, annual evapotranspiration, average minimum temperature of the coldest month, and average maximum temperature of the warmest month. Results show positive trends in multivariate climate departures that were nearly three times that of univariate climate departures across global lands. Annual multivariate climate departures exceeded two standard deviations over the past decade for approximately 30% of global lands. Positive trends in climate departures over the last six decades were found to be primarily the result of changes in mean climate conditions consistent with the modeled effects of anthropogenic climate change rather than changes in variability. These results highlight the increasing novelty of annual climatic conditions viewed through a multivariate lens and suggest that changes in multivariate climate departures have generally outpaced univariate departures in recent decades.

  • Hjerpe E., Hussain A., Holmes T.. 2020. Amenity Migration and Public Lands: Rise of the Protected Areas. Environmental Management. 66:56–71
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    Abstract for Evan Hjerpe, Anwar Hussain, Thomas Holmes (2020). Amenity Migration and Public Lands: Rise of the Protected Areas

    Rural amenity migration, or the relocation for quality of life purposes as opposed to monetary enhancement, has been occurring for decades and has been particularly pronounced in the American West where the phenomenon peaked in the 1990s. Researchers have illustrated that some places are more attractive for migrants than others and that certain regional amenities hold considerable influence on where migrants relocate. Increased migration levels typically result in increased economic growth indicators, making amenity migration an attractive rural development strategy. But comprehensive econometric analysis focused on amenity migration in the American West has been lacking. To address this, we conducted an econometric analysis of attributes that influenced migration to rural Western counties from 1980 to 2010. Over 20 potential amenity supply categories were collated for 356 rural counties from 11 Western states, with a focus on public lands. Descriptive statistics and OLS regressions were estimated and interpreted. Traditional amenities of climate, water area, and regional access were highly associated with migration levels, while designated natural amenities of Wilderness and National Monuments were the most influential public lands for migration to rural Western counties. Farming and oil and gas dependency were negatively associated with migration levels. Increasing the amount of protected areas, and branding campaigns based on natural amenities, can be a critical development strategy for rural communities.

  • Influence of topography and fuels on fire refugia probability under varying fire weather conditions in forests of the Pacific Northwest, USA. 2020. Garrett W. Meigs, Christopher J. Dunn, Sean A. Parks, and Meg A. Krawchuk. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 50: 636-647.
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    Abstract for Garrett W. Meigs, Christopher J. Dunn, Sean A. Parks, Meg A. Krawchuk (2020). Influence of topography and fuels on fire refugia probability under varying fire weather conditions in forests of the Pacific Northwest, USA

    Fire refugia-locations that burn less severely or less frequently than surrounding areas - support late-successional and old-growth forest structure and function. This study investigates the influence of topography and fuels on the probability of forest fire refugia under varying fire weather conditions. We focused on recent large fires in Oregon and Washington, United States (n = 39 fires > 400 ha, 2004-2014). Our objectives were to (1) map fire refugia as a component of the burn severity gradient, (2) quantify the predictability of fire refugia as a function of prefire fuels and topography under moderate and high fire weather conditions, and (3) map the conditional probability of fire refugia to illustrate their spatial patterns in old-growth forests. Fire refugia exhibited higher predictability under relatively moderate fire weather conditions. Prefire live fuels were strong predictors of fire refugia, with higher refugia probability in forests with higher prefire biomass. In addition, fire refugia probability was higher in topographic settings with relatively northern aspects, steep catchment slopes, and concave topographic positions. Conditional probability maps revealed consistently higher fire refugia probability under moderate versus high fire weather scenarios. Results from this study inform conservation planning by determining late-successional forests most likely to persist as fire refugia despite increasing regional fire activity.

  • Landres P., Hahn B. A., Biber E., Spencer D. T. 2000. Protected area stewardship in the Anthropocene: integrating science, law, and ethics to evaluate proposals for ecological restoration in wilderness. Restoration Ecology, 28(2): 315-327.
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    Abstract for Landres P., Hahn B. A., Biber E., Spencer D. T. (2020). Protected area stewardship in the Anthropocene: integrating science, law, and ethics to evaluate proposals for ecological restoration in wilderness

    Every year, the four federal agencies that manage designated wilderness in the United States receive proposals to implement small- and large-scale ecological restorations within the National Wilderness Preservation System. The combination of climate change with other landscape stressors is driving ecological restoration to be one of the single most important, challenging, and potentially litigious wilderness stewardship issues. In addition, different stakeholders may have strongly divergent views about what the right decision should be, and decisions need to go beyond routine technical and scientific analysis to incorporate a broader range of legal and ethical considerations. We present a framework based on a comprehensive, structured set of scientific, legal, and ethical questions to guide the evaluation of proposals for ecological restoration and other types of ecological intervention in wilderness. This framework of questions is a voluntary tool designed to increase communication and transparency among scientists, managers, and interested publics regarding the trade-offs and uncertainties of ecological restoration, and promote informed public deliberation in managing the public resource of wilderness.

  • Dietza M. S., Belote R. T., Gage J., Hahn B. A. 2020. An assessment of vulnerable wildlife, their habitats, and protected areas in the contiguous United States. Biological Conservation. 248 (2020) 108646
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    Abstract for Matthew S. Dietza, R. Travis Belote, Josh Gage, Beth A. Hahn (2020). An assessment of vulnerable wildlife, their habitats, and protected areas in the contiguous United States

    Although they are the foundations of most efforts to conserve biodiversity, protected areas in the United States have, historically, not always been located in the most important areas to accomplish this goal. We investigated the overlap between suitable habitat for wildlife species of conservation concern and the location of public and private highly protected areas to assess the degree to which current highly protected areas are providing finescale habitat for wildlife species of conservation concern, to explore the relationship between the size of total suitable habitat of a species and its vulnerability to extinction, and to identify the species that are poorly represented in highly protected areas and determine where their habitats overlap—i.e., where future protected areas may best be located. We found that nearly one third of terrestrial wildlife species in the contiguous U.S. are vulnerable to extinction and that even though there is a relationship between total suitable habitat area and vulnerability, we find that synthetic indices of endemism and rarity-weighted richness are not necessarily good indicators of whether a species will be of conservation concern. Of all 537 wildlife species of conservation concern, only 62 (11%) are well represented in highly protected areas. To increase representation of habitats of wildlife species of conservation concern, scientists and managers should look to preserve lands where there is the greatest overlap among habitats for species of concern that are currently poorly represented in the reserve system, with special focus on species with small ranges on public lands.

  • Parks SA, Carroll C, Dobrowski SZ, Allred BW. Human land uses reduce climate connectivity across North America. Glob Change Biol. 2020;00:1–12.
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    Abstract for Parks SA, Carroll C, Dobrowski SZ, Allred BW. (2020). Human land uses reduce climate connectivity across North America.

    Climate connectivity, the ability of a landscape to promote or hinder the movement of organisms in response to a changing climate, is contingent on multiple factors including the distance organisms need to move to track suitable climate over time (i.e. climate velocity) and the resistance they experience along such routes. An additional consideration which has received less attention is that human land uses increase resistance to movement or alter movement routes and thus influence climate connectivity. Here we evaluate the influence of human land uses on climate connectivity across North America by comparing two climate connectivity scenarios, one considering climate change in isolation and the other considering climate change and human land uses. In doing so, we introduce a novel metric of climate connectivity, ‘human exposure’, that quantifies the cumulative exposure to human activities that organisms may encounter as they shift their ranges in response to climate change. We also delineate potential movement routes and evaluate whether the protected area network supports movement corridors better than non-protected lands. We found that when incorporating human land uses, climate connectivity decreased; climate velocity increased on average by 0.3 km/year and cumulative climatic resistance increased for ~83% of the continent. Moreover, ~96% of movement routes in North America must contend with human land uses to some degree. In the scenario that evaluated climate change in isolation, we found that protected areas do not support climate corridors at a higher rate than non-protected lands across North America. However, variability is evident, as many ecoregions contain protected areas that exhibit both more and less representation of climate corridors compared to non-protected lands. Overall, our study indicates that previous evaluations of climate connectivity underestimate climate change exposure because they do not account for human impacts.

  • Armatas, Christopher A.; Borrie, William T.; Watson, Alan E. 2019. Protocol for social vulnerability assessment to support national forest planning and management: A technical manual for engaging the public to understand ecosystem service tradeoffs and drivers of change. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-396. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 52 p.
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    Abstract for Armatas, Christopher A.; Borrie, William T.; Watson, Alan E. (2019). Protocol for social vulnerability assessment to support national forest planning and management: A technical manual for engaging the public to understand ecosystem service tradeoffs and drivers of change.

    Despite the generally accepted need for understanding social vulnerability within the context of USDA Forest Service planning and management, there is a lack of structured approaches available to practitioners to gain such an understanding. This social vulnerability protocol provides a step-by-step manual for engaging the public about ecosystem service tradeoffs and the drivers of change considered influential to the continued provision of important ecosystem services. This protocol provides a rigorous social science approach for implementation alongside common public engagement practices such as listening sessions, open houses, and focus groups. The approach includes a fun, thought-provoking exercise to be completed during the public engagement process, and we suggest that the approach can be implemented within the context of already busy work schedules and without outside expertise. This protocol, which is based on the social science method known as Q-methodology, includes guidance from the initial step of describing the decisionmaking context to the final steps of analysis and interpretation. The final results include multiple perspectives held by the public, and the perspectives are conveyed through engaging and understandable illustrations. The knowledge created through implementation of this protocol can inform both natural resource decisionmaking and public relations.

  • Davis K. T., Dobrowski S. Z., Higuera P. E., Holden Z. A., Veblen T. T., Rother M. T., Parks S. A., Sala A., and Maneta M. P. 2019. Wildfires and climate change push low-elevation forests across a critical climate threshold for tree regeneration. PNAS, 116(13): 6193-6198.
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    Abstract for Davis K. T., Dobrowski S. Z., Higuera P. E., Holden Z. A., Veblen T. T., Rother M. T., Parks S. A., Sala A., and Maneta M. P. (2019). Wildfires and climate change push low-elevation forests across a critical climate threshold for tree regeneration

    Climate change is increasing fire activity in the western United States, which has the potential to accelerate climate-induced shifts in vegetation communities. Wildfire can catalyze vegetation change by killing adult trees that could otherwise persist in climate conditions no longer suitable for seedling establishment and survival. Recently documented declines in postfire conifer recruitment in the western United States may be an example of this phenomenon. However, the role of annual climate variation and its interaction with long-term climate trends in driving these changes is poorly resolved. Hereweexamine therelationship between annual climate and postfire tree regeneration of two dominant, low-elevation conifers (ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir) using annually resolved establishment dates from 2,935 destructively sampled trees from 33 wildfires across four regions in the western United States. We show that regeneration had a nonlinear response to annual climate conditions, with distinct thresholds for recruitment based on vapor pressure deficit, soil moisture, and maximum surface temperature. At dry sites across our study region, seasonal to annual climate conditions over the past 20 years have crossed these thresholds, such that conditions have become increasingly unsuitable for regeneration. High fire severity and low seed availability further reduced the probability of postfire regeneration. Together, our results demonstrate that climate change combined with high severity fire is leading to increasingly fewer opportunities for seedlings to establish after wildfires and may lead to ecosystem transitions in low-elevation ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir forests across the western United States.

  • Holsinger L, Parks SA, Parisien M-A, Miller C, Batllori E, Moritz MA. Climate change likely to reshape vegetation in North America's largest protected areas. Conservation Science and Practice. 2019;e50. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.50
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    Abstract for Holsinger L, Parks SA, Parisien M-A, Miller C, Batllori E, Moritz MA. (2019). Climate change likely to reshape vegetation in North America's largest protected areas

    Climate change poses a serious threat to biodiversity and unprecedented challenges to the preservation and protection of natural landscapes. We evaluated how climate change might affect vegetation in 22 of the largest and most iconic protected area (PA) complexes across North America. We use a climate analog model to estimate how dominant vegetation types might shift under mid- (2041-2070) and late century (2071-2100) climate according to the RCP 8.5 scenario. Maps depicting vegetation for each PA and time period are provided. Our analysis suggests that half (11 of 22) of the PAs may have substantially different vegetation by late-21st century compared with reference period conditions. The overall trend is toward vegetation associated with warmer or drier climates (or both), with near complete losses of alpine communities at the highest elevations and high latitudes. At low elevation and latitudes, vegetation communities associated with novel climate conditions may assemble in Pas. These potential shifts, contractions and expansions in vegetation portray the possible trends across landscapes that are of great concern for conservation, as such changes imply cascading ecological responses for associated flora and fauna Overall, our findings highlight the challenges managers may face to maintain and preserve biodiversity in key PAs across North America.

  • Kodandapani N. and Parks S. A. 2019. Effects of drought on wildfires in forest landscapes of the Western Ghats, India. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 28: 431-444.
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    Abstract for Kodandapani N. and Parks S. A. (2019). Effects of drought on wildfires in forest landscapes of the Western Ghats, India

    Wildland fire is an understudied yet highly important disturbance agent on the Indian subcontinent. In particular, there is uncertainty regarding the degree to which annual climate variation influences inter-annual variability in fire activity. In this study, we evaluate wildland fire at two complementary spatial scales in the southern portion of the Western Ghats mountain range (hereafter ‘Western Ghats’) in India. At the larger regional scale, we evaluate temporal and spatial variability in fire activity from 2001 to 2015. At the smaller scale, we evaluate the relationship between annual area burned and climate variation within two landscapes nested within the Western Ghats (from c. 1996 to 2015). At the regional scale, we found that most fire activity was restricted to January–March, although substantial inter-annual variation was evident. For example, in 2004, 2009 and 2012, fire activity was approximately five times greater compared with the 3 years with the lowest fire activity. The landscape-scale analysis also revealed weak to strong correlations between annual area burned and climate variation in both landscapes. Although not the only factor influencing area burned, episodes of drought could be exerting an increasingly significant effect on wildfire activity in the Western Ghats.

  • Mansuy N., Miller C., Parisian M., Parks S. A., Batllori E., and Moritz M. A. 2019. Contrasting human influences and macro-environmental factors on fire activity inside and outside protected areas of North America. Environmental Research Letters, 14(2019): 064007.
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    Abstract for Mansuy N., Miller C., Parisian M., Parks S. A., Batllori E., and Moritz M. A. (2019). Contrasting human influences and macro-environmental factors on fire activity inside and outside protected areas of North America

    Human activities threaten the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) in achieving their conservation goals across the globe. In this study, we contrast the influence of human and macro-environmental factors driving fire activity inside and outside PAs. Using area burned between 1984 and 2014 for 11 ecoregions in Canada and the United States, we built and compared statistical models of fire likelihood using the MaxEnt software and a set of 11 key anthropogenic, climatic, and physical variables. Overall, the full model (i.e. including all variables) performed better (adjusted area under the curve ranging from 0.71 to 0.95 for individual ecoregions) than the model that excluded anthropogenic variables. Both model types (with and without anthropogenic variables) generally performed better inside than outside the PAs. Climatic variables were usually of foremost importance in explaining fire activity inside and outside PAs, with anthropogenic variables being the second most important predictors, even inside PAs. While the individual contributions of anthropogenic variables indicate that fire activity decreased as of function of increasing human footprint, the anthropogenic effects were often substantially greater than those of physical features and were comparable to or even greater than climatic effects in some densely developed ecoregions, both outside and within PAs (e.g. Mediterranean California, Eastern Temperate Forest, and Tropical Wet Forests). Together, these results show the pervasive impact of humans on fire regimes inside PAs, as well as outside PAs. Given the increasing attractiveness of PAs, the implications for adaptive fire management beyond the concept of naturalness in the PAs are discussed. Our assessment of human-altered fire activity could serve as an indicator of human pressure in PAs; however, we suggest that further analysis is needed to understand specific interactions among fire, human pressures, and the environmental conditions at the scale of PAs.

  • Parisien, M., Dawe, D.A., Miller, C., Stockdale, C.A., and Armitage, O.B. (2019). Applications of simulation-based burn probability modelling: a review. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 28: 913-926.
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    Abstract for Marc-Andre Parisian, Denyse A. Dawe, Carol Miller, Christopher A. Stockdale, and Bradley Armitage (2019). Applications of simulation-based burn probability modelling: a review

    Wildland fire scientists and land managers working in fire-prone areas require spatial estimates of wildfire potential. To fulfill this need, a simulation-modelling approach was developed whereby multiple individual wildfires are modelled in an iterative fashion across a landscape to obtain location-based measures of fire likelihood and fire behaviour (e.g. fire intensity, biomass consumption). This method, termed burn probability (BP) modelling, takes advantage of fire spread algorithms created for operational uses and the proliferation of available data representing wildfire patterns, fuels and weather. This review describes this approach and provides an overview of its applications in wildland fire research, risk analysis and land management. We broadly classify the application of BP models as (1) direct examination, (2) neighbourhood processes, (3) fire hazard and risk and (4) integration with secondary models. Direct examination analyses are those that require no further processing of model outputs; they range from a simple visual examination of outputs to an assessment of alternate states (i.e. scenarios). Neighbourhood process analyses examine patterns of fire ignitions and subsequent spread across land designations. Fire hazard combines fire probability and a quantitative assessment of fire behaviour, whereas risk is the product of fire likelihood and potential impacts of wildfire. The integration with secondary models represents situations where BP model outputs are integrated into, or used in conjunction with, other models or modelling platforms.

  • Hessburg PF, Miller CL, Parks SA, Povak NA, Taylor AH, Higuera PE, Prichard SJ, North MP, Collins BM, Hurteau MD, Larson AJ, Allen CD, Stephens SL, Rivera-Huerta H, Stevens-Rumann CS, Daniels LD, Gedalof Z, Gray RW, Kane VR, Churchill DJ, Hagmann RK, Spies TA, Cansler CA, Belote RT, Veblen TT, Battaglia MA, Hoffman C, Skinner CN, Safford HD and Salter RB (2019) Climate, Environment, and Disturbance History Govern Resilience of Western North American Forests. Front. Ecol. Evol. 7:239. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00239
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    Abstract for Paul F. Hessburg, Carol L. Miller, Sean A. Parks, Nicholas A. Povak, Alan H. Taylor, Philip E. Higuera, Susan J. Prichard, Malcolm P. North, Brandon M. Collins, Matthew D. Hurteau, Andrew J. Larson, Craig D. Allen, Scott L. Stephens, Hiram Rivera-Huerta, Camille S. Stevens-Rumann, Lori D. Daniels, Ze’ev Gedalof, Robert W. Gray, Van R. Kane, Derek J. Churchill, R. Keala Hagmann, Thomas A. Spies, C. Alina Cansler, R. Travis Belote, Thomas T. Veblen, Mike A. Battaglia, Chad Hoffman, Carl N. Skinner, Hugh D. Safford and R. Brion Salter (2019). Climate, Environment, and Disturbance History Govern Resilience of Western North American Forests

    Before the advent of intensive forest management and fire suppression, western North American forests exhibited a naturally occurring resistance and resilience to wildfires and other disturbances. Resilience, which encompasses resistance, reflects the amount of disruption an ecosystem can withstand before its structure or organization qualitatively shift to a different basin of attraction. In fire-maintained forests, resilience to disturbance events arose primarily from vegetation pattern-disturbance process interactions at several levels of organization. Using evidence from 15 ecoregions, spanning forests from Canada to Mexico, we review the properties of forests that reinforced qualities of resilience and resistance. We show examples of multi-level landscape resilience, of feedbacks within and among levels, and how conditions have changed under climatic and management influences. We highlight geographic similarities and important differences in the structure and organization of historical landscapes, their forest types, and in the conditions that have changed resilience and resistance to abrupt or large-scale disruptions. We discuss the role of the regional climate in episodically or abruptly reorganizing plant and animal biogeography and forest resilience and resistance to disturbances. We give clear examples of these changes and suggest that managing for resilient forests is a construct that strongly depends on scale and human social values. It involves human communities actively working with the ecosystems they depend on, and the processes that shape them, to adapt landscapes, species, and human communities to climate change while maintaining core ecosystem processes and services. Finally, it compels us to embrace management approaches that incorporate ongoing disturbances and anticipated effects of climatic changes, and to support dynamically shifting patchworks of forest and non-forest. Doing so could make these shifting forest conditions and wildfire regimes less disruptive to individuals and society.

  • Jonathan Boucher, Yan Boucher, Anthony C. Caprio, Adam Collingwood, Ron J. Hall, Jane Park, Lisa B. Saperstein, Charlotte Smetanka, Rebecca J. Smith and Nick Soverel. 2019. Giving Ecological Meaning to Satellite-Derived Fire Severity Metrics across North American Forests. Remote Sensing, 11, 1735.
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    Abstract for Sean A. Parks, Lisa M. Holsinger, Michael J. Koontz, Luke Collins, Ellen Whitman, Marc-André Parisien, Rachel A. Loehman, Jennifer L. Barnes, Jean-François Bourdon, Jonathan Boucher, Yan Boucher, Anthony C. Caprio, Adam Collingwood, Ron J. Hall, Jane Park, Lisa B. Saperstein, Charlotte Smetanka, Rebecca J. Smith and Nick Soverel (2019). Giving Ecological Meaning to Satellite-Derived Fire Severity Metrics across North American Forests

    Satellite-derived spectral indices such as the relativized burn ratio (RBR) allow fre severity maps to be produced in a relatively straightforward manner across multiple fres and broad spatial extents. These indices often have strong relationships with feld-based measurements of fre severity, thereby justifying their widespread use in management and science. However, satellite-derived spectral indices have been criticized because their non-standardized units render them difficult to interpret relative to on-the-ground fre effects. In this study, we built a Random Forest model describing a feld-based measure of fre severity, the composite burn index (CBI), as a function of multiple spectral indices, a variable representing spatial variability in climate, and latitude. CBI data primarily representing forested vegetation from 263 fres (8075 plots) across the United States and Canada were used to build the model. Overall, the model performed well, with a cross-validated R2 of 0.72, though there was spatial variability in model performance. The model we produced allows for the direct mapping of CBI, which is more interpretable compared to spectral indices. Moreover, because the model and all spectral explanatory variables were produced in Google Earth Engine, predicting and mapping of CBI can realistically be undertaken on hundreds to thousands of fres. We provide all necessary code to execute the model and produce maps of CBI in Earth Engine. This study and its products will be extremely useful to managers and scientists in North America who wish to map fre effects over large landscapes or regions.

  • Parks, Sean A.; Dobrowski, Solomon Z.; Shaw, John D.; Miller, Carol. 2019. Living on the edge: Trailing edge forests at risk of fire-facilitated conversion to non-forest. Ecosphere. 10(3): Article e02651.
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    Abstract for Sean Parks, Soloman Z. Dobrowski, John D. Shaw, and Carol Miller (2019). Living on the edge: trailing edge forests at risk of fire-facilitated conversion to non-forest

    Forests are an incredibly important resource across the globe, yet they are threatened by climate change through stressors such as drought, insect outbreaks, and wildfire. Trailing edge forests—those areas expected to experience range contractions under a changing climate—are of particular concern because of the potential for abrupt conversion to non-forest. However, due to plant-climate disequilibrium, broad-scale forest die-off and range contraction in trailing edge forests are unlikely to occur over short timeframes (<~25–50 yr) without a disturbance catalyst (e.g., wildfire). This underscores that explicit attention to both climate and disturbance is necessary to understand how the distribution of forests will respond to climate change. As such, we first identify the expected location of trailing edge forests in the intermountain western United States by mid-21st century. We then identify those trailing edge forests that have a high probability of stand-replacing fire and consider such sites to have an elevated risk of fire-facilitated transition to non-forest. Results show that 18% of trailing edge forest and 6.6% of all forest are at elevated risk of fire-facilitated conversion to non-forest in the intermountain western United States by mid-21st century. This estimate, however, assumes that fire burns under average weather conditions. For a subset of the study area (the southwestern United States), we were able to incorporate expected fire severity under extreme weather conditions. For this spatial subset, we found that 61% of trailing edge forest and 30% of all forest are at elevated risk of fire-facilitated conversion to non-forest under extreme burning conditions. However, due to compounding error in our process that results in unknowable uncertainty, we urge caution in a strict interpretation of these estimates. Nevertheless, our findings suggest the potential for transformed landscapes in the intermountain western United States that will affect ecosystem services such as watershed integrity, wildlife habitat, wood production, and recreation.

  • Carlos Carroll, Sean A. Parks, Solomon Z. Dobrowski, David R. Roberts. 2018. Climatic, topographic, and anthropogenic factors determine connectivity between current and future climate analogs in North America. Global Change Biology, 2019: 1-14.
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    Abstract for Carlos Carroll, Sean A. Parks, Solomon Z. Dobrowski, David R. Roberts (2018). Climatic, topographic, and anthropogenic factors determine connectivity between current and future climate analogs in North America

    As climatic conditions shift in coming decades, persistence of many populations will depend on their ability to colonize habitat newly suitable for their climatic requirements. Opportunities for such range shifts may be limited unless areas that facilitate dispersal under climate change are identified and protected from land uses that impede movement. While many climate adaptation strategies focus on identifying refugia, this study is the first to characterize areas which merit protection for their role in promoting climate connectivity at a continental extent. We identified climate connectivity areas across North America by delineating paths between current climate types and their future analogs that avoided nonanalogous climates, and used centrality metrics to rank the contribution of each location to facilitating dispersal across the landscape. The distribution of connectivity areas was influenced by climatic and topographic factors at multiple spatial scales. Results were robust to uncertainty in the magnitude of future climate change arising from differing emissions scenarios and general circulation models, but sensitive to analysis extent and assumptions concerning dispersal behavior and maximum dispersal distance. Paths were funneled along north-south trending passes and valley systems and away from areas of novel and disappearing climates. Climate connectivity areas, where many potential dispersal paths overlapped, were distinct from refugia and thus poorly captured by many existing conservation strategies. Existing protected areas with high connectivity values were found in southern Mexico, the southwestern US, and western and arctic Canada and Alaska. Ecoregions within the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Great Plains, eastern temperate forests, high Arctic, and western Canadian Cordillera hold important climate connectivity areas which merit increased conservation focus due to anthropogenic pressures or current low levels of protection. Our coarse-filter climate-type-based results complement and contextualize species-specific analyses and add a missing dimension to climate adaptation planning by identifying landscape features which promote connectivity among refugia.

  • Armatas, C. A., Campbell, R. M., Watson, A. E., Borrie, W. T., Christensen, N., & Venn, T. J. (2018). An integrated approach to valuation and tradeoff analysis of ecosystem services for national forest decision-making. Ecosystem Services, 33, 1-18.
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    Abstract for Christopher A. Armatas, Robert M. Campbell, Alan E. Watson, William T. Borrie, Neal Christensen, Tyron J. Venn (2018). An integrated approach to valuation and tradeoff analysis of ecosystem services for national forest decision-making

    An integrated approach to understanding ecosystem service values in Wyoming and Montana, USA is presented. The assessment encompasses a major river basin, and includes a synthesis of existing data and research related to the natural system and separate data collection efforts regarding the social and economic importance of ecosystem services. A holistic look at the social-ecological system provides nuanced information about ecosystem service values and tradeoffs for the purpose of public land decision-making. The initial ecological assessment concluded that water resources were particularly vulnerable, which guided the social and economic assessments. The social assessment applied Q-methodology, ultimately identifying and exploring four archetypes regarding views on the importance of 34 ecosystem services, which were dubbed “environmental”, “agricultural”, “Native American”, and “recreation”. The economic assessment applied choice modeling to understand non-market values of ecosystem services (i.e., agricultural community, aquatic biodiversity, river angling, and motorized winter recreation), and latent class analysis provided insight into preference heterogeneity previously indicated in the social assessment. The structured approach can inform natural resource decision-making by including several different perspectives, integrating multiple spatial scales, highlighting particular ecosystem services as relevant within the context of many ecosystem services, and facilitating relations between the public and natural resource stewards.

  • Cole, D. (2018). Leave No Trace: How It Came to Be.
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    Abstract for Cole, D. (2018). Leave No Trace: How It Came To Be

    Where did the Leave No Trace program come from? Even in the far past, when population levels were lower, outdoor recreation was less popular and resultant impacts were less problematic, there were undoubtedly some who recognized the ecological damage recreation can cause. The effects of trampling on vegetation were noted as early as the 18th century and concern about recreation impacts on redwoods led to studies as early as the 1920s (Liddle 1997). Some of those who noticed impact would have recognized the link between impact and their recreational behaviors, altered their behaviors accordingly and encouraged others to do the same. As population increased, outdoor recreation soared in popularity, and resultant impacts worsened, recognition of impact and behavioral change must have increased. This awakening awareness was the ultimate origin of the Leave No Trace (LNT) movement.

  • Tricker, J., Landres, P. (2018). Mapping threats to wilderness character in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Biological Conservation, 227, 243-251.
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    Abstract for James Tricker, Peter Landres (2018). Mapping threats to wilderness character in the National Wilderness Preservation System

    The National Wilderness Preservation System in the United States provides the greatest level of protection for the ecological and social values of lands held in trust for future generations. Although designated wilderness is the cornerstone of the US conservation portfolio, designation alone doesn\'t assure the protection of these areas, which are degraded by threats both inside and external to the area. This paper describes new methods for quantifying the location and cumulative magnitude of threats to wilderness, allowing agency managers and the public to evaluate whether the legal mandate from the 1964 Wilderness Act to “preserve wilderness character” is being upheld. These new methods have also been used in developing wilderness stewardship plans and analyzing the potential effects of proposed projects that would degrade wilderness character. The methods described here were developed and tested in seven wildernesses in a variety of ecological, geographic, and administrative settings, and are directly applicable to evaluating threats and improving the management of all 110 million acres of designated wilderness in the United States, as well as all areas that are increasingly recognized internationally as wilderness.

  • Abatzoglou, John T.; Dobrowski, Solomon Z.; Parks, Sean A.; Hegewisch, Katherine C. 2018. Data Descriptor: TerraClimate, a high-resolution global dataset of monthly climate and climatic water balance from 1958-2015. Scientific Data. 5: 170191.
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    Abstract for John T. Abatzoglou, Solomon Z. Dobrowski, Sean A. Parks, & Katherine C. Hegewisch (2018). Data Descriptor: TerraClimate, a high-resolution global dataset of monthly climate and climatic water balance from 1958-2015

    We present TerraClimate, a dataset of high-spatial resolution (1/24°, ~4-km) monthly climate and climatic water balance for global terrestrial surfaces from 1958–2015. TerraClimate uses climatically aided interpolation, combining high-spatial resolution climatological normals from the WorldClim dataset, with coarser resolution time varying (i.e., monthly) data from other sources to produce a monthly dataset of precipitation, maximum and minimum temperature, wind speed, vapor pressure, and solar radiation. TerraClimate additionally produces monthly surface water balance datasets using a water balance model that incorporates reference evapotranspiration, precipitation, temperature, and interpolated plant extractable soil water capacity. These data provide important inputs for ecological and hydrological studies at global scales that require high spatial resolution and time varying climate and climatic water balance data. We validated spatiotemporal aspects of TerraClimate using annual temperature, precipitation, and calculated reference evapotranspiration from station data, as well as annual runoff from streamflow gauges. TerraClimate datasets showed noted improvement in overall mean absolute error and increased spatial realism relative to coarser resolution gridded datasets.

  • Kelly, P. R. (2018). The Enduring Importance of Wildness: Shepherding Wilderness Through the Anthropocene (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Montana Missoula, MT).
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    Abstract for Kelly, P. R. (2018). The Enduring Importance of Wildness: Shepherding Wilderness Through the Anthropocene

    Wilderness and wildness have long been essential values at the heart of American conservation. Both have played critical roles in the formation of environmental ethics, providing a conceptual foundation for the belief that the non-human natural world is valuable for its own sake (Nash, 2001). After grounding and inspiring much of 20th century environmentalism, their influence in the current century has grown increasingly tentative. The arrival of what some have called the “Anthropocene epoch” – a term meant to capture the planetary scale impacts of human activity – now threatens the continued viability and relevance of wilderness and wildness to contemporary conservation. The challenges facing wilderness advocates are both physical and conceptual. Anthropogenic climate change, pollution, and the looming mass extinction crisis are all impacting the biophysical elements of wilderness areas (Stephenson & Millar, 2012; Long & Biber, 2015; Ceballos et al, 2015)). At the same time, a growing chorus of “new conservationists” are calling for the abandonment of wilderness and wildness as useful values for guiding conservation (Marris, 2015; Kareiva et al, 2012).

  • Lieberman, L., Hahn, B., & Landres, P. (2018). Manipulating the wild: a survey of restoration and management interventions in US wilderness. Restoration Ecology.
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    Abstract for Lucy Lieberman, Beth Hahn, Peter Landres (2018). Manipulating the wild: a survey of restoration and management interventions in U.S. wilderness

    Landscape scale restoration is a common management intervention used around the world to combat ecological degradation. For wilderness managers in the United States, the decision to intervene is complicated by the Wilderness Act’s legal mandate to preserve wilderness character and demonstrate managerial restraint (16 U.S.C. § 1131–1136). We assessed the frequency and type of management interventions, specifically actions to manage ecosystems, that have occurred in the National Wilderness Preservation System between 2011 and 2015, including the specific type of intervention, the methods used, the project proponent, and the factors that influenced the decision to act. We sent an online survey to staff members at 527 wilderness units from four federal agencies that manage wilderness and found that management interventions occurred in 37% of wildernesses sampled (n = 210). The greatest frequency of interventions occurred in the National Park Service (75%), and the three most common interventions were vegetation treatments (46%), wildfire (35%), and wildlife restoration projects (18%). Our findings point to a need for greater transparency about information on management interventions. We recommend creating an interagency database to track information on management interventions in wilderness to better understand which actions are occurring and why; such a database could help inform wilderness stewardship decisions while demonstrating best practices for ecological restorations implemented within the constraints of the Wilderness Act.

  • Marion, J., Arredondo, J., Wimpey, J., & Fletcher, M. (2018, August). Applying Recreation Ecology Science to Sustainably Manage Camping Impacts: A Classification of Camping Management Strategies. Retrieved from https://ijw.org/2018-camping-setbacks-near-waterbodies-in-wilderness/
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    Abstract for Marion, Jeffrey L.; Arredondo, Johanna; Wimpey, Jeremy and Fletcher, Meadema (2018). Applying Recreation Ecology Science to Sustainably Manage Camping Impacts: A Classification of Camping Management Strategies

    Wilderness and other protected natural areas like national forests, parks and refuges are managed to provide high quality recreational opportunities while preserving natural resource conditions. In managing recreation visitation, land managers could allow visitors to create their own infrastructure of trails and campsites, or they could choose to apply an impact management strategy to provide an infrastructure that includes sustainably designed trails and campsites. Recreation ecology studies have repeatedly demonstrated that informal “visitor-created” trails and campsites are generally not sustainably designed or located (Cole 1981, Cole 1982a, 2013, Marion 2016, Wimpey and Marion 2011). For example, informal trails frequently occur in flat terrain where trail widening and muddiness can be chronic problems, or are fall-aligned (perpendicular to contour lines) in sloping terrain, where they are considerably more vulnerable to soil loss and widening (Marion et al. 2016, Marion and Wimpey 2017). Similarly, visitors are highly attracted to flat terrain near water for camping, where they frequently create substantial numbers of large and unnecessary campsites at densities that threaten visitor solitude, experiential qualities, and natural resources.

  • Marion, J. L., Wimpey, J., & Lawhon, B. (2018, August). Conflicting Messages about Camping near Waterbodies in Wilderness: A Review of the Scientific Basis and Need for Flexibility. Retrieved from https://ijw.org/2018-conflicting-messages-about-camping-near-waterbodies-in-wilderness/
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    Abstract for Marion, Jeffrey L.; Wimpey, Jeremy and Lawhon, Ben. (2018). Conflicting Messages about Camping near Waterbodies in Wilderness: A Review of the Scientific Basis and Need for Flexibility

    The preceding article by C.B. Griffin examines the differences in recommended camping distance from waterbodies from a perspective that there should be consistency between the guidance provided by land management agencies and low impact education and communication programs, such as Leave No Trace and Tread Lightly. We concur that regulatory and messaging consistency is a beneficial mutual goal and suggest that it’s time to reexamine the biophysical and social scientific basis for such guidance, historical precedents, alternative management options, and where there are needs for flexibility. We also identify possible additional research needs and suggest alternative actions based on the current body of research.

  • Meigs, G. W., & Krawchuk, M. A. (2018). Composition and structure of forest fire refugia: What are the ecosystem legacies across burned landscapes? Forests, 9(5), 243. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f9050243
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    Abstract for Meigs, G. W., & Krawchuk, M. A. (2018). Composition and Structure of Forest Fire Refugia: What Are the Ecosystem Legacies across Burned Landscapes?

    Locations within forest fires that remain unburned or burn at low severity—known as fire refugia—are important components of contemporary burn mosaics, but their composition and structure at regional scales are poorly understood. Focusing on recent, large wildfires across the US Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington), our research objectives are to (1) classify fire refugia and burn severity based on relativized spectral change in Landsat time series; (2) quantify the pre-fire composition and structure of mapped fire refugia; (3) in forested areas, assess the relative abundance of fire refugia and other burn severity classes across forest composition and structure types. We analyzed a random sample of 99 recent fires in forest-dominated landscapes from 2004 to 2015 that collectively encompassed 612,629 ha. Across the region, fire refugia extent was substantial but variable from year to year, with an annual mean of 38% of fire extent and range of 15–60%. Overall, 85% of total fire extent was forested, with the other 15% being non-forest. In comparison, 31% of fire refugia extent was non-forest prior to the most recent fire, highlighting that mapped refugia do not necessarily contain tree-based ecosystem legacies. The most prevalent non-forest cover types in refugia were vegetated: shrub (40%), herbaceous (33%), and crops (18%). In forested areas, the relative abundance of fire refugia varied widely among pre-fire forest types (20–70%) and structural conditions (23–55%). Consistent with fire regime theory, fire refugia and high burn severity areas were inversely proportional. Our findings underscore that researchers, managers, and other stakeholders should interpret burn severity maps through the lens of pre-fire land cover, especially given the increasing importance of fire and fire refugia under global change.

  • Parks, S. A., Holsinger, L. M., Panunto, M. H., Jolly, W. M., Dobrowski, S. Z., & Dillon, G. K. (2018). High-severity fire: evaluating its key drivers and mapping its probability across western US forests. Environmental Research Letters, 13(4), 044037.
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    Abstract for Parks, S. A., Holsinger, L. M., Panunto, M. H., Jolly, W. M., Dobrowski, S. Z., & Dillon, G. K. (2018). High-severity fire: evaluating its key drivers and mapping its probability across western US forests

    Wildland fire is a critical process in forests of the western United States (US). Variation in fire behavior, which is heavily influenced by fuel loading, terrain, weather, and vegetation type, leads to heterogeneity in fire severity across landscapes. The relative influence of these factors in driving fire severity, however, is poorly understood. Here, we explore the drivers of high-severity fire for forested ecoregions in the western US over the period 2002–2015. Fire severity was quantified using a satellite-inferred index of severity, the relativized burn ratio. For each ecoregion, we used boosted regression trees to model high-severity fire as a function of live fuel, topography, climate, and fire weather. We found that live fuel, on average, was the most important factor driving high-severity fire among ecoregions (average relative influence = 53.1%) and was the most important factor in 14 of 19 ecoregions. Fire weather was the second most important factor among ecoregions (average relative influence = 22.9%) and was the most important factor in five ecoregions. Climate (13.7%) and topography (10.3%) were less influential. We also predicted the probability of high-severity fire, were a fire to occur, using recent (2016) satellite imagery to characterize live fuel for a subset of ecoregions in which the model skill was deemed acceptable (n=13). These ‘wall-to-wall’ gridded ecoregional maps provide relevant and up-to-date information for scientists and managers who are tasked with managing fuel and wildland fire. Lastly, we provide an example of the predicted likelihood of high-severity fire under moderate and extreme fire weather before and after fuel reduction treatments, thereby demonstrating how our framework and model predictions can potentially serve as a performance metric for land management agencies tasked with reducing hazardous fuel across large landscapes.

  • Parks, S. A., Parisien, M. , Miller, C. , Holsinger, L. M. and Baggett, L. S. (2018), Fine-scale spatial climate variation and drought mediate the likelihood of reburning. Ecol Appl, 28: 573-586. doi:10.1002/eap.1671
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    Abstract for Parks, S. A., Parisien, M. , Miller, C. , Holsinger, L. M. and Baggett, L. S. (2018). Fine-scale spatial climate variation and drought mediate the likelihood of reburning

    In many forested ecosystems, it is increasingly recognized that the probability of burning is substantially reduced within the footprint of previously burned areas. This self?limiting effect of wildland fire is considered a fundamental emergent property of ecosystems and is partly responsible for structuring landscape heterogeneity (i.e., mosaics of different age classes), thereby reducing the likelihood of uncharacteristically large fires in regions with active fire regimes. However, the strength and longevity of this self?limiting phenomenon is not well understood in most fire?prone ecosystems. In this study, we quantify the self?limiting effect in terms of its strength and longevity for five fire?prone study areas in western North America and investigate how each measure varies along a spatial climatic gradient and according to temporal (i.e., annual) climatic variation. Results indicate that the longevity (i.e., number of years) of the self?limiting effect ranges between 15 yr in the warm and dry study area in the southwestern United States to 33 yr in the cold, northern study areas in located in northwestern Montana and the boreal forest of Canada. We also found that spatial climatic variation has a strong influence on wildland fire\'s self?limiting capacity. Specifically, the self?limiting effect within each study area was stronger and lasted longer in areas with low mean moisture deficit (i.e., wetter and cooler settings) compared to areas with high mean moisture deficit (warmer and drier settings). Last, our findings show that annual climatic variation influences wildland fire\'s self?limiting effect: drought conditions weakened the strength and longevity of the self?limiting effect in all study areas, albeit at varying magnitudes. Overall, our study provides support for the idea that wildland fire contributes to spatial heterogeneity in fuel ages that subsequently mediate future fire sizes and effects. However, our findings show that the strength and longevity of the self?limiting effect varies considerably according to spatial and temporal climatic variation, providing land and fire managers relevant information for effective planning and management of fire and highlighting that fire itself is an important factor contributing to fire?free intervals.

  • Rasch, R. An exploration of intergenerational differences in wilderness values. Population and Environment, 1-20.
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    Abstract for Rasch, R. (2018). An exploration of intergenerational differences in wilderness values

    As populations and built-up environments increase around the globe, governments on every continent are setting aside pristine, natural landscapes from development to preserve their wild nature. In the USA, these areas are designated by Congress as wilderness areas and the connections people have with these wild places shape their wilderness values, i.e., the values they believe wilderness areas provide to society. Even though Congress has increased the number of acres under official wilderness protection since the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, congressionally designated wilderness lands account for less than 3% of the contiguous United States (Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Instite (ALWRI), 2017). Williams and Watson (2007) suggest that this increasing scarcity of wild landscapes may lead younger generations to develop an increased appreciation of wilderness— an otherworldly place, so different from their daily existence and experiences. Others warn that cohorts growing up surrounded by screens, rather than climbing trees, are not learning to engage with, and thus appreciate, nature (Blumer 1986; Dickinson 2013; Louv 2005). This distance from nature may lead the youngest cohorts to value wilderness differently from previous generations. Many Americans are not even aware that wilderness areas exist (Cordell et al. 2003). Consequently, they may fail to appreciate the full suite of values that wilderness areas can provide, such as recreation, spiritual inspiration, and ecosystem protection.

  • Robinne, F. N., Bladon, K. D., Miller, C., Parisien, M. A., Mathieu, J., & Flannigan, M. D. (2018). A spatial evaluation of global wildfire-water risks to human and natural systems. Science of the Total Environment, 610, 1193-1206.
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    Abstract for Robinne, F. N., Bladon, K. D., Miller, C., Parisien, M. A., Mathieu, J., & Flannigan, M. D. (2018). A spatial evaluation of global wildfire-water risks to human and natural systems

    The large mediatic coverage of recent massive wildfires across the world has emphasized the vulnerability of freshwater resources. The extensive hydrogeomorphic effects from a wildfire can impair the ability of watersheds to provide safe drinking water to downstream communities and high-quality water to maintain riverine ecosystem health. Safeguarding water use for human activities and ecosystems is required for sustainable development; however, no global assessment of wildfire impacts on water supply is currently available. Here, we provide the first global evaluation of wildfire risks to water security, in the form of a spatially explicit index. We adapted the Driving forces-Pressure-State-Impact-Response risk analysis framework to select a comprehensive set of indicators of fire activity and water availability, which we then aggregated to a single index of wildfire-water risk using a simple additive weighted model. Our results show that water security in many regions of the world is potentially vulnerable, regardless of socio-economic status. However, in developing countries, a critical component of the risk is the lack of socio-economic capability to respond to disasters. Our work highlights the importance of addressing wildfire-induced risks in the development of water security policies; the geographic differences in the components of the overall risk could help adapting those policies to different regional contexts

  • Walker, R. B., Coop J.D., Parks S.A., and Trader L. 2018. Fire regimes approaching historic norms reduce wildfire-facilitated conversion from forest to non-forest. Ecosphere 9(4):e02182. 10.1002/ecs2.2182
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    Abstract for Ryan B. Walker, Jonathan D. Coop, Sean A. Parks, & Laura Trader (2018). Fire regimes approaching historic norms reduce wildfire-facilitated converison from forest to non-forest

    Extensive high-severity wildfires have driven major losses of ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests in the southwestern United States, in some settings catalyzing enduring conversions to nonforested vegetation types. Management interventions to reduce the probability of stand-replacing wildfire have included mechanical fuel treatments, prescribed fire, and wildfire managed for resource benefit. In 2011, the Las Conchas fire in northern New Mexico burned forested areas not exposed to fire for >100 yr, but also reburned numerous prescribed fire units and/or areas previously burned by wildfire. At some sites, the combination of recent prescribed fire and wildfire approximated known pre-settlement fire frequency, with two or three exposures to fire between 1977 and 2007. We analyzed gridded remotely sensed burn severity data (differenced normalized burn ratio), pre- and post-fire field vegetation samples, and pre- and post-fire measures of surface fuels to assess relationships and interactions between prescribed fire, prior wildfire, fuels, subsequent burn severity, and patterns of post-fire forest retention vs. conversion to non-forest. We found that Las Conchas burn severity was lowest, and tree survival was highest, in sites that had experienced both prescribed fire and prior wildfire. Sites that had experienced only prescribed or prior wildfire exhibited moderate burn severity and intermediate levels of forest retention. Sites lacking any recent prior fire burned at the highest severity and were overwhelmingly converted to non-forested vegetation including grassland, oak scrub, and weedy, herbaceous-dominated types. Burn severity in the Las Conchas fire was closely linked to surface woody fuel loads, which were reduced by prior wildfire and prescribed fire. Our results support the restoration of fire regimes via prescribed fire and resource benefit wildfire to promote the resiliency of forest types vulnerable to fire-mediated type conversion. The application of prescribed fire to reduce surface fuels following wildfire may reduce forest loss during subsequent fire under more extreme conditions. These findings are especially relevant given likely increases in vulnerability associated with climate change impacts to wildfire and forest dynamics.

  • Sanchez-Trigueros, F., & Watson, A. (2018). Wild horses do not carry maps: A GIS note on the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range.
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    Abstract for Sanchez-Trigueros, F., Watson, A. (2018). Wild horses do not carry maps: GIS note on the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range

    It has not yet been proven that wild horses can read maps, let alone understand federal boundaries. In a landscape without barriers that could effectively prevent horses from accessing places, the expected behavior of the animals is to travel across a home range in their pursuit of forage, water and environmental conditions that are suitable for a successful management of their stress. Because of its special ecological and administrative characteristics, the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range sets a case study that highlights the importance of assessing how WSA direction can be followed completely in Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management Areas which are spread out in lands with mixed federal authority, given the capacity of wild horses and burros to stress local resources under situations of ecological imbalance.

  • Sean A. Parks, Lisa M. Holsinger, Carol Miller and Marc-André Parisien. 2018. Analog-based fire regime and vegetation shifts in mountainous regions of the western US. Ecography, 41: 910-921.
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    Abstract for Sean A. Parks, Lisa M. Holsinger, Carol Miller and Marc-André Parisien (2018). Analog-based fire regime and vegetation shifts in mountainous regions of the western US

    Climate change is expected to result in substantial ecological impacts across the globe. These impacts are uncertain but there is strong consensus that they will almost certainly affect fire regimes and vegetation. In this study, we evaluated how climate change may influence fire frequency, fire severity, and broad classes of vegetation in mountainous ecoregions of the contiguous western US for early, middle, and late 21st century (2025, 2055, and 2085, respectively). To do so, we employed the concept of a climate analog, whereby specific locations with the best climatic match between one time period and a different time period are identified. For each location (i.e. 1-km2 pixel), we evaluated potential changes by comparing the reference period fire regime and vegetation to that of the fire regime and vegetation of the nearest pixels representative of its future climate. For the mountainous regions we investigated, we found no universal increase or decrease in fire frequency or severity. Instead, potential changes depend on the bioclimatic domain. Specifically, wet and cold regions (i.e. mesic and cold forest) generally exhibited increased fire frequency but decreased fire severity, whereas drier, moisturelimited regions (i.e. shrubland/grassland) displayed the opposite trend. Results also indicate the potential for substantial changes in the amount and distribution of some vegetation types, highlighting important interactions and feedbacks among climate, fire, and vegetation. Our findings also shed light on a potential threshold or tipping point at intermediate moisture conditions that suggest shifts in vegetation from forest to shrubland/grassland are possible as the climate becomes warmer and drier. However, our study assumes that fire and vegetation are in a state of equilibrium with climate, and, consequently, natural and human-induced disequilibrium dynamics should be considered when interpreting our findings.

  • Parks, S.A., Holsinger, L.M., Voss, M.A., Loehman, R.A., & Robinson, N.P. (2018). Mean Composite Fire Severity Metrics Computed with Google Earth Engine Offer Improved Accuracy and Expanded Mapping Potential. Remote Sensing, 10(6), 15 p.
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    Abstract for Sean A. Parks, Lisa M. Holsinger, Morgan A. Voss, Rachel A. Loehman, and Nathaniel P. Robinson (2018). Mean Composite Fire Severity Metrics Computed with Google Earth Engine Offer Improved Accuracy and Expanded Mapping Potential

    Landsat-based fire severity datasets are an invaluable resource for monitoring and research purposes. These gridded fire severity datasets are generally produced with pre-and post-fire imagery to estimate the degree of fire-induced ecological change. Here, we introduce methods to produce three Landsat-based fire severity metrics using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform: the delta normalized burn ratio (dNBR), the relativized delta normalized burn ratio (RdNBR), and the relativized burn ratio (RBR). Our methods do not rely on time-consuming a priori scene selection and instead use a mean compositing approach in which all valid pixels (e.g. cloud-free) over a pre-specified date range (pre- and post-fire) are stacked and the mean value for each pixel over each stack is used to produce the resulting fire severity datasets. This approach demonstrates that fire severity datasets can be produced with relative ease and speed compared the standard approach in which one pre-fire and post-fire scene are judiciously identified and used to produce fire severity datasets. We also validate the GEE-derived fire severity metrics using field-based fire severity plots for 18 fires in the western US. These validations are compared to Landsat-based fire severity datasets produced using only one pre- and post-fire scene, which has been the standard approach in producing such datasets since their inception. Results indicate that the GEE-derived fire severity datasets show improved validation statistics compared to parallel versions in which only one pre-fire and post-fire scene are used. We provide code and a sample geospatial fire history layer to produce dNBR, RdNBR, and RBR for the 18 fires we evaluated. Although our approach requires that a geospatial fire history layer (i.e. fire perimeters) be produced independently and prior to applying our methods, we suggest our GEE methodology can reasonably be implemented on hundreds to thousands of fires, thereby increasing opportunities for fire severity monitoring and research across the globe. Study Area

  • Parks, S.A., Dobrowski, S.Z., & Panunto, M.H. (2018). What Drives Low-Severity Fire in the Southwestern USA? Forests, 9(4), 165. doi: 10.3390/f9040165
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    Abstract for Sean A. Parks, Solomon Z. Dowbrowski, & Matthew H. Panunto (2018). What Drives Low-Severity Fire in the Southwestern USA?

    Many dry conifer forests in the southwestern USA and elsewhere historically (prior to the late 1800’s) experienced fairly frequent surface fire at intervals ranging from roughly five to 30 years. Due to more than 100 years of successful fire exclusion, however, many of these forests are now denser and more homogeneous, and therefore they have a greater probability of experiencing stand-replacing fire compared to prior centuries. Consequently, there is keen interest in restoring such forests to conditions that are conducive to low-severity fire. Yet, there have been no regional assessments in the southwestern USA that have specifically evaluated those factors that promote low-severity fire. Here, we defined low-severity fire using satellite imagery and evaluated the influence of several variables that potentially drive such fire; these variables characterize live fuel, topography, climate (30-year normals), and inter-annual climate variation. We found that live fuel and climate variation (i.e., year-of-fire climate) were the main factors driving low-severity fire; fuel was ~2.4 times more influential than climate variation. Low-severity fire was more likely in settings with lower levels of fuel and in years that were wetter and cooler than average. Surprisingly, the influence of topography and climatic normals was negligible. Our findings elucidate those conditions conducive to low-severity fire and provide valuable information to land managers tasked with restoring forest structures and processes in the southwestern USA and other regions dominated by dry forest types.

  • Sullivan, K. E. (2018, March). Interpretation and Implementation of Director’s Order #41, Section 7.2: Determining Best Management Practices for Wilderness Climbing in the National Parks (Doctoral dissertation, University of Montana, 2018).
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    Abstract for Sullivan, K. E. (2018). Interpretation and Implementation of Director’s Order #41, Section 7.2: Determining Best Management Practices for Wilderness Climbing in the National Parks

    Climbing in national parks’ wilderness areas has long created tension for mangers between providing recreational opportunities and maintaining wilderness values. This activity presents a challenge to wilderness management as managers try to balance feelings of solitude in wilderness and opportunities for unconfined recreation. Increased interest in climbing in the national parks lead to management considerations to satisfy Director’s Order #41: Wilderness Stewardship (DO41). In October 2013, the National Park Service (NPS) issued Director’s Order #41, Section 7.2, Climbing (DO41, Sec. 7.2), to clarify management of climbing in wilderness. Climbing in designated wilderness B139requires management due to conflicts between this growing recreational activity and maintenance of the qualities of wilderness character. With the publication of DO41, Sec. 7.2, the NPS has specific mandates for how to manage wilderness climbing. While the Order does provide a directive for the agency, it intentionally leaves room for interpretation to allow the parks to manage according to the specific needs of their park. The objectives of the study were to (1) ascertain what management actions have been implemented by national parks in response to DO41, Sec. 7.2; (2) determine how effective managers judge these actions to be; and (3) collect manager suggestions for improving the implementation of DO41, Sec. 7.2 in the national parks. Collecting online information on climbing in wilderness and conducting telephone interviews with managers experienced with climbing from a sample of national parks where climbing in wilderness is present fulfilled these objectives. The findings articulated that there should be more consistency in presentation of information to the climbing community. Lastly, relationships between the climbing community and National Park Service personnel are essential to effective management of climbing activity.

  • Watson, Alan E., Armatas, Christopher A.2017. A Mental Model of Science Informed by Public Lands Managers: Increasing the Chances for Management Based on Science. Journal of Contemporary Management, 8(4):1-17
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    Abstract for Armatas, Christopher A., Watson, Alan E. (2017). A Mental Model of Science Informed by Public Lands Managers: Increasing the Chances for Management Based on Science

    Abstract: Some federal public lands have been legally protected as “wilderness areas” since 1964 in the US. A federal science program evolved first in response to a novel public lands management concept, and subsequently in response to new issues that emerged both as society changed and more knowledge about social and ecological values of wilderness accumulated. Wilderness science needs have largely been defined by government and cooperating academic scientists through identification of researchable questions which, historically, have centered on science disciplines, wilderness attributes, or threats to these attributes. Analysis of a survey of 368 federal wilderness managers demonstrates how management can inform science. From over 1200 responses, a mental map of research needs, prioritized by the purpose of the research, led to proposal of 5 major strategic science planning dimensions: (1) basic research to understand effects of various threats; (2) integrated research on “big” emerging issues that lend themselves to larger than wilderness issues; (3) applied research to evaluate stewardship effectiveness; (4) applied research to support stewardship tool development and; (5) applied research to support inventory and monitoring. A strategic science plan that identifies targets according to this mental model will increase likelihood of science being used to guide management.

  • Batllori E, Parisien MA, Parks SA, Moritz MA, Miller C. (2017) Potential relocation of climatic environments suggests high rates of climate displacement within the North American protection network. Global Change Biology 23(8), 3219-3230.
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    Abstract for Batllori E, Parisien MA, Parks SA, Moritz MA, Miller C. (2017). Potential relocation of climatic environments suggests high rates of climate displacement within the North American protection network.

    Ongoing climate change may undermine the effectiveness of protected area networks in preserving the set of biotic components and ecological processes they harbor, thereby jeopardizing their conservation capacity into the future. Metrics of climate change, particularly rates and spatial patterns of climatic alteration, can help assess potential threats. Here, we perform a continent-wide climate change vulnerability assessment whereby we compare the baseline climate of the protected area network in North America (Canada, United States, México—NAM) to the projected end-of-century climate (2071–2100). We estimated the projected pace at which climatic conditions may redistribute across NAM (i.e., climate velocity), and identified future nearest climate analogs to quantify patterns of climate relocation within, among, and outside protected areas. Also, we interpret climatic relocation patterns in terms of associated land-cover types. Our analysis suggests that the conservation capacity of the NAM protection network is likely to be severely compromised by a changing climate. The majority of protected areas (~80%) might be exposed to high rates of climate displacement that could promote important shifts in species abundance or distribution. A small fraction of protected areas (<10%) could be critical for future conservation plans, as they will host climates that represent analogs of conditions currently characterizing almost a fifth of the protected areas across NAM. However, the majority of nearest climatic analogs for protected areas are in nonprotected locations. Therefore, unprotected landscapes could pose additional threats, beyond climate forcing itself, as sensitive biota may have to migrate farther than what is prescribed by the climate velocity to reach a protected area destination. To mitigate future threats to the conservation capacity of the NAM protected area network, conservation plans will need to capitalize on opportunities provided by the existing availability of natural land-cover types outside the current network of NAM protected areas.

  • Batllori, E., Parisien, M. A., Parks, S. A., Moritz, M. A., & Miller, C. (2017). Potential relocation of climatic environments suggests high rates of climate displacement within the North American protection network. Global change biology, 23(8), 3219-3230.
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    Abstract for Batllori, E., Parisien, M. A., Parks, S. A., Moritz, M. A., & Miller, C. (2017). Potential relocation of climatic environments suggests high rates of climate displacement within the North American protection network

    Ongoing climate change may undermine the effectiveness of protected area networks in preserving the set of biotic components and ecological processes they harbor, thereby jeopardizing their conservation capacity into the future. Metrics of climate change, particularly rates and spatial patterns of climatic alteration, can help assess potential threats. Here, we perform a continent-wide climate change vulnerability assessment whereby we compare the baseline climate of the protected area network in North America (Canada, United States, Mexico—NAM) to the projected end-of-century climate (2071–2100). We estimated the projected pace at which climatic conditions may redistribute across NAM (i.e., climate velocity), and identified future nearest climate analogs to quantify patterns of climate relocation within, among, and outside protected areas. Also, we interpret climatic relocation patterns in terms of associated land-cover types. Our analysis suggests that the conservation capacity of the NAM protection network is likely to be severely compromised by a changing climate. The majority of protected areas (~80%) might be exposed to high rates of climate displacement that could promote important shifts in species abundance or distribution. A small fraction of protected areas (<10%) could be critical for future conservation plans, as they will host climates that represent analogs of conditions currently characterizing almost a fifth of the protected areas across NAM. However, the majority of nearest climatic analogs for protected areas are in nonprotected locations. Therefore, unprotected landscapes could pose additional threats, beyond climate forcing itself, as sensitive biota may have to migrate farther than what is prescribed by the climate velocity to reach a protected area destination. To mitigate future threats to the conservation capacity of the NAM protected area network, conservation plans will need to capitalize on opportunities provided by the existing availability of natural land-cover types outside the current network of NAM protected areas.

  • McBride, BB, Sanchez-Trigueros, F, Carver, S, Watson, A, Moon, L, Stumpff, Matt, R, Borrie, W. (2017). Participatory Geographic Information Systems as an Organizational Platform for the Integration of Traditional and Scientific Knowledge in Contemporary Fire and Fuels Management. Journal of Forestry. 115 (1). pp. 43-50.
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    View Abstract for Participatory Geographic Information Systems as an Organizational Platform for the Integration of Traditional and Scientific Knowledge in Contemporary Fire and Fuels Management

    Abstract for Brooke Baldauf McBride, Fernando Sanchez-Trigueros, Stephen J. Carver, Alan E. Watson, Linda Moon Stumpff, Roian Matt, and William T. Borrie (2017). Participatory Geographic Information Systems as an Organizational Platform for the Integration of Traditional and Scientific Knowledge in Contemporary Fire and Fuels Management

    Traditional knowledge about fire and its effects held by indigenous people, who are connected to specific landscapes, holds promise for informing contemporary fire and fuels management strategies and augmenting knowledge and information derived from western science. In practice, however, inadequate means to organize and communicate this traditional knowledge with scientists and managers can limit its consideration in decisions, requiring novel approaches to interdisciplinary and cross-cultural communication and collaboration. We propose that Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) is one platform for the assemblage and communication of traditional knowledge vital to fire and fuels management, while preserving linkages to broader cultural contexts. We provide summaries of four preliminary case studies in the Intermountain West of North America to illustrate different potential applications of a PGIS tool in this context and describe some remaining challenges. Management and Policy Implications: Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) can offer a powerful approach for enhancing current decisionmaking by allowing for the integration of traditional and scientific knowledge systems with spatial environmental data in an interactive participatory process. Integrated data sets can allow traditional and scientific knowledge experts to share, explore, manage, analyze, and interpret multidimensional data in a common spatial context to develop more informed management decisions. Such combined data sets could provide a more comprehensive assessment of fire-related ecological change than is currently used in decisionmaking and enhance inclusion of effects on local resource utility values and areas of cultural significance. The use of a PGIS interface creates opportunities for traditional knowledge holders to share information and potential prescriptions while maintaining confidentiality. Knowledge integration efforts using PGIS as an organizational tool would help to bridge the communication gap that commonly exists between scientists, managers, and traditional knowledge holders as ecosystems continue to be altered through processes of land management and climate change.

  • Gaveau DL, Pirard R, Salim MA, Tonoto P, Yaen H, Parks SA, Carmenta R (2017) Overlapping Land Claims Limit the Use of Satellites to Monitor No-Deforestation Commitments and No-Burning Compliance. Conservation Letters 10(2), 257-264
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    Abstract for Gaveau DL, Pirard R, Salim MA, Tonoto P, Yaen H, Parks SA, Carmenta R (2017). Overlapping Land Claims Limit the Use of Satellites to Monitor No-Deforestation Commitments and No-Burning Compliance

    Worldwide many businesses have recently pledged to sourcing agricultural and timber products exclusively from deforestation and fire-free supply chains. Geoinvestigations—monitoring the activities of plantation companies using satellites and concession maps—are now applied to identify which companies breach their commitments and regulations. We investigate the limitations of geoinvestigations by analyzing land-use and fire in and around 163 Indonesian concessions of oil-palm and pulpwood, where recurring forest and peatland fires are a national and international concern. We reveal a mismatch between de jure and de facto land occupancy inside and outside concessions. Independent farmers are present in concessions while some companies expand outside concessions. Thus, both actors may be responsible for deforestation and fire inside and outside concessions. On peatland, fire can start outside and spread into concessions, while draining in concessions may promote fire outside. These dynamics make attribution of fire and deforestation in Indonesian concessions impossible without detailed field investigations. This study highlights the need to combine very high-resolution satellite data with extensive field investigations of de facto land ownership, claims and disputes inside and outside concessions. In Indonesia, such activities could fall under the One Map Policy, whose remit is to identify and resolve overlapping land claims.

  • Haire, SL; Coop, JD; Miller, C. 2017. Characterizing spatial neighborhoods of refugia following large fires in northern New Mexico, USA. Land 2017, 6, 19.
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    Abstract for Haire, SL; Coop, JD; Miller, C. (2017). Characterizing spatial neighborhoods of refugia following large fires in northern New Mexico, USA

    The spatial patterns resulting from large fires include refugial habitats that support surviving legacies and promote ecosystem recovery. To better understand the diverse ecological functions of refugia on burn mosaics, we used remotely sensed data to quantify neighborhood patterns of areas relatively unchanged following the 2011 Las Conchas fire. Spatial patterns of refugia measured within 10-ha moving windows varied across a gradient from areas of high density, clustered in space, to sparsely populated neighborhoods that occurred in the background matrix. The scaling of these patterns was related to the underlying structure of topography measured by slope, aspect and potential soil wetness, and spatially varying climate. Using a nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis of species cover data collected post-Las Conchas, we found that trees and forest associates were present across the refugial gradient, but communities also exhibited a range of species compositions and potential functions. Spatial patterns of refugia quantified for three previous burns (La Mesa 1977, Dome 1996, Cerro Grande 2000) were dynamic between fire events, but most refugia persisted through at least two fires. Efforts to maintain burn heterogeneity and its ecological functions can begin with identifying where refugia are likely to occur, using terrain-based microclimate models, burn severity models and available field data.

  • Keane, R. E., Holsinger, L. M., Mahalovich, M. F., & Tomback, D. F. (2017). Evaluating future success of whitebark pine ecosystem restoration under climate change using simulation modeling. Restoration Ecology, 25(2), 220-233.
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    Abstract for Keane, R. E., Holsinger, L. M., Mahalovich, M. F., & Tomback, D. F. (2017). Evaluating future success of whitebark pine ecosystem restoration under climate change using simulation modeling.

    Major declines of whitebark pine forests throughout western North America from the combined effects of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks, fire exclusion policies, and the exotic disease white pine blister rust (WPBR) have spurred many restoration actions. However, projected future warming and drying may further exacerbate the species’ decline and possibly compromise long-term success of today’s restoration activities. We evaluated successes of restoration treatments under future climate using a comprehensive landscape simulation experiment. The spatially explicit, ecological process model FireBGCv2 was used to simulate whitebark pine populations on two U.S. Northern Rocky Mountain landscapes over 95 years under two climate, three restoration, and two fire management scenarios. Major findings were that (1) whitebark pine can remain on some high mountain landscapes in a future climate albeit at lower basal areas (50% decrease), (2) restoration efforts, such as thinning and prescribed burning, are vital to ensure future whitebark pine forests, and (3) climate change impacts on whitebark pine vary by local setting. Whitebark pine restoration efforts will mostly be successful in the future but only if future populations are somewhat resistant to WPBR. Results were used to develop general guidelines that address climate change impacts for planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating fine-scale restoration activities.

  • Keane, R. E., Mahalovich, M. F., Bollenbacher, B. L., Manning, M. E., Loehman, R. A., Jain, T. B., ... & Larson, A. J. (2018). Effects of climate change on forest vegetation in the Northern Rockies. In Climate Change and Rocky Mountain Ecosystems (pp. 59-95). Springer, Cham.
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    Abstract for Keane, R. E., Mahalovich, M. F., Bollenbacher, B. L., Manning, M. E., Loehman, R. A., Jain, T. B., ... & Larson, A. J. (2017). Effects of climate change on forest vegetation in the Northern Rockies. In Climate Change and Rocky Mountain Ecosystems

    Abstract Increasing air temperature, through its influence on soil moisture, is expected to cause gradual changes in the abundance and distribution of tree, shrub, and grass species throughout the Northern Rockies, with drought tolerant species becoming more competitive. The earliest changes will be at ecotones between lifeforms (e.g., upper and lower treelines). Ecological disturbance, including wildfire and insect outbreaks, will be the primary facilitator of vegetation change, and future forest landscapes may be dominated by younger age classes and smaller trees. High-elevation forests will be especially vulnerable if disturbance frequency increases significantly. Increased abundance and distribution of non-native plant species, as well as the legacy of past land uses, create additional stress for regeneration of native forest species. Most strategies for conserving native tree, shrub, and grassland systems focus on increasing resilience to chronic low soil moisture, and to more frequent and extensive ecological disturbance. These strategies generally include managing landscapes to reduce the severity and patch size of disturbances, encouraging fire to play a more natural role, and protecting refugia where fire-sensitive species can persist. Increasing species, genetic, and landscape diversity (spatial pattern, structure) is an important “hedge your bets” strategy that will reduce the risk of major forest loss. Adaptation tactics include using silvicultural prescriptions (especially stand density management) and fuel treatments to reduce fuel continuity, reducing populations of nonnative species, potentially using multiple genotypes in reforestation, and revising grazing policies and practices. Rare and disjunct species and communities (e.g., whitebark pine, quaking aspen) require adaptation strategies and tactics focused on encouraging regeneration, preventing damage from disturbance, and establishing refugia.

  • Loehman, R. A., Keane, R. E., Holsinger, L. M., & Wu, Z. (2017). Interactions of landscape disturbances and climate change dictate ecological pattern and process: spatial modeling of wildfire, insect, and disease dynamics under future climates. Landscape Ecology, 32(7), 1447-1459.
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    Abstract for Loehman, R. A., Keane, R. E., Holsinger, L. M., & Wu, Z. (2017). Interactions of landscape disturbances and climate change dictate ecological pattern and process: spatial modeling of wildfire, insect, and disease dynamics under future climates.

    Context Interactions among disturbances, climate, and vegetation influence landscape patterns and ecosystem processes. Climate changes, exotic invasions, beetle outbreaks, altered fire regimes, and human activities may interact to produce landscapes that appear and function beyond historical analogs. Objectives We used the mechanistic ecosystem-fire process model FireBGCv2 to model interactions of wildland fire, mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae), and white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) under current and future climates, across three diverse study areas. Methods We assessed changes in tree basal area as a measure of landscape response over a 300-year simulation period for the Crown of the Continent in north-central Montana, East Fork of the Bitterroot River in western Montana, and Yellowstone Central Plateau in western Wyoming, USA. Results Interacting disturbances reduced overall basal area via increased tree mortality of host species. Wildfire decreased basal area more than beetles or rust, and disturbance interactions modeled under future climate significantly altered landscape basal area as compared with no-disturbance and current climate scenarios. Responses varied among landscapes depending on species composition, sensitivity to fire, and pathogen and beetle suitability and susceptibility. Conclusions Understanding disturbance interactions is critical for managing landscapes because forest responses to wildfires, pathogens, and beetle attacks may offset or exacerbate climate influences, with consequences for wildlife, carbon, and biodiversity.

  • Parks, S. A., Holsinger, L. M., Miller, C., & Nelson, C. R. (2017). Wildland fire as a self-regulating mechanism: the role of previous burns and weather in limiting fire progression. Ecological Applications, 25(6), 1478-1492.
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    Abstract for Parks, S. A., Holsinger, L. M., Miller, C., & Nelson, C. R. (2017). Wildland fire as a self?regulating mechanism: the role of previous burns and weather in limiting fire progression

    Theory suggests that natural fire regimes can result in landscapes that are both self-regulating and resilient to fire. For example, because fires consume fuel, they may create barriers to the spread of future fires, thereby regulating fire size. Top-down controls such as weather, however, can weaken this effect. While empirical examples demonstrating this pattern–process feedback between vegetation and fire exist, they have been geographically limited or did not consider the influence of time between fires and weather. The availability of remotely sensed data identifying fire activity over the last four decades provides an opportunity to explicitly quantify the ability of wildland fire to limit the progression of subsequent fire. Furthermore, advances in fire progression mapping now allow an evaluation of how daily weather as a top-down control modifies this effect. In this study, we evaluated the ability of wildland fire to create barriers that limit the spread of subsequent fire along a gradient representing time between fires in four large study areas in the western United States. Using fire progression maps in conjunction with weather station data, we also evaluated the influence of daily weather. Results indicate that wildland fire does limit subsequent fire spread in all four study areas, but this effect decays over time; wildland fire no longer limits subsequent fire spread 6–18 years after fire, depending on the study area. We also found that the ability of fire to regulate subsequent fire progression was substantially reduced under extreme conditions compared to moderate weather conditions in all four study areas. This study increases understanding of the spatial feedbacks that can lead to self-regulating landscapes as well as the effects of top-down controls, such as weather, on these feedbacks. Our results will be useful to managers who seek to restore natural fire regimes or to exploit recent burns when managing fire.

  • Parks, S. A., Holsinger, L. M., Miller, C., & Parisien, M. A. (2017). Analog-based fire regime and vegetation shifts in mountainous regions of the western US. Ecography.
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    Abstract for Parks, S. A., Holsinger, L. M., Miller, C., & Parisien, M. A. (2017). Analog-based fire regime and vegetation shifts in mountainous regions of the western US.

    Climate change is expected to result in substantial ecological impacts across the globe. These impacts are uncertain but there is strong consensus that they will almost certainly affect fire regimes and vegetation. In this study, we evaluated how climate change may influence fire frequency, fire severity, and broad classes of vegetation in mountainous ecoregions of the contiguous western US for early, middle, and late 21st century (2025, 2055, and 2085, respectively). To do so, we employed the concept of a climate analog, whereby specific locations with the best climatic match between one time period and a different time period are identified. For each location (i.e. 1-km 2 pixel), we evaluated potential changes by comparing the reference period fire regime and vegetation to that of the fire regime and vegetation of the nearest pixels representative of its future climate. For the mountainous regions we investigated, we found no universal increase or decrease in fire frequency or severity. Instead, potential changes depend on the bioclimatic domain. Specifically, wet and cold regions (i.e. mesic and cold forest) generally exhibited increased fi re frequency but decreased fi re severity, whereas drier, moisture-limited regions (i.e. shrubland/grassland) displayed the opposite trend. Results also indicate the potential for substantial changes in the amount and distribution of some vegetation types, highlighting important interactions and feedbacks among climate, fire, and vegetation. Our findings also shed light on a potential threshold or tipping point at intermediate moisture conditions that suggest shifts in vegetation from forest to shrubland/grassland are possible as the climate becomes warmer and drier. However, our study assumes that fi re and vegetation are in a state of equilibrium with climate, and, consequently, natural and human-induced disequilibrium dynamics should be considered when interpreting our findings.

  • Penelope Morgan, Andrew T. Hudak , Ashley Wells , Sean A. Parks, D B E L. Scott Baggett, Benjamin C. Bright and Patricia Green. 2017. Multidecadal trends in area burned with high severity in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area 1880-2012. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 26, 930-943.
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    Abstract for Penelope Morgan, Andrew T. Hudak , Ashley Wells , Sean A. Parks, D B E L. Scott Baggett, Benjamin C. Bright and Patricia Green (2017). Multidecadal trends in area burned with high severity in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area 1880-2012

    Multidecadal trends in areas burned with high severity shape ecological effects of fires, but most assessments are limited to ,30 years of satellite data. We analysed the proportion of area burned with high severity, the annual area burned with high severity, the probability areas burned with high severity and also the area reburned (all severities and high burn severity only) over 133 years across 346 265 ha within the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness (SBW) Area in Idaho,United States. We used burn severity class inferred from digitised aerial photography (1880–2000) and satellite imagery(1973–2012). Over this long record, the proportion burned with high severity did not increase, despite extensive area burned in recent decades. Much greater area burned with high severity during the Early (1880–1934) and Late (1975–2012) periods than during the Middle period (1935–1974), paralleling trends in area burned. Little area reburned with high severity, and fires in the Early period limited the extent of fires burning decades later in the Late period. Our results suggest that long-term data across large areas provides useful context on recent trends, and that projections for the extent and severity of future fires must consider prior fires and fire management.

  • Tricker, J., Schwaller, A., Hanson, T., Mejicano, E., & Landres, P. (2017). Mapping Wilderness Character in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
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    Abstract for Tricker, J., Schwaller, A., Hanson, T., Mejicano, E., & Landres, P. (2017). Mapping Wilderness Character in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

    A GIS-based approach was used to depict how threats to wilderness character vary in extent and magnitude across the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Based on the interagency strategy to monitor wilderness character, Keeping It Wild: An Interagency Strategy for Monitoring Wilderness Character Across the National Wilderness Preservation System (Landres et al. 2008a), 53 locally relevant measures were identified by the project core team to capture impacts to the five qualities of wilderness character. These measures were epicted using a variety of spatial datasets, which were normalized using a common relative scale such that disparate metrics could be analyzed together. Each measure was “weighted” by the project core team to reflect its relative impact to wilderness character. Maps generated for each of the weighted measures were then added accumulatively to create a combined map delineating the overall spatial pattern and variation of threats to wilderness character across the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This combined map depicts a wilderness that has not been substantially impacted by threats, with the highest quality wilderness character primarily found away from entry points and travel routes, especially in areas with fewer and smaller lakes; in contrast, the lowest quality wilderness character was highly correlated with lakes that allow motorized use, especially those that are wilderness entry points. The map products presented in this report provide managers with a tool to better understand the extent and magnitude of threats to wilderness character, holistically evaluate tradeoffs associated with decisions and actions in wilderness, and ultimately improve wilderness stewardship.

  • Watson, AE and Carver S. 2017. Wilderness, rewilding and free-willed ecosystems: evolving concepts in stewardship of IUCN protected category 1b areas. Chinese Landscape Architecture 33(258):34-38. (English translation)
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan, Carver, Steve (2017). Wilderness, rewilding and free-willed ecosystems: evolving concepts in stewardship of IUCN protected category 1b areas

    The concept of wilderness has different meanings to different people. In the US, the Wilderness Act of 1964 defined it officially for US government land management purposes, though continuous research has improved our understanding of attributes, values and threats associated with our National Wilderness Preservation System. Subsequent US legislation in the 1970s expanded wilderness designation to the eastern US where lands had been heavily influenced by commodity extraction, and wild areas were smaller in size but physically closer to a large part of the American population. Legislation doubled the US system in 1980 by including lands in Alaska but with many special provisions to accommodate subsistence use by rural people and existing mechanical means of access. Conservation biologists have capitalized on this existing wilderness system to “rewild” larger landscapes. Such rewilded landscapes have wilderness at the core, and are connected to other areas through ecological corridors that allow large predators and their prey to be re-established and thrive. The concept of rewilding has evolved in definition and application, including being used by conservation activists in a “plastic” sense, or as context requires. With new guidelines issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature for management of wilderness (protected area category 1b), these concepts need to be understood and potentially applied in different cultural context situations in countries considering initiating or expanding wilderness designation.

  • Watson, Alan E., Cordell, Ken, Manning, Robert, Martin, Steven. The Evolution of Wilderness Social Science and Future Research to Protect Experiences, Resources, and Societal Benefits. Journal of Forestry. 114(3) 329-338.
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    Abstract for Alan E. Watson, H. Ken Cordell, Robert Manning, and Steven Martin (2016). The Evolution of Wilderness Social Science and Future Research to Protect Experiences, Resources, and Societal Benefits

    The historic Wilderness Act celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014, and wilderness social science shared a similar legacy. As paradoxical as it might seem, humans are an important part of wilderness, helping to define the very concept and representing an important component of wilderness use and management. Much of the past five decades of wilderness-related social science has focused on recreational use, documenting the impacts of recreation on wilderness resources and the quality of the wilderness experience, exploring application of the concept of recreational carrying capacity to wilderness, and developing planning and management frameworks for balancing the inherent tension between wilderness use and protecting the quality of wilderness resources and the experience of visiting wilderness. The Limits of Acceptable Change and related planning frameworks, including formulation of recreation-related indicators and standards, continues to help guide wilderness management today. Other programs of social science research have developed protocols for measuring and monitoring wilderness recreation, defined the root causes of conflict among wilderness users and identified management approaches to minimize this conflict, explored the appropriate and acceptable use of fees for wilderness use, and identified a growing suite of wilderness values. All of these programs of research and others that could not be included in this review article have helped guide wilderness management and policy. However, social science research has evolved as a function of changes in both wilderness and society. This evolution continues through a focus on public attitudes toward adaptation to climate change, public attitudes toward restoration in wilderness to correct past human intervention, appropriate use of technology in wilderness, and issues related to the relevance of wilderness in light of changes in society and use of public lands. This article tells the story of these changes in issues and the relationship between wilderness and the American people. Management and Policy Implications: The US Congress established the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1964, and it has steadily grown from about 9 million acres to nearly 110 million acres today. Congress also allocated funds for creation of a wilderness research program in 1967 to support management and policy decisionmaking. Wilderness science has provided data to support management decisions and management frameworks to accomplish resource and experience protection through use limits, education, zoning and fees, and other means. In the future, wilderness social science will respond to new challenges with provision of information to support decisions about intervention to adapt to climate change influences, restoration of conditions affected by previous human activities, management of changes in technology and new uses that may threaten wilderness experiences, the relevance of wilderness to an increasingly diverse and urban population, and exploration of the vulnerability of ecosystem services and associated benefits flowing from wilderness due to changes in climate, policy, and land use. New topics that have emerged will require adjustment of the federally funded research program and stimulation of academic research and training programs that are responsive to the needs for knowledge identified.

  • Barnett K, Parks SA, Miller C, Naughton HT (2016) Beyond Fuel Treatment Effectiveness: Characterizing Interactions between Fire and Treatments in the US. Forests 7(10), 237.
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    Abstract for Barnett K, Parks SA, Miller C, Naughton HT (2016). Beyond Fuel Treatment Effectiveness: Characterizing Interactions between Fire and Treatments in the US

    In the United States, fuel reduction treatments are a standard land management tool to restore the structure and composition of forests that have been degraded by past management. Although treatments can have multiple purposes, their principal objective is to create landscape conditions where wildland fire can be safely managed to help achieve long-term land management goals. One critique is that fuel treatment benefits are unlikely to transpire due to the low probability that treated areas will be burned by a subsequent fire within a treatment’s lifespan, but little quantitative information exists to corroborate this argument. We summarized the frequency, extent, and geographic variation of fire and fuel treatment interactions on federal lands within the conterminous United States (CONUS). We also assessed how the encounters between fuel treatments and fires varied with treatment size, treatment age, and number of times treated. Overall, 6.8% of treatment units evaluated were encountered by a subsequent fire during the study period, though this rate varied among ecoregions across the CONUS. Larger treatment units were more likely to be encountered by a fire, and treatment units were most frequently burned within one year of the most recent treatment, the latter of which is likely because of ongoing maintenance of existing treatments. Our results highlight the need to identify and prioritize additional opportunities to reduce fuel loading and fire risk on the millions of hectares of federal lands in the CONUS that are in need of restoration.

  • Barnett, K; Miller, C; Venn TJ. 2016. Using risk analysis to reveal opportunities for the management of unplanned ignitions in wilderness. Journal of Forestry 114(6):610-618
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    Abstract for Barnett, K; Miller, C; Venn TJ (2016). Using risk analysis to reveal opportunities for the management of unplanned ignitions in wilderness.

    A goal of fire management in wilderness is to allow fire to play its natural ecological role without intervention. Unfortunately, most unplanned ignitions in wilderness are suppressed, in part because of the risk they might pose to values outside of the wilderness. We capitalize on recent advances in fire risk analysis to demonstrate a risk-based approach for revealing where unplanned ignitions in wilderness pose little risk to nonwilderness values and therefore where fire can be managed for its longer term ecological benefits. Using a large wilderness area as a case study, we conduct an exposure analysis and quantify the potential for unplanned ignitions inside the wilderness area to spread outside the wilderness boundary onto adjacent lands. Results show that, in general, ignitions that occur inside a large core area of the wilderness have very low likelihoods of escaping the wilderness boundary, especially early and late in the fire season. These “windows” may thus represent opportunities for allowing natural fire to occur. We discuss our approach in the broader context of spatial fire risk management and planning across public lands.

  • Burrows, R., Tricker, J., Abbe, D., Landres, P., Paynter, J., Schirokauer, D., & Hooge, P. (2016). Mapping wilderness character in Denali National Park and Preserve. Natural Resource Report NPS/DENA/NRR-2016/1223. Fort Collins, CO: US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science. 106 p.
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    Abstract for Burrows, R., Tricker, J., Abbe, D., Landres, P., Paynter, J., Schirokauer, D., & Hooge, P. (2016). Mapping Wilderness Character in Denali National Park and Preserve

    The recent development of an interagency strategy to monitor wilderness character allows on-theground managers and decision-makers to assess whether stewardship actions for an individual wilderness are fulfilling the legislative mandate to “preserve wilderness character.” By using credible data that are consistently collected, one can assess how wilderness character changes over time and evaluate how stewardship actions affect trends in wilderness character. As most of these data depict spatial or geographic features in wilderness, a Geographic Information System (GIS) -based approach was developed to identify the state of wilderness character for the designated and eligible wilderness in Denali National Park and Preserve (DENA). A set of indicators and measures was identified by DENA staff to capture the impacts to the five qualities of wilderness character (natural, untrammeled, undeveloped, solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation, and other features of value). These measures were depicted using a variety of spatial datasets and were formatted to compare on a common relative scale. Each measure was “weighted” by DENA staff to reflect its importance in relation to other measures. Maps were generated for each of the five qualities of wilderness character, which were added together to produce the composite wilderness character map for DENA. The DENA wilderness character map delineates the range in condition of wilderness character, based on the measures that were identified and the datasets that were used. A histogram of the wilderness character map values reveals that the majority of DENA was determined to possess wilderness character whose qualities are relatively undiminished from optimal conditions. This map will be used as a baseline representing the existing conditions of each tangible quality of wilderness character in DENA, and future assessments of wilderness character can be updated with new and improved data as they become available. Therefore, future reruns of the map with updated datasets will allow for identifying areas where wilderness character is changing over time. Wilderness character within DENA is applied to both federally designated and eligible wilderness lands that include 99% of DENA.

  • Naficy, Cameron E., Keeling, Eric G., Landres, Peter, Hessburg, Paul F., Veblen, Thomas T., Sala, Anna. (2016). Wilderness in the 21st Century: A Framework for Testing Assumptions about Ecological Intervention in Wilderness Using a Case Study of Fire Ecology in the Rocky Mountains. Journal of Forestry. 114(3), 384-395.
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    Abstract for Cameron E. Naficy, Eric G. Keeling, Peter Landres, Paul F. Hessburg, Thomas T. Veblen, and Anna Sala (2016). Wilderness in the 21st Century: A Framework for Testing Assumptions about Ecological Intervention in Wilderness Using a Case Study of Fire Ecology in the Rocky Mountains

    Changes in the climate and in key ecological processes are prompting increased debate about ecological restoration and other interventions in wilderness. The prospect of intervention in wilderness raises legal, scientific, and values-based questions about the appropriateness of possible actions. In this article, we focus on the role of science to elucidate the potential need for intervention. We review the meaning of “untrammeled” from the 1964 Wilderness Act to aid our understanding of the legal context for potential interventions in wilderness. We explore the tension between restraint and active intervention in managing wilderness and introduce a framework for testing ecological assumptions when evaluating restoration proposals. We illustrate use of the framework in the restoration of fire regimes and fuel conditions in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of the US Rocky Mountains. Even in this relatively well-studied example, we find that the assumptions underlying proposed interventions in wilderness need to be critically evaluated and tested before new, more intensive management paradigms are embraced. Management and Policy Implications: Policy and management of wilderness areas are guided by the US Wilderness Act and by agency management plans. Although the Act emphasizes the importance of preserving untrammeled conditions in wilderness, some believe that more intensive management intervention is necessary in wilderness in the coming century. We stress the need to increase the role of science in this debate. Our framework makes the following three general recommendations: operationalize broadly stated management goals; test the assumptions used to justify intervention; and weigh the benefits and harms of intervention. Specifically, we emphasize the need to test assumptions about the historical range of variability, present ecological conditions, mechanisms responsible for and threats to the present conditions, ecosystem responses to threats, and future climate scenarios. Using a case study as an example, we recommend that assumptions that often underlie proposed interventions in wilderness be critically evaluated and tested before new, more intensive management paradigms are embraced.

  • Miller, Carol, Aplet, Gregory H. (2016). Progress in Wilderness Fire Science: Embracing Complexity. Journal of Forestry. 114(3), 373-383.
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    Abstract for Carol Miller and Gregory H. Aplet (2016). Progress in Wilderness Fire Science: Embracing Complexity

    Wilderness has played an invaluable role in the development of wildland fire science. Since Agee’s review of the subject 15 years ago, tremendous progress has been made in the development of models and data, in understanding the complexity of wildland fire as a landscape process, and in appreciating the social factors that influence the use of wilderness fire. Regardless of all we have learned, though, the reality is that fire remains an extraordinarily complex process with variable effects that create essential heterogeneity in ecosystems. Whereas some may view this variability as a management impediment, for others it provides a path forward. As research has shown, embracing fire in all its complexity and expanding its use can help reduce fuels, restore resilient landscapes, and contain costs. Wilderness fire science will continue to play an important role in understanding opportunities for using fire, its role in ecosystems, its risks and benefits, and the influence of risk perception on decisionmaking. Management and Policy Implications: The past 50 years of wilderness fire science has shown the benefits that accrue from fires that burn on their own terms and under less-than-extreme conditions. Fuel loads are lower, fire behavior is moderated, fire sizes are limited, forest structural diversity and wildlife habitat are improved, and fuel breaks are created that can help in the management of today’s long-duration fires. Although improvements in modeling and data have increased our ability to support decisionmaking and incident management, inadequate monitoring and poor reporting of management activities hinder wilderness fire research. To effectively justify and support wilderness fire, we will need to adapt existing tools and develop new approaches for evaluating the long-term risks and benefits of wilderness fire. Although current Federal Wildland Fire Policy (Philpot et al. 1995, Douglas et al. 2001) provides the rationale and flexibility to expand wilderness fire use, achieving its full potential will require bureau policies that overcome the numerous institutional barriers that continue to constrain decisionmakers. Incentives are needed to encourage fire use by managers who have received advanced training and employ skilled and well-staffed fire use management teams. Even with adequate policies, uncertainties and complexities associated with climate change and risks accompanying an expanding wildland-urban interface will continue to challenge this expansion.

  • Casson, Sarah A.; Martin, Vance G., Watson, Alan, Stringer, Angie, and Kormos, Cyril F., Volume Editors. 2016. No 25: Wilderness Protected Areas: Management guidelines for IUCN Category 1b protected areas. IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA)
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    Abstract for Casson, Sarah A.; Martin, Vance G., Watson, Alan, Stringer, Angie, and Kormos, Cyril F. (2016). Wilderness Protected Areas: Management guidelines for IUCN Category 1b protected areas

    IUCN-WCPA’s Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines are the world’s authoritative resource for protected area managers. Involving collaboration among specialist practitioners dedicated to supporting better implementation in the field, they distil learning and advice drawn from across IUCN. Applied in the field, they are building institutional and individual capacity to manage protected area systems effectively, equitably and sustainably, and to cope with the myriad of challenges faced in practice. They also assist national governments, protected area agencies, non-governmental organisations, communities and private sector partners to meet their commitments and goals, and especially the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Programme of Work on Protected Areas.

  • Dawson, Chad, Cordell, Ken, Watson, Alan E., Ghimire, Ramesh, Green, Gary T. (2016). The US Wilderness Managers Survey: Charting a Path for the Future. Journal of Forestry, 114(3), 298-304.
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    Abstract for Chad P. Dawson, Ken Cordell, Alan E. Watson, Ramesh Ghimire, and Gary T. Green (2016). The US Wilderness Managers Survey: Charting a Path for the Future

    The Wilderness Manager Survey (WMS) was developed in 2014 to support interagency strategic planning for the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) and asked managers about their perceived threats to the NWPS, the need for science information to support decisionmaking, the need for education and training, and the most important problems for managers in the future. The WMS was administered during Feb. 24 to May 19, 2014, to wilderness managers in the four federal agencies who manage the lands of the NWPS, and 368 wilderness managers responded. The important external and internal threats as perceived by managers for the NWPS for the next 20 years were the following: the lack of political and financial support for wilderness protection and management, invasive exotic plant or animal species, disconnected urban audiences unaware of wilderness, adjacent land management and incompatible uses, and legislation designating wilderness that included compromised natural conditions or incompatible special provisions for management. Management and Policy Implications: The findings from the WMS provide an in-depth look at the status and needs for managing the NWPS. These findings were a major source of current information used to develop a strategic plan for guiding policy and management over the next two decades. The resulting plan is entitled “2020 Vision: Interagency Stewardship Priorities for America’s National Wilderness Preservation System” (BLM et al. 2014) and was signed by the directors of the four federal land management agencies. The knowledge and insights shared by managers through their responses to the WMS were central for identifying broad themes for guiding the interagency Wilderness Policy Council and the management agencies in stewardship of the NWPS. Those themes included the following: protection of the wilderness resource, better connection between the people of the country and the wilderness resource, and strengthening agency leadership and professional management skills. The detailed analysis of responses to the WMS (Ghimire et al. 2015) regarding the identified threats to the NWPS, staff training needs, and science information needed for management decision making is being used to shape the field management and training of the federal agency staff and cooperating nongovernmental wilderness stewardship organization staff.

  • Armatas, C. A., T. J. Venn, B. B. McBride, A. E. Watson, and S. J. Carver. 2016. Opportunities to utilize traditional phenological knowledge to support adaptive management of social-ecological systems vulnerable to changes in climate and fire regimes. Ecology and Society 21(1):16. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-07905-210116
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    Abstract for Christopher A. Armatas, Tyron J. Venn, Brooke B. McBride, Alan E. Watson, Steve J. Carver (2016). Opportunities to utilize traditional phenological knowledge to support adaptive management of social-ecological systems vulnerable to changes in climate and fire regimes

    The field of adaptive management has been embraced by researchers and managers in the United States as an approach to improve natural resource stewardship in the face of uncertainty and complex environmental problems. Integrating multiple knowledge sources and feedback mechanisms is an important step in this approach. Our objective is to contribute to the limited literature that describes the benefits of better integrating indigenous knowledge (IK) with other sources of knowledge in making adaptive-management decisions. Specifically, we advocate the integration of traditional phenological knowledge (TPK), a subset of IK, and highlight opportunities for this knowledge to support policy and practice of adaptive management with reference to policy and practice of adapting to uncharacteristic fire regimes and climate change in the western United States.

  • Christopher A., Venn T., Watson A. 2016. Understanding social–ecological vulnerability with Q-methodology: a case study of water-based ecosystem services in Wyoming, USA. Sustainable Sci. Published online.
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    Abstract for Christopher A., Venn T., Watson A. (2016). Understanding social–ecological vulnerability with Q-methodology: a case study of water-based ecosystem services in Wyoming, USA

    A broad range of participatory methods can be employed to understand the vulnerability of social-eco-logical systems threatened by various drivers of change including climate change and land-use change. Under-standing this vulnerability is critical for managing natural resources, particularly water resources that flow across jurisdictional boundaries, and support conflicting uses. This paper demonstrates Q-methodology, a promising participatory method infrequently applied in the vulnerability context, with a case study investigation of the vulnerability of stakeholders reliant on water-based ecosystem services derived from the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming, USA. The approach identified four distinct viewpoints regarding vulnerability, including an environmental perspective, agricultural perspective, Native American perspective, and recreation perspective. The distinct viewpoints highlighted disparate levels of importance related to 34 water benefits, such as commercial irrigation, oil and natural gas extraction, river-based fishing, and cultural and spiritual use. A diverse range of drivers of change threatening important water benefits were also identified, including pollution, too much management intervention, and development of recreation opportunities. The potential bene?ts of Q-methodology for vulnerability assessment include a rank-ordering exercise that elicits preferences for tradeoffs, and statistical derivation of a small number of perspectives about the topic.

  • Armatas, Christopher, Venn, Tyron, Watson, Alan. (2016). Understanding social–ecological vulnerability with Q-methodology: a case study of water-based ecosystem services in Wyoming, USA. Sustain Sci. 12:105-21.
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    Abstract for Christopher Armatas, Tyron Venn, Alan Watson (2016). Understanding social–ecological vulnerability with Q-methodology: a case study of water-based ecosystem services in Wyoming, USA

    A broad range of participatory methods can be employed to understand the vulnerability of social–eco- logical systems threatened by various drivers of change including climate change and land-use change. Under- standing this vulnerability is critical for managing natural resources, particularly water resources that flow across jurisdictional boundaries, and support conflicting uses. This paper demonstrates Q-methodology, a promising partici- patory method infrequently applied in the vulnerability context, with a case study investigation of the vulnerability of stakeholders reliant on water-based ecosystem services derived from the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming, USA. The approach identified four distinct viewpoints regarding vulnerability, including an environmental per- spective, agricultural perspective, Native American per- spective, and recreation perspective. The distinct viewpoints highlighted disparate levels of importance related to 34 water benefits, such as commercial irrigation, oil and natural gas extraction, river-based fishing, and cultural and spiritual use. A diverse range of drivers of change threatening important water benefits were also identified, including pollution, too much management intervention, and development of recreation opportunities. The potential benefits of Q-methodology for vulnerability assessment include a rank-ordering exercise that elicits preferences for tradeoffs, and statistical derivation of a small number of perspectives about the topic.

  • Coop JD, Parks SA, McClernan SR, Holsinger LM (2016) Influences of Prior Wildfires on Vegetation Response to Subsequent Fire in a Reburned Southwestern Landscape. Ecological Applications 26(2), 346-354.
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    Abstract for Coop JD, Parks SA, McClernan SR, Holsinger LM (2016). Influences of Prior Wildfires on Vegetation Response to Subsequent Fire in a Reburned Southwestern Landscape.

    Large and severe wildfires have raised concerns about the future of forested landscapes in the southwestern United States, especially under repeated burning. In 2011, under extreme weather and drought conditions, the Las Conchas fire burned over several previous burns as well as forests not recently exposed to fire. Our purpose was to examine the influences of prior wildfires on plant community composition and structure, subsequent burn severity, and vegetation response. To assess these relationships, we used satellite-derived measures of burn severity and a nonmetric multidimensional scaling of pre- and post- Las Conchas field samples. Earlier burns were associated with shifts from forested sites to open savannas and meadows, oak scrub, and ruderal communities. These non-forested vegetation types exhibited both resistance to subsequent fire, measured by reduced burn severity, and resilience to reburning, measured by vegetation recovery relative to forests not exposed to recent prior fire. Previous shifts toward non-forested states were strongly reinforced by reburning. Ongoing losses of forests and their ecological values confirm the need for restoration interventions. However, given future wildfire and climate projections, there may also be opportunities presented by transformations toward fire-resistant and resilient vegetation types within portions of the landscape.

  • Cole, D. (2016). Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: A Long History of Management Guided by Science. Journal of Forestry, 114(3), 363-364.
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    Abstract for David Cole (2016). Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: A Long History of Management Guided by Science

    The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northern Minnesota is one of the most iconic and cherished wilderness areas in the United States. One of the original wilderness areas established in 1964, the BWCAW protects a glaciated landscape of about 1,175 lakes, connected by several hundred miles of streams. Located adjacent to Canada’s Quetico Provincial Park (also managed as wilderness), the two areas form a transboundary wilderness of about 2 million acres. Among the most heavily used wilderness areas in the United States (Cole 1996), most travel is by canoe, although motorized boating is allowed on a few lakes, and some hiking occurs. One of the unique things about the BWCAW— and something few people are aware of—is that more pioneering wilderness science has been conducted there than anywhere else in the United States. The purpose of this case study is to describe the role the BWCAW played in the early development of wilderness science and to show how some of the science conducted there has contributed to good wilderness stewardship. The lineage of most of these studies can be traced to the influence of Dr. Robert Lucas, the pioneering wilderness researcher hired by the USDA Forest Service in 1960. Although one study of wilderness visitors predates Lucas’ work (Taves et al. 1960), Lucas published two groundbreaking reports on recreational use of the BWCAW (Lucas 1964a) and the relationship between amount and type of recreation use and the nature and quality of visitor experiences (Lucas 1964b). These studies and the techniques used have influenced much subsequent wilderness visitor research. Lucas was able to hire other USDA Forest Service scientists to conduct research in the BWCAW on fire ecology (Heinselman 1973) and wilderness plant communities (Ohmann and Ream 1971) and to conduct additional studies of BWCAW visitors (Lime 1970, Stankey 1973). Although a variety of research has been conducted in the BWCAW, most studies have focused on the wilderness’ recreational visitors and their impacts. Pioneering research on campsite impacts and wilderness visitors has had a profound effect on the field of visitor use management and has contributed greatly to improved wilderness stewardship in the BWCAW and wilderness areas throughout the world.

  • Dobrowski, S. Z., & Parks, S. A. (2016). Climate change velocity underestimates climate change exposure in mountainous regions. Nature communications, 7. Chicago
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    Abstract for Dobrowski, S. Z., & Parks, S. A. (2016). Climate change velocity underestimates climate change exposure in mountainous regions

    Climate change velocity is a vector depiction of the rate of climate displacement used for assessing climate change impacts. Interpreting velocity requires an assumption that climate trajectory length is proportional to climate change exposure; longer paths suggest greater exposure. However, distance is an imperfect measure of exposure because it does not quantify the extent to which trajectories traverse areas of dissimilar climate. Here we calculate velocity and minimum cumulative exposure (MCE) in degrees Celsius along climate trajectories for North America. We find that velocity is weakly related to MCE; each metric identifies contrasting areas of vulnerability to climate change. Notably, velocity underestimates exposure in mountainous regions where climate trajectories traverse dissimilar climates, resulting in high MCE. In contrast, in flat regions velocity is high where MCE is low, as these areas have negligible climatic resistance to movement. Our results suggest that mountainous regions are more climatically isolated than previously reported.

  • Holsinger, L., Parks, S. A., & Miller, C. (2016). Weather, fuels, and topography impede wildland fire spread in western US landscapes. Forest Ecology and Management, 380, 59-69.
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    Abstract for Holsinger L, Parks SA, Miller C. (2016). Weather, fuels, and topography impede wildland fire spread in western US landscapes

    As wildland fire activity continues to surge across the western US, it is increasingly important that we understand and quantify the environmental drivers of fire and how they vary across ecosystems. At daily to annual timescales, weather, fuels, and topography are known to influence characteristics such as area burned and fire severity. An understudied facet, however, concerns how these factors inhibit fire spread and thereby contribute to the formation of fire boundaries. We evaluated how weather, fuels, and topography impeded fire spread in four large study areas in the western US, three in the Northern Rockies and one in the Southwest. Weather and fuels were the most important factors in the Northern Rockies, whereas fuels and topography were dominant in the Southwest. Within the categories of weather, fuels, and topography, we also evaluated which specific variables were most influential in impeding fire spread. We explicitly accounted for the presence and age of previous burns within the fuels category. We found that: (1) temperature was the most influential weather variable in the Northern Rockies; (2) previous burns (particularly those that were 65 years old) were moderately to highly influential in all study areas; and (3) valley bottoms and ridgetops were moderately to highly associated with fire boundaries in all study areas. Our results elucidate the regionally varying roles of weather, fuels, and topography in impeding fire spread, emphasizing each ecosystem’s unique biophysical setting and fire regime.

  • Marion, Jeffrey L., (2016). A Review and Synthesis of Recreation Ecology Research Supporting Carrying Capacity and Visitor Use Management Decisionmaking. Journal of Forestry. 114(3), 339-351.
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    Abstract for Jeffrey L. Marion (2016). A Review and Synthesis of Recreation Ecology Research Supporting Carrying Capacity and Visitor Use Management Decisionmaking

    Resource and experiential impacts associated with visitation to wilderness and other similar backcountry settings have long been addressed by land managers under the context of “carrying capacity” decisionmaking. Determining a maximum level of allowable use, below which high-quality resource and experiential conditions would be sustained, was an early focus in the 1960s and 1970s. However, decades of recreation ecology research have shown that the severity and areal extent of visitor impact problems are influenced by an interrelated array of use-related, environmental, and managerial factors. This complexity, with similar findings from social science research, prompted scientists and managers to develop more comprehensive carrying capacity frameworks, including a new Visitor Use Management framework. These frameworks rely on a diverse array of management strategies and actions, often termed a “management toolbox,” for resolving visitor impact problems. This article reviews the most recent and relevant recreation ecology studies that have been applied in wildland settings to avoid or minimize resource impacts. The key findings and their management implications are highlighted to support the professional management of common trail, recreation site, and wildlife impact problems. These studies illustrate the need to select from a more diverse array of impact management strategies and actions based on an evaluation of problems to identify the most influential factors that can be manipulated. Management and Policy Implications: Wildland managers struggle to balance their resource protection and recreation provision objectives. Over the course of six decades, the recreation carrying capacity concept has been repeatedly applied and revised as a management tool, evolving from a simplistic focus on fixed visitation limits to comprehensive decisionmaking frameworks focused on sustaining high-quality recreational opportunities. Recreation ecology studies investigating relationships between amount of visitor use and the magnitude of resource impacts consistently find that use and impact are strongly related only at initial and low levels of visitation, with weak correlations at higher use levels. However, unacceptable resource impacts often occur on well-established and heavily used trails and recreation sites: reducing use to improve their condition is generally an ineffective practice. An increasing number of recreation ecology studies describe the efficacy of alternative management interventions, including the siting, design, construction, and maintenance of more sustainable trails and recreation sites, the spatial and temporal redistribution of visitor use, and persuasive communication or regulations that encourage visitors to apply low-impact practices.

  • Marion, Jeffrey L., Leung, Yu-Fai, Eagleston, Holly, Burroughs, Kaitlin. (2016). A Review and Synthesis of Recreation Ecology Research Findings on Visitor Impacts to Wilderness and Protected Natural Areas. Journal of Forestry. 114(3), 352-362.
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    Abstract for Jeffrey L. Marion, Yu-Fai Leung, Holly Eagleston, and Kaitlin Burroughs (2016). A Review and Synthesis of Recreation Ecology Research Findings on Visitor Impacts to Wilderness and Protected Natural Areas

    The 50th anniversary of the US Wilderness Act of 1964 presents a worthy opportunity to review our collective knowledge on how recreation visitation affects wilderness and protected natural area resources. Studies of recreation impacts, examined within the recreation ecology field of study, have spanned 80 years and generated more than 1,200 citations. This article examines the recreation ecology literature most relevant to wilderness and backcountry, with a focus on visitor impacts to vegetation, soil, wildlife, and water resources. We also review relationships with influential factors, such as the amount of use, visitor behavior, and vegetation type. An understanding of these impacts and their relationships with influential factors is necessary for land managers seeking to identify acceptable limits of impact or selecting management actions that will effectively avoid or minimize resource impacts. Management and Policy Implications: Outdoor recreation in wilderness and other protected natural areas is an important value and ecosystem service to our society, but visitor activities can also induce undesirable effects to various ecological components and visitor experience. To integrate wilderness protection and recreation objectives, managers require objective information on recreation impacts so they can evaluate the ecological and social significance of impacts as well as their control. This article synthesized recreation ecology research intended for enhancing our understanding of recreation impacts while advancing the practice of visitor impact management. The results suggest that advances in recreation ecology have gone further with vegetation and soil, whereas research on wildlife impacts has gained momentum in recent years. Recreation impacts on water quality remains a less active research area. The body of knowledge on recreation impacts has demonstrated its utility in informing visitor planning, management and education strategies, and actions being implemented in wilderness and other protected natural areas.

  • Cordell, Ken, Barns, Chris, Brownlie, David, Carlson, Tom, Dawson, Chad, Koch, William, Oye, Garry, Ryan, Chris. (2016). Wilderness Stewardship in America Today and What We Can Do to Improve It. Journal of Forestry. 114(3), 292-297.
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    Abstract for Ken Cordell, Chris Barns, David Brownlie, Tom Carlson, Chad Dawson, William Koch, Garry Oye, and Chris Ryan (2016). Wilderness Stewardship in America Today and What We Can Do to Improve It

    The authors of this article are recently retired wilderness professionals from universities or federal agencies. We were asked to share our observations about how wilderness stewardship is being managed in America today. We based our observations on our many years of combined professional wilderness career experience as man- agers, trainers, scientists, educators, and other careers. Combined, the authors have worked 308 years generally in natural resources and 236 years in wilderness specifically. All of us have had challenging management or research duties related to wilderness stewardship. For this article, wilderness refers specifically to the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). We as coauthors were invited to share our thoughts about wilderness management today because it was thought that our group would have some unique insights. With the years of experience in various positions in the federal agencies and affiliated universities, we hope that our com- bined experience lends credibility to our assessing the status of the NWPS. In the process of conceptualizing this article, a number of wilderness stewardship challenges were identified. Some examples of these challenges are briefly listed below. Of those identified by the coauthors, we selected five that we thought are the most significant overarching challenges. These five are subsequently described and our expert opinions on potential ways to address them are offered. Examples of Challenges to Wilderness Stewardship Management of wilderness (especially preserving wilderness character) and those charged with that management face a number of significant issues or challenges, some of which they can address, others of which they cannot much influence. Examples of these in- clude how to (1) identify and add federal lands qualified for desig- nation as areas in the NWPS, (2) control invasions by nonnative plant and animal species, (3) coordinate between different federal and state land management agencies, (4) best manage growing and more diverse visitor use, (5) decide how or whether to intervene when wilderness character is changing due to human activities (in- cluding defining the minimum type of activities and tools allowed in attempting interventions), (6) accommodate commercial uses that can be inconsistent with retention of wilderness character, (7) limit use of modern digital technologies that can become intrusive in wilderness settings, (8) best decide between natural fire versus fire suppression, (9) best monitor wilderness character and integrate the latest monitoring research, (10) better inform visitors of what the NWPS is, and (11) maintain air and water quality (for more detail on these issues, see the supplemental data). In addition to the chal- lenges listed above, some additional issues were identified by wilder- ness managers through their responses to the 2014 national Wilder- ness Manager Survey (Dawson et al. 2015). Examples of the challenges and threats identified by survey respondents included threats from adjacent land uses, legislated area-specific provisions that compromise wilderness character, fire suppression on lands around wilderness, motorized and mechanical trespass, fragmenta- tion and isolation of wilderness areas, and aircraft or other motor noise.

  • Parisien, M., Miller, C., Parks, S., DeLancey, E., Robinne, F., Flannigan, M. (2016). The spatially varying influence of humans on fire probability in North America. Environmental Research Letters. Vol 11.
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    Abstract for Marc-André Parisien , Carol Miller , Sean A Parks, Evan R DeLancey , François-Nicolas Robinne and Mike D Flannigan (2016). The spatially varying influence of humans on fire probability in North America

    Humans affect fire regimes by providing ignition sources in some cases, suppressing wildfires in others, and altering natural vegetation in ways that may either promote or limit fire. In North America, several studies have evaluated the effects of society on fire activity; however, most studies have been regional or subcontinental in scope and used different data and methods, thereby making continent-wide comparisons difficult.We circumvent these challenges by investigating the broad-scale impact of humans on fire activity using parallel statistical models of fire probability from 1984 to 2014 as a function of climate, enduringfeatures(topography and percent nonfuel), lightning, and three indices of human activity (population density, an integrated metric of human activity [Human Footprint Index], and a measure of remoteness[roadless volume]) across equally spaced regions of the United States and Canada. Through a statistical control approach, whereby we accountfor the effect of other explanatory variables, wefound evidence of non-negligible human–wildfire association across the entire continent, even in the most sparsely populated areas. A surprisingly coherent negative relationship between fire activity and humans was observed across the United States and Canada: fire probability generally diminishes with increasing human influence. Intriguing exceptions to this relationship are the continent’s least disturbed areas, where fewer humans equate to less fire. These remote areas, however, also often have lower lightning densities, leading us to believe that they may be ignition limited at the spatiotemporal scale of the study. Our results suggest that there arefew purely natural fire regimes in North America today. Consequently, projections of future fire activity should consider human impacts on fire regimes to ensure sound adaptation and mitigation measures in fire-prone areas.

  • Marion, Jeffrey L., et al. "A review and synthesis of recreation ecology research findings on visitor impacts to wilderness and protected natural areas." Journal of Forestry 114.3 (2016): 352-362.
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    Abstract for Marion, J. L., Leung, Y. F., Eagleston, H., & Burroughs, K. (2016). A review and synthesis of recreation ecology research findings on visitor impacts to wilderness and protected natural areas

    The 50th anniversary of the US Wilderness Act of 1964 presents a worthy opportunity to review our collective knowledge on how recreation visitation affects wilderness and protected natural area resources. Studies of recreation impacts, examined within the recreation ecology field of study, have spanned 80 years and generated more than 1,200 citations. This article examines the recreation ecology literature most relevant to wilderness and backcountry, with a focus on visitor impacts to vegetation, soil, wildlife, and water resources. We also review relationships with influential factors, such as the amount of use, visitor behavior, and vegetation type. An understanding of these impacts and their relationships with influential factors is necessary for land managers seeking to identify acceptable limits of impact or selecting management actions that will effectively avoid or minimize resource impacts.

  • McKenna, Megan F., Lignell, Brent, Rapoza, Amanda, Lee, Cynthia, Ward, Vicki, Rocchio, Judy. (2016). A Framework to Assess the Effects of Commercial Air Tour Noise on Wilderness. Journal of Forestry. 114(3), 365-372.
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    Abstract for Megan F. McKenna, Brent Lignell, Amanda Rapoza, Cynthia Lee, Vicki Ward, and Judy Rocchio (2016). A Framework to Assess the Effects of Commercial Air Tour Noise on Wilderness

    Human-made noise in wilderness degrades the quality of wilderness by interfering with natural sounds—a key attribute of wilderness. Commercial air tour overflights are a noise source of particular concern to the US National Park Service. To characterize noise from air tours in wilderness, we developed an assessment framework to guide the decisionmaking process for maintaining or improving the soundscape conditions in wilderness. Decision points in the framework were based on management policy and best available science. The result is a “tier” designation for a wilderness area that defines the current soundscape conditions based on known air tour activity. To demonstrate the utility of the framework, we applied the method to Haleakal? Wilderness in Haleakal? National Park, Hawai’i. Whereas the framework presented specifically addresses air tour noise in wilderness and the concerns associated with impacts on wilderness character, the framework may be applicable to managing other noise sources in and near wilderness or other human activities that degrade wilderness qualities. Management and Policy Implications: Federal agencies are mandated to protect wilderness areas to preserve wilderness character. However, preservation of wilderness is challenged by vague definitions and the diversity of qualities that define wilderness. To help resource managers incorporate the preservation of natural acoustic conditions, one of the many attributes of wilderness, into wilderness management or planning documents, we developed and demonstrated an assessment framework. Our example is specific to the effects of noise from commercial air tour overflights on the visitor’s ability to experience natural sounds and is intended for National Park Service air tour management and other planning processes. The framework presented takes advantage of reporting data from air tour operators, an existing noise model, and the best available science on the effects of noise on visitor experience to understand the soundscape conditions over an entire wilderness area. The framework provides a systematic method that can be applied to any park with air tours and wilderness; the results characterize current conditions and guide the decisionmaking process for maintaining or improving the soundscape conditions in wilderness. Ideas on how to adapt the framework to explore the effects of alternative scenarios in air tour overflights (e.g., number of flights or quieter aircraft), to address other noise sources in and near wilderness, or to evaluate other indicators of wilderness character conditions are offered.

  • Schwartz, Michael K., Hahn, Beth A., Hossack, Blake R. (2016). Where the Wild Things Are: A Research Agenda for Studying the Wildlife-Wilderness Relationship. Journal of Forestry. 114(3), 311-319.
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    Abstract for Michael K. Schwartz, Beth A. Hahn, and Blake R. Hossack (2016). Where the Wild Things Are: A Research Agenda for Studying the Wildlife-Wilderness Relationship

    We explore the connection between US designated wilderness areas and wildlife with the goal of establishing a research agenda for better understanding this complex relationship. Our research agenda has two components. The first, “wildlife for wilderness,” considers the impact of wildlife on wilderness character. Whereas studies show that wildlife is important in both the perception and actual enhancement of wilderness character, the context and particulars of this relationship have not been evaluated. For instance, is knowing that a rare, native species is present in a wilderness area enough to increase perceptions of naturalness (an important wilderness quality)? Or does the public need to observe the species or its sign (e.g., tracks) for this benefit? The second part of our research agenda, “wilderness for wildlife,” considers the types of research needed to understand the impact of wilderness areas on wildlife and biodiversity conservation. Several studies show the effect of one area being designated wilderness on one wildlife species. Yet, there has been no research that examines how the networks of wilderness areas in the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) are used by a species or a community of species. Furthermore, we found no studies that focused on how the NWPS affects ecological or trophic interactions among species. We hope that by providing a research agenda, we can spur multiple lines of research on the topic of wildlife and wilderness. Management and Policy Implications: This article establishes a multiscale research agenda to help set the stage for research examining wildlife and wilderness. Our research agenda distinguishes the effects that wildlife has on wilderness character versus the impact that wilderness character has on wildlife populations, species, and communities. We consider both parts of this research agenda of equal importance. Understanding how wildlife contributes to wilderness character is essential to the legal mandate to preserve it. Managers are increasingly faced with decision tradeoffs in managing for both wildness and naturalness within wilderness through proposals such as assisted migration, wildlife reintroductions, and supplementations. Well-crafted social science can help with these policy decisions. The second prong of our research agenda examines how wilderness character affects wildlife. It encourages studies that go beyond the effect of one wilderness on one species. There has been increased perception in the policy and management arena that protection of one patch is inadequate for species protection and that management of the entire landscape matrix, across multiple jurisdictions and management plans, is critical for conservation. Our research agenda advocates research that understands the role of the network of wilderness areas in biodiversity conservation.

  • Naficy, C. E., Keeling, E. G., Landres, P., Hessburg, P. F., Veblen, T. T., & Sala, A. (2016). Wilderness in the 21st century: A framework for testing assumptions about ecological intervention in wilderness using a case study of fire ecology in the Rocky Mountains. Journal of Forestry, 114(3), 384-395.
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    Abstract for Naficy, C. E., Keeling, E. G., Landres, P., Hessburg, P. F., Veblen, T. T., & Sala, A. (2016). Wilderness in the 21st century: A framework for testing assumptions about ecological intervention in wilderness using a case study of fire ecology in the Rocky Mountains.

    Changes in the climate and in key ecological processes are prompting increased debate about ecological restoration and other interventions in wilderness. The prospect of intervention in wilderness raises legal, scientific, and values-based questions about the appropriateness of possible actions. In this article, we focus on the role of science to elucidate the potential need for intervention. We review the meaning of “untrammeled” from the 1964 Wilderness Act to aid our understanding of the legal context for potential interventions in wilderness. We explore the tension between restraint and active intervention in managing wilderness and introduce a framework for testing ecological assumptions when evaluating restoration proposals. We illustrate use of the framework in the restoration of fire regimes and fuel conditions in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of the US Rocky Mountains. Even in this relatively well-studied example, we find that the assumptions underlying proposed interventions in wilderness need to be critically evaluated and tested before new, more intensive management paradigms are embraced.

  • Parisien, M. A., Miller, C., Parks, S. A., DeLancey, E. R., Robinne, F. N., & Flannigan, M. D. (2016). The spatially varying influence of humans on fire probability in North America. Environmental Research Letters, 11(7), 075005.
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    Abstract for Parisien, M. A., Miller, C., Parks, S. A., DeLancey, E. R., Robinne, F. N., & Flannigan, M. D. (2016). The spatially varying influence of humans on fire probability in North America

    Humans affect fire regimes by providing ignition sources in some cases, suppressing wildfires in others, and altering natural vegetation in ways that may either promote or limit fire. In North America, several studies have evaluated the effects of society on fire activity; however, most studies have been regional or subcontinental in scope and used different data and methods, thereby making continent-wide comparisons difficult. We circumvent these challenges by investigating the broad-scale impact of humans on fire activity using parallel statistical models of fire probability from 1984 to 2014 as a function of climate, enduring features (topography and percent nonfuel), lightning, and three indices of human activity (population density, an integrated metric of human activity [Human Footprint Index], and a measure of remoteness [roadless volume]) across equally spaced regions of the United States and Canada. Through a statistical control approach, whereby we account for the effect of other explanatory variables, we found evidence of non-negligible human–wildfire association across the entire continent, even in the most sparsely populated areas. A surprisingly coherent negative relationship between fire activity and humans was observed across the United States and Canada: fire probability generally diminishes with increasing human influence. Intriguing exceptions to this relationship are the continent\'s least disturbed areas, where fewer humans equate to less fire. These remote areas, however, also often have lower lightning densities, leading us to believe that they may be ignition limited at the spatiotemporal scale of the study. Our results suggest that there are few purely natural fire regimes in North America today. Consequently, projections of future fire activity should consider human impacts on fire regimes to ensure sound adaptation and mitigation measures in fire-prone areas.

  • Parks, S. A., Miller, C., Abatzoglou, J. T., Holsinger, L. M., Parisien, M. A., & Dobrowski, S. Z. (2016). How will climate change affect wildland fire severity in the western US?. Environmental Research Letters, 11(3), 035002.
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    Abstract for Parks, S. A., Miller, C., Abatzoglou, J. T., Holsinger, L. M., Parisien, M. A., & Dobrowski, S. Z. (2016). How will climate change affect wildland fire severity in the western US?

    Fire regime characteristics in North America are expected to change over the next several decades as a result of anthropogenic climate change. Although some fire regime characteristics (e.g., area burned and fire season length) are relatively well-studied in the context of a changing climate, fire severity has received less attention. In this study, we used observed data from 1984 to 2012 for the western United States (US) to build a statistical model of fire severity as a function of climate. We then applied this model to several (n = 20) climate change projections representing mid-century (2040–2069) conditions under the RCP 8.5 scenario. Model predictions suggest widespread reduction in fire severity for large portions of the western US. However, our model implicitly incorporates climate-induced changes in vegetation type, fuel load, and fire frequency. As such, our predictions are best interpreted as a potential reduction in fire severity, a potential that may not be realized due human-induced disequilibrium between plant communities and climate. Consequently, to realize the reductions in fire severity predicted in this study, land managers in the western US could facilitate the transition of plant communities towards a state of equilibrium with the emerging climate through means such as active restoration treatments (e.g., mechanical thinning and prescribed fire) and passive restoration strategies like managed natural fire (under suitable weather conditions). Resisting changes in vegetation composition and fuel load via activities such as aggressive fire suppression will amplify disequilibrium conditions and will likely result in increased fire severity in future decades because fuel loads will increase as the climate warms and fire danger becomes more extreme. The results of our study provide insights to the pros and cons of resisting or facilitating change in vegetation composition and fuel load in the context of a changing climate.

  • Parks, S. A., Miller, C., Holsinger, L. M., Baggett, L. S., & Bird, B. J. (2016). Wildland fire limits subsequent fire occurrence. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 25(2), 182-190.
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    Abstract for Parks, S. A., Miller, C., Holsinger, L. M., Baggett, L. S., & Bird, B. J. (2016). Wildland fire limits subsequent fire occurrence

    Several aspects of wildland fire are moderated by site- and landscape-level vegetation changes caused by previous fire, thereby creating a dynamic where one fire exerts a regulatory control on subsequent fire. For example, wildland fire has been shown to regulate the size and severity of subsequent fire. However, wildland fire has the potential to influence other properties of subsequent fire. One of those properties – the extent to which a previous wildland fire inhibits new fires from igniting and spreading within its perimeter – is the focus of our study. In four large wilderness study areas in the western United States (US), we evaluated whether or not wildland fire regulated the ignition and spread (hereafter occurrence) of subsequent fire. Results clearly indicate that wildland fire indeed regulates subsequent occurrence of fires $ 20 ha in all study areas. We also evaluated the longevity of the regulating effect and found that wildland fire limits subsequent fire occurrence for nine years in the warm/dry study area in the south-western US and over 20 years in the cooler/wetter study areas in the northern Rocky Mountains. Our findings expand upon our understanding of the regulating capacity of wildland fire and the importance of wildland fire in creating and maintaining resilience to future fire events.

  • Parks, S. A., Miller, C., Parisien, M. A., Holsinger, L. M., Dobrowski, S. Z., & Abatzoglou, J. (2015). Wildland fire deficit and surplus in the western United States, 1984–2012. Ecosphere, 6(12), 1-13.
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    Abstract for Parks, S. A., Miller, C., Parisien, M. A., Holsinger, L. M., Dobrowski, S. Z., & Abatzoglou, J. (2016). Wildland fire deficit and surplus in the western United States

    Wildland fire is an important disturbance agent in the western US and globally. However, the natural role of fire has been disrupted in many regions due to the influence of human activities, which have the potential to either exclude or promote fire, resulting in a ‘‘fire deficit’’ or ‘‘fire surplus’’, respectively. In this study, we developed a model of expected area burned for the western US as a function of climate from 1984 to 2012. We then quantified departures from expected area burned to identify geographic regions with fire deficit or surplus. We developed our model of area burned as a function of several climatic variables from reference areas with low human influence; the relationship between climate and fire is strong in these areas. We then quantified the degree of fire deficit or surplus for all areas of the western US as the difference between expected (as predicted with the model) and observed area burned from 1984 to 2012. Results indicate that many forested areas in the western US experienced a fire deficit from 1984 to 2012, likely due to fire exclusion by human activities. We also found that large expanses of non-forested regions experienced a fire surplus, presumably due to introduced annual grasses and the prevalence of anthropogenic ignitions. The heterogeneity in patterns of fire deficit and surplus among ecoregions emphasizes fundamentally different ecosystem sensitivities to human influences and suggests that largescale adaptation and mitigation strategies will be necessary in order to restore and maintain resilient, healthy, and naturally functioning ecosystems.

  • Wick, Robert. (2016). Technology Brings New Challenges to Wilderness Managers: An Example from the Bureau of Land Management- Managed Lost Coast of California. Journal of Forestry. 114(3), 329-338.
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    Abstract for Robert Wick (2016). Technology Brings New Challenges to Wilderness Managers: An Example from the Bureau of Land Management- Managed Lost Coast of California

    The historic Wilderness Act celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014, and wilderness social science shared a similar legacy. As paradoxical as it might seem, humans are an important part of wilderness, helping to define the very concept and representing an important component of wilderness use and management. Much of the past five decades of wilderness-related social science has focused on recreational use, documenting the impacts of recreation on wilderness resources and the quality of the wilderness experience, exploring application of the concept of recreational carrying capacity to wilderness, and developing planning and management frameworks for balancing the inherent tension between wilderness use and protecting the quality of wilderness resources and the experience of visiting wilderness. The Limits of Acceptable Change and related planning frameworks, including formulation of recreation-related indicators and standards, continues to help guide wilderness management today. Other programs of social science research have developed protocols for measuring and monitoring wilderness recreation, defined the root causes of conflict among wilderness users and identified management approaches to minimize this conflict, explored the appropriate and acceptable use of fees for wilderness use, and identified a growing suite of wilderness values. All of these programs of research and others that could not be included in this review article have helped guide wilderness management and policy. However, social science research has evolved as a function of changes in both wilderness and society. This evolution continues through a focus on public attitudes toward adaptation to climate change, public attitudes toward restoration in wilderness to correct past human intervention, appropriate use of technology in wilderness, and issues related to the relevance of wilderness in light of changes in society and use of public lands. This article tells the story of these changes in issues and the relationship between wilderness and the American people. Management and Policy Implications: The US Congress established the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1964, and it has steadily grown from about 9 million acres to nearly 110 million acres today. Congress also allocated funds for creation of a wilderness research program in 1967 to support management and policy decisionmaking. Wilderness science has provided data to support management decisions and management frameworks to accomplish resource and experience protection through use limits, education, zoning and fees, and other means. In the future, wilderness social science will respond to new challenges with provision of information to support decisions about intervention to adapt to climate change influences, restoration of conditions affected by previous human activities, management of changes in technology and new uses that may threaten wilderness experiences, the relevance of wilderness to an increasingly diverse and urban population, and exploration of the vulnerability of ecosystem services and associated benefits flowing from wilderness due to changes in climate, policy, and land use. New topics that have emerged will require adjustment of the federally funded research program and stimulation of academic research and training programs that are responsive to the needs for knowledge identified.

  • Robinne, F.-N.; Miller, C.; Parisien, M.-A.; Emelko, M.B.; Bladon, K.D.; Silins, U.; Flannigan, M.
    Download PDF for A Global Index for Mapping the Exposure of Water Resources to Wildfire
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    Abstract for Robinne, F.-N.; Miller, C.; Parisien, M.-A.; Emelko, M.B.; Bladon, K.D.; Silins, U.; Flannigan, M (2016). A Global Index for Mapping the Exposure of Water Resources to Wildfire

    A Global Index for Mapping the Exposure of Water Resources to Wildfire. Forests 2016, 7, 22.

  • McCool, Stephen F., Freimund, Wayne A. (2016). Maintaining Relevancy: Implications of Changing Societal Connections to Wilderness for Stewardship Agencies. Journal of Forestry. 114(3), 405-414.
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    Abstract for Stephen F. McCool and Wayne A. Freimund (2016). Maintaining Relevancy: Implications of Changing Societal Connections to Wilderness for Stewardship Agencies

    The growing concerns about civil society’s connections with wilderness raise intriguing questions about the dynamic character of wilderness meanings and engagement. In this review, we use the notion of an adaptive cycle to suggest that our societal relationships with wilderness are dynamic and not static and that by understanding the adaptive character of connectedness and social cohesiveness, stewardship organizations will have a greater capacity to adapt and respond rather than feel threatened. For each of four stages in the adaptive cycle, we propose information and organizational needs, including leadership that is sensitive to the changing character of relevancy and that can steer an agency through change. Management and Policy Implications: Americans’ relationship with wilderness is not static, but dynamic and complex. Questions about the relevancy of wilderness need to include the long term. For managers, this means that not only must they sense changes in relationships but also they must be adaptable and resilient, be prepared for new citizen-sponsored initiatives such as citizen science and art, foster building different kinds of connections, and recognize that while on site use may decline, other trends we do not now monitor may be occurring. For policymakers, changing relationships mean that the Wilderness Act does not need to be modified as some have advocated. It does mean that wilderness stewardship organizations need to retain highly qualified and creative staff who are comfortable operating in dynamic and complex social and political environments. It also means that traditional bureaucratic alignments in stewardship organizations, formed when recreation and visitor use dominated the relationship with wilderness, may also need transformation. This will be a challenging task because the capacities and mental models policymakers and managers hold may no longer be appropriate. Furthermore, it suggests that wilderness will continue to be a major interest, politically and culturally, of the American public.

  • Fox, Susan A., Hahn, Beth A. (2016). Science Informs Stewardship: Committing to a National Wilderness Science Agenda. Journal of Forestry, 114(3), 305-310.
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    Abstract for Susan A. Fox and Beth A. Hahn (2016). Science Informs Stewardship: Committing to a National Wilderness Science Agenda

    The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) is a vital component of the national and international infrastructure for science, education, and information. The NWPS serves as an impor- tant resource for advancing research, from discovering new dinosaurs (Arbour et al. 2014, Landon 2015) to understanding human history on the American landscape (Rasic 2003). The NWPS provides in- valuable records of environmental change and coverage of important types of ecosystems and natural resource systems (Aycrigg et al. 2015). Research is also fundamentally important to wilderness stew- ardship and the statutory obligation to preserve wilderness character. Wilderness science has guided the management of natural resource systems, such as watersheds, forests, and rangelands. Findings with broad impacts on environmental policy and natural resource man- agement have emerged from wilderness studies. For instance, out- door recreation research helped to initiate wilderness science begin- ning in the 1950s, in response to the increasing recreation impacts on public lands (Cole 2014, 2015). Wilderness recreation studies have investigated many aspects of visitor use and resource impacts, which have directly informed management decisions such as the acceptable limit of impacts, recreation carrying capacity, and actions to prevent or minimize resource degradation (for reviews, see Marion 2015, Marion et al. 2015) (Figure 1). A second prominent example comes from wildland fire research, which has developed models and data to understand the complexity of fire as a biophysical landscape process and also investigated social factors that influence wilderness fire management. These biophysical and social science studies of wildland fire have profoundly shaped stewardship decisions regard- ing wildfire management both inside and outside of wilderness boundaries (Miller and Aplet 2015) (Figure 2). These examples demonstrate the contributions of previous wilderness science to wil- derness stewardship from the field unit to agency scales, but more research—and a coordinated wilderness science strategy—is needed to support the increasingly complex and contentious wilderness management issues presented in this article. In this article, we review the evolution of wilderness research, identify the challenges of integrating wilderness science and steward- ship, consider catalysts for change, and argue for the need to develop a cohesive wilderness science strategy to address NWPS management needs. We highlight the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute (ALWRI) in this article because it is the only entityfocused on science to inform wilderness stewardship, but we recognize that many scientists working both inside and outside of the agencies contribute important findings that improve wilderness stewardship practices (e.g., the Na- tional Park Service [NPS] Night Skies and Natural Sounds Division, the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service [USDA FS] National Genomics Center for Wildlife and Fish Conservation, The Wilderness Society, and university researchers).

  • Holmes, Thomas P., Bowker, J.M., Englin, Jeffrey, Hjierpe, Evan, Loomis, John B., Phillips, Spencer, Richardson, Robert. (2016). A Synthesis of the Economic Values of Wilderness. Journal of Forestry, 114(3), 320-328.
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    Abstract for Thomas P. Holmes, J.M. Bowker, Jeffrey Englin, Evan Hjerpe, John B. Loomis, Spencer Phillips, and Robert Richardson (2016). A Synthesis of the Economic Values of Wilderness

    Early applications of wilderness economic research demonstrated that the values of natural amenities and commodities produced from natural areas could be measured in commensurate terms. To the surprise of many, the economic values of wilderness protection often exceeded the potential commercial values that might result from resource extraction. Here, the concepts and tools used in the economic analysis of wilderness are described, and the wilderness economic literature is reviewed with a focus on understanding trends in use, value, and economic impacts. Although our review suggests that each of these factors is trending upward, variations in research methods plus large gaps in the literature limit understanding of long-run trends. However, as new data on wilderness use, visitor origins, and spatially referenced features of landscapes are becoming increasingly available, more robust economic analysis of both onsite and offsite wilderness economic values and impacts is now becoming possible. Management and Policy Implications: Economic analysis informs policy decisions within a benefit-cost framework. Although wilderness economics research has generally shown that the economic benefits derived from wilderness activities have increased substantially since the passage of the Wilderness Act 50 years ago, much less is known about the costs of wilderness preservation in terms of foregone jobs and other economic opportunities in wilderness gateway communities. Federal agency planning for existing and potential wilderness areas would benefit from better information on the long-term and recent trends in wilderness use and value. Agency planning for potential wilderness areas would also benefit from a better understanding of the opportunity costs of wilderness preservation. Better information on wilderness value spillovers to nearby gateway communities could also help local planners address emerging trends in rural and exurban economic development.

  • Tricker, J., MacEwen, B., O’Neil, R., & Landres, P. (2016). Mapping Threats to Wilderness Character in the Saguaro National Park Wilderness.
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    Abstract for Tricker, J., MacEwen, B., O’Neil, R., & Landres, P. (2016). Mapping Threats to Wilderness Character in the Saguaro National Park Wilderness

    The Wilderness Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-577) established the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) “for the protection of these areas, [and] the preservation of their wilderness character” (Section 2(a)). In congressional testimony clarifying the intent of wilderness designation, Howard Zahniser (1962) said, “The purpose of the Wilderness Act is to preserve the wilderness character of the areas to be included in the wilderness system, not to establish any particular use”; legal scholars (Rohlf and Honnold 1988; McCloskey 1999) subsequently confirmed that preserving wilderness character is the Act’s primary legal mandate. Furthermore, the policies of all four wilderness managing agencies state that they are to preserve wilderness character in all areas designated as wilderness. Wilderness character is an inherent part of a wilderness, and varies across the landscape just as elevation, vegetation, and other landscape features vary from one place to the next. Maps that depict how wilderness attributes vary across the landscape from least to most wild have been produced at a variety of scales: globally (Sanderson et al. 2002), continentally (Carver 2010), nationally (Aplet et al. 2000), and locally (Carver et al. 2008). Adding to this body of work, a recent study for the Death Valley Wilderness (Tricker et al. 2012; Carver et al. 2013) has provided a spatially explicit description of impacts to wilderness character for all lands falling within a particular National Park Service (NPS) wilderness. This approach has been strongly supported by the NPS, and further studies have been conducted for wildernesses withhin Olympic, Denali, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, and now Saguaro National Park (SAGU).

  • Addis, Brett R., Winsor H. Lowe, Blake R. Hossack, and Fred W. Allendorf. 2015. Population genetic structure and disease in montane boreal toads: more heterozygous individuals are more likely to be infected with amphibian chytrid. Conservation Genetics. DOI 10.1007/s10592-015-0704-6
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    Abstract for Addis, Brett R., Winsor H. Lowe, Blake R. Hossack, and Fred W. Allendorf. (2015). Population genetic structure and disease in montane boreal toads: more heterozygous individuals are more likely to be infected with amphibian chytrid.

    Amphibians are more threatened than any other vertebrate group, with 41 % of species classified as threatened. The causes of most declines are not well understood, though many declines have been linked to disease. Additionally, amphibians are physiologically constrained to moist habitats and considered poor dispersers; thus, they may suffer genetic consequences of population isolation. To understand threats to the persistence of boreal toads (Bufo boreas) in Glacier National Park, USA, we genotyped 551 individuals at 11 microsatellite loci and used Bayesian clustering methods to describe population genetic structure and identify barriers to gene flow. We found evidence of two primary genetic groups that differed substantially in elevation and two secondary groups within the high elevation group. There was also evidence of further substructure within the southern high elevation group, suggesting mountain ridges are barriers to gene flow at local scales. Overall, genetic variation was high, but allelic richness declined with increasing elevation, reflecting greater isolation or smaller effective population sizes of high altitude populations. We tested for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the fungal pathogen which causes chytridiomycosis, and we found that 35 of 199 toads were positive for Bd. Unexpectedly, more heterozygous individuals were more likely to be infected. This suggests that dispersal facilitates the spread of disease because heterozygosity may be highest where dispersal and gene flow are greatest

  • Aycrigg, J.L., J.L. Tricker, R.T. Belote, M.S. Dietz, L. Duarte, and G.H. Aplet. (2015). "The next 50 years: opportunities for diversifying the ecological representation of the National Wilderness Preservation System within the contiguous United States." Journal of Forestry. http://dx.doi.org/10.5849/jof.15-050
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    Abstract for Aycrigg, J.L., J.L. Tricker, R.T. Belote, M.S. Dietz, L. Duarte, and G.H. Aplet. (2015). The Next 50 years: Opportunities for Diversifying the Ecological Representation of the 2 National Wilderness Preservation System within the Contiguous United States

    The US National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) is the world’s largest wilderness protection network, yet within the contiguous United States (CONUS) it does not encompass the diversity nor is it fully representative of ecological systems on federal lands. To potentially increase NWPS diversity and representation, we simulated adding potentially eligible lands within CONUS, in the following sequence, to assess changes in ecological systems: National Park Lands not currently designated wilderness; non-NWPS lands currently managed to not degrade wilderness character; USDA Forest Service Inventoried Roadless Areas; and Bureau of Land Management roadless lands. Inclusion of these categories would increase the NWPS area from 12.8 to 48.3% of federal lands, increase diversity by adding 46 ecological systems, and nearly triple the number of ecological systems on federal lands with 20% representation. Our analysis identi?es opportunities to increase diversity and representation of ecological systems within the NWPS.

  • Chandler, R. B., Muths, E., Sigafus, B. H., Schwalbe, C. R., Jarchow, C. J., Hossack, B. R. (2015), Spatial occupancy models for predicting metapopulation dynamics and viability following reintroduction. Journal of Applied Ecology, 52: 1325–1333. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.12481
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    Abstract for Chandler, R. B., Muths, E., Sigafus, B. H., Schwalbe, C. R., Jarchow, C. J., Hossack, B. R. (2015). Spatial occupancy models for predicting metapopulation dynamics and viability following reintroduction.

    1. The reintroduction of a species into its historic range is a critical component of conservation programmes designed to restore extirpated metapopulations. However, many reintroduction efforts fail, and the lack of rigorous monitoring programmes and statistical models have prevented a general understanding of the factors affecting metapopulation viability following reintroduction. 2. Spatially explicit metapopulation theory provides the basis for understanding the dynamics of fragmented populations linked by dispersal, but the theory has rarely been used to guide reintroduction programmes because most spatial metapopulation models require presence–absence data from every site in the network, and they do not allow for observation error such as imperfect detection. 3. We develop a spatial occupancy model that relaxes these restrictive assumptions and allows for inference about metapopulation extinction risk and connectivity. We demonstrate the utility of the model using six years of data on the Chiricahua leopard frog Lithobates chiricahuensis, a threatened desert-breeding amphibian that was reintroduced to a network of sites in Arizona USA in 2003. 4. Our results indicate that the model can generate precise predictions of extinction risk and produce connectivity maps that can guide conservation efforts following reintroduction. In the case of L. chiricahuensis, many sites were functionally isolated, and 82% of sites were character ized by intermittent water availability and high local extinction probabilities (0 84, 95% CI:0 64–0 99). However, under the current hydrological conditions and spatial arrangement of sites, the risk of metapopulation extinction is estimated to be <3% over a 50-year time horizon. 5. Low metapopulation extinction risk appears to result from the high dispersal capability of the species, the high density of sites in the region and the existence of predator-free perma nent wetlands with low local extinction probabilities. Should management be required, extinc tion risk can be reduced by either increasing the hydroperiod of existing sites or by creating new sites to increase connectivity. 6. Synthesis and applications. This work demonstrates how spatio-temporal statistical models based on ecological theory can be applied to forecast the outcomes of conservation actions such as reintroduction. Our spatial occupancy model should be particularly useful when management agencies lack the funds to collect intensive individual-level data.

  • Armatas, C., Borrie, B., & Watson, A. (n.d.). Gila National Forest Public Planning Meetings: Results of the Ecosystem Services Station. Unpublished.
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    Abstract for Chris Armatas, Bill Borrie, and Alan Watson (2015). Gila National Forest Public Planning Meetings: Results of the Ecosystem Services Station

    During the week of June 12th, 2017, the Forest Planning team on the Gila National Forest conducted meetings to engage the public in the process of revising and updating the Forest Plan from 1986. This report provides a detailed description of the public input gathered from the ‘ecosystem services station’, which focused on the perceptions of meeting attendees with regard to the importance of benefits (e.g., livestock grazing, air quality, flood and erosion control, non-motorized recreation) derived from the Gila National Forest, as well as the factors or influences (e.g., invasive species, conditions of roads and trails, land use restrictions) most relevant to the provision of such benefits. As a game-like participatory activity, the ecosystem services station engaged members of the public with the benefits that the Gila National Forest provides them. Using statistical analysis of two separate activities (i.e., prioritization of ecosystem services and selection of influential factors) completed by 122 members of the public, four typical viewpoints (archetypes) emerged regarding the importance of ecosystem services and the factors influential to their continued provision. This report details these four archetypes, dubbed the ‘environmental archetype’, ‘utilitarian archetype’, ‘water archetype’, and ‘motorized archetype’. The archetypes highlight the different perspectives about what benefits provided by the Gila National Forest are most important. For instance, the environmental archetype tends to assign high importance to benefits that support a healthy ecosystem (e.g., biodiversity and abundance of plants and animals, wildlife habitat and connectivity), while the utilitarian archetype is considers material benefits (e.g., timber production, forest materials for personal use) as most important. In addition to a detailed description of each archetype, this report details the factors or influences that were found to be associated with each archetype. For example, the water archetype considered unmanaged grazing and extended drought to be particularly concerning, while the motorized archetype was concerned with the amount, conditions, and access to roads and trails on the Gila National Forest.

  • Coop, Jonathan D.; Holsinger, Lisa; McClernan, Sarah; Parks, Sean A. 2015. Influences of previous wildfires on change, resistance, and resilience to reburning in a montane southwestern landscape. In: Keane, Robert E.; Jolly, Matt; Parsons, Russell; Riley, Karin. Proceedings of the large wildland fires conference; May 19-23, 2014; Missoula, MT. Proc. RMRS-P-73. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 273-276.
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    Abstract for Coop, Jonathan D.; Holsinger, Lisa; McClernan, Sarah; Parks, Sean A.; (2015). Influences of previous wildfires on change, resistance, and resilience to reburning in a montane southwestern landscape

    Land use legacies and climate have altered fire regimes across montane forests of much of the southwestern US (Allen and others 2002), and several recent wildfires have been extremely large and severe (Dennison and others 2014). Large openings resulting from high-severity fire in former ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and mixed conifer forests may be persistent given the lack of sufficient tree seed sources, climatic constraints on reproduction and survival, and competition from herbaceous and shrubby vegetation (Bonnet and others 2005; Haire and McGarigal 2010). Additionally, subsequent burning is hypothesized to reinforce vegetation changes originating from the initial fire (Savage and Mast 2005). Consequently, there are growing concerns that recent wildfires have exceeded thresholds of ecological resilience for these forests (Savage and Mast 2005).

  • Ghimire, Ramesh; Cordell, Ken; Watson, Alan; Dawson, Chad; Green, Gary T. 2015. Results From the 2014 National Wilderness Manager Survey. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-336. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 96 p.
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    Abstract for Ghimire, Ramesh; Cordell, Ken; Watson, Alan; Dawson, Chad; Green, Gary T.; (2015). Results From the 2014 National Wilderness Manager Survey

    A national survey of managers was developed to support interagency wilderness strategic planning. The focus was on major challenges, perceived needs for science and training, and accomplishments of 1995 Strategic Plan objectives. The survey was administered to managers at the four federal agencies with wilderness management responsibilities: the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service. In spring 2014, responses were received from 368 managers. The highest ranking threat perceived was "lack of political and financial support for wilderness protection and management," followed by "invasive species," "disconnected urban audiences" and "adjacent land use and management." The greatest need for science-based information was "public attitudes toward intervention to adapt to climate change influences" and "public attitudes toward ecological restoration activities" The majority of managers commonly perceived no or only slight accomplishment of previous strategic plan objectives.

  • Haire, Sandra L.; Miller, Carol; McGarigal, Kevin. 2015. Influence of landscape gradients in wilderness management and spatial climate on fire severity in the Northern Rockies USA, 1984 to 2010. In: Keane, Robert E.; Jolly, Matt; Parsons, Russell; Riley, Karin. Proceedings of the large wildland fires conference; May 19-23, 2014; Missoula, MT. Proc. RMRS-P-73. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 104-110.
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    Abstract for Haire, Sandra L.; Miller, Carol; McGarigal, Kevin; (2015). Influence of landscape gradients in wilderness management and spatial climate on fire severity in the Northern Rockies USA, 1984 to 2010

    Management activities, applied over broad scales, can potentially affect attributes of fire regimes including fire severity. Wilderness landscapes provide a natural laboratory for exploring effects of management because in some federally designated wilderness areas the burning of naturally ignited fires is promoted. In order to better understand the contribution of fire management activities to fire effects, we examined patterns of severity across a management gradient defined by wilderness-non-wilderness boundaries in a northern Rocky Mountain study region. We identified a significant positive effect of the management gradient on severity for the time period 1984 to 2010, but the magnitude and direction of effects varied from year to year. However, the influence of management on severity was subsumed by the influence of spatial climate. Our findings represent an important step in constructing predictive models of severity with changes in both climate and fire management practices.

  • Hessburg, Paul F.; Churchill, Derek J.; Larson, Andrew J.; Haugo, Ryan D.; Miller, Carol; Spies, Thomas A.; North, Malcolm P.; Povak, Nicholas A.; Belote, R. Travis; Singleton, Peter H.; Gaines, William L.; Keane, Robert E.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Stephens, Scott L.; Morgan, Penelope; Bisson, Peter A.; Rieman, Bruce E.; Salter, R. Brion; Reeves, Gordon H. 2015. Restoring fire-prone Inland Pacific landscapes: seven core principles. Landscape Ecology. 30(10): 1805-1835.
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    Abstract for Hessburg, Paul F.; Churchill, Derek J.; Larson, Andrew J.; Haugo, Ryan D.; Miller, Carol; Spies, Thomas A.; North, Malcolm P.; Povak, Nicholas A.; Belote, R. Travis; Singleton, Peter H.; Gaines, William L.; Keane, Robert E.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Stephens, S (2015). Restoring fire-prone Inland Pacific landscapes: seven core principles

    More than a century of forest and fire management of Inland Pacific landscapes has transformed their successional and disturbance dynamics. Regional connectivity of many terrestrial and aquatic habitats is fragmented, flows of some ecological and physical processes have been altered in space and time, and the frequency, size and intensity of many disturbances that configure these habitats have been altered. Current efforts to address these impacts yield a small footprint in comparison to wildfires and insect outbreaks. Moreover, many current projects emphasize thinning and fuels reduction within individual forest stands, while overlooking large-scale habitat connectivity and disturbance flow issues. Methods We provide a framework for landscape restoration, offering seven principles. We discuss their implication for management, and illustrate their application with examples. Results Historical forests were spatially heterogeneous at multiple scales. Heterogeneity was the result of variability and interactions among native ecological patterns and processes, including successional and disturbance processes regulated by climatic and topographic drivers. Native flora and fauna were adapted to these conditions, which conferred a measure of resilience to variability in climate and recurrent contagious disturbances. Conclusions To restore key characteristics of this resilience to current landscapes, planning and management are needed at ecoregion, local landscape, successional patch, and tree neighborhood scales. Restoration that works effectively across ownerships and allocations will require active thinking about landscapes as socio-ecological systems that provide services to people within the finite capacities of ecosystems. We focus attention on landscape-level prescriptions as foundational to restoration planning and execution.

  • Hossack, Blake R., William R. Gould, Debra A. Patla, Erin Muths, Rob Daley, Kristin Legg, Paul Stephen Corn. 2015. Trends in Rocky Mountain amphibians and the role of beaver as a keystone species. Biological Conservation. 187:260–269. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2015.05.005
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    Abstract for Hossack, Blake R., William R. Gould, Debra A. Patla, Erin Muths, Rob Daley, Kristin Legg, Paul Stephen Corn (2015). Trends in Rocky Mountain amphibians and the role of beaver as a keystone species.

    Despite prevalent awareness of global amphibian declines, there is still little information on trends for many widespread species. To inform land managers of trends on protected landscapes and identify potential conservation strategies, we collected occurrence data for five wetland-breeding amphibian species in four national parks in the U.S. Rocky Mountains during 2002–2011. We used explicit dynamics models to estimate variation in annual occupancy, extinction, and colonization of wetlands according to summer drought and several biophysical characteristics (e.g., wetland size, elevation), including the influence of North American beaver (Castor canadensis). We found more declines in occupancy than increases, especially in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks (NP), where three of four species declined since 2002. However, most species in Rocky Mountain NP were too rare to include in our analysis, which likely reflects significant historical declines. Although beaver were uncommon, their creation or modification of wetlands was associated with higher colonization rates for 4 of 5 amphibian species, producing a 34% increase in occupancy in beaver-influenced wetlands compared to wetlands without beaver influence. Also, colonization rates and occupancy of boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas) and Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) were P 2 times higher in beaver-influenced wetlands. These strong relationships suggest management for beaver that fosters amphibian recovery could counter declines in some areas. Our data reinforce reports of widespread declines of formerly and currently common species, even in areas assumed to be protected from most forms of human disturbance, and demonstrate the close ecological association between beaver and wetland-dependent species.

  • Keane, R. E., R. A. Loehman, J. A. Clark, E. E. Smithwick, and C. Miller. 2015. Exploring interactions among multiple disturbance agents in forest landscapes: simulating effects of fire, beetles, and disease under climate change. in Ajith H. Perera, A. H., T. K. Remmel, and L. J. Buse, (eds.). Modeling and Mapping Forest Landscape Patterns. Springer. 201-231.
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    Abstract for Keane, R. E., R. A. Loehman, J. A. Clark, E. E. Smithwick, and C. Miller (2015). Exploring interactions among multiple disturbance agents in forest landscapes: simulating effects of fire, beetles, and disease under climate change

    Interactions among disturbance, climate, and vegetation determine landscape patterns and influence ecosystem processes. Dynamic and reciprocal interactions among disturbances can also temporarily or persistently alter landscape trajectories, especially in new climate regimes. Ecological models are used routinely to explore ecological dynamics across heterogeneous landscapes, but few models are able to simulate effects of multiple interacting disturbance events. Projecting how multiple disturbance interactions might result in novel and emergent landscape behaviors is critical for addressing climate change impacts and designing land management strategies that are appropriate for future climates. In this chapter, we demonstrate the importance of interacting disturbances using an example from fire-dominated, pine forested ecosystems of the northern Rocky Mountains, USA, where mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae), white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), and wildland fire interact with the vegetation and climate to create unique landscape behaviors. First, we synthesized the literature on the effects of these three disturbances and their interactions in the northern Rockies forests. Then we used the mechanistic landscape process model FireBGCv2 to simulate effects of multiple disturbance interactions on vegetation composition and basal area for two landscapes under current and projected future climates. Our findings are that (1) multiple disturbance interactions influence landscape patterns more than single or no disturbances; (2) disturbance responses are typically indirect feedbacks mediated through changes in vegetation and fuels; (3) disturbance interactions may overwhelm direct effects of climate changes or effects of a single disturbance on ecosystems, and (4) exploring disturbance interactions demands a mechanistic simulation approach to fully represent those important ecological processes that are directly and indirectly affected by disturbances and their interactions. Disturbances and their interactions must be addressed to properly assess future landscape changes under projected climate regimes.

  • Keane, Robert E.; McKenzie, Donald; Falk, Donald A.; Smithwick, Erica A.H.; Miller, Carol; Kellogg, Lara-Karena B. 2015. Representing climate, disturbance, and vegetation interactions in landscape models. Ecological Modelling. 309-310: 33-47.
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    Abstract for Keane, Robert E.; McKenzie, Donald; Falk, Donald A.; Smithwick, Erica A.H.; Miller, Carol; Kellogg, Lara-Karena B.; (2015). Representing climate, disturbance, and vegetation interactions in landscape models

    The prospect of rapidly changing climates over the next century calls for methods to predict their effects on myriad, interactive ecosystem processes. Spatially explicit models that simulate ecosystem dynamics at fine (plant, stand) to coarse (regional, global) scales are indispensable tools for meeting this challenge under a variety of possible futures. A special class of these models, called landscape models (LMs), simulates dynamics at intermediate scales where many critical ecosystem processes interact. The complicated dependencies among climate, disturbance, and vegetation present a difficult challenge for LMs, however, because their simulation must reconcile processes and their interactions that occur at different spatial and temporal scales. In the absence of these interactions, key thresholds in ecosystem responses to changes in climate may go undetected or misrepresented. In this paper, we present a general strategy for constructing the next generation of LMs that ensures that interactions are modeled at appropriate scales of time and space, and that, when possible, processes representing these interactions are simulated mechanistically. We identify six key questions to frame this strategy and then provide guidance and possible solutions on the structure and content needed in future LMs to ensure that climate-vegetation-disturbance interactions are incorporated effectively.

  • Landres, Peter; Barns, Chris; Boutcher, Steve; Devine, Tim; Dratch, Peter; Lindholm, Adrienne; Merigliano, Linda; Roeper, Nancy; Simpson, Emily. 2015. Keeping it wild 2: An updated interagency strategy to monitor trends in wilderness character across the National Wilderness Preservation System. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-340. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 114 p.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter; Barns, Chris; Boutcher, Steve; Devine, Tim; Dratch, Peter; Lindholm, Adrienne; Merigliano, Linda; Roeper, Nancy; Simpson, Emily; (2015). Keeping it wild 2: An updated interagency strategy to monitor trends in wilderness character across the National Wilderness Preservation System

    Keeping It Wild 2 is an interagency strategy to monitor trends in selected attributes of wilderness character based on lessons learned from 15 years of developing and implementing wilderness character monitoring across the National Wilderness Preservation System. This document updates and replaces Keeping It Wild: An Interagency Strategy for Monitoring Wilderness Character Across the National Wilderness Preservation System (Landres and others 2008), and provides a foundation for agencies to develop a nationally consistent approach to implement this monitoring. This monitoring strategy addresses two questions: How do stewardship activities affect attributes of wilderness character? How are attributes selected as integral to wilderness character changing over time within a wilderness, within an agency, and across the National Wilderness Preservation System? The primary audiences for the information from this monitoring are agency staff who manage wilderness day-to-day, and regional and national staff who develop wilderness policy and assess its effectiveness. The results of this monitoring will provide these staff some of the key data they need to improve wilderness stewardship and wilderness policy. Keeping It Wild 2 is designed to be nationally consistent across the four wilderness managing agencies and locally relevant, to be cost-effective, and to facilitate communication across the many resource programs that are responsible for preserving wilderness character. Implementing this monitoring strategy does not guarantee the preservation of wilderness character, but it informs and improves wilderness stewardship, and ensures managers are accountable to the central mandate of the 1964 Wilderness Actóto preserve wilderness character.

  • Nikolaeva, E., Zavadskaya, A., Sazhina, V., Watson, A. (2015). "Social Science in the Russian Far East: Understanding Protected Area Visitors' and Local Residents' Attitudes." International Journal of Wilderness, 21(1), 34-42.
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    Abstract for Nikolaeva, Elena, Zavadskaya, Anna, Sazhina, Varvara, Watson, Alan (2015). Social Science in the Russian Far East: Understanding Protected Area Visitors' and Local Residents' Attitudes

    A common justification for developing ecotourism opportunities within protected areas is that it helps to secure long-term conservation of wildlife and habitats and contributes to local socioeconomic development. Since establishment of Russia\'s first protected area in 1916, Russia has developed the world\'s largest system of strictly protected nature reserves (zapovedniks) and sanctuaries (zakazniks). Most tourism had been prevented in these areas until federal law changed to permit educational tourism. Russian nature-reserve administrators hope it will lead to greater public involvement and public and financial support. Because little is known about the attitudes of local community residents and visitors in Russia toward protected areas, conservation efforts, and tourism practices, the present study describes stakeholders\' attitudes and knowledge in the South-Kamchatka Sanctuary, in Far East Russia. A positive evaluation of the purposes of the protected area, both by visitors and community members, was found. However, some negative attitudes and experiences were identified as well, caused mostly by the lack of effective interaction between protected area managers and stakeholders.

  • Parks, S. A., C. Miller, M.-A. Parisien, L. M. Holsinger, S. Z. Dobrowski, and J. Abatzoglou. 2015. Wildland fire deficit and surplus in the western United States, 1984–2012. Ecosphere 6(12):275. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES15-00294.1
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    Abstract for Parks, S. A., C. Miller, M.-A. Parisien, L. M. Holsinger, S. Z. Dobrowski, J. Abatzoglou (2015). Wildland fire deficit and surplus in the western United States, 1984–2012

    Wildland fire is an important disturbance agent in the western US and globally. However, the natural role of fire has been disrupted in many regions due to the influence of human activities, which have the potential to either exclude or promote fire, resulting in a ‘‘fire deficit’’ or ‘‘fire surplus’’, respectively. In this study, we developed a model of expected area burned for the western US as a function of climate from 1984 to 2012. We then quantified departures from expected area burned to identify geographic regions with fire deficit or surplus. We developed our model of area burned as a function of several climatic variables from reference areas with low human influence; the relationship between climate and fire is strong in these areas. We then quantified the degree of fire deficit or surplus for all areas of the western US as the difference between expected (as predicted with the model) and observed area burned from 1984 to 2012. Results indicate that many forested areas in the western US experienced a fire deficit from 1984 to 2012, likely due to fire exclusion by human activities. We also found that large expanses of non-forested regions experienced a fire surplus, presumably due to introduced annual grasses and the prevalence of anthropogenic ignitions. The heterogeneity in patterns of fire deficit and surplus among ecoregions emphasizes fundamentally different ecosystem sensitivities to human influences and suggests that largescale adaptation and mitigation strategies will be necessary in order to restore and maintain resilient, healthy, and naturally functioning ecosystems.

  • Parks, Sean A.; Holsinger, Lisa M.; Miller, Carol; Nelson, Cara R. 2015. Wildland fire as a self-regulating mechanism: the role of previous burns and weather in limiting fire progression. Ecological Applications. 25(6): 1478-1492.
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    Abstract for Parks, Sean A.; Holsinger, Lisa M.; Miller, Carol; Nelson, Cara R.; (2015). Wildland fire as a self-regulating mechanism: the role of previous burns and weather in limiting fire progression

    Theory suggests that natural fire regimes can result in landscapes that are both self-regulating and resilient to fire. For example, because fires consume fuel, they may create barriers to the spread of future fires, thereby regulating fire size. Top-down controls such as weather, however, can weaken this effect. While empirical examples demonstrating this pattern-process feedback between vegetation and fire exist, they have been geographically limited or did not consider the influence of time between fires and weather. The availability of remotely sensed data identifying fire activity over the last four decades provides an opportunity to explicitly quantify the ability of wildland fire to limit the progression of subsequent fire. Furthermore, advances in fire progression mapping now allow an evaluation of how daily weather as a top-down control modifies this effect. In this study, we evaluated the ability of wildland fire to create barriers that limit the spread of subsequent fire along a gradient representing time between fires in four large study areas in the western United States. Using fire progression maps in conjunction with weather station data, we also evaluated the influence of daily weather. Results indicate that wildland fire does limit subsequent fire spread in all four study areas, but this effect decays over time; wildland fire no longer limits subsequent fire spread 6ñ18 years after fire, depending on the study area. We also found that the ability of fire to regulate subsequent fire progression was substantially reduced under extreme conditions compared to moderate weather conditions in all four study areas. This study increases understanding of the spatial feedbacks that can lead to self-regulating landscapes as well as the effects of top-down controls, such as weather, on these feedbacks. Our results will be useful to managers who seek to restore natural fire regimes or to exploit recent burns when managing fire.

  • Ray, A., A. Sepulveda, B. Hossack, D. Patla, D. Thoma, R. Al-Chokhachy, and A. R. Litt. 2015. Monitoring greater Yellowstone ecosystem wetlands: Can long-term monitoring help us understand their future? Yellowstone Science 23(1):44-53.
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    Abstract for Ray, A., A. Sepulveda, B. Hossack, D. Patla, D. Thoma, R. Al-Chokhachy, and A. R. Litt (2015). Monitoring Yellowstone’s wetlands: can long-term monitoring help us understand their future?

    This article discusses the use of monitoring data to document variation in annual flooding and drying patterns of wetlands in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. It tackles the concern of scientists and land managers on the declines in amphibian species, the bird and plant species documented in Yellowstone, and the importance of wetlands.

  • Riggs, Robert A.; Keane, Robert E.; Cimon, Norm; Cook, Rachel; Holsinger, Lisa; Cook, John; DelCurto, Timothy; Baggett, L.Scott; Justice, Donald; Powell, David; Vavra, Martin; Naylor, Bridgett. 2015. Biomass and fire dynamics in a temperate forest-grassland mosaic: Integrating multi-species herbivory, climate, and fire with the FireBGCv2/GrazeBGC system. Ecological Modelling. 296: 57-78.
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    Abstract for Riggs, Robert A.; Keane, Robert E.; Cimon, Norm; Cook, Rachel; Holsinger, Lisa; Cook, John; DelCurto, Timothy; Baggett, L.Scott; Justice, Donald; Powell, David; Vavra, Martin; Naylor, Bridgett; (2015). Biomass and fire dynamics in a temperate forest-grassland mosaic: Integrating multi-species herbivory, climate, and fire with the FireBGCv2/GrazeBGC system

    Landscape fire succession models (LFSMs) predict spatially-explicit interactions between vegetation succession and disturbance, but these models have yet to fully integrate ungulate herbivory as a driver of their processes. We modified a complex LFSM, FireBGCv2, to include a multi-species herbivory module, GrazeBGC. The system is novel in that it explicitly accommodates multiple herbivore populations, inter- and intra-specific spatial forcing of their forage demands, and site-specific dietary selectivity to interactively modify biomass, fuels and fire behavior across a landscape and over time. A factorial experiment with five grazing regimes, three climates and two fire-management scenarios generated interactive influences on undergrowth biomass (shrub, herb, total), surface-fire (fire-line intensity; flame length; scorch height; soil heat; CO, CO2, CH4, and PM2.5 emissions), and the landscape\'s fire-return interval. Herbivory’s effects increased with biophysical site potential and herbivore forage demand, but its effects were also contingent on climate and fire-suppression. Multi-species grazing modified biomass and fire within stands and biophysical sites, but regimes involving only wildlife or livestock were less effectual. Multi-species herbivory affected the landscape\'s fire-return interval, but otherwise it did not "scale up" to significantly modify total landscape respiration, primary production, carbon, or the total area burned by individual fires. As modeled here, climate change and the effectiveness of future fire suppression exerted stronger effects on landscape metabolism and carbon than did herbivory.

  • Sepulveda AJ, Tercek MT, Al-Chokhachy R, Ray AM, Thoma DP, Hossack BR, et al. (2015) The shifting Climate Portfolio of the Greater Yellowstone Area. PLoS ONE 10(12): e0145060. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0145060.
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    Abstract for Sepulveda AJ, Tercek MT, Al-Chokhachy R, Ray AM, Thoma DP, Hossack BR, et al. (2015). The shifting Climate Portfolio of the Greater Yellowstone Area.

    Knowledge of climatic variability at small spatial extents ( < 50 km) is needed to assess vulnerabilities of biological reserves to climate change. We used empirical and modeled weather station data to test if climate change has increased the synchrony of surface air temperatures among 50 sites within the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) of the interior western United States. This important biological reserve is the largest protected area in the Lower 48 states and provides critical habitat for some of the world’s most iconic wildlife. We focused our analyses on temporal shifts and shape changes in the annual distributions of seasonal minimum and maximum air temperatures among valley-bottom and higher elevation sites from 1948–2012. We documented consistent patterns of warming since 1948 at all 50 sites, with the most pronounced changes occurring during the Winter and Summer when minimum and maximum temperature distributions increased. These shifts indicate more hot temperatures and less cold temperatures would be expected across the GYA. Though the shifting statistical distributions indicate warming, little change in the shape of the temperature distributions across sites since 1948 suggest the GYA has maintained a diverse portfolio of temperatures within a year. Spatial heterogeneity in temperatures is likely maintained by the GYA’s physiographic complexity and its large size, which encompasses multiple climate zones that respond differently to synoptic drivers. Having a diverse portfolio of temperatures may help biological reserves spread the extinction risk posed by climate change.

  • David Thomas, Rebekah Fox & Carol Miller (2015) Voices from the Field: Wildland Fire Managers and High-Reliability Organizing Mindfulness, Society & Natural Resources, 28:8, 825-838, DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2015.1014590
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    Abstract for Thomas D, Fox R, Miller C (2015). Voices from the Field: Wildland Fire Managers and High-Reliability Organizing Mindfulness

    Wildland fire management agencies manage wildland fires for resource benefit while protecting firefighter and public safety. Firefighting fatalities and property damaged by wildfires prompt reviews aimed at preventing similar accidents. The principles of high-reliability organizing (HRO) have been used to analyze such unexpected, high-consequence events. However, fire managers who agree to the value of an HRO framework often have difficulty applying and teaching it. Using data gathered from experienced fire managers, we identify salient examples that illustrate each HRO mindfulness behavior. We then focus on specific language choices encountered in these examples and suggest how these choices might add to the applicability for both HRO theorizing and practice.

  • Tom Carlson, Chris Barns, David Brownlie, Ken Cordell, Chad Dawson, William Koch, Garry Oye, and Chris Ryan 2015. An Overview of America’s National Wilderness Preservation System Journal of Forestry 114 (3); 289-291. 3 p.
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    Abstract for Tom Carlson, Chris Barns, David Brownlie, Ken Cordell, Chad Dawson, William Koch, Garry Oye, and Chris Ryan (2015). An Overview of America’s National Wilderness Preservation System

    The authors of this article are recently retired wilderness professionals from universities or federal agencies. We were asked to share our observations about how wilderness stewardship is being managed in America today. We based our observations on our many years of combined professional wilderness career experience as managers, trainers, scientists, educators, and other careers. Combined, the authors have worked 308 years generally in natural resources and 236 years in wilderness specifically. All of us have had challenging management or research duties related to wilderness stewardship.

  • Watson, Alan; Carver, Stephen; Krenova, Zdenka; McBride, Brooke, comps. 2015. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Tenth World Wilderness Congress symposium; 2013, 4-10 October, Salamanca, Spain. Proceedings RMRS-P-74. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 208 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Carver, Stephen; Krenova, Zdenka; McBride, Brooke; (2015). Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Tenth World Wilderness Congress symposium; 2013, 4-10 October, Salamanca, Spain

    The Tenth World Wilderness Congress (WILD10) met in Salamanca, Spain in 2013. The symposium on science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values was the largest of multiple symposia held in conjunction with the Congress. This symposium was organized and sponsored by the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, the Wildland Research Institute of the University of Leeds, CzechGlobe - Global Change Research Centre, and the WILD Foundation. The papers contained in these proceedings were generated at this symposium, but not all authors submitted papers for consideration for inclusion in these proceedings. They have been organized into four major sections: (1) Europe: Intervention and Nonintervention to Meet Protection Goals, (2) Australia and Antarctica: Geography of Place and Spirit in The Big Wild, (3) Africa and North America: Linkages Across Boundaries to Protect Nature, and (4) Old World and New World: The Relationships Between Wilderness, Human Health and Culture. Included are papers that address wildland issues on all continents, but wilderness designation, protection and restoration processes and challenges vary tremendously from North America to Europe and from Antarctica to Africa, thus sections are defined by geography and topic.

  • Watson, Alan; Martin, Steve; Christensen, Neal; Fauth, Gregg; Williams, Dan. 2015. The relationship between perceptions of wilderness character and attitudes toward management intervention to adapt biophysical resources to a changing climate and nature restoration at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Environmental Management. 56: 653-663.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Martin, Steve; Christensen, Neal; Fauth, Gregg; Williams, Dan; (2015). The relationship between perceptions of wilderness character and attitudes toward management intervention to adapt biophysical resources to a changing climate and nature restoration at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

    In a recent national survey of federal wilderness managers, respondents identified the high priority need for scientific information about public attitudes toward biophysical intervention to adapt to climate change and attitudes of the public toward restoration of natural conditions. In a survey of visitors to one National Park wilderness in California, visitors revealed that they largely do not support biophysical intervention in wilderness to mitigate the effects of climate change, but broad support for activities that restore natural conditions exists. In an attempt to understand how these attitudes vary among visitors, it was found that those visitors who most value naturalness aspects of wilderness character also most positively support restoration and are most negative toward climate change intervention practices. More information about visitor-defined wilderness character attributes is needed and strategic planning to guide intervention decisions and restoration should be a priority. In this study, it was found that wilderness character is largely defined by visitors based on its wildness attributes, which include natural sounds, low density of people, pure water, clean air, and the presence of humans substantially unnoticeable.

  • Whitman, E., Batllori, E., Parisien, M.-A., Miller, C., Coop, J. D., Krawchuk, M. A., Chong, G. W. and Haire, S. L. (2015), The climate space of fire regimes in north-western North America. J. Biogeogr., 42: 1736–1749. doi:10.1111/jbi.12533
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    Abstract for Whitman E, Batllori E, Parisien M-A, Miller C, Coop JD, Krawchuk MA, Chong GW, Haire SL (2015). The climate space of fire regimes in north-western North America

    Wildfire activity is highest where thermal and moisture gradients converge to promote fuel production, flammability and ignitions. Having linked fire-regime components to large-scale climate gradients, we show that fire regimes – like the climate that controls them – are a part of a continuum, expanding on models of varying constraints on fire activity. The observed relationships between fire-regime components, together with the distinct role of climatic and human influences, generate variation in biotic communities. Thus, future changes to climate may lead to ecological changes through altered fire regimes.

  • Armatas, Christopher A.; Venn, Tyron J.; Watson, Alan E. 2014. Applying Q-methodology to select and define attributes for non-market valuation: A case study from Northwest Wyoming, United States. Ecological Economics. 107: 447-456.
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    Abstract for Armatas, Christopher A.; Venn, Tyron J.; Watson, Alan E.; (2014). Applying Q-methodology to select and define attributes for non-market valuation: A case study from Northwest Wyoming, United States

    The underlying validity of stated preference non-market valuation methods relies on the analyst\'s ability to identify, select, define, and articulate the goods being valued in a way that is relevant and understandable to the respondent, which requires detailed understanding of the respondents\' experiences and points of view. Poor articulation of the good being valued will result in biased to useless information for decision-makers. It should therefore be of concern to economists and policymakers that the question of how best to perform pre-design qualitative work with local stakeholders is a neglected area of inquiry. This paper assesses Q-methodology as an objective, transparent, easily replicable, and statistically-rigorous approach to qualitative research to support the selection and definition of attributes for non-market valuation.

  • Batllori, Enric; Miller, Carol; Parisien, Marc-Andre; Parks, Sean A.; Moritz, Max A. 2014. Is U.S. climatic diversity well represented within the existing federal protection network? Ecological Applications. 24(8): 1898-1907.
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    Abstract for Batllori, Enric; Miller, Carol; Parisien, Marc-Andre; Parks, Sean A.; Moritz, Max A.; (2014). Is U.S. climatic diversity well represented within the existing federal protection network?

    Establishing protection networks to ensure that biodiversity and associated ecosystem services persist under changing environments is a major challenge for conservation planning. The potential consequences of altered climates for the structure and function of ecosystems necessitates new and complementary approaches be incorporated into traditional conservation plans. The conterminous United States of America (CONUS) has an extensive system of protected areas managed by federal agencies, but a comprehensive assessment of how this network represents CONUS climate is lacking. We present a quantitative classification of the climate space that is independent from the geographic locations to evaluate the climatic representation of the existing protected area network. We use this classification to evaluate the coverage of each agency’s jurisdiction and to identify current conservation deficits. Our findings reveal that the existing network poorly represents CONUS climatic diversity. Although rare climates are generally well represented by the network, the most common climates are particularly underrepresented. Overall, 83% of the area of the CONUS corresponds to climates underrepresented by the network. The addition of some currently unprotected federal lands to the network would enhance the coverage of CONUS climates. However, to fully palliate current conservation deficits, large-scale private-land conservation initiatives will be critical.

  • Davenport, J. M., B. R. Hossack, and W. H. Lowe. 2014. Partitioning the non-consumptive effects of predators on prey with complex life histories. Oecologia 176:149-155.
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    Abstract for Davenport, J. M., B. R. Hossack, and W. H. Lowe (2014). Partitioning the non-consumptive effects of predators on prey with complex life histories.

    Non-consumptive effects (nCes) of predators on prey can be as strong as consumptive effects (Ces) and may be driven by numerous mechanisms, including predator characteristics. Previous work has highlighted the importance of predator characteristics in predicting nCes, but has not addressed how complex life histories of prey could mediate predator nCes. We conducted a meta-analysis to compare the effects of predator gape limitation (gape limited or not) and hunting mode (active or sit-and-pursue) on the activity, larval period, and size at metamorphosis of larval aquatic amphibians and invertebrates. larval prey tended to reduce their activity and require more time to reach metamorphosis in the presence of all predator functional groups, but the responses did not differ from zero. Prey metamorphosed at smaller size in response to nongape-limited, active predators, but counter to expectations, prey metamorphosed larger when confronted by non-gapelimited, sit-and-pursue predators. these results indicate nCes on larval prey life history can be strongly inflenced by predator functional characteristics. more broadly, our results suggest that understanding predator nCes would benefit from greater consideration of how prey life history attributes mediate population and community-level outcomes.

  • Douglas, Mark L., Schwaller, Ann, Borrie, William T., Dvorak, Robert G., Watson, Alan E. 2014. Model Validation for Social and Visitor Flow Conditions in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 258.
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    Abstract for Douglas, Mark L., Schwaller, Ann, Borrie, William T., Dvorak, Robert G., Watson, Alan E. (2014). Model Validation for Social and Visitor Flow Conditions in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

    This study addressed the question of whether the output generated by VisSim 3.0 and travel zone occupancy observations recorded in 2010 could come from similar parent distributions. The three hypotheses are that for each of the three observed travel zones there is no significant difference between the observed and the simulated distributions of occupancy rates.

  • Dratch, Peter, Roeper, Nancy, Landres, Peter, Chase, Mark. 2014. Wilderness Fellows Develop Monitoring Measures for National Wildlife Refuge (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 303-304.
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    Abstract for Dratch, Peter, Roeper, Nancy, Landres, Peter, Chase, Mark. (2014). Wilderness Fellows Develop Monitoring Measures for National Wildlife Refuge

    Found in the middle of the two pages. Our goal was to develop in four years baseline measures on all of the designated Wilderness areas in the National Wildlife Refuge System...

  • Dvorak, Robert G.,Taff, Derrick, Appel, Peter A., Dawson, Chad P., McCool, Stephen F. 2014. The Role of Higher Education in Shaping our Wilderness Future (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 173.
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    Abstract for Dvorak, Robert G.,Taff, Derrick, Appel, Peter A., Dawson, Chad P., McCool, Stephen F (2014). The Role of Higher Education in Shaping our Wilderness Future (abstract)

    Summary of Education Track Session on the role of education, and new educational technologies in shaping future interest and dedication to Wilderness.

  • Eby, Lisa A.; Helmy, Olga; Holsinger, Lisa M.; Young, Michael K. 2014. Evidence of climate-induced range contractions in bull trout Salvelinus confluentus in a Rocky Mountain watershed, U.S.A. PLoS ONE. 9(6): e98812.
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    Abstract for Eby, Lisa A.; Helmy, Olga; Holsinger, Lisa M.; Young, Michael K.; (2014). Evidence of climate-induced range contractions in bull trout Salvelinus confluentus in a Rocky Mountain watershed, U.S.A.

    Many freshwater fish species are considered vulnerable to stream temperature warming associated with climate change because they are ectothermic, yet there are surprisingly few studies documenting changes in distributions. Streams and rivers in the U.S. Rocky Mountains have been warming for several decades. At the same time these systems have been experiencing an increase in the severity and frequency of wildfires, which often results in habitat changes including increased water temperatures. We resampled 74 sites across a Rocky Mountain watershed 17 to 20 years after initial samples to determine whether there were trends in bull trout occurrence associated with temperature, wildfire, or other habitat variables. We found that site abandonment probabilities (0.36) were significantly higher than colonization probabilities (0.13), which indicated a reduction in the number of occupied sites. Site abandonment probabilities were greater at low elevations with warm temperatures. Other covariates, such as the presence of wildfire, nonnative brook trout, proximity to areas with many adults, and various stream habitat descriptors, were not associated with changes in probability of occupancy. Higher abandonment probabilities at low elevation for bull trout provide initial evidence validating the predictions made by bioclimatic models that bull trout populations will retreat to higher, cooler thermal refuges as water temperatures increase. The geographic breadth of these declines across the region is unknown but the approach of revisiting historical sites using an occupancy framework provides a useful template for additional assessments.

  • Fox, S., Aplet, G., Cole, D., Cordell, K., Dawson, C., Hahn, B., Hjerpe, E., Holmes, T., Marion, J., Miller, C., Watson, A. 2014. Science Track Summary: Science in the First 50 Years, Science in the Second 50 Years. 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 238-240.
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    Abstract for Fox, S., Aplet, G., Cole, D., Cordell, K., Dawson, C., Hahn, B., Hjerpe, E., Holmes, T., Marion, J., Miller, C., Watson, A. (2014). Science Track Summary: Science in the First 50 Years, Science in the Second 50 Years.

    Summary and introduction to Science Track sessions

  • Fox. 2014. Preface. 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 4.
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    Abstract for Fox, Susan (2014). Preface of the 50th National Wilderness Conference

    Cover page, introduction, and welcoming summary of the 50th National Wilderness Conference.

  • Friggens, Megan M.; Loehman, Rachel; Holsinger, Lisa; Finch, Deborah. 2014. Vulnerability of riparian obligate species to the interactive effect of fire, climate and hydrological change. Final Report for Interagency Agreement #13-IA-11221632-006. Albuquerque, NM: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 213 p.
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    Abstract for Friggens, Megan M.; Loehman, Rachel; Holsinger, Lisa; Finch, Deborah; (2014). Vulnerability of riparian obligate species to the interactive effect of fire, climate and hydrological change

    Climate change is expected to have multiple direct and indirect impacts on ecosystems in the interior western U.S. (Christensen et al., 2007; IPCC 2013). Global climate predictions for the Southwest include higher temperatures, more variable rainfall, and more drought periods, which will likely exacerbate the ongoing issues relating to wildfire and water allocation in the region (Christensen et al., 2007). Of particular concern to managers are the effects of climate and related changes on riparian habitats, which support a disproportionate amount of the biodiversity in the region. The Rio Grande Basin contains important water sources and habitats for municipalities, agriculture, recreation and wildlife in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas (Figure 1). The Rio Grande Basin also contains critical habitat for a number of riparian dependent species including the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher and the Rio Grande silvery minnow (BOR 2011). Climate change is expected to alter river flows through modified precipitation regimes and higher temperatures that increase evapotranspiration rates (Hansen 1991). Mean annual runoff is projected to decrease from 7.3 to 14.4% by 2050 (BOR 2011). Increased fire potential, though not well defined for riparian habitats, is also an issue where it may favor the establishment of exotic species like Tamarisk and accelerate the degradation of riparian forests (Ellis 2001). In addition, human populations in the region are expected to grow considerably, putting more pressure on natural systems competing for resources. Because competing land and water use leaves the riparian habitats of rivers like the Rio Grande are highly vulnerable to degradation, resource managers need information and tools to identify future conditions under various climate and fire scenarios. By assessing and understanding the impacts of climate and related disturbance change on these important habitats, managers will be able to better focus limited resources on the most critical needs as well as identify opportunities for promoting natural regeneration of riparian woodland and wetland habitats.

  • Fulé, P. Z., Swetnam, T. W., Brown, P. M., Falk, D. A., Peterson, D. L., Allen, C. D., Aplet, G. H., Battaglia, M. A., Binkley, D., Farris, C., Keane, R. E., Margolis, E. Q., Grissino-Mayer, H., Miller, C., Sieg, C. H., Skinner, C., Stephens, S. L. and Taylor, A. (2014), Unsupported inferences of high-severity fire in historical dry forests of the western United States: response to Williams and Baker. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 23: 825–830. doi: 10.1111/geb.12136
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    Abstract for Fulé, PZ, TW. Swetnam, PM. Brown, DA. Falk, DL. Peterson, CD. Allen, GH. Aplet, MA. Battaglia, D Binkley, C Farris, RE. Keane, EQ. Margolis, H Grissino-Mayer, C Miller, CH Sieg, C Skinner, SL Stephens, A Taylor (2014). Unsupported inferences of high-severity fire in historical dry forests of the western United States: response to Williams and Baker

    Reconstructions of dry western US forests in the late 19th century in Arizona, Colorado and Oregon based on General Land Office records were used by Williams & Baker (2012; Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21, 1042–1052; hereafter W&B) to infer past fire regimes with substantial moderate and high-severity burning. The authors concluded that present-day large, high-severity fires are not distinguishable from historical patterns. We present evidence of important errors in their study. First, the use of tree size distributions to reconstruct past fire severity and extent is not supported by empirical age–size relationships nor by studies that directly quantified disturbance history in these forests. Second, the fire severity classification of W&B is qualitatively different from most modern classification schemes, and is based on different types of data, leading to an inappropriate comparison. Third, we note that while W&B asserted ‘surprising’ heterogeneity in their reconstructions of stand density and species composition, their data are not substantially different from many previous studies which reached very different conclusions about subsequent forest and fire behaviour changes. Contrary to the conclusions of W&B, the preponderance of scientific evidence indicates that conservation of dry forest ecosystems in the western United States and their ecological, social and economic value is not consistent with a present-day disturbance regime of large, high-severity fires, especially under changing climate.

  • Hahn, Beth, Landres, Peter. 2014. Framework to Evaluate Proposal Ecological Restoration Treatments in Wilderness (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 247.
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    Abstract for Hahn, Beth, Landres, Peter (2014). Framework to Evaluate Proposal Ecological Restoration Treatments in Wilderness

    Every year, the four agencies that manage Wilderness - the BLM, FWS, FS, and NPS - receive hundreds of proposals to implement ecological restoration actions within the National Wilderness Preservation System...

  • Hansen, Gregory, York, Elwood, Brinkley, Ron, Watson, Alan, Watson, Ken. 2014. Civic Engagement Track Summary. 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 150-152.
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    Abstract for Hansen, Gregory, York, Elwood, Brinkley, Ron, Watson, Alan, Watson, Ken (2014). Civic Engagement Track Summary

    The 2020 Vision is a statement of intent for action in the next five years by the federal agencies in the U.S. charged with stewardship, science and training for the National Wilderness Preservation System... the purpose of the conference’s Civic Engagement Track was to honor this promise by increasing understanding of barriers and opportunities for nurturing, creating, and in some instances, restoring these connections between Wilderness and diverse populations.

  • Holsinger, Lisa; Keane, Robert E.; Isaak, Daniel J.; Eby, Lisa; Young, Michael K. 2014. Relative effects of climate change and wildfires on stream temperatures: A simulation modeling approach in a Rocky Mountain watershed. Climatic Change. 124: 191-206.
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    Abstract for Holsinger, Lisa; Keane, Robert E.; Isaak, Daniel J.; Eby, Lisa; Young, Michael K.; (2014). Relative effects of climate change and wildfires on stream temperatures: A simulation modeling approach in a Rocky Mountain watershed

    Freshwater ecosystems are warming globally from the direct effects of climate change on air temperature and hydrology and the indirect effects on near-stream vegetation. In fire-prone landscapes, vegetative change may be especially rapid and cause significant local stream temperature increases but the importance of these increases relative to broader changes associated with air temperature and hydrology are not well understood. We linked a spatially explicit landscape fire and vegetation model (FireBGCv2) to an empirical regression equation that predicted daily stream temperatures to explore how climate change and its impacts on fire might affect stream thermal conditions across a partially forested, mountainous landscape in the western U.S. We used the model to understand the roles that wildfire and management actions such as fuel reduction and fire suppression could play in mitigating stream thermal responses to climate change. Results indicate that air temperature increases associated with future climates could account for a much larger proportion of stream temperature increases (as much as 90% at a basin scale) than wildfire. Similarly, land management scenarios that limited wildfire prevalence had negligible effects on future stream temperature increases. These patterns emerged at broader spatial scales because wildfires typically affected only a subset of a stream\'s network. However, at finer spatial and temporal scales stream temperatures were sensitive to wildfire. Although wildfires will continue to cause local, short-term effects on stream temperatures, managers of aquatic systems may need to find other solutions to cope with the larger impact from climate change on future stream warming that involves adapting to the increases while developing broad strategies for riparian vegetation restoration.

  • Hunter, Molly E.; Iniguez, Jose M.; Farris, Calvin A. 2014. Historical and current fire management practices in two wilderness areas in the southwestern United States: The Saguaro Wilderness Area and the Gila-Aldo Leopold Wilderness Complex. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-325. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 38 p.
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    Abstract for Hunter, Molly E.; Iniguez, Jose M.; Farris, Calvin A. (2014). Historical and current fire management practices in two wilderness areas in the southwestern United States: The Saguaro Wilderness Area and the Gila-Aldo Leopold Wilderness Complex

    Fire suppression has been the dominant fire management strategy in the West over the last century. However, managers of the Gila and Aldo Leopold Wilderness Complex in New Mexico and the Saguaro Wilderness Area in Arizona have allowed fire to play a more natural role for decades. This report summarizes the effects of these fire management practices on key resources, and documents common challenges in implementing these practices and lessons for how to address them. By updating historical fire atlases, we show how fire patterns have changed with adoption of new policy and practices.

  • Johnson, Adam N.; Spildie, David R. 2014. Freshwater resources in designated wilderness areas of the United States: A state-of-knowledge review. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS GTR-324. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 32 p.
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    Abstract for Johnson, Adam N.; Spildie, D.R. (2014). Freshwater resources in designated wilderness areas of the United States: A state-of-knowledge review

    Clean water is essential for ecosystem processes and for the maintenance of human populations. However, fresh water accounts for less than three percent of the world’s total water volume. Numerous anthropogenic and natural processes impact the quality and quantity of the available resource. The value of high-quality water will likely increase as threats to water resources expand and human demands increase. In the United States, public lands such as forests and grasslands often contain watersheds that have been minimally modified by human disturbances. Wilderness areas in particular often provide disproportionately large volumes of high quality water. Such regions are critically important for providing water supplies that serve a variety of purposes and uses. The value of water draining these lands is arguably higher now than when the National Wilderness Preservation System was created 50 years ago. The purpose of this technical report is to review currently available information and to encourage future research. The report discusses several important topics and themes relating to fresh water resources originating in wilderness areas, including: surface water quality and quantity; groundwater resources; water uses and benefits; ecosystem services and water valuation mechanisms; potential climate change impacts; water-related legislation; and case studies and maps. Case studies highlight the societal benefits that may be obtained from water derived from designated wilderness areas. A GIS mapping analysis of several regions provides a qualitative view of the value of water draining wilderness areas by illustrating the physical proximity of high-quality resources to populous regions. Scientific research completed in the last several decades has provided a framework for understanding the contributions and benefits of large volumes of high-quality water from wilderness areas for a variety of uses. More recent analysis has begun to refine our understanding of these resources in the areas of water supply and quantity, water quality, climate change impacts, and ecosystem services. However, additional crucial research is needed to document and evaluate the benefits of such resources and their importance to ecological vitality, to economies, and to future generations.

  • Landres, P., S. Stutzman, W. Vagias, C. Cook, C. Mills, T. Devine, S. Dingman, A. Lindholm, M. Stuebe, M. Memory, R. Scott, M. Bilecki, R. O’Neil, C. Holbeck, F. Turina, M. Haynie, S. Craighead, P. Jenkins, J. Curtis, and K. Trevino. 2014. Keeping It Wild in the National Park Service: A User Guide to Integrating Wilderness Character into Park Planning, Management, and Monitoring. National Park Service, Publication Number WASO 909/121797, Denver Service Center, Lakewood, CO. 219 pages.
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    Abstract for Landres, P., S. Stutzman, W. Vagias, C. Cook, C. Mills, T. Devine, S. Dingman, A. Lindholm, M. Stuebe, M. Memory, R. Scott, M. Bilecki, R. O’Neil, C. Holbeck, F. Turina, M. Haynie, S. Craighead, P. Jenkins, J. Curtis, and K. Trevino. (2014). Keeping It Wild in the National Park Service: A User Guide to Integrating Wilderness Character into Park Planning, Management, and Monitoring

    This User Guide was developed to help National Park Service (NPS) staff effectively and efficiently fulfill the mandate from the 1964 Wilderness Act and NPS policy to “preserve wilderness character” now and into the future. This mandate applies to all congressionally designated wilderness and other park lands that are, by policy, managed as wilderness, including eligible, potential, proposed, or recommended wilderness. This User Guide builds on the ideas in Keeping It Wild: An Interagency Strategy to Monitor Trends in Wilderness Character Across the National Wilderness Preservation System (Landres and others 2008). The User Guide offers practical guidance and tools to integrate wilderness character into park planning, management, and monitoring.

  • Landres, Peter. 2014. How Much is Too Much? Evaluating Cumulative Impacts of Visitor, Administrative, Commercial and Science Uses (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 246-247.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter (2014). How Much is Too Much? Evaluating Cumulative Impacts of Visitor, Administrative, Commercial and Science Uses

    This presentation explored a fundamental question in Wilderness stewardship and planning that has been all but ignored: how much is too much? Wilderness is now at a particular juncture in time with increasingly ecological impacts...

  • Landres, Peter. 2014. Letting Wilderness be in the Anthropocene (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 278.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter (2014). Letting Wilderness be in the Anthropocene

    Addresses the questions: is Wilderness different from other areas that are affected by the Anthropocene? How is Wilderness affected? Does Wilderness continue to exist in the Anthropocene? And, are they necessarily anachronisms?

  • Landres, Peter. 2014. Wilderness Character Monitoring: Where are we Today and What can we Expect in the Future? (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 289-290.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter (2014). Wilderness Character Monitoring: Where are we Today and What can we Expect in the Future?

    Includes figure. Beginning in 2001 with the Forest Service\'s effort to develop a national Wilderness monitoring strategy, the four agencies have been working to establish a comprehensive and systematic strategy fr monitoring Wilderness character... This panel session presented a timeline and overview of how all four agencies worked together to create a... monitoring strategy.

  • Landres, Peter. 2014. Special Provisions in Wilderness Legislation 1964 to 2014: Number, Types, and Impact on Wilderness (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 290-291.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter (2014). Special Provisions in Wilderness Legislation 1964 to 2014: Number, Types, and Impact on Wilderness

    Special provisions allow a wide variety of nonconforming uses in Wilderness, and once a special provision is included in one Wilderness law it tends to be included in subsequent Wilderness laws...

  • Matonis, M.; Hubbard, R.; Gebert, K.; Hahn, B.; Miller, S.; Regan, C. 2014. Future Forests Webinar Series, Webinar Proceedings and Summary: Ongoing Research and Management Responses to the Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak. Proceedings RMRS-P-70. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 80 p.
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    View Abstract for Future Forests Webinar Series, Webinar Proceedings and Summary: Ongoing Research and Management Responses to the Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak

    Abstract for Matonis, M.; Hubbard, R.; Gebert, K.; Hahn, B.; Miller, S.; Regan, C.; (2014). Future Forests Webinar Series, Webinar Proceedings and Summary: Ongoing Research and Management Responses to the Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak

    The Future Forest Webinar Series facilitated dialogue between scientists and managers about the challenges and opportunities created by the mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic. The series consisted of six webinar facilitated by the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station, the Northern and Rocky Mountain Regions, and the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute. The series ran from October 2011 to December 2012 and covered a variety of topics related to the MPB epidemic: potential fire risk and behavior, current and future vegetation conditions, wildlife habitats and populations, social and economic considerations, ecosystem- and watershed-level changes, and management responses. The purpose of these proceedings is to relate information shared during the webinar series (rather than to summarize all available research on implications of the MPB epidemic). These proceedings represent a snapshot of relevant scientific and management concerns related to this epidemic. In the coming decades, additional research and lessons learned by managers will continue to deepen and broaden our understanding of the future of post-epidemic forests.

  • Miller, Carol, Batllori-Presas, Enric, Moritz, max, Parisien, Marc, Parks, Sean. 2014. Quantifying and Mapping the Climatic Diversity of National Wilderness Preservation System: A Framework for Strategic Planning in a Changing World (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 263.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol, Batllori-Presas, Enric, Moritz, max, Parisien, Marc, Parks, Sean (2014). Quantifying and Mapping the Climatic Diversity of National Wilderness Preservation System: A Framework for Strategic Planning in a Changing World

    As a crucial first step to understanding what the NWPS contains, we use a new environmental classification framework to define the current environmental space of the US and the NWPS as independent from their geographic space.

  • Miller. 2014. 50 Years of Progress in Wilderness Fire Science (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 243-244.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol. (2014). 50 Years of Progress in Wilderness Fire Science (abstract).

    Much of what we understand about fire ecology comes from observations of natural fires in several Wilderness areas that have been allowed to burn under a wide range of physical and biological conditions since the 1970s...

  • Miller, Carol. 2014. The contribution of natural fire management to wilderness fire science. International Journal of Wilderness. 20(2): 20-25.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol; (2014). The contribution of natural fire management to wilderness fire science

    When the federal agencies established policies in the late 1960s and early 1970s to allow the use of natural fires in wilderness, they launched a natural fire management experiment in a handful of wilderness areas. As a result, wildland fire has played more of its natural role in wilderness than anywhere else. Much of what we understand about fire ecology comes from observations of natural fires in several wilderness areas that have been allowed to burn under a wide range of physical and biological conditions since the 1970s. Wilderness fires have provided valuable datasets for improving fire history methods and understanding of the drivers of fire. Inside some wilderness areas, enough data have accumulated from multiple repeated fires at natural fire intervals to see how forests respond to fire. As a result of the wilderness fire management experiment we can better anticipate the consequences of reintroducing fire and whether restoration with natural fire might be feasible. The experience of allowing fires to burn in wilderness has also contributed to social science knowledge. Studies have examined how public support for the use of fire in wilderness can change over time. Studies of the institutional factors that influence the use of fire in wilderness have pointed to difficulties with implementing wilderness fire policy, as well as the importance of belief and commitment of an individual line officer in overcoming obstacles to carry out a wilderness fire program. Future trends in climate and land use will exacerbate current challenges for wilderness fire management programs, and making the decision to allow fire to burn in wilderness will increasingly demand scientific information and will likely require an even more firm belief in the value of natural fire.

  • Morgan, Penelope; Heyerdahl, Emily K.; Miller, Carol; Wilson, Aaron M.; Gibson, Carly E. 2014. Northern Rockies pyrogeography: An example of fire atlas utility. Fire Ecology. 10(1): 14-30.
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    Abstract for Morgan, Penelope; Heyerdahl, Emily K.; Miller, Carol; Wilson, Aaron M.; Gibson, Carly E.; (2014). Northern Rockies pyrogeography: An example of fire atlas utility

    We demonstrated the utility of digital fire atlases by analyzing forest fire extent across cold, dry, and mesic forests, within and outside federally designated wilderness areas during three different fire management periods: 1900 to 1934, 1935 to 1973, and 1974 to 2008. We updated an existing atlas with a 12 070 086 ha recording area in Idaho and Montana, USA, west of the Continental Divide, 81 % of which is forested. This updated atlas was derived from records maintained locally by 12 national forests and Glacier National Park. Within the cold, dry, and mesic forests that encompass 45 %, 44 %, and 11 % of the fire atlas recording area, respectively, we analyzed 3228 fire polygons (those >20 ha in extent and >75 % forested). We discovered that both fire extent and the number of fire polygons were greater in the north during the early period and greater in the south during the late period, but in all cases burned in proportion to land area. Over the 9 731 691 ha forested fire-atlas recording area, 36 % of 10 000 randomly located points burned at least once, 7 % burned twice, and fewer than 1 % burned three or more times. Of these same points, disproportionately more burned inside wilderness than outside. These points burned in proportion to land area by forest type and generally by slope, aspect, and elevation. Analysis revealed that despite extensive fires early and late in the twentieth century, area burned was likely still low relative to prior centuries, especially at low elevations and outside large wilderness areas. The fire atlas includes few fires <40 ha, and its perimeter accuracy is uncertain and likely historically inconsistent; even so, the perimeters are georeferenced and, because they include the entire twentieth century, can serve to bridge past and future fire regimes. Fire atlases are necessarily imperfect, but they remain useful for exploring the pyrogeography of modern fire regimes, including how the spatial distribution of fire varied through time with respect to landscape controls, fire management, and climate.

  • Muths, Erin, Hossack, Blake, Bailey, Larissa L., Watry, Mary Kay. 2014. Management in Pristine Areas to Address Amphibian Declines (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 257.
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    Abstract for Muths, Erin, Hossack, Blake, Bailey, Larissa L., Watry, Mary Kay (2014). Management in Pristine Areas to Address Amphibian Declines

    Wilderness alone is not always adequate for the preservation of species... As species continue to go extinct or require extraordinary measures from managers to remain viable, demands for targeted, cost effective and likely-to-succeed techniques will increase... We presented the issue of amphibian decline, stressing how Wilderness does not guarantee stability.

  • Parisien, M.-A., Parks, S. A., Krawchuk, M. A., Little, J. M., Flannigan, M. D., Gowman, L. M. and Moritz, M. A. (2014), An analysis of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada: comparing models built with different temporal resolutions. Ecological Applications, 24: 1341–1356. doi:10.1890/13-1477.1
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    Abstract for Parisien M-A, Parks SA, Krawchuk MA, Little JM, Flannigan MD, Gowman LM, Moritz MA (2014). An analysis of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada: comparing models built with different temporal resolutions

    Fire regimes of the Canadian boreal forest are driven by certain environmental factors that are highly variable from year to year (e.g., temperature, precipitation) and others that are relatively stable (e.g., land cover, topography). Studies examining the relative influence of these environmental drivers on fire activity suggest that models making explicit use of interannual variability appear to better capture years of climate extremes, whereas those using a temporal average of all available years highlight the importance of land-cover variables. It has been suggested that fire models built at different temporal resolutions may provide a complementary understanding of controls on fire regimes, but this claim has not been tested explicitly with parallel data and modeling approaches. We addressed this issue by building two models of area burned for the period 1980–2010 using 14 explanatory variables to describe ignitions, vegetation, climate, and topography. We built one model at an annual resolution, with climate and some land-cover variables being updated annually, and the other model using 31-year fire “climatology” based on averaged variables. Despite substantial differences in the variables’ contributions to the two models, their predictions were broadly similar, which suggests coherence between the spatial patterns of annually varying climate extremes and long-term climate normals. Where the models’ predictions diverged, discrepancies between the annual and averaged models could be attributed to specific explanatory variables. For instance, annually updating land cover allowed us to identify a possible negative feedback between flammable biomass and fire activity. These results show that building models at more than one temporal resolution affords a deeper understanding of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada than can be achieved by examining a single model. However, in terms of spatial predictions, the additional effort required to build annual models of fire activity may not always be warranted in this study area. From a management and policy standpoint, this key finding should boost confidence in models that incorporate climatic normals, thereby providing a stronger foundation on which to make decisions on adaptation and mitigation strategies for future fire activity.

  • Parisien M-A, Parks SA, Krawchuk MA, Little JM, Flannigan MD, Gowman LM, Moritz MA (2014) An analysis of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada: comparing models built with different temporal resolutions. Ecological Applications 24, 1341-1356.
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    View Abstract for An analysis of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada: comparing models built with different temporal resolutions

    Abstract for Parisien M-A, Parks SA, Krawchuk MA, Little JM, Flannigan MD, Gowman LM, Moritz MA (2014). An analysis of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada: comparing models built with different temporal resolutions

    Fire regimes of the Canadian boreal forest are driven by certain environmental factors that are highly variable from year to year (e.g., temperature, precipitation) and others that are relatively stable (e.g., land cover, topography). Studies examining the relative influence of these environmental drivers on fire activity suggest that models making explicit use of interannual variability appear to better capture years of climate extremes, whereas those using a temporal average of all available years highlight the importance of land-cover variables. It has been suggested that fire models built at different temporal resolutions may provide a complementary understanding of controls on fire regimes, but this claim has not been tested explicitly with parallel data and modeling approaches. We addressed this issue by building two models of area burned for the period 1980–2010 using 14 explanatory variables to describe ignitions, vegetation, climate, and topography. We built one model at an annual resolution, with climate and some land-cover variables being updated annually, and the other model using 31-year fire “climatology” based on averaged variables. Despite substantial differences in the variables’ contributions to the two models, their predictions were broadly similar, which suggests coherence between the spatial patterns of annually varying climate extremes and long-term climate normals. Where the models’ predictions diverged, discrepancies between the annual and averaged models could be attributed to specific explanatory variables. For instance, annually updating land cover allowed us to identify a possible negative feedback between flammable biomass and fire activity. These results show that building models at more than one temporal resolution affords a deeper understanding of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada than can be achieved by examining a single model. However, in terms of spatial predictions, the additional effort required to build annual models of fire activity may not always be warranted in this study area. From a management and policy standpoint, this key finding should boost confidence in models that incorporate climatic normals, thereby providing a stronger foundation on which to make decisions on adaptation and mitigation strategies for future fire activity.

  • Parisien, Marc-Andre; Parks, Sean A.; Krawchuk, Meg A.; Little, John M.; Flannigan, Mike D.; Gowman, Lynn M.; Moritz, Max A. 2014. An analysis of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada: comparing models built with different temporal resolutions. Ecological Applications. 24(6): 1341-1356.
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    Abstract for Parisien, Marc-Andre; Parks, Sean A.; Krawchuk, Meg A.; Little, John M.; Flannigan, Mike D.; Gowman, Lynn M.; Moritz, Max A.; (2014). An analysis of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada: comparing models built with different temporal resolutions

    Fire regimes of the Canadian boreal forest are driven by certain environmental factors that are highly variable from year to year (e.g., temperature, precipitation) and others that are relatively stable (e.g., land cover, topography). Studies examining the relative influence of these environmental drivers on fire activity suggest that models making explicit use of interannual variability appear to better capture years of climate extremes, whereas those using a temporal average of all available years highlight the importance of land-cover variables. It has been suggested that fire models built at different temporal resolutions may provide a complementary understanding of controls on fire regimes, but this claim has not been tested explicitly with parallel data and modeling approaches. We addressed this issue by building two models of area burned for the period 1980-2010 using 14 explanatory variables to describe ignitions, vegetation, climate, and topography. We built one model at an annual resolution, with climate and some land-cover variables being updated annually, and the other model using 31-year fire "climatology" based on averaged variables. Despite substantial differences in the variables\' contributions to the two models, their predictions were broadly similar, which suggests coherence between the spatial patterns of annually varying climate extremes and long-term climate normals. Where the models\' predictions diverged, discrepancies between the annual and averaged models could be attributed to specific explanatory variables. For instance, annually updating land cover allowed us to identify a possible negative feedback between flammable biomass and fire activity. These results show that building models at more than one temporal resolution affords a deeper understanding of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada than can be achieved by examining a single model. However, in terms of spatial predictions, the additional effort required to build annual models of fire activity may not always be warranted in this study area. From a management and policy standpoint, this key finding should boost confidence in models that incorporate climatic normals, thereby providing a stronger foundation on which to make decisions on adaptation and mitigation strategies for future fire activity.

  • Parks, S. A., M.-A. Parisien, C. Miller, and S. Z. Dobrowski. 2014. Fire Activity and Severity in the Western US Vary along Proxy Gradients Representing Fuel Amount and Fuel Moisture. Plos One 9:e99699.
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    Abstract for Parks, S. A., M.-A. Parisien, C. Miller, and S. Z. Dobrowski (2014). Fire Activity and Severity in the Western US Vary along Proxy Gradients Representing Fuel Amount and Fuel Moisture

    Numerous theoretical and empirical studies have shown that wildfire activity (e.g., area burned) at regional to global scales may be limited at the extremes of environmental gradients such as productivity or moisture. Fire activity, however,represents only one component of the fire regime, and no studies to date have characterized fire severity along such gradients. Given the importance of fire severity in dictating ecological response to fire, this is a considerable knowledge gap.For the western US, we quantify relationships between climate and the fire regime by empirically describing both fire activity and severity along two climatic water balance gradients, actual evapotranspiration (AET) and water deficit (WD), that can be considered proxies for fuel amount and fuel moisture, respectively. We also concurrently summarize fire activity and severity among ecoregions, providing an empirically based description of the geographic distribution of fire regimes. Our results show that fire activity in the western US increases with fuel amount (represented by AET) but has a unimodal (i.e., humped) relationship with fuel moisture (represented by WD); fire severity increases with fuel amount and fuel moisture. The explicit links between fire regime components and physical environmental gradients suggest that multivariable statistical models can be generated to produce an empirically based fire regime map for the western US. Such models will potentially enable researchers to anticipate climate-mediated changes in fire recurrence and its impacts based on gridded spatial data representing future climate scenarios.

  • Parks S.A. 2014. Mapping Day-of-Burning with Coarse-Resolution Satellite Fire-Detection Data. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 23: 215-223
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    Abstract for Parks, S.A. (2014). Mapping Day-of-burning with Coarse-resolution Satellite Fire-detection Data.

    Evaluating the influence of observed daily weather on observed fire-related effects (e.g. smoke production, carbon emissions and burn severity) often involves knowing exactly what day any given area has burned. As such, several studies have used fire progression maps – in which the perimeter of an actively burning fire is mapped at a fairly high temporal resolution – or MODIS satellite data to determine the day-of-burning, thereby allowing an evaluation of the influence of daily weather. However, fire progression maps have many caveats, the most substantial being that they are rarely mapped on a daily basis and may not be available in remote locations. Although MODIS fire detection data provide an alternative due to its global coverage and high temporal resolution, its coarse spatial resolution (1 km2) often requires that it be downscaled. An objective evaluation of how to best downscale, or interpolate, MODIS fire detection data is necessary. I evaluated 10 spatial interpolation techniques on 21 fires by comparing the day-of-burning as estimated with spatial interpolation of MODIS fire detection data to the day-of-burning that was recorded in fire progression maps. The day-of-burning maps generated with the best performing interpolation technique showed reasonably high quantitative and qualitative agreement with fire progression maps. Consequently, the methods described in this paper provide a viable option for producing day-of-burning data where fire progression maps are of poor quality or unavailable.

  • Parks, SA; Dillon, GK; Miller C. 2014. A New Metric for Quantifying Burn Severity: The Relativized Burn Ratio. Remote Sensing. 6: 1827-1844.
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    Abstract for Parks, SA; Dillon, GK; and Miller, C. (2014). A New Metric for Quantifying Burn Serverity: The Relativized Burn Ratio.

    Satellite-inferred burn severity data have become increasingly popular over the last decade for management and research purposes. These data typically quantify spectral change between pre-and post-fire satellite images (usually Landsat). There is an active debate regarding which of the two main equations, the delta normalized burn ratio (dNBR) and its relativized form (RdNBR), is most suitable for quantifying burn severity; each has its critics. In this study, we propose and evaluate a new Landsat-based burn severity metric, the relativized burn ratio (RBR), that provides an alternative to dNBR and RdNBR. For 18 fires in the western US, we compared the performance of RBR to both dNBR and RdNBR by evaluating the agreement of these metrics with field-based burn severity measurements. Specifically, we evaluated (1) the correspondence between each metric and a continuous measure of burn severity (the composite burn index) and (2) the overall accuracy of each metric when classifying into discrete burn severity classes (i.e., unchanged, low, moderate, and high). Results indicate that RBR corresponds better to field-based measurements (average R2 among 18 fires = 0.786) than both dNBR (R2 = 0.761) and RdNBR (R2 = 0.766). Furthermore, the overall classification accuracy achieved with RBR (average among 18 fires = 70.5%) was higher than both dNBR (68.4%) and RdNBR (69.2%). Consequently, we recommend RBR as a robust alternative to both dNBR and RdNBR for measuring and classifying burn severity.

  • Parks, Sean A. 2014. Mapping day-of-burning with coarse-resolution satellite fire-detection data. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 23: 215-223.
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    Abstract for Parks, Sean A. (2014). Mapping day-of-burning with coarse-resolution satellite fire-detection data

    Evaluating the influence of observed daily weather on observed fire-related effects (e.g. smoke production, carbon emissions and burn severity) often involves knowing exactly what day any given area has burned. As such, several studies have used fire progression maps ­ in which the perimeter of an actively burning fire is mapped at a fairly high temporal resolution - or MODIS satellite data to determine the day-of-burning, thereby allowing an evaluation of the influence of daily weather. However, fire progression maps have many caveats, the most substantial being that they are rarely mapped on a daily basis and may not be available in remote locations. Although MODIS fire detection data provide an alternative due to its global coverage and high temporal resolution, its coarse spatial resolution (1 km2) often requires that it be downscaled. An objective evaluation of how to best downscale, or interpolate, MODIS fire detection data is necessary. I evaluated 10 spatial interpolation techniques on 21 fires by comparing the day-of-burning as estimated with spatial interpolation of MODIS fire detection data to the day-of-burning that was recorded in fire progression maps. The day-of-burning maps generated with the best performing interpolation technique showed reasonably high quantitative and qualitative agreement with fire progression maps. Consequently, the methods described in this paper provide a viable option for producing day-of-burning data where fire progression maps are of poor quality or unavailable.

  • Parks, Sean A. 2014. Mapping day-of-burning with coarse-resolution satellite fire-detection data. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 23: 215-223.
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    View Abstract for Mapping day-of-burning with coarse-resolution satellite fire-detection data

    Abstract for Parks, Sean A.; (2014). Mapping day-of-burning with coarse-resolution satellite fire-detection data

    Evaluating the influence of observed daily weather on observed fire-related effects (e.g. smoke production, carbon emissions and burn severity) often involves knowing exactly what day any given area has burned. As such, several studies have used fire progression maps ­ in which the perimeter of an actively burning fire is mapped at a fairly high temporal resolution - or MODIS satellite data to determine the day-of-burning, thereby allowing an evaluation of the influence of daily weather. However, fire progression maps have many caveats, the most substantial being that they are rarely mapped on a daily basis and may not be available in remote locations. Although MODIS fire detection data provide an alternative due to its global coverage and high temporal resolution, its coarse spatial resolution (1 km2) often requires that it be downscaled. An objective evaluation of how to best downscale, or interpolate, MODIS fire detection data is necessary. I evaluated 10 spatial interpolation techniques on 21 fires by comparing the day-of-burning as estimated with spatial interpolation of MODIS fire detection data to the day-of-burning that was recorded in fire progression maps. The day-of-burning maps generated with the best performing interpolation technique showed reasonably high quantitative and qualitative agreement with fire progression maps. Consequently, the methods described in this paper provide a viable option for producing day-of-burning data where fire progression maps are of poor quality or unavailable.

  • Parks, Sean A.; Dillon, Gregory K.; Miller, Carol. 2014. A new metric for quantifying burn severity: The Relativized Burn Ratio. Remote Sensing. 6: 1827-1844.
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    View Abstract for A new metric for quantifying burn severity: The Relativized Burn Ratio

    Abstract for Parks, Sean A.; Dillon, Gregory K.; Miller, Carol (2014). A new metric for quantifying burn severity: The Relativized Burn Ratio

    Satellite-inferred burn severity data have become increasingly popular over the last decade for management and research purposes. These data typically quantify spectral change between pre-and post-fire satellite images (usually Landsat). There is an active debate regarding which of the two main equations, the delta normalized burn ratio (dNBR) and its relativized form (RdNBR), is most suitable for quantifying burn severity; each has its critics. In this study, we propose and evaluate a new Landsat-based burn severity metric, the relativized burn ratio (RBR), that provides an alternative to dNBR and RdNBR. For 18 fires in the western US, we compared the performance of RBR to both dNBR and RdNBR by evaluating the agreement of these metrics with field-based burn severity measurements. Specifically, we evaluated (1) the correspondence between each metric and a continuous measure of burn severity (the composite burn index) and (2) the overall accuracy of each metric when classifying into discrete burn severity classes (i.e., unchanged, low, moderate, and high). Results indicate that RBR corresponds better to field-based measurements (average R2 among 18 fires = 0.786) than both dNBR (R2 = 0.761) and RdNBR (R2 = 0.766). Furthermore, the overall classification accuracy achieved with RBR (average among 18 fires = 70.5%) was higher than both dNBR (68.4%) and RdNBR (69.2%). Consequently, we recommend RBR as a robust alternative to both dNBR and RdNBR for measuring and classifying burn severity.

  • Parks, Sean A.; Miller, Carol; Nelson, Cara R.; Holden, Zachary A. 2014. Previous fires moderate burn severity of subsequent wildland fires in two large western US wilderness areas. Ecosystems. 17: 29-42.
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    Abstract for Parks, Sean A.; Miller, Carol; Nelson, Cara R.; Holden, Zachary A. (2014). Previous fires moderate burn severity of subsequent wildland fires in two large western US wilderness areas

    Wildland fire is an important natural process in many ecosystems. However, fire exclusion has reduced frequency of fire and area burned in many dry forest types, which may affect vegetation structure and composition, and potential fire behavior. In forests of the western U.S., these effects pose a challenge for fire and land managers who seek to restore the ecological process of fire to ecosystems. Recent research suggests that landscapes with unaltered fire regimes are more ’’self-regulating’’ than those that have experienced fire-regime shifts; in self-regulating systems, fire size and severity are moderated by the effect of previous fire. To determine if burn severity is moderated in areas that recently burned, we analyzed 117 wildland fires in 2 wilderness areas in the western U.S. that have experienced substantial recent fire activity. Burn severity was measured using a Landsat satellite-based metric at a 30-m resolution. We evaluated (1) whether pixels that burned at least twice since 1984 experienced lower burn severity than pixels that burned once, (2) the relationship between burn severity and fire history, pre-fire vegetation, and topography, and (3) how the moderating effect of a previous fire decays with time. Results show burn severity is significantly lower in areas that have recently burned compared to areas that have not. This effect is still evident at around 22 years between wildland fire events. Results further indicate that burn severity generally increases with time since and severity of previous wildfire. These findings may assist land managers to anticipate the consequences of allowing fires to burn and provide rationale for using wildfire as a ’’fuel treatment’’.

  • Parks, Sean A.; Parisien, Marc-Andre; Miller, Carol; Dobrowski, Solomon Z. 2014. Fire activity and severity in the western US vary along proxy gradients representing fuel amount and fuel moisture. PLoS ONE 9(6): e99699.
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    Abstract for Parks, Sean A.; Parisien, Marc-Andre; Miller, Carol; Dobrowski, Solomon Z.; (2014). Fire activity and severity in the western US vary along proxy gradients representing fuel amount and fuel moisture

    Numerous theoretical and empirical studies have shown that wildfire activity (e.g., area burned) at regional to global scales may be limited at the extremes of environmental gradients such as productivity or moisture. Fire activity, however, represents only one component of the fire regime, and no studies to date have characterized fire severity along such gradients. Given the importance of fire severity in dictating ecological response to fire, this is a considerable knowledge gap. For the western US, we quantify relationships between climate and the fire regime by empirically describing both fire activity and severity along two climatic water balance gradients, actual evapotranspiration (AET) and water deficit (WD), that can be considered proxies for fuel amount and fuel moisture, respectively. We also concurrently summarize fire activity and severity among ecoregions, providing an empirically based description of the geographic distribution of fire regimes. Our results show that fire activity in the western US increases with fuel amount (represented by AET) but has a unimodal (i.e., humped) relationship with fuel moisture (represented by WD); fire severity increases with fuel amount and fuel moisture. The explicit links between fire regime components and physical environmental gradients suggest that multivariable statistical models can be generated to produce an empirically based fire regime map for the western US. Such models will potentially enable researchers to anticipate climate-mediated changes in fire recurrence and its impacts based on gridded spatial data representing future climate scenarios.

  • Ray, A., A. Sepulveda, B. Hossack, D. Patla, and K. Legg. 2014. Using monitoring data to map amphibian breeding hotspots and describe wetland vulnerability in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Park Science 31(1):112–117, 119.
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    Abstract for Ray, A., A. Sepulveda, B. Hossack, D. Patla, and K. Legg (2014). Using monitoring data to map amphibian breeding hotspots and describe wetland vulnerability in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

    Amphibians have been selected as a “vital sign” by several National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) networks. An eight-year amphibian monitoring data set provided opportunities to examine spatial and temporal patterns in amphibian breeding richness and wetland desiccation across Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Amphibian breeding richness was variable across both parks, and only 4 of 31 permanent monitoring catchments contained all four widely distributed species. Annual breeding richness was also variable through time and fluctuated by as much as 75% in some years and catchments. Wetland desiccation was also documented across the region, but alone did not explain variations in amphibian richness. High annual variability across the region emphasizes the need for multiple years of monitoring to accurately describe amphibian richness and wetland desiccation dynamics.

  • Schwartz, Michael K., Hahn, Beth A., Hossack, Blake. 2014. Wilderness and Wildlife (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 251.
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    Abstract for Schwartz, Michael K., Hahn, Beth A., Hossack, Blake (2014). Wilderness and Wildlife

    The relationship between Wilderness and wildlife is not simple, nor is it well studied... in this talk, we reviewed several studies that explicitly use Wilderness as a variable to understand wildlife.

  • Susan, Fox, Hahn, Beth. 2014. We've Got One Foot in the Frying Pan and the Other in the Pressure Cooker (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 246.
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    Abstract for Susan, Fox, Hahn, Beth (2014). We've Got One Foot in the Frying Pan and the Other in the Pressure Cooker

    Why have we not gotten funding for baseline monitoring in Wilderness when inventory and monitoring programs have existed on other lands for over 70 years? A new paradigm for getting support for Wilderness research and monitoring was described.

  • Tricker, James, Landres, Peter. 2014. Status of Ecosystem Representation and Ecological Integrity within the National Preservation System (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 247.
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    Abstract for Tricker, James, Landres, Peter (2014). Status of Ecosystem Representation and Ecological Integrity within the National Preservation System

    This presentation examined the current status of ecosystem representation and ecological integrity within the National Wilderness Preservation System.

  • Tricker, James; Landres, Peter; Fauth, Gregg; Hardwick, Paul; Eddy, Alex. 2014. Mapping wilderness character in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SEKI/NRTR-2014/872. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science. 82 p.
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    Abstract for Tricker, James; Landres, Peter; Fauth, Gregg; Hardwick, Paul; Eddy, Alex (2014). Mapping wilderness character in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

    The Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness was established in September of 1984 when President Ronald Reagan signed the California Wilderness Act (PL 98-425). In March 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act (PL 111-11) designating the John Krebs Wilderness and the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness Addition (all wholly contained within SEKI). Currently a total of 808,078 acres of SEKI are designated as wilderness and are a part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, wherein wilderness character is to be preserved. An additional 29,516 acres of these parks are proposed wilderness, and are managed as wilderness per NPS policy. Finally, 212 acres are classified as Designated Potential Wilderness Areas and would be designated as wilderness if the existing non-conforming uses (such as powerlines and inholdings) were no longer present. The 837,806 acres of SEKI designated and managed as wilderness comprise 96.7% of all lands within SEKI (Figure 1).

  • Wang X, Parisien M-A, Flannigan MD, Parks SA, Anderson KR, Little JM, Taylor SW (2014) The potential and realized spread of wildfires across Canada. Global Change Biology 20, 2518-2530.
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    Abstract for Wang X, Parisien M-A, Flannigan MD, Parks SA, Anderson KR, Little JM, Taylor SW (2014). The potential and realized spread of wildfires across Canada

    Given that they can burn for weeks or months, wildfires in temperate and boreal forests may become immense (eg., 100 – 104 km2). However, during the period within which a large fire is ‘active’, not all days experience weather that is conducive to fire spread; indeed most of the spread occurs on a small proportion (e.g., 1 – 15 days) of not necessarily consecutive days during the active period. This study examines and compares the Canada-wide patterns in fire-conducive weather (‘potential’ spread) and the spread that occurs on the ground (‘realized’ spread). Results show substantial variability in distributions of potential and realized spread days across Canada. Both potential and realized spread are higher in western than in eastern Canada; however, whereas potential spread generally decreases from south to north, there is no such pattern with realized spread. The realized-to-potential fire-spread ratio is considerably higher in northern Canada than in the south, indicating that proportionally more fire-conducive days translate into fire progression. An exploration of environmental correlates to spread show that there may be a few factors compensating for the lower potential spread in northern Canada: a greater proportion of coniferous (i.e., more flammable) vegetation, lesser human impacts (i.e., less fragmented landscapes), sufficient fire ignitions, and intense droughts. Because a linear relationship exists between the frequency distributions of potential spread days and realized spread days in a fire zone, it is possible to obtain one from the other using a simple conversion factor. Our methodology thus provides a means to estimate realized fire spread from weather-based data in regions where fire databases are poor, which may improve our ability to predict future fire activity.

  • Wang, Xianli; Parisien, Marc-Andre; Flannigan, Mike D.; Parks, Sean A.; Anderson, Kerry R.; Little, John M.; Taylor, Steve W. 2014. The potential and realized spread of wildfires across Canada. Global Change Biology. 20: 2518-2530.
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    Abstract for Wang, Xianli; Parisien, Marc-Andre; Flannigan, Mike D.; Parks, Sean A.; Anderson, Kerry R.; Little, John M.; Taylor, Steve W. (2014). The potential and realized spread of wildfires across Canada

    Given that they can burn for weeks or months, wildfires in temperate and boreal forests may become immense (eg., 100 - 04 km2). However, during the period within which a large fire is \'active\', not all days experience weather that is conducive to fire spread; indeed most of the spread occurs on a small proportion (e.g., 1 - 15 days) of not necessarily consecutive days during the active period. This study examines and compares the Canada-wide patterns in fireconducive weather (\'potential\' spread) and the spread that occurs on the ground (\'realized\' spread). Results show substantial variability in distributions of potential and realized spread days across Canada. Both potential and realized spread are higher in western than in eastern Canada; however, whereas potential spread generally decreases from south to north, there is no such pattern with realized spread. The realized-to-potential fire-spread ratio is considerably higher in northern Canada than in the south, indicating that proportionally more fire-conducive days translate into fire progression. An exploration of environmental correlates to spread show that there may be a few factors compensating for the lower potential spread in northern Canada: a greater proportion of coniferous (i.e., more flammable) vegetation, lesser human impacts (i.e., less fragmented landscapes), sufficient fire ignitions, and intense droughts. Because a linear relationship exists between the frequency distributions of potential spread days and realized spread days in a fire zone, it is possible to obtain one from the other using a simple conversion factor. Our methodology thus provides a means to estimate realized fire spread from weather-based data in regions where fire databases are poor, which may improve our ability to predict future fire activity.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Cordell, H. Ken. 2014. Take a scientist to the sauna: A great way to keep science and stewardship working together for another 50 years. International Journal of Wilderness. 20(2): 3, 13.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Cordell, H. Ken; (2014). Take a scientist to the sauna: A great way to keep science and stewardship working together for another 50 years

    At a workshop in Oulanka National Park in Finland, shortly after the Finnish Wilderness Act had passed in 1991, managers and scientists wrestled with how to incorporate science into protection of wildlands of northern Finland. One working group was assigned to develop a list of "why managers don\'t apply the information scientists provide" and another group worked up an impressive list of "why scientists don\'t produce the information managers need." A third group was assigned the task of explaining why "sometimes scientific information is valuable, even if it has no immediate management application."

  • Watson, Alan E.; Cordell, H. Ken. 2014. Wilderness social science responding to change in society, policy, and the environment. International Journal of Wilderness. 20(2): 14-19, 33.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Cordell, H. Ken; (2014). Wilderness social science responding to change in society, policy, and the environment

    Wilderness social science has changed over the 50 years since passage of the Wilderness Act. This research was initially heavily influenced by the need to operationalize definitions contained in the Wilderness Act, the desire to report use levels, and the need for better understanding of the important values American people attached to wilderness. Over the past three decades, however, wilderness science was guided by new questions asked by managers due to changes in society, technology, and use patterns. Scientists have collaborated with managers to provide solutions to changing science needs and changing relationships between the U.S. population and wilderness. This article summarizes these changes and highlights contributions to wilderness and other protected area management solutions.

  • Watson, Alan, Broska, Tisha, Collins, Kayce Cook, Gimblett, Randy, Kaye, Roger, Oreskes, Rebecca. 2014. Experience Track Summary. 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 189-191.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan, Broska, Tisha, Collins, Kayce Cook, Gimblett, Randy, Kaye, Roger, Oreskes, Rebecca. (2014). Wilderness Experience Track Summary

    The 2020 Vision statement (http://www.Wilderness.net/toolboxes/documents/50th/2020_Vision.pdf) signed by the leaders of the federal land management agencies at the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, listed 4 priorities for the next five years for work by the federal agencies managing Wilderness in the U.S. In one of these stated priorities, the agencies committed to fostering relevancy of Wilderness to contemporary society by inspiring and nurturing life-long connections between people and Wilderness. The Experience Track of the 50t Anniversary of the Wilderness Act Conference facilitated 11 sessions during the Conference and hosted several posters on topics very much aimed at understanding this relevancy and ways to foster it. Presentations and panel sessions were accepted that somehow related to the experiences received by people in Wilderness or experiences that were related to Wilderness. Many of the presentations can provide ideas to those developing the implementation plan for the 2020 Vision statement.

  • Watson, Alan, Cordell, Ken. 2014. The Evolution of Wilderness Social Science: From Carrying Capacity to Climate Change Research (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 266.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan, Cordell, Ken (2014). The Evolution of Wilderness Social Science: From Carrying Capacity to Climate Change Research

    This research program, primarily with funding, housing and administrative direction from the Forest Service, as been driven by an effort to implement vague directions in the Wilderness Act and changing questions asked by managers due to the changing role of Wilderness in US society.

  • Watson, Alan, Matt, Roian. Protecting Relationships with Wilderness as a Cultural Landscape (abstract). 50th National Wilderness Conference Proceedings. 193.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan, Matt, Roian. (2014). Protecting Relationships with Wilderness as a Cultural Landscape (abstract)

    Interviews with tribal and nontribal Indian Reservation residents in Montana, U.S. were conducted to contrast the meanings that different cultures attach to a Tribal Wilderness. (Begins at bottom of page 193).

  • Black, A.E. and B.B. McBride. 2013. Safety climate in the US federal wildland fire management community: influences of organizational, environmental, group and individual characteristics. International Journal of Wildland Fire [online]: http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF12154
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    Abstract for Black, A.E. and B.B. McBride (2013). Safety climate in the US federal wildland fire management community: influences of organizational, environmental, group and individual characteristics

    This study examined the effects of organisational, environmental, group and individual characteristics on five components of safety climate (High Reliability Organising Practices, Leadership, Group Culture, Learning Orientation and Mission Clarity) in the US federal wildland fire management community. Of particular interest were differences between perceptions based on respondents’ Incident Position. Those in supervisory positions at the ground level (Type 1 Firefighters) and those at the top (Incident Commanders and operational leads) scored significantly higher than did midlevel supervisors (Single Resource, Division Supervisors, Task Force and Strike Team Leads). This was particularly the case for High Reliability Organising Practices, which measure the degree of communication among and between units, and Group Culture, which measures the tightness of a group and the degree of psychological safety felt by members. Both components directly affect the amount and type of information flowing within and between incident units. That the critical middle links in incident organisation perceive these essential safety-related functions to be significantly lower than do individuals at other levels provides a startling empirical insight into, and powerful leverage for further improving, incident operations and resulting safety outcomes.

  • Black, A.E. and B.B. McBride. 2013. Assessing high reliability practices in wildland fire management: an exploration and benchmarking of organizational culture. Research Note RMRS-RN-55. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
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    Abstract for Black, A.E. and B.B. McBride (2013). Assessing high reliability practices in wildland fire management: an exploration and benchmarking of organizational culture

    Understanding how HRO behaviors and related practices are structured in this community may lead to a clearer understanding of how safe and reliable performance emerges and may inform the specific practices and behaviors needed for further improvement. This project has progressed in a series of phases, beginning with qualitative study and brief descriptive analysis. Initial efforts were used for some theorizing, but development and exploration of the benchmark, practical model building and discussion of theoretical implications was only recently undertaken. The purpose of this Note is to present the conceptual basis of our effort, describe the survey instrument, and present resulting emergent constructs that form the basis of subsequent analysis. After defining high reliability, we situate wildland fire in the HRO cosmology; briefly review previously studied relationships among high reliability, human resource practices, and related organizational practices; and construct a conceptual model driving development of our survey instrument and analysis. We then present initial results of the structure of these practices in the Federal wildland fire community.

  • Carver, Steve; Tricker, James; Landres, Peter. 2013. Keeping it wild: Mapping wilderness character in the United States. Journal of Environmental Management, 131 (2013) 239-255. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.08.046
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    Abstract for Carver, Steve; Tricker, James; Landres, Peter (2013). Keeping it wild: Mapping wilderness character in the United States

    A GIS-based approach is developed to identify the state of wilderness character in US wilderness areas using Death Valley National Park (DEVA) as a case study. A set of indicators and measures are identified by DEVA staff and used as the basis for developing a flexible and broadly applicable framework to map wilderness character using data inputs selected by park staff. Spatial data and GIS methods are used to map the condition of four qualities of wilderness character: natural, untrammelled, undeveloped, and solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation. These four qualities are derived from the US 1964 Wilderness Act and later developed by Landres et al. (2008a) in “Keeping it Wild: An Interagency Strategy to Monitor Trends in Wilderness Character Across the National Wilderness Preservation System.” Data inputs are weighted to reflect their importance in relation to other data inputs and the model is used to generate maps of each of the four qualities of wilderness character. The combined map delineates the range of quality of wilderness character in the DEVA wilderness revealing the majority of wilderness character to be optimal quality with the best areas in the northern section of the park. This map will serve as a baseline for monitoring change in wilderness character and for evaluating the spatial impacts of planning alternatives for wilderness and backcountry stewardship plans. The approach developed could be applied to any wilderness area, either in the USA or elsewhere in the world.

  • Cole, David N. 2013. Changing conditions on wilderness campsites: Seven case studies of trends over 13 to 32 years. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-300. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 99 p.
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    Abstract for Cole, D.N. (2013). Changing Conditions on Wilderness Campsites: Seven Case Studies of Trends over 13 to 32 Years

    This report brings together seven case studies of trends in the number and condition of wilderness campsites over periods ranging from 13 to 32 years. Case examples come from five mountainous wilderness areas in the western United States: Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness in California, the Eagle Cap Wilderness in Oregon, the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho and the Selway-Bitterroot and Lee Metcalf Wilderness in Montana, as well as Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and Caney Creek Wilderness in Arkansas. The case studies used two different research designs. In one design, small samples of campsites were selected and studied in detail, making it possible to detect relatively small changes in condition. The other approach involved inventorying all campsites in an area and collecting rudimentary data on the condition of each campsite. This approach provides insight into landscape-scale change in the number and condition of campsites but the relatively imprecise measures of campsite conditions do not provide reliable information on campsite change at the scale of individual sites. Most of these studies suggest that aggregate campsite impact increased for much of the latter twentieth century, but that by the first decade of the twenty-first century, this trend reversed. Campsite impacts have recently plateaued or declined in most wildernesses in this compilation. In the most extreme cases, campsite improvement reflects (1) successful implementation of a use concentration or containment strategy, and (2) an active wilderness ranger program, involving obliteration of unnecessary or poorly located campsites and maintenance and cleaning of established campsites.

  • Cole, D. N. and D. J. Parsons. 2013. Campsite impact in the wilderness of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Thirty years of change. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SEKI/NRTR—2013/665. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado.
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    Abstract for Cole, D.N. and D.J. Parsons (2013). Campsite Impact in the Wilderness of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

    In the late 1970s, in response to rapidly increasing visitor use and proliferating impacts, the condition of all campsites in the backcountry of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks was assessed by park research staff. All campsites were located and assigned to one of 273 different subzones; their condition was assessed on the basis of eight impact parameters: vegetation density, vegetation composition, total area of the campsite, barren core area, campsite development, litter and duff, social trails, and tree mutilations. In 2006 and 2007, to ascertain trends in impact, the campsite survey was repeated in 120 of the 273 subzones (44% of the wilderness). The most important finding of this study is that campsite conditions in the wilderness of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have improved dramatically since the late 1970s. Depending on assumptions and the comparability of the two surveys, aggregate campsite impact in 2006-2007 is almost certainly less than one-third what it was in the 1970s. No other wildernesses where trends in impact have been studied have improved so dramatically. But conversely, no other wildernesses had the high level of impact that existed here in the 1970s.

  • Cole, David N. 2013. Long-Term Effectiveness of Restoration Treatments on Closed Wilderness Campsites. Environmental Management 51: 642-650.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2013). Long-Term Effectiveness of Restoration Treatments on Closed Wilderness Campsites

    This study assessed long-term recovery of vegetation on six wilderness campsites in subalpine forests in Oregon that were closed to use and that received common restoration treatments (scarification, soil amendments, mulch, transplanting, and seeding). Vegetation cover was assessed every year for the first 7 years following treatment, as well as 10 and 15 years after treatment. This made it possible to compare long-term treatment effectiveness to short-term efficacy. Plots that were closed and not scarified had virtually no vegetation cover even after 15 years without use. If long-used campsites in these subalpine forests are simply closed and allowed to recover on their own, restoration of undisturbed conditions will require hundreds if not thousands of years. Study results show, however, that simple treatments can accelerate recovery rates substantially. Scarification and transplanting were highly effective treatments, with seeding and soil amendment with organic matter and compost also contributing to success, but to a lesser degree. The use of a mulch mat, in contrast, had no effect, either positive or negative. Assessments of success conducted within the first few years of treatment overestimate treatment efficacy, particularly the effectiveness of soil amendments and seeding.

  • Dvorak, Robert G.; Borrie, William T.; Watson, Alan E. 2013. Personal wilderness relationships: Building on a transactional approach. Environmental Management. 52(6): 1518-1532.
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    Abstract for Dvorak, Robert G.; Borrie, William T.; Watson, Alan E.; (2013). Personal wilderness relationships: Building on a transactional approach

    Wilderness managers are charged with the challenging goal of balancing resource protection and experience quality across a broad, value-laden landscape. While research has provided insight into visitors’ motivations and their meanings for wilderness, a struggle exists to implement experiential concepts within current management frameworks. This research posits the human experience of wilderness to be an evolving, enduring relationship, and that research needs can be addressed by conceptualizing and investigating an individuals’ personal wilderness relationship. The purpose of this study was to explore wilderness relationships of visitors to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. A predictive model was proposed to investigate the internal dimensions of a visitor’s wilderness relationship. A mail-back questionnaire was distributed during the summer of 2007, resulting in a sample of 564 respondents. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results from testing several relationship models provided support for a multidimensional structure consisting of five factors with a single overarching relationship factor. The preferred relationship model indicated the importance of identities and attachment in place relationships. Trust and commitment toward management were also important considerations. This research provided the preliminary evidence for a multidimensional wilderness relationship model and complements a perspective of wilderness experiences as wilderness. Findings may help to reframe decision-making and publicinput processes that guide management actions to increased wilderness character protection and facilitate quality wilderness experiences.

  • Haire, Sandra L.; McGarigal, Kevin; Miller, Carol. 2013. Wilderness shapes contemporary fire size distributions across landscapes of the western United States. Ecosphere 4(1):15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES12-00257.1
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    Abstract for Haire, Sandra L.; McGarigal, Kevin; Miller, Carol (2013). Wilderness shapes contemporary fire size distributions across landscapes of the western United States

    In many U.S.–federally–designated wilderness areas, wildfires are likely to burn of their own accord due to favorable management policies and remote location. Previous research suggested that limitations on fire size can result from the evolution of natural fire regimes, specifically in places where fuels were recently reduced by previous burning. To explore the broader–scale importance of fire management on wilderness landscapes, we selected three study regions representing diverse ecosystems in the western U.S. and modeled the change in fire size distributions across a gradient defined by wilderness/non–wilderness boundaries. For randomly selected locations across the gradient, we derived a scaling parameter (?) using fire size–frequency data for public lands (1984-2007); the parameter reflected the magnitude of change in the right tail of the fire size distribution where the largest fires reside. We then used quantile regression to model changes in ? across the wilderness gradient, interpreting the results in terms of constraints on the relative role of large fires in structuring the fire size distribution. In the Southwest study region, the influence of large fires on size distributions decreased across the gradient toward wilderness at some places, suggesting that increased occurrence of natural burning, favored by wilderness management, led to limitations on fire sizes within recent timeframes. In contrast, we were unable to support the expectation that wilderness fire management limits the role of large fires in the Sierra Nevada and Northern Rockies study regions. Rather, the predominance of large fires increased toward wilderness interiors. Among spatial climate and topographic roughness variables included in our study, only winter and fire season precipitation limited fire size in the Northern Rockies, whereas several constraints on large fire occurrence operated in other regions. In southwestern ecosystems, evidence is needed to document stability in fire size distributions through time. In ecosystems of the Sierra Nevada and Northern Rockies, a longer temporal extent of observations may better match scales of disturbance and recovery. Our findings reflect the role of wilderness in addressing a fire deficit which has resulted from strong human influences on forests and fires over the past 150 yrs.

  • Hossack BR, Lowe WH, Honeycutt RK, Parks SA, Corn PS. 2013. Interactive effects of wildfire, forest management, and isolation on amphibian and parasite abundance. Ecological Applications 23, 479-492.
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    Abstract for Hossack BR, Lowe WH, Honeycutt RK, Parks SA, Corn PS. (2013). Interactive effects of wildfire, forest management, and isolation on amphibian and parasite abundance

    Projected increases in wildfire and other climate-driven disturbances will affect populations and communities worldwide, including host–parasite relationships. Research in temperate forests has shown that wildfire can negatively affect amphibians, but this research has occurred primarily outside of managed landscapes where interactions with human disturbances could result in additive or synergistic effects. Furthermore, parasites represent a large component of biodiversity and can affect host fitness and population dynamics, yet they are rarely included in studies of how vertebrate hosts respond to disturbance. To determine how wildfire affects amphibians and their parasites, and whether effects differ between protected and managed landscapes, we compared abundance of two amphibians and two nematodes relative to wildfire extent and severity around wetlands in neighboring protected and managed forests (Montana, USA). Population sizes of adult, male long-toed salamanders (Ambystoma macrodactylum) decreased with increased burn severity, with stronger negative effects on isolated populations and in managed forests. In contrast, breeding population sizes of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) increased with burn extent in both protected and managed protected forests. Path analysis showed that the effects of wildfire on the two species of nematodes were consistent with differences in their life history and transmission strategies and the responses of their hosts. Burn severity indirectly reduced abundance of soil-transmitted Cosmocercoides variabilis through reductions in salamander abundance. Burn severity also directly reduced C. variabilis abundance, possibly though changes in soil conditions. For the aquatically transmitted nematode Gyrinicola batrachiensis, the positive effect of burn extent on density of Columbia spotted frog larvae indirectly increased parasite abundance. Our results show that effects of wildfire on amphibians depend upon burn extent and severity, isolation, and prior land use. Through subsequent effects on the parasites, our results also reveal how changes in disturbance regimes can affect communities across trophic levels

  • Hossack, B. R., Adams, M. J., Pearl, C. A., Wilson, K. W., Bull, E. L., Lohr, K., Patla, D., Pilliod, D. S., Jones, J. M., Wheeler, K. K., Mckay, S. P. And Corn, P. S. (2013), Roles of Patch Characteristics, Drought Frequency, and Restoration in Long-Term Trends of a Widespread Amphibian. Conservation Biology, 27: 1410–1420.
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    Abstract for Hossack, B. R., Adams, M. J., Pearl, C. A., Wilson, K. W., Bull, E. L., Lohr, K., Patla, D., Pilliod, D. S., Jones, J. M., Wheeler, K. K., Mckay, S. P. And Corn, P. S. (2013). Roles of Patch Characteristics, Drought Frequency, and Restoration in Long-Term Trends of a Widespread Amphibian

    Despite the high profile of amphibian declines and the increasing threat of drought and fragmentation to aquatic ecosystems, few studies have examined long-term rates of change for a single species across a large geographic area. We analyzed growth in annual egg-mass counts of the Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) across the northwestern United States, an area encompassing 3 genetic clades. On the basis of data collected by multiple partners from 98 water bodies between 1991 and 2011, we used state-space and linear-regression models to measure effects of patch characteristics, frequency of summer drought, and wetland restoration on population growth. Abundance increased in the 2 clades with greatest decline history, but declined where populations are considered most secure. Population growth was negatively associated with temporary hydroperiods and landscape modification (measured by the human footprint index), but was similar in modified and natural water bodies. The effect of drought was mediated by the size of the water body: populations in large water bodies maintained positive growth despite drought, whereas drought magnified declines in small water bodies. Rapid growth in restored wetlands in areas of historical population declines provided strong evidence of successful management. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining large areas of habitat and underscore the greater vulnerability of small areas of habitat to environmental stochasticity. Similar long-term growth rates in modified and natural water bodies and rapid, positive responses to restoration suggest pond construction and other forms of management can effectively increase population growth. These tools are likely to become increasingly important to mitigate effects of increased drought expected from global climate change.

  • Hossack, B. R., Lowe, W. H., Webb, M. A. H., Talbott, M. J., Kappenman, K. M. and Corn, P. S. (2013), Population-level thermal performance of a cold-water ectotherm is linked to ontogeny and local environmental heterogeneity. Freshwater Biology. doi: 10.1111/fwb.12202
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    Abstract for Hossack, B. R., Lowe, W. H., Webb, M. A. H., Talbott, M. J., Kappenman, K. M. and Corn, P. S (2013). Population-level thermal performance of a cold-water ectotherm is linked to ontogeny and local environmental heterogeneity

    1. Negative effects of global warming are predicted to be most severe for species that occupy a narrow range of temperatures, have limited dispersal abilities or have long generation times. These are characteristics typical of many species that occupy small, cold streams. 2. Habitat use, vulnerabilities and mechanisms for coping with local conditions can differ among populations and ontogenetically within populations, potentially affecting species-level responses to climate change. However, we still have little knowledge of mean thermal performance for many vertebrates, let alone variation in performance among populations. Assessment of these sources of variation in thermal performance is critical for projecting the effects of climate change on species and for identifying management strategies to ameliorate its effects. 3. To gauge how populations of the Rocky Mountain tailed frog (Ascaphus montanus) might respond to long-term effects of climate change, we measured the ability of tadpoles from six populations in Glacier National Park (Montana, U.S.A.) to acclimate to a range of temperatures. We compared survival among populations according to tadpole age (1 year or 2 years) and according to the mean and variance of late-summer temperatures in natal streams. 4. The ability of tadpoles to acclimate to warm temperatures increased with age and with variance in late-summer temperature of natal streams. Moreover, performance differed among populations from the same catchment. 5. Our experiments with a cold-water species show that population-level performance varies across small geographic scales and is linked to local environmental heterogeneity. This variation could influence the rate and mode of species-level responses to climate change, both by facilitating local persistence in the face of changes in thermal conditions and by providing thermally tolerant colonists to neighbouring populations.

  • Hossack, B.R. and R.L. Newell. 2013. New distribution record for the rare limpet Acroloxus coloradensis (Henderson, 1930) (Gastropoda: Acroloxidae) from Montana. The Nautilus. 127(1):40–41
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    View Abstract for New distribution record for the rare limpet Acroloxus coloradensis (Henderson, 1930) (Gastropoda: Acroloxidae) from Montana

    Abstract for Hossack, B.R. and R.L. Newell (2013). New distribution record for the rare limpet Acroloxus coloradensis (Henderson, 1930) (Gastropoda: Acroloxidae) from Montana

    We report the incidental collection of a single Acroloxis coloradensis specimen (5mm total length) from a small, unnamed beaver-dammed lake (1.04 ha, 1391 m elevation; N 48.996 , W –13.678 ) in the Belly River Valley in Glacier NP (Figures 1–2). The limpet was collected during a site survey for amphibians on 30 July 2012. The shallow margins of the lake are dominated by organic substrates that support extensive emergent vegetation. Electrical conductivity of the lake was 370 mS, which is high compared to other small lakes in Glacier NP (BRH, unpublished data). A secondary goal of these surveys was to collect  30 large gastropods that get captured while using dip-nets (4.75 mm mesh) to sample for amphibian larvae. The A. coloradensis specimen, characterized by its flat shell and apex that points to the rear and left, was found among several preserved Planorbella trivolvis and Physella sp. Because our survey protocol for amphibian larvae does not include turning cover objects and it is unlikely the limpet would have been picked from the bottom of a net, we suspect the A. coloradensis specimen was along with Planorbella trivolvis and Physella sp.

  • Hossack, Blake R., Winsor H. Lowe, Joy L. Ware, Paul Stephen Corn. 2013. Disease in a dynamic landscape: Host behavior and wildfire reduce amphibian chytrid infection. Biological Conservation. 157: 293–299.
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    Abstract for Hossack, Blake R., Winsor H. Lowe, Joy L. Ware, Paul Stephen Corn (2013). Disease in a dynamic landscape: Host behavior and wildfire reduce amphibian chytrid infection

    Disturbances are often expected to magnify effects of disease, but these effects may depend on the ecology, behavior, and life history of both hosts and pathogens. In many ecosystems, wildfire is the dominant natural disturbance and thus could directly or indirectly affect dynamics of many diseases. To determine how probability of infection by the aquatic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) varies relative to habitat use by individuals, wildfire, and host characteristics, we sampled 404 boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas boreas) across Glacier National Park, Montana (USA). Bd causes chytridiomycosis, an emerging infectious disease linked with widespread amphibian declines, including the boreal toad. Probability of infection was similar for females and the combined group of males and juveniles. However, only 9% of terrestrial toads were infected compared to >30% of aquatic toads, and toads captured in recently burned areas were half as likely to be infected as toads in unburned areas. We suspect these large differences in infection reflect habitat choices by individuals that affect pathogen exposure and persistence, especially in burned forests where warm, arid conditions could limit Bd growth. Our results show that natural disturbances such as wildfire and the resulting diverse habitats can influence infection across large landscapes, potentially maintaining local refuges and host behaviors that facilitate evolution of disease resistance.

  • Larson AJ, Belote RT, Cansler CA, Parks SA, Dietz MS. 2013. Latent resilience in ponderosa pine forest: effects of resumed frequent fire. Ecological Applications 23, 1243-1249.
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    Abstract for Larson AJ, Belote RT, Cansler CA, Parks SA, Dietz MS (2013). Latent resilience in ponderosa pine forest: effects of resumed frequent fire

    Ecological systems often exhibit resilient states that are maintained through negative feedbacks. In ponderosa pine forests, fire historically represented the negative feedback mechanism that maintained ecosystem resilience; fire exclusion reduced that resilience, predisposing the transition to an alternative ecosystem state upon reintroduction of fire. We evaluated the effects of reintroduced frequent wildfire in unlogged, fire-excluded, ponderosa pine forest in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana, USA. Initial reintroduction of fire in 2003 reduced tree density and consumed surface fuels, but also stimulated establishment of a dense cohort of lodgepole pine, maintaining a trajectory toward an alternative state. Resumption of a frequent fire regime by a second fire in 2011 restored a low density forest dominated by large-diameter ponderosa pine by eliminating many regenerating lodgepole pines and by continuing to remove surface fuels and small-diameter lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir that established during the fire suppression era. Our data demonstrate that some unlogged, fire-excluded, ponderosa pine forests possess latent resilience to reintroduced fire. A passive model of simply allowing lightning-ignited fires to burn appears to be a viable approach to restoration of such forests.

  • Stumpff, Linda M. 2013. Wildfire in the Valley of the Wild Roses. In Watson, et al. 2015. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Tenth World Wilderness Congress symposium; 2013, 4-10 October; Salamanca, Spain. Proceedings RMRS-P-74. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 182-186.
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    Abstract for Linda Moon Stumpff (2013). Wildfire in the Valley of the Wild Roses

    Santa Clara Indian Pueblo lands are adjacent to the Jemez National Forest, Bandelier National Monument and Valles Caldera National Preserve. This paper explores Pueblo vulnerability and resilience after repeated and devastating fires in this century as a result of drought and climate change. Santa Clara Pueblo holds a rich store of traditional knowledge about the fire-prone ecosystems that contributes to restoration efforts after this series of high-severity fires in the Jemez Mountains. Forested lands and wilderness shrines are lost, Santa Clara Creek and watershed suf fers from erosion and much of the Pueblo’s protected lands burned along with Pueblo archeological and cultural sites on public lands. Long ago, the Pueblo created a three zone management system that preserved the upper wild lands as a sacred source of water, protected the middle creek as an ancestral home, and created a homeland sup ported by sustainable agriculture in the Rio Grande Valley. Deep interviews and discussions with key tribal and western scientists provided sources for this paper that explores how Western Science and Pueblo Wisdom converge in emerging interactions around rewilding, restoration and protection of the Pueblo model.

  • McBride, B.B., C.A. Brewer, A.E. Berkowitz, and W.T. Borrie. 2013. Environmental literacy, ecological literacy, ecoliteracy: what do we mean and how did we get here? Ecosphere 4(5): 67 [online]
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    Abstract for McBride, B.B., C.A. Brewer, A.E. Berkowitz, and W.T. Borrie (2013). Environmental literacy, ecological literacy, ecoliteracy: what do we mean and how did we get here?

    Numerous scholars have argued that the terms environmental literacy, ecological literacy, and ecoliteracy have been used in so many different ways and/or are so all-encompassing that they have very little useful meaning. However, despite the seemingly arbitrary and, at times, indiscriminate use of these terms, tremendous efforts have in fact been made to explicitly define and delineate the essential components of environmental literacy, ecological literacy, and ecoliteracy, and to firmly anchor their characterizations in deep theoretical and philosophical foundations. A driving purpose behind these ongoing conversations has been to advance complete, pedagogy-guiding, and broadly applicable frameworks for these ideals, allowing for standards and assessments of educational achievement to be set. In this manuscript, we review a diversity of perspectives related to the often nuanced differences and similarities of these terms. A classification of the numerous proposed frameworks for environmental literacy, ecological literacy, and ecoliteracy (advanced within the fields of environmental education, ecology, and the broader humanities, respectively) is presented, and used to compare and contrast frameworks across multiple dimensions of affect, knowledge, skills, and behavior. This analysis facilitates close examination of where we have been, where we are, and where we might be headed with respect to these vital conversations. This work also offers points of reference for continued critical discourse, and illuminates a diversity of inspiration sources for developing and/or enriching programs aimed at cultivating these types of literacies.

  • Miller, Carol and Ager, Alan A. 2013. A review of recent advances in risk analysis for wildfire management. International Journal of Wildland Fire 22:1-14.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol and Ager, Alan A. (2013). A review of recent advances in risk analysis for wildfire management

    Risk analysis evolved out of the need to make decisions concerning highly stochastic events, and is well suited to analyse the timing, location and potential effects of wildfires. Over the past 10 years, the application of risk analysis to wildland fire management has seen steady growth with new risk-based analytical tools that support a wide range of fire and fuels management planning scales from individual incidents to national, strategic interagency programs. After a brief review of the three components of fire risk – likelihood, intensity and effects – this paper reviews recent advances in quantifying and integrating these individual components of fire risk. We also review recent advances in addressing temporal dynamics of fire risk and spatial optimisation of fuels management activities. Risk analysis approaches have become increasingly quantitative and sophisticated but remain quite disparate. We suggest several necessary and fruitful directions for future research and development in wildfire risk analysis.

  • Monz, Christopher A., Pickering, Catherine M., and Wade L. Hadwen. 2013. Recent advances in recreation ecology and the implications of different relationships between recreation use and ecological impacts. Front Ecol Environ 2013; doi:10.1890/120358
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    Abstract for Monz, Christopher A., Pickering, Catherine M., and Wade L. Hadwen (2013). Recent advances in recreation ecology and the implications of different relationships between recreation use and ecological impacts

    Recreation ecology – the study of the environmental consequences of outdoor recreation/nature-based tourism activities and their effective management – is an emerging field of global importance. A primary research generalization in this field, the use–impact relationship, is commonly described as curvilinear, with proportionally more impact from initial recreation/tourism use. This finding has formed the basis of visitor management strategies in parks, wilderness, and protected areas in many parts of the world. In this paper, however, we argue that the current generalization may be an oversimplification derived from one ecological response: the response of vegetation cover in some plant communities to trampling. Use–response functions for other plant communities, wildlife, soils, and aquatic/marine systems, for example, can differ and require alternative management strategies for sustainable use. On the basis of the available literature, we propose several alternative response relationships.

  • Moore, Peggy E.; van Wagtendonk, Jan W.; Yee, Julie L.; McClaran, Mitchel P.; Cole, David N.; McDougald, Neil K.; and Matthew L. Brooks. 2013. Net Primary Productivity of Subalpine Meadows in Yosemite National Park in Relation to Climate Variability. Western North American Naturalist 73(4) pp. 409–418.
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    Abstract for Moore, Peggy E.; van Wagtendonk, Jan W.; Yee, Julie L.; McClaran, Mitchel P.; Cole, David N.; McDougald, Neil K.; and Matthew L. Brooks (2013). Net Primary Productivity of Subalpine Meadows in Yosemite National Park in Relation to Climate Variability

    Subalpine meadows are some of the most ecologically important components of mountain landscapes, and primary productivity is important to the maintenance of meadow functions. Understanding how changes in primary productivity are associated with variability in moisture and temperature will become increasingly important with current and anticipated changes in climate. Our objective was to describe patterns and variability in aboveground live vascular plant biomass in relation to climatic factors. We harvested aboveground biomass at peak growth from four 64-m2 plots each in xeric, mesic, and hydric meadows annually from 1994 to 2000. Data from nearby weather stations provided independent variables of spring snow water content, snow-free date, and thawing degree days for a cumulative index of available energy. We assembled these climatic variables into a set of mixed effects analysis of covariance models to evaluate their relationships with annual aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), and we used an information theoretic approach to compare the quality of fit among candidate models. ANPP in the xeric meadow was negatively related to snow water content and thawing degree days and in the mesic meadow was negatively related to snow water content. Relationships between ANPP and these 2 covariates in the hydric meadow were not significant. Increasing snow water content may limit ANPP in these meadows if anaerobic conditions delay microbial activity and nutrient availability. Increased thawing degree days may limit ANPP in xeric meadows by prematurely depleting soil moisture. Large within year variation of ANPP in the hydric meadow limited sensitivity to the climatic variables. These relationships suggest that, under projected warmer and drier conditions, ANPP will increase in mesic meadows but remain unchanged in xeric meadows because declines associated with increased temperatures would offset the increases from decreased snow water content.

  • Parks SA, Miller C, Nelson CR, Holden ZA. 2014. Previous fires moderate burn severity of subsequent wildland fires in two large western US wilderness areas. Ecosystems. doi: 10.1007/s10021-013-9704-x.
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    Abstract for Parks SA, Miller C, Nelson CR, Holden ZA (2013). Previous fires moderate burn severity of subsequent wildland fires in two large western US wilderness areas

    Wildland fire is an important natural process in many ecosystems. However, fire exclusion has reduced frequency of fire and area burned in many dry forest types, which may affect vegetation structure and composition, and potential fire behavior. In forests of the western U.S., these effects pose a challenge for fire and land managers who seek to restore the ecological process of fire to ecosystems. Recent research suggests that landscapes with unaltered fire regimes are more ‘‘self-regulating’’ than those that have experienced fire-regime shifts; in self-regulating systems, fire size and severity are moderated by the effect of previous fire. To determine if burn severity is moderated in areas that recently burned, we analyzed 117 wildland fires in 2 wilderness areas in the western U.S. that have experienced substantial recent fire activity. Burn severity was measured using a Landsat satellite-based metric at a 30-m resolution. We evaluated (1) whether pixels that burned at least twice since 1984 experienced lower burn severity than pixels that burned once, (2) the relationship between burn severity and fire history, pre-fire vegetation, and topography, and (3) how the moderating effect of a previous fire decays with time. Results show burn severity is significantly lower in areas that have recently burned compared to areas that have not. This effect is still evident at around 22 years between wildland fire events. Results further indicate that burn severity generally increases with time since and severity of previous wildfire. These findings may assist land managers to anticipate the consequences of allowing fires to burn and provide rationale for using wildfire as a ‘‘fuel treatment’’.

  • Parks SA, McKelvey KS, Schwartz MK. 2013. Effects of Weighting Schemes on the Identification of Wildlife Corridors Generated with Least-Cost Methods. Conservation Biology 27, 145-154.
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    Abstract for Parks, Sean A.; McKelvey, Kevin S.; Schwartz, Michael K. (2013). Effects of Weighting Schemes on the Identification of Wildlife Corridors Generated with Least-Cost Methods

    The importance of movement corridors for maintaining connectivity within metapopulations of wild animals is a cornerstone of conservation. One common approach for determining corridor locations is least-cost corridor (LCC) modeling, which uses algorithms within a geographic information system to search for routes with the lowest cumulative resistance between target locations on a landscape. However, the presentation of multiple LCCs that connect multiple locations generally assumes all corridors contribute equally to connectivity, regardless of the likelihood that animals will use them. Thus, LCCs may overemphasize seldom-used longer routes and underemphasize more frequently used shorter routes. We hypothesize that, depending on conservation objectives and available biological information, weighting individual corridors on the basis of species-specific movement, dispersal, or gene flow datamay better identify effective corridors. We tested whether locations of key connectivity areas, defined as the highest 75th and 90th percentile cumulative weighted value of approximately 155,000 corridors, shift under different weighting scenarios. In addition, we quantified the amount and location of private land that intersect key connectivity areas under each weighting scheme. Some areas that appeared well connected when analyzed with unweighted corridors exhibited much less connectivity compared with weighting schemes that discount corridors with large effective distances. Furthermore, the amount and location of key connectivity areas that intersected private land varied among weighting schemes. We believe biological assumptions and conservation objectives should be explicitly incorporated to weight corridors when assessing landscape connectivity. These results are highly relevant to conservation planning because on the basis of recent interest by government agencies and nongovernmental organizations in maintaining and enhancing wildlife corridors, connectivity will likely be an important criterion for prioritization of land purchases and swaps. Keywords: connectivity, gulo gulo, landscape genetics, least-cost corridor, least-cost path, source-destination models, wolverine

  • Squires, J. R., N. J. DeCesare, L. E. Olson, J. A. Kolbe, M. Hebblewhite, and S. A. Parks. 2013. Combining resource selection and movement behavior to predict corridors for Canada lynx at their southern range periphery. Biological Conservation 157:187-195.
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    Abstract for Squires, J. R., N. J. DeCesare, L. E. Olson, J. A. Kolbe, M. Hebblewhite, and S. A. Parks. (2013). Combining resource selection and movement behavior to predict corridors for Canada lynx at their southern range periphery

    Maintaining connectivity with source populations is especially important for populations of boreal species at the southern edge of their distributions, where anthropogenic disturbance and climate change can be a threat. In the conterminous United States, Canada lynx Lynx canadensis is a federally threatened boreal species that may require connectivity with northern populations to persist. Connectivity is a function of movement between patches and the likelihood that patches are suitable for resident populations. Therefore, we combined resource selection, step selection, and least-cost path models to define empirically movement corridors for lynx in the Northern Rocky Mountains. We used telemetry data for 64 lynx monitored during 1998–2007 to create a broad-scale resource selection model that predicted probable lynx habitat across the species’ distribution in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Our model indicated that lynx selected home ranges at mid-elevations with low surface roughness and high canopy cover. Based on a subset of 37 (16 females, 21 males) adult lynx fitted with GPS collars from 2005 to 2007, we then tested the extent to which remotely-sensed indices of environmental heterogeneity, including greenness, normalized difference vegetation index, surface roughness, and a principal component that indexed stand age, could characterize landscape connectivity for lynx. We found that connectivity between lynx habitat in Canada and that in the conterminous US is facilitated by only a few putative corridors that extend south from the international border. Maintaining the integrity of these connectivity corridors is of primary importance to lynx conservation in the Northern Rockies.

  • Stumpff, Linda Moon. 2013. Living Waters: Linking Cultural Knowledge, Ecosystem Services, and Wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness 19(1) 20-25.
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    Abstract for Stumpff, Linda Moon (2013). Living Waters: Linking Cultural Knowledge, Ecosystem Services, and Wilderness

    American Indian tribes value pristine water sources that often originate in wilderness areas to support provisioning and cultural benefits. Based on interviews with four traditional leaders, this article focuses on the concept of living waters in ways that connect ecosystem service benefits to wilderness. Cultural knowledge connects indigenous water stewardship and protection of living waters throughout watersheds as threats increase due to climate change and development.

  • Tricker, James; Landres, Peter; Chenoweth, Jennifer; Hoffman, Roger; Ruth, Scott. 2013. Mapping wilderness character in Olympic National Park. Final Report. Missoula, MT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. 69 p.
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    Abstract for Tricker, James; Landres, Peter; Chenoweth, Jennifer; Hoffman, Roger; Ruth, Scott; (2013). Mapping wilderness character in Olympic National Park

    The Olympic Wilderness was established November 16, 1988 when President Ronald Reagan signed the Washington Park Wilderness Act. A total of 876,447 acres or 95% of Olympic National Park (OLYM) was designated as wilderness and became a part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, wherein wilderness character would be preserved. The purpose of this project was to develop an approach that spatially depicts the condition of Olympic\'s wilderness character qualities and how they vary across the Olympic Wilderness (Figure 1).

  • Walls, Susan C., William J. Barichivich, Mary E. Brown, David E. Scott, and Blake R. Hossack. 2013. Influence of Drought on Salamander Occupancy of Isolated Wetlands on the Southeastern Coastal Plain of the United States. Wetlands. doi:10.1007/s13157-013-0391-3
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    Abstract for Walls, Susan C., William J. Barichivich, Mary E. Brown, David E. Scott, and Blake R. Hossack (2013). Influence of Drought on Salamander Occupancy of Isolated Wetlands on the Southeastern Coastal Plain of the United States.

    In the southeastern U.S., changes in temperature and precipitation over the last three decades have been the most dramatic in winter and spring seasons. Continuation of these trends could negatively impact pond-breeding amphibians, especially those that rely on winter and spring rains to fill seasonal wetlands, trigger breeding, and ensure reproductive success. From 2009 to 2012, we monitored Spring and Fall presence of aquatic stages (larval and paedomorphic, gilled adult) of a winter-breeding amphibian (the mole salamander, Ambystoma talpoideum) and used multi-season models to estimate occupancy, local colonization and extinction. Seasonal estimates of occupancy, corrected for imperfect detection, declined from 22.3 % of ponds in Spring 2009 to 9.9 % in Fall 2012. Our best supported model suggested that changes in occupancy were driven by increased rates of extinction that corresponded with drought-related drying of ponds. Based on uncertainty in climate change projections for the Southeast, we present a conceptual model of predicted changes in wetland hydroperiods across a landscape with projected decreases and increases in future precipitation. Such precipitation changes could alter wetland hydroperiods, facilitate extinctions of species adapted to short, intermediate or long hydroperiod environments and, ultimately, modify the composition of amphibian communities within freshwater wetland ecosystems.

  • Watson, A., Carver, S., Matt, R., Waters, T., Gunderson, K., Davis, B. 2013. Place Mapping to Protect Cultural Landscapes on Tribal Lands. In: Stewart, W. P., Williams, D. R., Kruger, L. E., eds. Place-Based Conservation. Springer Netherlands: 211-222.
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    Abstract for Watson, A., Carver, S., Matt, R., Waters, T., Gunderson, K., Davis, B. (2013). Place Mapping to Protect Cultural Landscapes on Tribal Lands

    Relational marketing provides a framework for examining and preserving human relationships with landscapes, including place meanings. On the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, a Web-based mapping exercise allowed residents to locate and describe places that hold meaning for them, indicate the scale and intensity of those meanings, and characterize their perceptions of threats to these places. Here results are presented from a mapping exercise designed to facilitate group discussions with forest managers and the public regarding fuel treatments on tribally managed lands. The method built trust among tribal and non-tribal residents and improved fire planners’ understanding of relationships between proposed actions and place meanings.

  • Watson, Alan; Schwaller, Ann; Dvorak, Robert; Christensen, Neal and William T. Borrie. 2013. Wilderness Managers, Wilderness Scientists, and Universities: A Partnership to Protect Wilderness Experiences in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness 19(1) 41-42.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Schwaller, Ann; Dvorak, Robert; Christensen, Neal and William T. Borrie (2013). Wilderness Managers, Wilderness Scientists, and Universities: A Partnership to Protect Wilderness Experiences in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

    In 2007, a team consisting of Superior National Forest managers, Forest Service scientists, and academic partners realized the need and the opportunity to update information on trends in use and users and their perceptions of wilderness conditions as well as explore many new challenges facing managers at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has a rich history of policy adjustments, legislative oversight and scientific understanding of the threats to the wilderness character of this special place. There are many wildernesses that have benefited from the rich exchange of ideas and knowledge among our managers, our federal scientists, and our academic partners. In times of reduced budgets, shifting demographics, increasing presence of new technologies, and increasingly important benefits from protection of wilderness resources, renewed emphasis on building relationships between managers, federal agency scientists, and academic partners has never been more important.

  • Adams, Ashley; Landres, Peter; and Simon Kingston. 2012. A database application for wilderness character monitoring. Park Science 28(3) 58-59.
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    Abstract for Adams, Ashley; Landres, Peter; and Simon Kingston (2012). A database application for wilderness character monitoring

    Historical mandates from the 1964 Wilderness Act have prompted national efforts to systematically and effectively monitor wilderness character. This article describes the Wilderness Character Monitoring Database, a new tool for improved communication and application of wilderness character monitoring. The database was created by the National Park Service (NPS) Wilderness Stewardship Division, in collaboration with the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute and the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. This article describes the objectives, strategy, and hierarchical structure of the database through which the Park Service has better ability to consistently and scientifically measure, track, and report on trends in wilderness character throughout the National Park System. Potentially, the wilderness character database will be a utilized throughout the National Wilderness Preservation System.

  • Cole, David N. 2012. Wilderness visitor experiences: A selective review of 50 years of research. Park Science 28(3) 66-70.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2012). Wilderness visitor experiences: A selective review of 50 years of research

    Two of the foremost conclusions from 50 years of research on wilderness visitors are that experiences are highly idiosyncratic and visitors are highly adaptable. The reasons people visit wilderness, their experiential aspirations, and their experiences in wilderness vary greatly among people and within people from visit to visit. Along with people’s adaptability to the conditions they find in wilderness, this diversity challenges managers in their efforts to provide high-quality wilderness experiences. Despite the existence of extensive research literature, managers seeking to steward wilderness experiences still must make difficult decisions about who and what they are managing for.

  • Cole, David N. 2012. Beyond Naturalness: Adapting Wilderness Stewardship to an Era of Rapid Global Change. International Journal of Wilderness 18(2) 9-14.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2012). Beyond Naturalness: Adapting Wilderness Stewardship to an Era of Rapid Global Change

    Climate change and its effects are writ large across wilderness landscapes. They always have been and always will be (see Figure 1). But contemporary change is different. For the first time, the pace and direction of climate change appear to be driven significantly by human activities (IPCC 2007), and this change is playing out across landscapes already affected by other anthropogenic stressors - pollution, invasive species, altered disturbance regimes, and land fragmentation (Cole, Millar, and Stephenson 2010). This raises serious questions about how wilderness stewards should respond to climate change and other anthropogenic stressors.

  • Cole, David N., comp. 2012. Wilderness visitor experiences: Progress in research and management; 2011 April 4-7; Missoula, MT. Proc. RMRS-P-66. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 219 p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2012). Wilderness visitor experiences: Progress in research and management

    The workshop was convened to celebrate and review 50 years of research on wilderness visitor experience and its influence on wilderness stewardship. These proceedings are organized in three sections. The first section contains 12 papers that review literature or describe empirical research about wilderness visitor experiences. The second section provides three papers on management frameworks and the perspectives of planners and managers. The third section consists of five papers on wilderness experiences and the future.

  • Cole, David N. and Daniel R. Williams. 2012. Wilderness Visitor Experiences: Lessons from 50 Years of Research. In: Cole, David N., comp. 2012. Wilderness visitor experiences: Progress in research and management. Proc. RMRS-P-66. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 3-20.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. and Daniel R. Williams (2012). Wilderness Visitor Experiences: Lessons from 50 Years of Research

    This paper reviews 50 years of research on the experiences of wilderness visitors. Research on the nature of experiences began with an emphasis on motivations for taking wilderness trips and a focus on the experiential outcomes of wilderness visits. This perspective has been complemented by recent work that more deeply explores the lived experience in wilderness, its ebb and flow, and the process by which experience is constructed and developed into long-lasting relationships. In attempting to understand how wilderness settings might best be managed to protect high quality experiences, considerable work has been conducted on the effects of setting attributes on experience. In particular, the effect of use density on experience has been a prominent research theme. Among the insights of this body of research, is the realization that experiences are highly diverse and idiosyncratic and that visitors are highly adaptable and adept at negotiating the situations they experience. This suggests that it is impossible to know how to most effectively steward wilderness experiences without first deciding who and what to manage for. Moreover, given the idiosyncratic personal construction of experience, management action or inaction cannot guarantee high quality experiences for everyone.

  • Cole, David N. and Troy E. Hall. 2012. Wilderness Experience Quality: Effects of Use Density Depend on How Experience is Conceived. In: Cole, David N., comp. 2012. Wilderness visitor experiences: Progress in research and management. Proc. RMRS-P-66. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 96-109.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. and Troy E. Hall (2012). Wilderness Experience Quality: Effects of Use Density Depend on How Experience is Conceived

    Cole, David N. and Troy E. Hall. 2012. Wilderness Experience Quality: Effects of Use Density Depend on How Experience is Conceived. In: Different conceptions of experience and experience quality can explain ambiguous relationships among use density, crowding, experience and experience quality. We employed multiple methods to quantify experiential dimensions at a popular lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, WA. Comparing weekdays to weekends, when use density is typically four times as high, we assessed the sensitivity of various experiential dimensions to variation in use density. Use density profoundly affected the setting attributes that people experienced. However, differences related to use density diminished when experience was conceived as on-site behavior, affective or cognitive experiential outcomes, or appraisals of the entire visit.

  • Cole, David N. and Troy E. Hall. 2012. The Effect of Use Density and Length of Stay on Visitor Experience in Wilderness. In: Cole, David N., comp. 2012. Wilderness visitor experiences: Progress in research and management. Proc. RMRS-P-66. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 77-95.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. and Troy E. Hall (2012). The Effect of Use Density and Length of Stay on Visitor Experience in Wilderness

    We assessed the degree to which visitor experiences vary between (1) very high use and moderate use places and (2) day users and overnight users. The study was conducted at 10 trailheads in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, WA, and the Three Sisters Wilderness, OR. Some visitors were asked about trip motivations as they started their trip; others were asked what they experienced after their trip. Questionnaire items were drawn from Recreation Experience Preference (REP) scales, experiences consistent with wilderness, including a number of items regarding the privacy functions of solitude and Attention Restoration Theory (ART). We hypothesized that visitors to very high use trailheads would have lower experience achievement for many of these experiences (for example, solitude and privacy). We also hypothesized that very high use visitors would have a harder time having the experiences they wanted--that the difference between pre-trip motives and post-trip experience achievement would be greater than for moderate use visitors. Our hypotheses were both correct for only seven of the 72 experiences we asked about. All seven of the items experienced less by visitors to very high use places are more descriptors of the setting and conditions that are experienced than of the psychological outcomes that result from what is experienced. None of the experiences that are clearly psychological outcomes were affected by amount of use. More wilderness experiences were influenced by whether one had stayed overnight in the wilderness than by use levels.

  • Cole, David N.; Dean, Liese; Taylor, Debarah; Hall, Troy E. 2012. Restoration of plant cover on campsites in subalpine forests: Sawtooth Wilderness, Idaho. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-99. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 32 p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Dean, Liese; Taylor, Debarah; Hall, Troy E (2012). Restoration of plant cover on campsites in subalpine forests: Sawtooth Wilderness, Idaho

    This study assessed the effectiveness of restoration treatments in enhancing the growth of Vaccinium scoparium transplants and plants established from seed on six closed campsites in subalpine forests in the Sawtooth Wilderness, Idaho. In the primary experiment, the soil on all plots was scarified and amended with organic matter; plots varied regarding the type and amount of organic matter in the amendments, whether or not they were fertilized, and whether or not they were covered with a mulch blanket. In the second experiment, plots varied regarding whether or not they were scarified, amended with organic matter, or received supplemental water. Compared to an earlier study in similar forests in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon, survival and growth of Vaccinium scoparium transplants was high, regardless of treatment, as long as campsites were closed and soils were scarified. In the primary experiment, 92 percent of transplants were still alive after five years and most transplants had increased in size. This greater success may reflect the larger size of transplants used in the Sawtooth study (mean of 315 cm2). The most pronounced main effect of treatments in the primary experiment was the beneficial effect of fertilization with Biosol® on the establishment and growth of seedlings, particularly graminoids. Certain combinations of mulch and type and amount of organic matter were more beneficial than other combinations, but none of these treatments had either consistent or substantial positive effects. Supplemental watering increased restoration success, suggesting that recovery is limited by water. Our results suggest that native vegetation can be restored on highly disturbed campsites in these forests. They also reinforce the importance of avoiding impact in the first place given the lengthy recovery periods required in these ecosystems and the intensive restoration efforts needed to speed recovery. Keywords: organic fertilizer, recreation impact, soil amendments, transplanting, Vaccinium scoparium

  • Cowley, Jill; Landres, Peter; Memory, Melissa; Scott, Doug; and Adrienne Lindholm. 2012. Integrating cultural resources and wilderness character. Park Science 28(3) 29-33, 38.
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    Abstract for Cowley, Jill; Landres, Peter; Memory, Melissa; Scott, Doug; and Adrienne Lindholm (2012). Integrating cultural resources and wilderness character

    Cultural resources are an integral part of wilderness and wilderness character, and all wilderness areas have a human history. This article develops a foundation for wilderness and cultural resource staffs to continue communicating with one another in order to make better decisions for wilderness stewardship. Following a discussion of relevant legislative history, we describe how cultural resources are the fifth quality of wilderness character. Examples of how cultural resources in wilderness are being managed in a variety of parks include working with tribes to manage ethnographic resources in wilderness and using the Minimum Requirements Analysis to determine the appropriateness of historic preservation actions and activities. The article closes with three recommendations to help parks address managing cultural resources in wilderness in the future.

  • Dvorak, Robert G.; Watson, Alan E.; Christensen, Neal; Borrie, William T.; Schwaller, Ann. 2012. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: Examining changes in use, users, and management challenges. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-91. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 46 p.
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    Abstract for Dvorak, Robert G.; Watson, Alan E.; Christensen, Neal; Borrie, William T.; Schwaller, Ann (2012). The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: Examining changes in use, users, and management challenges

    The purpose of this study was to determine trends in use and user characteristics at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Based on data from 1969, 1991, and 2007, the average age of visitors has increased significantly, education levels have increased, and visitors remain predominantly male. Visitors in 2007 report seeing twice as many groups since 1961 and 1991, but the number of encounters are not exceeding expectations. Findings emerged related to gender ratios and evaluating resource conditions. These findings may need further investigation and future management action to provide opportunities for meaningful wilderness experiences while protecting wilderness character.

  • Gould William R., Debra A. Patla, Rob Daley, Paul Stephen Corn, Blake R. Hossack, Robert Bennetts and Charles R. Peterson. 2012. Estimating Occupancy in Large Landscapes: Evaluation of Amphibian Monitoring in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Wetlands 32:379–389.
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    Abstract for Gould William R., Debra A. Patla, Rob Daley, Paul Stephen Corn, Blake R. Hossack, Robert Bennetts and Charles R. Peterson (2012). Estimating Occupancy in Large Landscapes: Evaluation of Amphibian Monitoring in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

    Monitoring of natural resources is crucial to ecosystem conservation, and yet it can pose many challenges. Annual surveys for amphibian breeding occupancy were conducted in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks over a 4-year period (2006–2009) at two scales: catchments (portions of watersheds) and individual wetland sites. Catchments were selected in a stratified random sample with habitat quality and ease of access serving as strata. All known wetland sites with suitable habitat were surveyed within selected catchments. Changes in breeding occurrence of tiger salamanders, boreal chorus frogs, and Columbia-spotted frogs were assessed using multi-season occupancy estimation. Numerous a priori models were considered within an information theoretic framework including those with catchment and site-level covariates. Habitat quality was the most important predictor of occupancy. Boreal chorus frogs demonstrated the greatest increase in breeding occupancy at the catchment level. Larger changes for all 3 species were detected at the finer site-level scale. Connectivity of sites explained occupancy rates more than other covariates, and may improve understanding of the dynamic processes occurring among wetlands within this ecosystem. Our results suggest monitoring occupancy at two spatial scales within large study areas is feasible and informative.

  • Hall Troy E. and David N. Cole. 2012. Immediate Conscious Experience in Wilderness: A Phenomenological Investigation. In: Cole, David N., comp. 2012. Wilderness visitor experiences: Progress in research and management. Proc. RMRS-P-66. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 37-49.
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    Abstract for Hall Troy E. and David N. Cole (2012). Immediate Conscious Experience in Wilderness: A Phenomenological Investigation

    The nature of the immediate conscious experience (ICE) in outdoor recreation has been the focus of recent research. This paper reports a study of the ICE in three different wilderness settings in the Pacific Northwest. In-depth qualitative interviews (n = 126) and structured questionnaires (n = 252) with visitors contacted along trails, in camp, and at destinations explored the focus of people’s attention, as well as their thoughts and feelings. Most participants engaged cognitively with the natural environment, appreciating the scenery, comparing the experience to other trips, or analyzing the setting around them. Most also reported engaging actively with the environment physically, through travel, weather, and using their senses. Social aspects were important for two-thirds of participants, most of whom were involved in group interaction or the collective construction of their experiences. Only one-third were engaged in personal reflection, which typically involved things outside the wilderness such as work or family. The findings demonstrate the multidimensionality and individuality of wilderness experiences, as well as the somewhat limited ability of managers to affect the visitor experience. However, they also demonstrate that—even in high use locations—at any given time visitors generally have thoughts and feelings that are quite consistent with the types of experiences wilderness managers seek to provide.

  • Hossack, Blake R.; Lowe, Winsor H.; Corn, P. Stephen. 2012. Rapid Increases and Time-Lagged Declines in Amphibian Occupancy after Wildfire. Conservation Biology. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01921.x
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    Abstract for Hossack, Blake R.; Lowe, Winsor H.; Corn, P. Stephen (2012). Rapid Increases and Time-Lagged Declines in Amphibian Occupancy after Wildfire

    Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of drought and wildfire. Aquatic and moisture-sensitive species, such as amphibians, may be particularly vulnerable to these modified disturbance regimes because large wildfires often occur during extended droughts and thus may compound environmental threats. However, understanding of the effects of wildfires on amphibians in forests with long fire-return intervals is limited. Numerous stand-replacing wildfires have occurred since 1988 in Glacier National Park (Montana, U.S.A.), where we have conducted long-term monitoring of amphibians. We measured responses of 3 amphibian species to fires of different sizes, severity, and age in a small geographic area with uniform management. We used data from wetlands associated with 6 wildfires that burned between 1988 and 2003 to evaluate whether burn extent and severity and interactions between wildfire and wetland isolation affected the distribution of breeding populations. We measured responses with models that accounted for imperfect detection to estimate occupancy during prefire (0–4 years) and different postfire recovery periods. For the long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) and Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris), occupancy was not affected for 6 years after wildfire. But 7–21 years after wildfire, occupancy for both species decreased ?25% in areas where >50% of the forest within 500 m of wetlands burned. In contrast, occupancy of the boreal toad (Anaxyrus boreas) tripled in the 3 years after low-elevation forests burned. This increase in occupancy was followed by a gradual decline. Our results show that accounting for magnitude of change and time lags is critical to understanding population dynamics of amphibians after large disturbances. Our results also inform understanding of the potential threat of increases in wildfire frequency or severity to amphibians in the region. Keywords: climate change, colonization, detection, disturbance, extinction, fire severity, isolation, population dynamics

  • Hourdequin, Marion; Landres, Peter; Hanson, Mark J.; and David R. Craig. 2012. Ethical implications of democratic theory for U.S. public participation in environmental impact assessment. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 35(2012) 37–44.
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    Abstract for Hourdequin, Marion; Landres, Peter; Hanson, Mark J.; and David R. Craig (2012). Ethical implications of democratic theory for U.S. public participation in environmental impact assessment

    Traditional mechanisms for public participation in environmental impact assessment under U.S. federal law have been criticized as ineffective and unable to resolve conflict. As these mechanisms are modified and new approaches developed, we argue that participation should be designed and evaluated not only on practical grounds of cost-effectiveness and efficiency, but also on ethical grounds based on democratic ideals. In this paper, we review and synthesize modern democratic theory to develop and justify four ethical principles for public participation: equal opportunity to participate, equal access to information, genuine deliberation, and shared commitment. We then explore several tensions that are inherent in applying these ethical principles to public participation in EIA. We next examine traditional NEPA processes and newer collaborative approaches in light of these principles. Finally, we explore the circumstances that argue for more in-depth participatory processes. While improved EIA participatory processes do not guarantee improved outcomes in environmental management, processes informed by these four ethical principles derived from democratic theory may lead to increased public engagement and satisfaction with government agency decisions.

  • Landres, Peter; Vagias, Wade M.; and Suzy Stutzman. 2012. Using wilderness character to improve wilderness stewardship. Park Science 28(3) 44-48.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter; Vagias, Wade M.; and Suzy Stutzman (2012). Using wilderness character to improve wilderness stewardship

    This article describes how understanding wilderness character leads to improved communication among staff and with the public, helping park staff make more informed decisions about park planning, management, and monitoring in wilderness. Wilderness character is defined in terms of five qualities: natural, solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation, undeveloped, untrammeled, and other features. These qualities can be used to improve wilderness stewardship and foster consistent stewardship across the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS).

  • Miller, Carol. 2012. The hidden consequences of fire suppression. Park Science 28(3) 75-80.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol (2012). The hidden consequences of fire suppression

    Wilderness managers need a way to quantify and monitor the effects of suppressing lightning-caused wildfires, which can alter natural fire regimes, vegetation, and habitat. Using computerized models of fire spread, weather, and fuels, it is now possible to quantify many of the hidden consequences of fire suppression. Case study watersheds in Yosemite and Sequoia–Kings Canyon National Parks were used to simulate where fires might have spread if they had not been suppressed, and what effects those fires would have had on fuels.

  • Muths, E., Adams, M.J., Grant, E.C., Miller, D., Corn, P.S., Ball, L.C., 2012. The State of Amphibians in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2012-3092 p. 4.
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    Abstract for Muths, E., Adams, M.J., Grant, E.C., Miller, D., Corn, P.S., Ball, L.C., (2012). The State of Amphibians in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet

    More than 25 years ago, scientists began to identify unexplained declines in amphibian populations around the world. Much has been learned since then, but amphibian declines have not abated and the interactions among the various threats to amphibians are not clear. Amphibian decline is a problem of local, national, and international scope that can affect ecosystem function, biodiversity, and commerce. This fact sheet provides a snapshot of the state of the amphibians and introduces examples to illustrate the range of issues in the United States.

  • Nussear, K. E.; Tracy, C. R.; Medica, P. A.; Wilson, D. S.; Marlow, R. W.; Corn, P. S. 2012. Translocation as a conservation tool for Agassiz’s desert tortoises: Survivorship, reproduction, and movements. The Journal of Wildlife Management 76: 1341–1353. doi: 10.1002/jwmg.390
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    Abstract for Nussear, K. E.; Tracy, C. R.; Medica, P. A.; Wilson, D. S.; Marlow, R. W.; Corn, P. S. (2012). Translocation as a conservation tool for Agassiz's desert tortoises: Survivorship, reproduction, and movements

    We translocated 120 Agassiz’s desert tortoises to 5 sites in Nevada and Utah to evaluate the effects of translocation on tortoise survivorship, reproduction, and habitat use. Translocation sites included several elevations, and extended to sites with vegetation assemblages not typically associated with desert tortoises in order to explore the possibility of moving animals to upper elevation areas. We measured survivorship, reproduction, and movements of translocated and resident animals at each site. Survivorship was not significantly different between translocated and resident animals within and among sites, and survivorship was greater overall during non-drought years. The number of eggs produced by tortoises was similar for translocated and resident females, but differed among sites. Animals translocated to atypical habitat generally moved until they reached vegetation communities more typical of desert tortoise habitat. Even within typical tortoise habitat, tortoises tended to move greater distances in the first year after translocation than did residents, but their movements in the second or third year after translocation were indistinguishable from those of resident tortoises. Our data show that tortoises translocated into typical Mojave desert scrub habitats perform well; however, the large first-year movements of translocated tortoises have important management implications. Projects that employ translocations must consider how much area will be needed to contain translocated tortoises and whether roads need fencing to prevent the loss of animals. © 2012 The Wildlife Society. Keywords: animal movements, conservation strategies, Gopherus agassizii, reproduction, reptile, site fidelity, tortoise relocation, translocation.

  • Parisien Marc-André, Snetsinger Susan, Greenberg Jonathan A., Nelson Cara R., Schoennagel Tania, Dobrowski Solomon Z., Moritz Max A. (2012) Spatial variability in wildfire probability across the western United States. International Journal of Wildland Fire 21, 313–327. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF11044
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    Abstract for Parisien Marc-André, Snetsinger Susan, Greenberg Jonathan A., Nelson Cara R., Schoennagel Tania, Dobrowski Solomon Z., Moritz Max A. (2012). Spatial variability in wildfire probability across the western United States

    Despite growing knowledge of fire–environment linkages in the western USA, obtaining reliable estimates of relative wildfire likelihood remains a work in progress. The purpose of this study is to use updated fire observations during a 25-year period and a wide array of environmental variables in a statistical framework to produce high-resolution estimates of wildfire probability. Using the MaxEnt modelling technique, point-source fire observations that were sampled from area burned during the 1984–2008 time period were related to explanatory variables representing ignitions, flammable vegetation (i.e. fuels), climate and topography. Model results were used to produce spatially explicit predictions of wildfire probability. To assess the effect of humans on the spatial patterns of wildfire likelihood, we built an alternative model that excluded all variables having a strong anthropogenic imprint. Results showed that wildfire probability in the western USA is far from uniform, with different areas responding to different environmental drivers. The effect of anthropogenic factors on wildfire probability varied by region but, on the whole, humans appear to inhibit fire activity in the western USA. Our results not only provide what appear to be robust predictions of wildfire likelihood, but also enhance understanding of long-term controls on wildfire activity. In addition, our wildfire probability maps provide better information for strategic planning of land-management activities, especially where fire regime knowledge is sparse.

  • Parks, Sean A., Marc-André Parisien, and Carol Miller. 2012. Spatial bottom-up controls on fire likelihood vary across western North America. Ecosphere 3(1) article12. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES11-00298.1
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    Abstract for Parks, Sean A., Marc-André Parisien, and Carol Miller (2012). Spatial bottom-up controls on fire likelihood vary across western North America

    The unique nature of landscapes has challenged our ability to make generalizations about the effects of bottom-up controls on fire regimes. For four geographically distinct fire-prone landscapes in western North America, we used a consistent simulation approach to quantify the influence of three key bottom-up factors, ignitions, fuels, and topography, on spatial patterns of fire likelihood. We first developed working hypotheses predicting the influence of each factor based on its spatial structure (i.e., autocorrelation) in each of the four study areas. We then used a simulation model parameterized with extensive fire environment data to create high-resolution maps of fire likelihood, or burn probability (BP). To infer the influence of each bottom-up factor within and among study areas, these BP maps were compared to parallel sets of maps in which one of the three bottom-up factors was randomized. Results showed that ignition pattern had a relatively minor influence on the BP across all four study areas, whereas the influence of fuels was large. The influence of topography was the most equivocal among study areas; it had an insignificant influence in one study area and was the dominant control in another. We also found that the relationship between the influence of these factors and their spatial structure appeared nonlinear, which may have important implications for management activities aimed at attenuating the effect of fuels or ignitions on wildfire risk. This comparative study using landscapes with different biophysical and fire regime characteristics demonstrates the importance of employing consistent methodology to pinpoint the influence of bottom-up controls.

  • Scott, J.H., Helmbrecht, D.J., Parks, S.A., Miller, C. 2012. Quantifying the Threat of Unsuppressed Wildfires Reaching the Adjacent Wildland-Urban Interface on the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming. Fire Ecology 8(2), 125-142. DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0802125
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    Abstract for Scott, J.H., Helmbrecht, D.J., Parks, S.A., Miller, C. (2012). Quantifying the Threat of Unsuppressed Wildfires Reaching the Adjacent Wildland-Urban Interface on the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming.

    An important objective for many federal land management agencies is to restore fire to ecosystems that have experienced fire suppression or exclusion over the last century. Managing wildfires for resource objectives (i.e., allowing wildfires to burn in the absence of suppression) is an important tool for restoring such fire-adapted ecosystems. To support management decisions that allow wildfires to burn unsuppressed, land managers need a quantitative assessment of the potential for such wildfires to reach nearby fire-susceptible resources and assets. We established a study area on a portion of the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Jackson, Wyoming, USA, where land managers wish to restore fire by managing wildfires, but are concerned about the threat to residential buildings. We modeled the ignition and unsuppressed growth of wildfires starting in a remote portion of the study area using FSim, a fire occurrence, growth, and suppression simulation model. We then characterized annual area burned and the likelihood that wildfires would reach a nearby wildland-urban interface (WUI) defense zone. Early-season fires burned longer and grew larger than late-season fires, and thus had a higher likelihood of reaching the WUI zone (3 % of May fires compared to 0.1 % of October fires). Because fire managers do not anticipate managing all fire starts for resource objectives, we applied a simple rule set termed “RO rules,” indicating the fraction of starts by month to be managed for resource objectives. This reduced the expected number of fires reaching the WUI zone by 70 %, and the expected WUI zone area burned by 61 %. From 1990 to 2009, a mean of 207 ha yr-1 had been burned by wildfires starting in the remote portion of the study area. By contrast, we estimated that 14 431 ha yr-1 could burn if no fire starts were suppressed, and 4861 ha yr-1 after applying the RO rules. Our analysis approach can be extended to determine which parts of the landscape are most likely to produce fires that reach specific targets on the landscape.

  • Seekamp, Erin; Hall, Troy E. and David N. Cole. 2012. Visitors’ Conceptualizations of Wilderness Experiences. In: Cole, David N., comp. 2012. Wilderness visitor experiences: Progress in research and management. Proc. RMRS-P-66. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 50-61.
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    Abstract for Seekamp, Erin; Hall, Troy E. and David N. Cole (2012). Visitors’ Conceptualizations of Wilderness Experiences

    Despite 50 years of wilderness visitor experience research, it is not well understood how visitors conceptualize a wilderness experience. Diverging from etic approaches to wilderness visitor experience research, the research presented in this paper applied an emic approach to identify wilderness experience attributes. Specifically, qualitative data from 173 on-site semi-structured interviews illustrate that wilderness visitors’ conceptualizations of wilderness experiences strongly resemble characteristics described in the Wilderness Act. Furthermore, descriptions reveal that experiences are both complex and dynamic, and an assortment of personal, social and environmental factors determine experience quality. Although most participants reported experiencing wilderness, they also frequently mentioned factors that diminished the quality of the experience. Their conception of a prototypical experience was one occurring in a remote destination with few (or no) encounters where they can escape civilization. Some participants explained that such premier experiences are readily found even within high-use wilderness areas by hiking off-trail or by hiking further from trailheads, and most participants asserted that these experiences can also be found outside of designated wilderness. These data illustrate that naturalness, lack of development, and solitude remain relevant wilderness experience concepts, particularly for visitors seeking “outstanding” wilderness experiences.

  • Tricker, James. 2012. Mapping Wilderness Character: New Tools for New Concepts. International Journal of Wilderness 18(1) 25, 40.
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    Abstract for Tricker, James (2012). Mapping Wilderness Character: New Tools for New Concepts

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness topics contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Tricker, James; Landres, Peter; Dingman, Sandee; Callagan, Charlie; Stark, John; Bonstead, Leah; Fuhrmann, Kelly; and Steve Carver. 2012. Mapping wilderness character in Death Valley National Park. Natural Resource Report NPS/DEVA/NRR-2012/503. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. 82p.
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    Abstract for Tricker, James; Landres, Peter; Dingman, Sandee; Callagan, Charlie; Stark, John; Bonstead, Leah; Fuhrmann, Kelly; and Steve Carver (2012). Mapping wilderness character in Death Valley National Park

    Executive Summary - The recent development of an interagency strategy to monitor wilderness character allows on-the-ground managers and decision-makers to assess whether stewardship actions for an individual wilderness are fulfilling the mandate to "preserve wilderness character." By using credible data that are consistently collected, one can assess how wilderness character changes over time and evaluate how stewardship actions affect trends in wilderness character. As most of these data depict spatial features in wilderness, this study investigates whether a wilderness character map can be developed to provide a spatially explicit understanding of these changes and trends over time. A GIS-based approach was developed to identify the state of wilderness character in Death Valley National Park (DEVA). A set of indicators and measures were identified by DEVA staff to be used as the basis for selecting data inputs and assigning them to a relevant quality of wilderness character. These data inputs were derived from a variety of spatial datasets and were formatted onto a common relative scale. Each data input was “weighted” by DEVA staff to reflect its importance in relation to other data inputs. Maps were generated for each of the four qualities of wilderness character, which were added together to produce the wilderness character map for DEVA. The wilderness character map delineates the range in quality of wilderness character in the DEVA wilderness. A histogram of the map reveals that the majority of wilderness character in DEVA is of high quality, with the top 10 percent areas to be found mostly in the northern section of the park. Using this map as a baseline for wilderness character quality in DEVA, future reruns of the map with updated datasets will allow for identifying areas where wilderness character is changing over time. Furthermore, this map is intended to be used by DEVA staff to evaluate, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, the spatial impacts of different planning alternatives for the pending DEVA Wilderness and Backcountry Stewardship Plan.

  • Watson, Alan E. 2012. Wilderness at Arm’s Length: On the Outside Looking in at Special Provisions in Wilderness. In: Cole, David N., comp. 2012. Wilderness visitor experiences: Progress in research and management. Proc. RMRS-P-66. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 134-146.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (2012). Wilderness at Arm’s Length: On the Outside Looking in at Special Provisions in Wilderness

    While there is a long history of research on factors influencing wilderness recreation visitor experiences, there has been little focused research to understand the experiences of users visiting wilderness under legislative special provisions or the impact of these special provisions on wilderness recreation visitors. There are some exceptions. For example, contrasting motorboat user and canoeist experiences and their impacts on each other in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness were topics of research even before the Wilderness Act was passed. Livestock grazing in wilderness is a particular kind of commercial special provision which impacts visitor experiences and has been studied in Colorado wildernesses. River floaters in at least one Idaho Wilderness can encounter motorized jet boats (a special provision use).We know these are often negative encounters for floaters. We commonly approach the jet boat user as a nonconforming user and thus a source of the conflict rather than trying to understand the experiences they are receiving and how to manage encounters to benefit both types of users. Aircraft, a unique special provision providing access in a few places in the Lower 48 and broadly in Alaska, play different roles in experiences in different places. Commercial use, though it is sometimes described as a traditional use of wilderness in the U.S., is actually a special provision in the Wilderness Act to the extent necessary for realizing recreational or other wilderness purposes. There is not a great deal of evidence that non-commercial visitors are influenced negatively by encounters with commercial visitors, though commercial and non-commercial user experiences are believed to be very different. Some limited research has begun to look at combinations of commercial and access special provisions (such as Denali visitors who use air taxis to reach remote glaciers, or Denali visitors who take a bus on a road bordered by the Wilderness). This research describes unique experiences associated with wilderness dependent activities that may be only “near wilderness” experiences or experiences that keep wilderness at arm’s length, in the process revealing some values of protecting these places as wilderness not previously described.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Stumpff, Linda Moon; and Jennifer Meidinger. 2012. Traditional Wisdom and Climate Change: Contribution of Wilderness Stories to Adaptation and Survival. International Journal of Wilderness 18(2) 21-25.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Stumpff, Linda Moon; and Jennifer Meidinger (2012). Traditional Wisdom and Climate Change: Contribution of Wilderness Stories to Adaptation and Survival

    This article emphasizes to wilderness managers and planners the importance of recognizing how traditional knowledge about the environment is passed across generations of North American people and how the wisdom of applying this knowledge can help society in the overwhelming task of decision making to protect wilderness in the face of uncertainty, including the need to increase resilience in the face of climate change.

  • Zielinski W, Schlexer F, Parks S, Pilgrim K, Schwartz M. 2012. Small geographic range but not panmictic: how forests structure the endangered Point Arena mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa nigra). Conservation Genetics 14, 369-383.
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    Abstract for Zielinski, William J.; Schlexer, Fredrick Z.; Parks, Sean A.; Pilgrim, Kristine L.; Schwartz, Michael K. (2012). Small geographic range but not panmictic: how forests structure the endangered Point Arena mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa nigra).

    The landscape genetics framework is typically applied to broad regions that occupy only small portions of a species’ range. Rarely is the entire range of a taxon the subject of study. We examined the landscape genetic structure of the endangered Point Arena mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa nigra), whose isolated geographic range is found in a restricted (85 km2) but heterogenous region in California. Based on its diminutive range we may predict widespread gene flow and a relatively weak role for landscape variation in defining genetic structure. We used skin, bone, tissue and noninvasively collected hair samples to describe genetic substructure and model gene flow. We examined spatial partitioning of multilocus DNA genotypes and mitochondrial DNA haplotypes. We identified 3 groups from microsatellite data, all of which had low estimates of effective population size consistent with significant tests for historical bottlenecks. We used least-cost-path analysis with the microsatellites to examine how vegetation type affects gene flow in a landscape genetics framework. Gene flow was best predicted by a model with "Forest" as the most permeable, followed by "Riparian". Agricultural lands demonstrated the highest resistance. MtDNA data revealed only two haplotypes: one was represented in all 57 individuals that occurred north of the east-west flowing Garcia River. South of the river, however, both haplotypes occurred, often at the same site suggesting that the river may have affected historical patterns of genetic divergence. Keywords: landscape genetics, genetic substructure, mountain beaver, Aplodontia rufa, California

  • Alan E. Watson. 2011. The Role of Wilderness Protection and Societal Engagement as Indicators of Well-Being: An Examination of Change at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Social Indicators Research, v110 n2 p597-611 Jan 2013
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    Abstract for Alan E. Watson (2011). The Role of Wilderness Protection and Societal Engagement as Indicators of Well-Being: An Examination of Change at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

    Note: This article was first put online in 2011, with the doi: 10.1007/s11205-011-9947-x. It was then published in a compiled issue of Social Indicators Research in 2013. The above citation is for that publication. This article was then reprinted in Taproot Vol 24(1), p.17-27, in 2015, along with an interview of the author. Although it is exactly the same piece, the citation for the reprint is: Watson, A. 2015. The Role of Wilderness Protection and Societal Engagement as Indicators of Well-Being: An Examination of Change at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Taproot, 24(1), pp17-27. A societal decision to protect over 9 million acres of land and water for its wilderness character in the early 1960s reflected US wealth in natural resources, pride in the nation’s cultural history and our commitment to the well-being of future generations to both experience wild nature and enjoy benefits flowing from these natural ecosystems. There is no question that our relationship with wilderness has changed. Individually it is probably quite easy to examine differences in the role wilderness plays in the quality of our lives today compared to some previous time. But how the role of wilderness protection has changed for society is more difficult to describe. In only a few places do we have data across multiple decades that would allow us to even examine how users or their use may have changed over time. At the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota we are fortunate to have multiple studies that can give us some 40 years of insight into how some aspects of use have changed there. For example, an analysis of results of visitor studies at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in 1969, 1991 and 2007 reveal some big differences in who is out there today, most notably the presence of a much older, more experienced and better educated user population, almost exclusively white and predominantly male. It is time to decide whether the best thing for wilderness and or society is to try to restore historic patterns of use (to include younger people, the less wealthy and lower educated) in greater numbers, to try to identify new markets within growing underrepresented populations, or adapt our perception of wilderness stewardship to better include planning for emerging social values of a new generation with other indicators of well-being. A growing population with greater dependence on ecosystem services provided by protected nature could lead to wilderness protection becoming an important quantitative and qualitative element of quality of life indices in the very near future.

  • Brame, Rich and Cole, David. 2011. Soft paths; Using the wilderness without harming it, 4th ed. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. 210 p.
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    Abstract for Brame, Rich and Cole, David (2011). Soft paths; Using the wilderness without harming it, 4th ed.

    This is the fourth edition of the first book articulating Leave No Trace practices designed to minimize human impact in wilderness. The first half of the book covers general practices: travel, camping, fire and stoves and sanitation and waste. The second half deals with special situations: deserts, rivers and lakes, coasts, alpine and arctic tundra, snow and ice, bear country and horsepacking.

  • Christensen, Neal. 2011. Local Economic Importance of Designated Wilderness: Evidence in the Literature. International Journal of Wilderness 17(3) 24-27.
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    Abstract for Christensen, Neal (2011). Local Economic Importance of Designated Wilderness: Evidence in the Literature

    As we approach the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act, the public and federal land management agencies continue to search for a better understanding of the benefits and costs of inclusion of new areas within the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). There are numerous U.S. federal lands considered suitable for inclusion in the NWPS. Forest Service lands that are potential candidates for future Wilderness designation are managed as Inventoried Roadless Areas under the Roadless Rule of 2001, Wilderness Study Areas that have been designated by Congress for further study, and Proposed Wilderness Areas that were identified through formal planning efforts. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service manage suitable areas as Proposed Wilderness Areas. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management also have a number of Wilderness Study Areas identified by Congress. Formal designation of these lands as Wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act requires a decision by Congress to protect their long-term national interest for a broad set of wildland-related values.

  • Cole, David N. 2011. Planned Diversity: The Case for a System with Several Types of Wilderness.International Journal of Wilderness 17(2):9-14.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2011). Planned Diversity: The Case for a System with Several Types of Wilderness

    Although the United States’ Wilderness Act of 1964 legally designated only one type of wilderness, wilderness serves many different needs, having multiple and varied values and purposes. Although many assume that these values and purposes are congruent and that all can be provided in optimal measure in one type of wilderness, this is not the case. Doing the “right” thing for one wilderness value is often the “wrong” thing for another. This essay argues that a complex set of wilderness values is better optimized by maximizing different values in different places than by compromising among these values everywhere.

  • Corn PS, Muths E, Kissel AM, Scherer RD. 2011. Breeding chorus indices are weakly related to estimated abundance of boreal chorus frogs. Copeia 2011:365–371.
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    Abstract for Corn PS, Muths E, Kissel AM, Scherer RD (2011). Breeding chorus indices are weakly related to estimated abundance of boreal chorus frogs

    Call surveys used to monitor breeding choruses of anuran amphibians generate index values that are frequently used to represent the number of male frogs present, but few studies have quantified this relationship. We compared abundance of male Boreal Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris maculata), estimated using capture–recapture methods in two populations in Colorado, to call index values derived from automated recordings. Single index values, such as might result from large monitoring efforts, were unrelated to population size. A synthetic call saturation index (CSI), the daily proportion of the maximum possible sum of index values derived from multiple recordings, was greater in larger populations, but the relationship was not highly predictive.

  • Corn PS, Muths E, Pilliod DS. 2011. Long-term observations of boreal toads at an ARMI apex site. In: Anderson C, editor. Questioning Greater Yellowstone’s Future: Climate, Land Use, and Invasive Species. Proceedings of the 10th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Yellowstone National Park, WY, and Laramie, WY: Yellowstone Center for Resources and University of Wyoming William D. Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources. p 101–104.
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    Abstract for Corn PS, Muths E, Pilliod DS (2011). Long-term observations of boreal toads at an ARMI apex site

    The U.S. Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) is a national project with goals to monitor the status and trends of amphibians, conduct research on causes of declines, and provide information and support to management agencies for conservation of amphibian populations. ARMI activities are organized around extensive inventories and place-based monitoring (such as collaboration with the Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Network), and intensive population studies and research at selected locations (apex sites). One such site is an oxbow pond on the Buffalo Fork near the Black Rock Ranger Station east of Grand Teton National Park. We have been conducting mark-recapture of boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas) at Black Rock since 2002. In concert with studies of other toad populations in the Rocky Mountains, we have documented a high rate of incidence of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and a negative rate of growth of the toad population, but not the population crash or extinction observed in other populations with high prevalence of Bd. Long-term observations at other ARMI apex sites have proven invaluable for studying effects of climate change on amphibian behavior, and the Black Rock site has been upgraded with onsite recording of weather data and auditory monitoring of other amphibian species. Continued research at Black Rock will be critical for understanding the interrelated effects of climate and disease on amphibians in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

  • Dvorak, Robert G., and Erin D. Small. 2011. Visitor Attitudes Towards Fire and Wind Disturbances in Wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness 21(2) 27-31.
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    Abstract for Dvorak, Robert G., and Erin D. Small (2011). Visitor Attitudes Towards Fire and Wind Disturbances in Wilderness

    This study examines visitor attitudes across the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness regarding the effects of natural disturbances on visitor planning and wilderness conditions. Visitors were intercepted at entry points and permit distribution locations during 2007. Results suggest that respondents were aware of recent wind and fire disturbances. Few respondents reported that these events had affected trip plans. Evidence of natural disturbances was evaluated as desirable or indifferent conditions in wilderness. Further investigation of these events related to travel patterns and perceptions may help understand their impacts on visitor use and behavior.

  • Hossack, B. R., R. L. Newell, and D. E. Ruiter. 2011. New collection records and range extension for the caddisfly Arctopora salmon (Smith, 1969) (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae). Pan Pacific Entomologist 87:206-208.
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    Abstract for Hossack, B. R., R. L. Newell, and D. E. Ruiter (2011). New collection records and range extension for the caddisfly Arctopora salmon (Smith, 1969) (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae)

    We report the collection of A. salmon from Glacier County, Montana. A single female of A. salmon was collected on 22 July 2010 during a survey for aquatic invertebrates at a small wetland ( , 100 m2 area). This site is at 1632 m elevation near Lee Creek in the northeast corner of Glacier National Park (48.9939335 N, 113.6525095 W; Figure 1). Additionally, one Arctopora larva was collected on 11 July 2011 from a small wetland ( , 3200 m2 area) at 1640 m elevation in the Summit Creek catchment near the southern edge of the park (48.3547975 N, 113.3237560 W). Both wetlands were , 1 m maximum depth, had a mud bottom, and supported extensive emergent vegetation (primarily Carex spp.).

  • Hossack, B.R., Pilliod, D.S., 2011, Amphibian responses to wildfire in the western United States- Emerging patterns from short-term studies. Fire Ecology, v. 7, no. 2, p. 129-144
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    Abstract for Hossack, B.R., Pilliod, D.S. (2011). Amphibian responses to wildfire in the western United States- Emerging patterns from short-term studies

    The increased frequency and severity of large wildfies in the western United States is an important ecological and management issue with direct relevance to amphibian conserva tion. Although the knowledge of fie effects on amphibians in the region is still limited relative to most other vertebrate species, we reviewed the current literature to determine if there are evident patterns that might be informative for conservation or management strat egies. Of the seven studies that compared pre- and post-wildfie data on a variety of met rics, ranging from amphibian occupancy to body condition, two reported positive respons es and fie detected negative responses by at least one species. Another seven studies used a retrospective approach to compare effects of wildfie on populations: two studies reported positive effects, three reported negative effects from wildfie, and two reported no effects. All four studies that included plethodontid salamanders reported negative ef fects on populations or individuals; these effects were greater in forests where fie had been suppressed and in areas that burned with high severity. Species that breed in streams are also vulnerable to post-wildfie changes in habitat, especially in the Southwest. Wild fie is also important for maintaining suitable habitat for diverse amphibian communities, although those results may not be evident immediately after an area burns. We expect that wildfie will extirpate few healthy amphibian populations, but it is still unclear how popu lations will respond to wildfie in the context of land management (including pre- and post-fie timber harvest) and fragmentation. Wildfie may also increase the risk of decline or extirpation for small, isolated, or stressed (e.g., from drought or disease) populations. Improved understanding of how these effects vary according to changes in fie frequency and severity are critical to form more effective conservation strategies for amphibians in the western United States. More of Blake Hossack’s work can be found at his website: http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/staff/bhossack

  • McBride, Brooke. 2011. Science and Stewardship to Protect and Sustain Wilderness Values: Proceedings of the Ninth World Wilderness Congress Symposium. International Journal of Wilderness 17(3) 28, 41.
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    Abstract for McBride, Brooke (2011). Science and Stewardship to Protect and Sustain Wilderness Values: Proceedings of the Ninth World Wilderness Congress Symposium

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • McKelvey, Kevin S.; Copeland, Jeffrey P.; Schwartz, Michael K.; Littell, Jeremy S.; Aubry, Keith B.; Squires, John R.; Parks, Sean A.; Elsner, Marketa M.; and Guillaume S. Mauger. 2011. Climate change predicted to shift wolverine distributions, connectivity, and dispersal corridors. Ecological Applications 21(8) 2882-2897.
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    Abstract for McKelvey, Kevin; Copeland, Jeffrey; Schwartz, Michael K.; Littell, Jeremy; Aubry, Keith; Squires, John; Parks, Sean A.; Elsner, Marketa; and Guillaume Mauger (2011). Climate change predicted to shift wolverine distributions, connectivity, and dispersal corridors

    Boreal species sensitive to the timing and duration of snow cover are particularly vulnerable to global climate change. Recent work has shown a link between wolverine (Gulo gulo) habitat and persistent spring snow cover through 15 May, the approximate end of the wolverine’s reproductive denning period. We modeled the distribution of snow cover within the Columbia, Upper Missouri, and Upper Colorado River Basins using a downscaled ensemble climate model. The ensemble model was based on the arithmetic mean of 10 global climate models (GCMs) that best fit historical climate trends and patterns within these three basins. Snow cover was estimated from resulting downscaled temperature and precipitation patterns using a hydrologic model. We bracketed our ensemble model predictions by analyzing warm (miroc 3.2) and cool (pcm1) downscaled GCMs. Because Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based snow cover relationships were analyzed at much finer grain than downscaled GCM output, we conducted a second analysis based on MODIS-based snow cover that persisted through 29 May, simulating the onset of spring two weeks earlier in the year. Based on the downscaled ensemble model, 67% of predicted spring snow cover will persist within the study area through 2030–2059, and 37% through 2070–2099. Estimated snow cover for the ensemble model during the period 2070–2099 was similar to persistent MODIS snow cover through 29 May. Losses in snow cover were greatest at the southern periphery of the study area (Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico, USA) and least in British Columbia, Canada. Contiguous areas of spring snow cover become smaller and more isolated over time, but large (.1000 km2) contiguous areas of wolverine habitat are predicted to persist within the study area throughout the 21st century for all projections. Areas that retain snow cover throughout the 21st century are British Columbia, north-central Washington, northwestern Montana, and the Greater Yellowstone Area. By the late 21st century, dispersal modeling indicates that habitat isolation at or above levels associated with genetic isolation of wolverine populations becomes widespread. Overall, we expect wolverine habitat to persist throughout the species range at least for the first half of the 21st century, but populations will likely become smaller and more isolated.

  • McKenzie, Donald; Miller, Carol; Falk, Donald A. 2011. Synthesis: Landscape ecology and changing fire regimes. Pages 295-303 in McKenzie, Donald, Miller, Carol, and Falk, Donald A., editors, The Landscape Ecology of Fire. Springer. New York.
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    Abstract for McKenzie, Donald; Miller, Carol; Falk, Donald A. (2011). Synthesis: Landscape ecology and changing fire regimes

    Here we synthesize the previous 11 chapters and provide a brief look into the future of landscape ecology of fire research. We speculate briefly on the implications for policy and management of fire in a rapidly changing climate. Section I gives us a glimpse of how new conceptual and theoretical models may enable us to think across scales and anticipate “no analog” conditions for future fire regimes. It also suggests that we can liberally borrow tools from other disciplines -- physics, engineering, complex systems, and organismic biology -- while increasing the robustness of core analyses within landscape ecology by quantifying relationships across scales. Section II begins to bring global and regional climatology into the landscape domain via the cross-scale applicability of energy-water relations. It shows promise for linking fine-scale fire spread and fire behavior to broad-scale fire climatology. Section III provides a disciplinary case study and a geographic case study. Each suggests that a myriad of processes interact with changing landscape fire regimes. Section IV looks at the human dimension and asks 1) what are the implications of expanding human populations and 2) what are the options for “guiding” landscape fire regimes such that both wildlands and populations can adapt. We close by posing a set of key research questions for the practitioners in our field, some that follow more or less directly from the outcomes presented in this book and others that draw upon the theoretical framework presented in Chapter 1. This book is available from https://www.springer.com/us/book/9789400703001 Springer.

  • McKenzie, Donald; Miller, Carol; Falk, Donald A. 2011. Toward a theory of landscape fire. Pages 3-26 in McKenzie, Donald, Miller, Carol, and Falk, Donald A., editors, The Landscape Ecology of Fire. Springer. New York.
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    Abstract for McKenzie, Donald; Miller, Carol; Falk, Donald A. (2011). Toward a theory of landscape fire

    The landscape ecology of fire analyzes the causes of spatial and temporal patterns of fire severity, frequency, and size and the effects of these patterns on vegetation succession, seed and animal dispersal, species turnover, and other disturbances such as insect outbreaks. Fire is a contagious disturbance that operates at different spatial and temporal scales from other ecosystem processes. As such it challenges us to find a theoretical framework of manageable complexity that will reconcile these differences in scale and build a more unified ecology of fire. We propose, and qualitatively explore, a theoretical model of landscape fire grounded in the interactions between energy fluxes and their controls, or “regulators”, across spatial and temporal scales. Both energy and regulation can act as top-down or bottom-up drivers (controls) of fire behavior, fire spread, and fire effects. We suggest that these basic elements of landscape fire regimes may provide a synthetic quantitative framework for understanding the ecology and energetics of fire across scales, while helping us to link theoretical scaling laws to the physical world. Both of these functions can lead to better landscape fire management in a rapidly changing climate. This book is available from http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/ecology/book/978-94-007-0300-1 Springer.

  • McKenzie, Donald; Miller, Carol; Falk, Donald A., editors. 2011. The Landscape Ecology of Fire. Springer. New York. 312 pages.
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    Abstract for McKenzie, Donald; Miller, Carol; Falk, Donald A. (2011). The Landscape Ecology of Fire

    In this edited volume, we explore fire as a contagious spatial process from a number of perspectives, including fundamental landscape theory, fire-climate interactions, interactions with other ecological processes, and ecosystem management. Along the way we visit traditional domains of landscape ecology such as scaling, pattern-process interactions, and the complex interplay of top-down and bottom-up controls on ecosystem dynamics. We devote considerable space to theoretical considerations, particularly cross-scale modeling and landscape energetics, which we believe are under-represented in the current literature on landscape ecology of fire and other disturbances. In the remainder of the book, we look at fire climatology in an explicitly spatial context, examine four case studies of fire dynamics, two topical and two geographic in focus, and discuss issues facing fire management under rapid global change. http://www.leopold.wilderness.net/pubs/TheLandscapeEcologyofFire_TOC.pdf Table of Contents. This book is available from https://www.springer.com/us/book/9789400703001 Springer. Selected chapters from this book are available as ALWRI pubs 725, 726 and 727.

  • Michael A. Cacciapaglia, Laurie Yung & Michael E. Patterson (2011): Place Mapping and the Role of Spatial Scale in Understanding Landowner Views of Fire and Fuels Management. Society & Natural Resources, DOI:10.1080/08941920.2011.580418 This article is also available through the Society & Natural Resources: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2011.580418
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    Abstract for Michael A. Cacciapaglia, Laurie Yung & Michael E. Patterson (2011). Place Mapping and the Role of Spatial Scale in Understanding Landowner Views of Fire and Fuels Management

    Place mapping is emerging as a way to understand the spatial components of people’s relationships with particular locations and how these relate to support for management proposals. But despite the spatial focus of place mapping, scale is rarely explicitly examined in such exercises. This is particularly problematic since scalar definitions and configurations have implications for research results. In this study, we examine the relationship between place meanings and views on fire and fuels management through in-depth interviews and computer-based mapping with forest landowners. While landowners readily described and mapped special places, these places did not influence views on fire and fuels management, views that were situated almost entirely at larger scales and explained by broader worldviews and political ideologies. Because research results may be an artifact of measurement, placemapping efforts need to carefully consider scale to ensure that public views are appropriately characterized for decision makers.

  • Miller, Carol; Abatzoglou, John; Brown, Timothy; Syphard, Alexandra D. 2011. Wilderness fire management in a changing environment. Pages 269-294 in McKenzie, Donald, Miller, Carol, and Falk, Donald A., editors, The Landscape Ecology of Fire. Springer. New York.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol; Abatzoglou, John; Brown, Timothy; Syphard, Alexandra D. (2011). Wilderness fire management in a changing environment

    Federally designated wilderness areas of the United States are to be managed so that natural ecological processes such as fire and other disturbances can function without human interference. Consistent with this intent, policy and law support the strategy of allowing lightning-caused fires to burn for their ecological benefits. However, achieving the objective of stewarding the ecological role of fire has been difficult as the majority of lightning-caused ignitions in wilderness are suppressed for myriad biophysical and social reasons. We examine climate and housing patterns as two drivers that affect the wilderness fire management context. A complex set of biophysical and social factors interact to create this context, a context which varies widely among wilderness areas. Studies suggest that the politics of fire management are magnified during drought years when line officers may become less comfortable with allowing fires to burn, and high housing densities near wilderness areas elevate the consequences of a wilderness fire “escape.” Both of these drivers are expected to change rapidly in the next 20-50 years, and in this chapter, we examine how changes in broad scale patterns in housing densities and climate change might affect wilderness fire regimes and their management in the 11 western states in the conterminous US. A coarse scale analysis of national housing density and climate data is used to identify those wilderness areas that could experience the most dramatic changes. We propose that these wilderness areas serve as case studies for interdisciplinary action research designed to facilitate the management of natural fire regimes. Two wilderness areas are used as contrasting examples to illustrate the range of challenges that are likely to arise within the next several decades and conclude with a discussion of site-specific potential management strategies and responses for the future. Constraints to WFU and challenges to our ability to meet objectives will continue to intensify in many wilderness areas. This book is available from http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/ecology/book/978-94-007-0300-1 Springer.

  • Murphy PJ, St-Hilaire S, Corn PS. 2011. Temperature, hydric environment, and prior pathogen exposure alter the experimental severity of chytridiomycosis in boreal toads. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 95:31–42.
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    Abstract for Murphy PJ, St-Hilaire S, Corn PS (2011). Temperature, hydric environment, and prior pathogen exposure alter the experimental severity of chytridiomycosis in boreal toads

    Prevalence of the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), implicated in amphibian population declines worldwide, is associated with habitat moisture and temperature, but few studies have varied these factors and measured the response to infection in amphibian hosts. We evaluated how varying humidity, contact with water, and temperature affected the manifestation of chytridiomycosis in boreal toads Anaxyrus (Bufo) boreas boreas and how prior exposure to Bd affects the likelihood of survival after re-exposure, such as may occur seasonally in long-lived species. Humidity did not affect survival or the degree of Bd infection, but a longer time in contact with water increased the likelihood of mortality. After exposure to ~106 Bd zoospores, all toads in continuous contact with water died within 30 d. Moreover, Bd-exposed toads that were disease-free after 64 d under dry conditions, developed lethal chytridiomycosis within 70 d of transfer to wet conditions. Toads in unheated aquaria (mean = 15°C) survived less than 48 d, while those in moderately heated aquaria (mean = 18°C) survived 115 d post-exposure and exhibited behavioral fever, selecting warmer sites across a temperature gradient. We also found benefits of prior Bd infection: previously exposed toads survived 3 times longer than Bd-naïve toads after re-exposure to 106 zoospores (89 vs. 30 d), but only when dry microenvironments were available. This study illustrates how the outcome of Bd infection in boreal toads is environmentally dependent: when continuously wet, high reinfection rates may overwhelm defenses, but periodic drying, moderate warming, and previous infection may allow infected toads to extend their survival.

  • Parisien, Mark-Andre.; Parks, Sean A.; Krawchuck, Meg A.; Flannigan, Mike D.; Bowman, Lynn M.; and Max A. Moritz. 2011. Scale-dependent controls on the area burned in the boreal forest of Canada, 1980–2005. Ecological Applications 21:789–805.
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    Abstract for Parisien, Marc-Andre.; Parks, Sean A.; Krawchuck, Meg A.; Flannigan, Mike D.; Bowman, Lynn M.; and Max A. Moritz (2011). Scale-dependent controls on the area burned in the boreal forest of Canada, 1980–2005

    In the boreal forest of North America, as in any fire-prone biome, three environmental factors must coincide for a wildfire to occur: an ignition source, flammable vegetation, and weather that is conducive to fire. Despite recent advances, the relative importance of these factors remains the subject of some debate. The aim of this study was to develop models that identify the environmental controls on spatial patterns in area burned for the period 1980–2005 at several spatial scales in the Canadian boreal forest. Boosted regression tree models were built to relate high-resolution data for area burned to an array of explanatory variables describing ignitions, vegetation, and long-term patterns in fire-conducive weather (i.e., fire climate) at four spatial scales (102 km2, 103 km2, 104 km2, and 105 km2). We evaluated the relative contributions of these controls on area burned, as well as their functional relationships, across spatial scales. We also assessed geographic patterns of the influence of wildfire controls. The results indicated that extreme temperature during the fire season was a top control at all spatial scales, followed closely by a wind-driven index of ease of fire spread. However, the contributions of some variables differed substantially among the spatial scales, as did their relationship to area burned. In fact, for some key variables the polarity of relationships was inverted from the finest to the broadest spatial scale. It was difficult to unequivocally attribute values of relative importance to the variables chosen to represent ignitions, vegetation, and climate, as the interdependence of these factors precluded clear partitioning. Furthermore, the influence of a variable on patterns of area burned often changed enormously across the biome, which supports the idea that fire-environment relationships in the boreal forest are complex and nonstationary.

  • Parisien, Marc-Andre.; Parks, Sean A.; Miller, Carol; Krawchuck, Meg A.; Heathcott, Mark; and Max A. Moritz. 2011. Contributions of Ignitions, Fuels, and weather to the burn probability of a boreal landscape. Ecosystems 14:1141-1155.
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    Abstract for Parisien, Marc-Andre.; Parks, Sean A.; Miller, Carol; Krawchuck, Meg A.; Heathcott, Mark; and Max A. Moritz (2011). Contributions of Ignitions, Fuels, and weather to the burn probability of a boreal landscape

    The spatial pattern of fire observed across boreal landscapes is the outcome of complex interactions among components of the fire environment. We investigated how the naturally occurring patterns of ignitions, fuels, and weather generate spatial pattern of burn probability (BP) in a large and highly fireprone boreal landscape of western Canada, Wood Buffalo National Park. This was achieved by producing a high-resolution map of BP using a fire simulation model that models the ignition and spread of individual fires for the current state of the study landscape (that is, the ‘control’). Then, to extract the effect of the variability in ignitions, fuels, and weather on spatial BP patterns, we subtracted the control BP map to those produced by ‘‘homogenizing’’ a single environmental factor of interest (that is, the ‘experimental treatments’). This yielded maps of spatial residuals that represent the spatial BP patterns for which the heterogeneity of each factor of interest is responsible. Residuals were analyzed within a structural equation modeling framework. The results showed unequal contributions of fuels (67.4%), weather (29.2%), and ignitions (3.4%) to spatial BP patterning. The large contribution of fuels reflects how substantial heterogeneity of land cover on this landscape strongly affects BP. Although weather has a chiefly temporal control on fire regimes, the variability in fire-conducive weather conditions exerted a surprisingly large influence on spatial BP patterns. The almost negligible effect of spatial ignition patterns was surprising but explainable in the context of this area’s fire regime. Similar contributions of fuels, weather, and ignitions could be expected in other parts of the boreal forest that lack a strong anthropogenic imprint, but are likely to be altered in human-dominated fire regimes.

  • Parks, S.A.; Parisien, M.-A. ; Miller, C. 2011. Multi-scale evaluation of the environmental controls on burn probability in a southern Sierra Nevada landscape. International Journal of Wildland Fire 20:815-828.
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    Abstract for Parks, S.A.; Parisien, M.-A. ; Miller, C. (2011). Multi-scale evaluation of the environmental controls on burn probability in a southern Sierra Nevada landscape

    We examined the scale-dependent relationship between spatial fire likelihood or burn probability (BP) and some key environmental controls in the southern Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Continuous BP estimates were generated using a fire simulation model. The correspondence between BP (dependent variable) and elevation, ignition density, fuels and aspect was evaluated at incrementally increasing spatial scales to assess the importance of these explanatory variables in explaining BP. Results indicate the statistical relationship between BP and explanatory variables fluctuates across spatial scales, as does the influence of explanatory variables. However, because of high covariance among these variables, it was necessary to control for their shared contribution in order to extract their ‘unique’ contribution to BP. At the finest scale, fuels and elevation exerted the most influence on BP, whereas at broader scales, fuels and aspect were most influential. Results also showed that the influence of some variables tended to mask the true effect of seemingly less important variables. For example, the relationship between ignition density and BP was negative until we controlled for elevation, which led to a more meaningful relationship where BP increased with ignition density. This study demonstrates the value of a multi-scale approach for identifying and characterising mechanistic controls on BP that can often be blurred by strong but correlative relationships.

  • Schneider, Ingrid E.; Schroeder, Sierra L.; and Ann Schwaller. 2011. Structural Constraints to Wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness 17(1):14-21.
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    Abstract for Schneider, Ingrid E.; Schroeder, Sierra L.; and Ann Schwaller (2011). Structural Constraints to Wilderness

    A significant research body on recreation constraints exists, but wilderness constraints research is limited. Like other recreationists, wilderness visitors likely experience a number of constraints, factors that limit leisure preference formation or participation and enjoyment. This project explored how visitors’ experiences with and in wilderness are constrained, and examined responses to those constraints. A hermeneutic approach (Patterson and Williams 2002) provided the stories of wilderness visitors’ experiences and constraints to experiences with and in wilderness. A purposive sample identified respondents for in-depth face-to-face interviews with a semi structured interview guide. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and analysis considered visitors’ individual stories and stories across individuals. Member checking and dual readers provided discussion opportunities about and validation of the interpretations. Similar to other types of recreation, a variety of constraints to wilderness visitation emerged, although structural constraints dominated the conversations. Of particular interest to wilderness managers are the visitors’ coping responses to constraints: shortened trips with fewer miles traveled influence both social and biophysical management areas. Future research opportunities include monitoring longer-term impacts on experiences, visitor use patterns, and subsequent biophysical impacts.

  • Schwartz, Michael K.; Landres, Peter B.; and David J. Parsons. 2011. Wildlife Scientists and Wilderness Managers Finding Common Ground with Noninvasive and Nonintrusive Sampling of Wildlife. International Journal of Wilderness 17(1):4-8.
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    Abstract for Schwartz, Michael K.; Landres, Peter B.; and David J. Parsons (2011). Wildlife Scientists and Wilderness Managers Finding Common Ground with Noninvasive and Nonintrusive Sampling of Wildlife

    Historically, a high level of invasiveness and intrusiveness was required to obtain useful data for understanding and ultimately managing wildlife. In wilderness, these methods may lead to conflicts between wildlife researchers and wilderness managers who are respectively trying to maximize data quality and preserve wilderness character. Additionally, wilderness managers needed to balance short-term disruptions to wilderness character with long-term information gains that may preserve or enhance wilderness character. Recent developments in the wildlife sciences provide less invasive and less intrusive approaches that obtain data of equal or higher quality than acquired using traditional approaches. In some situations these newer approaches may be insufficient to understand the distribution and population dynamics of a species, and traditional approaches may still be needed. But in many other situations these newer methods have shown that they can provide better quality and quantity of data to understand the dynamics of wildlife populations with less impact to wilderness character. These new methods should foster better and more informed communication between wilderness managers and wildlife scientists to further their mutual interests in sustaining wildlife and preserving wilderness character.

  • Shoo LP, Olson DH, McMenamin SK, Murray KA, Van Sluys M, Donnelly MA, Stratford D, Terhivuo J, Merino-Viteri A, Herbert SM, Bishop PJ, Corn PS, Dovey L, Griffiths RA, Lowe K, Mahony M, McCallum H, Shuker JD, Simpkins C, Skerratt LF, Williams SE, Hero JM. 2011. Engineering a future for amphibians under climate change. Journal of Applied Ecology 48:487–492.
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    Abstract for Shoo LP, Olson DH, McMenamin SK, Murray KA, Van Sluys M, Donnelly MA, Stratford D, Terhivuo J, Merino-Viteri A, Herbert SM, Bishop PJ, Corn PS, Dovey L, Griffiths RA, Lowe K, Mahony M, McCallum H, Shuker JD, Simpkins C, Skerratt LF, Williams SE, Hero JM (2011). Engineering a future for amphibians under climate change

    Altered global climates in the 21st century pose serious threats for biological systems and practical actions are needed to mount a response for species at risk. We identify management actions from across the world and from diverse disciplines that are applicable to minimizing loss of amphibian biodiversity under climate change. Actions were grouped under three thematic areas of intervention: (i) installation of microclimate and microhabitat refuges; (ii) enhancement and restoration of breeding sites; and (iii) manipulation of hydroperiod or water levels at breeding sites. There are currently few meaningful management actions that will tangibly impact the pervasive threat of climate change on amphibians. A host of potentially useful but poorly tested actions could be incorporated into local or regional management plans, programmes and activities for amphibians. Examples include: installation of irrigation sprayers to manipulate water potentials at breeding sites; retention or supplementation of natural and artificial shelters (e.g. logs, cover boards) to reduce desiccation and thermal stress; manipulation of canopy cover over ponds to reduce water temperature; and, creation of hydrologoically diverse wetland habitats capable of supporting larval development under variable rainfall regimes. We encourage researchers and managers to design, test and scale up new initiatives to respond to this emerging crisis.

  • Trosper, Ronald L.; Clark, Fred; Gerez-Fernandez, Patrica; Lake, Frank; McGregor, Deborah; Peters, Charles M.; Purata, Silvia; Ryan, Teresa; Thomson, Alan; Watson, Alan E.; and Stephen Wyatt. 2011. North America. Pages 157-201 In: J.A. Parrotta and R.L. Trosper (Eds.), Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge: Sustaining Communities, Ecosystems and Biocultural Diversity. World Forests, Volume 12, 2012. Springer. New York. DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-2144-9_5. This book is available from http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-94-007-2143-2/#section=972800&page=1 Springer.
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    Abstract for Trosper, Ronald L.; Clark, Fred; Gerez-Fernandez, Patrica; Lake, Frank; McGregor, Deborah; Peters, Charles M.; Purata, Silvia; Ryan, Teresa; Thomson, Alan; Watson, Alan E.; and Stephen Wyatt (2011). North America

    The colonial history of North America presents a contrast between Mexico and the two predominantly English-speaking countries, the United States and Canada. In Mexico, indigenous and other local communities own considerable forested lands, a consequence of the Mexican Revolution of the early twentieth century. In the United States, forest land is now primarily in private or federal hands, while in Canada forest land is primarily managed by the provinces. In all three countries, traditional knowledge had little effect upon forestry until the end of the twentieth century. In Mexico and the United States, the central government retained control over forested lands ostensibly held by communities. Policy changes in those two countries have decentralized control to indigenous peoples, and their ideas have started to affect forestry. In Canada, although traditional management of lands in remote regions persisted until the middle of the twentieth century, provincial policies have generally been displacing indigenous control; First Nations knowledge, which has survived well in some areas, is only recently being applied to forest management, and in only a few examples.

  • Watson, Alan; Matt, Roian; Knotek, Katie; Williams, Daniel R.; and Laurie Yung. 2011. Traditional Wisdom: Protecting Relationships with Wilderness as a Cultural Landscape. Ecology and Society 16(1):36.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Matt, Roian; Knotek, Katie; Williams, Daniel R.; and Laurie Yung (2011). Traditional Wisdom: Protecting Relationships with Wilderness as a Cultural Landscape

    Interviews of tribal and nontribal residents of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, U.S., were conducted to contrast the meanings that different cultures attach to the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness. Legislation that created a national system of wilderness areas (in 1964 and still growing) was conceived, supported, and enacted by a fairly distinct social group generally residing in urban areas and schooled in modern civilization’s scientific model and relationship with nature. The places this legislation protects, however, provide many other poorly recognized and little understood meanings to other parts of society. There is a link between indigenous people and nature that is not described well in this legislation or management policy in most places. The Wilderness Act suggests that these protected areas should be "untrammeled," or unmanipulated, unfettered, when in fact it is common knowledge that, for most areas in North America, indigenous people have intervened, with respect, for generations. The Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness in Montana, though not part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, was designated to protect many of these same values but also extend to protect important cultural meanings assigned to this wild landscape. Protecting the relationship between indigenous people and relatively intact, complex systems, which we commonly refer to as wilderness in North America, can be an important contributor to sustainability of the landscape and cultural heritage.

  • Watson, Alan; Murrieta-Saldivar, Joaquin; McBride, Brooke, comps. 2011. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Ninth World Wilderness Congress symposium; November 6-13, 2009; Meridá, Yucatán, Mexico. Proceedings RMRS-P-64. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 225 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Murrieta-Saldivar, Joaquin; McBride, Brooke (2011). Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Ninth World Wilderness Congress symposium; November 6-13, 2009; Meridá, Yucatán, Mexico

    The Ninth World Wilderness Congress (WILD9) met in Meridá, Yucatán, Mexico in 2009. The symposium on science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values was the largest of multiple symposia held in conjunction with the Congress. The papers contained in this proceedings were generated at this symposium or submitted by the author or authors for consideration for inclusion in this proceedings, and have been organized into six major topics: (1) empowering young people, (2) promoting involvement of local communities, (3) enhancing transboundary conservation goals, (4) exploring wilderness meanings, (5) monitoring and predicting change, and (6) new directions in wilderness stewardship. Included are papers that address wildland issues in Afghanistan, Antarctica, Canada, Czech Republic, El Salvador, the Gambia, Germany, Honduras, India, Lesotho, Mexico, Namibia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, and the United States. To order a Copy or a CD, please http://leopold.wilderness.net/pubs/740OrderForm.pdf Click Here.

  • Weidner, Emily. 2011. Ecosystem Services: Just Another Catch Phrase. International Journal of Wilderness 21(2) 32-33.
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    Abstract for Weidner, Emily (2011). Ecosystem Services: Just Another Catch Phrase

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Whittaker, Doug, Bo Shelby, Robert Manning, David Cole, and Glenn Haas. 2011. Capacity reconsidered: Finding consensus and clarifying differences. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 29: 1-19.
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    Abstract for Whittaker, Doug, Bo Shelby, Robert Manning, David Cole, and Glenn Haas (2011). Capacity reconsidered: Finding consensus and clarifying differences

    In a world where populations and resource demands continue to grow, there is a long history of concern about the “capacity” of the environment to support human uses, including timber, rangelands, fish and wildlife, and recreation. In the context of recreation, work on visitor capacities has evolved considerably since the late 1960s as a result of environmental planning, court proceedings, recreation management practice, and recreation research. This paper documents the “state-of-knowledge” understanding of capacity among our group of long-term professionals, who represent a wide range of experience and perspectives. The paper defines capacity as “the amount and type of use that is compatible with the management prescription for an area,” and elaborates on the elements of that definition. The main body of the paper describes 34 agreements about the larger planning context, the definition of capacity, benefits of capacity, indicators and standards, and the roles of these concepts in resource planning and management. The final section identifies issues needing resolution, including four “differences we resolved” and five “differences that remain”, and also includes our individual perspectives on these issues. This paper is not the “definitive statement,” on visitor capacity, and we trust others will contribute to this on-going dialogue as agencies, the courts, academics, and resource professionals work to resolve capacity issues. We hope our work adds clarity, advances understanding, helps guide application of efforts designed to address capacity, and encourages others to contribute their ideas.

  • Aplet, Gregory H.; Cole, David N. 2010. The trouble with naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness goals. In: Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie, eds. Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change. Washington DC: Island Press: 12-29.
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    Abstract for Aplet, Gregory H.; Cole, David N. (2010). The trouble with naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness goals

    This is one of 15 chapters in a book that is available from Island Press. [Chapter 2]

  • Bigelow, SW; Parks, SA. 2010. Predicting altered connectivity of patchy forests under group selection silviculture. Landscape Ecology. 25(3) 435-447.
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    Abstract for Bigelow, SW; Parks, SA. (2010). Predicting altered connectivity of patchy forests under group selection silviculture

    Group selection silviculture creates canopy openings that can alter connectivity in patchy forests, thereby affecting wildlife movement and fire behavior. We examined effects of group selection silviculture on percolation (presence of continuously forested routes across a landscape) in Sierra Nevada East-side pine forest in northern California, USA. Four similar to 250 ha project areas were analyzed at three map resolutions in three ways: analyzing forest cover maps for percolation before and after group-selection treatment, placing simulated group openings in forest cover maps until fragmentation occurred, and comparing project areas to neutral maps that varied in forest cover and self-adjacency. Two project areas were fragmented (i.e., did not percolate) prior to treatment, one resisted fragmentation, and the other became fragmented by treatment when analyzed at 30 m cell resolution. Median simulated openings required to create fragmentation agreed well with the actual number. There was a well-defined transition between percolating and non-percolating neutral maps; increased aggregation of forest lowered the critical value at which forests percolated. A logistic model based on these maps predicted percolation behavior of the project areas effectively, but alternative generating algorithms gave slightly different predictions. A graph of this model provides a straightforward way to visualize how close a landscape is to fragmentation based on its forest cover and aggregation. In East-side Sierran landscape, fragmentation from group-selection openings may make the landscape less hospitable to the American marten but more resistant to crown fire.

  • Cole, David N. and Laurie Yung. 2010. Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change. Washington DC: Island Press. 287 p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. and Laurie Yung (2010). Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change

    This book explores the concept of naturalness in relation to park and wilderness stewardship. Increasingly, in a world of ubiquitous human impact, wilderness stewards are faced with the dilemma of watching as parks and wilderness are impacted or intervening to mitigate impact. The book concludes that naturalness does not provide adequate guidance for making decisions about where, when and how to intervene in ecosystems. It explores concepts that might provide better guidance and discusses opportunities and challenges involved in improving stewardship. The book has 15 chapters and is available from Island Press. http://leopold.wilderness.net/pubs/beyond_naturalness_TOC.pdf Click Here to view the Table of Contents.

  • Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. 2010. Privacy functions and wilderness recreation: Use density and length of stay effects on experience. Ecopsychology 2(2): 67-75
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    Abstract for Cole, David N., Hall, Troy E (2010). Privacy functions and wilderness recreation: Use density and length of stay effects on experience

    Privacy and its functions are desirable attributes of the human experience in wilderness areas, where outstanding opportunities for solitude is legally mandated. Privacy, the ability to choose how and when to interact and exchange information with other people, enhances opportunities for both personal growth and interaction with the wilderness environment. This study assessed the effect of use level and length of stay on the degree to which privacy and its functions were experienced on wilderness trips. Factor analysis identified one privacy experience factor and two privacy function factors, release, and personal growth. Compared to more heavily used trails, hikers on less congested trails experienced more privacy—being significantly more likely to experience “solitude,” being “away from crowds of people,” and “feeling isolated.” But there was no difference related to use level in achieving the beneficial functions of privacy. Hikers on longer trips experienced both more privacy and more of the beneficial functions of privacy—release and personal growth.

  • Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. 2010. Experiencing the restorative components of wilderness environments: Does congestion interfere and does length of exposure matter? Environment and Behavior 42: 806-823.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. (2010). Experiencing the restorative components of wilderness environments: Does congestion interfere and does length of exposure matter?

    Wilderness should provide opportunities for stress reduction and restoration of mental fatigue. Visitors, surveyed as they exited wilderness trailheads, were asked for self-assessments of stress reduction and mental rejuvenation and the extent to which they experienced various restorative components of the environment—attributes deemed by attention restorative theory to be conducive to restoration. Day and overnight hikers on both very high use and moderate use trails were studied. Most respondents reported substantial stress reduction and mental rejuvenation and most experienced the environment in ways considered conducive to restoration. At the moderate to high use levels we studied, psychological restoration did not vary significantly with level of congestion, suggesting that concern about restorative experiences is not a valid rationale for limiting use on wilderness trails. Day trips reduced stress and allowed for mental rejuvenation to the same degree that overnight trips did. However, several of the restorative components of environment were experienced to a significantly greater degree as length of trip increased.

  • Cole, David N.; Higgs, Eric S.; White, Peter S. 2010. Historical fidelity: Maintaining legacy and connection to heritage. In: Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie, eds. Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change. Washington DC: Island Press: 125-141.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Higgs, Eric S.; White, Peter S. (2010). Historical fidelity: Maintaining legacy and connection to heritage

    This is one of 15 chapters in a book that is available from Island Press. [Chapter8]

  • Cole, David N.; Millar, Constance I.; Stephenson, Nathan L. 2010. Responding to climate change: A toolbox of management strategies. In: Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie, eds. Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change. Washington DC: Island Press: 179-196.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Millar, Constance I.; Stephenson, Nathan L. (2010). Responding to climate change: A toolbox of management strategies

    This is one of 15 chapters in a book that is available from Island Press. [Chapter 11]

  • Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie. 2010. Park and wilderness stewardship: The dilemma of management intervention. In: Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie, eds. Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change. Washington DC: Island Press: 1-11.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie (2010). Park and wilderness stewardship: The dilemma of management intervention

    This is one of 15 chapters in a book that is available from Island Press. [Chapter 1]

  • Cole, David; Carlson, Thomas. 2010. Numerical visitor capacity: a guide to its use in wilderness. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-247. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 20 p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David; Carlson, Thomas (2010). Numerical visitor capacity: a guide to its use in wilderness

    Despite decades of academic work and practical management applications, the concept of visitor capacity remains controversial and inconsistently operationalized. Nevertheless, there are situations where development of a numerical estimate of capacity is important and where not doing so has resulted in land management agencies being successfully litigated. This report is a guide to developing estimates of numerical visitor capacity, with particular emphasis on wilderness. It reviews capacity concepts, surveys available approaches to capacity determination, and outlines a generic process. Appendices provide information on relevant legislation and policy, as well as detailed examples and templates.

  • Craig, David R.; Landres, Peter; Yung, Laurie. 2010. Improving Wilderness Stewardship Through Searchable Databases of U.S. Legislative History and Legislated Special Provisions. International Journal of Wilderness 16(2):27-31.
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    Abstract for Craig, David R.; Landres, Peter; Yung, Laurie (2010). Improving Wilderness Stewardship Through Searchable Databases of U.S. Legislative History and Legislated Special Provisions

    This paper describes two new searchable databases that are available on Wilderness.net to help wilderness managers and others understand and interpret public laws designating wilderness in the U.S. National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). The first database provides access to a legislative history library and reference guide, and the second database provides access to legislated special provisions. Each database is described in terms of how it may be used to inform decisions concerning wilderness stewardship, along with basic information about organization and content. We conclude with a brief discussion of research questions that may be more readily explored now that these databases are available.

  • Davis, Brett H.; Miller, Carol. 2010. What if we didn’t suppress fire?. In: Weber, Samantha, ed. Rethinking Protected Areas in a Changing World: Proceedings of the 2009 GWS Biennial Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites; 2009 March 1-6; Portland, OR. Proc. Hancock, Michigan: The George Wright Society: 131-134.
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    Abstract for Davis, Brett H.; Miller, Carol (2010). What if we didn't suppress fire?

    Decades of fire suppression in Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks have altered natural fire regimes and ecological conditions. Despite having Wildland Fire Use as a restoration tool, managers still suppress most natural ignitions. Unlike other management decisions, the long term cumulative impacts of suppression decisions are seldom evaluated. We evaluated the cumulative effects of fire suppression decisions in these two parks by simulating the spread and effects of lightning ignitions that were suppressed between 1994 – 2004 using the environmental conditions that occurred at the time of ignition and used these results to measure a variety of suppression impacts. Results suggest that the suppression decisions during these 11 years have dramatically changed landscape conditions. Results are helping managers prioritize fuels management activities and weigh both the costs and benefits of management strategies chosen on future incidents.

  • Davis, Brett H.; Miller, Carol; and Parks, Sean A. 2010. Retrospective fire modeling: Quantifying the impacts of fire suppression. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-236WWW. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 40 p.
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    Abstract for Davis, Brett H.; Miller, Carol; and Parks, Sean A. (2010). Retrospective fire modeling: Quantifying the impacts of fire suppression

    Land management agencies need to understand and monitor the consequences of their fire suppression decisions. We developed a framework for retrospective fire behavior modeling and impact assessment to determine where ignitions would have spread had they not been suppressed and to assess the cumulative effects that would have resulted. This document is a general guidebook for applying this methodology and is for land managers interested in quantifying the impacts of fire suppression. Using this methodology will help land managers track the cumulative effects of suppression, frame future suppression decisions and costbenefit analyses in the context of past experiences, and communicate tradeoffs to the public, non-government organizations, land management agencies, and other interested parties.

  • Farris, Calvin, A.; Baisan, Christopher H.; Falk, Donald A.; Yool, Stephen R.; Swetnam, Thomas W. 2010. Spatial and temporal corroboration of a fire-scar-based fire history in a frequently burned ponderosa pine forest. Ecological Applications 20(6): 1598–1614.
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    Abstract for Farris, Calvin, A.; Baisan, Christopher H.; Falk, Donald A.; Yool, Stephen R.; Swetnam, Thomas W. (2010). Spatial and temporal corroboration of a fire-scar-based fire history in a frequently burned ponderosa pine forest

    Fire scars are used widely to reconstruct historical fire regime parameters in forests around the world. Because fire scars provide incomplete records of past fire occurrence at discrete points in space, inferences must be made to reconstruct fire frequency and extent across landscapes using spatial networks of fire-scar samples. Assessing the relative accuracy of fire-scar fire history reconstructions has been hampered due to a lack of empirical comparisons with independent fire history data sources. We carried out such a comparison in a 2780-ha ponderosa pine forest on Mica Mountain in southern Arizona (USA) for the time period 1937–2000. Using documentary records of fire perimeter maps and ignition locations, we compared reconstructions of key spatial and temporal fire regime parameters developed from documentary fire maps and independently collected fire-scar data (n ¼ 60 plots). We found that fire-scar data provided spatially representative and complete inventories of all major fire years (.100 ha) in the study area but failed to detect most small fires. There was a strong linear relationship between the percentage of samples recording fire scars in a given year (i.e., fire-scar synchrony) and total area burned for that year (y¼0.0003xþ0.0087, r2¼0.96). There was also strong spatial coherence between cumulative fire frequency maps interpolated from fire-scar data and ground-mapped fire perimeters. Widely reported fire frequency summary statistics varied little between fire history data sets: fire-scar natural fire rotations (NFR) differed by ,3 yr from documentary records (29.6 yr); mean fire return intervals (MFI) for large-fire years (i.e., _25% of study area burned) were identical between data sets (25.5 yr); fire-scar MFIs for all fire years differed by 1.2 yr from documentary records. The known seasonal timing of past fires based on documentary records was furthermore reconstructed accurately by observing intra-annual ring position of fire scars and using knowledge of tree-ring growth phenology in the Southwest. Our results demonstrate clearly that representative landscape-scale fire histories can be reconstructed accurately from spatially distributed fire-scar samples.

  • Grenon, Jill; Svalberg, Terry; Porwoll, Ted; Story, Mark. 2010. Lake and bulk sampling chemistry, NADP, and IMPROVE air quality data analysis on the Bridger-Teton National Forest (USFS Region 4). Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-248WWW. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 44 p.
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    View Abstract for Lake and bulk sampling chemistry, NADP, and IMPROVE air quality data analysis on the Bridger-Teton National Forest (USFS Region 4).

    Abstract for Grenon, Jill; Svalberg, Terry; Porwoll, Ted; Story, Mark; Landres, Peter. (2010). Lake and bulk sampling chemistry, NADP, and IMPROVE air quality data analysis on the Bridger-Teton National Forest (USFS Region 4).

    Air quality monitoring data from several programs in and around the Bridger-Teton (B-T) National Forest - National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP), longterm lake monitoring, long-term bulk precipitation monitoring (both snow and rain), and Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) - were analyzed in this report. Trends were analyzed using non-parametric tests and seasonality was taken into account when possible. Nitrate (NO3-) showed seasonal increasing trends in all sampled lake inlets, in atmospheric deposition at NADP sites and bulk sampling sites, and at two visibility sites. NADP sites showed consistent decreasing trends for both deposition and concentrations in SO42-, Na+, Mg2+, and Cl- and increasing trends in NH4+ and inorganic nitrogen deposition. Lake and bulk deposition chemistry data showed increasing trends in cations and decreasing trends in Cl-. Bulk deposition sites showed an increasing trend in NH4+. Standard Visual Range (SVR) showed an increasing trend and extinction showed a decreasing trend at all IMPROVE sites analyzed. In conclusion, considerations were listed regarding current and future air quality monitoring on the B-T National Forest.

  • Hall, Troy, Erin Seekamp and David Cole. 2010. Do recreation motivations and wilderness involvement relate to support for wilderness management? A segmentation analysis. Leisure Sciences 32: 109-124.
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    Abstract for Hall, Troy, Erin Seekamp and David Cole (2010). Do recreation motivations and wilderness involvement relate to support for wilderness management? A segmentation analysis

    Surveys show relatively little support for use restrictions to protect wilderness experiences. However, such conclusions based on aggregate data could hide important differences among visitors. Visitors with more wilderness-dependent trip motives were hypothesized to be more supportive of use restrictions. Using survey data from visitors to 13 wildernesses, cluster analysis of motivations and wilderness involvement generated three clusters that differed in sensitivity to social conditions and support for use restrictions. The group with motives most aligned with the Wilderness Act was slightly more adversely affected by social conditions and more supportive of regulations. However, none of the groups supported use restrictions to protect opportunities for solitude.

  • Hobbs, Richard J.; Zavaleta, Erika S.; Cole, David N.; White, Peter S. 2010. Evolving ecological understandings: The implications of ecosystem dynamics. In: Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie, eds. Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change. Washington DC: Island Press: 34-49.
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    Abstract for Hobbs, Richard J.; Zavaleta, Erika S.; Cole, David N.; White, Peter S. (2010). Evolving ecological understandings: The implications of ecosystem dynamics

    This is one of 15 chapters in a book that is available from Island Press. [Chapter 3]

  • Hossack BR, Adams MJ, Grant EHC, Pearl CA, Bettaso JB, Barichivich WJ, Lowe WH, True K, Ware JL, Corn PS. 2010. Low prevalence of chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) in amphibians of U.S. headwater streams. Journal of Herpetology 44:253–260.
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    Abstract for Hossack BR, Adams MJ, Grant EHC, Pearl CA, Bettaso JB, Barichivich WJ, Lowe WH, True K, Ware JL, Corn PS (2010). Low prevalence of chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) in amphibians of U.S. headwater streams

    Many declines of amphibian populations have been associated with chytridiomycosis, a disease caused by the aquatic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Despite the relatively high prevalence of chytridiomycosis in stream amphibians globally, most surveys in North America have focused primarily on wetland-associated species, which are frequently infected. To better understand the distribution and prevalence of Bd in headwater amphibian communities, we sampled 452 tailed frogs (Ascaphus truei and Ascaphus montanus) and 304 stream salamanders (seven species in the Dicamptodontidae and Plethodontidae) for Bd in 38, first- to third-order streams in five montane areas across the United States. We tested for presence of Bd by using PCR on skin swabs from salamanders and metamorphosed tailed frogs or the oral disc of frog larvae. We detected Bd on only seven individuals (0.93%) in four streams. Based on our study and results from five other studies that have sampled headwater- or seep-associated amphibians in the United States, Bd has been detected on only 3% of 1,322 individuals from 21 species. These results differ strongly from surveys in Central America and Australia, where Bd is more prevalent on stream-breeding species, as well as results from wetland-associated anurans in the same regions of the United States that we sampled. Differences in the prevalence of Bd between stream - and wetland -associated amphibians in the United States may be related to species-specific variation in susceptibility to chytridiomycosis or habitat differences.

  • Hossack, B. R., R. L. Newell, and C. R. Rogers. 2010. Branchiopods (Anostraca, Notostraca) from protected areas of western Montana. Northwest Science 84(1): 52-59.
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    Abstract for Hossack, B. R., R. L. Newell, and C. R. Rogers (2010). Branchiopods (Anostraca, Notostraca) from protected areas of western Montana

    We report fairy shrimp and tadpole shrimp collected during surveys for amphibians on Department of the Interior lands in western Montana from 2001 to 2008, primarily in Glacier National Park (NP). Glacier NP has an extensive history of limnological research, but wetland invertebrates have not been well documented (Newell and Hossack 2009). Although much of western North America has been surveyed for branchiopod crustaceans, most effort in Montana has focused on the Great Plains in the eastern portion of the state. We also provide an updated account of fairy shrimp and tadpole shrimp collected from Montana. More of Blake Hossack’s work can be found at his website: http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/staff/bhossack

  • Landres, P. 2010. Let it be: A hands-off approach to preserving wildness in protected areas. Pages 88-105 in Beyond Naturalness: Rethinking Park and Wilderness Stewardship in an Era of Rapid Change (D.N. Cole and L. Yung, editors). Island Press, Washington, DC.
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    Abstract for Landres, P. (2010). Let it be: A hands-off approach to preserving wildness in protected areas

    This chapter explores the origins and implications of the concept of “wildness” and a hands-off approach to managing for wildness in protected areas. This chapter first reviews current understanding about “wildness” and “the autonomy of nature” as the context for a hands-off approach. Next, the reason for leaving some areas alone, expressly because of global climate change and other novel ecological changes that are occurring, and the substantial and unique benefits to the land and people from this approach are discussed. Last, limitations and the specific conditions under which such an approach might be most feasible are explored. I conclude that while the hands-off alternative is not feasible in all areas, in some areas it is, and that more fully understanding what is gained and what is lost by such an approach fosters the opportunity to realize all the meanings and benefits of “natural” in the 21st Century.

  • Liljeblad, Adam; Borrie, Bill; Watson, Alan. 2010. Trust is a must: What is involved in trusting those who manage forest fires? Natural Inquirer (Wildland Fire Edition)(13):42-48.
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    Abstract for Liljeblad, Adam; Borrie, Bill; Watson, Alan (2010). Trust is a must: What is involved in trusting those who manage forest fires?

    In this study, the social scientists wondered about trust. What is trust? If you trust someone, why do you do so? The scientists wondered how much trust some citizens in Montana have in those who are making decisions about wildland fire. When social scientists develop questions to study, these questions always involve human beliefs, attitudes, values, or actions.

  • Monz, Christopher A.; Cole, David N.; Leung, Yu-Fai; Marion, Jeffrey L. 2010. Sustaining visitor use in protected areas: Future opportunities in recreation ecology research based on the USA experience. Environmental Management 45:551-562.
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    Abstract for Monz, Christopher A.; Cole, David N.; Leung, Yu-Fai; Marion, Jeffrey L. (2010). Sustaining visitor use in protected areas: Future opportunities in recreation ecology research based on the USA experience

    Recreation ecology, the study of environmental consequences of outdoor recreation activities and their effective management, is a relatively new field of scientific study having emerged over the last 50 years. During this time, numerous studies have improved our understanding of how use-related, environmental and managerial factors affect ecological conditions and processes. Most studies have focused on vegetation and soil responses to recreation-related trampling on trails and recreation sites using indicators such as percent vegetation cover and exposed mineral soil. This applied approach has and will continue to yield important information for land managers. However, for the field to advance, more attention needs to be given to other ecosystem attributes and to the larger aspects of environmental conservation occurring at landscape scales. This article is an effort at initiating a dialog on needed advances in the field. We begin by reviewing broadly generalizable knowledge of recreation ecology, to separate what is known from research gaps. Then, based on the authors’ perspective of research in the USA and North America, several research directions are suggested as essential for continued progress in this field including theoretical development, broadening scale, integration with other disciplines, and examination of synergistic effects.

  • Parisien, M.-A.; Miller, C.; Ager, A.A.; Finney, M.A. 2010. Use of artificial landscapes to isolate controls on burn probability. Landscape Ecology 25: 79-94.
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    Abstract for Parisien, M.-A.; Miller, C.; Ager, A.A.; Finney, M.A. (2010). Use of artificial landscapes to isolate controls on burn probability

    Techniques for modeling burn probability (BP) combine the stochastic components of fire regimes (ignitions and weather) with sophisticated fire growth algorithms to produce high-resolution spatial estimates of the relative likelihood of burning. Despite the numerous investigations of fire patterns from either observed or simulated sources, the specific influence of environmental factors on BP patterns is not well understood. This study examined the relative effects of ignitions, fuels, and weather on mean BP and spatial patterns in BP (i.e., BP variability) using highly simplified artificial landscapes and wildfire simulation methods. Our results showed that a limited set of inputs yielded a wide range of responses in the mean and spatial patterning of BP. The input factors contributed unequally to mean BP and to BP variability: so-called top-down controls (weather) primarily influenced mean BP, whereas bottom-up influences (ignitions and fuels) were mainly responsible for the spatial patterns of BP. However, confounding effects and interactions among factors suggest that fully separating top-down and bottom-up controls may be impossible. Furthermore, interactions among input variables produced unanticipated but explainable BP patterns, hinting at complex topological dependencies among the main determinants of fire spread and the resulting BP. The results will improve our understanding of the spatial ecology of fire regimes and help in the interpretation of patterns of fire likelihood on real landscapes as part of future wildfire risk assessments.

  • Parsons, David J. 2010. Managing Fire in Wilderness - Reflections from WILD9. International Journal of Wilderness 16(2):22-23.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2010). Managing Fire in Wilderness - Reflections from WILD9

    This article reflects on the experiences of the author at the 9th World Wilderness Congress, held in Merida, Mexico in 2009. It emphasizes the importance of wilderness and other similarly protected lands, and the science conducted in and about them, in the larger conservations agendas that were addressed at the Congress.

  • Parsons, David J. 2010. Reflections on WILD9. International Journal of Wilderness 16(1):32, 48.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2010). Reflections on WILD9

    This article reflects on the experiences of the author at the 9th World Wilderness Congress, held in Merida, Mexico in 2009. It emphasizes the importance of wilderness and other similarly protected lands, and the science conducted in and about them, in the larger conservations agendas that were addressed at the Congress.

  • Peter Landres, Mark Fincher, Lewis Sharman, Judy Alderson, Chris Barns, Tom Carlson, Richard L. Anderson, Susan Boudreau, David J. Parsons, Laurel Boyers, Kevin Hood. 2010. A framework to evaluate proposals for scientific activities in wilderness. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-234WWW. Fort Collins, CO.
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    Abstract for Peter Landres, Mark Fincher, Lewis Sharman, Judy Alderson, Chris Barns, Tom Carlson, Richard L. Anderson, Susan Boudreau, David J. Parsons, Laurel Boyers, Kevin Hood (2010). A framework to evaluate proposals for scientific activities in wilderness

    Every year, the four federal wilderness management agencies—U.S. DOI Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and the USDA Forest Service—receive hundreds of proposals to conduct scientific studies within wilderness. There is no consistent and comprehensive framework for evaluating such proposals that accounts for the unique legal requirements of conducting such work inside wilderness, specifically the primary mandate of the 1964 Wilderness Act to “preserve wilderness character.” This mandate demands that the standard for approving scientific activities be higher inside wilderness than in other areas. This evaluation framework provides an approach for thinking through and documenting how proposals for scientific activities in wilderness may be evaluated in these wilderness management agencies based on four sequential filters: (1) Initial Review Filter, (2) Quality of Proposal Filter, (3) Legal and Policy Filter, and (4) Impacts and Benefits Filter. By using this framework, managers and scientists alike know up-front how proposals will be evaluated, fostering better communication. This framework aims to reduce conflict, help make defensible decisions, and document how those decisions are made. Our goals in developing this framework are to increase the relevance of science to improving wilderness stewardship and to bring the benefits of wilderness to society while preserving wilderness character.

  • Pilliod DS, Hossack BR, Bahls PF, Bull EL, Corn PS, Hokit G, Maxell BA, Munger JC, Murphy P, Wyrick A. 2010. Non-native salmonids affect amphibian occupancy at multiple spatial scales. Diversity and Distributions 16:959–974.
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    Abstract for Pilliod DS, Hossack BR, Bahls PF, Bull EL, Corn PS, Hokit G, Maxell BA, Munger JC, Murphy P, Wyrick A. (2010). Non-native salmonids affect amphibian occupancy at multiple spatial scales

    The introduction of non-native species into aquatic environments has been linked with local extinctions and altered distributions of native species. We investigated the effect of non-native salmonids on the occupancy of two native amphibians, the long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) and Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris), across three spatial scales: water bodies, small catchments and large catchments. We surveyed 2267 water bodies across the northern Rocky Mountains for amphibian occupancy (based on evidence of reproduction) and fish presence between 1986 and 2002 and modeled the probability of amphibian occupancy at each spatial scale in relation to habitat availability and quality and fish presence. After accounting for habitat features, we estimated that A. macrodactylum was 2.3 times more likely to breed in fishless water bodies than in water bodies with fish. Ambystoma macrodactylum also was more likely to occupy small catchments where none of the water bodies contained fish than in catchments where at least one water body contained fish. However, the probability of salamander occupancy in small catchments was also influenced by habitat availability (i.e. the number of water bodies within a catchment) and suitability of remaining fishless water bodies. We found no relationship between fish presence and salamander occupancy at the large-catchment scale, probably because of increased habitat availability. In contrast to A. macrodactylum, we found no relationship between fish presence and R. luteiventris occupancy at any scale. Our results suggest that the negative effects of non-native salmonids can extend beyond the boundaries of individual water bodies and increase A. macrodactylum extinction risk at landscape scales. We suspect that niche overlap between non-native fish and A. macrodactylum at higher elevations in the northern Rocky Mountains.

  • Pilliod DS, Muths E, Scherer RD, Bartelt PE, Corn PS, Hossack BR, Lambert BA, McCaffery R, Gaughan C. 2010. Effects of amphibian chytrid fungus on individual survival probability in wild boreal toads. Conservation Biology 24:1259–1267.
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    Abstract for Pilliod DS, Muths E, Scherer RD, Bartelt PE, Corn PS, Hossack BR, Lambert BA, McCaffery R, Gaughan C. (2010). Effects of amphibian chytrid fungus on individual survival probability in wild boreal toads

    Chytridiomycosis is linked to the worldwide decline of amphibians, yet little is known about the demographic effects of the disease. We collected capture–recapture data on three populations of boreal toads ( Bufo boreas [Bufo = Anaxyrus]) in the Rocky Mountains (U.S.A.). Two of the populations were infected with chytridiomycosis and one was not. We examined the effect of the presence of amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis [Bd]; the agent of chytridiomycosis) on survival probability and population growth rate. Toads that were infected with Bd had lower average annual survival probability than uninfected individuals at sites where Bd was detected, which suggests chytridiomycosis may reduce survival by 31–42% in wild boreal toads. Toads that were negative for Bd at infected sites had survival probabilities comparable to toads at the uninfected site. Evidence that environmental covariates (particularly cold temperatures during the breeding season) influenced toad survival was weak. The number of individuals in diseased populations declined by 5–7%/year over the 6 years of the study, whereas the uninfected population had comparatively stable population growth. Our data suggest that the presence of Bd in these toad populations is not causing rapid population declines. Rather, chytridiomycosis appears to be functioning as a low-level, chronic disease whereby some infected individuals survive but the overall population effects are still negative. Our results show that some amphibian populations may be coexisting with Bd and highlight the importance of quantitative assessments of survival in diseased animal populations.

  • Reinhardt, E. D., Holsinger, L., & Keane, R. (2010). Effects of biomass removal treatments on stand-level fire characteristics in major forest types of the Northern Rocky Mountains. Western Journal of Applied Forestry, 25(1), 34-41.
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    Abstract for Reinhardt, E. D., Holsinger, L., & Keane, R. (2010). Effects of biomass removal treatments on stand-level fire characteristics in major forest types of the Northern Rocky Mountains.

    Removal of dead and live biomass from forested stands affects subsequent fuel dynamics and fire potential. The amount of material left onsite after biomass removal operations can influence the intensity and severity of subsequent unplanned wildfires or prescribed burns. We developed a set of biomass removal treatment scenarios and simulated their effects on a number of stands that represent two major forests types of the northern Rocky Mountains: lodgepole and ponderosa pine. The Fire and Fuels Extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator was used to simulate effects including stand development, fire behavior, and fire effects prior to the biomass removal treatment and 1, 10, 30, and 60 years after the treatment. Analysis of variance was used to determine whether these changes in fuel dynamics and fire potential differed significantly from each other. Results indicated that fire and fuel characteristics varied within and between forest types and depended on the nature of the treatment, as well as time since treatment. Biomass removal decreased fire potential in the short term, but results were mixed over the long term.

  • Reinhardt, E., & Holsinger, L. (2010). Effects of fuel treatments on carbon-disturbance relationships in forests of the northern Rocky Mountains. Forest Ecology and Management, 259(8), 1427-1435.
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    Abstract for Reinhardt, E., & Holsinger, L. (2010). Effects of fuel treatments on carbon-disturbance relationships in forests of the northern Rocky Mountains

    Fuel treatments alter conditions in forested stands at the time of the treatment and subsequently. Fuel treatments reduce on-site carbon and also change the fire potential and expected outcome of future wildfires, including their carbon emissions. We simulated effects of fuel treatments on 140 stands representing seven major habitat type groups of the northern Rocky Mountains using the Fire and Fuels Extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS). Changes in forest carbon due to mechanical fuel treatment (thinning from below to reduce ladder fuels) and prescribed fire were explored, as well as changes in expected fire behavior and effects of subsequent wildfire. Results indicated that fuel treatments decreased fire severity and crown fire occurrence and reduced subsequent wildfire emissions, but did not increase post-wildfire carbon stored on-site. Conversely, untreated stands had greater wildfire emissions but stored more carbon.

  • Schroeder, Sierra L.; Schneider, Ingrid E. 2010. Wildland fire and the wilderness visitor experience. International Journal of Wilderness 16(1):20-25.
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    Abstract for Schroeder, Sierra L.; Schneider, Ingrid E. (2010). Wildland fire and the wilderness visitor experience

    The purpose of this study was to understand wilderness visitors\' perceptions of wildland fire and describe visitors\' wilderness recreational experience following wildland fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Qualitative interviews revealed visitors\' perceptions of burned areas as well as if and how activities and behaviors were influenced by wildland fire occurrence. Results indicated that BWCAW visitors predominately perceived burned areas as interesting landscape features worthy of exploration. Route choices did not change due to burned areas but site selection and camping behaviors did. Wilderness planning and management implications include adjusting for spatial displacement and developing education material.

  • Stephenson, Nathan L.; Millar, Constance I.; Cole, David N. 2010. Shifting environmental foundations: The unprecedented and unpredictable future. In: Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie, eds. Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change. Washington DC: Island Press: 50-66.
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    Abstract for Stephenson, Nathan L.; Millar, Constance I.; Cole, David N. (2010). Shifting environmental foundations: The unprecedented and unpredictable future

    This is one of 15 chapters in a book that is available from Island Press. [Chapter 4]

  • Tarnay Lee W.; Davis, Brett H.; van Wagtendonk, Jan. 2010. Modeled and actual impacts of fire management on carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions in Yosemite National Park. In: Weber, Samantha, ed. Rethinking Protected Areas in a Changing World: Proceedings of the 2009 GWS Biennial Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites; 2009 March 1-6; Portland, OR. Proc. Hancock, Michigan: The George Wright Society: 93-100.
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    Abstract for Tarnay Lee W.; Davis, Brett H.; van Wagtendonk, Jan (2010). Modeled and actual impacts of fire management on carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions in Yosemite National Park

    How permanent is the carbon stored in fire-adapted forests of the Sierra Nevada? Can fire management affect carbon storage? Fire emissions are one of the greatest sources in uncertainty in greenhouse gas budgets of forested landscapes in the Sierra Nevada. Using site-specific fire severity, post-fire vegetation succession models, and fire spread modeling, this work outlines a potential framework that accounts for fire processes and distinguishes between transient vs. permanent fire emissions on fire-adapted landscapes. Such tools will be necessary for managers to quantify the permanent carbon stored on their landscapes as well as the magnitude of that landscape’s potential greenhouse gas emissions under different fire management strategies.

  • van Wagtendonk, Kent.; Davis Brett H. 2010. Revisiting spatial patterns of lightning strikes and fires in Yosemite National Park. In: Weber, Samantha, ed. Rethinking Protected Areas in a Changing World: Proceedings of the 2009 GWS Biennial Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites; 2009 March 1-6; Portland, OR. Proc. Hancock, Michigan: The George Wright Society: 125-130.
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    Abstract for van Wagtendonk, Kent.; Davis Brett H. (2010). Revisiting spatial patterns of lightning strikes and fires in Yosemite National Park

    In 2008, California experienced a dry lightning episode on June 21st that produced over 1,000 ignitions. During that time Yosemite National Park had one start which was suppressed. In early July, as California was experiencing smoke impacts from the June fires, Yosemite received 11 lightning ignitions over a five day period. A decision was made to suppress all but 2 of these fires, despite originating in the Fire Use Unit, due to air quality and resource availability concerns. This investigation provides an update to the spatial and temporal analysis performed by Jan van Wagtendonk (1993) using current fire data to show contributing factors in the size and complexity of fires in Yosemite. The results can be used to assist land managers to assess the value of allowing natural fire to remain on the fire adapted landscape of the Sierra Nevada in the face of global change and Appropriate Management Response.

  • White, Peter S.; Yung, Laurie; Cole, David N.; Hobbs, Richard J. 2010. Conservation at large scales: Systems of protected areas and protected areas in the matrix. In: Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie, eds. Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change. Washington DC: Island Press: 197-215.
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    Abstract for White, Peter S.; Yung, Laurie; Cole, David N.; Hobbs, Richard J. (2010). Conservation at large scales: Systems of protected areas and protected areas in the matrix

    This is one of 15 chapters in a book that is available from Island Press. [Chapter 12]

  • Whittaker, D.; Shelby, B.; Manning, R.; Cole, D.; Haas, G. 2010. Capacity reconsidered: Finding consensus and clarifying differences. Marienville, PA: National Association of Recreation Resource Planners. 22 p.
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    Abstract for Whittaker, D.; Shelby, B.; Manning, R.; Cole, D.; Haas, G. (2010). Capacity reconsidered: Finding consensus and clarifying differences

    This monograph documents the "state-of-knowledge" understanding of capacity among our group of long-term professionals, who represent a wide range of experience and perspectives. The first section defines capacity as "the amount and type of use that is compatible with the management prescription for an area," and elaborates on the elements of that definition. The main body of the monograph describes 34 agreements about the larger planning context, the definition of capacity, benefits of capacity, indicators and standards, and the roles of these concepts in resource planning and management. The third section identifies issues needing resolution, including four "differences we resolved" and five "differences that remain."

  • Yang, He; Hutchinson, Susan; Zinn, Harry; Watson, Alan. 2011. Discretionary Time of Chinese College Students: Activities and Impact of SARS-Induced Constraints on Choices. Social Indicators Research 102(3): 517-535, DOI: 10.1007/s11205-010-9691-7.
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    Abstract for Yang, He; Hutchinson, Susan; Zinn, Harry; Watson, Alan (2010). Discretionary Time of Chinese College Students: Activities and Impact of SARS-Induced Constraints on Choices

    How people make choices about activity engagement during discretionary time is a topic of increasing interest to those studying quality of life issues. Assuming choices are made to maximize individual welfare, several factors are believed to influence these choices. Constraints theory from the leisure research literature suggests these choices are heavily influenced by intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural constraints. Within these constraints, the individual is motivated to make choices that maximize perceived personal welfare. Leisure affordance theory focuses on these motivations by suggesting the importance of more positive influences on choices within a set of constraints. In this study, an inventory of discretionary time activities and reasons for choosing these activities were documented for a sample of Chinese college students. Because data were collected during an unanticipated SARS epidemic, the impact of the SARS crisis on students’ daily choices was also examined in detail. Despite the constraints imposed by SARS and the attendant suspension of off-campus activities, some students did not perceive a change of daily life as a result, while others perceived positive changes in attitudes and behavior. Findings shed light on students’ experiences during a time of rapid change in Chinese society and higher education. Decisions made during this influential time of life are important because they may affect students’ future choices related to leisure and discretionary time.

  • Yung, Laurie; Cole, David N.; Graber, David M.; Parsons, David J.; Tonnessen, Kathy A. 2010. Changing policies and practices: The challenge of managing for naturalness. In: Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie, eds. Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change. Washington DC: Island Press: 67-83.
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    Abstract for Yung, Laurie; Cole, David N.; Graber, David M.; Parsons, David J.; Tonnessen, Kathy A. (2010). Changing policies and practices: The challenge of managing for naturalness

    This is one of 15 chapters in the book, Beyond naturalness. [Chapter 5]

  • Yung, Laurie; Cole, David N.; Hobbs, Richard J. 2010. A path forward: Conserving protected areas in the context of global environmental change. In: Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie, eds. Beyond naturalness: Rethinking park and wilderness stewardship in an era of rapid change. Washington DC: Island Press: 252-269.
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    Abstract for Yung, Laurie; Cole, David N.; Hobbs, Richard J. (2010). A path forward: Conserving protected areas in the context of global environmental change

    This is one of 15 chapters in a book that is available from Island Press. [Chapter 15]

  • Black, Anne .E.; Gebert, Krista; McCaffrey, Sarah; Steelman, Toddi; and Janie Canton-Thompson. 2009. A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Fire Management Strategy, Suppression Costs, Community Interaction, and Organizational Performance. Fire Management Today 69(2): 11-14.
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    Abstract for Black, Anne .E.; Gebert, Krista; McCaffrey, Sarah; Steelman, Toddi; and Janie Canton-Thompson (2009). A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Fire Management Strategy, Suppression Costs, Community Interaction, and Organizational Performance

    Wildland fire management must balance the multiple objectives of protecting life, property, and resources; reducing hazardous fuels; and restoring ecosystems – all under an increasingly constrained budget. Over the past several years, federal fire agencies have emphasized use of the full range of management flexibility -from full perimeter control and aggressive suppression to monitoring and point protection - to meet these objectives while responding to wildland fire. While the strategies and tactics themselves are not new, wider use by Federal agencies, particularly on multi-jurisdiction events and in areas adjacent to private lands, has raised concerns among partners and stakeholders. How effective is the new emphasis? Is it affecting the bottom-line, and if so, for whom? How successful are we regarding land management objectives or safety? How well are we communicating intent with our key partners and the public, and what message is being received? In this article, we describe our current work to assess the utility of available data to reflect on the performance of fire management.

  • Black, Anne E. 2009. The Key Decision Log: Facilitating High Reliability and Organizational Learning. 2009. Fire Management Today. 69(2): 5-10.
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    Abstract for Black, Anne E. (2009). The Key Decision Log: Facilitating High Reliability and Organizational Learning

    The Key Decision Log (KDL)’s purpose is to facilitate continuous learning in fire management processes and outcomes. It arose out of a dual desire to continually improve organizational performance and to meet societal demands for transparency in decision-making. This article describes the Key Decision Log, its concept, intent, scientific basis, how it was applied in 2008, and where the practice and application is headed.

  • Black, Anne E. 2009. Learning From Wilderness: The Social Dimension of Fire Management. International Journal of Wilderness 15(1):34-36.
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    Abstract for Black, Anne E. (2009). Learning From Wilderness: The Social Dimension of Fire Management

    Recent federal fire policy changes to eliminate management distinctions between ’good’ and ’bad’ fires on the landscape actually represents a profound shift in organizational structure and culture, with implications for how we receive and allocate budgets to manage natural ignitions, how we coordinate and communicate with internal and external partners, how we understand and predict fire behavior, and how we weigh competing priorities and objectives in the decision-making process. Success hinges on the manager’s abilities to safely, effectively, and efficiently manage a highly dynamic, high stakes situation reliably. The shift takes the fire manager out of the safe terrain of heroic figure doing battle with nature’s forces to the much trickier territory of shepherding both parts of the system. Learning to manage ‘fire as fire’ has much of both art and science. It requires learning about managing ourselves – what it takes to refrain from doing everything possible, how to transition between aggressive action and monitoring, how to communicate intent, what to pay attention to and how to determine appropriate action. Combining practice with structured reflection, as through applied and action research projects, offers a powerful way to proceed. This article, which is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness, discusses recent contributions from applied and basic research - which often draw directly from wilderness fire management experiences.

  • Black, Anne E.; Kathleen Sutcliffe; and Michelle Barton. 2009. After Action Reviews - who conducts them? Fire Management Today 69(3): 15-17.
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    Abstract for Black, Anne E.; Kathleen Sutcliffe; and Michelle Barton (2009). After Action Reviews - who conducts them?

    Reflecting on the links between intentions and outcomes is a key practice of a learning organization (Garvin 2000). The After-Action Review (AAR) is a formal reflection process intended to assist groups in capturing lessons learned from a task. The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center sponsored training workshops on AARs for the fire community in 2002. How widely has the practice been implemented? Are all levels and all functions in the fire organization conducting AARs? How good are AARs as currently practiced at getting at root causes of discrepancies, and is the practice having a positive impact on performance? This article reports on initial analyses of a survey we conducted of 668 randomly selected survey participants from across the country about their AAR practices.

  • Carver, Steve; Watson, Alan; Waters, Tim; Matt, Roian; Gunderson, Kari; Davis, Brett. 2009. Developing computer-based participatory approaches to mapping landscape values for landscape and resource management. In: Planning Support Systems Best Practice and New Methods. Series: GeoJournal Library , Vol. 95. Geertman, Stan; Stillwell, John Charles Harold (Eds.) 2009, XXII, 490 p. Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-8951-0. Available online: http://www.springerlink.com/content/v1748t364270jn22
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    Abstract for Carver, Steve; Watson, Alan; Waters, Tim; Matt, Roian; Gunderson, Kari; Davis, Brett (2009). Developing computer-based participatory approaches to mapping landscape values for landscape and resource management

    In order to implement wildland fire-use plans in wilderness areas, adjacent lands objectives must be articulated and protected. On the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, USA, the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness is bordered on one side by a buffer zone, designated to protect the wilderness from human activities. A web-based mapping exercise employing fuzzy mapping methods has been developed that allows Reservation residents to describe and locate those places that hold meanings to them and describe their perceptions of threats to these places. Results from this will be used in focus group discussions with forest managers about fuel treatments. To build trust among both tribal and non-tribal residents, fire planners must understand how proposed actions interact with human meanings ascribed to the land and describe a prioritization process that addresses publicly perceived threats. Results are presented and suggestions made as to how this kind of approach could benefit similar resource management problems elsewhere in the world.

  • Cole, David N. 2009. Ecological Impacts of Wilderness Recreation and Their Management. In: C.P. Dawson and J.C. Hendee (2009) Wilderness Management: Stewardship and Protection of Resources and Values, fourth edition. Fulcrum Press, Golden, Co. Pp. 395-438.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2009). Ecological Impacts of Wilderness Recreation and Their Management

    Four parallel trails gouged into a wildflower-dotted alpine meadow, denuded campsites with severe soil erosion, numerous trees battered and scarred by tethered livestock. Such recreational impacts are all too common in wilderness. Wilderness management to prevent and restore such impacts is a challenge and directly related to managing for quality wilderness experiences. This chapter begins with a discussion of the significance of recreational impacts, its purpose being to bring recreation impacts into perspective with other wilderness management problems. This discussion is followed by a description of important types of recreational impacts, those caused by trampling, campfires, construction and maintenance of trails, pack animals, wildlife disturbance, and water pollution and disposal of human waste. The remainder of the chapter deals with impacts associated with campsites, trails, pack and saddle stock, and alternative management responses to problems based on ecological impacts. The examples in this chapter are largely drawn from the author’s experience in the western United States. The international literature was consulted to assess the degree to which these examples are typical, and if it was possible to generalize the management implications. Other examples and studies are included where western U.S. results are not broadly applicable.

  • Cole, David N., Ferguson, Thomas E. 2009. A relatively nonrestrictive approach to reducing campsite impact: Caney Creek Wilderness, Arkansas. International Journal of Wilderness 15(1): 20-25.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N., Ferguson, Thomas E. (2009). A relatively nonrestrictive approach to reducing campsite impact: Caney Creek Wilderness, Arkansas

    An excessive number of highly impacted campsites led managers of the Caney Creek Wilderness to attempt to reduce campsite impacts with a program of trail relocation, education, closure of selected campsites, and site restoration. The strategy involved increasing the concentration of use somewhat, without resorting to the restrictiveness of a designated campsite policy. To assess success, all campsites in the wilderness were inventoried in 1994 and their condition was assessed. A subsequent reassessment of campsites, in 2007, indicated the management program was highly successful. The total number of campsites was reduced by 40% and the number of highly impacted campsites declined substantially.

  • Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. 2009. Perceived effects of setting attributes on visitor experiences in wilderness: Variation with situational context and visitor characteristics. Environmental Management 44: 24-26.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. (2009). Perceived effects of setting attributes on visitor experiences in wilderness: Variation with situational context and visitor characteristics

    Understanding how setting attributes influence the nature of the visitor experience is crucial to effective recreation management. Highly influential attributes are useful indicators to monitor within a planning framework, such as Limits of Acceptable Change. This study sought to identify the setting attributes perceived to have the most profound effect on the ability to have “a real wilderness experience” and to assess the degree to which attribute importance varied with situational context and visitor characteristics. To this end, exiting hikers were surveyed at moderate and very high use trailheads in Alpine Lakes Wilderness, WA, and Three Sisters Wilderness, OR. They were asked about the degree to which encountering varying levels of different setting attributes would add to or detract from their experience. Attributes with the largest range of effect on experience, based on evaluations of different levels, were considered most important. The most influential attributes were litter and several types of campsite interaction—people walking through camp and number of other groups camping close by. The perceived importance of setting attributes did not vary much between wilderness locations with substantially different use levels, suggesting that conclusions are robust and generalizable across wilderness areas. There also was little difference in the perceptions of day and overnight visitors. In contrast, we found substantial variation in the perceived importance of setting attributes with variation in wilderness experience, knowledge, attachment and motivation. Our results validate the emphasis of many wilderness management plans on indicators of social interaction, such as number of encounters.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen. 2009. Selection of species and sampling areas: the importance of inference. In: C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr, editor, Amphibian ecology and conservation, a handbook of techniques. Oxford, U.K., Oxford University Press. Pp. 431–446.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen (2009). Selection of species and sampling areas: the importance of inference

    The path to strong inference leads through good study design that incorporates probabilistic sampling from a well-defined population. Inventory and, especially, monitoring studies stray from this path when scientific rigor is sacrificed to logistic constraints and convenience in data collection. Tension often exists between the field biologist and the consulting statistician regarding the requirements of good study design and the logistical realities of data collection. Having been on the field biologist side of the argument, I can testify that the attitude summarized by, “Yes, we realize valid sample selection is important, and it would be nice, but we have to collect data from the real world”, is fairly common. Constraints in site selection can be incorporated into study design, such as by stratifying based on accessibility, and the resulting analysis can test hypotheses about whether populations that are easily accessible differ from those that are not. The perils of convenience sampling also apply to choice of life stage to study or explanatory variables to incorporate in a model. The easiest life stage to study may not be the same one that is most sensitive to external factors, and variables should not be included in a model simply because the data are available. There is no “magic bullet” for sampling amphibians. No single technique encompasses the variety of life histories of amphibians or the habitats in which they can be found. Occupancy analysis provides a useful tool for avoiding the pitfalls of using simple count data or the logistic difficulties of obtaining unbiased estimates of abundance, but it is not a panacea. Ultimately, the design that allows the strongest inference will be one that avoids convenience sampling and minimizes untested assumptions when the data are analyzed.

  • Davis, B. H., J. van Wagtendonk, J. Beck and K. van Wagtendonk. 2009. Modeling Fuel Fuccession. Fire Management Today. 69(2): 18-21.
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    Abstract for Davis, B. H., J. van Wagtendonk, J. Beck and K. van Wagtendonk (2009). Modeling Fuel Succession

    Surface fuels data are of critical importance for fire incident management, risk assessment and fuel management planning. For spatially large areas they can be very expensive and time consuming to develop. Due to the consumption of fuels by fire and the accumulation of fuels in the absence of fire, these data can quickly become obsolete. This paper describes a methodology for keeping surface fuels data up to date by accounting for consumption and accumulation of fuels on a year to year basis.

  • Dvorak, R.G., Borrie, W.T. and Watson, A.E. (2011) “Threats and Changes Affecting Human Relationships with Wilderness: What are the Implications for Management?” In Watson, A.E.; Murrieta-Saldivar, J., comps. 2009. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Ninth World Wilderness Congress Symposium; 2009 6-13 November; Meridá, Mexico. Proceedings RMRS-P-64. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
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    Abstract for Dvorak, R.G., Borrie, W.T. and Watson, A.E. (2009). Threats and Changes Affecting Human Relationships with Wilderness: Implications for Management

    For wilderness managers, the ability to recognize threats and changing conditions is vital. While these threats are typically associated with resource and social conditions, they can also be investigated relative to wilderness relationships. This paper explores how threats and changes may be affecting human relationships with wilderness and the possible implications for management. Previously, threats have been conceptualized as affecting ecosystem integrity or stakeholder values. This paper suggests these conceptualizations should be expanded to also consider the meanings and relationships attributed to wilderness. From such a lens, threats such as global climate change, wildland fire, and invasive species can dramatically influence both the wilderness landscape and the meanings associated with its character. They fundamentally alter the place in ways that conflict with personal histories and previous experiences. Thus, managers must be charged with finding ways to protect and foster these human relationships. Addressing threats to these relationships may also require managers to develop approaches that mitigate or adapt to these relationships over time. These approaches need to proactively define and protect a diversity of meanings and values to ensure ongoing human relationships with wilderness.

  • Goebel, Anna M., Tom A. Ranker, Paul Stephen Corn, and Richard G. Olmstead. 2009. Mitochondrial DNA evolution in the Anaxyrus boreas species group. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 50:209–225.
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    Abstract for Goebel, Anna M., Tom A. Ranker, Paul Stephen Corn, and Richard G. Olmstead (2009). Mitochondrial DNA evolution in the Anaxyrus boreas species group

    The Anaxyrus boreas species group currently comprises four species in western North America including the broadly distributed A. boreas, and three localized species, Anaxyrus nelsoni, Anaxyrus exsul and Anaxyrus canorus. Phylogenetic analyses of the mtDNA 12S rDNA, cytochrome oxidase I, control region, and restriction sites data, identified three major haplotype clades. The Northwest clade (NW) includes both subspecies of A. boreas and divergent minor clades in the middle Rocky Mountains, coastal, and central regions of the west and Pacific Northwest. The Southwest (SW) clade includes A. exsul, A. nelsoni, and minor clades in southern California. Anaxyrus canorus, previously identified as paraphyletic, has populations in both the NW and SW major clades. The Eastern major clade (E) includes three divergent lineages from southern Utah, the southern Rocky Mountains, and north of the Great Basin at the border of Utah and Nevada. These results identify new genetic variation in the eastern portion of the toad’s range and are consistent with previous regional studies from the west coast. Low levels of control region sequence divergence between major clades (2.2–4.7% uncorrected pair-wise distances) are consistent with Pleistocene divergence and suggest that the phylogeographic history of the group was heavily influenced by dynamic Pleistocene glacial and climatic changes, and especially pluvial changes, in western North America. Results reported here may impact conservation plans in that the current taxonomy does not reflect the diversity in the group.

  • Hobbs, Richard. J.; Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie; Zavaleta, Erika S.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Chapin III, F. Stuart; Landres, Peter B.; Parsons, David J.; Stephensen, Nathan L.; White, Peter S.; Graber, David M.; Higgs, Eric S.; Millar, Constance I.; Randall, John M.; Tonnessen, Kathy A.; Woodley, Stephen. 2010. Guiding concepts for Park and wilderness stewardship in an era of global environmental change. Frontiers of Ecology and the Environment (2010) 8(9): 483–490. (published online 2 Dec 2009; doi:10.1890/090089)
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    Abstract for Hobbs, Richard. J.; Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie; Zavaleta, Erika S.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Chapin III, F. Stuart; Landres, Peter B.; Parsons, David J.; Stephensen, Nathan L.; White, Peter S.; Graber, David M.; Higgs, Eric S.; Millar, Constance I.; Randall, (2009). Guiding concepts for Park and wilderness stewardship in an era of global environmental change

    The key challenge to stewardship of park and wilderness ecosystems is to decide where, when and how to intervene in physical and biological processes to conserve what we value in these places. To make such decisions, planners and managers must more clearly articulate park purposes, what is valued and what needs to be sustained. A key aim for conservation today is the maintenance and restoration of biodiversity, but a broader range of values are likely to be considered important, such as ecological integrity, resilience, historical fidelity, and nature’s autonomy. Until recently the concept of naturalness was the central idea providing guidance to make such decisions. However, the concept of naturalness is multi-faceted and often means different things to different people, including notions of historical fidelity and autonomy from human influence. Achieving the goal of nature conservation intended for protected areas requires a clear articulation of management objectives, which must be geared to the realities of the rapid environmental changes currently underway. We advocate a pluralistic approach that incorporates a suite of guiding principles, including historical fidelity, autonomy, humility, ecological integrity, and resilience.

  • Holt, J.T.; Christenson, D.; Black, A.; Fay, B.; Round, K. 2009. Initial Impressions from the Northern California 2008 Lightning Siege: A report by a Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center Information Collection Team. Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, Tucson, AZ. Available online: http://www.wildfirelessons.net/documents/Initial_Impressions_NorCal_2008_Lightning_Siege.pdf. 51p. 1.39 MB
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    Abstract for Holt, J.T.; Christenson, D.; Black, A.; Fay, B.; Round, K (2009). Initial Impressions from the Northern California 2008 Lightning Siege: A report by a Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center Information Collection Team

    The 2008 northern California lightning siege was a “surprise” due to this event’s size and duration. However, we need look no further than the historical fire regime in northern California to realize that last summer’s lightning event could happen again--even within a few years. This region is known for its high frequency of fire, both on CalFire and National Forest administered lands. CalFire statistics from 1933 to 2006 reveal that the five-year average for fire frequency is 5,685 fires a year.

  • Hossack BR, Muths E, Anderson CW, Kirshtein JA, Corn PS. 2009. Distribution limits of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis: a case study in the Rocky Mountains, USA. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 45:1198–1202.
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    Abstract for Hossack BR, Muths E, Anderson CW, Kirshtein JA, Corn PS (2009). Distribution limits of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis: a case study in the Rocky Mountains, USA

    Knowledge of the environmental constraints on a pathogen is critical to predicting its dynamics and effects on populations. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), an aquatic fungus that has been linked with widespread amphibian declines, is ubiquitous in the Rocky Mountains. As part of assessing the distribution limits of Bd in our study area, we sampled the water column and sediments for Bd zoospores in 30 high-elevation water bodies that lacked amphibians. All water bodies were in areas where Bd has been documented from neighboring, lower-elevation areas. We targeted areas lacking amphibians because existence of Bd independent of amphibians would have both ecologic and management implications. We did not detect Bd, which supports the hypothesis that it does not live independently of amphibians. However, assuming a detection sensitivity of 59.5% (based on sampling of water where amphibians tested positive for Bd), we only had 95% confidence of detecting Bd if it was in ?16% of our sites. Further investigation into potential abiotic reservoirs is needed, but our results provide a strategic step in determining the distributional and environmental limitations of Bd in our study region.

  • Keane, R.E., P.F. Hessburg, P.B. Landres, and F.J. Swanson. 2009. The use of historical range and variability (HRV) in landscape management. Forest Ecology and Management 258:1025-1037.
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    Abstract for Keane, R.E., P.F. Hessburg, P.B. Landres, and F.J. Swanson (2009). The use of historical range and variability (HRV) in landscape management

    This paper examines the past, present, and future use of the concept of historical range and variability (HRV) in land management. The history, central concepts, benefits, and limitations of HRV are presented along with a discussion on the value of HRV in a changing world with rapid climate warming, exotic species invasions, and increased land development. This paper is meant as a reference on the strengths and limitations of applying HRV in land management. Applications of the HRV concept have specific contexts, constraints, and conditions that are relevant to any application and are influential to the extent to which the concept is applied. These conditions notwithstanding, we suggest that the HRV concept offers an objective reference for many applications, and it still offers a comprehensive reference for the short-term and possible long-term management of our nation’s landscapes until advances in technology and ecological research provide more suitable and viable approaches in theory and application.

  • Landres, P. 2009. The Wilderness Debate Rages On: Continuing the Great New Wilderness Debate. Book review in Ecological Restoration 27(3):364-367.
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    Abstract for Landres, P. (2009). The Wilderness Debate Rages On: Continuing the Great New Wilderness Debate

    The Wilderness Debate Rages On is a collection of mostly previously published papers about the meaning, value, and role of wilderness and continues the discussion that was propelled by the editors’ previous book The Great New Wilderness Debate (also a collection of papers) published in 1998. The editors state that this sequel to their previous book is mandated because “this debate over the concept of wilderness continues to rage” (p. 4). The “debate” in both titles is between those who think that the idea of wilderness is an anachronism that is no longer valid or appropriate in today’s world and those who continue to defend the idea of wilderness. This book review summarizes the content of the book and describes many substantive and editorial problems with the book. The review concludes that “The Wilderness Debate Rages On doesn’t offer what I would consider a balanced set of papers that examine the depths and nuances of the debate over the idea of wilderness. Similarly, the either or framing of central issues doesn’t help us understand the value and role of wilderness in our world today or move us towards asking better questions about these relationships. In contrast, the papers by Adams, Lutz Warren, Turner, Smith, Belsky, and Ouderkirk were gems that deserve to be widely read by anyone interested in understanding our complex and vital relationship to the idea and place of wilderness.

  • Landres, P. 2009. A new tool to evaluate proposals for climate change research in U.S. Wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness 15(3):29-30.
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    Abstract for Landres, P. (2009). A new tool to evaluate proposals for climate change research in U.S. Wilderness

    This article briefly summarizes a new framework designed for management staff to evaluate proposals for climate change research inside wilderness in the United States. This evaluation framework is based on four sequential filters: (1) Initial Review Filter, (2) Quality of Proposal Filter, (3) Legal and Policy Filter, and (4) Impacts and Benefits Filter. This article is based on a much larger publication available at http://winapps.umt.edu/winapps/media2/leopold/pubs/686.pdf.

  • Landres, P., S. Boutcher, L. Dean, T. Hall, T. Blett, T. Carlson, A. Mebane, C. Hardy, S. Rinehart, L. Merigliano, D. N. Cole, A. Leach, P. Wright, D. Bumpus. 2009. Technical Guide for Monitoring Selected Conditions Related to Wilderness Character. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report WO-80, 282 pp.
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    Abstract for Landres, P., S. Boutcher, T. Blett, D. Bumpus, T. Carlson, D. Cole, L. Dean, T. Hall, C. Hardy, A. Leach, A. Mebane, L. Merigliano, S. Rinehart, and P. Wright (2009). Technical Guide for Monitoring Selected Conditions Related to Wilderness Character

    This document describes, in great detail, how to monitor trends in wilderness character. This monitoring will help wilderness managers—from field staff to the Washington Office—improve wilderness stewardship by providing information on key indicators that link directly to the statutory requirements of the Wilderness Act and agency policy to “preserve wilderness character.” This information will help answer key questions about the outcomes of wilderness stewardship: How is wilderness character changing over time? How do stewardship actions affect this change in wilderness character? This document describes 24 measures that may be used to monitor trends in wilderness character, why these measures were selected, where the data would come from, how the data would be analyzed, and ultimately how trends would be interpreted. This monitoring is based on the following key concepts: The primary purpose of this monitoring is to improve wilderness stewardship. This monitoring is nationally consistent and locally relevan.This monitoring is based on qualities of wilderness derived from the section 2(c) definition of wildernessIndicators and measures were selected to be relevant, reliable, and cost effective. The baseline for evaluating change is the time of wilderness designation or the first time this monitoring protocol is applied. Wildernesses will not be compared with one another and no national standards for wilderness character will be developed. Decision rules are used to synthesize across indicators, questions, and qualities to evaluate trends in wilderness character.

  • Liljeblad, A., Borrie, W.T. and Watson, A.E. 2009. Determinants of trust for public lands: fire and fuels management on the Bitterroot National Forest. Environmental Management 43(4):571-584.
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    Abstract for Liljeblad, Adam., Borrie, William T. and Watson, Alan E. (2009). Determinants of trust for public lands: fire and fuels management on the Bitterroot National Forest

    Management of public lands occurs today with high levels of scrutiny and controversy. To succeed, managers seek the support, involvement, and endorsement of the public. This study examines trust as an indicator of managerial success and attempts to identify and measure the components that most influence it. A review of trust literature yielded 14 attributes that were hypothesized to contribute to trust, grouped into the three dimensions of Shared Norms and Values, Willingness to Endorse, and Perceived Efficacy. Operationalizing these attributes and dimensions, a telephone survey was administered to a sample of Montana, USA, residents living adjacent to the Bitterroot National Forest (n = 1,152). Each of the attributes was measured in the context of federal lands fire and fuel management. Structural equation modeling showed that all 14 attributes were found to be influential contributors to levels of trust. Results suggest that if managers are to maintain or increase levels of public trust, they need to consider each of trust’s attributes as they make social, ecological, and economic resource decisions.

  • Manley, PN., Parks, SA., Campbell, LA & MD Schlesinger. 2009. Modeling development as a continuum to address fine-grained heterogeneity in urbanizing landscapes. Landscape and Urban Planning, 89:28-36.721.
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    Abstract for Manley, PN., Parks, SA., Campbell, LA & MD Schlesinger (2009). Modeling development as a continuum to address fine-grained heterogeneity in urbanizing landscapes

    Natural landscapes are increasingly subjected to impacts associated with urbanization, resulting in loss and degradation of native ecosystems and biodiversity. Traditional classification approaches to the characterization of urbanization may prove inadequate in some human-modified landscapes where complex and unique combinations of conditions can make classification and delineation of patches difficult. We describe a model that depicts existing human development as a fine-grained continuous variable using parcel-based land use data and transportation networks. We derived percent development values across our 88 000-ha study area, the Lake Tahoe basin. Our modeled values were highly correlated with observed levels of development based on high-resolution aerial photographs. We demonstrate how our model of development can be used to address practical conservation questions by evaluating the potential effects of highly interspersed urban land development and wildland conditions on the amount and availability of habitat suitable for the resident California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) at two points in time (current and 40 years in the future). The results indicated that assessments not accounting for the indirect effects of development may overestimate the amount of available habitat by 19–83%. Portraying urbanization as a continuum across entire landscapes captured fine-grained landscape complexity at scales that were relevant to the habitat needs and environmental sensitivities of a species of conservation interest. This relatively simple approach should aid ecologists and landscape planners in evaluating the current or future effects of urbanization on ecological elements and processes.

  • Martin, Vance G. and Alan Watson. 2009. International Wilderness. In: C.P. Dawson and J.C. Hendee (2009) Wilderness Management: Stewardship and Protection of Resources and Values, fourth edition. Fulcrum Press, Golden, Co. Pp. 50-88. This book is available from http://www.fulcrum-books.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=5996 Fulcrum Publishing.
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    Abstract for Martin, Vance G. and Alan Watson (2009). International Wilderness

    In this chapter, we describe the values of wilderness in the twenty-first century and its spread and adoption throughout the world. We review international approaches to protecting wilderness landscapes and then describe the wilderness designation and protection efforts in some countries and world regions. Finally, we emphasize progress in the 1990s and look at some of the major problems facing the wilderness idea in other countries, particularly the challenge of meeting basic human needs and winning support of the local people while protecting wildlands in developing nations.

  • Miller, C.; Davis, B. 2009. Quantifying the consequences of fire suppression in two California national parks. The George Wright Forum 26(1): 76-88.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol; Davis, Brett (2009). Quantifying the consequences of fire suppression in two California national parks

    Management actions to suppress lightning-ignited wildfires remove one of the most important natural processes from fire-dependent ecosystems, and yet resource specialists currently have no way of measuring or monitoring the effects of these actions. We used retrospective fire behavior modeling and a Fire Return Interval Departure (FRID) to quantify the consequences of 11 years (1994-2004) of fire suppression for case study watersheds in Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. Results suggest that the effects of suppression have been dramatic on these landscapes. Modeling results suggest that substantially lower values of FRID would exist if fires had been allowed to burn. This retrospective modeling approach is a quantitative method that park managers can use to better understand, measure, and track the cumulative effects of their decisions from year to year.

  • Murphy PJ, St-Hilaire S, Bruer S, Corn PS, Peterson CR. 2009. Distribution and pathogenicity of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in boreal toads from the Grand Teton area of western Wyoming. EcoHealth 6:109–120.
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    Abstract for Murphy PJ, St-Hilaire S, Bruer S, Corn PS, Peterson CR (2009). Distribution and pathogenicity of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in boreal toads from the Grand Teton area of western Wyoming

    The pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which causes the skin disease chytridiomycosis, has been linked to amphibian population declines and extinctions worldwide. Bd has been implicated in recent declines of boreal toads, Bufo boreas boreas, in Colorado but populations of boreal toads in western Wyoming have high prevalence of Bd without suffering catastrophic mortality. In a field and laboratory study, we investigated the prevalence of Bd in boreal toads from the Grand Teton ecosystem (GRTE) in Wyoming and tested the pathogenicity of Bd to these toads in several environments. The pathogen was present in breeding adults at all 10 sites sampled, with a mean prevalence of 67%. In an experiment with juvenile toadlets housed individually in wet environments, 106 zoospores of Bd isolated from GRTE caused lethal disease in all Wyoming and Colorado animals within 35 days. Survival time was longer in toadlets from Wyoming than Colorado and in toadlets spending more time in dry sites. In a second trial involving Colorado toadlets exposed to 35% fewer Bd zoospores, infection peaked and subsided over 68 days with no lethal chytridiomycosis in any treatment. However, compared with drier aquaria with dry refuges, Bd infection intensity was 41% higher in more humid aquaria and 81% higher without dry refuges available. Our findings suggest that although widely infected in nature, Wyoming toads may escape chytridiomycosis due to a slight advantage in innate resistance or because their native habitat hinders Bd growth or provides more opportunities to reduce pathogen loads behaviorally than in Colorado.

  • Newell, R. L., and B. R. Hossack. 2009. Large, wetland-associated mayflies of Glacier National Park, Montana. Western North American Naturalist 69(3): 335-342.
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    Abstract for Newell, R. L., and B. R. Hossack (2009). Large, wetland-associated mayflies of Glacier National Park, Montana

    We describe species richness and habitat associations of mayflies (Ephemeroptera) collected during amphibian surveys of 355 water bodies in Glacier National Park (NP), Montana, in 2006–2008. We collected 9 taxa (in 7 genera) of mayflies that were identifiable to species. Callibaetis ferrugineus hageni was collected most frequently, followed by Siphlonurus occidentalis, S. phyllis, Ameletus celer, A. similior, Parameletus columbiae, Ephemerella dorothea infrequens, Baetis bicaudatus, and Leptophlebia cupida. Siphlonurus phyllis had not been reported in the western United States prior to our surveys, and P. columbiae is a species of concern in the region. The identifications of 4 additional taxa were uncertain due to the poor condition of specimens found at only one site (Centroptilum sp. and Paraleptophlebia sp.) or because nymphal specimens could not be confidently identified (Cinygma sp. and Cinygmula sp.). Species richness of mayflies in wetlands seems low compared to that in streams and lakes in Glacier National Park. We found the most species of mayflies in beaver ponds, where we detected some species not commonly associated with lentic water bodies. Our survey was the first extensive survey of wetland invertebrates in Glacier NP and only the second that we are aware of in western Montana. More of Blake Hossack’s work can be found at his website: http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/staff/bhossack

  • Patla, Debra A., Charles R. Peterson, and Paul Stephen Corn. 2009. Amphibian decline in Yellowstone National Park. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 106(9):E22.
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    Abstract for Patla, Debra A., Charles R. Peterson, and Paul Stephen Corn (2009). Amphibian decline in Yellowstone National Park

    We conduct long-term amphibian monitoring in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) and read McMenamin et al.’s article with interest. This study documents decline in the extent of seasonal wetlands in the Lamar Valley of YNP during extended drought, but the conclusion, widely reported in the media, of ‘‘severe declines in 4 once-common amphibian species,’’ is unsupported. This study wrongly defines sites occupied by one nonbreeding individual as ‘‘populations.’’ Wetlands in the study were clustered. Distances within clusters were within dispersal distance for all species, indicating fewer true populations than were analyzed. Lumping observations across years and considering dry wetlands as available habitat obscures natural interannual variation in occurrence at sites. For example, Table S2 in McMenamin’s article shows most species were detected at a higher proportion of available sites (those with water) in 2008 than 1992. Different methods were considered equivalent for detecting occupancy, but calling surveys, employed extensively in 1993 but not in 2006–2008, can result in more detections than visual searches. Study sites were a convenience sample covering ~0.3% of YNP adjacent to roads and highways. It is inappropriate to infer species’ status beyond the study area or speculate that species have been misclassified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as ‘‘not threatened.’’ Wetland dynamics undoubtedly influence amphibian occurrence, but all species were found at multiple sites in 1992–1993 and 2006–2008. The data do not demonstrate loss of a single biological population, and analysis of the same data with different emphasis could have been titled ‘‘Amphibians persist despite drought.’’

  • Seekamp, Erin; Cole, David N. 2009. Deliberating the experiential qualities of wilderness: Similar meanings, but divergent standards. International Journal of Wilderness 15(3): 23-28
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    Abstract for Seekamp, Erin; Cole, David N. (2009). Deliberating the experiential qualities of wilderness: Similar meanings, but divergent standards

    Debate continues about how to best provide and protect outstanding opportunities for wilderness experiences (i.e., solitude, primitive recreation, and unconfined recreation), particularly in high-use destinations. This study explores what these experiences mean to wilderness stakeholders attending facilitated deliberations about the management of a high-use destination in the Three Sisters Wilderness, Oregon. We found that similar meanings, but diverse standards, are attributed to these experiential qualities of wilderness. Opportunities for these experiences exist, but achieving any one experience is largely dependent on coping behaviors and making trade-offs between access and experience, as well as between these different experiences. Consequently, management of high-use destinations remains contentious.

  • Stewart, S.I.; Wilmer, B.; Hammer, R.B.; Aplet, G.H.; Hawbaker, T.J.; Miller, C.; Radeloff, V.C. 2009. Wildland-urban interface maps vary with purpose and context. Journal of Forestry 107(2):78-83.
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    Abstract for Stewart, S.I.; Wilmer, B.; Hammer, R.B.; Aplet, G.H.; Hawbaker, T.J.; Miller, C.; Radeloff, V.C. (2009). Wildland-urban interface maps vary with purpose and context

    Maps of the wildland– urban interface (WUI) are both policy tools and powerful visual images. Although the growing number of WUI maps serve similar purposes, this article indicates that WUI maps derived from the same data sets can differ in important ways related to their original intended application. We discuss the use of ancillary data in modifying census data to improve WUI maps and offer a cautionary note about this practice. A comparison of two WUI mapping approaches suggests that no single map is “best” because users’ needs vary. The analysts who create maps are responsible for ensuring that users understand their purpose, data, and methods; map users are responsible for paying attention to these features and using each map accordingly. These considerations should apply to any analysis but are especially important to analyses of the WUI on which policy decisions will be made.

  • Watson, Alan; Martin, Vance; Lin, Chau Chin. 2009. Wilderness: an international community knocking on Asia's door. Journal of National Park (Taiwan) 19(4):1-9.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Martin, Vance; Lin, Chau Chin (2009). Wilderness: an international community knocking on Asia's door

    The concept of wilderness may trace its roots to the U.S., but a worldwide wilderness community has developed and is growing in strength, though with limited representation from Asia. With the primary purpose of protecting nature, wilderness designation can occur through legislation or policy development, but with similar outcomes of providing long-term protection and benefits for relatively intact ecosystems and the relationships people have with these places. In the Far East of Russia, the Kamchatka Peninsula is emerging as a nature-based vacation destination with federal and regional protected areas attracting and hosting a growing number of Russian and international tourists. Similar to recent changes in China and elsewhere in Asia, this part of Russia is experiencing particularly rapid economic, social and political change with anticipated significant international influences on personal income, consumption and leisure travel patterns. Current and anticipated spending patterns of discretionary income among Russians and a growing Asian population could greatly influence transition of this relatively low density frontier in Asian Russia. In Sri Lanka, the only Asian country with legislative protection of wilderness, protection of wilderness character has strong cultural and economic roots. More understanding of the role of protected wilderness to larger ecosystems and society is possible in Asia.

  • Watson, Alan; Ostergren, Dave; Fix, Peter; Overbaugh, Bill; McCollum, Dan; Kruger, Linda; Madsen, Martha; Yang, He. 2009. Protecting ecotourism resources in a time of rapid economic and environmental transformation in Asia. In, Xiaowen, Jie; Xu erming, Xu; Schneider, Ingrid (editors). 2009. Strategic Management Engineering: Enterprise, Encironment and Crisis. Proceedings of 2009 International Conference on Strategic Management. Sichuan University Press: 185-201.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Ostergren, Dave; Fix, Peter; Overbaugh, Bill; McCollum, Dan; Kruger, Linda; Madsen, Martha; Yang, He (2009). Protecting ecotourism resources in a time of rapid economic and environmental transformation in Asia

    In the Far East of Russia, similar to many places in Asia, ecotourism and the environment are in transition. A science team, cooperating with the United Nations Development Programme project "Demonstrating Sustainable Conservation of Biological Diversity in Four Protected Territories in the Kamchatka Region, Russian Federation," is working to provide vital information to help guide regional sustainable development planning in a time of rapid change in globalization and visitation pressures. An emerging part of Russian society has been the managers in Russian industry that receive high wages and demonstrate increased interest in travel and tourism within Russia and across Europe. Consumers have been reporting very low debt and new growth in the economy has been anticipated. Russians have very unique but evolving leisure patterns, with a long tradition of nature-based activities near home, including hiking, cross-country skiing, viewing nature, and relaxing at spas or dachas. The Kamchatka Peninsula is emerging as a nature-based vacation destination with federal and regional protected areas in the region attracting and hosting a growing number of Russian and international tourists. A cooperative study was initiated in 2007 to better understand the visitation and economics aspects of sustainable tourism development in Kamchatka over a one-year period. A survey of 1,961 tourist visitors to Kamchatka revealed nearly two-thirds of Kamchatka visitors were from Russia, followed by Germany, the U.S., and France. In economic contribution terms, however, while in the minority among visitors, Non-Russian visitors reported over $4,000 per trip in expenditures, excluding air or cruise ship fare to get to Kamchatka. Russian visitors, by far the majority, reported a much lower average of about $1,500 per trip. Similar to recent change in China and elsewhere in Asia, Russia is expecting continued economic gains with a potential significant rise in consumption and personal income. Current and anticipated spending patterns of discretionary income among Russians could greatly influence transition of this relatively low density frontier in Asian Russia.

  • Black, Anne E.; Sutcliffe, Kathleen; Barton, Michelle; Dether, Deirdre. 2008. Assessing high reliability practices in the wildland fire community. Fire Management Today 68(2):45-48.
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    Abstract for Black, Anne E.; Sutcliffe, Kathleen; Barton, Michelle; Dether, Deirdre (2008). Assessing high reliability practices in the wildland fire community

    This article presents results of the first phase of a three-phase study to test for the presence and relevance of the five principles of High Reliability - preoccupation with failure, commitment to resilience, reluctance to simplify, deference to expertise, sensitivity to operations – in the federal fire community and provides descriptions of fire-specific behaviors exemplifying relevant aspects of High Reliability theory. The project is a collaborative effort between University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, and the Lessons Learned Center to study: (a) identify what ‘high reliability’ behaviors are and what they look like in the fire community; (b) assess the breadth and depth of awareness and behavioral changes resulting from exposure and use of concepts from these venues; and (c) better understand how new innovations diffuse through the community. This effort will assist in creating an internal benchmark, identify examples of exemplary behavior and provide important feed into our training and mentoring programs - all critical elements of a learning organization.

  • Black, Anne; Williamson, Martha; Doane, Dustin. 2008. Wildland Fire Use Barriers and Facilitators. Fire Management Today. 68(1):10-14.
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    Abstract for Black, Anne; Williamson, Martha; Doane, Dustin (2008). Wildland Fire Use Barriers and Facilitators

    This paper synthesizes our current understanding of factors influencing WFU decision-making. Our interest has been to learn from the 35 year history of WFU (and its precursors) on federal lands. Our intent has been to capture the dispersed wisdom within the fire community in order to provide policy and decision-makers an objective basis for future actions designed to affect program outcomes and effectiveness. Background data come from a variety of sources: previous formal studies, two Information Collection Team efforts (fielded by the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center), a series of targeted interviews, and numerous other individual and collective discussions with members of the fire community. We synthesize as well results of two recent Master’s projects that sought to discover the most influential factors and in what situations, and whether fire staff (those making recommendations) and line officers (those making decisions) weigh these considerations equally.

  • Christenson, David A.; DeGrosky, Mike; Black, Anne E.; Fay, Brett. 2008. High Reliability Organizing Implementation at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. HRO Case Studies. Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center. 12 pp.
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    Abstract for Christenson, David A.; DeGrosky, Mike; Black, Anne E.; Fay, Brett (2008). High Reliability Organizing Implementation at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. HRO Case Studies

    It is said that action often precedes cognition. For example, wildland fire management personnel already do things in the course of their work that they will later recognize as consistent with the principles of high reliability organizing (HRO), once they know about those principles. In the case of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI), the fire management staff, spurred by the tragic death of one of their firefighters, had already embarked on a course of action to improve the safety of their fire and aviation management operations. Through their efforts, SEKI created an institutional structure enabling bottom-up empowerment, effectively institutionalizing self empowerment in their safety program. This case study provides one installment in a series intended as a resource for organizations wishing to embark on the path of high reliability, and chronicles one organization’s efforts to implement HRO principles in the workplace.

  • Cole, David N. 2008. Wilderness restoration: from philosophical questions about naturalness to tests of practical techniques. International Journal of Wilderness 14(1): 32, 42.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2008). Wilderness restoration: from philosophical questions about naturalness to tests of practical techniques

    This article describes current research being conducted by the Leopold Institute related to ecological restoration in wilderness. A workshop was held in 2007 that explored the limitations of naturalness as a guide for when and how to restore wilderness ecosystems. Empirical research on campsite restoration in subalpine forests is being conducted and a restoration guidebook was produced.

  • Cole, David N.; Foti, Pam; Brown, Mathieu. 2008. Twenty years of change on campsites in the backcountry of Grand Canyon National Park. Environmental Management 41:959-970.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Foti, Pam; Brown, Mathieu (2008). Twenty years of change on campsites in the backcountry of Grand Canyon National Park

    This article draws on three separate research and monitoring studies to describe 20-year trends in the number and condition of campsites in the backcountry of Grand Canyon National Park. Results are used to assess the effectiveness of a complex and innovative management program, adopted in 1983, that sought to concentrate use on designated campsites in popular places and disperse camping in more remote places. In 1984, conditions on 12 high-use campsites and 12 low-use campsites were carefully assessed. Conditions on 22 of these campsites were reassessed in 2005. In addition, campsite-monitoring surveys were conducted between 1985 and 1992 and again in 2003 and 2004. In these surveys, all campsites were located and their condition rapidly assessed. The detailed assessment of a sample of sites suggests relatively little change in condition during the 20-year period. The high-use sites were more highly disturbed than the low-use sites, but they did not change more during the study period. In contrast, changes at larger scales were dramatic. The total number of campsites more than doubled during the study period. Surprisingly, the proliferation of new campsites was greater in places where camping was only allowed on designated campsites than in places where camping was allowed anywhere. Concern that concentration of use on designated sites would cause unacceptable impact was unfounded. Management implications for other internationally significant protected areas that allow backcountry camping are explored.

  • Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. 2008. Wilderness visitors, experiences, and management preferences: How they vary with use level and length of stay. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-71. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 61 p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. (2008). Wilderness visitors, experiences, and management preferences: How they vary with use level and length of stay

    We explore the extent to which visitor experiences and management preferences vary between the most heavily used places in wilderness and places that are less popular. We also contrast day and overnight users. The study was conducted in Forest Service administered wildernesses in Oregon and Washington using both on-site and mailback questionnaires. The on-site questionnaires were administered as visitors exited the wilderness at 36 trailheads in 13 wildernesses. The trail use ranged from very high to moderate. To include visitors who selected low use trails, we sent mailback questionnaires to self-issue permit holders. We describe visitor characteristics, trip characteristics, motivations and experiences, encounters with other groups, attitudes toward recreation management, and opinions about the Forest Service. Differences related to use level were surprisingly small. Differences between day and overnight users were also small. We found evidence that wilderness experiences were adversely affected at high use locations but most visitors consider these effects to be of little importance. Most visitors to the more popular places make psychological adjustments to heavy use, allowing most of them to find solitude and have what they consider "a real wilderness experience." Consequently, most are not supportive of use limits to avoid people related problems. We draw conclusions about potential indicators, standards, and management actions for heavily-used places in wilderness.

  • Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. 2008. The “adaptable human” phenomenon: implications for recreation management in high-use wilderness. In: Weber, Samantha, Harmon, David (eds.). Rethinking protected areas in a changing world. Proceedings of the 2007 George Wright Society Conference: 126-131.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. (2008). The “adaptable human” phenomenon: implications for recreation management in high-use wilderness

    This article posits that, related to their tolerance of heavy wilderness use, visitors can be classified into three groups. Purists seek solitude and have a hard time finding it. Another group simply does not care much about solitude or the number of people they meet. The third group are the “adapters”. They prefer solitude but readily adapt to situations where it is hard to find. Drawing on data from nine studies being conducted in the wilderness of Oregon and Washington, we conclude that the majority of wilderness users are “adapters.” The high coping capacity of most wilderness visitors explains lack of support for use limitations.

  • Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie; Zavaleta, Erika S.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Chapin III, F. Stuart; Graber, David M.; Higgs, Eric S.; Hobbs, Richard J.; Landres, Peter B.; Millar, Constance I.; Parsons, David J.; Randall, John M.; Stephenson, Nathan L.; Tonnessen, Kathy A.; White, Peter S.; Woodley, Stephen. 2008. Naturalness and beyond: protected area stewardship in an era of global environmental change. The George Wright Forum 25(1):36-56.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Yung, Laurie; Zavaleta, Erika S.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Chapin III, F. Stuart; Graber, David M.; Higgs, Eric S.; Hobbs, Richard J.; Landres, Peter B.; Millar, Constance I.; Parsons, David J.; Randall, John M.; Stephenson, Nathan L.; Tonnessen (2008). Naturalness and beyond: protected area stewardship in an era of global environmental change

    This paper provides a synthesis of a workshop that explored the question of whether or not the concept of naturalness continues to provide a sufficient basis for stewardship decisions in parks and wilderness. It examines the various meanings of naturalness and why it is increasingly problematic (as commonly defined) as a central goal for protected area management. It details the case for and against human intervention in ecosystem processes. It explores how naturalness might be redefined or reinterpreted, and how concepts such as ecological integrity and resilience might supplement or replace it. It suggests the need for a pluralistic, adaptive, and flexible approach to protected area management and concludes by describing some of the ways protected area managers might move forward given current conditions and uncertainties about the future.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen. 2008. The U.S. Geological Survey and Wilderness Research. International Journal of Wilderness 14(2):24, 33.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen (2008). The U.S. Geological Survey and Wilderness Research

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Emerick, Mary; Cole, David N. 2008. Searching for solitude in the wilderness of southeast Alaska. International Journal of Wilderness 14(1): 25-27.
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    Abstract for Emerick, Mary; Cole, David N. (2008). Searching for solitude in the wilderness of southeast Alaska

    This article explores unique threats to solitude in the wilderness of southeast Alaska where virtually all recreation use occurs at the wilderness boundary. Recreation use is confined to the shoreline which is the boundary between wilderness and saltwater, where use of all kinds is unlimited. The article describes a process for monitoring impacts on opportunities for wilderness solitude.

  • Guscio, C. Gregory; Hossack, Blake R.; Eby, Lisa A.; Corn, P. Stephen. 2008. Post-breeding habitat use by adult boreal toads (Bufo boreas boreas) after wildfire in Glacier National Park, USA. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 3(1):55–62.
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    Abstract for Guscio, C. Gregory; Hossack, Blake R.; Eby, Lisa A.; Corn, P. Stephen (2008). Post-breeding habitat use by adult boreal toads (Bufo boreas boreas) after wildfire in Glacier National Park, USA

    Effects of wildfire on amphibians are complex, and some species may benefit from the severe disturbance of stand-replacing fire. Boreal Toads (Bufo boreas boreas) in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA increased in occurrence after fires in 2001 and 2003. We used radio telemetry to track adult B. boreas in a mosaic of terrestrial habitats with different burn severities to better understand factors related to the post-fire pulse in breeding activity. Toads used severely burned habitats more than expected and partially burned habitats less than expected. No toads were relocated in unburned habitat, but little of the study area was unburned and the expected number of observations in unburned habitat was < 3. High vagility of B. boreas and preference for open habitats may predispose this species to exploit recently disturbed landscapes. The long-term consequences of fire suppression likely have had different effects in different parts of the range of B. boreas. More information is needed, particularly in the northern Rocky Mountains, where toads are more likely to occupy habitats that have diverged from historic fire return intervals.

  • Gutzwiller, Kevin J., Riffell, Samuel K. 2008. Does repeated human intrusion alter use of wildland sites by red squirrels? Multiyear experimental evidence. Journal of Mammalogy 89(2):374-380.
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    Abstract for Gutzwiller, Kevin J., Riffell, Samuel K. (2008). Does repeated human intrusion alter use of wildland sites by red squirrels? Multiyear experimental evidence

    Intrusion by humans into wildlife habitat during recreational activities has become a worldwide conservation concern. Low levels of intrusion, which occur frequently in many wildlands, could influence use of sites by red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) and have important ramifications for conservation. Red squirrels can influence forest composition and regeneration by feeding on conifer buds, seeds, and vascular tissues, and they prey on avian nests. Attraction of red squirrels could increase the risk of these activities, whereas displacement of red squirrels may exacerbate demographic problems for small populations of red squirrels in isolated habitats. We implemented experimental intrusions during 10 consecutive weeks of the red squirrel breeding season, 1 or 2 times/week (1990–1993) in 1 area and 5 times/week (1991–1993) in another area in Wyoming. Each intrusion lasted 1 h and involved 1 person. Abundance of red squirrels at intruded sites did not differ significantly from that at control sites during either experiment. However, experiments should be conducted to examine longer-term effects and effects of higher levels of intrusion because alteration of distributions of red squirrels may affect forest conditions and demographics or fitness of birds and red squirrels.

  • Hossack, Blake R.; Corn, P. Stephen. 2008. Wildfire Effects on Water Temperature and Selection of Breeding Sites by the Boreal Toad (Bufo Boreas) in Seasonal Wetlands. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 3(1):46–54.
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    Abstract for Hossack, Blake R.; Corn, P. Stephen (2008). Wildfire Effects on Water Temperature and Selection of Breeding Sites by the Boreal Toad (Bufo Boreas) in Seasonal Wetlands.

    Disturbances can significantly affect the thermal regime and community structure of wetlands. We investigated the effect of a wildfire on water temperature of seasonal, montane wetlands after documenting the colonization of recently burned wetlands by the Boreal Toad (Bufo boreas boreas). We compared the daily mean temperature, daily maximum temperature, and accumulated growing degree•days measured on the north shore of three classes of wetlands: unburned wetlands, burned wetlands that were colonized by breeding toads, and burned wetlands that were not colonized. We hypothesized that toads colonized burned wetlands because they were warmer than unburned wetlands and selected specific burned wetlands because they were warmer than neighboring burned sites. There was weak evidence that toads selected burned wetlands with higher temperature maxima; however, the differences were small (= 1°C) and were not supported when accounting for geography and wetland features. We also found no evidence that burning the forest around wetlands increased water temperatures two and three years after the fire. Unburned wetlands had higher daily mean and maximum temperatures and accrued more growing degree•days than either class of burned wetlands. Temperature differences among groups of wetlands seemed to be driven by subtle differences in geography. We suspect we did not find warmer temperatures in burned wetlands because all of the wetlands we monitored already had open canopies and the fire likely resulted in only small increases in incident radiation.

  • Knotek, Katie; Watson, Alan E.; Borrie, William T.; Whitmore, Joshua G. and Turner, David. 2008. Recreation visitor attitudes towards management-ignited prescribed fires in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, Montana. Journal of Leisure Research 40(4): 608-618.
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    Abstract for Knotek, Katie; Watson, Alan E.; Borrie, William T.; Whitmore, Joshua G. and Turner, David (2008). Recreation visitor attitudes towards management-ignited prescribed fires in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, Montana

    Research in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Montana explored differences in recreation visitors’ attitudes towards the use of management-ignited prescribed fires in the wilderness. A mail-back survey of visitors (n=291) during the 2004 season revealed that over half of visitors would accept prescribed fires in wilderness. This support did not vary by ignition purpose: (a) to restore the natural role of fire or (b) to reduce hazardous fuels and potential for fire escaping to non-wilderness lands. Local visitors, however, were significantly more accepting of prescribed fires than non-local visitors across both ignition purposes. A smaller proportion of visitors than was expected considered the presence of natural fire undesirable.

  • Landres, Peter; Barns, Chris; Dennis, John G.; Devine, Tim; Geissler, Paul; McCasland, Curtis S.; Merigliano, Linda; Seastrand, Justin; Swain, Ralph. 2008. Keeping It Wild: An Interagency Strategy to Monitor Trends in Wilderness Character Across the National Wilderness Preservation System. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-212. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 77 p.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter; Barns, Chris; Dennis, John G.; Devine, Tim; Geissler, Paul; McCasland, Curtis S.; Merigliano, Linda; Seastrand, Justin; Swain, Ralph (2008). Keeping It Wild: An Interagency Strategy to Monitor Trends in Wilderness Character Across the National Wilderness Preservation System

    The Interagency Wilderness Character Monitoring Team--representing the Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Land Management, DOI Fish and Wildlife Service, DOI National Park Service, DOI U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Forest Service-offers in this document an interagency strategy to monitor trends in wilderness character across the National Wilderness Preservation System. The overall strategy is for each wilderness to: 1) choose a set of measures from those provided in this document that are relevant, cost-effective, and tied to preserving wilderness character, 2) periodically collect data to assess trend in these measures, and 3) use these trends to assess and report on the trend in wilderness character. Each agency would then compile these trends from each wilderness to assess broad scale agency performance in preserving wilderness character. Similarly, data from each agency would be compiled to assess performance in preserving wilderness character across the National Wilderness Preservation System. This interagency monitoring strategy provides a solid foundation to tie wilderness stewardship to the legislative direction of the Wilderness Act and agency policies to preserve wilderness character.

  • Landres, Peter; Barr, Brad; and Kormos, Cyril F. 2008. A comparison of international wilderness laws. Pages 31-54 in A Handbook on International Wilderness Law and Policy. Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, CO. 400 pages.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter; Barr, Brad; and Kormos, Cyril F. (2008). A comparison of international wilderness laws

    This chapter compares all 16 international wilderness laws in a large matrix. The matrix offers a highly condensed overview and ready comparison of the different approaches used for wilderness legislation from different countries and states. The matrix is divided into major four parts, each focusing on a key area of wilderness legislation: definition, legislative purpose, uses allowed by legislation, and legal requirements for administrative and management. The matrix does not interpret any legislation, instead reporting on what is explicit in the legislation.

  • Landres, Peter; Hennessy, Mary Beth; Schlenker, Kimberly; Cole, David N.; Boutcher, Steve. 2008. Applying the concept of wilderness character to national forest planning, monitoring, and management. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-217WWW. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 45 p.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter; Hennessy, Mary Beth; Schlenker, Kimberly; Cole, David N.; Boutcher, Steve (2008). Applying the concept of wilderness character to national forest planning, monitoring, and management

    The U.S. Forest Service is responsible for managing over 35 million acres of designated wilderness, about 18 percent of all the land managed by the agency. Nearly all (90 percent) of the National Forests and Grasslands administer designated wilderness. Although the central mandate from the 1964 Wilderness Act is that the administering agencies preserve the wilderness character in these designated areas, the concept of wilderness character has largely been absent in Forest Service efforts to manage wilderness. The purpose of this document is to help National Forest planners, wilderness staff, and project leaders apply in a practical way the concept of wilderness character to forest and project planning, the National Environmental Policy Act process, on-the-ground wilderness management, and wilderness character trend monitoring that is relevant to an individual wilderness.

  • Miller, C.; Parisien, M.-A.; Ager, A.A.; Finney, M.A. 2008. Evaluating spatially- explicit burn probabilities for strategic fire management planning. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment 119:245-252.
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    Abstract for Miller, C.; Parisien, M.-A.; Ager, A.A.; Finney, M.A. (2008). Evaluating spatially- explicit burn probabilities for strategic fire management planning

    Spatially explicit information on the probability of burning is necessary for virtually all strategic fire and fuels management planning activities, including conducting wildland fire risk assessments, optimizing fuel treatments, and prevention planning. Predictive models providing a reliable estimate of the annual likelihood of fire at each point on the landscape have enormous potential to support strategic fire and fuels management planning decisions, especially when combined with information on the values at risk and the expected fire impacts. To this end, a spatially-explicit modelling technique, termed ‘burn probability’ (BP) modelling, has been developed to simulate fires as a function of the physical factors that drive their spread — fuels, weather, and topography — using the most sophisticated landscape-scale fire spread algorithms available. Despite several applications of the BP technique, much remains to be learned about their predictive ability. To achieve this goal, we are conducting experiments to not only unearth new discoveries about the complexities of fire-environment relationships, but also to test and compare the relevance and accuracy of modelling approaches.

  • Miller, Carol. 2008. Changing research needs in wilderness fire. International Journal of Wilderness 14(3): 21-22.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol (2008). Changing research needs in wilderness fire

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Muths, E., Pilliod, D.S., Livo, L.J. 2008. Distribution and environmental limitations of an amphibian pathogen in the Rocky Mountains, USA. Biological Conservation 141:1484-1492.
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    Abstract for Muths, E., Pilliod, D.S., Livo, L.J. (2008). Distribution and environmental limitations of an amphibian pathogen in the Rocky Mountains, USA

    Chytridiomycosis, a potentially lethal amphibian disease, is caused by a fungus that has been associated with population declines in amphibian species throughout the world. From previous work with the U.S. Forest Service and completed at the USGS, ecologist David Pilliod co-authored a paper that provides the first regional-level, field-based effort to examine the relationship of environmental and geographic factors to the distribution of the chytrid fungus in the western United States. In the Rocky Mountains, the fungus was detected in boreal toad populations across a range of elevations and latitudes, but high-elevation populations living in areas with relatively low daytime temperatures were less likely to carry the fungus. This information has climate change implications because warming temperatures may facilitate the spread of disease into new areas. Further, the study may assist managers to focus on at-risk populations as determined by local temperatures, latitude, and elevation.

  • Petrisko, J.E., Pearl, C.A., Pilliod, D.S., Sheridan, P.P., Williams, C.F., Peterson, C.R., Bury, R.B. 2008. Saprolegniaceae identified on amphibian eggs throughout the Pacific Northwest, USA, by internal transcribed spacer sequences and phylogenetic analysis. Mycologia 100(2):171-180.
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    Abstract for Petrisko, J.E., Pearl, C.A., Pilliod, D.S., Sheridan, P.P., Williams, C.F., Peterson, C.R., Bury, R.B. (2008). Saprolegniaceae identified on amphibian eggs throughout the Pacific Northwest, USA, by internal transcribed spacer sequences and phylogenetic analysis

    In fresh water, eggs of fish and amphibians often host water molds, which are microscopic organisms similar to fungi. One species of water mold has been implicated in high egg mortality of western toads in Oregon, which are declining in portions of their range. Few previous studies have examined the diversity and ecology of water molds that colonize amphibian eggs. USGS amphibian biologists Christopher Pearl, David Pilliod, and Bruce Bury and co-authors from Idaho State University used genetic techniques to identify water mold species on amphibian eggs. Findings showed 7 to 12 different species of the water mold, but not the species implicated in western toad egg mortality. The authors conclude that a diversity of water molds can colonize amphibian eggs and outline further work to clarify mechanisms of amphibian egg mortality and links to population declines.

  • Tempel, Douglas; Wright, Vita; Neilson, Janet; Mildenstein, Tammy. 2008. Linking wilderness research and management—volume 5. Understanding and managing backcountry recreation impacts on terrestrial wildlife: an annotated reading list. (Wright, Vita, series ed.) Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-79-Vol 5. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 70 p.
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    Abstract for Tempel, Douglas; Wright, Vita; Neilson, Janet; Mildenstein, Tammy (2008). Linking wilderness research and management—volume 5. Understanding and managing backcountry recreation impacts on terrestrial wildlife: an annotated reading list

    Increasing levels of recreational use in wilderness, backcountry, and roadless areas has the potential to impact wildlife species, including those that depend on these protected areas for survival. Wildlife and wilderness managers will be more successful at reducing these impacts if they understand the potential impacts, factors affecting the magnitude of impacts, and available management strategies and implementation methods. In this reading list, we summarize over 230 books, articles, bibliographies, and Internet resources to provide managers with relevant research on backcountry recreation impacts on terrestrial wildlife amid the vast literature on this topic. The first section illustrates the importance of considering backcountry recreation impacts on wildlife, both for wildlife conservation and enhancement of wilderness visitor experiences. The second section reviews important concepts such as the types of impacts, methods for assessing them, and models for understanding these impacts. The third section provides an overview of field studies that documents recreation impacts on specific wildlife species and taxonomic groups. The fourth section contains information on management planning frameworks and specific techniques that may be useful for minimizing impacts of backcountry recreation to wildlife. The final section offers Internet resources and previous bibliographies related to the topic.

  • Watson, Alan; Knotek, Katie; Christensen, Neal. 2008. On the Outside Looking In: Fly-in Recreation Day Use Visitor Experiences in the South District of Denali National Park and Preserve. International Journal of Wilderness 14(2):19-23.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan. Knotek, Katie. Christensen, Neal (2008). On the Outside Looking In: Fly-in Recreation Day Use Visitor Experiences in the South District of Denali National Park and Preserve

    Denali National Park and Preserve is an American icon for wilderness. Not everyone accesses wilderness in the same way, however, or has the same experiences. Wilderness recreation experiences at Denali vary tremendously. Interviews with flightseers at the park have created a better understanding of the recreation experiences for these day users and helped us recognize glacier landings in the backcountry as unique aspects of that experience. In self-reports about their visits, day users focused heavily on the unique scale of the wilderness of the Alaska Range, seeing climbers in the park, and landing on glaciers. Many of the flightseers recognize this place as a national park, and many recognize it as wilderness, though the recreation experience they are engaging in is more likely to be described as one of “on the outside looking in,” rather than as a wilderness experience.

  • Watson, Alan; Matt, Roian; Waters, Tim; Gunderson, Kari; Carver, Steve; Davis, Brett. 2008. Mapping tradeoffs in values at risk at the interface between wilderness and non-wilderness lands. Proceedings: III International Symposium on Fire Economics, Planning, and Policy: Common Problems and Approaches, 29 April – 2 May, 2008. Carolina, Puerto Rico. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-227. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Station.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Matt, Roian; Waters, Tim; Gunderson, Kari; Carver, Steve; Davis, Brett (2008). Mapping tradeoffs in values at risk at the interface between wilderness and non-wilderness lands

    On the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, U.S., the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness is bordered by a buffer zone. To successfully improve forest health within that buffer zone and restore fire in the wilderness, the managing agency and the public need to work together to find solutions to increasingly threatening fuel buildups. A combination of qualitative, culturally sensitive research and a web-based mapping exercise have been used to develop understanding of the tradeoffs Reservation residents describe in relation to potential buffer zone actions. The primary meanings Tribal members associate with the Buffer Zone are protection of the wilderness, wildlife and water quality, access and functional attachments, recreation and scenic values, and personal and cultural meanings. To build trust among both tribal and non-tribal residents, fire planners must understand how proposed actions interact with values at risk assigned by the local community and describe a prioritization process that addresses publicly perceived threats.

  • Watson, Alan; Matt, Roian; Waters, Tim; Gunderson, Kari; Carver, Steve; Davis, Brett. 2008. Cartografiado del balance entre los valores amenazados en la interfaz de las zonas naturales con las no naturales. III Simposio Internacional sobre Políticas, Planificación y Economía de los Incendios Forestales: Problemas y Enfoques Comunes; del 29 de abril al 2 de mayo de 2008; Carolina, Puerto Rico. INFORME TÉCNICO GENERAL PSW-GTR-227. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Station.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Matt, Roian; Waters, Tim; Gunderson, Kari; Carver, Steve; Davis, Brett (2008). Cartografiado del balance entre los valores amenazados en la interfaz de las zonas naturales con las no naturales

    En la reserva indígena Flathead en Montana, EE.UU., la zona tribal silvestre Mission Mountains está rodeada por una zona de amortiguación. Para lograr mejorar la salud del bosque dentro de esta zona de amortiguación y restaurar el fuego en las áreas silvestres, las agencias de manejo deben trabajar junto con la comunidad para encontrar soluciones a la creciente amenaza por la acumulación de combustible. Se ha combinado una investigación cualitativa y sensible a la cultura junto con un ejercicio de cartografía en línea para lograr comprender las ventajas y desventajas descritas por los residentes de la reserva indígena en cuanto a las posibles acciones en la zona de amortiguación. Los principales significados que los miembros de la tribu asocian con la zona de amortiguación son: la protección del bosque, la calidad del agua y de la vida silvestre, el acceso y los accesorios funcionales, el recreo y los valores del panorama y los significados personales y culturales. Para ganarse la confianza tanto de los residentes tribales como de los no tribales, los planificadores de los incendios tienen que entender cómo las acciones propuestas interactúan con los valores en riesgo asignados por la comunidad local y describir prioridades que tomen en consideración las amenazas percibidas por el público.

  • Wright, Vita. 2008. Personal and organizational influences to the use of fire and fuels research by federal agency managers. [No page numbers] In: S. McCaffrey, P. Woodward, M. Robinson, compilers. Extended Abstracts from the Human Dimensions of Wildland Fire Conference, 10/23-25, 2007, Fort Collins, Colorado. International Association of Wildland Fire.
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    Abstract for Wright, Vita (2008). Personal and organizational influences to the use of fire and fuels research by federal agency managers

    This "extended abstract" briefly describes a study designed to understand perceptions of potential users about influences to the use of fire and fuels research and to develop recommendations for prioritizing limited fire/fuels science delivery resources. Studied user groups include decision makers and assistant decision makers, fire management officers, fuels specialists, and fire ecologists at regional/state and field offices in the United States Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

  • Black, Anne.; Perin, Sue. 2007. Delivering the Science Synthesis: FuelsTools. Journal of Forestry 105(4):192-200.
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    Abstract for Black, Anne.; Perin, Sue (2007). Delivering the Science Synthesis: FuelsTools

    To facilitate delivery and use of the Fuels Planning: Science Synthesis and Integration Project’s (Project) products, the Project team engaged in a series of technology transfer activities throughout the life of the project. These included bringing land managers into the design and development phase, funding and staffing a specific delivery phase, and conducting an external evaluation to focus future activities. Our plans were informed by concepts central to the diffusion of the innovation theory; in turn, our activities deepened our understanding of the theory and its application to fuels management.

  • Borrie, W.T.; McCool, S.F. 2007. Describing change in visitors and visits to the “Bob.” International Journal of Wilderness 13(3):28-33.
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    Abstract for Borrie, W.T.; McCool, S.F. (2007). Describing change in visitors and visits to the “Bob.”

    Understanding wilderness use and users is essential to wilderness management. However, there have only been a limited number of studies specifically designed to detect changes in use and user characteristics across time. Recreation use of the U.S. National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) has increased since its creation in 1964, along with many other changes in influences on society’s relationship with wilderness. This article describes a series of visitor trend studies at the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Montana, and identifies some of the challenges encountered in estimating long-term use and user trends.

  • Christensen, N.; Watson, A.; Burchfield, J. 2007. Relationships to place in wildland resources management: Developing an effective research approach. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. 2007. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium: September 30–October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 470-478.
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    Abstract for Christensen, N.; Watson, A.; Burchfield, J. (2007). Relationships to place in wildland resources management: Developing an effective research approach

    This paper describes an approach to understanding human relationships with public lands and considering those relationships in the decision making process. This understanding is based on segmentation analysis to identify groups of local residents that have similar relationships to place (RTP) with a public wildland. The research described in this paper uses a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to describe local relationships to place and the salience of management issues to people living in proximity to public wildlands. People’s perceptions of places are variable and dynamic. People may ascribe intense emotional meanings to special places like public wildlands, and these intense feelings reduce the likelihood of collaboration and compromise in the allocation of scarce resources and opportunities. It is apparent that the relationships between Yakutat, Alaska, residents and the Situk River are complex, imbedded in history and culture, and include perspectives involving identity, tradition, subsistence, and livelihood—issues that greatly differ from those found among non-local visitors to the Situk River. This RTP research approach evolved with a desire to more fully account for the types of issues relevant to the local population—at a level of complexity that goes beyond what is typically considered in recreation visitor studies. Although the importance of relationships to place is gaining recognition, applying understanding about the public’s relationships with wildland places as a form of public input to management decisions has been slow to find mainstream application because planners tend to focus on more traditional and well-defined criteria. This paper presents ways to convey information to managers and stakeholders, and describes a structured approach for considering RTP in future research.

  • Cole, David N. 2007. Managing recreation in wilderness: special areas and specialized research. In: L. Kruger, R. Mazza and K. Lawrence, eds. Proceedings: national workshop on recreation research and management. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-698. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station: 115-121.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2007). Managing recreation in wilderness: special areas and specialized research

    About one-fifth of Forest Service administered lands consist of congressionally-designated wilderness. Recreation management on these lands is unique, stressing high levels of protection for both the land and visitor experiences, as well as minimal development and regimentation. Management is challenged by both the difficulty of this task and minimal investment of resources. Research has made significant contributions to wilderness recreation management. It has developed frameworks for planning and working through management issues. It has informed the development of management objectives, provided protocols for monitoring, and identified cost-effective management techniques. Progress would most likely have been much slower if the Forest Service had not devoted a small portion of its research program exclusively to wilderness management.

  • Cole, David N. 2007. Seedling establishment and survival on restored campsites in subalpine forest. Restoration Ecology 15(3): 430-439.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2007). Seedling establishment and survival on restored campsites in subalpine forest

    This study experimented with common restoration techniques (scarification, soil amendments, mulch and seeding) on six closed wilderness campsites in subalpine forests in Oregon. Effectiveness in encouraging seedling establishment, growth and survival was assessed every year for the first seven years following treatment. Closure and restoration of the campsites increased the density of plants established from seed. Despite an original density of virtually zero, mean density of perennial plants was 55 plants/m2 seven years after closure. All of the treatments, with the exception of the biodegradable mulch mat, increased plant density. Seven years after treatment, seeding had increased plant density fivefold while scarification and soil amendments (organic matter, compost and soil inoculum) had each increased density threefold. The organic and compost amendments also had the positive benefit of increasing growth rates and shortening the time to reproductive maturity. Results suggest that restoration of the herbaceous cover on these campsites can occur rapidly using the techniques employed. All but one of the species we seeded established in substantial quantities and survived at densities exceeding their density in the naturally sparse herbaceous cover on these sites. Thirty-six perennial species volunteered on these sites. The remaining challenge is reestablishment of the shrub species that comprise much of the groundcover in these forests. These species seldom establish from seed.

  • Cole, David N. 2007. Scaling-up the minimum requirements analysis for big wilderness issues. International Journal of Wilderness 13(1): 8-12.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2007). Scaling-up the minimum requirements analysis for big wilderness issues

    This paper proposes some modifications to minimum requirements analyses to deal with big wilderness stewardship issues—those that require planning at large spatial and temporal scales and that involve multiple resources and jurisdictions. For big issues there needs to be more attention given to describing desired future conditions. Also, the most appropriate and minimum activity has as much to do with where action is taken as it does with what actions are taken. Efforts to protect hemlock and whitebark pine are used as case examples.

  • Cole, David N. 2007. The Importance of Archiving Baseline Wilderness Data. International Journal of Wilderness 13(1):30, 36.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2007). The Importance of Archiving Baseline Wilderness Data

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Cole, David N.; Spildie, David R. 2007. Vegetation and soil restoration on highly impacted campsites in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-185. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 26 p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Spildie, David R. (2007). Vegetation and soil restoration on highly impacted campsites in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon.

    We assessed the effectiveness of planting techniques (seeding and transplanting) and restoration treatments designed to improve the physical, biological, and chemical properties of soils and ameliorate microclimatic conditions on six closed campsites in subalpine forests. Restoration treatments included scarification, soil amendment with organic matter, compost and soil inoculum, and application of a mulch blanket. Campsite closure, scarification, planting, and soil amendments were successful in increasing recovery rates. The mulch blanket had no effect on recovery. 10 years after campsite closure, vegetation cover was still diminished in comparison to reference conditions on nearby undisturbed sites. Particularly problematic was reestablishment of the low-growing shrub species (particularly Vaccinium scoparium and Phyllodoce empetriformis) that are the most abundant groundcover species in these forests. These species seldom establish from seed. Moreover, survivorship and growth rates are unusually low for transplants. Our results show the relative ease of establishing various species and growth forms in these forests, as well as which species and growth forms respond best to the applied treatments. Results reinforce the importance of avoiding impacts in the first place, the lengthy recovery periods required in these ecosystems, and the intensive restoration efforts needed to speed recovery.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen. 2007. Amphibians and disease: implications for conservation in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Yellowstone Science 15(2): 11–16.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen (2007). Amphibians and disease: implications for conservation in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

    Diseases affecting amphibians, including ranaviruses and the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) are briefly reviewed, and the current situation and potential threats with respect to amphibian species in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are discussed. Both ranavirus and Bd have been detected in Yellowstone amphibians, but effects on populations are not yet known. Current management to limit spread of these diseases is limited to disinfection of gear by researchers studying amphibians. If disease organisms are transported by other wildlife species, then control will be difficult.

  • Dvorak, R.G.; Borrie, W.T. 2007. Changing relationships with wilderness: A new focus for research and stewardship. International Journal of Wilderness 13(3): 12-15.
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    Abstract for Dvorak, R.G.; Borrie, W.T. (2007). Changing relationships with wilderness: A new focus for research and stewardship

    Wilderness managers strive to provide quality recreation experiences. Because of this commitment, a need exists to further incorporate experiential aspects into current planning and management frameworks. This article suggests a focus on relationships with wilderness, moving beyond the examination of single transactions with a setting toward a consideration of the dynamic engagements visitors accumulate with wilderness over time. Understanding these relationships relative to social and cultural change may allow managers to incorporate diverse meanings into management planning and provide better protection of wilderness character.

  • Falk, Donald A.; Miller, Carol; McKenzie, Donald; Black, Anne E. 2007. Cross-scale analysis of fire regimes. Ecosystems 10: 809-823.
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    Abstract for Falk, Donald A.; Miller, Carol; McKenzie, Donald; Black, Anne E. (2007). Cross-scale analysis of fire regimes

    Cross-scale spatial and temporal perspectives are important for studying contagious landscape disturbances such as fire, which are controlled by myriad processes operating at different scales. We examine fire regimes in forests of western North America, focusing on how observed patterns of fire frequency change across spatial scales. To quantify changes in fire frequency across spatial scale, we derive the event-area (EA) relationship and the analogous interval-area (IA) relationship using historical and simulated data from low- and high severity fire regimes. The EA and IA provide multiscale descriptions of fire regimes, as opposed to standard metrics that may apply only at a single scale. Parameters and properties of scaling functions (intercept, slope, minimum value) are associated statistically with properties of the fire regime, such as mean fire-free intervals and fire size distributions, but are not direct mathematical transformations of them because they also reflect mechanistic drivers of fire that are non-stationary in time and space. Patterns in fire-scaling relations can be used to identify how controls on fire regimes change across spatial and temporal scales. Future research that considers fire as a cross-scale process will be directly applicable to landscape-scale fire management.

  • González-Cabán, Armando; Haynes, Richard W.; McCaffrey, Sarah; Mercer, Evan; Watson, Alan. 2007. Fire social science research – selected highlights. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-736. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 65 p.
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    Abstract for González-Cabán, Armando; Haynes, Richard W.; McCaffrey, Sarah; Mercer, Evan; Watson, Alan (2007). Fire social science research – selected highlights

    Forest Service Research and Development has a long-standing component of social fire science that since 2000 has expanded significantly. Much of this new work focuses on research that will increase understanding of the social and economic issues connected with wildland fire and fuels management. This information can enhance the ability of agencies and communities to meet land management objectives in an effective and efficient manner that is well informed by public needs and preferences. This research will improve fire and fuels management decisions by contributing to a broader understanding of key public values and concerns about fire and fuels management—before, during, and after fire and fuels treatments; social and economic effects of different fire and fuels management decisions; external and internal barriers to effective fire management; and effect of different existing and proposed policies on management options and decision space. The research will also provide guidelines and tools for effective and efficient communication, both external and internal; improving safety, reliability, and ability to meet management objectives; working with communities and other partners to achieve fire and fuels management goals; and assessing tradeoffs in economic, ecological, and quality-of-life values of different decision options.

  • Gunderson, K.; Cook, C. 2007. Wilderness, water, and quality of life in the Bitterroot Valley. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. 2007. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium: September 30–October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 537-544.
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    Abstract for Gunderson, K.; Cook, C. (2007). Wilderness, water, and quality of life in the Bitterroot Valley

    The Bitterroot Valley is located in western Montana, U.S.A. Most of the Bitterroot Range above the Bitterroot Valley is protected as wilderness, and is a source of much of the water that flows down and through the valley floor. With an annual precipitation of only 12.3 inches, the Bitterroot Valley is classified as a high desert environment. Today the quality of life in the Bitterroot Valley is high, and it is deeply connected to the water resources and naturalness of the mountain landscape. To provide water for orchards, food crops, and hay, farmers constructed dams in the Bitterroot Mountains in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were built to capture spring runoff from snow melt and store it until late July and August when flows in the Bitterroot River and its tributaries are usually too low to support irrigation and water-based recreation. In 1964, 251,443 acres (101,755 ha) of the Bitterroot Range were classified as wilderness. Special provisions in the Wilderness Act allowed continued operation and maintenance of these dams for existing uses. When dam repairs are undertaken periodically, there is intense discussion on the appropriateness of using heavy equipment, the type of repair to be implemented, and, sometimes, even whether to do the repair at all. The dams have substantial influence, both upstream and downstream, on the biological integrity of this wilderness ecosystem, but the influences may be considered tradeoffs with human needs for the same resource. This study attempted to develop an understanding of the ecological, economic, social, and cultural values associated with wilderness dams in the Bitterroot Valley.

  • Gunderson, Kari.; Watson, Alan. 2007. Understanding Place Meanings on the Bitterroot National Forest, Montana. Society & Natural Resources 20:8, 705-721.
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    Abstract for Gunderson, Kari.; Watson, Alan (2007). Understanding Place Meanings on the Bitterroot National Forest, Montana

    This study describes local personal and community relationships with the Bitterroot National Forest, Montana. Using a rapid appraisal research approach, a range of personal and community values was identified. Participants were asked to identify places they valued on the forest and why they valued them. Study results indicate that local relationships exist on several scales. First, people differentiate the set of values they ascribe to places they have visited from those places they have not. Two sets of values, at two very different scales, emerged in their descriptions of places they visit and those they do not. Community residents were also asked about things that influence their response to fuel management treatments. Managers and planners can benefit from understanding local relationships with public lands through narratives that describe why some locations are more important to residents than others and anticipate reactions to planned projects that may alter those relationships.

  • Hall, Troy E.; Cole, David N. 2007. Changes in the motivations, perceptions, and behaviors of recreation users: Displacement and coping in wilderness. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-63. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 37 p.
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    Abstract for Hall, Troy E.; Cole, David N. (2007). Changes in the motivations, perceptions, and behaviors of recreation users: Displacement and coping in wilderness

    We describe how wilderness visitors perceive changes in wilderness use, impacts, and management. We examine how visitors have responded to change, both behaviorally and cognitively. The study was based on a sample of visitors to 19 Forest Service wildernesses in Oregon and Washington. Many respondents said the types of wilderness trips they take have changed since their earlier wilderness trips. Most perceived adverse change. Use has increased (particularly day use), resulting in crowding and a widespread sense that these places seem less like wilderness than they did in the past. Most of these visitors learned to cope with these adverse changes by either adjusting the way they think about these places or by adjusting their behavior. Cognitive coping, particularly rationalization, is very common. Most visitors do not consider changing conditions to be very problematic, probably because their coping mechanisms are successful. This explains lack of support for management actions that restrict access. Very few visitors cannot cope with crowded conditions. Displacement of visitors away from crowded places does not seem prevalent enough for concern about increased crowding and biophysical impact in places in wilderness that are currently lightly used or the validity of on-site visitor surveys.

  • He, Y. 2007. New relationships with wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness 13(3):3, 11.
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    Abstract for He, Y (2007). New relationships with wilderness

    This “editorial perspectives” explains that the papers in this special issue of this journal were built around the concept of “Rethinking Protected Areas in a Changing World.” This topic provided the foundation for a special session of the Biennial George Wright Society Conference and papers from this session and others were invited to contribute to this special issue. Papers in this issue focus on some of the social and technological changes that affect the relationships people have with wilderness and other wildlands.

  • Hossack, Blake R.; Corn, P. Stephen. 2007. Responses of pond-breeding amphibians to wildfire: short-term patterns in occupancy and colonization. Ecological Applications 17(5):1403-1410.
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    Abstract for Hossack, Blake R.; Corn, P. Stephen (2007). Responses of pond-breeding amphibians to wildfire: short-term patterns in occupancy and colonization

    Wildland fires are expected to become more frequent and severe in many ecosystems, potentially posing a threat to many sensitive species. We evaluated the effects of a large, stand-replacement wildfire on three species of pond-breeding amphibians by estimating changes in occupancy of breeding sites during the three years before and after the fire burned 42 of 83 previously surveyed wetlands. Annual occupancy and colonization for each species was estimated using recently developed models that incorporate detection probabilities to provide unbiased parameter estimates. We did not find negative effects of the fire on the occupancy or colonization rates of the long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum). Instead, its occupancy was higher across the study area after the fire, possibly in response to a large snowpack that may have facilitated colonization of unoccupied wetlands. Naïve data (uncorrected for detection probability) for the Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) initially led to the conclusion of increased occupancy and colonization in wetlands that burned. After accounting for temporal and spatial variation in detection probabilities, however, it was evident that these parameters were relatively stable in both areas before and after the fire. We found a similar discrepancy between naïve and estimated occupancy of A. macrodactylum that resulted from different detection probabilities in burned and control wetlands. The boreal toad (Bufo boreas) was not found breeding in the area prior to the fire but colonized several wetlands the year after they burned. Occupancy by B. boreas then declined during years 2 and 3 following the fire. Our study suggests that the amphibian populations we studied are resistant to wildfire and that B. boreas may experience short-term benefits from wildfire. Our data also illustrate how naïve presence–non-detection data can provide misleading results.

  • Knotek, K., Watson, A., Christensen, N. 2007. Diverse recreation experiences at Denali National Park and Preserve. Alaska Park Science: Crossing Boundaries in a Changing Environment 6(2):93-95.
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    Abstract for Knotek, K., Watson, A., Christensen, N. (2007). Diverse recreation experiences at Denali National Park and Preserve

    Qualitative interviews were conducted at Denali National Park and Preserve in the 2004 summer use season to improve understanding of recreation visitor experiences in the remote southern portion of the park, including Mount McKinley and the surrounding mountains and glaciers. Descriptions of the experiences of visitors to the mountains and glaciers included elements of isolation, self-reliance, and personal risk, whereas experiences of visitors flying over the area were more focused on scenic grandeur, creating memories, taking photographs, and glacier landings. Devising appropriate management direction and monitoring protocol to sustain this diversity of experiences at the same place is a challenge.

  • Kupfer, John A.; Farris, Calvin A. 2007. Incorporating spatial non-stationarity of regression coefficients into predictive vegetation models. Landscape Ecology 22: 837-852.
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    Abstract for Kupfer, John A.; Farris, Calvin A. (2007). Incorporating spatial non-stationarity of regression coefficients into predictive vegetation models

    The results of predictive vegetation models are often presented spatially as GIS derived surfaces of vegetation attributes across a landscape or region, but spatial information is rarely included in the model itself. Geographically weighted regression (GWR), which extends the traditional regression framework by allowing regression coefficients to vary for individual locations (‘spatial non-stationarity’), is one method of utilizing spatial information to improve the predictive power of such models. In this paper, we compare the ability of GWR, a local model, with that of ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression, a global model, to predict patterns of montane ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) basal area in Saguaro National Park, AZ, USA on the basis of variables related to topography (elevation, slope steepness, aspect) and fire history (fire frequency, time since fire). The localized regression coefficients exhibited significant non-stationarity for four of the five environmental variables, and the GWR model consequently described the vegetation-environment data significantly better, even after accounting for differences in model complexity. GWR also reduced observed spatial autocorrelation of the model residuals. When applied to independent data locations not used in model development, basal areas predicted by GWR had a closer fit to observed values with lower residuals than those from the optimal OLS regression model. GWR also provided insights into fine-scale controls of ponderosa pine pattern that were missed by the global model. For example, the relationship between ponderosa pine basal area and aspect, which was obscured in the OLS regression model due to non-stationarity, was clearly demonstrated by the GWR model. We thus see GWR as a valuable complement to the many other global methods currently in use for predictive vegetation modeling.

  • Landres, P. 2007. Update on wilderness character monitoring. International Journal of Wilderness 13(2):37-38.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter (2007). Update on wilderness character monitoring

    This short article describes recent actions taken on the USDA Forest Service’s national protocol to monitor wilderness character. The Forest Service decided not to provides funds to implement this monitoring, and the primary authors are documenting all aspects of this effort so that it may be picked up and implemented at a later time. Separate from the Forest Service effort, a new interagency team composed of the four wilderness managing agencies in the United States was formed to offer formal recommendations for a strategy to monitor trends in wilderness character across the entire National Wilderness Preservation System.

  • Larson, Gregory; Wright, Vita; Spaulding, Cade; Rossetto, Kelly; Rausch, Georgi; Richards, Andrea; Durnford, Stephanie. 2007. Using social science to understand and improve wildland fire organizations: An annotated reading list. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-201. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 82 p.
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    Abstract for Larson, Gregory; Wright, Vita; Spaulding, Cade; Rossetto, Kelly; Rausch, Georgi; Richards, Andrea; Durnford, Stephanie (2007). Using social science to understand and improve wildland fire organizations: An annotated reading list

    The wildland fire community has spent the past decade trying to understand and account for the role of human factors in wildland fire organizations. Social research that is relevant to managing fire organizations can be found in disciplines such as social psychology, management, and communication. However, such research has been published primarily for scientific and business audiences, and much of the fire community has not been exposed to it. Here, we have compiled and organized knowledge from a variety of social science disciplines so that it can be used to improve organizational practices related to firefighter and public safety, to assess the effectiveness of safety campaigns, and to improve firefighter safety trainings. This annotated reading list summarizes approximately 270 books, articles, and online resources that address scientific and management concepts helpful for understanding the human side of fire management. The first section, Human Factors and Firefighting, introduces readers to key workshops and writings that led to the recognition that human factors are prime ingredients of firefighter safety. The second section, Foundations for Understanding Organizations, consists of social science research that provides a foundation for understanding organizational dynamics. This section includes readings on decision making and sensemaking, organizational culture, identification and identity, leadership and change, organizational learning, and teams and crews. The third section, Understanding Organizations in High Risk Contexts, explores organizations that deal regularly with risk, uncertainty and crisis. This section includes readings on risk and uncertainty, high reliability organizing and crisis communication. The publication concludes with Internet resources available for those interested in the management of fire organizations.

  • Liljeblad, Adam; Watson, Alan E.; Borrie, William T. 2007. A look inside the dynamics of trust: A guide for managers. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. 2007. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium: September 30–October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 323-325.
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    Abstract for Liljeblad, Adam; Watson, Alan E.; Borrie, William T. (2007). A look inside the dynamics of trust: A guide for managers

    In the United States, federal public land managers are tasked with serving as stewards of land, but also as stewards of the relationships that people have with the land. By assessing the public’s trust in the actions of land managers, insight can be gained into how good of a job managers are doing. This paper outlines a number of factors that influence the public’s trust in managing agencies, and provides suggestions for monitoring the level of trust. The authors suggest that any efforts to increase the public’s trust require the general attentiveness of land managers.

  • Magro, T.C.; Watson, A.; Bernasconi, P. 2007. Identifying threats, values, and attributes in Brazilian wilderness areas. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. 2007. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium: September 30–October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 319-322.
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    Abstract for Magro, T.C.; Watson, A.; Bernasconi, P. (2007). Identifying threats, values, and attributes in Brazilian wilderness areas

    The protection of relatively pristine areas in Brazil provides a great opportunity to recognize the values of natural ecosystems. At the same time, it provides opportunities for economic development. The growing interest in these areas in Brazil has stimulated techniques for management and research to study the consequences of human activities on the natural environment and the experience of visitors. Protection of the values received from these areas in relation to ecological and social conditions and threats to those values and conditions are priority research topics in Brazil. In the year 2003, a Symposium, “Protecting and restoring relationships between humans and wilderness landscapes,” was held in Piracicaba-SP, Brazil. At this meeting a range of protected area issues were discussed; all of them outcomes of actual studies in protected areas and related to defining and protecting the human relationships with natural environments. Participants identified threats, values and attributes of protected areas that could help to guide ecological and social research and monitoring. They used a basic matrix of wilderness attributes and threats used previously at the Leopold Institute. The results reflect, in a way, the situation of other undeveloped countries where the mains threats are related to illegal extraction of wood, traffic in wild animals and inadequate agricultural practices.

  • McCool, S.F.; Lachapelle, P.R.; Gosselin, H.; Gertsch, F.; Sahanatien, V. 2007. Managing recreational experiences in Arctic National Parks: A process for identifying indicators. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. 2007. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium: September 30–October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 162-169.
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    Abstract for McCool, S.F.; Lachapelle, P.R.; Gosselin, H.; Gertsch, F.; Sahanatien, V. (2007). Managing recreational experiences in Arctic National Parks: A process for identifying indicators

    Despite low use densities and a largely absent development footprint, parks in arctic environments are confronted with questions similar to more heavily used protected areas. Many of these questions concern the character of experiences visitors seek and for which agencies attempt to provide opportunities. These experiences, like others, have a variety of dimensions, such as solitude, adventure, naturalness, scenery, and so on. Understanding these experiences and ensuring that visitors have an opportunity to experience them are major challenges for stewardship organizations, given the character and remoteness of the setting. This paper describes a three-phase project to discover the dimensionality of experiences among visitors to Canada’s Auyuittuq National Park and develop indicators that managers could use to assess if such desired experiences were being achieved. In Phase I, the project used qualitative interviews to identify the dimensionality of experiences and in Phase II quantitative methods to assess their importance to visitors as well as to link experiences to various setting attributes. Phase III involved a workshop involving managers, scientists, and tourism officials to identify potential indicators of each desired dimension of the visitor experience. The process used here ensured that research was policy relevant and may serve as a model for other park and protected area stewards faced with similar challenges.

  • Miller, C. 2007. Simulation of the consequences of different fire regimes to support wildland fire use decisions. Fire Ecology 3(2): 83-102.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol (2007). Simulation of the consequences of different fire regimes to support wildland fire use decisions

    The strategy known as wildland fire use, in which lightning-ignited fires are allowed to burn, is rapidly gaining momentum in the fire management community. Managers need to know the consequences of an increase in area burned that might result from an increase in wildland fire use. One concern of land managers as they consider implementing wildland fire use is whether they can meet the goals in the land management plan for the desired distribution of forest structural stages across the landscape with further increases in fire. These questions were explored for a 49,532 ha landscape on the Boise National Forest in Idaho that typically experiences mixed-severity and stand-replacing fires. The landscape simulation model TELSA was used to evaluate how increases in fire frequency and area burned might affect landscape composition and structure. Information about frequency, annual area burned, and size-class distributions of fires derived from a fire atlas for the northern Rocky Mountains were used to define the fire regime parameters for five different simulation scenarios. Scenarios with higher fire frequency and area burned resulted in landscapes dominated by earlier successional forest stages and only small patches occupied by large trees. Simulated variability in area occupied by different tree-size classes on this landscape was much greater than the desired ranges defined in the land management plan for the forest at large. A measure of dissimilarity (Euclidean Distance) from desired composition was used to evaluate scenarios for their relative ability to achieve long term land management goals. The lowest values of Euclidean Distance were for a scenario that represents a substantial increase in fire over 20th century fire regimes. Euclidean Distance increased for scenarios with very high rates of burning, implying an upper limit to the desired amount of fire for this landscape. These findings could be used to develop guidance for achieving desired conditions with wildland fire use.

  • Parsons, David J. 2007. An outside assessment of wilderness research in the Forest Service. International Journal of Wilderness 13(3):34-35, 39.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2007). An outside assessment of wilderness research in the Forest Service

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Keane, R. E., Holsinger, L. M., Parsons, R. A., & Gray, K. (2008). Climate change effects on historical range and variability of two large landscapes in western Montana, USA. Forest Ecology and Management, 254(3), 375-389.
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    Abstract for Robert E. Keane *, Lisa M. Holsinger, Russell A. Parsons, Kathy Gray (2007). Climate change effects on historical range and variability of two large landscapes in western Montana, USA.

    Quantifying the historical range and variability of landscape composition and structure using simulation modeling is becoming an important means of assessing current landscape condition and prioritizing landscapes for ecosystem restoration. However, most simulated time series are generated using static climate conditions which fail to account for the predicted major changes in future climate. This paper presents a simulation study that generates reference landscape compositions for all combinations of three climate scenarios (warm-wet, hot-dry, and current) and three fire regime scenarios (half historical, historical, and double historical fire frequencies) to determine if future climate change has an effect on landscape dynamics. We applied the spatially explicit, state-and-transition, landscape fire succession model LANDSUM to two large landscapes in west-central Montana, USA. LANDSUM was parameterized and initialized using spatial data generated from the LANDFIRE prototype project. Biophysical settings, critical spatial inputs to LANDSUM, were empirically modeled across the landscape using environmental gradients created from historical and modeled future climate daily weather data summaries. Successional pathways and disturbance probabilities were assigned to these biophysical settings based on existing field data and extensive literature reviews. To assess the impact of changes in climate and fire regime, we compared simulated area burned and landscape composition over time among the different simulation scenario combinations using response variables of Sorenson’s index (a global measure of similarity) and area occupied by the dominant vegetation class (simple indicator of change in landscape composition). Results show that simulated time series using future predicted climate scenarios are significantly different from the simulated historical time series and any changes in the fire regime tend to create more dissimilar and more variable simulated time series. Our study results indicate that historical time series should be used in conjunction with simulated future time series as references for managing landscapes.

  • Schneider, I.E. 2007. The prevalence and significance of displacement for wilderness recreation management and research. International Journal of Wilderness 13(3):23-27.
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    Abstract for Schneider, I.E. (2007). The prevalence and significance of displacement for wilderness recreation management and research

    The concept of visitor displacement has important implications for wilderness management and research. Research on actual displacement of wilderness visitors is extremely limited, but this displacement likely follows patterns found for general recreationists: visitors employ a variety of coping responses and displacement is prevalent. Understanding if and when visitors are displaced is useful for anticipating and responding to resource impacts, impacts to visitor experiences, and needs to improve regional management strategies. Displacement implications extend beyond evaluation of on-site experiences to also serve as an indicator of the condition of a visitor’s relationship with the resource or agency. Management and research must be more prepared to respond to use and user displacement as an indicator of changing relationships with wilderness and other wildlands.

  • Schuster, Rudy M.; Cole, David; Hall, Troy; Baker, Jennifer; Oreskes, Rebecca. 2007. Appraisal of and response to social conditions in the great gulf wilderness: relationships among perceived crowding, rationalization, product shift, satisfaction, and future behavioral intentions. In: Burns, R.; Robinson, K., comps. Proceedings of the 2006 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium; 2006 April 9-11; Bolton Landing, NY. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-14. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 488-496.
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    Abstract for Schuster, Rudy M.; Cole, David; Hall, Troy; Baker, Jennifer; Oreskes, Rebecca (2007). Appraisal of and response to social conditions in the great gulf wilderness: relationships among perceived crowding, rationalization, product shift, satisfaction, and future behavioral intentions

    Purposes were to describe on-site social carrying capacity from the users’ perspectives, provide management applications, and refine constructs of product shift and rationalization used by visitors as coping responses to crowding. Data were gathered using on-site exit surveys of hikers in the Great Gulf Wilderness and analyzed with descriptive statistics, principal components analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. Social carrying capacity did not appear to have been exceeded based on the users’ perspectives. However, coping was employed by 50 percent of the population. An acceptable model of hiker appraisal and coping response was identified. A discussion of management application and future direction for redefining product shift and rationalization within a context are offered.

  • Sharman, Lewis C.; Landres, Peter; and Boudreau, Susan. 2007. Developing a Framework for Evaluating Proposals for Research in Wilderness: Science to Protect and Learn from Parks. Alaska Park Science: Crossing Boundaries in a Changing Environment 6(2):100-103.
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    Abstract for Sharman, Lewis C.; Landres, Peter; and Boudreau, Susan (2007). Developing a Framework for Evaluating Proposals for Research in Wilderness: Science to Protect and Learn from Parks

    In designated park wilderness, the requirements for scientific research often conflict with requirements designed to protect wilderness resources and values. Managers who wish to realize the benefits of scientific research must have a process by which to evaluate those benefits as well as their associated wilderness impacts. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, in collaboration with the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute and several non-NPS researchers, has drafted a decision process that balances potential impacts to wilderness with potential benefits to wilderness, the park, and science. The park works closely with researchers to minimize wilderness impacts to the greatest possible extent while maximizing potential benefits. This process is applied equally and consistently to all scientists (internal and external), is communicated clearly, and is a means to ensure that permitted research minimally impacts wilderness while providing information that ultimately protects it.

  • Thomas, D, A. Black, D. Dether, K. Hetts and M. Dueitt. 2007. The Jungle Prescribed Fire Review: an experiment in learning. Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, Tucson, AZ (Keller, ed). Available online: http://www.wildfirelessons.net. 42p, 650 KB.
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    Abstract for Thomas, D, A. Black, D. Dether, K. Hetts and M. Dueitt (2007). The Jungle Prescribed Fire Review: an experiment in learning

    During the last five years the Federal fire agencies have started a steady movement toward becoming “learning organizations.” A “learning organization” is skilled at acquiring, interpreting, transferring, retaining, and purposely modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. In a learning organization, mishaps are looked at as rich opportunities for learning and for improving performance. After the Jungle Prescribed Fire escape, Mike Dudley, Director of Fire and Aviation Management, Intermountain Region, USDA Forest Service, convened a national Review Team to develop and implement a prescribed fire review process that was not about blaming the prescribed fire personnel. He wanted this review to examine and help propel organizational learning. This review was also guided by the spirit of the foundational principles developed in both the Fire Suppression Doctrine and the draft Prescribed Fire Doctrine report. This review used the principles of high reliability and learning as a lens through which to open a dialogue with members of the planning and burn team about the event. This report is not an exhaustive analysis of the event itself; it documents these discussions through the eyes of the participant and organized around the five principles of HRO. Each section concludes with a set of questions readers may find useful to ask before lighting their next prescribed fire.

  • Watson, A.; Glaspell, B.; Christensen, N.; Lachapelle, P.; Sahanatien, V.; Gertsch, F. (2007). Giving Voice to Wildlands Visitors: Selecting Indicators to Protect and Sustain Experiences in the Eastern Arctic of Nunavut. Environmental Management 40:880–888.
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    Abstract for Watson, A.; Glaspell, B.; Christensen, N.; Lachapelle, P.; Sahanatien, V.; Gertsch, F. (2007). Giving Voice to Wildlands Visitors: Selecting Indicators to Protect and Sustain Experiences in the Eastern Arctic of Nunavut

    Many public land management agencies are committed to understanding and protecting recreation visitor experiences. Parks Canada is deeply committed to that objective for visitors to Canada’s National Parks. This 2004 study, informed by a 2003 qualitative study of visitor experiences and influences on those experiences at Auyuittuq National Park in Nunavut, worked to bring 50 potential elements of visitor experiences down to five articulated dimensions of the experience that is currently being received at this remote eastern arctic park. A hypothesized set of 17 influences on experiences, also reduced to just two factors with similar response patterns, and with some items that did not flow into the two factors, were used in a regression analysis to understand the relationship between experiences and factors of influence. A sample of 61.8% (84) of the total recreation visitor population 16 years of age or older was surveyed during deregistration after the trip. Knowledge about the dimensions of the experiences currently received and factors of influence on those experiences can be used to guide selection of indicators for describing objectives and prescribing monitoring protocol.

  • Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. 2007. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium; September 30-October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 581 p. This publication is also available at: http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_p049.pdf A CD pf this publication is also available from the Leopold Institute (publication number 623)
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese (2007). Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium

    The Eighth World Wilderness Congress met in Anchorage, Alaska, in 2005. The symposium on science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values was the largest of multiple symposia held in conjunction with the Congress. The papers contained in this proceedings were generated at this symposium, submitted by the author or authors for consideration for inclusion in this proceedings, and have been organized into nine major topics: (1) Alaska: past, present and future; (2) connections between wilderness and communities; (3) values to local and distant societies of wilderness protection; (4) establishing priorities and developing policies for wilderness protection; (5) wilderness stewardship challenges in a changing world; (6) encouraging stewardship through education; (7) place and spirit: commitment to wilderness; (8) protecting ecological integrity of wilderness; and (9) wilderness, water, and wisdom. http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_p049.pdf.

  • Williams, D.R.; Watson, A.E. 2007. Wilderness values: Perspectives from non-economic social science. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. 2007. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium: September 30–October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
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    Abstract for Williams, D.R.; Watson, A.E. (2007). Wilderness values: Perspectives from non-economic social science

    The concept of “values” is one of the most widely used to characterize the human dimensions of natural resources. Yet, clearly it means many different things in different disciplines and in everyday discourse. Background information regarding values from a non-economic social science perspective is provided, with an aim towards stretching the dominant economic paradigm for how value questions should be understood and to frame these questions in a way that is more suitable for what might be called, “post-utilitarian forestry.” This amounts to challenging the view that values are “fixed” and individually defined attitudes or preferences. It is suggested instead that values be seen as modes of thinking that differ among different communities, change and evolve as these different communities interact, and further, that such interaction drives the evolution of policy and management over time.

  • Williamson, Martha A. 2007. Factors in United States Forest Service district rangers’ decision to manage a fire for resource benefit. International Journal of Wildland Fire 16(6): 755-762.
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    Abstract for Williamson, Martha A. (2007). Factors in United States Forest Service district rangers’ decision to manage a fire for resource benefit

    United States wildland fire policy and program reviews in 1995 and 2000 required both the reduction of hazardous fuel and recognition of fire as a natural process. Despite the fact that existing policy permits managing natural ignitions to meet resource benefits, or Wildland Fire Use (WFU), most fuel reduction projects rely on mechanical treatments and prescribed fire. Budget constraints suggest that successful fuel and ecosystem management hinges on expanding WFU. The decision to authorize WFU in the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) rests with line officers, and the so-called ‘go/no go’ decision constitutes a time-critical risk assessment. Factors influencing this decision clearly impact the viability of WFU. The present study examined influences on line officers’ go/no go decision. A telephone survey was conducted of all USFS district rangers with WFU authority in the Northern, Intermountain, and Southwestern Regions. The census was completed during February 2005 and obtained an 85% response rate. Data were analyzed using Classification and Regression Tree analysis. Personal commitment to WFU provided the primary classifier for 91% of the district rangers who authorized WFU. External factors, negative public perception, resource availability, and a perceived lack of support from the USFS were the main disincentives to authorizing WFU.

  • Wright, V. 2007. Communication barriers to applying federal research in support of land management in the United States. Pages 55-62 In: Miner, Cynthia; Jacobs, Ruth; Dykstra, Dennis; Bittner, Becky, eds. 2006. Proceedings: international conference on transfer of forest science knowledge and technology. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-726. Portland, OR: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station.
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    Abstract for Wright, V. (2007). Communication barriers to applying federal research in support of land management in the United States

    Barriers to effective communication between researchers and managers can ultimately result in barriers to the application of scientific knowledge and technology for land management. Both individual and organizational barriers are important in terms of how they affect the first three stages of the innovation-decision process: 1) knowledge, where an individual is exposed to innovation and develops an understanding of how it works; 2) evaluation, where an individual evaluates advantages and disadvantages and forms a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward innovation; and 3) decision, where an individual engages in activities that lead to a choice to either adopt or reject the innovation. The communication studies discipline provides insight into potential influences to the communication and use of research results by federal land managers. Effective communication refers to the development of a common understanding between the research communicator and the manager/practitioner about both the existence and utility of an innovation. Communication research reveals that people frequently report leaving the same encounter with different perceptions of that encounter. So, it is not surprising that a scientist presents results in what s/he perceives to be clear terms and then the land manager returns to his/her daily tasks with a modified perspective of what the scientist intended to communicate, with continued uncertainty, and/or lack of interest that lead to passive rejection of innovations. By understanding contextual influences to communication within target audiences, research communicators may be able to plan for and minimize potential causes of misunderstanding within different target management audiences. Recognizing that science delivery and application approaches are often developed on an ad hoc basis, this paper emphasizes the need to understand specific influences to the communication process within these audiences. Understanding influences to communication within target audiences will help applied researchers, research application specialists, and upper-level managers prioritize limited delivery and application resources and increase the likelihood that these efforts result in application.

  • Zinn, H.C.; Graefe, A.R. 2007. Emerging adults and the future of wild nature. International Journal of Wilderness 13(3):16-22.
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    Abstract for Zinn, H.C.; Graefe, A.R. (2007). Emerging adults and the future of wild nature

    Many resource managers and wilderness advocates see links between appreciating wild nature, participating in traditional outdoor activities, and support for protecting wild areas. Some of these individuals express concern that the values and recreation behavior of today’s young people may suggest less support for protecting wilderness in the future. Although emerging adults appear to express strong pro-environmental values, they exhibit outdoor recreation patterns strikingly different from the past. More questions than answers exist about emerging adults’ environmental and wilderness values, and how these values relate to their outdoor recreation behavior.

  • Zinn, Harry C.; Graefe, Alan R. 2007. "Emerging adults and the future of wild nature." International Journal of Wilderness. 13(3):16-22.
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    Abstract for Zinn, Harry C.; Graefe, Alan R. (2007). Emerging adults and the future of wild nature

    Many resource managers and wilderness advocates see links between appreciating wild nature, participating in traditional outdoor activities, and support for protecting wild areas. Some of these individuals express concern that the values and recreation behavior of today’s young people may suggest less support for protecting wilderness in the future. Although emerging adults appear to express strong pro-environmental values, they exhibit outdoor recreation patterns strikingly different from the past. More questions than answers exist about emerging adults’ environmental and wilderness values, and how these values relate to their outdoor recreation behavior.

  • Borrie, W.T., McCool, S.F., and Whitmore, J.G. (2006). “Wildland Fire Effects on Visits and Visitors to the Bob Marshal Wilderness Complex.”International Journal of Wilderness, 12(1), 32-38.
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    Abstract for Borrie, W.T., McCool, S.F., and Whitmore, J.G. (2006). Wildland Fire Effects on Visits and Visitors to the Bob Marshal Wilderness Complex

    Wildland fire can affect wilderness visits and scientific efforts to understand visitor relationships with wilderness places. Large-scale and long-lasting fires occurred in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, Montana, in 2003. A study of visitors that year to monitor long-term trends in visit and visitor characteristics was repeated in 2004 to fully understand how the 2003 fires affected trend analysis. This article considers the question of how wildland fire changes the relationship people have with wilderness, particularly related to their visits and visitor attitudes toward fire management.

  • Cole, David N. 2006. Monitoring to Protect the character of individual wildernesses. In: Aguirre-Bravo, Celedonio, et al. Eds. 2004. Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium: Unifying Knowledge for Sustainability in the Western Hemisphere; 2004 September 20-24; Denver, CO. Proceedings RMR P-37-cd. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N (2006). Monitoring to Protect the character of individual wildernesses

    A primary goal of wilderness stewardship is to protect individual wilderness areas from most anthropogenic change. Numerous agents of change threaten to degrade wilderness character. These agents of change are both internal (for example, grazing) and external (for example, polluting industries) to wilderness. They can be activities (for example, recreation use) or the indirect effects of activities (for example, invasion of exotic species), and can also be management actions (for example, fire suppression). Wilderness managers need information about both these agents of change (or threats) and the attributes of wilderness character that they threaten. They need monitoring data about (1) the magnitude of threats and (2) changes in wilderness attributes caused by these threats (impacts), in order to be in a better position to protect the wilderness character of the areas that they steward. This paper uses a matrix approach to provide a comprehensive overview of wilderness protection monitoring. It describes the current state-of-the-art. It identifies substantial knowledge and technological gaps, as well as research needs.

  • Cole, David N. 2006. Visitor and recreation impact monitoring: is it lost in the gulf between science and management? The George Wright Society Forum 23(2): 11-16.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2006). Visitor and recreation impact monitoring: is it lost in the gulf between science and management?

    Park managers have seldom had the scientific information on recreation and its impacts that they need. Despite allocating substantial portions of park budgets to visitor management, few resources are typically allocated to recreation science. This is hugely problematic. Visitors are a focal species in every park and yet we have little systematic information about how many there are, where they go, what they do, and how they impact the biophysical resource. This essay explores potential reasons why neither managers nor scientists have effectively advocated for a strong recreation science program in the parks and argues that visitor-related variables need to be a larger part of every park’s routine data collection program.

  • Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. 2006. Wilderness zoning: should we purposely manage to different standard? In: Harmon, David. People, places and parks. Proceedings of the 2005 George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas and Cultural Sites. Hancock, MI: The George Wright Society: 33-38.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E (2006). zoning: should we purposely manage to different standard?

    One approach to managing the tension between providing access for recreation and preserving wilderness is to zone wilderness—to manage different places in wilderness to different standards. We surveyed visitors to 12 Forest Service wildernesses in Oregon and Washington and asked their opinions regarding zoning. Most were supportive. Support for within-wilderness zoning was stronger than support for among-wilderness zoning.

  • Cole, David N.; Spildie, David R. 2006. Restoration of plant cover in subalpine forests disturbed by camping: success of transplanting. Natural Areas Journal 26: 168-178.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Spildie, David R (2006). Restoration of plant cover in subalpine forests disturbed by camping: success of transplanting

    Camping has severely impacted soil and vegetation in many natural areas. Effective techniques for restoring native vegetation are needed, particularly at high elevations. This study assessed the effectiveness of transplanting and restoration treatments designed to improve the physical, biological and chemical properties of soils (scarification and amendments of organic matter, compost and soil inoculum), and ameliorate microclimatic conditions (application of a biodegradable mulch mat) on six closed campsites in subalpine forests in Oregon. Most transplants (68%) were still alive seven years after transplanting. Mean area and height of surviving transplants increased 39% and 19%, respectively, over the seven years. Transplanting success varied among species. Graminoids survived most frequently, while tree species grew most rapidly. Only 45% of the shrub transplants survived and the canopy area of most survivors decreased. Shrubs constitute about 70% of the undisturbed groundcover. The soil amendments, particularly addition of compost and organic matter, increased the growth of transplants but had little effect on survivorship. Effects were most pronounced for graminoids and diminished after the fourth year of the experiment. The application of a biodegradable mulch mat had no effect. Transplanting locally collected plants is an effective means of accelerating the restoration of damaged campsites in these subalpine forests. However, the more elaborate treatments were only modestly successful in increasing transplanting success. They did not overcome the difficulty of restoring sustainable populations of the shrubs, Vaccinium scoparium and Phyllodoce empetriformis.

  • DeLuca, Thomas H.; Sala Anna. 2006. Frequent fire alters nitrogen transformations in ponderosa pine stands of the inland Northwest. Ecology 87(10): 2511-2522.
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    Abstract for DeLuca, Thomas H.; Sala Anna (2006). Frequent fire alters nitrogen transformations in ponderosa pine stands of the inland Northwest

    Recurrent, low-severity fire in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)/interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) forests is thought to have directly influenced nitrogen (N) cycling and availability. However, no studies to date have investigated the influence of natural fire intervals on soil processes in undisturbed forests, thereby limiting our ability to understand ecological processes and successional dynamics in this important ecosystem of the Rocky Mountain West. Here, we tested the standing hypothesis that recurrent fire in ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests of the Inland Northwest decreases total soil N, but increases N turnover and nutrient availability. We compared soils in stands unburned over the past 69–130 years vs. stands exposed to two or more fires over the last 130 years at seven distinct locations in two wilderness areas. Mineral soil samples were collected from each of the seven sites in June and July of 2003 and analyzed for pH, total C and N, potentially mineralizable N (PMN), and extractable NH4+, NO3-, PO4-3, Ca+2, Mg+2, and K+. Nitrogen transformations were assessed at five sites by installing ionic resin capsules in the mineral soil in August of 2003 and by conducting laboratory assays of nitrification potential and net nitrification in aerobic incubations. Total N and PMN decreased in stands subjected to multiple fires. This loss of total N and labile N was not reflected in concentrations of extractable NH4+ and NO3-. Rather, multiple fires caused an increase in NO3- sorbed on ionic resins, nitrification potential, and net nitrification in spite of the burned stands not having been exposed to fire for at least 12–17 years. Charcoal collected from a recent fire site and added to unburned soils increased nitrification potential, suggesting that the decrease of charcoal in the absence of fire may play an important role in N transformations in fire dependent ecosystems in the long term. Interestingly, we found no consistent effect of fire frequency on extractable P or alkaline metal concentrations. Our results corroborate the largely untested hypothesis that frequent fire in ponderosa pine forests increases inorganic N availability in the long term and emphasize the need to study natural, unmanaged sites in far greater detail.

  • Dether, Deirdre; Black, Anne. 2006. Learning from escaped prescribed fires – lessons for high reliability. Fire Management Today. 66(4):50-56.
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    Abstract for Dether, Deirdre and Black, Anne. (2006). Learning from escaped prescribed fires – lessons for high reliability.

    Meeting national goals for hazardous fuels reduction and ecosystem restoration would be difficult if not impossible prescribed fire. Suspension of prescribed fire programs, as often happens following an escape, limits federal capacity to meet programmatic, social, and ecological goals. Thus, meeting our goals requires that fire programs (both prescribed and Wildland Fire Use) operate with ‘high reliability’ – that is with less than their fair share of accidents (Weick and Sutcliffe 2001). In this paper, we summarize a recent review (Dether 2005) of escaped prescribed fires from the perspective of ‘high reliability’ in order to understand how to improve future performance. Our intent is to identify potential ‘weak signals’ or “early warning signs” fire use practitioners may want to pay particular attention to as they prepare for future events (prescribed fire, Wildland Fire Use, even suppression events).

  • Doane, Dustin; O’Laughlin, Jay; Morgan, Penelope, Miller, Carol. 2006. Barriers to wildland fire use: a preliminary problem analysis. International Journal of Wilderness. 12(1): 36-38.
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    Abstract for Doane, Dustin; O’Laughlin, Jay; Morgan, Penelope, Miller, Carol. (2006). Barriers to wildland fire use: a preliminary problem analysis

    We summarize results from an Internet-based questionnaire designed to determine the primary barriers to wildland fire use as perceived by fire managers in National Forest Wilderness areas. In this summary we focus on the barriers rated important by managers that can be mitigated by the agency, which includes factors related to organizational culture, capacity, and policies originating within the agency.

  • Glaspell, Brian.; Watson, Alan.; Kneeshaw, Katie.; Pendergrast, Don. 2006. It’s elemental my dear! What makes an experience different at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve? Natural Enquirer. 7(1): 6-15.
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    Abstract for Glaspell, Brian.; Watson, Alan.; Kneeshaw, Katie.; Pendergrast, Don (2006). It’s elemental my dear! What makes an experience different at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve?

    Wilderness managers want to do the best job they can, for both wilderness and for people who visit wilderness. To do this, they want to know what is important to visitors. This could be things like having good information, seeing wildlife or feeling completely free. These are examples of elements that affect the experience that people have when they visit wilderness. In this study, the scientists wanted to identify the most important elements of an experience in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.

  • Gunderson, Kari; Cook, C. Wilderness, Water, and Quality of Life in the Bitterroot Valley. In: Watson, Alan; Dean, Liese; Sproull, Janet, comps. 2005. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium; 2005 September 30-October 6; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-000. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
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    Abstract for Gunderson, Kari; Cook, C (2006). Wilderness, Water, and Quality of Life in the Bitterroot Valley

    The Bitterroot Valley is located in western Montana, USA. Most of the Bitterroot Range above the Bitterroot Valley is protected as wilderness, and is a source of much of the water that flows down and through the valley floor. With an annual precipitation of only 12.3 inches, the Bitterroot Valley is classified as a high desert environment. Today the quality of life in the Bitterroot Valley is high, and it is deeply connected to the water resources and naturalness of the mountain landscape. To provide water for orchards, food crops, and hay, farmers constructed dams in the Bitterroot Mountains in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were built to capture spring runoff from snow melt and store it until late July and August when flows in the Bitterroot River and its tributaries are usually too low to support irrigation and water-based recreation. In 1964, 251,443 acres (101,755 ha) of the Bitterroot Range were classified as wilderness. Special provisions in the Wilderness Act allowed continued operation and maintenance of these dams for existing uses. When dam repairs are undertaken periodically, there is intense discussion on the appropriateness of using heavy equipment, the type of repair to be implemented, and, sometimes, even whether to do the repair at all. The dams have substantial influence, both upstream and downstream, on the biological integrity of this wilderness ecosystem, but the influences may be considered tradeoffs with human needs for the same resource. This study attempted to develop an understanding of the ecological, economic, social and cultural values associated with wilderness dams in the Bitterroot Valley.

  • Gunderson, Kari; Watson, Alan. 2006. Understanding place meanings on the Bitterroot National Forest – A landscape-level assessment of personal and community values. International Journal of Wilderness. Vol. 12(1): 27-31.
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    Abstract for Gunderson, Kari; Watson, Alan (2006). Understanding place meanings on the Bitterroot National Forest – A landscape-level assessment of personal and community values

    Information about human relationships with wilderness is important for wilderness management decisions, including decisions pertaining to the use of wildland fire. In a study about meanings attached to a national forest, local residents were asked to identify places they valued on the forest, why they valued them, and how fuel treatments affected those values. Local residents h many meanings to the wilderness part of the landscape and they have opinions about the use of wildland fire as a fuel treatment there. Understanding the meanings humans attaché to wilderness and how it influences their perceptions of fire and fuels management there can help managers anticipate public to planned activities.

  • Hossack, Blake R. 2006. Amphibians and wildfire in the U.S. northwest. International Journal of Wilderness 12(1):26, 43.
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    Abstract for Hossack, Blake R. (2006). Amphibians and wildfire in the U.S. Northwest

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Hossack, Blake R.; Corn, Paul Stephen; Fagre, Daniel B. 2006. Divergent Patterns of Abundance and Age-class Structure of Headwater Stream Tadpoles in Burned and Unburned Watersheds. Canadian Journal of Zoology 84:1482-1488.
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    Abstract for Hossack, Blake R.; Corn, Paul Stephen; Fagre, Daniel B. (2006). Divergent Patterns of Abundance and Age-class Structure of Headwater Stream Tadpoles in Burned and Unburned Watersheds

    Wildfire is a potential threat to many species with narrow environmental tolerances, including the Rocky Mountain Tailed Frog (Ascaphus montanus Mittleman and Myers, 1949), which inhabits a region where the frequency and intensity of wildfires is expected to increase. We compared pre- and post-fire counts of tadpoles in 8 streams in northwest Montana to determine the effects of wildfire on A. montanus. All streams were initially sampled in 2001, 2 years before 4 of them burned in a large wildfire, and were resampled during the 2 years following the fire. Counts of tadpoles were similar in the two groups of streams before the fire. After the fire, tadpoles were almost twice as abundant in unburned streams than in burned streams. The fire seemed to have the greatest negative effect on abundance of age-1 tadpoles, which was reflected in greater variation in same-stream age-class structure compared to unburned streams. Despite the apparent effect on tadpoles, we do not suspect the wildfire is an extirpation threat to populations in the streams we sampled. Studies spanning a chronosequence of fires and in other areas are needed to assess effects on A. montanus streams and to determine the severity and persistence of effects on populations.

  • Hossack, Blake R.; Diamond, Stephen A.; Corn, Stephen P. 2006. Distribution of boreal toad populations in relation to estimated UV-B dose in Glacier National Park, Montana. Canadian Journal of Zoology 84(1):98-107.
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    Abstract for Hossack, Blake R.; Diamond, Stephen A.; Corn, Stephen P. (2006). Distribution of boreal toad populations in relation to estimated UV-B dose in Glacier National Park, Montana

    A recent increase in ultraviolet B radiation is one hypothesis advanced to explain suspected or documented declines of the boreal toad (Bufo boreas Baird and Girard, 1852) across much of the western USA, where some experiments have shown ambient UV-B can reduce embryo survival. We examined B. boreas occupancy relative to daily UV-B dose at 172 potential breeding sites in Glacier National Park, Montana, to assess whether UV-B limits the distribution of toads. Dose estimates were based on ground-level UV-B data and the effects of elevation, local topographic and vegetative features, and attenuation in the water column. We also examined temporal trends in surface UV-B and spring snowpack to determine whether populations are likely to have experienced increased UV-B exposure in recent decades. We found no support for the hypothesis that UV-B limits the distribution of populations in the park, even when we analyzed high-elevation ponds separately. Instead, toads were more likely to breed in water bodies with higher estimated UV-B doses. The lack of a detectable trend in surface UV-B since 1979, combined with earlier snow melt in the region and increasing forest density at high elevations, suggests B. boreas embryos and larvae likely have not experienced increased UV-B.

  • Keeling, Eric G.; Sala, Anna; DeLuca, Thomas H. 2006. Effects of fire exclusion on forest structure and composition in unlogged ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests. Forest Ecology and Management 237: 418-428.
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    Abstract for Keeling, Eric G.; Sala, Anna; DeLuca, Thomas H. (2006). Effects of fire exclusion on forest structure and composition in unlogged ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests

    Research to date on effects of fire exclusion in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests has been limited by narrow geographical focus, by confounding effects due to prior logging at research sites, and by uncertainty from using reconstructions of past conditions to infer changes. For the work presented here, reference stands in unlogged ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests at seven sites across a broad region of Idaho and Montana were selected for study. Within each site, understory and overstory community structure and composition were surveyed in 2–4 stands exposed to different numbers of fires during the 20th century. Student’s t-tests were used to test differences between the most fire excluded (‘‘unburned’’) and the most frequently burned (‘‘burned’’) stands across the entire study. Multivariate analyses were used to characterize successional changes resulting from lack of fire. Understory community composition varied from site to site and was not related to fire exposure. However, species richness was higher in unburned stands. Overall tree densities and densities of shade-tolerant tree species increased with the absence of fire. There was a marginally significant association between xeric understories and ponderosa pine dominated overstories and mesic understories and Douglas-fir or grand fir dominated overstories. Our multivariate analysis suggests that while general trajectories of succession with absence of fire may be predictable, the structure and composition of ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir communities across complex landscapes may be difficult to relate to specific exposure to fire or time-since-fire. This study highlights the importance of natural variability and heterogeneity in ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests of the inland Northwest, and supports other recent research calling for cautious approaches to restoration in these forests.

  • Knotek, K. 2006. DVD. Trends in public attitudes towards the use of wildland fire. Third International Fire Ecology & Management Congress proceedings. 2006.
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    Abstract for Knotek, K. (2006). Trends in public attitudes towards the use of wildland fire.

    This paper summarizes a select set of research studies conducted over the past 40 years, drawing conclusions on trends in public attitudes about the use of wildland fire in federally-designated Wilderness. The research includes trend studies conducted with visitors to Wilderness areas in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana. Each research study used a unique method for measuring and tracking change in visitor attitudes towards fire in Wilderness. Across all studies, results indicate a trend toward more positive and supportive visitor attitudes about the use of fire in Wilderness. This information is important for understanding if, and how, public attitudes might be changing over time.

  • Knotek, K.; Watson, A. E. 2006. Organizational characteristics that contribute to success in engaging the public to accomplish fuels management at the wilderness/non-wilderness interface. In: Andrews, Patricia L.; Butler, Bret W., comps. Fuels Management – How to Measure Success: Conference Proceedings. 28 – 30 March 2006; Portland, OR. Proceedings RMRS-P-41. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
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    Abstract for Knotek, K.; Watson, A. E. (2006). Organizational characteristics that contribute to success in engaging the public to accomplish fuels management at the wilderness/non-wilderness interface

    In the fall of 2003, the Rocky Mountain Ranger District of the Lewis and Clark National Forest initiated a multi-year, large-scale prescribed burn in the Scapegoat Wilderness. The objectives of this burn were to make the non-wilderness side of the wilderness boundary more defensible from wildfire and to establish conditions that will allow fire to play a more natural role within the wilderness in the future. Using this prescribed burn as a case study, qualitative research was conducted in 2005 to understand the local ranger district’s public outreach efforts and its subsequent influence on public attitudes towards the burn. A series of in-depth interviews with agency personnel involved in the burn, and representatives from local communities who were aware of and/or participated in public outreach efforts for the burn, were the primary sources of data for this research. A framework of mindfulness processes exhibited by high reliability organizations was used in analysis for identification and understanding of organizational characteristics that contribute to success in engaging the public in Forest Service efforts to treat hazardous fuels and manage risk from wildfire. As a case study, the methods and results provide a means of comparison to additional cases on other management units.

  • Knotek, Katie. 2006. Understanding social influences on wilderness fire stewardship decisions. International Journal of Wilderness. 12(1): 22-25.
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    Abstract for Knotek, Katie. (2006). Understanding social influences on wilderness fire stewardship decisions

    Federal land managers and the public engage in many decisions about stewardship of wilderness in the United States, including decisions about stewardship of fire. To date, social science research lacks a holistic examination of the decision-making context of managers and the public about stewardship of fire inside wilderness and across its boundaries. A conceptual model is presented to guide research on this decision-making context, with emphasis placed on social influences on public and manager decision making.

  • Landres, P. 2006. Developing Wilderness Character Monitoring: A Personal Reflection. International Journal of Wilderness 12(3):30-31.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter (2006). Developing Wilderness Character Monitoring: A Personal Reflection.

    This short paper offers a personal reflection of Peter Landres on the occasion of his receiving the 2005 national Forest Service Excellence in Wilderness Research Science Application Award for his work co-chairing the development of wilderness character monitoring. The paper gives a brief summary of why it may have taken so long for the agencies to recognize the need for this monitoring, what the monitoring consists of, the tangible and tangential benefits of this monitoring, and some of the personal frustrations and benefits of working to develop this monitoring.

  • Lawson, Steven; Itami, Robert; Gimblett, Randy; Manning, Robert. 2006. Benefits and challenges of computer simulation modeling of backcountry recreation use in the Desolation Lake area of the John Muir Wilderness. Journal of Leisure Research. 38(2): 187-207.
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    Abstract for Lawson, Steven; Itami, Robert; Gimblett, Randy; Manning, Robert (2006). Benefits and challenges of computer simulation modeling of backcountry recreation use in the Desolation Lake area of the John Muir Wilderness

    This paper describes the development and application of a computer-based simulation model of recreational use in the John Muir Wilderness Area in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, USA. The results of the study demonstrate, conceptually, how simulation modeling can be used as a tool for understanding existing visitor use patterns within the John Muir Wilderness Area, estimating the impact of increasing visitor use levels on management objectives, and evaluating the effects of alternative policy decisions on visitor flows and visitor use conditions. This study also identifies and discusses potential challenges of applying computer simulation to backcountry recreation management and provides recommendations for further research to address these issues.

  • Liljeblad, Adam; Borrie, William T. 2006. Trust in Wildland Fire and Fuel Management Decisions. International Journal of Wilderness 12(1):39-43.
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    Abstract for Liljeblad, Adam; Borrie, William T. (2006). Trust in Wildland Fire and Fuel Management Decisions

    Public land managers are stewards of public lands and of the relationship between the public and these lands. Maintaining one aspect of this relationship, trust in the agency, can be challenging. Lack of trust can influence public response to management decisions, including about wildland fire use. By considering the factors that influence trust, managers can be more effective in accomplishing fire stewardship objectives.

  • Miller, Carol. 2006. Wilderness fire management in a changing world. International Journal of Wilderness. 12(1): 18-21,13.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol. (2006). Wilderness fire management in a changing world. International

    Achieving the objective of restoring the ecological role of fire to wilderness has proven difficult as the majority of lightning-caused ignitions in wilderness are suppressed for a myriad of biophysical and social reasons. This paper discusses the fire management options currently available to managers of wilderness in the United States and speculates how these might change with two nationally and globally important drivers: climate and residential development in the wildland urban interface (WUI).

  • Parsons, David J. 2006. Revisiting Wilderness Science Priorities. International Journal of Wilderness. 12(2):22,35.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2006). Revisiting Wilderness Science Priorities

    This brief article reviews the development of the 2005 Program Charter that provides direction to the work of the Leopold Institute. It reviews the five new problem areas as well as the collaborative approach that guide Institute activities.

  • Parsons, David J. 2006. Wilderness Stewardship in an Era of Global Changes. International Journal of Wilderness. 12(3): 16, 8.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2006). Wilderness Stewardship in an Era of Global Changes

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Pilliod, David S.; Bull, Evelyn L.; Hayes, Jane L.; Wales, Barbara C. 2006. Wildlife and invertebrate response to fuel reduction treatments in dry coniferous forests of the Western United States: a synthesis. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-173. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 34 p.
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    Abstract for Pilliod, David S.; Bull, Evelyn L.; Hayes, Jane L.; Wales, Barbara C. (2006). Wildlife and invertebrate response to fuel reduction treatments in dry coniferous forests of the Western United States: a synthesis

    This paper synthesizes available information on the effects of hazardous fuel reduction treatments on terrestrial wildlife and invertebrates in dry coniferous forest types in the West. We focused on thinning and/or prescribed fire studies in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and dry-type Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), and mixed coniferous forests. Overall, there are tremendous gaps in information needed to evaluate the effects of fuel reduction on the majority of species found in our focal area. Differences among studies in location, fuel treatment type and size, and pre- and post-treatment habitat conditions resulted in variability in species responses. In other words, a species may respond positively to fuel reduction in one situation and negatively in another. Despite these issues, a few patterns did emerge from this synthesis. In general, fire-dependent species, species preferring open habitats, and species that are associated with early successional vegetation or that consume seeds and fruit appear to benefit from fuel reduction activities. In contrast, species that prefer closed-canopy forests or dense understory, and species that are closely associated with those habitat elements that may be removed or consumed by fuel reductions, will likely be negatively affected by fuel reductions. Some habitat loss may persist for only a few months or a few years, such as understory vegetation and litter that recover quickly. The loss of large-diameter snags and down wood, which are important habitat elements for many wildlife and invertebrate species, may take decades to recover and thus represent some of the most important habitat elements to conserve during fuel reduction treatments. Management activities that consider the retention of habitat structures (such as snags, down wood, and refugia of untreated stands) may increase habitat heterogeneity and may benefit the greatest number of species in the long run.

  • Roeper, Nancy; Landres, Peter; Fisher, Don.2006. The Global Wilderness Seminar for Government Agencies: A Meeting at the Crossroads of Wildlands Stewardship. International Journal of Wilderness 12(2):45-46.
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    Abstract for Roeper, Nancy; Landres, Peter; Fisher, Don. (2006). The Global Wilderness Seminar for Government Agencies: A Meeting at the Crossroads of Wildlands Stewardship.

    This short article summarizes the goals and results of a 3-day meeting of wildlands managers from 17 countries that was held prior to the 8th World Wilderness Congress in Anchorage, Alaska. The general goal for this meeting was to bring government managers together to share ideas about common challenges and explore ways to improve wildland stewardship. A specific goal for this meeting was to lay the foundation for an operating peer network to foster best wildland management practices. Formal presentations were given by several participants, and significant time during the meeting was devoted to facilitated small group discussions on a range of topics, including 1) improving global communication for wilderness stewardship, 2) managing for ecological values, 3) managing for social values, 4) meeting the challenge of human use management, 5) protecting the wilderness resource, and 6) partnerships.

  • Therrell, Lisa; Cole, David; Claassen, Victor; Ryan, Chris; Davies, Mary Ann. 2006. Wilderness and backcountry site restoration guide. Tech. Rep. 0623–2815–MTDC. Missoula, MT: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Missoula Technology and Development Center. 394 p. To order the Wilderness and Backcountry Restoration Guide in CD format or to download all or portions of the guide, please http://leopold.wilderness.net/research/fprojects/F008_B.html CLICK HERE.
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    Abstract for Therrell, Lisa; Cole, David; Claassen, Victor; Ryan, Chris; Davies, Mary Ann (2006). Wilderness and backcountry site restoration guide.

    This comprehensive guide focuses on restoration of small-scale impact caused by human actions in wilderness and backcountry areas. The guide’s goals are to (1) help practitioners develop plans that thoroughly address the question of whether site restoration is the best management action and, if so, develop a site-specific restoration plan that incorporates ecological concepts and addresses patterns of human use, (2) provide the latest information on site-specific restoration techniques, including site preparation, soil amendments, planting, mulching, and so forth, (3) explore the various methods of plant propagation both on and off a restoration site and (4) provide approaches for project monitoring and documentation. Techniques discussed in the guide do not rely on motorized tools or mechanized transport, although those options may be mentioned. Examples are drawn primarily from the Western United States. Many of the techniques could be used in other settings. The laws regulating wilderness management and the philosophy guiding it are considered when discussing whether restoration activities are appropriate in areas designated as wilderness.

  • Watson, Alan; Borrie, William. 2006. Monitoring the relationship between the public and public lands: application to wilderness stewardship in the U.S. In: Aguirre-Bravo, C.; Pellicane, Patrick J.; Burns, Denver P.; and Draggan, Sidney, Eds. 2006. Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium: Unifying Knowledge for Sustainability in the Western Hemisphere Proceedings RMRS-P-42CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 287-293.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Borrie, William (2006). Monitoring the relationship between the public and public lands: application to wilderness stewardship in the U.S.

    Stakeholders in wilderness, and other public lands, have varying opinions on how well the land management agencies reflect their values and respond to their needs in management, and they therefore vary in their level of commitment and attachment to these places and the activities that occur there. Establishing baseline measures and monitoring indicators of the relationship between the public and wilderness lands can provide efficient evaluations of many management activities. Examples include protection of traditional relationships for indigenous people, and the enhancement and protection of relationships between the resource and both local and distant populations of stakeholders. Most social science monitoring by wilderness managers in the U.S. has focused on either visitors’ perceived quality of experiences or a small set of commonly used indicators of threats to those experiences (Watson and Williams 1995). Measures of satisfaction, perceptions of crowding, number of encounters with other visitors while traveling and at campsites, perceptions of recreation visitor impacts to soil and vegetation, and other commonly used social science indicators imply a customer orientation between the agency and the public. The primary evaluation of how well public land managers are doing in their stewardship responsibilities is reflected through the quality of these transactions. That is, public land managers have been judged by their ability to provide particular conditions utilized during a visit. Recent research has, however, suggested that stewardship responsibilities may also be evaluated through indicators of the relationship that is created, protected or restored through public lands management activities (Alessa and Watson 2002, Shroyer and others 2003). This approach, described as public purpose marketing by Borrie and others (2002a) and Watson and Borrie (2003), emphasizes understanding relationships, in addition to monitoring transactions, as the primary stewardship responsibility of public land managers. The purpose of this paper is to describe why wilderness monitoring programs should include protocol for monitoring relationships between people and wilderness.

  • Wright, Vita. 2006. Overcoming Barriers to the Use of Science in National Parks (Session Summary). Pages 400-404 In: Harmon, David, ed. People, Places, and Parks: Proceedings of the 2005 George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites. Hancock, Mich.: The George Wright Society. April 2005. Philadelphia, PA.
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    Abstract for Wright, Vita. (2006). Overcoming Barriers to the Use of Science in National Parks (Session Summary).

    The National Park Service’s Natural Resource Challenge programs can only be successful at promoting scientifically sound management of parks if relevant research results are effectively transferred to park resource specialists and then on to decision makers. Despite the1998 National Parks Omnibus Management Act’s mandate to use the highest quality science and information for management, a variety of practical challenges remain. This paper summarizes observations made by National Park Service participants at a 2005 George Wright Society Conference session focused on overcoming challenges to the use of science for park management.

  • Adams, Michael J.; Hossack, Blake R.; Knapp, Roland A.; Corn, Paul Stephen; Diamond, Stephen A.; Trenham, Peter C.; and Fagre, Dan B. 2005. Distribution patterns of lentic breeding amphibians in relation to ultraviolet radiation exposure in western North America. Ecosystems 8:488–500.
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    Abstract for Adams, Michael J.; Hossack, Blake R.; Knapp, Roland A.; Corn, Paul Stephen; Diamond, Stephen A.; Trenham, Peter C.; and Fagre, Dan B. (2005). Distribution patterns of lentic breeding amphibians in relation to ultraviolet radiation exposure in western North America.

    An increase in ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation has been posited to be a potential factor in the decline of some amphibian population. This hypothesis has received support from laboratory and field experiments showing that current levels of UV-B can cause embryo mortality in some species, but little research has addressed whether UV-B is influencing the distribution of amphibian populations. We compared patterns of amphibian presence to site-specific estimates of UV-B dose at 683 ponds and lakes in Glacier, Olympic, and Sequoia–Kings Canyon National Parks. All three parks are located in western North America, a region with a concentration of documented amphibian declines. Site-specific daily UV-B dose was estimated using modeled and field-collected data to incorporate the effects of elevation, landscape, and water-column dissolved organic carbon. Of the eight species we examined (Ambystoma gracile, Ambystoma macrodactylum, Bufo boreas, Pseudacris regilla, Rana cascadae, Rana leuteiventris, Rana muscosa, Taricha granulosa), two species (T. granulosa and A. macrodactylum) had quadratic relationships with UV-B that could have resulted from negative UV-B effects. Both species were most likely to occur at moderate UV-B levels. Ambystoma macrodactylum showed this pattern only in Glacier National Park. Occurrence of A. macrodactylum increased as UV-B increased in Olympic National Park despite UV-B levels similar to those recorded in Glacier. We also found marginal support for a negative association with UV-B for P. regilla in one of the two parks where it occurred. We did not find evidence of a negative UV-B effect for any other species. Much more work is still needed to determine whether UV-B, either alone or in concert with other factors, is causing widespread population losses in amphibians.

  • Baldridge, J.D.; Sylvester, J.T.; Borrie, W.T. 2005. Assessing the Accuracy of Respondents Reports of the Location of Their Home Relative to a National Forest Boundary and Forest Cover. In, Proceedings – AAPOR, American Statistical Association, 2005: 3775-3777 online at www.amstat.org/sections/srms/Proceedings/.
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    Abstract for Baldridge, J.D.; Sylvester, J.T.; Borrie, W.T. (2005). Assessing the Accuracy of Respondents Reports of the Location of Their Home Relative to a National Forest Boundary and Forest Cover

    Local, state, and national agencies charged with managing wildlands in the United States are now seeking to learn more about the public’s preferences for managing forests. For this reason agency wildland managers are making use of survey research to supplement their public input processes. Agency managers often choose random-digit dial telephone surveys because of the speed and relatively low cost associated with this mode of administration. This paper assesses the accuracy of responses to a question that asks the location of respondents’ homes relative to a National Forest boundary. The analysis also assesses the accuracy of respondent reports on forest cover in the area surrounding their home. We find non-ignorable error in the responses to both questions. The remainder of this paper is divided into three sections. First, the methods used for this study are described as are limitations of the study. Second, we illustrate the study’s results. Finally, we discuss our results and conclusions.

  • Black, Anne; Opperman, Tonja. 2005. Fire Effects Planning Framework: a user's guide. Gen. Tech. Rep.GTR-RMRS-163WWW. Fort Colins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 63 p.
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    Abstract for Black, A.; Opperman, T. (2005). Fire Effects Planning Framework: a user’s guide

    Each decision to suppress fire reinforces a feedback cycle in which fuels continue to accumulate, risk escalates, and the tendency to suppress fires grows (Miller and others, 2003). Existing decision-support tools focus primarily on the negative consequences of fire. This guide outlines a framework managers can use to (1) identify key areas of fire risk and (2) systematically determine where and under what fire weather conditions fire will benefit ecological conditions and management targets while reducing fuels. The Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF) sequentially links state-of-the-art, publicly available analysis tools, data, and knowledge to generate GIS-based planning information for a variety of scales. Primary funding for this effort was provided by the Joint Fire Science Program and the National Fire Plan.

  • Black, A. 2005. The Fire Effects Planning Framework. International Journal of Wilderness. Science and Research Perspective. 11(1):19-20.
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    Abstract for Black, Anne. (2005). The Fire Effects Planning Framework

    The Fire Effects Planning Framwork (FEPF) provides managers with a conceptual framework for articulating the benefits and risks of fire to identified management targets a spatial context. FEPF relies on data and computer software currently available to managers – digital vegetation and fuels data; GIS, FlamMap, FireFamilyPlus, SIMPPLLE, FVS-FFE. These components can be readily exchanged. This brief article introduces FEPF and illustrates how it was used recently on the Bitterroot National Forest.

  • Brooks, Paul D.; O’Reilly, Catherine M.; Diamond, Stephen A.; Campbell, Don H.; Knapp, Roland; Bradford, David; Corn, Stephen P.; Hossack, Blake R.; and Tonnessen, Kathy. 2005. Spatial and temporal variability in the amount and source of dissolved organic carbon: implications for UV exposure in amphibian habitats. Ecosystems 8:478–487.
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    Abstract for Brooks, Paul D.; O’Reilly, Catherine M.; Diamond, Stephen A.; Campbell, Don H.; Knapp, Roland; Bradford, David; Corn, Stephen P.; Hossack, Blake R.; and Tonnessen, Kathy. (2005). Spatial and temporal variability in the amount and source of dissolved organic carbon: implications for UV exposure in amphibian habitats

    The amount, chemical composition, and source of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), together with in situ ultraviolet (UV-B) attenuation, were measured at 1–2 week intervals throughout the summers of 1999, 2000, and 2001 at four sites in Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado). Eight additional sites, four in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park/John Muir Wilderness (California) and four in Glacier National Park (Montana), were sampled during the summer of 2000. Attenuation of UV-B was significantly related to DOC concentrations over the three years in Rocky Mountain (R2 = 0.39, F = 25.71, P < 0.0001) and across all parks in 2000 (R2 = 0.44, F = 38.25, P < 0.0001). The relatively low R2 values, however, reflect significant temporal and spatial variability in the specific attenuation per unit DOC. Fluorescence analysis of the fulvic acid DOC fraction (roughly 600–2,000 Daltons) indicated that the source of DOC significantly affected the attenuation of UV-B. Sites in Sequoia–Kings Canyon were characterized by DOC derived primarily from algal sources and showed much deeper UV-B penetration, whereas sites in Glacier and Rocky Mountain contained a mix of algal and terrestrial DOC-dominated sites, with more terrestrially dominated sites characterized by greater UV-B attenuation per unit DOC. In general, site characteristics that promoted the accumulation of terrestrially derived DOC showed greater attenuation of UV-B per unit DOC; however, catchment vegetation and soil characteristics, precipitation, and local hydrology interacted to make it difficult to predict potential exposure from DOC concentrations.

  • Carey, Cynthia; Corn, Paul Stephen; Jones Mark S.; Livo, Lauren J.; Muths, Erin; Loeffler, Charles W. 2005. Factors limiting the recovery of boreal toads (Bufo b. boreas). In: Lannoo, Michael, editor. Amphibian declines: the conservation status of United States species. Berkeley: University of California Press. p 222–236.
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    Abstract for Carey, Cynthia; Corn, Paul Stephen; Jones Mark S.; Livo, Lauren J.; Muths, Erin; Loeffler, Charles W. (2005). Factors limiting the recovery of boreal toads (Bufo b. boreas)

    Boreal toad (B. b. boreas) populations in the southern Rocky Mountains suffered dramatic declines in the late 1970s through early 1980s. Recovery efforts to protect the few remaining populations began in 1995. Many aspects of the life history of these toads, such as clutch size, size at maturity, and wet egg mass, mirror those of low altitude, temperate Bufo. However, environmental factors in the montane environment of these toads, such as short growing seasons and cold nighttime summer temperatures, force changes in other life history characteristics that restrict the ability of boreal toads to recover their original geographic distribution or population sizes. Breeding starts one to three months later than in lowland Bufo in temperate climates, and boreal toads are forced into hibernation one to three months sooner than lowland counterparts. Population recruitment is limited by the prolonged length of the larval period, mortality of larvae that fail to complete metamorphosis before onset of freezing temperatures in fall, slow growth rates of metamorphosed toads to breeding size, and the tendencies of females to skip one or more years between breeding. Although many adult toads of both sexes appear to remain near breeding sites, dispersal of metamorphosed individuals from isolated populations will additionally limit population size. These factors, plus the recent resurgence of outbreaks of infectious disease, create enormous challenges for the recovery of boreal toads in the Southern Rocky Mountains.

  • Cole, David N. 2005. Symbolic values: the overlooked values that make wilderness unique. International Journal of Wilderness. 11(2): 23-27, 10.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2005). Symbolic values: the overlooked values that make wilderness unique

    The symbolic values of wilderness have generally been overlooked, misunderstood and trivialized, compared with the ecological and experiential values of wilderness. This is particularly problematic for wilderness as a symbol of a human-environment relationship characterized by restraint and humility. This article articulates some of the consequences of inadequate appreciation of symbolic values. It argues for the importance of giving legitimacy to all wilderness values as a prelude to making decisions about appropriate management actions.

  • Cole, David N. 2005. Computer simulation modeling of recreation use: current status, case studies, and future directions Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-143. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 75 p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2005). Simulation of recreation use: current status, case studies and future directions

    This report compiles information about recent progress in the application of computer simulation modeling to planning and management of recreation use, particularly in parks and wilderness. Early modeling efforts are described in a chapter that provides an historical perspective. Anther chapter provides an overview of modeling options, common data input requirements and useful model outputs. The bulk of the report consists of case studies that illustrate a broad array of recreational situations and management applications for simulation modeling. A final chapter describes some future directions for modeling work. Although simulation of recreation use is already a tool for planning and management, its utility could be greatly enhanced with further work in software development, increased understanding of appropriate methodologies, and greater attention to model verification and validation.

  • Cole, David; Manning, Robert; Lime, David. 2005. Addressing visitor capacity of parks and rivers. Parks and Recreation 40(3): 8, 10, 12.
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    Abstract for Cole, David; Manning, Robert; Lime, David (2005). Addressing visitor capacity of parks and rivers

    This essay is a response to an article by Glenn Haas advocating the establishment of numerical estimates of visitor capacity on all public lands and questioning the utility of the LAC and VERP processes as frameworks for estimating capacities. It argues that numerical estimates are not necessary where use levels are much lower than capacities and that the LAC and VERP processes are effective frameworks for addressing capacity, whether numerical capacity estimates are worthwhile or not.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen; Adams, Michael J.; Battaglin, William A.; Gallant, Alisa L.; James, Daniel L.; Knutson, Melinda; Langtimm, Catherine A.; Sauer, John R. 2005. Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative: concepts and implementation. Reston, VA: U. S. Geological Survey. Scientific Investigations Report 2005–5015. 23 p.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen; Adams, Michael J.; Battaglin, William A.; Gallant, Alisa L.; James, Daniel L.; Knutson, Melinda; Langtimm, Catherine A.; Sauer, John R. (2005). Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative: concepts and implementation.

    This document provides the basis for discussion and subsequent articulation of a national plan for the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI). The authors were members of a Task Force formed from within USGS and which included scientists with expertise in biology, cartography, hydrology, and statistics. The Task Force’s assignment was to extend work begun by the National Amphibian Leadership Group. This group, composed of senior USGS scientists, managers, and external authorities, met in Gainesville, Florida in February 2000. The product of this meeting was a document outlining the framework for a national program to monitor amphibian populations and conduct research into the causes of declines.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen; Hossack, Blake R.; Muths, Erin; Patla, Debra A.; Peterson, Charles R,; Gallant, Alisa L. 2005. Status of amphibians on the Continental Divide: surveys on a transect from Montana to Colorado, USA. Alytes 22:85–94.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen; Hossack, Blake R.; Muths, Erin; Patla, Debra A.; Peterson, Charles R,; Gallant, Alisa L (2005). Status of amphibians on the Continental Divide: surveys on a transect from Montana to Colorado, USA

    The Rocky Mountain Region of the U. S. Geological Survey Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative is conducting monitoring of the status of amphibians on a transect that extends along the Continental Divide from Canada to Colorado and comprises four National Parks. Monitoring uses visual encounter surveys to determine site occupancy, with multiple visits to a subset of sites to estimate detection probabilities for each species. Detection probabilities were generally high (above 0.65) among species. There was a gradient in site occupancy, with most species scarce in the south and relatively common in the north. For example, Bufo boreas is close to extinction in Rocky Mountain National Park, was found at fewer than 5% of sites in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in the middle of the transect, but occurs at approximately 10% of sites in Glacier National Park. The salamander Ambystoma tigrinum was rare in Rocky Mountain and occurred at less than 25% of sites at Yellowstone and Grand Teton, but A. macrodactylum occurred at more than 50% of sites in Glacier. There are numerous differences among parks, such as latitude, climate, numbers of visitors, and human population density in the surrounding landscape. The degree to which these factors have influenced the current distribution and abundance of amphibians is unknown but should be a focus of additional research.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen; Muths, Erin; Adams, Michael J.; Dodd, C. Kenneth, Jr. 2005. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative. Alytes 22:65–71.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen; Muths, Erin; Adams, Michael J.; Dodd, C. Kenneth, Jr. (2005). The U.S. Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative

    The Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) began in 2000 as an attempt by the U. S. Geological Survey to determine the status and trends of amphibians on federal lands in the United States and its territories. ARMI research focuses on determining causes of declines, if observed, developing new techniques to sample populations and analyze data, and disseminating information to scientists and policy makers. Monitoring is conducted at multiple scales, with an emphasis on the ability to draw conclusions about status in well-defined study areas such as national parks and wildlife refuges. Several papers originally presented at a national symposium in 2004 are published in this special issue of Alytes.

  • Corn, Stephen P. 2005. Climate change and amphibians. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation 28:59–67.
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    Abstract for Corn, Stephen P. (2005). Climate change and amphibians

    Amphibian life histories are exceedingly sensitive to temperature and precipitation, and there is good evidence that recent climate change has already resulted in a shift to breeding earlier in the year for some species. There are also suggestions that the recent increase in the occurrence of El Niño events has caused declines of anurans in Central America and is linked to elevated mortality of amphibian embryos in the northwestern United States. However, evidence linking amphibian declines in Central America to climate relies solely on correlations, and the mechanisms underlying the declines are not understood. Connections between embryo mortality and declines in abundance have not been demonstrated. Analyses of existing data have generally failed to find a link between climate and amphibian declines. It is likely, however, that future climate change will cause further declines of some amphibian species. Reduced soil moisture could reduce prey species and eliminate habitat. Reduced snowfall and increased summer evaporation could have dramatic effects on the duration or occurrence of seasonal wetlands, which are primary habitat for many species of amphibians. Climate change may be a relatively minor cause of current amphibian declines, but it may be the biggest future challenge to the persistence of many species.

  • Diamond, Stephen A.; Trenham, Peter C.; Adams, Michael J.; Hossack, Blake R.; Knapp, Roland A.; Stark, Stacey L.; Bradford, David; Corn, P. Stephen; Czarnowski, Ken; Brooks, Paul D.; Fagre, Dan; Breen, Bob; Detenbeck, Naomi E.; and Tonnessen, Kathy. 2005. Estimated ultraviolet radiation doses in wetlands in six national parks. Ecosystems 8:462–477.
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    Abstract for Diamond, Stephen A.; Trenham, Peter C.; Adams, Michael J.; Hossack, Blake R.; Knapp, Roland A.; Stark, Stacey L.; Bradford, David; Corn, P. Stephen; Czarnowski, Ken; Brooks, Paul D.; Fagre, Dan; Breen, Bob; Detenbeck, Naomi E.; and Tonnessen, Kathy. (2005). Estimated ultraviolet radiation doses in wetlands in six national parks

    Ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B, 280–320-nm wavelengths) doses were estimated for 1024 wetlands in six national parks: Acadia (Acadia), Glacier (Glacier), Great Smoky Mountains (Smoky), Olympic (Olympic), Rocky Mountain (Rocky), and Sequoia/Kings Canyon (Sequoia). Estimates were made using ground-based UV-B data (Brewer spectrophotometers), solar radiation models, GIS tools, field characterization of vegetative features, and quantification of DOC concentration and spectral absorbance. UV-B dose estimates were made for the summer solstice, at a depth of 1 cm in each wetland. The mean dose across all wetlands and parks was 19.3 W-h m–2 (range of 3.4–32.1 W-h m–2). The mean dose was lowest in Acadia (13.7 W-h m–2) and highest in Rocky (24.4 W-h m–2). Doses were significantly different among all parks. These wetland doses correspond to UV-B flux of 125.0 :W cm–2 (range 21.4–194.7 :W cmv) based on a day length, averaged among all parks, of 15.5 h. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC), a key determinant of water-column UV-B flux, ranged from 0.6 (analytical detection limit) to 36.7 mg C L–1 over all wetlands and parks, and reduced potential maximal UV-B doses at 1-cm depth by 1%-87 %. DOC concentration, as well as its effect on dose, was lowest in Sequoia and highest in Acadia (DOC was equivalent in Acadia, Glacier, and Rocky). Landscape reduction of potential maximal UV-B doses ranged from zero to 77% and was lowest in Sequoia. These regional differences in UV-B wetland dose illustrate the importance of considering all aspects of exposure in evaluating the potential impact of UV-B on aquatic organisms.

  • Funk, W. Chris; Blouin, Michael S.; Corn, Paul Stephen; Maxell, Bryce A.; Pilliod, David S.; Amish, Stephen; Allendorf, Fred W. 2005. Population structure of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) is strongly affected by the landscape. Molecular Ecology 14:483–496.
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    Abstract for Funk, W. Chris; Blouin, Michael S.; Corn, Paul Stephen; Maxell, Bryce A.; Pilliod, David S.; Amish, Stephen; Allendorf, Fred W. (2005). Population structure of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) is strongly affected by the landscape.

    Landscape features such as mountains, rivers, and ecological gradients may strongly affect patterns of dispersal and gene flow among populations and thereby shape population dynamics and evolutionary trajectories. The landscape may have a particularly strong effect on patterns of dispersal and gene flow in amphibians because amphibians are thought to have poor dispersal abilities. We examined genetic variation at six microsatellite loci in Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) from 28 breeding ponds in western Montana and Idaho, USA, in order to investigate the effects of landscape structure on patterns of gene flow. We were particularly interested in addressing three questions: (i) do ridges act as barriers to gene flow? (ii) is gene flow restricted between low and high elevation ponds? (iii) does a pond equal a ‘randomly mating population’ (a deme)? We found that mountain ridges and elevational differences were associated with increased genetic differentiation among sites, suggesting that gene flow is restricted by ridges and elevation in this species. We also found that populations of Columbia spotted frogs generally include more than a single pond except for very isolated ponds. There was also evidence for surprisingly high levels of gene flow among low elevation sites separated by large distances. Moreover, genetic variation within populations was strongly negatively correlated with elevation, suggesting effective population sizes are much smaller at high elevation than at low elevation. Our results show that landscape features have a profound effect on patterns of genetic variation in Columbia spotted frogs.

  • Funk, W. Chris; Greene, Allison E.; Corn, Paul Stephen; Allendorf, Fred W. 2005. High dispersal in a frog species suggests that it is vulnerable to habitat fragmentation. Biology Letters 1:13–16.
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    Abstract for Funk, W. Chris; Greene, Allison E.; Corn, Paul Stephen; Allendorf, Fred W. (2005). High dispersal in a frog species suggests that it is vulnerable to habitat fragmentation.

    Global losses of amphibian populations are a major conservation concern and have generated substantial debate over their causes. Habitat fragmentation is considered one important cause of amphibian declines. However, if fragmentation is to be invoked as a mechanism of amphibian declines, it must first be established that dispersal is prevalent among contiguous amphibian populations using formal movement estimators. In contrast, if dispersal is naturally low in amphibians, fragmentation can be discounted as a cause of amphibian declines and conservation efforts can be focused elsewhere. We examined dispersal rates in Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) using capture-recapture analysis of over ten thousand frogs in combination with genetic analysis of microsatellite loci in replicate basins. We found that frogs had exceptionally high juvenile dispersal rates (up to 62% annually) over long distances (> 5 km), large elevation gains (> 750 m), and steep inclines (36° incline over 2 km) that were corroborated by genetic data showing high gene flow. These findings show that dispersal is an important life history feature of some amphibians and suggest that habitat fragmentation is a serious threat to amphibian persistence.

  • Gutzwiller, Kevin J. and David N. Cole. 2005. Assessment and management of wildland recreation disturbance. In: Braun, Clait E. (ed.) Techniques for wildlife investigations and management. Sixth edition. The Wildlife Society: Bethesda, MD: 779-796.
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    Abstract for Gutzwiller, Kevin J. and David N. Cole. 2005. (2005). Assessment and management of wildland recreation disturbance.

    This book chapter is concerned with how to assess and minimize the adverse effects of recreation on wildlife. It includes sections on (1) evaluating the potential for wildlife disturbance, (2) alternative methods for conducting field studies, (3) a framework for planning to avoid disturbance and (4) management strategies, including manipulation of visitor characteristics, manipulation of wildlife and manipulation of habitat. Particular attention is given to visitor education, activity restrictions and zoning and design of roads, trails and facilities

  • Hossack, Blake R.; Corn, Stephen P.; Pilliod, David S. 2005. Lack of Significant Changes in the Herpetofauna of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, Since the 1920s. American Midland Naturalist 154: 423-432.
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    Abstract for Hossack, Blake R.; Corn, Stephen P.; Pilliod, David S. (2005). Lack of Significant Changes in the Herpetofauna of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, Since the 1920s

    We surveyed 88 upland wetlands and twelve 1-km river sections for amphibians in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, during 2001–2002 to gather baseline data for future monitoring efforts and to evaluate changes in the distribution of species. We compared our results to collections of herpetofauna made during 1920–1922, 1954, and 1978–1979. The boreal chorus frog (Pseudacris maculata) was the most common amphibian in upland wetlands, followed by the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum), Woodhouse’s toad (Bufo woodhousii), northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens), plains spadefoot (Spea bombifrons), and the Great Plains toad (Bufo cognatus). Bufo woodhousii was the only species that bred in the river. Our records for reptiles are less complete than for amphibians but no losses from the community are evident. The herpetofauna in Theodore Roosevelt National Park seems unchanged during at least the last half-century and likely since 1920–1922.

  • Knotek, Katie. 2005. Human aspects of fire and fuels management in the Northern Rockies. Eco-Report (Fall 2005). Missoula, MT: Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
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    Abstract for Knotek, Katie. (2005). Human aspects of fire and fuels management in the Northern Rockies

    Humans are a part of forest and grassland ecosystems where we live, recreate, work, obtain timber products, and seek spiritual solace, among many other uses. Therefore, it’s important to consider the human aspects of sustainable management of these ecosystems. BEMRP social scientists are working to understand meanings people assign to the Bitterroot National Forest and how these meanings interact with public attitudes toward fire and fuels management. These scientists have also been studying how, on the Lewis and Clark National Forest, the Forest Service has engaged the public in fire and fuels management efforts.

  • Knotek, Katie. 2005. Social and institutional influences on wilderness fire stewardship. International Journal of Wilderness 11(3):30&12.
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    Abstract for Knotek, Katie. (2005). Social and institutional influences on wilderness fire stewardship

    One of the priority research areas at the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute addresses the “need for improved information to guide the stewardship of fire as a natural process in wilderness while protecting social and ecological values inside and outside wilderness.” The Northern Rocky Mountains is a unique and valuable laboratory for investigating social issues relate to fire management across landscapes that include federally protected wilderness. This brief article describes social science research Leopold Institute scientists are conducting in the Northern Rockies in order to provide land managers with the information needed to restore and maintain natural fire regimes in wilderness while protecting both local and national values across the landscape.

  • Landres, Peter B. 2005. Balancing the benefits and impacts of science in Alaska’s wilderness. Alaska Park Science 4(2): 44-46.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter B. (2005). Balancing the benefits and impacts of science in Alaska’s wilderness

    This short essay explores some of the tensions between the benefits and impacts of scientific activities in wilderness created or managed under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980. Because Alaska wilderness is the best of what remains of the wilderness ideal, there is more at risk from the impacts of science as well as more to gains from the benefits of science. Alaska wilderness is too important to assume that all scientific activities are benign and therefore approved, or that they are harmful and therefore denied. In deciding whether scientific activities should be allowed, the analysis needs to consider the benefits and impacts to all three aspects of wilderness character: biophysical conditions and processes, experiential values, and symbolic values. Symbolic values tie to the untrammeled ideal of wilderness and while these typically are the most difficult to quantify and understand, they are also the more important and precious in Alaska wilderness.

  • Miller, C. 2005. When to prescribe. Wildfire Magazine July/August. Pages 16-21.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol (2005). When to prescribe

    Prescribed fire is a practical and affordable way to reduce hazardous fuels while helping to restore the ecological process of fire to ecosystems. Prescribing fire requires comprehensive, socially acceptable and science-based fire management plans. Two GIS-based tools have been developed at the Aldo Leopold /Wilderness Research Institute to help land managers develop such plans. The Fire Effects Planning Framework and BurnPro provide complementary analyses of potential fire effects and the probability of fire occurrence.

  • Muths, Erin; Jung, Robin E.; Bailey, Larissa L.; Adams, Michael J.; Corn, Stephen P.; Dodd, Kenneth, Jr. C.; Fellers, Gary M.; Sadinski, Walter J.; Schwalbe, Cecil R.; Walls, Susan C.; Fisher, Robert N.; Gallant, Alisa L.; Battaglin, William A.; and Green, D. Earl. 2005. The U.S. Department of Interior’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative: a successful start to a national program. Applied Herpetology 2:355–371.
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    Abstract for Muths, Erin; Jung, Robin E.; Bailey, Larissa L.; Adams, Michael J.; Corn, Stephen P.; Dodd, Kenneth, Jr. C.; Fellers, Gary M.; Sadinski, Walter J.; Schwalbe, Cecil R.; Walls, Susan C.; Fisher, Robert N.; Gallant, Alisa L.; Battaglin, William A.; and Green (2005). The U.S. Department of Interior’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative: a successful start to a national program

    Most research to assess amphibian declines has focused on local-scale projects on one or a few species. The Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) is a national program in the United States mandated by congressional directive and implemented by the U.S. Department of the Interior (specifically the U.S. Geological Survey, USGS). Program goals are to monitor changes in populations of amphibians across U.S. Department of the Interior lands and to address research questions related to amphibian declines using a hierarchical framework of base-, mid- and apex-level monitoring sites. ARMI is currently monitoring 83 amphibian species (29% of species in the U.S.) at mid- and apex-level areas. We chart the progress of this 5-year-old program and provide an example of mid-level monitoring from 1 of the 7 ARMI regions.

  • Odum, R. Andrew; Corn, Paul Stephen. 2005. Bufo baxteri Porter, 1968. Wyoming toad. In: Lannoo, Michael, editor. Amphibian declines: the conservation status of United States species. Berkeley: University of California Press. p 390–392.
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    Abstract for Odum, R. Andrew; Corn, Paul Stephen. (2005). Bufo baxteri Porter, 1968

    The Wyoming toad, Bufo baxteri, is the most critically endangered amphibian in North America. This catalog account describes basic distribution, including recent changes in distribution and abundance, life history, and conservation issues and actions. Information from unpublished reports is made widely available for the first time.

  • Peter Landres, Steve Boutcher, Linda Merigliano, Chris Barns, Denis Davis, Troy Hall, Steve Henry, Brad Hunter, Patrice Janiga, Mark Laker, Al McPherson, Douglas S. Powell, Mike Rowan, Susan Sater. 2005. Monitoring selected conditions related to Wilderness character: a national framework. USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-151, Fort Collins, CO.
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    Abstract for Peter Landres, Steve Boutcher, Linda Merigliano, Chris Barns, Denis Davis, Troy Hall, Steve Henry, Brad Hunter, Patrice Janiga, Mark Laker, Al McPherson, Douglas S. Powell, Mike Rowan, Susan Sater. (2005). Monitoring selected conditions related to Wilderness character: a national framework.

    One of the central mandates of the 1964 Wilderness Act is that “each agency administering any area designated as wilderness shall be responsible for preserving the wilderness character of the area.” Although wilderness comprises about 20 percent of National Forest System lands (over 35 million acres), the agency lacks a way to evaluate progress in fulfilling this mandate. This document lays the conceptual foundation for a national assessment of how wilderness character is changing over time. The purpose of this monitoring is to provide managers a tool they can use to answer key questions about wilderness character and wilderness stewardship: •

  • Scherer, Rick D.; Muths, Erin; Noon, Barry R.; and Corn, Stephen P. 2005. An evaluation of weather and disease as causes of decline in two populations of boreal toads. Ecological Applications 15:2150–2160.
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    Abstract for Scherer, Rick D.; Muths, Erin; Noon, Barry R.; and Corn, Stephen P. (2005). An evaluation of weather and disease as causes of decline in two populations of boreal toads

    Two populations of boreal toads (Bufo boreas) experienced drastic declines in abundance in the late 1990s. Evidence supported the hypothesis of disease (the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) as the cause of these declines, but other hypotheses had not been evaluated. We used an 11-year capture–recapture data set to evaluate weather and disease as causes of these declines. We developed sets of mathematical models that reflected hypothesized relationships between several weather variables and annual survival rates of adult males in these populations. In addition, models that reflected the possibility that the declines were caused by an introduced fungus were developed. All models were fit to the data and were evaluated using a model selection criterion (QAICc). Our analysis provided strong support for the hypothesis of an introduced fungus and little support for the hypothesis that weather conditions caused the declines. Our results also suggest a strong, negative ‘‘marking effect’’ on survival rates of boreal toads. Model-averaged estimates of survival rate are presented.

  • Thelen, Giles C.; Vivanco, Jorge M.; Newingham, Beth; Good, William; Bais, Harsh P.; Landres, Peter; Caesar, Anthony; Callaway, Ragan M. 2005. Insect herbivory stimulates allelopathic exudation by an invasive plant and the suppression of natives. Ecology Letters 8:2090217.
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    Abstract for Thelen, Giles C.; Vivanco, Jorge M.; Newingham, Beth; Good, William; Bais, Harsh P.; Landres, Peter; Caesar, Anthony; Callaway, Ragan M. (2005). Insect herbivory stimulates allelopathic exudation by an invasive plant and the suppression of natives

    Exotic invasive plants are often subjected to attack from imported insects as a method of biological control. A fundamental, but rarely tested assumption of biological control is that damaged plants are less fit and compete poorly. In contrast, we find that one of the most destructive invasive plants in North America, Centaurea maculosa, exudes far higher amounts of (-)-catechin, an allelopathic chemical known to have deleterious effects on native plants (1), when attacked by larvae of two different root boring biocontrol insects. We also demonstrate that C. maculosa plants experimentally attacked by these biocontrols compete more intensely against natives.

  • Watson, Alan E. 2005. Research on the relationship between humans and wilderness in Alaska. International Journal of Wilderness 11(2): 30, 36.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (2005). Research on the relationship between humans and wilderness in Alaska

    At the 2005 Biennial George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites in Philadelphia, March 14 to 18, there were many sessions relevant to wilderness. One session provided focus on a priority research area of the Leopold Institute: understanding the effects of management actions on relationships between people and wilderness.

  • Watson, Alan E. 2005. Denali National Park & Preserve: A different kind of wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness 11(2): 3.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (2005). Denali National Park & Preserve: A different kind of wilderness

    This introductory editorial in a theme issue on Denali describes the purpose and contents of this special issue of the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Watson, Alan E. 2005. Guest Editor, Special Issue of International Journal of Wilderness 11(2) 48 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (2005). Guest Editor, Special Issue of International Journal of Wilderness

    This special issue of IJW represents a venture into new territory. In previous issues, the Journal has featured various countries, continents and topics. One issue even had a focus on the state of Alaska in the United States, but this is the first issue concentrated on one place.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Knotek, Katie; Christensen, Neal. 2005. Voices from Denali: “It’s bigger than wilderness.” International Journal of Wilderness 11(2): 4-7.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Knotek, Katie; Christensen, Neal. (2005). Voices from Denali: “It’s bigger than wilderness.”

    Research was conducted at Denali in 2004 as a way to understand the experiences people have when they either fly into the park to climb Mt. McKinley or the surrounding peaks, or just to see the glaciers and mountains within the park. Denali has many meanings to many different people. This article provides a sample of a few of these meanings.

  • Black, Anne. 2004. Wildland Fire Use: the ‘other’ treatment option. Environmental Consequences Fact Sheet 6; Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration. Res. Note RMRS-RN-23-6-WWW. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 2 p.
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    Abstract for Black, Anne. (2004). Wildland Fire Use: the ‘other’ treatment option.

    The relatively dry, low elevation ecosystems of the US are a high priority for fuels treatment. Yet, achieving fuels treatment is challenging, in part because of the sheer number of acres involved. Restoration to a more ‘natural’ ecological condition with more ‘normal’ fuel levels requires treatment of 5 to11.8 million acres per year, not once, but forever. During 2004, federal land management agencies treated approximately 3.7 million acres using mechanical means and/or prescribed fire (Rx). This represents just over half of the minimum number of necessary acres and less than 0.7% of all burnable acres in the US today (excluding urban and agricultural lands). One option to help decrease the workload is to use fire to fight fire by maximizing opportunities to allow natural ignitions to restore and maintain ecosystem ‘health’ and reduce fuel accumulations. Two main advantages of this approach are lower cost and ability to co-incidentally help managers meet land management goals and objectives.

  • Callaway, R.M., and W.M. Ridenour. 2004. Novel weapons: invasive success and the evolution of increased competitive ability. Frontiers in Ecology and the Enviroment 2:436-443.
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    Abstract for Callaway, R.M., and W.M. Ridenour. (2004). Novel weapons: invasive success and the evolution of increased competitive ability.

    When introduced to new habitats by humans, some plant species become much more dominant. This is primarily attributed to escape from specialist consumers. Release from these specialist enemies is also thought by some to lead to the evolution of increased competitive ability, driven by a decrease in the plant’s resource allocation to consumer defense and an increase in allocation to size or fecundity. Here, we discuss a new theory for invasive success – the “novel weapons hypothesis”. We propose that some invaders transform because they possess novel biochemical weapons that function as unusually powerful allelopathic agents, or as mediators of new plant–soil microbial interactions. Root exudates that are relatively ineffective against their natural neighbors because of adaptation, may be highly inhibitory to newly encountered plants in invaded communities. In other words, the novel weapons of some plant invaders provide them with an advantage that may arise from differences in the regional coevolutionary trajectories of plant communities. Furthermore, the selective advantage of possessing a novel weapon may result in rapid evolution of that weapon – for example, the production of greater quantities of allelopathic or antimicrobial root exudates.

  • Campbell, D. H.; Muths, E.; Turk, J. T.; Corn, P. S. 2004. Sensitivity to acidification of subalpine ponds and lakes in northwestern Colorado. Hydrological Processes 18:2817-2834.
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    Abstract for Campbell, D. H.; Muths, E.; Turk, J. T.; Corn, P. S. (2004). Sensitivity to acidification of subalpine ponds and lakes in northwestern Colorado.

    Although acidifying deposition in western North America is lower than in many parts of the world, many high elevation ecosystems there are extremely sensitive to acidification. Previous studies determined that the Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area (MZWA) has the most acidic snowpack and aquatic ecosystems that are among the most sensitive in the region. In this study, spatial and temporal variability of ponds and lakes in and near the MZWA were examined to determine their sensitivity to acidification and the effects of acidic deposition during and after snowmelt. Within the areas identified as sensitive to acidification based on bedrock types, there was substantial variability in acid-neutralizing capacity (ANC), which was related to differences in hydrological flowpaths that control delivery of weathering products to surface waters. Geological and topographic maps were of limited use in predicting acid sensitivity because their spatial resolution was not fine enough to capture the variability of these attributes for lakes and ponds with small catchment areas. Many of the lakes are sensitive to acidification (summer and autumn ANC < 100 Ļeq L-1), but none of them appeared to be threatened immediately by episodic or chronic acidification. In contrast, 22 ponds had minimum ANC < 30 Ļeq L-1, indicating that they are extremely sensitive to acidic deposition and could be damaged by episodic acidification, although net acidity (ANC < 0) was not measured in any of the ponds during the study. The lowest measured pH value was 5.4, and pH generally remained less than 6.0 throughout early summer in the most sensitive ponds, indicating that biological effects of acidification are possible at levels of atmospheric deposition that occurred during the study. The aquatic chemistry of lakes was dominated by atmospheric deposition and biogeochemical processes in soils and shallow ground water, whereas the aquatic chemistry of ponds was also affected by organic acids and biogeochemical processes in the water column and at the sediment-water interface. These results indicate that conceptual and mechanistic acidification models that have been developed for lakes and streams may be inadequate for predicting acidification in less-understood systems such as ponds.

  • Cole, David N. 2004. Wilderness experiences: what should we be managing for? International Journal of Wilderness 10(3): 25-27.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2004). Wilderness experiences: what should we be managing for?

    It is important to monitor wilderness character and managers’ success in meeting stewardship objectives. There are four possible domains that might be used to monitor success in protecting wilderness visitor experiences: settings, experiences, evaluations of experiences and evaluations of setting attributes. This paper argues that settings provide the most appropriate basis for assessment.

  • Cole, David N. 2004. Environmental impacts of outdoor recreation in wildlands. In: Manfredo, Michael J.; Vaske, Jerry J.; Bruyere, Brett L.; Field, Donald R.; Brown, Perry J. (eds.). Society and natural resources: a summary of knowledge. Modern Litho: Jefferson, MO: 107-116.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2004). Environmental impacts of outdoor recreation in wildlands.

    This paper summarizes the state of knowledge regarding environmental effects of recreation. It includes a brief review of how and when recreation ecology developed and synthesizes the primary research findings of this discipline. Recreational impacts on vegetation and soil are emphasized, particularly those caused by non-motorized use of wildlands. Research findings are organized into categories of descriptive knowledge, spatial and temporal patterns and knowledge about functional relationships. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the managerial significance of this topic and some thoughts about future directions for recreation ecology.

  • Cole, David N. 2004. Monitoring and management of recreation in protected areas: the contributions and limitations of science. In: Sievanen, T.; Erkkonen, J.; Jokimaki, J.; Saarinen, J.; Tuulentie, S.; Virtanen, E. (eds.). Policies, methods and tools for visitor management: proceedings of the second international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas; 2004 June 16-20; Rovaniemi, Finland. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute: 9-16.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2004). Monitoring and management of recreation in protected areas: the contributions and limitations of science.

    Scientists assist protected area managers by developing information and knowledge that can be used to better monitor and manage recreation use and its impacts. Most recreation management decisions have both a descriptive and an evaluative component. There is widespread consensus that science is well suited to discovering, synthesizing and applying descriptive information. This paper provides an overview of some of the most significant contributions of science to visitor monitoring and management. It covers the related scientific purposes of explanation, causation, prediction and assessment. As scientific enquiry moves from description to evaluation, from facts to values, from providing statements of “what is” to providing statements of “what ought to be”, it ventures into more contested territory. While some advocate a substantial role for science in the establishment of normative standards about what ought to be, others believe science should be very cautious in this arena. Recreation examples, largely drawn from wilderness management in the United States, are provided.

  • Cole, David N., van Wagtendonk, Jan W., McClaran, Mitchel P., Moore, Peggy E., McDougald, Neil K. 2004. Response of mountain meadows to grazing by recreation pack stock. Journal of Range Management 57(2): 153-160.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N., van Wagtendonk, Jan W., McClaran, Mitchel P., Moore, Peggy E., McDougald, Neil K. (2004). Response of mountain meadows to grazing by recreation pack stock.

    Effects of recreational pack stock grazing mountain meadows in Yosemite National Park were assessed in a five-year study. Yosemite is a designated Wilderness, to be managed such that its natural conditions are preserved. Studies were conducted in single examples of three characteristic meadow types: shorthair sedge (Carex filifolia Nutt.), Brewer’s reed grass (Calamagrostis breweri Thurber), and tufted hairgrass [Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) Beauv.]. In each meadow, horses and mules grazed experimental plots, at various intensities, for four seasons. In all three meadows, grazing at typical intensities caused substantial changes in meadow characteristics--decreases in productivity, shifts in basal groundcover (usually a reduction in vegetation cover and increase in bare soil cover), and changes in species composition. In all three meadows, productivity decreased significantly as percent utilization increased. Relationships between grazing intensity and ground cover were less consistent, although in at least one meadow, vegetation cover decreased significantly and bare soil cover increased significantly as utilization increased. Changes in species composition were less predictably related to differences in grazing intensity. Passive management of grazing is insufficient in wilderness areas that are regularly used by groups with recreational stock. Wilderness managers need to monitor meadow conditions and the grazing intensities that occur. Our study suggests that biomass and ground cover are more sensitive indicators of grazing impact than species composition. Managers must make decisions about maximum acceptable levels of grazing impact and then develop guidelines for maximum use levels, based on data such as ours that relates grazing intensity to meadow response.

  • Cole, David N.; Monz, Christopher A. 2004. Spatial patterns of recreational impact on experimental campsites. Journal of Environmental Management 70: 73-84.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Monz, Christopher A. (2004). Spatial patterns of recreation impact on experimental campsites.

    Management of camping impacts in protected areas worldwide is limited by inadequate understanding of spatial patterns of impact and attention to spatial management strategies. Spatial patterns of campsite impact were studied in two subalpine plant communities in the Wind River Mountains, Wyoming, U.S.A. (a forest and a meadow). Response to chronic disturbance and recovery from acute disturbance were both assessed. Previously undisturbed sites were camped on at intensities of one and four nights/year, for either one or three consecutive years. Recovery was followed for three years on sites camped on for one year. Percent bare ground, assessed in 49 contiguous 1-m2 quadrats, increased with increasing use frequency, particularly on the forest sites. Magnitude of impact varied spatially within campsites, with impact decreasing as distance from the center of the campsite increased. On the more fragile forest sites, this radial impact pattern developed rapidly and remained after three years of recovery. Concentration of camping activities around a centrally located small cooking stove was the apparent cause of this pattern. Maximum variation in magnitude of impact occurred at intermediate levels of campsite use and disturbance. The magnitude, variability and spatial pattern of impact varied with the spatial scale of analysis. Generally, results of these controlled experiments are consistent with earlier studies of campsites and validate the management implications derived from those studies. Even where campers use low-impact techniques, low levels of camping use can cause substantial impact and it is important to concentrate use. On resistant sites, however, it is possible that low levels of use can be sustained with minimal resultant impact.

  • Cole, David N.; Wright, Vita. 2004. Information about wilderness visitors and recreation impacts: is it adequate? International Journal of Wilderness 10(1): 27-31.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Wright, Vita. (2004). Information about wilderness visitors and recreation impacts: is it adequate?

    This paper assesses recreation-related monitoring data sources across the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). Telephone interviews with managers of all units of the NWPS and a literature search were conducted to locate studies that provide campsite impact data, trail impact data and information about visitor characteristics. Of the 628 wildernesses that comprised the NWPS in January 2000, 51% had baseline campsite data, 9% had trail condition data and 24% had data on visitor characteristics. Wildernesses managed by the Forest Service and National Park Service were much more likely to have data than wildernesses managed by the Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service.

  • Cole, David N. 2004. Travel simulation modeling: an emerging tool for visitor management in wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness 10(3): 40, 44.
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    Abstract for Cole, David, N. (2004). Travel Simulation Modeling: an emerging tool for visitor management in wilderness.

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Cole, David N. 2004. Impacts of hiking and camping on soils and vegetation. In: Buckley, Ralf (ed). Environmental impacts of ecotourism. CABI Publishing: Wallingford, UK: 41-60.
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    Abstract for Cole, David. (2004). Impacts of hiking and camping on soils and vegetation.

    Ecotourism effects local environments in many ways. Although some of the most dramatic environmental changes result from development of the infrastructure to support tourism, more widespread impacts result from the recreational activities that tourists engage in. For ecotourists engaged in adventurous pursuits, hiking and camping are perhaps the most common activities that can have profound ecological impacts. This is particularly true in more remote places, protected as parks or wilderness. Of the many environmental effects of hiking and camping, impacts on soil and vegetation have been most thoroughly explored. Consequently, the literature on this subject is voluminous and is a challenge to review thoroughly. The strategy of this chapter is to provide an historical context for the development of this literature, discuss the types of studies that have been employed (each with inherent strengths and weaknesses) and briefly assess the geographical distribution of research. Emphasis is placed on development of generalities from the literature and identification of critical knowledge gaps, rather than a comprehensive review of many site- and context-specific descriptive studies. I try to identify the early papers that provided the genesis of ideas and concepts, as well as recent papers that extend earlier work conceptually and geographically. Inevitably I have drawn more examples from my own work than might be representative because I am most familiar with their details. Additional sources can be found in several textbooks (Liddle, 1997; Hammitt and Cole, 1998; Newsome et al., 2002) and reviews of the literature (Cole, 1987, 2002; Leung and Marion, 2000). In this chapter, I do not distinguish between recreation and tourism. From the point of view of impacts to soils and vegetation, differences between the two seem negligible. Ecotourism suggests environments characterized by near-natural conditions, low levels of development and crowding. Fortuitously, most of the literature on recreation impacts has been conducted in such environments, making application to ecotourism straightforward.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen; Muths, Erin. 2004. Variable breeding phenology affects the exposure of amphibian embryos to ultraviolet radiation: reply. Ecology 85:1759–1763.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen; Muths, Erin. (2004). Variable breeding phenology affects the exposure of amphibian embryos to ultraviolet radiation: reply.

    Corn and Muths (2002) described how seasonal and annual variation in estimated flux of ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation, combined with year-to-year variation in amphibian breeding phenology, introduces considerable variability in the UV-B exposures to amphibians. The response to our paper by Blaustein et al. (2004) misstates the objectives and conclusions of our study, contains other errors of interpretation, and critiques our study for adopting practices that they themselves use. We are confident that an unbiased assessment will show that the conclusions of Corn and Muths (2002) are valid and robust with respect to montane amphibians, and that the criticisms raised by Blaustein et al. (2004) are either invalid or irrelevant.

  • Davis, Brett, Carol Miller. 2004. Modeling Wildfire Probability Using a GIS. In: Proceedings of the ASPRS 2004 Annual Conference, Denver, USA. May 23-28. American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 2004. Available on CD only.
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    Abstract for Davis, Brett, Carol Miller. (2004). Modeling Wildfire Probability Using A GIS.

    We developed a GIS model, BurnPro, to estimate the annual probability of burning for every pixel on a raster landscape. BurnPro uses historic ignition locations, fuel models, topography, and historic weather patterns to estimate the likelihood of burning using a least-accumulative-cost distance function. The probability that fire will travel through space and time from an ignition source to any point on the landscape depends upon 1) the time required for fire to travel the distance from the ignition to the target, 2) the time remaining in the fire season, and 3) the frequency distribution of fire-stopping weather events within the fire season. Individual probability maps were calculated for each unique combination of ignition density class, fire season month, and percentile weather condition. The resulting estimate of annual probability of burning was computed as a weighted average of these individual probability maps. We are currently conducting these analyses for four national parks (Yosemite, Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Great Smoky Mountains) and two Forest Service wilderness areas (Selway-Bitterroot and Gila-Aldo Leopold) with the aim of providing information to fire management personnel to help improve fire management plans and refine management objectives. Link to the ASPRS online store: https://eserv.asprs.org/eseries/source/Orders/index.cfm?activesection=orders (click on "Annual Conference Proceedings" to find the correct product) Link to the paper on Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute website: http://leopold.wilderness.net/research/fprojects/pdfs/ASPRS_extended_abstract.pdf

  • Dunham, Jason B., Pilliod, David S., Young, Michael K. 2004. Assessing the Consequences of Nonnative Trout in Headwater Ecosystems in Western North America. Fisheries. 29(6): 18-26.
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    Abstract for Dunham, Jason B., Pilliod, David S., Young, Michael K. (2004). Assessing the Consequences of Nonnative Trout in Headwater Ecosystems in Western North America.

    Intentional introductions of nonnative trout into headwater lakes and streams can have numerous effects on the receiving ecosystems, potentially threatening native species and disrupting key ecological processes. In this perspective, we focus on seven key issues for assessing the biological and economic consequences of nonnative trout in headwater ecosystems: (1) effects of nonnative trout can span multiple biological domains, (2) effects of nonnative trout can extend beyond waters where they are introduced, (3) nonnative trout do not travel alone, (4) not all habitats are equal, (5) ecosystems vary in their resistance and resilience to nonnative trout, (6) prioritization can improve management of nonnative trout, and (7) economic costs of recreational fisheries in headwater ecosystems can be substantial. Assessments that address these issues could provide more effective guidance for determining where recreational fisheries for nonnative trout are justified in head water ecosystems and where they might be terminated support other ecosystems values.

  • Jain, T.B., D.S. Pilliod, and R.T. Graham. 2004. Tongue-tied: Understanding intensity and severity within the fire disturbance continuum. Wildfire Magazine. July/August Issue: 22-26.
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    Abstract for Jain, T.B., D.S. Pilliod, and R.T. Graham. (2004). Tongue-tied: Understanding intensity and severity within the fire disturbance continuum.

    Confused meanings for common fire terminology can lead to fuels mismanagement. A new framework is needed to clarify and communicate the concepts.

  • Johnson, Andrew K.; Dawson, Chad P. 2004. An exploratory study of the complexities of coping behavior in Adirondack Wilderness. Leisure Sciences, 26:281-293.
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    Abstract for Johnson, Andrew K.; Dawson, Chad P. (2004). An exploratory study of the complexities of coping behavior in Adirondack Wilderness.

    Recreation researchers have considered coping behaviors one possible explanation for wilderness recreationists’ high overall satisfaction levels despite reports of visitor overcrowding and other social conditions exceeding acceptable levels. Studies of recreationists’ use of behavioral coping and cognitive coping mechanisms have had mixed results. This study used field-based interviews and surveys to identify coping behavior by hikers in the wilderness areas of New York’s Adirondack Park. Findings indicate that wilderness hikers develop complex and variable strategies of coping behavior to maintain multiple satisfactions.

  • Landres, P. 2004. Managing wildness in designated wilderness. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2:498-499.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter (2004). Managing wildness in designated wilderness.

    This short essay is part of a set of essays that respond to an opening essay by Peter Alpert on “Managing the wild: should stewards be pilots?” The essay discusses the dilemma posed to managers when ecological conditions and processes are so compromised that sustaining “natural conditions” is no longer possible without human intervention. While the legislated goal for wilderness is to be both wild and natural, in some situations implementing these goals creates a unique and central dilemma for wilderness managers: not taking restoration action may allow natural conditions to further degrade, but taking action destroys the symbolic value of restraint and may influence natural conditions in wilderness in unknown ways. Whereas some conservationists argue that the current biological diversity crisis demands that we manipulate wilderness to restore natural conditions there, in my view wildness is even more rare and threatened than naturalness in our increasingly developed world. In addition, I believe that the unique legislated goal of wildness means that the burden of proof for taking restoration action in Wilderness is higher than for any other type of land. Deciding whether to manage the wild in wilderness—whether to be guardians or gardeners—should be difficult because the consequences are large, demanding that we fully understand what we gain and what we lose by our actions.

  • Landres, P. 2004. The Wilderness Stewardship Reference System. International Journal of Wilderness 10(2):34, 22.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter (2004). The Wilderness Stewardship Reference System.

    This short article describes the purpose and key aspects of the newly released Wilderness Stewardship Reference System (WSRS). The WSRS was designed to provide quick and easy access over the internet (leopold.wilderness.net/WSRS) to US legislative, administrative, judicial, and scientific information on over sixty difficult wilderness stewardship issues. The primary purpose of the WSRS is to provide information that will help managers make decisions consistent with the letter and spirit of the 1964 Wilderness Act, subsequent wilderness legislation, and agency policies. The WSRS applies to all four US federal agencies responsible for managing wilderness, and may be useful to a variety of other people interested in wilderness and its stewardship

  • Landres, P. 2004. Developing Indicators to Monitor the “Outstanding Opportunities” Quality of Wilderness Character. International Journal of Wilderness 10(3):8-11, 20.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter. (2004). Developing Indicators to Monitor the “Outstanding Opportunities” Quality of Wilderness Character.

    This paper describes an effort by the USDA Forest Service Wilderness Monitoring Committee to develop national protocols to monitor trends in selected conditions and stewardship actions related to wilderness character. An important part of this effort is to develop monitoring related to the “outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation” dimension of wilderness character. This paper describes the purpose and scope of a workshop held in February 2004 to develop a better understanding of these “outstanding opportunities” that would be used in developing this monitoring. Last, the paper introduces several perspectives from this workshop on this dimension of wilderness character.

  • Miller, Carol and Landres, Peter. 2004. Exploring information needs for wildland fire and fuels management. RMRS-GTR-127. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 36 p.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol and Landres, Peter. (2004). Exploring information needs for wildland fire and fuels management.

    We report the results of a questionnaire and workshop that sought to gain a better and deeper understanding of the contemporary information needs of wildland fire and fuels managers. Results from the questionnaire indicated that the decision to suppress a wildland fire was most often influenced by factors related to safety and that the decision to allow a fire to burn was influenced by a variety of factors that varied according to land management objectives. We also found that managers anticipated an increase in the use of wildland fire, but that these increases will be moderate due to a variety of constraints that will continue to limit the use of wildland fire. From the workshop, we learned that managers will need to become increasingly strategic with their fire and fuels management planning, and that the information used to support tactical fire operations may prove to be insufficient. Furthermore, the managers participating in the workshop indicated the functional linkage between land management and fire management planning is lacking. We suggest that effective fire management planning requires information on the benefits and risks to a wide variety of values at landscape scales, integration with land management objectives, and a long-term perspective.

  • Newsome, David; Cole, David; Marion, Jeff. 2004. Environmental impacts associated with recreational horse riding. In: Buckley, Ralf (ed). Environmental impacts of ecotourism. CABI Publishing: Wallingford, UK: 61-82.
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    Abstract for Newsome, David; Cole, David; Marion, Jeff. (2004). impacts associated with recreational horse riding.

    This chapter provides a state of knowledge review of some of the most recent research concerned with the environmental impacts of horse-riding. Our perspective is derived from studies carried out in the USA and Australia, but the results and conclusions derived from this work are applicable in the global situation. The focus is largely on trail examples from the USA but also considers the case of free range riding in Australia. We provide the context of horse-riding as a recreational activity and summarize the spectrum of impacts brought about by recreational horse-riding. This is followed by three case studies concerned with the assessment and measurement of impacts in important conservation areas. The case study from Yosemite National Park in the USA considers the associated impact of grazing effects, while the Big South Fork study, also from the USA, highlights impacts on trail networks. The final case study explorers the quantifiable damage to soils and vegetation when horse-riding occurs in a random dispersed fashion off-trail networks. The final section of this chapter provides insight into three different management situations. The first relates to reducing impacts at campsites used by horse-riders in the USA, the second management perspective, also from the USA, explores the management of horse-riding in a multiple-use ret recreation area. The third management scenario examines the management of horse-riding in Australian protected areas.

  • Parsons, David J. 2004. Science and the management of protected areas. Pp. 36-40 in Harmon, D. and G.L. Worboys (eds.), Managing Mountain Protected Areas: Challenges and Responses for the 21st Century. Proceedings of the Mountain Protected Areas Workshop, 5th World Parks Congress, Durban, South Africa, September 2003. Colledara, Italy: Andromeda Editrice.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2004). Science and the management of protected areas.

    An argument is made for the importance of science to inform management decisions affecting the stewardship of protected areas as well as the value of such areas for science. The view that the “protection” of an area by administrative edict is sufficient to assure its long term survival must be re-evaluated in light of modern understanding of human impacts on natural ecosystems. In addition, protected areas provide excellent opportunities to understand naturally functioning ecosystems as well how those ecosystems are influenced by human activities. Criteria for decisions regarding the appropriateness of scientific activities in protected areas as well as the importance of the delivery and application of scientific findings are also discussed.

  • Parsons, David J. 2004. Supporting basic ecological research in U.S. national parks: challenges and opportunities. Ecological Applications 14(1):5-13.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. 2004. (2004). Supporting basic ecological research in U.S. national parks: challenges and opportunities.

    The long-term preservation of national park ecosystems requires scientific knowledge about populations, communities, and the ecological processes upon which sustainable ecosystems depend. Unfortunately, national parks in the United States have a well-ocumented history of indifference, if not hostility, to the support of basic research. Numerous external reviews have criticized the lack of institutional support for science, blaming it in large part on the agencies’ traditional emphasis on scenery and tourism management. Recent efforts to improve the support for science in the U.S. national parks have been most encouraging. These include a long sought Congressional mandate to support research, a major budget initiative to support scientific understanding and management of park resources as well as improve research facilities, leadership in the establishment of a network of university based cooperative units, and the successful partnering with private organizations to support innovative programs to fund Ph.D. students, post docs, and sabbaticals in national parks. The long-term success of national parks in preserving natural ecosystems depends, in large part, on the agencies’ ability to provide support for the science that is necessary to understand natural ecosystems as well as the effects of human activities on them.

  • Spildie, Dave. 2004. Mapping the United States National Wilderness Preservation System. International Journal of Wilderness. 10(1): 32.
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    Abstract for Spildie, Dave. (2004). Mapping the United States National Wilderness Preservation System.

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Spildie, David R.; Harold Allan, A.; Quesenberry, Carol, A. 2004.National Wilderness Preservation System.[Two-sided color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs.]Reston, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey,(scale 1:5,000,000).ISBN 0-607-97154-1.Available from the U.S. Geological Survey Distribution Center.Denver,Colorado.
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    Abstract for Spildie, David R.; Harold Allan, A.; Quesenberry, Carol, A. (2004). National Wilderness Preservation System.

    The National Wilderness Preservations System map is a two-sided color poster with a 1:5,000,000 scale map and photographs on the front and descriptive Wilderness information and tabular data on the back. The map shows all Wilderness areas in the United States by administrative agency. Alaska and Hawaii are depicted at the same scale as the coterminous United States. This map was a partnership between the US Forest Service – Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, the USGS National Atlas, the University of Montana, the National Forest Foundation, the Wilderness Society, and the Campaign for America’s Wilderness. This is a standard USGS map and available through the USGS Store; http://store.usgs.gov/

  • Tempel, Douglas J.; Cilimburg, Amy B.; Wright, Vita. 2004. The status and management of exotic and invasive species in National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness Areas. Natural Areas Journal 24:300-306.
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    Abstract for Tempel, Douglas J.; Cilimburg, Amy B.; Wright, Vita. (2004). The status and management of exotic and invasive species in National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness Areas.

    On behalf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), we surveyed agency personnel in 2001 to assess the status and management of invasive plants, exotic animals, and exotic pathogens within the agency’s federally designated wilderness areas. We surveyed wilderness areas because they serve as important ecological reference points for natural systems due to their protected status. Respondents from 68 of the 70 USFWS wilderness areas completed the survey. Exotic animals were deemed a major problem (i.e., one of the top 10 management priorities) in 32%of the wilderness areas surveyed. Invasive plants were considered a major problem in 26%of the wilderness areas surveyed in the lower 48 states, but in none of Alaska ’s 21 wilderness areas. In contrast, respondents considered an exotic pathogen to be a major problem in only one wilderness area. Respondents in three USFWS Regions reported relatively large numbers of invasive species in wilderness: Region 2 (Southwest), Region 4 (Southeast), and Region 6 (Mountain-Prairie). Systematic field surveys had been conducted for invasive plants in 19%of the wilderness areas, for exotic animals in 18% of the areas, and for exotic pathogens in 10% of the areas. Respondents commonly cited a lack of staff and/or funding as a barrier to the implementation of monitoring and management programs. Therefore, we offer several suggestions to improve the management of invasive and exotic species in wilderness that would require few additional resources to implement. To facilitate the monitoring of trends and communication among managers, we made the results available in an Internet-accessible database .

  • Watson, Alan E. 2004. Human relationships with wilderness: The fundamental definition of wilderness character. International Journal of Wilderness 10(3): 4-7.
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  • Watson, Alan E., Patterson, Michael, Christensen, Neal; Puttkammer, Annette; Meyer, Shannon. 2004. Legislative intent, science, and special provisions in wilderness: A process for navigating statutory compromises. International Journal of Wilderness. 10(1): 22-26.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E., Patterson, Michael, Christensen, Neal; Puttkammer, Annette; Meyer, Shannon. (2004). . Legislative intent, science, and special provisions in wilderness: A process for navigating statutory compromises.

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Kneeshaw, Katie; Glaspell, Brian (compilers). 2004. A taste of the north: voices from the wilderness about the wilderness character of Alaska. International Journal of Wilderness 10(2): 4-7.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Kneeshaw, Katie; Glaspell, Brian (compilers). (2004). A taste of the north: voices from the wilderness about the wilderness character of Alaska.

    These “voices from the wilderness” were compiled to illustrate some of the values of wilderness in Alaska. Wilderness visitors, non-native Alaska residents, and rural, native people can all have different perceptions of wilderness character, define wilderness differently, go to wilderness for different reasons, see different things when they are there, perceive wildness differently, and attach different importance to feelings of fear while in the wilderness, but they all find challenge in getting there, value wildlife as part of the wilderness, identify strongly with wilderness places, and find wilderness in Alaska to be unique.

  • Whiting, Alex. 2004. The relationship between Qikiktagrugmiut (Kotzebue Tribal members) and the Western Arctic Parklands, Alaska, United States. International Journal of Wilderness 10(2): 28-31,8.
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    Abstract for Whiting, Alex. (2004). The relationship between Qikiktagrugmiut (Kotzebue Tribal members) and the Western Arctic Parklands, Alaska, United States.

    Native Inupiaq people of Northwest Alaska identified the values they place on Western Arctic Parklands protected as wilderness. These include identity, traditional way of life, survival of individuals and families, opportunities for personal growth, expression of humility, maintain mental and physical health, expression of independence associated with self-sufficiency. They also identified major threats to these values, including agency regulations and restrictions, agency management activities, modern technology, global warming, passage of time, globalization, development pressure, trash, lack of respect by outsiders, lack of teaching land ethics to the young people, airplanes, sport hunting, and the increasing number of visitors. Qikiktagrugmiut have lost substantial control over whether their future relationship with these lands will resemble the one they have historically enjoyed and continues to define who they are now. Research findings like these can help local people and managers of wilderness engage more specifically in how these relationships can be protected or restored in the face of evolving cultures and changing landscapes.

  • Wright, V. 2004. Barriers to science-based management: What are they and what can we do about them? (Session summary). In: David Harmon, Bruce M. Kilgore, and Gay Vietzke, eds. Protecting Our Diverse Heritage: the role of parks, protected areas, and cultural sites. George Wright Society, Hancock, MI: 34-37.
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    Abstract for Wright, V. (2004). Barriers to science-based management: What are they and what can we do about them? (Session summary).

    This workshop began with an overview of barriers identified during recent interviews with U.S. Forest Service resource specialists and decision makers with wilderness responsibility. National Park Service (NPS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) representatives then discussed agency efforts intended to highlight the value of science and/or reduce barriers to using science. Finally, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Forest Service provided their perspectives on barriers to research application and potential solutions to these barriers. The ensuing discussion focused on the need to extend scientific information to the management community, agency partners, and the public; the need to better fund research and research application efforts; and various other ideas to reduce barriers to science-based, or science-informed, management.

  • Wright, V. 2004. How do land managers adopt scientific knowledge and technology? Contributions of the Diffusion of Innovations theory. In: Munro Neil, Dearden, Phil, Herman,Tom B., Beazley, Karen, Sorun Bondrup-Nielson, eds. Making Ecosystem-based management work. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Science and Management of Protected Areas, Victoria, BC, 11-16 May 2003. [CD-ROM]. SAMPAA: Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. ISBN: 0-9699338-6-X. Chapter 8(3). Available: http://leopold.wilderness.net/pubs/527.pdf
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    Abstract for Wright, V. (2004). How do land managers adopt scientific knowledge and technology? Contributions of the Diffusion of Innovations theory.

    Both researchers and managers cite barriers to incorporating the best available science into land management. This paper outlines a tool that can be used strategically to obtain broad application of new scientific knowledge and technology. The overarching premise of the Diffusion of Innovations theory is that it takes time for individuals, and society as a whole, to incorporate innovative concepts and techniques into established approaches and practices. The amount of time depends on characteristics of the innovation and individuals who might adopt the innovation, as well as established social norms and communication networks. Management communities in different organizations function as social systems with interrelated units, communication networks and established social norms. Individuals in these communities have different levels of comfort with uncertainty that affect how they obtain their information and how quickly they adopt new approaches. Once they are introduced to a new idea, individuals go through the “innovation-decision” process, which includes awareness and understanding, evaluation of advantages and disadvantages, decision, implementation and decision confirmation. Understanding the various components of this theory will help reduce the amount of time it takes to get diffusion through management community. Specifically, researchers can reduce barriers to the use of scientific innovations by targeting each stage in the adoption process and working to understand management audiences. This paper provides an introduction to the Diffusion of Innovations theory for researchers and upper-level managers who are working to improve research application, but who are not yet familiar with this theory.

  • Boone, Michelle D, Paul S. Corn, Maureen A. Donnelly, Edward E. Little, and Peter H. Niewiarowski. 2003. Physical stressors. p. 129–151. In Greg Linder, Sherry K. Krest and Donald W. Sparling, editors, Global decline of amphibian populations: an integrated analysis of multiple stressor effects. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, Florida.
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    Abstract for Boone, Michelle D, Paul S. Corn, Maureen A. Donnelly, Edward E. Little, and Peter H. Niewiarowski. (2003). Physical stressors.

    In this paper we review current information on the effects of physical stressors on amphibian populations, address the roles that changes in the physical environment could play in amphibian declines, make predictions about the effects of physical stressors, and determine what information is needed in evaluating the effects of physical stressors on amphibian populations.

  • Cole, David N. 2003. Degradation. In: Jenkins, John and Pirgam, John (eds.) Encyclopedia of leisure and outdoor recreation. Routledge: London: 103-105.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N (2003). Degradation

    This encyclopedia discusses the concept of degradation as both a tangible phenomenon and a human judgment. It describes types of degradation relevant to management of outdoor recreation, how degradation is detected and the utility of the degradation concept within recreation management and planning frameworks.

  • Cole, David N. 2004. Carrying capacity and visitor management: facts, values and the role of science. In: Harmon, David; Kilgore, Bruce M.; Vietzke, Gay E., eds. Protecting our diverse heritage: the role of parks, protected areas, and cultural sites. George Wright Society, Hancock, MI: 43-46.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2003). Carrying capacity and visitor management: facts, values and the role of science.

    For close to a century, concerns have been voiced about both the biophysical and experiential impacts of recreational use on parks and protected areas. In response, managers have grappled with the task of deciding where and how to manage visitor use and scientists have sought to help them. This effort has often been referred to as defining and managing “recreational carrying capacity”. The carrying capacity literature is voluminous. However, there are widely divergent opinions on the value of this research and on the utility of the carrying capacity concept. Some champion its use as an organizing concept, while others argue that the concept is misleading and counterproductive. This paper attempts to assess progress in grappling with the carrying capacity issue, barriers and opportunities for further progress, the distinction between facts and values and the role of science.

  • Cole, David N. 2003. Ecological research and educational programs to support protected area management: lessons from the United States experience. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet. 2003. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Seventh World Wilderness Congress symposium; 2001 November 2-8; Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Proc. RMRS-P-27. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2003). Ecological research and educational programs to support protected area management: lessons from the United States experience.

    Ecological research is needed to provide a foundation of knowledge for appropriate management of protected areas. Basic ecological research on the phenomena that exist in protected areas is important, as is applied research that will contribute to protection of these resources. Research on animals, plants, soil, ecological processes and their interactions, as well as threats to these entities are all needed. Using research on recreation ecology as an example, this paper describes how a foundation of knowledge was built and suggests important lessons that can be applied to development of protected area research and educational programs. In particular, it seems important (1) for researchers to be protected area researchers first and disciplinary specialists second, (2) for research to be cumulative and long-term, (3) for research to be conducted and integrated across varied scales, and (4) to engage and integrate a broad range of disciplinary specialties.

  • Cole, David N. 2003. Agency policy and the resolution of wilderness stewardship dilemmas. George Wright FORUM 20(3): 26-33
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. 2003 (2003). Agency policy and the resolution of wilderness stewardship dilemmas

    America’s investment in wilderness stewardship has never been commensurate with its investment in wilderness allocation. One barrier to effective stewardship is the personal belief that wilderness is not unique, that wilderness stewardship does not require special skills, and that it can be a collateral duty. Another barrier is inadequate funding of wilderness management and wilderness science. A third barrier is lack of attention by agency leadership to the policy necessary to resolve two fundamental dilemmas of wilderness stewardship. This paper describes these dilemmas: (1) use vs. protection and (2) naturalness vs. wildness. It explores the origin of these dilemmas and argues that the resolution of these dilemmas is too important to be delegated to mid-level management, where decisions are made using case-by-case analyses and compromise. Wilderness values are more likely to be optimized through clarification of policy by high-level decision makers.

  • Cole, David N.; Daniel, Terry C. 2004. The science of visitor management in parks and protected areas: from verbal reports to simulation models. Journal for Nature Conservation 11: 269-277.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Daniel, Terry C. (2003). The science of visitor management in parks and protected areas: from verbal reports to simulation models.

    Visitor management in parks, wilderness and other protected areas requires information about visitor-environment interactions and, particularly, the distribution and flow of visitors in space and time. Such information is usually sketchy and based largely on the verbal reports of visitors. A review of recent psychological and neurological research and theory suggests that traditional verbal survey methods cannot in principle provide an adequate basis for models of human landscape navigation. We argue for more use of direct observation of visitor movements and the utility of travel simulation models. Simulation modelling of visitor flow can be helpful in making monitoring programs more efficient, in fine-tuning existing management programs, and in assessing the likely consequences of alternative future scenarios We review early efforts to simulate the flow of recreation use, describe several current modelling efforts and conclude with suggestions for a research and development effort.

  • Cole, David N.; Monz, Christopher A. 2003. Impacts of camping on vegetation: response and recovery following acute and chronic disturbance. Environmental Management 32(6): 693-705.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Monz, Christopher A. (2003). Impacts of camping on vegetation: response and recovery following acute and chronic disturbance.

    Experiments with controlled levels of recreational camping were conducted on previously undisturbed sites in two different plant communities in the subalpine zone of the Wind River Mountains, Wyoming, U.S.A. The plant communities were coniferous forest with understory dominated by the low shrub Vaccinium scoparium and a riparian meadow of intermixed grasses and forbs, of which Deschampsia cespitosa was most abundant. Sites were camped on at intensities of either one or four nights/year, for either one or three consecutive years. Recovery was followed for three years on sites camped on for one year and for one year on sites camped on for three years. Reductions in vegetation cover and vegetation height were much more pronounced on sites in the forest than on sites in the meadow. In both plant communities, increases in vegetation impact were not proportional to increases in either years of camping or nights/year of camping. Close to the center of campsites, near-maximum levels of impact occurred after the first year of camping on forested sites and after the second year on meadow sites. Meadow sites recovered completely within a year, at the camping intensities employed in the experiments. Forest sites, even those camped on for just one night, did not recover completely within three years. Differences between acute (one-year) and chronic (three-years) disturbance were not pronounced.

  • Cole, David N.; Wright, Vita. 2003. Wilderness visitors and recreation impacts: Baseline data available for twentieth century conditions. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-117. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain research Station. 52 p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Wright, Vita. (2003). Wilderness visitors and recreation impacts: Baseline data available for twentieth century conditions.

    This report provides an assessment and compilation of recreation-related monitoring data sources across the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). Telephone interviews with managers of all units of the NWPS and a literature search were conducted to locate studies that provide campsite impact data, trail impact data and information about visitor characteristics. Of the 628 wildernesses that comprised the NWPS in January 2000, 51% had baseline campsite data, 9% had trail condition data and 24% had data on visitor characteristics. Wildernesses managed by the Forest Service and National Park Service were much more likely to have data than wildernesses managed by the Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service. Both unpublished data collected by the management agencies and data published in reports are included. Extensive appendices provide detailed information about available data for every study that we located. These have been organized by wilderness so that it is easy to locate all the information available for each wilderness in the NWPS.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen 2003. Endangered toads in the Rockies In: Leslie Taylor, Kathy Martin, David Hik, and Anne Ryall (editors), Ecological and earth sciences in mountain areas. Banff, Alberta: The Banff Centre. 43–51
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen (2003). Endangered toads in the Rockies

    The western toad species complex, endemic to western North America, includes two montane species that have undergone extensive declines. These are the Yosemite toad, Bufo canorus, in the Sierra Nevada, and the southern Rocky Mountain populations of the boreal toad, B. boreas. Most declines in the Rockies appear to have occurred before 1980, but a recent episode in Rocky Mountain National Park illustrates the rapidity and severity with which populations of toads can succumb, and that the phenomenon is still occurring. Causes of these declines with experimental or observational support include increasing ultraviolet radiation, disease, or interactions among several factors. However, significant questions about the generality of each of these hypotheses remain to be answered. Regardless of the cause of past and current declines, climate change in the coming decades may create conditions that will challenge the persistence of these species and others not currently threatened.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen, Bury, R. Bruce, Hyde, Erin J., Raymond D.Semlitsch, (ed.) 2003. Conservation of North American stream amphibians. Amphibian conservation Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press 24–36
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen, Bury, R. Bruce, Hyde, Erin J., Raymond D.Semlitsch, (ed.) (2003). Conservation of North American stream amphibians.

    About one-third of the 265 (or so) species of amphibians north of Mexico can be considered as stream amphibians — those that are associated with lotic (flowing) water during part of their life history. Most of these species require lotic water for breeding and life as aquatic larvae or adults, and the other species are associated with lotic habitats (e.g., are most abundant in adjacent riparian zones). Relative to amphibian decline issues, stream amphibians have received much less attention than lentic-breeding, or even terrestrial species. In the United States, timber harvest in both the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest have altered stream habitats and decreased many amphibian populations. Pollution of rivers and streams in the East is a significant threat to aquatic salamanders. For example, acid precipitation and acid mine drainage are known to damage stream faunas. In this chapter, we survey the diversity, distribution, ecology, and life history of stream amphibians in North America, followed by discussion of factors that affect the status and conservation of stream amphibians.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen. 2003. Deteriorating status of western amphibians: can we generalize about causes? p. 249–255. In Greg Linder, Sherry K. Krest and Donald W. Sparling, editors, Global decline of amphibian populations: an integrated analysis of multiple stressor effects. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, Florida.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen. (2003). Deteriorating status of western amphibians: can we generalize about causes?

    The status of many western amphibians has deteriorated in the past two decades, including disproportionate numbers of ranid frogs and toads. The proliferation of declines among common species suggests that multiple factors may be responsible in some cases. Two examples are discussed that illustrate contrasting situations: multiple species affected by a single factor (toads in the Rocky Mountains), versus a single species, the mountain yellow-legged frog, possibly affected by multiple factors in the Sierra Nevada.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen. 2003. Amphibian breeding and climate change: the importance of snow in the mountains. Conservation Biology. 17(2):622–625.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen. (2003). Amphibian breeding and climate change: the importance of snow in the mountains.

    The breeding phenologies of ectotherms are inextricably linked to weather, and amphibians in some temperate locations may have been breeding earlier in recent years in response to warmer spring temperatures. A reanalysis of data presented originally by Blaustein et al. (2001. Conservation Biology 15:1804-1809) suggests boreal toads at lower elevations in the Cascade Mountains of central Oregon may also be breeding earlier, but that snow accumulation over the winter is more important than temperature for predicting the timing of breeding.

  • Glaspell, Brian; Watson, Alan; Kneeshaw, Katie; Pendergrast, Don. 2003. Selecting indicators and understanding their role in wilderness experience stewardship at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. George Wright Forum 20(3): 59-71
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    Abstract for Glaspell, Brian; Watson, Alan; Kneeshaw, Katie; Pendergrast, Don. (2003). Selecting indicators and understanding their role in wilderness experience stewardship at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve

    The Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) and other indicator-based planning frameworks (e.g., VERP, Visitor Experience and Resource Protection; VIM, Visitor Impact Management) have been widely adopted by wilderness managers. A central feature of these frameworks is the selection of indicators of conditions that influence experience quality, and which managers can efficiently monitor. Managers often have little knowledge of which indicators are most significant at their respective areas, and, as a result, they sometimes choose indicators simply because they have been used elsewhere. Results from this study point toward experience indicators that managers at Gates of the Arctic may choose to monitor, and they also provide insight into the role of indicator-based plannning frameworks with respect to protecting wilderness experience opportunities.

  • Gunderson, K., and L.H. McAvoy. 2003. An evaluation of the wilderness and land ethic curriculum and teacher workshops. International Journal of Wilderness 9(1): 38-40, 35
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    Abstract for Gunderson, K., and L.H. McAvoy. (2003). An evaluation of the wilderness and land ethic curriculum and teacher workshops.

    Many scientists and managers consider education to be key to solving recreational use problems in Wilderness believing education to be a light-handed management strategy to reduce impacts and conflict in Wilderness while helping to retain visitor freedom of choice. During the past decade Wilderness managers have increasingly turned to school-based programs as a Wilderness education technique. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the U. S. Forest Service "Wilderness & Land Ethic" curriculum, how to improve teacher workshops, and to develop recommendations for future Wilderness education programs. A mail-back survey of K-8 teachers was used to determine curriculum effectiveness and additional telephone interviews were conducted with teachers, post workshop attendance, to find out how workshops can be improved. A large majority of teachers (80%) have used the curriculum after attending a workshop. Teachers recommend that workshops be offered for academic credit and that lessons from the curriculum be correlated to national and state academic standards.

  • Hampton, Bruce; Cole, David. 2003. Soft Paths: how to enjoy the wilderness without harming it. Third edition. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. 225p.
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    Abstract for Hampton, Bruce; Cole, David. (2003). Soft Paths: how to enjoy the wilderness without harming it.

    This book describes recommended Leave-No-Trace practices for wilderness recreation use. Half of the book covers the basics of wilderness travel, camping, fires and stoves, and sanitation and waste disposal. The second half of the book offers specific recommendations for particular environments and uses: deserts, rivers and lakes, coastal environments, tundra, snow and ice, bear country and horsepacking.

  • Kluwe, Joan; Krumpe, Edwin E. 2003. Interpersonal and Societal Aspects of Use Conflicts: A Case Study of Wilderness in Alaska and Finland. International Journal of Wilderness. 9(3): 28-33.
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    Abstract for Kluwe, Joan; Krumpe, Edwin E. (2003). Interpersonal and Societal Aspects of Use Conflicts: A Case Study of Wilderness in Alaska and Finland.

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness. This research was supported in part by funds provided by the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

  • Landres, P., J. Alderson, and D.J. Parsons. 2003. The challenge of doing science in wilderness: historical, legal, and policy context. George Wright Forum 20(3):42-49
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    Abstract for Landres, P., J. Alderson, and D.J. Parsons (2003). The challenge of doing science in wilderness: historical, legal, and policy context

    The clash between the cultures of management and science presents a formidable obstacle to using science to its maximum potential in protecting wilderness and in developing new knowledge about the functioning of natural and social systems in wilderness. The historical context shows that two leaders of the wilderness movement, Aldo Leopold and Howard Zahniser, clearly supported the scientific value and the scientific use of wilderness. The legislative context codifies this support for science in the Wilderness Act of 1964. The Wilderness Act also allows scientific activities that would otherwise be prohibited in wilderness, if these activities are “necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of this Act.” Based on this historical and legislative context, we conclude that there is an active and positive role for science in wilderness. The policy and management context, however, shows that there are several opportunities for ambiguity and differences in interpretation, and therefore confusion and frustration regarding the conduct of scientific activities in wilderness. To help reduce this confusion and frustration, we suggest that guidelines be developed for evaluating proposals for scientific activities in wilderness. These guidelines would provide a structured process to comprehensively and systematically evaluate the benefits and impacts of proposed scientific activities.

  • Miller, Carol 2003. Wildland fire use: a wilderness perspective on fuel management Fire, Fuel Treatments, and Ecological Restoration: Conference Proceedings; 2002 16-18 April; Fort Collins, CO. Proceedings RMRS U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 379-385 
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol (2003). Wildland fire use: a wilderness perspective on fuel management

    Current federal wildland fire policy recognizes wildland fire as an important natural process and emphasizes the need to reintroduce fire into ecosystems. The policy also recognizes that hazardous fuel accumulations may need to be reduced on vast acreages of land before fire can safely be returned to wildland ecosystems. Wildland fire and fuel managers have a variety of options for reducing fuels including wildland fire use, management ignited prescribed fires, thinning and other mechanical methods. All of these options will need to be exploited to accomplish the task of reducing hazardous fuels and restoring healthy fire-dependent ecosystems. Wildland fire use, while focusing primarily on restoring fire as a natural process and maintaining ecosystems, has the potential to be very effective for managing fuels. It may be the most appropriate strategy in wilderness and in other remote unroaded areas. To effectively implement wildland fire use, wildland fire managers will need to rely on comprehensive fire management plans. The development of these plans should include analyses needed to support the wildland fire use decision and should consider the potential benefits from wildland fire, long-term consequences of management decisions, and impacts of decisions across large landscapes.

  • Miller, Carol. 2003. Natural Fire Regimes in Wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness. 9(2): 33,48.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol. (2003). Natural Fire Regimes in Wilderness.

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness

  • Miller, Carol. 2003. The spatial context of fire: a new approach for predicting fire occurrence. Pages 27-34 in K.E.M. Galley, R.C. Klinger, and N.G. Sugihara (eds.). Proceedings of Fire Conference 2000: The First National Congress of Fire Ecology, Prevention, and Management. Miscellaneous Publication No. 13, Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, FL.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol. (2003). The spatial context of fire: a new approach for predicting fire occurrence.

    Across North America, decades of fire suppression and recent patterns of human settlement have combined to increase the risks that wildland fires pose to human life, property, and natural resource values. Various methods can be used to reduce fuel hazards and mitigate these risks, but funding and other constraints require that these fuel treatments be prioritized across large landscapes. An understanding of where fire is most likely to occur on the landscape would allow managers to strategically prioritize their fuel hazard reduction efforts and to design effective fire management plans. Predictive models of the probability of burning can be developed using empirical relationships between landscape variables and historic fire data, but this approach is limited to areas with extensive records of historical fires. Furthermore, models that are empirically derived from landscape variables have low predictability because fire spread is a spatially contagious process; the probability of any location burning depends primarily on whether neighboring locations are likely to burn. This spatial context of fire occurrence can be addressed with a more mechanistic modeling approach. In this paper, I present a modeling approach whereby a map of the probability of burning is derived using information on the spatial distribution of fuels, topography, and ignitions. This approach uses generally available spatial data, climate information, standard geographic information system functions, and equations that describe the physics of fire spread. The potential use and application of the approach are discussed, and its performance is evaluated via a qualitative comparison with 20th-century fire occurrence data from the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in northern Idaho and western Montana.

  • Miller, Carol. 2003. Simulation of effects of climatic change on fire regimes. In: Thomas T. Veblen, William L. Baker, Gloria Montenegro, and Thomas W. Swetnam (eds.), Fire and Climatic Change in Temperate Ecosystems of the Western Americas. Springer. NY. 69-94 
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol. (2003). Simulation of effects of climatic change on fire regimes.

    Global climatic change will likely affect fire regimes in varied and complex ways. In addition to climate’s direct effects on fuel moisture, its effects on vegetation structure and composition must be considered because vegetation dictates the amount and types of fuels that are available for combustion. Climate-fire interactions are examined using a simulation model (FM) that was developed for the Sierra Nevada in California. This model generates fire regimes driven by climate using the same climatic parameters that govern the simulation of forest dynamics. The coupling of climate, fire, and vegetation in FM allows the model to demonstrate the direct and indirect effects of climate on the fire regime. This feature makes it useful for investigating how climatic change might simultaneously impact fire regimes and fire-dependent forests in the Sierra Nevada. Paleoecological fire history data from the Sierra Nevada were used to validate the model’s ability to generate realistic fire regimes as a function of climatic variables and forest properties. Simulation results suggest that indirect effects of climatic change on the fire regime can be at least as important as the direct effects of climatic change. Of particular interest are the responses due to changes in fuel bed characteristics that may accompany changes in species composition.

  • Muths, Erin, Paul Stephen Corn, Allan P Pessier, D. Earl Green. 2003. Evidence for disease-related amphibian decline in Colorado Biological Conservation 110: 357-365
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    Abstract for Muths, Erin, Paul Stephen Corn, Allan P Pessier, D. Earl Green. (2003). Evidence for disease-related amphibian decline in Colorado

    Topography, vegetation, and climate act together to determine the spatial patterns of fires at landscape scales. Knowledge of landscape-fire-climate relations at these broad scales (1,000s ha to 100,000s ha) is limited and is largely based on inferences and extrapolations from fire histories reconstructed from finer scales. In this study, we used long time series of fire perimeter data (fire atlases) and data for topography, vegetation, and climate to evaluate relationships between large 20th century fires and landscape characteristics in two contrasting areas: the 486,673-ha Gila/Aldo Leopold Wilderness Complex (GALWC) in New Mexico, USA, and the 785,090-ha Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Complex (SBWC) in Idaho and Montana, USA. There were important similarities and differences in gradients of topography, vegetation, and climate for areas with different fire frequencies, both within and between study areas. These unique and general relationships, when compared between study areas highlight important characteristics of fire regimes in the Northern and Southern Rocky Mountains of the Western United States. Results suggest that amount and horizontal continuity of herbaceous fuels limit the frequency and spread of surface fires in the GALWC, while the moisture status of large fuels and crown fuels limits the frequency of moderate-to-high severity fires in the SBWC. These empirically described spatial and temporal relationships between fire, landscape attributes, and climate increase understanding of interactions among broad-scale ecosystem processes. Results also provide historical baseline for fire management planning over broad spatial and temporal scales in each wilderness complex.

  • Muths, Erin, Campbell, Donald H., Corn, Paul Stephen. 2003. Hatching success in salamanders and chorus frogs at two sites in Colorado, USA: effects of acidic deposition and climate. Amphibia-Reptilia Koninklijke Brill 24:27–36
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    Abstract for Muths, Erin, Campbell, Donald H., Corn, Paul Stephen. (2003). Hatching success in salamanders and chorus frogs at two sites in Colorado, USA: effects of acidic deposition and climate.

    The snowpack in the vicinity of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area is among the most acidic in the western United States. We analyzed water chemistry and examined hatching success in tiger salamanders and chorus frogs at ponds there and at nearby Rabbit Ears Pass (Dumont) to determine whether acid deposition affects amphibians or their breeding habitats at these potentially sensitive locations. We found a wide range of acid neutralizing capacity among ponds within sites; the minimum pH recorded during the experiment was 5.4 at one of 12 ponds with all others at pH > 5.7. At Dumont, hatching success for chorus frogs was greater in ponds with low acid neutralizing capacity; however, lowest pHs were >5.8. At current levels of acid deposition, weather and pond characteristics are likely more important than acidity in influencing hatching success in amphibian larvae at these sites.

  • Parsons, David J. 2003. Understanding and managing impacts of recreation use in mountain environments. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 34(4): 363-364 
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2003). Understanding and managing impacts of recreation use in mountain environments.

    Increasing demands by recreational users for access to natural environments pose threats to the long-term sustainability and naturally functioning ecosystems. This editorial introduces a series of papers that discuss the impacts of recreation use in mountain environments.

  • Parsons, David J. 2003. Reflections on the 2003 World Parks Congress: balancing sustainable development and ecological values. The George Wright Forum 20(4)-19-21.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2003). World Parks Congress: balancing sustainable development and ecological values.

    The Vth World Parks Congress, held in Durban, South Africa, in September, 2003, provided a vivid reminder of the differences in conservation programs and priorities between the United States and the rest of the world. International conservation efforts, which are dominated by NGO’s, focus on inevitable conflicts and compromises between biodiversity conservation and sustainable development and interests of local communities.

  • Parsons, David J. 2003. A decade of coordinated wilderness research. International Journal of Wilderness. 9(3):34,23.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2003). A decade of coordinated wilderness research.

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness

  • Parsons, David J. and David N. Cole. 2003. The challenge of wilderness stewardship. George Wright Forum 20(3):22-25
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. and David N. Cole (2003). The challenge of wilderness stewardship

    The U.S. federal land management agencies with responsibility for wilderness stewardship face varied challenges in translating legislative direction into policy and management practices. Efforts to protect natural ecosystems and while also minimizing human interference with natural processes are often seen as conflicting with the specific missions of the individual agencies. This article provides an introduction to a special issue, consisting of eight individual papers, that addresses the various challenges facing wilderness stewardship responsibilities of the federal wilderness management agencies.

  • Parsons, David J., Peter B. Landres and Carol Miller. 2003. The dilemma of managing and restoring natural fire and fuels in United States wilderness. Pages 19-26 in K.E.M. Galley, R.C. Klinger, and N.G. Sugihara (eds.). Proceedings of Fire Conference 2000: The First National Congress of Fire Ecology, Prevention, and Management. Miscellaneous Publication No. 13, Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, FL.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J., Peter B. Landres and Carol Miller. (2003). The dilemma of managing and restoring natural fire and fuels in United States wilderness.

    The management of natural fire and fuels in wilderness areas of the United States presents a significant dilemma to federal land managers. Wilderness fire management requires balancing mandates to both preserve natural conditions and minimize the impacts of human activities. It also requires consideration of ecological and social values both within and outside of wilderness. In many wilderness and similarly protected areas, decades of fire exclusion have resulted in conditions of unnatural vegetation and fuel accumulation. Resulting fires are increasingly of sizes and intensities unprecedented in fire history records. Although current federal interagency fire policy facilitates the use of natural ignitions (wildland fire use for resource benefits) to restore more natural fire regimes, concerns about damage to natural resources, smoke impacts on surrounding communities, and threats to life and property on adjacent lands result in the suppression of most natural ignitions occurring within wilderness. In addition, natural ignitions outside of wilderness that would otherwise burn into wilderness are commonly suppressed before they reach the wilderness boundary. If natural ignitions are not used to restore fire frequencies and intensities characteristic of pre-settlement conditions in wilderness, fire managers must decide whether to actively manage fire and fuels to restore more natural fire and fuel conditions. Although prescribed fire may be an effective means of restoring fire as a natural process, it is done at the cost of sacrificing the important value of wildness, the freedom from human control or manipulation—one of the core values of wilderness. We review this dilemma about the management and restoration of fire and fuels in wilderness, and the challenges in determining appropriate and acceptable actions in wilderness.

  • Pilliod, D.S., Bury, R.B., Hyde, E.J., Pearl, C.A., Corn, P.S. 2003. Fire and amphibians in North America. Forest Ecology and Management ELSEVIER 178: 163-181
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    Abstract for Pilliod, D.S., Bury, R.B., Hyde, E.J., Pearl, C.A., Corn, P.S. (2003). Fire and amphibians in North America.

    Information on amphibian responses to fire and fuel reduction practices is critically needed due to potential declines of species and the prevalence of new, more intensive fire management practices in North American forests. The goals of this review are to summarize the known and potential effects of fire and fuels management on amphibians and their aquatic habitats, and to identify information gaps to help direct future scientific research. Amphibians as a group are taxonomically and ecologically diverse; in turn, responses to fire and associated habitat alteration are expected to vary widely among species and among geographic regions. Available data suggest that amphibian responses to fire are spatially and temporally variable and incompletely understood. Much of the limited research has addressed short-term (1-3 yr) effects of prescribed fire on terrestrial life stages of amphibians in the southeastern United States. Information on the long-term negative effects of fire on amphibians and the importance of fire for maintaining amphibian communities is sparse for the majority of taxa in North America. Given the size and severity of recent wildland fires and the national effort to reduce fuels on federal lands, future studies are needed to examine the effects of these landscape disturbances on amphibians. We encourage studies to address population-level responses of amphibians to fire by examining how different life stages are affected by changes in aquatic, riparian, and upland habitats. Research designs need to be credible and provide information that is relevant for fire managers and those responsible for assessing the potential effects of various fuel reduction alternatives on rare, sensitive, and endangered amphibian species.

  • Schuster, Rudolph M.; Hammitt, William E.; Moore, Dewayne. 2003. A theoretical model to measure the appraisal and coping responses to hassles in outdoor recreation settings. Leisure Sciences Taylor & Francis 25:277-299 
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    Abstract for Schuster, Rudolph M.; Hammitt, William E.; Moore, Dewayne. (2003). A theoretical model to measure the appraisal and coping responses to hassles in outdoor recreation settings.

    Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess measurement models for the stress/coping process experienced in outdoor recreation settings. Three separate measurement models were evaluated: (1) experience use history and social support, (2) secondary appraisal, and (3) ways of coping scales. This research documents the development of models that can be improved upon by future researchers and promote stress/coping theory building in outdoor recreation research. Social support performed well, and experience use history was reduced to a single dimension measure. The secondary appraisal factor was problematic; the four variables may not be functioning as a unidimensional measure. A model consisting of two, second-order factors and four error covariances was identified for the ways of coping scales. An acceptable fit was achieved for all three models, statistical and theoretical justification is provided for modifications made to the models, and explanations of problems are offered.

  • Shroyer, Maretha; Watson, Alan; Muir, Andrew. 2003. Wilderness research in South Africa: Defining priorities at the intersection of qualities, threats, values and stakeholders. International Journal of Wilderness 9(1): 41-45.
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    Abstract for Shroyer, Maretha; Watson, Alan; Muir, Andrew. (2003). Wilderness research in South Africa: Defining priorities at the intersection of qualities, threats, values and stakeholders.

    This paper identified gaps in knowledge and relative importance of these gaps in order to guide wilderness-related research activities in South Africa for the next 5 to 10 years. With input from a variety of wilderness interests in South Africa, two sets of matrices was developed to illustrate the extent of relationships between 1) wilderness qualities and threatening forces and 2) wilderness values and stakeholders. Among the individual cells with the greatest information needs were those cells at the intersection of “traditional healers and their communities” stakeholder group and “education,” “biodiversity protection,” and “economic/income” values. The single cell with the highest agreement that it was both lacking knowledge and high priority was at the intersection of “wilderness-type experiences” qualities and the threat from “pressures to produce income or subsistence.”

  • Stewart, William P., Cole, David N. 2003. On the prescriptive utility of visitor survey research: a rejoinder to Manning. Journal of Leisure Research 35: 119-127.
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    Abstract for Stewart, William P., Cole, David N. (2003). On the prescriptive utility of visitor survey research: a rejoinder to Manning.

    Manning’s commentary frames our position as questioning the value of both visitor survey research and policies that restrict use. This is a profound misstatement of our position. Our disagreement with Manning revolves around a narrow issue—the utility of empirical data from visitor surveys as a foundation for making prescriptive decisions about what ought to be, about standards and about appropriate management strategies, such as use limitation. By championing user-based “normative” data as a scientific foundation for carrying capacity decisions, Manning confuses descriptive data with prescriptive policies. Visitor surveys describe visitors, what motivates them, the experiences they seek and ways in which different visitor groups are likely to be affected by alternative management actions. However, such descriptive data provide little basis for prescriptive decisions about how a park ought to be managed. The fundamental basis for any prescriptive decision (e.g. whether or not to limit use and what that limit ought to be) lies in decisions that must be made about park purposes and the kind of experiences, setting attributes, and visitor groups to which management is directed. Such decisions must be based on information from many sources, most notably from legal mandates, agency policy, stakeholder dialogue processes, and analyses of regional supply and demand. The primary contribution of visitor survey data to management planning lies in working-out the technical details to best meet specific management objectives.

  • van Mantgem, P.J., Stephenson, N.L., Mutch, L.S., Johnson, V.G., Esperanza, A.M., Parsons, D.J. 2003. Growth rate predicts mortality of Abies concolor in both burned and unburned stands. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 33: 1029-1038.
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    Abstract for van Mantgem, P.J., Stephenson, N.L., Mutch, L.S., Johnson, V.G., Esperanza, A.M., Parsons, D.J. (2003). Growth rate predicts mortality of Abies concolor in both burned and unburned stands

    Tree mortality is often the result of both long-term and short-term stress. Growth rate, an indicator of longterm stress, is often used to estimate probability of death in unburned stands. In contrast, probability of death in burned stands is modeled as a function of short-term disturbance severity. We sought to narrow this conceptual gap by determining (i) whether growth rate, in addition to crown scorch, is a predictor of mortality in burned stands and (ii) whether a single, simple model could predict tree death in both burned and unburned stands. Observations of 2622 unburned and 688 burned Abies concolor (Gord. & Glend.) Lindl. (white fir) in the Sierra Nevada of California,U.S.A., indicated that growth rate was a significant predictor of mortality in the unburned stands, while both crown scorch and radial growth were significant predictors of mortality in the burned stands. Applying the burned stand model to unburned stands resulted in an overestimation of the unburned stand mortality rate. While failing to create a general model of tree death for A. concolor, our findings underscore the idea that similar processes may affect mortality in disturbed and undisturbed stands.

  • Watson, A., L. Alessa, and B. Glaspell. 2003. The relationship between traditional ecological knowledge, evolving cultures, and wilderness protection in the circumpolar north. Conservation Ecology 8(1):2-21.
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    Abstract for Watson, A., L. Alessa, and B. Glaspell. (2003). The relationship between traditional ecological knowledge, evolving cultures, and wilderness protection in the circumpolar north.

    There are many unique issues associated with natural resource management in the far north as a result of legislative direction, historic settlement and occupation patterns, northern cultural traditions, ecotourism, economic depression, pressures for energy development, and globalization and modernization effects. Wilderness designation in Canada, the USA, and Finland is aimed at preserving and restoring many human and ecological values, as are the long-established, strictly enforced, nature reserves in Russia. In Alaska and Finland, and in some provinces of Canada, there is a variety of values associated with protecting relatively intact relationships between indigenous people and relatively pristine, vast ecosystems. These values are often described as “traditional means of livelihood,” “traditional means of access,” “traditional relationships with nature,” or “traditional lifestyles.” Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) forms part of these relationships and has been acknowledged as a contributor to understanding the effects of management decisions and human-use impacts on long-term ecological composition, structure, and function. Wilderness protection can help maintain opportunities to continue traditional relationships with nature. As cultures continue to evolve in customs, attitudes, knowledge, and technological uses, values associated with both TEK and relationships with relatively pristine ecosystems will also evolve. Understanding these relationships and how to consider them in wilderness protection and restoration decision making is potentially one of the most contentious, widespread natural resource management issues in the circumpolar north.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Borrie, William T. 2003. Applying public purpose marketing in the USA to protect relationships with public land. In, Nature-based tourism, enviornment and land management. (ed.) Buckley, R.; Pickering, C.; Weaver, D.B. CABI Publishing: Oxon, UK, Cambridge, MA. P. 25-33.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Borrie, William T. (2003). Applying public purpose marketing in the USA to protect relationships with public land.

    As domestic and international recreation demands on federal lands in the USA continue to increase, there is a growing need for commitment of revenue to provide services and meet stewardship mandates. With increasing demand and testing of methods to provide needed resources, the relationships between the public and public lands are changing. One force of that change has been the tendency towards more business-like approaches to managing public lands in the USA, including the use of marketing and customer fees. A recent test for applying marketing principles to the establishment of fee policies for Forest Service lands entailed active engagement by scientists, managers and planners, marketing consultants and key members of the public. A proposal has emerged to blend marketing activities with protection of public land resources through a focus on relationships, trust, commitment and social responsibility.

  • Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet, comps. 2003. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Seventh World Wilderness Congress Symposium; 2001 November 2-8; Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Proc. RMRS-P-27. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 272 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet, comps. (2003). Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Seventh World Wilderness Congress Symposium; 2001 November 2-8; Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

    The Seventh World Wilderness Congress met in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 2001. The symposium on science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values was one of several symposia held in conjunction with the Congress. The papers contained in this proceedings were presented at this symposium and cover seven topics: state-of-knowledge on protected areas issues in South Africa; traditional and ecological values of nature; wilderness systems and approaches to protection; protection of coastal/marine and river/lake wilderness; spiritual benefits, religious beliefs, and new stories; personal and societal values of wilderness; and the role of science, education, and collaborative planning in wilderness protection and restoration.

  • Wright, V. 2003. New tools to access wilderness research information. Park Science 22(1):7-8.
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    Abstract for Wright, V. (2003). New tools to access wilderness research information.

    This short note introduces the following efforts to facilitate access to wilderness research information: Leopold Institute’s expanded website (http:/Leopold.wilderness.net), the Linking Wilderness Research and Management series of annotated reading lists, and the Research in a Nutshell: Results and Management Implications series of research briefings.

  • Wright, Vita. 2003. Reducing Barriers to Science-based Management. International Journal of Wilderness. 9(1): 19,12.
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    Abstract for Wright, Vita. (2003). Reducing Barriers to Science-based Management.

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness

  • Alessa, Lilian; Watson, Alan E. 2002. Growing pressures on circumpolar north wilderness: a case for coordinated research and education. In: Watson, Alan E.; Alessa, Lilian; Sproull, Janet, comps. 2002. Wilderness in the circumpolar north: searching for compatibility in ecological, traditional, and ecotourism values. 2001 May 15-16; Anchorage, AK. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Ogden, UT Proceedings RMRS-P-26.
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    Abstract for Alessa, Lilian; Watson, Alan E. (2002). Growing pressures on circumpolar north wilderness: a case for coordinated research and education.

    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 facilitate receipt of those values to various segments of society. This paper proposes an agenda for research, education, methodology development, and establishment of a cooperative infrastructure for accomplishment of these tasks.

  • Borrie, William T., and Harding, James A. 2002. Effective recreation visitor communication strategies: Rock climbers in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana. Research Note RMRS-RN-15. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 11p.
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    Abstract for Borrie, William T., and Harding, James A. (2002). Effective recreation visitor communication strategies: Rock climbers in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana.

    A four-stage model of decisionmaking was investigated in the context of low-impact practices among rock climbers in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. Previous research has suggested that knowing what to do to minimize environmental and social impacts may not be the only factor limiting compliance with recommended visitor behaviors. Results from a sample of climbers at Kootenai Creek indicate that the way people are introduced to the sport has an important influence on attitudes toward low-impact practices. Significant differences were found between those who learned to rock climb indoors and those who learned to rock climb outdoors, as well as between those who were introduced to the sport of climbing with fixed anchors versus those introduced with removable climbing equipment. Summary recommendations for effective natural resource communications focus not just on what visitors are being asked to do, but also when, why, and how it is socially appropriate for them to do so.

  • Borrie, William T.; Christensen, Neal; Watson, Alan E.; Miller, Theron A.; McCollum, Daniel W. 2002. Public purpose recreation marketing: a focus on the relationships between the public and public lands. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 20(2):49-68.
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    Abstract for Borrie, William T.; Christensen, Neal; Watson, Alan E.; Miller, Theron A.; McCollum, Daniel W. (2002). Public purpose recreation marketing: a focus on the relationships between the public and public lands

    The research reported here conceptualizes the relationship between the public and the agency into three dimensions: social trust (the degree to which individuals perceive the agency to share their views, goals, and values); commitment (the investment, attachment, and longevity of the relationship to the agency); and social responsibility (which includes attitudes towards the goals or public purposes of the agency. A market segmentation based on these dimensions yielded distinct subpopulations of the general public.

  • Bury, R.B., D.J. Major, and D.S. Pilliod. 2002. Responses of Amphibians to Fire Disturbance in Pacific Northwest Forests: a Review. In: The role of fire in nongame wildlife management and community restoration: traditional uses and new directions. Edited by W.M. Ford, K.R. Russell, and C.E. Moorman. General Technical Report NE-288. USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station, Newtown Square, PA. 34-42p.
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    Abstract for Bury, R.B.; Major, D.J.; Pilliod, D.S. (2002). Responses of amphibians to fire disturbance in pacific northwest forests: a review

    In western North America, major wildfires often now result in stand-replacement events and natural resources losses for many decades post-burn. Fire severity has been exacerbated by past fire suppression that has allowed large fuel load accumulations. To reduce woody debris and restore the ecological integrity of western forests, prescribed burning is increasingly used as a regional management tool. However, we do not understand the effects of either wildfire or prescribed fires on amphibians in stream, riparian and terrestrial habitats in western forests. Terrestrial amphibians, macroinvertebrates and other animals are surface active during periods of rainfall or high moisture. Wildland fire usually starts in the hot, dry summers typical of these more arid Western and Mediterranean climates and may have less effect on resident biota than prescribed fires often conducted during the late fall to spring rainy season, when there is sufficient moisture to prevent crown fires. Still, intense wildfires may result in increased erosion and sediment or changes in soil chemistry impacting downstream aquatic environments. To our knowledge, no published reports exist on effects of fire on the aquatic herpetofauna of the Pacific Northwest. Research efforts now underway include new studies of wildland fires in Oregon and Idaho on aquatic amphibians, and studies on the effects of prescribed fire on terrestrial salamanders and associated forests in the Klamath Province along the Oregon-California border. These will help evaluate the cumulative effects of fuels reduction on amphibian population and habitat structure, and provide guidelines to better manage for wildlife species characteristic of western forests. In the Pacific Northwest, investigations of fire effects on wildlife are severely lacking relative to the vast acreage, economic value, and biodiversity of its forest ecosystems. Given the increasing prominence of wildfire and prescribed burning in many western forest systems, we suggest more resources will be devoted to such research endeavors, and that they include other sensitive groups of wildlife such as mollusks.

  • Cole, David N. 2002. Simulation of recreational use in backcountry settings: an aid to management planning In: A. Arnberger, C. Brandeneburg, A. Muhar. Comps. Monitoring and Management of Visitor Flows in Recreational and Protected Areas. 2002. January 30-February 2; Vienna, Austria. Institute for Landscape Architecture and Landscape Management, Bodenkultur University 478-48.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2002). Simulation of recreational use in backcountry settings: an aid to management planning

    Simulation models of recreation use patterns can be a valuable tool to managers of backcountry areas, such as wilderness areas and national parks. They can help fine-tune existing management programs, particularly in places that ration recreation use or that require the use of designated campsites. They can assist managers in evaluating the likely effects of increasing recreation use and the implementation of new management programs. They also can be used as a monitoring tool, being particularly helpful in predicting encounter levels in the interior as a function of easily measured counts of recreationists entering the area. The first backcountry travel simulation models were developed in the 1970s. They were never widely used, however, primarily because simulation runs were costly and difficult. Recent improvements in computer technology have ushered in a new era of travel simulation modeling.

  • Cole, David N. 2002. Ecological impacts of wilderness recreation and their management. In: J.C. Hendee and C.P. Dawson (2002) Wilderness Management: Stewardship and Protection of Resources and Values, third edition. Fulcrum Press, Golden, Co. Pp. 412-459.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2002). Ecological Impacts of Wilderness Recreation and Their Management

    This chapter begins with a discussion of the significance of recreational impacts, its purpose being to bring recreation impacts into perspective with other wilderness management problems. This discussion is followed by a description of important types of recreational impacts, those caused by trampling, campfires, construction and maintenance of trails, pack animals, wildlife disturbance, and water pollution and disposal of human waste. The remainder of the chapter deals with impacts associated with campsites, trails, pack and saddle stock and alternative management responses to problems based on ecological impacts.

  • Cole, David N.; Monz, Christopher A. 2002. Trampling disturbance of high-elevation vegetation, Wind River Mountains, Wyoming, U.S.A. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 34(4): 365-376 
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Monz, Christopher A. (2002). Trampling disturbance of high-elevation vegetation, Wind River Mountains, Wyoming, U.S.A.

    Trampling experiments were conducted in five high-elevation plant communities in the Wind River Mountains. In one experiment (simulating infrequent acute disturbance), plots were trampled once and recovery was followed for 3 yr. In another experiment (simulating chronic disturbance), plots were trampled for three successive years and recovery was followed for one year. Yearly trampling intensities were 0 to 500 passes (up to 800 and 1000 in two communities). Structural responses (reductions in cover and height) were more pronounced than compositional responses. Low levels of trampling caused substantial reductions in cover and height, but rates of change decreased as trampling intensity increased. The ability of different plant communities to tolerate trampling disturbance varied by at least an order of magnitude, suggesting that impacts can be reduced by directing use to more tolerant plant communities. Moreover, tolerance can be gauged on the basis of readily observable plant characteristics. Plant communities with groundcover dominated by chamaephytes (primarily low, woody shrubs) or by erect, caulescent forbs were less resistant than those with groundcovers dominated by turf-forming or caespitose graminoids, or by forbs with matted, caespitose or rosette growth forms. Plant communities with woody, chamaephytic groundcover were less resilient than other plant communities.

  • Cole, David N.; Stewart, William P. 2002. Variability of user-based evaluative standards for backcountry encounters Leisure Sciences 24: 313-32.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Stewart, William P. (2002). Variability of user-based evaluative standards for backcountry encounters

    Backcountry visitors are often surveyed regarding their personal evaluative standards (or norms) for acceptable levels of encounters with other groups. In this study, backpackers at Grand Canyon National Park were asked about the acceptability of encounters at several times: at home prior to their trip, once each day during their trip, and at-home after their trip. Thus it was possible to assess spatial and temporal variability within individuals, as well as variation among individuals, in both the ability to provide a personal evaluative standard about number of encounters and the standard provided. Results suggest that backcountry visitors differentiate between zones in the Grand Canyon backcountry managed to provide diverse settings, including visitor density. However, there was substantial variation in the standards provided both among individuals and over time within individuals.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen; Muths, Erin. 2002. Variable breeding phenology affects the exposure of amphibian embryos to ultraviolet radiation. Ecology 83:2958–2963
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen; Muths, Erin. (2002). Variable breeding phenology affects the exposure of amphibian embryos to ultraviolet radiation.

    Reduced water depth in dry years has been proposed to interact with ultraviolet-b (UV-B) radiation and a pathogenic fungus to cause episodes of high mortality of amphibian embryos. Observations of breeding phenology of boreal chorus frogs (Pseudacris maculata) in Colorado from 1986 to 2001 show that dry years result in earlier breeding. The earliest and latest dates of maximum calling activity by males were 20 May and 16 June, and the date of maximum calling was strongly related to the amount of snow accumulation during the winter. Surface UV-B flux, estimated from satellite-based measurements, was positively related to date of maximum calling. In dry years, surface UV-B during calling was reduced by an amount similar to that attributed to reduced depth. Although there was a significant trend of increasing UV-B from 1978 to 2001 on the average date (2 June) of maximum calling activity, there was no relationship between year and surface UV-B at actual dates of maximum calling. Exposure to extreme temperatures is an alternative explanation for increased mortality of amphibian embryos in shallow water.

  • Gutzwiller, Kevin G.; Riffell, Samuel K.; Anderson, Stanley H. 2002. Repeated human intrusion and the potential for nest predation by gray jays. Journal of Wildlife Management 66(2): 372-380.
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    Abstract for Gutzwiller, Kevin G.; Riffell, Samuel K.; Anderson, Stanley H. (2002). Repeated human intrusion and the potential for nest predation by gray jays

    Through attraction of avian nest predators, human activity near nests is known to cause lower nesting success or nest failure in some species. We studied the effect of human intrusion in subalpine forest in Wyoming, USA, and experimented with the gray jay (Perisoreus canadensis), a nest predator that is known to approach recreationists. During 1989-1993, we implemented intrusions within 20 circular 1-ha (113-m-diam) sites for 1 or 2 hr each week during a 10-week period when potential passerine prey were breeding. Simultaneously, 10 circular 1-ha control sites did not receive experimental intrusions. The average number of gray jays on intruded sites was higher than that on controls by 156% (1989), 225% (1990), 59% (1991), 13% (1992) and 29% (1993). The probability of gray jay recurrence on intruded sites was higher than that on control sites by 125% (1989), 300% (1990), 20% (1991), 33% (1992) and 20% (1993). By increasing the number and recurrence of gray jays, relatively low levels of repeated intrusion can increase the potential for nest predation by gray jays. We caution that additional work is needed to assess whether attraction of gray jays actually leads to increased nest predation.

  • Johnson, Andrew K.; Dawson,Chad. 2002. Coping, crowding and satisfaction: a study of Adirondack wilderness hikers. In: Todd, Sharon. (Comp.), Proc. Northeastern Recreation Research Conference. April 1-April 3, 2001. Bolton Landing, New York, U.S. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station: Gen. Tech Rep. NE-289 25-31p.
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    Abstract for Johnson, Andres, K. & Dawson, Chad (2002). Coping, crowding and satisfaction: a study of Adirondack wilderness hikers

    Hikers in the wilderness areas of New York’s Adirondack Park use a combination of physical and cognitive coping behaviors to maintain satisfaction with their wilderness experience. A total of 102 hikers in 16 Adirondack wilderness areas were interviewed and asked to complete a single-page survey. The in-depth interviews and surveys of hikers’ importance and satisfaction ratings for a set of wilderness characteristics and conditions were used to measure and describe Adirondack wilderness hikers’ employment of the four coping behaviors of spatial displacement, temporal displacement, product shift and rationalization. Results indicate users were employing coping behaviors across four wilderness area use intensity categories, often in combination and with few differences in their overall satisfaction

  • Knight, Richard L and Landres, Peter B. 2002. Central concepts and issues of biological conservation. In: Gutzwiller, Kevin J ed. Applying Landscape Ecology in Biological Conservation. New York, New York: Springer Publishers: 22-33 p.
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    Abstract for Knight, Richard L.; Landres, Peter B. (2002). Central concepts and issues of biological conservation

    This chapter introduces concepts and principles of biological conservation that will be useful when applying landscape ecology to a conservation issue. The first section explains concepts and principles that relate directly to the management of biological diversity, beginning with populations, then addressing communities and ecosystems. The second section focuses on two emerging ideas in biological conservation that have been largely inspired by landscape ecology: the necessity of conserving a landscape and its functions to protect the process of evolution as the ultimate driver of biological diversity, and the complexity of restoring and managing landscapes. The third section discusses how an understanding of landscape ecology drives the need to consider long time frames and large areas in developing conservation goals and priorities. The last section of this chapter considers general approaches for advancing applications of landscape ecology in biological conservation. This section stresses the importance of spatial and temporal scales when considering the maintenance of biological diversity, whether the genome of a population or the range of ecosystems within a landscape.

  • Landres, Peter. 2002. Ecological considerations in using prescribed fire. In: Burchfield, Jim, ed. National Conference on the Social Acceptability of Fuel Treatments on Western Public Lands: proceedings; 2000 October 22-24; Missoula, MT. Missoula, MT: University of Montana: 35-42.
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    Abstract for Landres, P. (2002). Ecological considerations in using prescribed fire

    This talk presents three ecological considerations in using prescribed fire: defining ecological goals for using prescribed fire, identifying ecological concerns in using prescribed fire, and the overarching questions that need to be asked about proposed uses of prescribed fire. Prescribed fire is typically used to accomplish two ecological goals. The first is to restore natural fire regimes and the effects of natural fires. Typically, this goal is accomplished by reducing accumulated fuels. The second ecological goal is to maintain a natural fire frequency where naturally-ignited fires are typically suppressed because of their socio-economic risks. There are many ecological concerns with using prescribed fire, including both technical and institutional issues. Technical concerns include a lack of information on reference conditions, a lack of information on the direct and indirect effects of prescribed fire as a surrogate for natural fire, and the effects of using a “one-size-fits-all” solution of prescribed fire across a variable landscape. Institutional concerns include the inequality of how social and ecological values are weighed and evaluated by fire management staff, and the lack of humility in assuming we have sufficient knowledge for the broad-scale application of prescribed fire. The overarching questions that need to be asked about all proposed uses of prescribed fire are: Are the goals and objectives clearly stated? Is there sufficient understanding about reference conditions and the proposed restoration actions? What are the benefits and risks of using prescribed fire versus not using prescribed fire? And last, What can we learn from the use of prescribed fire?

  • Martin, Vance G. and Alan Watson. 2002. International Wilderness. In: J.C. Hendee and C.P. Dawson (2002) Wilderness Management: Stewardship and Protection of Resources and Values, third edition. Fulcrum Press, Golden, Co. Pp. 49-99. This book is available from http://www.fulcrum-books.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=5519 Fulcrum Publishing.
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    Abstract for Martin, Vance G. and Alan Watson. (2002). International Wilderness.

    In this chapter, we describe the scarcity and importance of wilderness and how the cultural foundations of the wilderness idea affect its spread and adoption throughout the world. We review international approached to protecting nature related to wilderness. Then we describe the wilderness designation and protection efforts in thirteen countries and world regions, comparing and contrasting these examples with those in the United States. Finally, we emphasize progress in the 1990s and look at some of the major problems facing the wilderness idea in other countries, particularly the challenge of meeting basic human needs and winning support of local people while protecting wildlands in developing nations.

  • Parks, SA & AH Harcourt. 2002. Reserve size, local human density and mammalian extinctions in U.S. protected areas. Conservation Biology 16:800-808.
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    Abstract for Parks, SA & AH Harcourt (2002). Reserve size, local human density and mammalian extinctions in U.S

    We examined quantitatively the interaction of reserve size and surrounding local human density in the United States and their relative effect on extinction of large mammals in 13 national parks of the western United States. Data on reserve size and human density were obtained from publicly available sources. Local human density was calculated as the mean density in the 50- or 100-km zone surrounding the reserves’ borders. Reliable extinction data are extraordinarily hard to find. Using a variety of definitions of extinct, we collated information on extinctions of large mammals (>5 kg) that spanned the size of U.S. national parks as a whole. Human density surrounding reserves varies considerably. Overall, small reserves were in areas of higher human density than were large reserves (p < 0.0001, r^2= -0.24, n=864; excluding Hawaii), and many of the small reserves were at higher local density than the mean for the contiguous United States. Extinction rates of large mammals correlate significantly with local human density, but not with park areas. These findings together emphasize that (1) processes occurring outside of a reserve’s boundary may unexpectedly strongly affect species within the reserve; (2) small reserves might suffer the double jeopardy of not only their size but also their situation in especially adverse surrounds; and thus (3) small reserves might suffer more intense edge effects and be more isolated than large reserves. If so, conservation workers need to incorporate the relationship into their models and management decisions.

  • Parsons, David J. 2002. International Science Activities. International Journal of Wilderness. 8(3): 27, 8.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2002). International Science Activities.

    This is part of a regular column on wilderness issues contributed each issue by Leopold Institute staff to the International Journal of Wilderness

  • Pilliod, David S., Peterson, Charles R. and Ritson, Peter I. 2002. Seasonal migration of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) among complementary resources in a high mountain basin. Canadian Journal of Zoology 80:1849-1862.
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    Abstract for Pilliod, D.S., Peterson, C.R. and P.I. Ritson (2002). Seasonal migration of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) among complementary resources in a high mountain basin

    Information on how animals partition their activities and travel among complementary resources, such as breeding or overwintering habitats, is needed for species conservation. In a mountain basin at 2500 m elevation in central Idaho, we studied the habitat use and movement patterns of 736 marked and 87 radio-tagged Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) from 1995 to 1998. The goals of this study were to (i) identify and characterize R. luteiventris breeding, summer foraging, and overwintering habitats, (ii) describe the movement patterns of juvenile, male, and female R. luteiventris among these resources, and (iii) determine migration routes. Juvenile and adult R. luteiventris occupied a variety of widely distributed wetlands from late June to September. On average, 1–32% of juvenile, 6–11% of male, and 16–51% of female frogs moved from breeding ponds to summer habitats. Migratory males remained within 200 m of the breeding sites, whereas females traveled up to 1030 m to reach summer habitats.

  • Rollins, Matthew G.; Morgan, Penelope, Swetnam, Thomas. 2002. Landscape-scale controls over 20th century fire occurrence in two large Rocky Mountain (USA) wilderness areas. Landscape Ecology Kluwer Academic Publishers. 17:539-557 
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    Abstract for Rollins, Matthew G.; Morgan, Penelope, Swetnam, Thomas. (2002). Landscape-scale controls over 20th century fire occurrence in two large Rocky Mountain (USA) wilderness areas.

    Topography, vegetation, and climate act together to determine the spatial patterns of fires at landscape scales. Knowledge of landscape-fire-climate relations at these broad scales (1,000s ha to 100,000s ha) is limited and is largely based on inferences and extrapolations from fire histories reconstructed from finer scales. In this study, we used long time series of fire perimeter data (fire atlases) and data for topography, vegetation, and climate to evaluate relationships between large 20th century fires and landscape characteristics in two contrasting areas: the 486,673-ha Gila/Aldo Leopold Wilderness Complex (GALWC) in New Mexico, USA, and the 785,090-ha Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Complex (SBWC) in Idaho and Montana, USA. There were important similarities and differences in gradients of topography, vegetation, and climate for areas with different fire frequencies, both within and between study areas. These unique and general relationships, when compared between study areas highlight important characteristics of fire regimes in the Northern and Southern Rocky Mountains of the Western United States. Results suggest that amount and horizontal continuity of herbaceous fuels limit the frequency and spread of surface fires in the GALWC, while the moisture status of large fuels and crown fuels limits the frequency of moderate-to-high severity fires in the SBWC. These empirically described spatial and temporal relationships between fire, landscape attributes, and climate increase understanding of interactions among broad-scale ecosystem processes. Results also provide historical baseline for fire management planning over broad spatial and temporal scales in each wilderness complex.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Alessa, Lilian; Sproull, Janet; [Compiler] 2002. Wilderness in the Circumpolar North: searching for compatibility in ecological, traditional, and ecotourism values; 2001 May 15-16; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-26. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 143 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Alessa, Lilian; Sproull, Janet (2002). Wilderness in the Circumpolar North: searching for compatibility in ecological, traditional, and ecotourism values

    There are growing pressures on undeveloped (wild) places in the Circumpolar North. Among them are pressures for 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 by interested parties from broad geographical origins. An international seminar in Anchorage, Alaska, in May of 2001, was the first step in providing basic input to an analysis of the primary set of values associated with Circumpolar North wilderness and the constraints and contributors (factors of influence) that either limit or facilitate receipt of those values to various segments of society.

  • Watson, Alan; Alessa, Lilian; Williams, Daniel. 2002. Wilderness: searching for compatibility between traditional relationships with Nature, Ecotourism, and Ecological Protection. In: Center for Sámi Studies Publications: The 7th Circumpolar University Co-operation Conference. August 19-August 21, 2001; Tromsø, Norway, The University of Tromsø, 5 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Alessa, Lilian; Williams, Daniel (2002). Wilderness: searching for compatibility between traditional relationships

    Currently, the concept of "wilderness" remains both vague and loosely applied to a wide variety of meanings in the world. Increasingly, natural and social scientists, communities, policy makers and resource managers are being confronted with issues that revolve around how "wilderness" should be utilized and, ultimately, viewed as a component of the local, regional and global culture perceived specifically by distinct groups of peoples. Due to the complex and interdisciplinary nature of research on wilderness values, few individuals have attempted to synthesize knowledge across the full circumpolar wilderness community or across disciplines. A working group has developed across the circumpolar countries to 1) clarify cultural differences in the uses of the word (concept) "wilderness" in primary literature and society; 2) identify critical research to further our understanding of the role of wilderness meanings and values in society, science and politics and the forces that threaten these meanings and values; and 3) begin to develop methodologies that will allow us to collect meaningful data and develop a critical mass of research on this topic. International cooperation is needed in anticipation of increasing globalization effects (technologies providing greater access to remote locations, ecotourism promotion, and economic demands) on traditional relationships with nature and desired biodiversity levels in arctic zone wilderness. This working group has become committed to articulating the value of and strategies for conveying the collection of existing and future knowledge regarding the compatibility between human and ecological values of wilderness to academia and society by consistent contribution to a body of knowledge. This presentation will summarize the results of a recent seminar series and workshop, hosted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, to identify the primary threats to the meanings and values associated with wilderness in circumpolar countries.

  • Zabinski, Catherine A.; DeLuca, Thomas H; Cole, David N.; Moynahan, October Seastone. 2002. Restoration of highly impacted subalpine campsites in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon. Restoration Ecology 10(2): 275-281.
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    Abstract for Zabinski, Catherine A.; DeLuca, Thomas H; Cole, David N.; Moynahan, October Seastone (2002). Restoration of highly impacted subalpine campsites in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon

    The effects of intensive recreation impacts and restoration amendments on soil parameters were assessed at four campsites in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, northeastern Oregon. Sites (2215 to 2300 m, elevation) are characterized by shallow soils (Cryochrepts and Cryorthents), an Abies lasiocarpa/Pinus albicaulis overstory and a Vaccinium scoparium understory. In Fall 1995 plots were established at four campsites on three subalpine lakes in which soils were scarified, amended with composted sewage sludge, and planted to native species. In Summer 1998 we sampled surface soils (0 – 15 cm) on undisturbed sites (between and under vegetation), and unamended and compost-amended campsite soils. Samples were analyzed for total organic C, total N, potentially mineralizable N (PMN), NH4, soil moisture, microbial biomass, basal 5-day respiration rates, and microbial community metabolic profiles. Unamended campsite soils had significantly lower levels of PMN, microbial biomass, basal respiration, and number of C’s utilized in substrate utilization profiles. Compost addition elevated all these impacted parameters on campsite soils, although the increase in basal respiration rate was neither statistically significant nor sufficient to approach rates found underneath vegetation on undisturbed soils. Only microbial functional diversity (number of C’s utilized) was significantly higher on compost-amended soils than on undisturbed soils. Levels of PMN indicate that campsite soils may lack sufficient N for rapid plant regeneration whereas amended and undisturbed soils contained adequate quantities of available N. This work suggests that compost amendments can ameliorate impacts to soil chemistry and microbial populations caused by camping without exceeding the range of variability that is found on undisturbed soils.

  • Borrie, W.T. and Birzell, R.M. (2001). "Approaches to measuring the quality of the wilderness experience." Invited paper, in Freimund, Wayne A.; Cole, David N., (comps.). Social Density and Wilderness Experiences; Missoula, MT. June 1 -3, 2000; Proceedings RMRS-P-20. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station (pp. 29-38).
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    Abstract for Borrie, W.T. and Birzell, R.M. (2001). Approaches to measuring the quality of the wilderness experience

    Wilderness is a special place that provides opportunity for unique and profound experiences. An essential task for the maintenance of these recreational opportunities is the definition and monitoring of experience quality. Four approaches to the measurement of the wilderness experience have developed in over 30 years of research: satisfaction approaches (which focus on evaluation of onsite conditions), benefits-based approaches (focusing on psychological outcomes), experience-based approaches (describing cognitive states experienced in wilderness), and meanings-based approaches (documenting socially constructed meanings ascribed to the experience). Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses. Given that the wilderness experience is a multifaceted phenomenon, it is not surprising that no single method adequately serves the needs of managers trying to preserve the quality of the wilderness experience in the context of rising use density levels. However, a linear and direct relationship between use density conditions and experiential quality should not be assumed.

  • Borrie, W.T. and Roggenbuck, J.W. (2001). “The dynamic, emergent, and multi-phasic nature of on-site wilderness experiences.” Journal of Leisure Research, 33(2), 202-228.
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    Abstract for Borrie, W.T. and Roggenbuck, J.W. (2001). The Dynamic, Emergent, and Multi-Phasic Nature of On-Site Wilderness Experiences

    Feelings and cognitions of leisure may not only be dynamic during the course of the total outdoor recreation engagement, they may be dynamic, emergent, and multi-phasic during the on-site phase. Experience Sampling Method data were collected from a sample of wilderness visitors multiple times during a visit to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Four modes of environmental experience (focus on self, others, task, and environment) and four aspects of wilderness experience (a combined oneness/primitiveness/humility variable, timelessness, solitude, and care) were measured. Univariate and multivariate repeated measures analyses demonstrated significant change from the entry, through immersion, to the exit phases of the wilderness experience. This experiential change included greater focus on the environment and on self/introspection at the exit compared to the entry phase, and less focus on others/social acceptance during the immersion phase. Scores on humility/primitiveness/oneness were higher at both the immersion and exit phases than during entry, and care for the wilderness was higher during the exit phase than during entry. Implications of findings for understanding the complex nature of leisure experiences are provided

  • Cole, David 2001. Management dilemmas that will shape wilderness in the 21st century Journal of Forestry 99(1): 4-8.
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    Abstract for Cole, David (2001). Management dilemmas that will shape wilderness in the 21st century

    How we resolve two management dilemmas will determine the future nature and value of wilderness. The first dilemma is providing for use and enjoyment while protecting wilderness conditions. The second is whether wilderness ecosystems should be left wild and "untrammeled" or, paradoxically, be manipulated toward a more natural state. Alternative solutions are explored. Because compromises between value systems will tend to homogenize wilderness areas, such that no area will fully meet any goal, we should consider allocating separate lands to each goal. Expanding our conception of wilderness will help us develop a diverse system that satisfies multiple needs.

  • Cole, David N. 2001. Visitor use density and wilderness experiences: a historical review of research In: Freimund, Wayne A.; Cole, David N. comps. Visitor Use Density and Wilderness Experience. 2001 June 1-3; Missoula, MT U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: Ogden, UT Proc RMRS-P-20: 11-20.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2001). Visitor use density and wilderness experiences: a historical review of research

    Considerable research on the relationship between use density and wilderness visitor experiences has been conducted over the past four decades. This paper focuses on early work of this topic, tracing the development and languishing of different research themes suggested by this early work. Research - particularly that conducted in the normative tradition - has contributed useful information to managers grappling with the imposition of use limits. However, traditional research approaches need to be supplemented with research conducted at both smaller and larger scales. Research on the opinions of communities of onsite recreation users needs to be complemented by research capable of better articulating the nature of the recreation experience, differentiating between subpopulations of users, and placing individual protected areas within larger regional contexts.

  • Cole, David N. 2001. Day users in wilderness: how different are they? Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-31. 29 p. 
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2001). Day users in wilderness: how different are they?

    This study describes the trip and visitor characteristics, evaluations, and preferences of day users in wilderness, by contrasting them with overnight users. Data from the Three Sisters (OR), Desolation (CA), Bob Marshall (MT), Charles Deam (IN), Caney Creek (AR), Shining Rock (NC), and Cohutta (GA) Wildernesses are presented. Primary conclusions were that: (1) day users and overnight users are not profoundly different; (2) day users are more tolerant of relatively crowded conditions and less likely to see an immediate need to limit use (at least in places that receive substantial day use); (3) day users are typically as experienced in wilderness travel, and as attached to wilderness and supportive of wilderness protection as overnight users; (4) day users may be as interested in a wilderness experience as overnight users, although there is some evidence to the contrary; and (5) day use of wilderness might be considered less wilderness dependent than overnight use. Implications related to meeting the needs and desires of day users and the management of wilderness trails and destinations that receive heavy day use are discussed.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen 2001. Perspectives from the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute: amphibians and wilderness International Journal of Wilderness 7(2): 25. 
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen (2001). Perspectives from the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute: amphibians and wilderness

    Diversity of amphibians varies among wildernesses, from high in the Southeast to low in high-elevation Wilderness Areas and backcountry areas of National Parks in the western United States. Knowledge about the status of amphibians is important, because amphibians occupy important ecological niches and a high proportion of western amphibian species have undergone recent declines, often in protected habitats.

  • Dawson, Chad P.; Simon, Mark; Oreskes, Rebecca; Davis, Gary 2001. Great Gulf Wilderness use estimation: comparisons from 1976, 1989, and 1999 In: Kyle, Gerard, comps. Proceedings of the 2000 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium; 2000 April 2-4; Bolton Landing, NY., Newton Square, PA Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station Proc. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-276. 283-288.
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    Abstract for Dawson, Chad P.; Simon, Mark; Oreskes, Rebecca; Davis, Gary (2001). Great Gulf Wilderness use estimation: comparisons from 1976, 1989, and 1999

    Wilderness visitor monitoring techniques can provide important baseline information on recreational use and assist managers in making recreation use management decisions. A demonstration project was conducted in the Great Gulf Wilderness using active infra-red beam type trail counters and brief on-site interviews to obtain information about visitor travel patterns, wilderness destinations, and estimate total recreational use by trail segments. The spatial and temporal distribution of use was analyzed to understand the concentration of use that occurred in the Great Gulf Wilderness.

  • Farrell, Tracy; Hall, Troy E., White, Dave D. 2001. Wilderness campers’ perception and evaluation of campsite impacts. Journal of Leisure Research. 33:229-250.
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    Abstract for Farrell, Tracy; Hall, Troy E.; White, Dave D. (2001). Wilderness campers’ perception and evaluation of campsite impacts

    On-site, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 51 groups of campers in Mt. Jefferson Wilderness to understand their perception and evaluation of impacts to vegetation, soil and tress. At campers’ sites, measurements of vegetation loss, mineral soil exposure, tree damage and site size were made for comparison with visitors’ numeric evaluations of conditions. Content analysis of qualitative responses revealed that 75% of groups noticed vegetation impacts, 52% noticed soil impacts, and 51% noticed damage to trees. More than 70% of evaluative comments about conditions were positive, with many related to the functional benefits of impacts. Sites ranged in size from 13 m2 to 453 m2, but there were no statistically significant relationships between 6 measured impact parameters and campers’ numeric evaluations of conditions. The difference between visitors’ and managerial evaluations of impact conditions will present considerable challenges for selecting and successfully implementing management policies.

  • Freimund, Wayne A.; Cole, David N.; [Compilers] 2001. Visitor use density and wilderness experience: proceedings; 2000 June 13; Missoula, MT Proceedings RMRS-P-20. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 67 p.
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    Abstract for Freimund, Wayne A.; Cole, David N. (2001). Visitor use density and wilderness experience

    The workshop was convened to assess progress and offer further ideas regarding scientific contributions to (1) understanding relationships between visitor use density and wilderness experiences and (2) applying such knowledge to decisions about use limitation in wilderness and parks. The first paper provides an overview of the topic and the papers presented at the workshop. Subsequent papers include reviews of previous research, discussion of issues related to use limitation, exploration of the solitude concept and of visitor conflict, and explications of alternative research methodologies.

  • Freimund, Wayne A.; Cole, David N. 2001. Use density, visitor experience and limiting recreational use in wilderness: progress to date and research needs In: Freimund, Wayne A.; Cole, David N. comps. Visitor Use Density and Wilderness Experience. 2001 June 1-3; Missoula, MT U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: Ogden, UT Proc RMRS-P-20: 3-8.
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    Abstract for Freimund, Wayne A.; Cole, David N. (2001). Use density, visitor experience and limiting recreational use in wilderness: progress to date and research needs

    Recent increases in demand have revitalized interest and controversy surrounding use limits and the effect of visitor density on wilderness experiences. A workshop held in Missoula, Montana, in June of 2000 addressed the potential for social science to contribute to understanding and managing increasingly populated wilderness conditions. Scientists identified progress in our understanding of use density impacts on the wilderness visitor. Management frameworks such as Limits of Acceptable Change have proven beneficial in assisting managers. Science has also advanced the ability to assess and interpret visitor opinion about use density. However several limitations to our understanding and research needs emerged from this workshop. Contemporary visitor assessments have largely been constrained to current visitors of individual management units. Visitor opinion tends to focus on indicators rather than the actual experience of individuals. We need an improved understanding of the multidimensionality of the wilderness experience and how solitude is defined as one dimension of experience. Poor understanding of the impacts of use limits on visitor experiences and population dynamics is also a problem. The absence of information about visitors at regional scales, poses problems to understanding how visitor populations are affected by use limits or why objections to limits are prevalent in some places and not others. To address these issues, the science community will need to be inclusive of additional research methods based on a broader suite of conceptual frameworks that ca be integrated at multiple scales.

  • Glaspell, Brian; Puttkammer, Annette 2001. Linking Wilderness Research and Management—volume 2. Defining, managing, and monitoring wilderness visitor experiences: an annotated reading list Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-79-Vol 2. 29 p. 
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    Abstract for Glaspell, Brian; Puttkammer, Annette (2001). Linking Wilderness Research and Management—volume 2. Defining, managing, and monitoring wilderness visitor experiences: an annotated reading list

    Opportunities for unique visitor experiences are among the defining attributes of wilderness. In order to understand and protect these experiences, natural and social scientists have pursued an ever-expanding program of wildland recreation research. While much of the early research sought to identify simple relationships between setting attributes and visitor experiences, recent research efforts have expanded to address the values people hold for wilderness (including non-recreation values), a variety of types and dimensions of wilderness experiences, and factors that influence those experiences. Whereas early wilderness stewards had few resources other than instinct and personal experience to guide them, managers today have access to a significant body of literature related to defining, managing, and monitoring wilderness experiences. This reading list represents a sample of this information that is organized in a way that is intended to be useful to both managers and researchers. Section I contains both philosophical and empirical papers that address values related to wilderness and wilderness experiences. Section II contains papers that describe wilderness experiences and specific dimensions of those experiences. Section III has references that describe influences on wilderness experiences and approaches to managing them. Section IV addresses long-term wilderness planning and monitoring.

  • Harcourt, AH., Parks, SA & R. Woodroffe. 2001. Human density as an influence on species/area relationships: double jeopardy for small African Reserves? Biodiversity and Conservation 10:1011-1026.
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    Abstract for Harcourt, A.H., Parks, S.A. & R. Woodroffe (2001). Human density as an influence on species/area relationships: double jeopardy for small African Reserves?

    Small reserves are especially likely to lose species. Is that because the reserves are small, or because small reserves are located in especially adverse landscapes? It seems that the question has rarely, if ever, been asked. Data on reserve size and location in Africa, and calculations of local (within 50 km) mean human densities from available census records per province per country were the database here used to answer the question. IUCN grade I and II reserves in Africa are located across the range of human densities per country, including in regions of higher than average density. Furthermore reserve size correlates with local human density, such that small reserves are indeed significantly more likely than are large reserves to be located in regions of high human density (n = 169; P < 0.0001). However, while local human density correlates significantly with human-caused mortality of carnivores (the only taxon for which we had data), it does not correlate with detected extinctions in reserves in east Africa (the only region with available data). Rather, area of reserve is the main predictor. Nevertheless, abundant other evidence of the adverse effects of high human density on persistence of species and wilderness indicates that we need to take as a warning the findings reported here that small reserves occur in regions of high human density, and that human density correlates with human-caused mortality. They indicate that small reserves might face the double jeopardy of both their small size, and also their situation in especially hostile surroundings. In effect, small reserves are more isolated in more adverse habitat than current analyses in conservation biology, landscape ecology, or metapopulation analysis usually indicate.

  • Hourdequin, Marion 2001. Linking wilderness research and management—volume 1. Wilderness fire restoration and management: an annotated reading list Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-79-VOL 1. 40p. 
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    Abstract for Hourdequin, Marion (2001). Linking wilderness research and management—volume 1. Wilderness fire restoration and management: an annotated reading list

    The Wilderness Act of 1964 designates wilderness areas as places where natural conditions prevail and humans leave landscapes untrammeled. Managers of wilderness and similarly-protected areas have a mandate to maintain wildland fire as a natural ecological process. However, because fire suppression has dominated federal land management for most of the past century, the natural role of fire has been lost from many wilderness areas. Managers now face the dilemma of how to restore fire to its natural role in wilderness areas affected by fire suppression and other anthropogenic influences while protecting wilderness character and air quality, and managing the risks associated with fire. This reading list summarizes more than 150 books, articles, and online resources that provide context for wilderness fire restoration and management. The first section provides background information on fire ecology, behavior, and effects that forms a foundation for managing fire in wilderness. The second section focuses more closely on wilderness and emphasizes the restoration of fire to areas affected by fire suppression. The final section lists additional resources, such as web sites and sample fire plans, useful in wilderness fire planning.

  • Knapp, Roland A., Corn, Paul Stephen, Schindler, Daniel E. 2001. Fish stocking impacts to mountain lake ecosystems: the introduction of nonnative fish into wilderness lakes: good intentions, conflicting mandates, and unintended consequences Ecosystems 4(4): 275-278.
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    Abstract for Knapp, Roland A., Corn, Paul Stephen, Schindler, Daniel E. (2001). Fish stocking impacts to mountain lake ecosystems: the introduction of nonnative fish into wilderness lakes: good intentions, conflicting mandates, and unintended consequences

    This paper introduces a special feature, “Fish Stocking Impacts to Mountain Lake Ecosystems” comprising 6 papers that describe the history, policies, and biological effects associated with fish stocking. This special feature evolved from a workshop organized by the Leopold Institute, held in October 1998 at the Flathead Lake Biological Station, Polson, Montana.

  • Landres, Peter; Brunson, Mark W.; Merigliano, Linda. 2001. Naturalness and Wildness. The Dilemma and Irony of Ecological Restoration in Wilderness. Wild Earth. 10(4): 77-82.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter; Brunson, Mark W.; Merigliano, Linda (2001). Naturalness and wildness. the dilemma and irony of ecological restoration in wilderness

    The fires throughout the western United States in the summer of 2000 raise a difficult question about all wildlands and especially federally designated wilderness: should fuels accumulated from decades of fire suppression be removed to restore more natural ecological conditions? More generally, when and how do wilderness managers decide to take actions to restore natural conditions in wilderness? What is gained and what is lost by such actions? Here we explore the dilemma and irony surrounding two concepts, naturalness and wildness, that arises over proposals to restore natural ecological conditions in designated wilderness. We assert that the right course of action is not simply doing what is necessary to restore natural conditions because the goal in wilderness is to restore and support both naturalness and wildness.

  • Landres, Peter; Meyer, Shannon; Matthews, Sue 2001. The Wilderness Act and fish stocking: an overview of legislation, judicial interpretation, and agency implementation Ecosystems 4(4): 287-295. 
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter; Meyer, Shannon; Matthews, Sue (2001). The Wilderness Act and fish stocking: an overview of legislation, judicial interpretation, and agency implementation

    Many high-elevation lakes in designated wilderness are stocked with native and nonnative fish by state fish and game agencies to provide recreational fishing opportunities. In several areas, this practice has become controversial with state wildlife managers who support historical recreational use of wilderness, federal wilderness managers who assert that stocking compromises some of the ecological and social values of wilderness, and different public groups that support one or the other position. Herein we examine this controversy from the perspective of the 1964 Wilderness Act, its judicial interpretation, the policies of the federal agencies and formal agreements between federal and state agencies. Although some state stocking programs restore native fish populations, other programs may compromise some of the ecological and social values of wilderness areas. Further, although current federal regulations recognize state authority for fish stocking, judicial interpretation gives federal agencies the authority for direct involvement in decisions regarding fish stocking in wilderness. Where there are differences of opinion between state and federal managers, this judicial interpretation strongly points to the need for improved cooperation, communication, and coordination between state wildlife managers and federal wilderness managers to balance recreational fishing opportunities and other wildlife management activities with wilderness values.

  • Landres, Peter; Spildie, David R.; Queen, LLoyd P. 2001. GIS applications to wilderness management: potential uses and limitations Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-80. 9p. 
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter; Spildie, David R.; Queen, LLoyd P. (2001). GIS applications to wilderness management: potential uses and limitations

    Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are increasingly being used in all areas of natural resource management. This paper first presents a brief primer on GIS, and then discusses potential applications of GIS to wilderness management in the areas of inventorying, monitoring, analysis, planning, and communication. Outlined are the limitations and pitfalls that could compromise the effectiveness of a wilderness GIS, and several suggestions are included for improving the chances of successfully using GIS in wilderness management.

  • Muths, Erin; Johnson, Therese L.; Corn, Paul Stephen. 2001. Experimental repatriation of boreal toad (Bufo boreas) eggs, metamorphs, and adults in Rocky Mountain National Park. Southwestern Naturalist 46:106–113 
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    Abstract for Muths, Erin; Johnson, Therese L.; Corn, Paul Stephen. (2001). Experimental repatriation of boreal toad (Bufo boreas) eggs, metamorphs, and adults in Rocky Mountain National Park.

    Boreal toad (Bufo boreas) embryos and captive-reared metamorph to adult-sized toads, collected from a backcountry location in Rocky Mountain National Park, were translocated to another site in the Park in 1995 and 1996 in an attempt to reestablish a population that had gone extinct. Embryos hatched and tadpoles reached metamorphosis, but none were observed to have survived over winter. Captive-reared individuals also either failed to survive or moved out of the study area. From a wilderness perspective, use of a helicopter was required to move the embryos from the remote backcountry source population

  • Parsons, David J. 2001 Wilderness Fire. International Journal of Wilderness. 7(1):44.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2001). Wilderness Fire

    The restoration of fire as a natural process in wilderness ecosystems poses great challenges to wilderness managers. This brief commentary outlines these challenges and suggests issues that must be addressed if there is to be any hope of restoring presettlement fire regimes.

  • Pilliod, D.S.; Peterson, C.R. 2001. Local and landscape effects of Introduced trout on amphibians in historically fishless watersheds Ecosystems 4:322-333. 
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    Abstract for Pilliod, D.S.; Peterson, C.R. (2001). Local and landscape effects of Introduced trout on amphibians in historically fishless watersheds

    Introduced trout are often implicated in the decline of high mountain amphibian populations, but few studies have attempted to understand whether the effects of trout in lakes where they have been introduced may also influence the distribution and abundance of amphibians throughout entire mountain basins, including in remaining fishless lakes. We examined this relationship using the relative abundance of long-toed salamanders (Ambystoma macrodactylum) and Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) in fish-containing and fishless lentic sites in basins with varying levels of historic fish stocking. All lentic waters were surveyed for fish and amphibians in 11 high-elevation basins in the Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness, Idaho between 1994 and 1999. We found introduced trout (Oncorhynchus clarki, O. mykiss, O. m. aguabonita) in 43 of the 101 sites, representing 90% of the total available lentic water surface area. At the scale of individual water bodies, after accounting for differences in habitat characteristics between fish-containing and fishless sites, the abundance of all life stages of amphibians was significantly lower in lakes with fish. At the basin scale, densities of over-wintering life stages of amphibians were lower in fishless sites in basins with more habitat occupied by trout. Our results suggest that many of the remaining fishless habitats are too shallow to provide suitable breeding or over-wintering habitat for these amphibians, and that current trout distributions may eventually result in the extirpation of amphibian populations from entire landscapes, including from sites that remain in a fishless condition.

  • Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-79-Vol 3. 29 p.
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    Abstract for Puttkammer, Annette; Wright, Vita (2001). Linking wilderness research and management—volume 3. Recreation fees in wilderness and other public lands: an annotated reading list

    Puttkammer, Annette; Wright, Vita; [Series Editor] 2001. Linking wilderness research and management-volume 3. Recreation fees in wilderness and other public lands: an annotated reading list Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-79-VOL 3. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 29 p.

  • Rollins, Matthew G.; Swetnam, Thomas W.; Morgan, Penelope. 2001. Evaluating a century of fire patterns in two Rocky Mountain wilderness areas using digital fire atlases. Canadian Journal of Forestry. 31: 2107-2123.
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    Abstract for Rollins, Matthew G.; Swetnam, Thomas W.; Morgan, Penelope (2001). Evaluating a century of fire patterns in two Rocky Mountain wilderness areas using digital fire atlases

    Changes in fire size, shape, and frequency under different fire-management strategies were evaluated using time series of fire perimeter data (fire atlases) and mapped potential vegetation types (PVTs) in the Gila – Aldo Leopold Wilderness Complex (GALWC) in New Mexico and the Selway–Bitterroot Wilderness Complex (SBWC) in Idaho and Montana. Relative to pre-Euro-American estimates, fire rotations in the GALWC were short during the re-cent wildfire-use period (1975–1993) and long during the pre-modern suppression period (1909–1946). In contrast, fire rotations in the SBWC were short during the pre-modern suppression period (1880–1934) and long during the modern suppression period (1935–1975). In general, fire-rotation periods were shorter in mid-elevation, shade-intolerant PVTs. Fire intervals in the GALWC and SBWC are currently longer than fire intervals prior to Euro-American settlement. Proactive fire and fuels management are needed to restore fire regimes in each wilderness complex to within natural ranges of variability and to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire in upper elevations of the GALWC and nearly the entire SBWC. Analyses of fire atlases provide baseline information for evaluating landscape patterns across broad landscapes.

  • Schuster, Rudy; Hammitt, William E. 2001. Visitor experiences of stress and reported hassles in the Shining Rock Wilderness Area International Journal of Wilderness 7(2): 26-29.
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    Abstract for Schuster, Rudy; Hammitt, William E. (2001). Visitor experiences of stress and reported hassles in the Shining Rock Wilderness Area

    This article describes the nature of hassles experienced by visitors in a southern U.S. wilderness area, defined as irritating, frustrating demands and situations during a recreation experience. Of the 486 respondents, 87% indicated that a hassle was experienced. The greatest sources of hassle were litter and other impacts from human use of the resource. A visitor education program is recommended to achieve the management goal of reducing the amount and intensity of hassles.

  • Stephen F. McCool; Cole, David N. 2001. Thinking and acting regionally: toward better decisions about appropriate conditions, standards, and restrictions on recreation use The George Wright Forum Volume 18(3): 85-98.
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    Abstract for Stephen F. McCool; Cole, David N. (2001). Thinking and acting regionally: toward better decisions about appropriate conditions, standards, and restrictions on recreation use

    Maximizing the flow of public benefits from recreation areas has been hampered by decision-making and social science research that is overly focused on individual areas. This focus privileges current visitors and conditions over others and leads to displacement of both visitors and problems to other areas. The ultimate result is homogenization of recreational opportunities and suboptimization of public benefits from regional systems of recreational settings. To avoid these problems, management and research must both think and act regionally. The barriers to doing so are not trivial, involving both institutional structures and incentives, as well as social science paradigms. We suggest a general framework for regional analyses, as well as some important research needs. Social science must complement traditional area-specific studies of visitors with regional studies of populations and participants. Research and management must avoid confusing descriptive data with prescriptive decisions.

  • Stewart, William P.; Cole, David N. 2001. Number of encounters and experience quality in Grand Canyon backcountry; consistently negative and weak relationships. Journal of Leisure Research 33(1): 106-120.
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    Abstract for Stewart, William P.; Cole, David N. (2001). Number of encounters and experience quality in Grand Canyon backcountry; consistently negative and weak relationships.

    The relationship between encounters and the overall quality of recreation experience is one of the most common research tops in outdoor recreation. Yet after more than three decades of study, there remain divergent opinions about both the nature of this relationship and its implications for use limits. Evidence for a strong influence of encounters on experience quality is weak but it is unclear whether this means the relationship itself is weak or that the methods used to isolate the relationship have been inadequate. This paper explores relationships between number of encounters, crowding, solitude/privacy achieved, and overall experience quality for 185 backcountry visitors to Grand Canyon National Park. In contrast to most past research, we employed a diary-like method to control for variation in person-based effects (e.g. differences in expectations and motivations between individuals) and we used a multi-item scale to capture more variation in total experience quality. Our results indicate that there is a consistently negative but weak relationship between number of encounters and experience quality. In other words, most backpackers were negatively affected by encountering more groups, but the resultant effect was small. This implies that mangers should be reluctant to justify use restrictions on the basis of higher quality experiences and that user-based empirical research is of limited utility in grappling with such restrictions. Echoing the 35-year-old suggestions of Wagar, the original student of recreational carrying capacity, a careful understanding of the regional supply and demand for different types of recreation experiences, including low density experiences, are more likely to provide the basis for wise decisions about use limits.

  • Watson, Alan E. 2001. Recreation fee issues: an emphasis on science involvement In: Järviluoma, J: Saarien, J., comps. Finnish Forest Research Institute Publications;Proc. 796. Rovaniemi, Finland: Finnish Forest Research Institute Proc. 796: 7-18. 
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (2001). Recreation fee issues: an emphasis on science involvement

    In the U.S., as in many other countries, government leadership is very interested in the potential for recovering part of the cost of providing public recreation services through general access or activity-specific user fees. Historically, outdoor recreation activities on federal lands in the U.S. have been free, though there have been fees for general access to many National Parks and camping fees for staying at developed campgrounds provided by most agencies. In the western U.S., agencies rent a number of retired lookout cabins and administrative sites to the public, and a percentage of revenue has been collected from commercial guiding activities. Revenue from these fees has historically been deposited in the U.S. Treasury; it did not stay within the agency collecting the fees or benefit the site providing the recreation service. A commission representing the President of the U.S. (President\'s Commission on American Outdoors) in the mid-1980s reviewed public land recreation issues across the country and one of its recommendations was to explore the potential for fees to contribute to maintaining the infrastructure of our public lands recreation programs. Some active participants in that commission began lobbying to implement those recommendations and were successful in persuading the U.S. Congress to pass legislation in 1996 allowing a limited test of fees on public lands.

  • Watson, Alan E. 2001. Goal interference and social value differences: understanding wilderness conflicts and implications for managing social density In: Freimund, Wayne A.; Cole, David N. comps. Visitor Use Density and Wilderness Experience. 2001 June 1-3; Missoula, MT U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: Ogden, UT Proc RMRS-P-20: 62-66. 
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (2001). Goal interference and social value differences: understanding wilderness conflicts and implications for managing social density

    Wilderness conflict research has mostly followed the direction of recreation research in the U.S. An interpersonal recreation conflict model proposed in the late 1970’s has guided much of the conflict research in wilderness, with emphasis on determining the amount of interpersonal conflict resulting from goal interference and how much one or more hypothesized contributors actually influence the occurrence of conflict. This approach is heavily rooted in expectancy-valence theory explanations of human recreation behavior and may contribute to an understanding of how social densities influence perceptions of conflict. The contributions of activity style, resource specificity, mode of experience, and lifestyle tolerance to understanding interpersonal conflict arising from crowding largely comes in the form of understanding the role of expectations and importance attached to social density preferences. Today, however, wilderness conflict extends beyond recreation within the boundaries of wilderness, beyond interpersonal interaction, and beyond the boundaries of wilderness to competing demands for the wilderness resource. Understanding of the causes for differences in attitudes toward wilderness and the meaning various subpopulations attribute to wilderness resources will be critical to developing solutions for conflict management and managing the social mix among all demands in the future.

  • Watson, Alan E. 2001. Sustainable financing of wilderness protection: an experiment with fees in the United States International Journal of Wilderness 7(3): 12-16.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (2001). Sustainable financing of wilderness protection: an experiment with fees in the United States

    While wilderness protection has traditionally occurred from tax support, there are other options. In the United States, currently there is an experiment to charge fees for recreation access, including wilderness. Questions remain about whether the public supports wilderness recreation fees, how fees might change relationships between people and wilderness, whether a buyer-seller relationship between federal land management agencies and wilderness visitors is desirable, how wilderness fees may differ from recreation fees, and who will be affected most by wilderness use fees.

  • Watson, Alan E. 2001. A focus on circumpolar north wilderness values International Journal of Wilderness 7(3): 34.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (2001). A focus on circumpolar north wilderness values

    What are the most important arctic and subarctic wilderness research topics for the next five years? In an effort to answer this question, a group of 80 scientists, state and federal managers, members of indigenous northern cultures, nongovernmental organization representatives, students, and wilderness users gathered from May 15 through 17, 2001, at the University of Alaska in Anchorage (UAA) to share information and plan for future collaboration on northern wilderness research issues. This meeting was co-chaired by Lilian Alessa of UAA and Alan Watson of the Leopold Institute, with sponsorship from the National Science Foundation (Office of Polar Programs), International Programs of the Forest Service, the Alaska Office of the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and the University of Montana’s Wilderness Institute.

  • White, Dave D., Hall, Troy E., Farrell, Tracy A. 2001. Influence of ecological impacts and other campsite characteristics on wilderness visitors’ campsite choices. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration. 19(2): 83-97.
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    Abstract for White, Dave D., Hall, Troy E., Farrell, Tracy A. (2001). Influence of ecological impacts and other campsite characteristics on wilderness visitors’ campsite choices

    Recreational use of wilderness inevitably results in some change to resource conditions, and managers should consider both the ecological significance and the social acceptability of such changes. Prior research suggests that visitors perceive ecological impacts and are affected by them. However, many studies have relied on abstract or hypothetical survey questions that fail to capture important contextual influences. We used interviews at campsites to assess perceptions of site conditions and their effects on site selection. Ecological impacts on campsites were usually interpreted as amenities that contributed to a site’s desirability. For most visitors in our study, perception and negative evaluations of impacts did not play an important role in campsite selection.

  • Arno, Stephen F.; Parsons, David J.; Keane, Robert E. 2000. Mixed-Severity Fire Regimes in the Northern Rocky Mountains: Consequences of Fire Exclusion and Options for the Future. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 225-232.
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    Abstract for Arno, Stephen F.; Parsons, David J.; Keane, Robert E. (2000). Mixed-Severity Fire Regimes in the Northern Rocky Mountains: Consequences of Fire Exclusion and Options for the Future

    Findings from fire history studies have increasingly indicated that many forest ecosystems in the northern Rocky Mountains were shaped by mixed-severity fire regimes, characterized by fires of variable severities at intervals averaging between about 30 and 100 years. Perhaps because mixed-severity fire regimes and their resulting vegetational patterns are difficult to characterize, these regimes have received limited recognition in wilderness fire management. This paper presents examples of mixed-severity fire regimes in Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and discusses how suppression and fire management policies have affected them. It suggests possible management actions to return a semblance of the historical mixed-severity fire regimes to these and other natural areas.

  • Borrie, W.T. (2000). "The impacts of technology on the meaning of wilderness" in Watson, A. W., Aplet, G. H. and Hendee, J. C., (Editors), Proceedings of Sixth World Wilderness Congress Symposium on Research, Management, and Allocation, Volume II, Bangalore, India, October 24-29, 1998. Proc. RMRS-P-14. (pp. 87-88). Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service.
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    Abstract for Borrie, W.T. (2000). Impacts of Technology on the Meaning of Wilderness

    —Of the many societal threats to wilderness, the impact of technology is one of the most troublesome. Certainly, technological innovation has enabled many people to enjoy the values of wilderness. There is, however, a hidden cost associated with those technologies. Technology not only changes the wilderness experience, but it has the potential to change the very meaning of wilderness. Technology can manipulate our wants, needs, and expectations. It raises a particular view of wilderness to greater prevalence, and it may mask our ability to distinguish and determine what is lost in so doing. The adoption and endorsement of technology is largely irreversible. There is a need to carefully shape policies that can keep pace with technological advancements. Once crafted, those policies and the technological intrusions they endorse will continue to mold wilderness as we know it

  • Christensen, Neal A.; Cole, David N. 2000. Leave No Trace Practices: Behaviors and Preferences of Wilderness Visitors Regarding Use of Cookstoves and Camping Away From Lakes. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 4: Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 77-85.
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    Abstract for Christensen, Neal A.; Cole, David N. (2000). Leave No Trace Practices: Behaviors and Preferences of Wilderness Visitors Regarding Use of Cookstoves and Camping Away From Lakes

    This research used descriptive information collected in visitor studies conducted between 1990 and 1992 in eight different wildernesses around the United States to evaluate behaviors and preferences of wilderness visitors regarding cookstoves and camping away from lakes. The majority of visitors used stoves for cooking. However, in all but the Desolation Wilderness, at least 50% of visitors had a wood fire on their trip. In all five areas, most visitors prefer camping within 200 feet of a lake. Appeals were successful in convincing over half of the campers to move farther away from lakeshores. Ecological appeals were more persuasive than social appeals. Progress has been made in persuading visitors to reduce fire use and camp farther from lakes.

  • Cole, David 2000. Dispersed recreation Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-39: 81-84. 
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    Abstract for Cole, David (2000). Dispersed recreation

    Dispersed recreation is a common and growing use of forests and grasslands that has the potential for significant impacts on the quality of public drinking water sources.

  • Cole, David N. 2000. Managing campsite impacts on wild rivers. are there lessons for wilderness managers? International Journal of Wilderness 6(3): 12-16.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2000). Managing campsite impacts on wild rivers. are there lessons for wilderness managers?

    Campsites on popular wild rivers in the United States are heavily used by large groups, creating extremely large campsites surrounded by webs of social trails and satellite sites. Many rivers carrying seasonally high volumes of water have extensive beach deposits below the high-water line that make highly durable camping surfaces. Along with the success of low-impact education and requirements to carry fire pans and portable toilets, high site durability has tempered some impact problems along rivers.

  • Cole, David N. 2000. Biophysical impacts of wildland recreation use. In: Gartner, W.C.; Lime, D.W., eds. Trends in Outdoor Recreation, Leisure and Tourism. New York, NY: CABI Publishing: chapter 23.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2000). Biophysical impacts of wildland recreation use

    The biophysical impacts caused by recreation and tourism are often a serious problem that must be addressed through planning and management. This is particularly the case in wildlands, less developed recreational settings, and locations where the emphasis is on ecotourism or wilderness experiences. Immersion in ‘natural’ settings, whether to study and observe nature or to experience peace and tranquility, is a powerful motivation for many recreationists and tourists. Natural environments draw people to them and, in turn, are degraded by people if the number of recreationists is too high, if people act in inappropriate ways or if the settings are inappropriately managed. In developed recreational settings, biophysical impacts have been intensively managed for many years. Sites are often hardened, traffic is confined, behavior is restricted and, if need be, amount of use is limited. Where applied appropriately and rigorously followed, such developed recreation programmes have been successful in providing opportunities for recreational use while keeping impacts to acceptable levels. Only in recent years, however, has it become widely recognized that impact management is equally important in wildlands. Although wildlands are less intensively used, the importance of maintaining natural, largely undisturbed conditions makes recreation management extremely challenging (Hammitt and Cole, 1998). This challenge is further attenuated by the extensive nature of wildlands, the lack of resources available given relatively low recreation use, and the desire to avoid restriction and regulation in these wild settings.

  • Cole, David N. 2000. Natural, wild, uncrowded, or free: which of these should wilderness be? International Journal of Wilderness. 6(2): 5-8.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2000). Natural, wild, uncrowded, or free: which of these should wilderness be?

    The most important and desirable attributes of wilderness are that it is natural, wild, uncrowded, and free. However, these attributes come into conflict with each other as society faces difficult decisions about wilderness management. This article discusses these attributes, ultimately suggesting that the value of wilderness might be optimized by embracing a diverse wilderness system, a system in which wilderness values are maximized or minimized in different areas.

  • Cole, David N. 2000. Paradox of the primeval: Ecological restoration in wilderness. Ecological Restoration 18(2): 77-86.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (2000). Paradox of the primeval: Ecological restoration in wilderness.

    Wilderness ecosystems should ideally be wild (untrammeled), natural, and primeval. This essay explores differences between these attributes and implications of these differences to the appropriateness of manipulative ecological restoration in wilderness. It concludes with the suggestion that we seriously consider practicing manipulative restoration in some wilderness areas while leaving other wilderness lands unmanipulated.

  • Cole, David N.; Hammitt, William E. 2000. Wilderness Management Dilemmas: Fertile Ground for Wilderness Management Research. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Freimund, Wayne A.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 1: Changing perspectives and future directions; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-1. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 58-63.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Hammitt, William E. (2000). Wilderness Management Dilemmas: Fertile Ground for Wilderness Management Research

    Increasingly, wilderness managers must choose between the objective of wildness (“untrammeled” wilderness) and the objectives of naturalness and solitude. This dilemma has surfaced with awareness of the pervasiveness of human influence in wilder-ness and that regulation is often the only way to maintain outstanding opportunities for solitude. Should we trammel wilderness to compensate for unnatural effects of human activity or, to avoid trammeling wilderness, should we allow conditions to become increasingly unnatural? Should we restrict access and behavior to preserve opportunities for solitude, knowing this will exacerbate supply/demand problems and deny visitors a sense of freedom and spontaneity? This paper discusses this dilemma and opportunities for research in support of different objectives.

  • Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F. 2000. Wilderness Visitors, Experiences, and Visitor Management. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 4: Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 1-2.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F. (2000). Wilderness Visitors, Experiences, and Visitor Management

    This paper provides an overview of the Wilderness science in a time of change conference-Volume 4: Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management.

  • Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F. 2000. Wilderness Ecosystems, Threats, and Management. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 1-2.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F. (2000). Wilderness Ecosystems, Threats, and Management

    This paper provides an overview of the Wilderness science in a time of change conference-Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and managment.

  • Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Parsons, David J.; Brown, Perry J. 2000. Wilderness Science in a Time of Change: A Conference. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Freimund, Wayne A.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 1: Changing perspectives and future directions; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-1. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 1-4.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Parsons, David J.; Brown, Perry J. (2000). Wilderness Science in a Time of Change: A Conference

    This paper provides an overview of the Wilderness science in a time of change conference-Volume 1: Changing perspectives and future directions.

  • Cole, David N.; Spildie, David R. 2000. Soil Amendments and Planting Techniques: Campsite Restoration in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 181-187.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Spildie, David R. (2000). Soil Amendments and Planting Techniques: Campsite Restoration in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon

    Results of the first three years of revegetation research on closed wilderness campsites are described. Experimental treatments involved soil scarification, an organic soil amendment (a mix of locally collected organic materials and peat moss and an inoculation of native undisturbed soil), an organic matter and composted sewage sludge treatment and surface application of commercial mulch (Bionet). Half of the experimental plots received native seed and transplants; the other half did not. Seeding and transplanting were highly successful. The organic and compost soil amendment greatly increased seedling growth and increased transplant growth somewhat. Scarification increased seedling establishment of volunteer seedlings.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen 2000. Amphibian declines: review of some current hypotheses In: Sparling, Donald W.; Linder, Greg; Bishop, Christine A., eds. Ecotoxicology of Amphibians and Reptiles. U.S. Geological Survey, Midwest Science Center. Columbia, MO: 663-696.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen (2000). Amphibian declines: review of some current hypotheses

    Declines of varying severity in the size of amphibian populations have been observed for many years (Bragg 1960; Gibbs et al. 1971; Cooke 1972; Beebee 1973; Bury et al. 1980; Andren and Nilson 1981; Hammerson 1982; Corn and Fogleman 1984; Hayes and Jennings 1986; Heyer et al. 1988), but concern among conservation biologists increased dramatically after the First World Congress of Herpetology in 1989 at Canterbury, UK. Several papers and posters at the meeting presented evidence of recent declines, and discussions among the attendees heightened concern about the status of amphibians globally. Continuing dialogue led to a workshop in February 1990 at Irvine, California, sponsored by the National Research Council Board on Biology. The consensus of the participants of that meeting was that amphibian populations declines were real but documentation was largely anecdotal, and much work was needed on the causes of population declines (Barinaga 1990; Blaustein and Wake 1990). The Irvine meeting received considerable media attention, with reporters from print media and National Public Radio in attendance. The initial coverage of the problem (e.g., Booth 1989; Tugend 1990) even caught the attention of the supermarket tabloids (Stern 1990), and the problem of disappearing frogs occupied agents Scully and Mulder in one episode of the television show The X-Files (Newton 1996). Belying amphibians\' usual status as uncharismatic microfauna, public interest in these animals and their status remains high, sustained by continuing, more serious coverage in the popular media (e.g., Yoffe 1992; Quammen 1993; Argo 1996; Luoma 1997).

  • Corn, Paul Stephen; Knapp, Roland A. 2000. Fish Stocking in Protected Areas: Summary of a Workshop. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 301-303.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen; Knapp, Roland A. (2000). Fish Stocking in Protected Areas: Summary of a Workshop

    Native and nonnative sport fish have been introduced into the majority of historically fishless lakes in wilderness, generating conflicts between managing wilderness as natural ecosystems and providing opportunities for recreation. Managers faced with controversial and difficult decisions about how to manage wilder-ness lakes may not always have ready access to research relevant to these decisions. To address this problem, and to expose scientists to the concerns and constraints of managers and wilderness users, a workshop was held in October 1998 at the Flathead Lake Biological Station in Polson, Montana. Participants included 43 scientists, state and federal managers, wilderness users and advocates and students. Four subject areas were addressed: federal, state, tribal and user perspectives, community and ecosystem effects, species effects and management recommendations. Papers from the workshop are being developed for an issue of the journal Ecosystems.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen; Muths, Erin; Iko, William M. 2000. A comparison in Colorado of three methods to monitor breeding amphibians. Northwestern Naturalist. 81(1): 22-30.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen; Muths, Erin; Iko, William M. (2000). A comparison in Colorado of three methods to monitor breeding amphibians

    We surveyed amphibians at 4 montane and 2 plains lentic sites in northern Colorado using 3 techniques: standardized call surveys, automated recording devices (frog-loggers), and intense surveys including capture-recapture techniques. Amphibians were observed at 5 sites. Species richness varied from 0 to 4 species at each site. Richness scores, the sums of species richness among sites, were similar among methods: 8 for call surveys, 10 for frog-loggers, and 11 for intensive surveys (9 if the non-vocal salamander Ambystoma tigrinum is excluded). The frog-logger at 1 site recorded Spea bombifrons which was not active during the times when call and intensive surveys were conducted. Relative abundance scores from call surveys failed to reflect a relatively large population of Bufo woodhousii at 1 site and only weakly differentiated among different-sized populations of Pseudacris maculata at 3 other sites. For extensive applications, call surveys have the lowest costs and fewest requirements for highly trained personnel. However, for a variety of reasons, call surveys cannot be used with equal effectiveness in all parts of North America.

  • Dawson, Chad P.; Watson, Alan E. 2000. Measures of Wilderness Trip Satisfaction and User Perceptions of Crowding. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 4: Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 93-98.
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    Abstract for Dawson, Chad P.; Watson, Alan E. (2000). Measures of Wilderness Trip Satisfaction and User Perceptions of Crowding

    The inverse relationship between user perceptions of crowding and satisfaction with the wilderness experience was studied in three national wilderness areas in Oregon (1991) and in four state wilderness areas in the Adirondack Park of New York State (1997). User perceptions of crowding were correlated (low negative coefficients) with user satisfaction on the wilderness trip experience, but only a small proportion of the total variance was explained in the path analysis models. The authors emphasize that future research should identify what contributes to wilderness trip satisfaction since satisfaction often remains high despite perceptions of crowding.

  • Flood, Joseph P.; McAvoy, Leo H. 2000. The Influence of Wilderness Restoration Programs on Visitor Experience and Visitor Opinions of Managers. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 193-198.
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    Abstract for Flood, Joseph P.; McAvoy, Leo H. (2000). The Influence of Wilderness Restoration Programs on Visitor Experience and Visitor Opinions of Managers

    Wilderness campsites heavily damaged by recreational use pose a significant management challenge that threatens the integrity of the wilderness resource and the quality of the visitors’ experience. This study, conducted in the Mission Mountains Wilderness of northwestern Montana, surveyed 293 visitors to determine what influence heavily damaged campsites and site restoration activities have on the quality of the visitors’ experience, and to assess visitor opinions of the managers who implement or do not implement restoration. Visitors noticed campsite damage that reduced the quality of their experience as well as their opinions of managers. However, the quality of the visitors’ experience and their opinions of managers improved significantly after they observed restoration activities.

  • Hall, Troy; Cole, David. 2000. An Expanded Perspective on Displacement: A Longitudinal Study of Visitors to Two Wildernesses in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 4: Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 113-121.
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    Abstract for Hall, Troy; Cole, David (2000). An Expanded Perspective on Displacement: A Longitudinal Study of Visitors to Two Wildernesses in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon

    Displacement has traditionally been defined as a process in which visitors cease using a recreation site because of sensitivity to crowding or other impacts. This study argues that such a definition is overly narrow: Displacement may also occur when those sensitive to regulation cease using a resource. Evidence for the two types of displacement was collected through self-administered surveys at three Oregon wilderness trailheads in 1991 and 1997. At two areas, use levels and impacts were high in both study periods. At the third, use limits were imposed in 1995, reducing the number of encounters but increasing regimentation. Data from both years on perceptions of crowding and other impacts, support for use limits and visitation patterns provide little evidence that crowding-sensitive users were displaced from high-use destinations. There was substantial evidence that regulation-sensitive users were displaced by the new use limit system. These findings suggest that displacement of those sensitive to crowding may be less common than supposed, while displacement of visitors sensitive to regulation may be more common than previously believed. In high-use areas, some form of displacement is inevitable, and managers must clearly consider and justify which type of user they will displace.

  • Harding, James A.; Borrie, William T.; Cole, David N. 2000. Factors That Limit Compliance With Low-Impact Recommendations. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 4: Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 198-202.
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    Abstract for Harding, James A.; Borrie, William T.; Cole, David N. (2000). Factors That Limit Compliance With Low-Impact Recommendations

    Despite widespread efforts to minimize resource impacts, a number of remote areas continue to suffer from poor backcountry practices. Research to evaluate the effectiveness of low-impact communication strategies as they relate to recall of messages (Cole and others 1997) measured whether or not recreationists were aware of appropriate behavior given certain scenarios; it did not measure actual compliance. Partially in response to the results of that study, it has been hypothesized that a lack of information is not necessarily the only limiting factor in complying with specific low-impact recommendations. We propose a four-stage model of factors that might help to explain some noncompliance with backcountry low-impact recommendations where information is not the limiting factor.

  • Krausman, Paul R.; Czech, Brian. 2000. Wildlife management activities in wilderness areas in the southwestern United States. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 28(3): 550-557.
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    Abstract for Krausman, Paul R.; Czech, Brian (2000). Wildlife management activities in wilderness areas in the southwestern United States.

    Wilderness in the US has been controversial since its establishment in 1964. One school of thought argues that wilderness policy should prescribe wilderness boundaries and prevent management. Another believes that management practices must be used to maintain wilderness values. We described and tabulated wildlife management activities practiced in all 273 designated wilderness areas in the southwestern US. We conducted a survey of personnel involved with wildlife management in wilderness including 60 employed by the United States Forest Service (USFS), 19 by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 14 by the National Park Service (NPS), 7 by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and 10 by state game and fish agencies, Wildlife management activities (not including population surveys and research) occurred in 174 wilderness areas. The most frequently mentioned wildlife management activities were maintaining artificial water developments, conservation education efforts designed to protect wildlife, and removing or controlling non-native animal species.

  • Landres, Peter. 2000. A Framework for Evaluating Proposals for Scientific Activities in Wilderness. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 3: Wilderness as a place for scientific inquiry; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-3. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 239-245.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter (2000). A Framework for Evaluating Proposals for Scientific Activities in Wilderness

    This paper presents a structured framework for evaluating proposals for scientific activities in wilderness. Wilderness managers receive proposals for scientific activities ranging from unobtrusive inventorying of plants and animals to the use of chainsaws and helicopters for collecting information. Currently, there is no consistent process for evaluating proposals, resulting in confused and frustrated scientists and managers, as well as lost opportunities for gaining valuable information about a wilderness. The framework presented here is based on two premises: that both benefits and impacts are fully considered, and that communication between scientists and managers occurs at the beginning of the evaluation process.

  • Landres, Peter B.; Brunson, Mark W.; Merigliano, Linda; Sydoriak, Charisse; Morton, Steve. 2000. Naturalness and wildness: the dilemma and irony of managing wilderness. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 377-381.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter B.; Brunson, Mark W.; Merigliano, Linda; Sydoriak, Charisse; Morton, Steve (2000). Naturalness and wildness: the dilemma and irony of managing wilderness

    This paper summarizes a dialogue session that focused on two concepts that strongly influence nearly all wilderness management: wildness and naturalness. The origin and value of these concepts are discussed, as well as the dilemma and irony that arises when wilderness managers contemplate manipulating the environment to restore naturalness at the risk of reducing wildness. To illustrate this irony, a case study of a proposed large-scale manipulation to stop the loss of cultural resources in the Bandelier Wilderness is discussed. It is concluded that large scale wilderness restoration based on manipulating the environment will always cause a dilemma and entail the irony of balancing wildness against naturalness. One of the biggest hurdles facing wilderness policy-makers and managers today, as well as the concerned public, is how to reconcile these views and manage wilderness for both wildness and naturalness.

  • Landres, Peter; Meyer, Shannon. 2000. National Wilderness Preservation System database: key attributes and trends, 1964 through 1999. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-18-Revised Edition. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 97 p.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter; Meyer, Shannon (2000). National Wilderness Preservation System database: key attributes and trends, 1964 through 1999.

    The Wilderness Act of 1964 established a National Wilderness Preservation System, and this publication is a compilation of selected information about every wilderness within this System. For each wilderness, the following information is given: legally correct wilderness name; public law that established the wilderness; date the enabling law was signed by the President; acreage designated in the enabling public law; modifying public law or laws that affected the name, boundary, or administration; current total acreage reported by the administering agency; the agency or agencies with current administrative authority; administering unit or units within the agency; State or States in which the wilderness is located. This information is arranged in nine different tables, each arranged and sorted in different ways to allow the reader to easily find desired information. In addition to this publication, this information is also available on the World Wide Web site http://www.wilderness.net/nwps in a relational database that can be queried. Sources for all information included here are described, and exceptions and special cases are discussed. All the information included in this database has been verified by wilderness specialists within each of the four agencies with responsibility for managing wilderness. Based on the data in this publication, various trends in wilderness from 1964 through 1999 are described, including the total number of wildernesses, acres of wilderness, agency administration, size of individual wilderness, and State distribution. An appendix of all public laws establishing or modifying wilderness is included. For each public law, the following information is also given: the States affected by that law, the management agencies designated by that law, the number of wilderness study areas designated (if any), and whether special provisions were included in that law.

  • Marler, Marilyn. 2000. A Survey of Exotic Plants in Federal Wilderness Areas. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 318-327.
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    Abstract for Marler, Marilyn (2000). A Survey of Exotic Plants in Federal Wilderness Areas

    I conducted a survey of wilderness areas to provide an overview of plant invasions in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Fifteen per cent of responding mangers reported that exotic plants were among their top 10 management concerns, either because they are actively dealing with control of exotic pest plants or have prioritized prevention of their establishment. Seventy per cent of responding wilderness areas do not monitor or inventory for exotic plants. The majority of respondents reported that exotic plants have not impacted their areas, so it is important to emphasize prevention and early detection of exotic plant establishment. Responses varied greatly among regions, with the highest priority being given to exotic plants by agencies in the California Mediterranean region and the Rocky Mountain montane region. The National Park Service was most likely to monitor or inventory for exotic plants. The greatest needs for most areas are increased funding, education and training to prevent further establishment of exotic plants.

  • Martin, Steven R. 2000. Donations as an alternative to wilderness user fees-the case of the Desolation Wilderness In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer. comps. Wilderness Science in a Time of Change Conference. 1999 May 23-27; Missoula, MT U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: Ogden, UT Proc. RMRS-P-15-Vol-4: 142-147.
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    Abstract for Martin, Steven R. (2000). Donations as an alternative to wilderness user fees-the case of the Desolation Wilderness

    Day-use visitors to the Desolation Wilderness were asked about making voluntary donations at the trailhead. Of the 111 visitors who used one of the four trailheads at which voluntary donations were requested, 55% reported making a donation, with an average reported donation amount of $4.20. Subjects were categorized into three groups: donors, would-be donors, and nondonors. Donors had fewer previous visits. And fewer years since their first visit than nondonors. Among donors, higher place attachment was associated with larger donations. Donors and would-be donors perceived significantly more similarity with the Forest Service than did nondonors.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N. 2000. Wilderness Within the Context of Larger Social and Biophysical Systems. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 2: Wilderness within the context of larger systems; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-2. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 1.
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N. (2000). Wilderness Within the Context of Larger Social and Biophysical Systems

    This paper provides an overview of the Wilderness science in a time of change conference-Volume 2: Wilderness within the context of larger social and biophysical systems.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N. 2000. Wilderness as a Place for Scientific Inquiry. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 3: Wilderness as a place for scientific inquiry; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-3. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 1-2.
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N. (2000). Wilderness as a Place for Scientific Inquiry

    This paper provides an overview of the Wilderness science in a time of change conference-Volume 3: Wilderness as a place for scientific inquiry.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N. 2000. Communicating Minimum Impact Behavior With Trailside Bulletin Boards: Visitor Characteristics Associated With Effectiveness. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 4: Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 208-216.
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N. (2000). Communicating Minimum Impact Behavior With Trailside Bulletin Boards: Visitor Characteristics Associated With Effectiveness

    Bulletin boards are a frequently used method of communicating minimum impact behaviors to wilderness visitors. But how effective are they? What types of visitors are most likely to pay attention to the messages posted there? This study used a field experiment to identify visitor characteristics associated with attention to minimum impact messages posted on a bulletin board located along a heavily used trail into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. The results indicated that the bulletin board was most effective for hikers and overnight users. Personal utility of the messages posted on the bulletin board was one reason that such users, rather than horse riders or day users may attend to them.

  • Meyer, Shannon S. 2000. Legislative interpretation as a guiding tool for wilderness management. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 343-347.
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    Abstract for Meyer, Shannon S. (2000). Legislative interpretation as a guiding tool for wilderness management

    The Wilderness Act of 1964, which established the National Wilderness Preservation System, contains both a clear definition of wilderness and multiple “nonconforming” exceptions to this definition. Managers are given discretion to manage these nonconforming uses but must do so within the framework of wilderness the Act sought to preserve. This paper presents a process for assessing congressional intent by closely examining both the legislative language and the legislative history. This process is based on the works of legal scholars, case law and judicial practice. The paper then demonstrates the application of this process to the management of airstrips and jetboat use in the Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness.

  • Meyer, Shannon; Landres, Peter. 2000. A National Wilderness Preservation System Database: benefits, limitations, and future needs. International Journal of Wilderness 6(1): 13-18.
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    Abstract for Meyer, Shannon; Landres, Peter (2000). A National Wilderness Preservation System Database: benefits, limitations, and future needs.

    As federal wilderness agencies move from issues of allocation to management, information about the status and trends of wilderness character and its management becomes increasingly important. This article discusses the organization, content, and use of the recently published database, "A National Wilderness Preservation System Database: Key Attributes and Trends, 1964-1998." Future needs and issues related to wilderness information are discussed. We stress the need for interagency coordination and cooperation in developing shared wilderness information goals, information to be reported from every wilderness, standard database format and structure, and administrative infrastructure to develop and maintain this shared information.

  • Miller, Carol; Landres, Peter B.; Alaback, Paul B. 2000. Evaluating Risks and Benefits of Wildland Fire at Landscape Scales. In: Neuenschwander, L.F.; Ryan, K.C., comps. Proc. Crossing the Millennium: Integrating Spatial Technologies and Ecological Principles for a New Age in Fire Management; Moscow, ID: University of Idaho: 78-87.
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    Abstract for Miller, Carol; Landres, Peter B.; Alaback, Paul B. (2000). Evaluating risks and benefits of wildland fire at landscape scales

    Fire suppression has resulted in severe management challenges, especially in the wildland-urban interface zone. Fire managers seek to reduce fuels and risks in the interface zone, while striving to return the natural role of fire to wildland ecosystems. Managers must balance the benefits of wildland fire on ecosystem health against the values that need to be protected from fire, and they need to achieve this balance for entire landscapes. Although wildland fire managers have a full spectrum of strategies available for reducing fuels, they lack appropriate tools for effectively applying these fuels management strategies at landscape scales. Furthermore, many managers are locked into a reinforcing feedback cycle in that perceived risks lead to fire suppression, leading to increased risks and further fire suppression. Existing tools and approaches for planning fire and fuels management perpetuate this cycle by focusing on risk while ignoring the potential benefits of fire. A GIS model is currently being developed that will assess the potential benefits from wildland fire as well as the risk to values in the interface. The model estimates both fire risk and benefit as functions of three variables, all of which vary across landscapes: (1) probability of fire occurrence, (2) expected fire severity, and (3) the ecological, social, and economic value ascribed to an area. By generating maps of fire risk and benefit, the model provides critical information that can be used to prioritize areas for fuels treatment programs. Managers can use the model to simulate alternative fuels treatments and assess their effects on fire risk and benefit across a landscape. As such, the model represents a powerful tool that will help managers develop landscape-scale plans that maximize the benefits of wildland fire while minimizing the risks to values in the wildland-urban interface zone.

  • Monz, Christopher; Roggenbuck, Joseph; Cole, David; Brame, Richard; Yoder, Andrew. 2000. Wilderness Party Size Regulations: Implications for Management and a Decisionmaking Framework. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 4: Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 265-273.
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    Abstract for Monz, Christopher; Roggenbuck, Joseph; Cole, David; Brame, Richard; Yoder, Andrew (2000). Wilderness Party Size Regulations: Implications for Management and a Decisionmaking Framework

    Arriving at appropriate limits on the size of groups in wilderness remains a difficult and often controversial management challenge. This paper presents a review of the state of knowledge regarding group size from an ecological impact and visitor experience standpoint, a survey of wilderness managers regarding the current status of group size regulations and a proposed management decisionmaking framework for group size.

  • Moore, P. E.; Cole, D. N.; Wagtendonk, J. W. van; McClaran, M. P.; McDougald, N. 2000. Meadow Response to Pack Stock Grazing in the Yosemite Wilderness: Integrating Research and Management. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 160-164.
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    Abstract for Moore, P. E.; Cole, D. N.; Wagtendonk, J. W. van; McClaran, M. P.; McDougald, N. (2000). Meadow Response to Pack Stock Grazing in the Yosemite Wilderness: Integrating Research and Management

    Management decisions on meadow preservation and allowable use are, ideally, based on scientific information that describes the relationship between levels of impact and levels of use. This information allows managers to provide the best protection of meadow systems while responding to demands for recreational use of mountain meadows. Monitoring and research activities can be coordinated to support management by gathering information on measurable levels of meadow use, meadow response to different levels of use and cause and effect relationships reflected in meadow response. Based on this information, wilderness managers can decide on the maximum acceptable impacts to meadows that still provide protection.

  • Muths, Erin; Corn, Paul Stephen. 2000. Boreal toad. In: Reading, Richard P.; Miller, Brian., eds. Endangered Animals; A Reference Guide to Conflicting Issues. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press: 60-65.
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    Abstract for Muths, Erin; Corn, Paul Stephen (2000). Boreal toad

    This paper includes a description of the boreal toad and its natural history, conflicting issues, and prognosis.

  • Muths, Erin; Corn, Paul Stephen; Stanley, Thomas R. 2000. Use of oxytetracycline in batch marking post metamorphic boreal toads. Herpetological Review. 31(1): 28-32.
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    Abstract for Muths, Erin; Corn, Paul Stephen; Stanley, Thomas R. (2000). Use of oxytetracycline in batch marking post metamorphic boreal toads

    Captive rearing and translocation have been discussed as management tools in the recovery of the natterjack toad (B. calamita), common frog (Rana temporaria), common toad (B. bufo), and boreal toad (B. boreas) (Cooke and Oldham 1995; Denton et al. 1997; and Loeffler 1998, respectively). Translocation is fraught with many concerns and difficulties (Dodd and Seigel 1991), foremost among these is determining the survival rate of released individuals. To estimate survival, long term monitoring is necessary (Dodd and Seigel 1991) as well as the availability of a reliable method with which to mark individuals before translocation or release (Burnham et al 1987). Marking allows the translocated individuals to be distinguished from a resident population or potential emigrants, and allows recaptures to be assigned to a particular experimental treatment or cohort release.

  • Parsons, David J. 2000. The Challenge of Restoring Natural Fire to Wilderness. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 276-282.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2000). The Challenge of Restoring Natural Fire to Wilderness

    Despite clear legislative and policy direction to preserve natural conditions in wilderness, the maintenance of fire as a natural process has proven to be a significant challenge to federal land managers. As of 1998, only 88 of the 596 designated wilderness areas in the United States, excluding Alaska, had approved fire plans that allow some natural ignitions to burn; and even those areas with active natural fire programs continue to suppress many natural ignitions. As a result, none of the four federal wilderness management agencies have been able to restore fire to a level that even approaches pre-settlement fire regimes. Although prescribed fire has been utilized in some areas as a means to compensate for the lack of natural fire, it has been questioned as an appropriate wilderness management tool and is prohibited for most uses in Forest Service wilderness. The questions must be asked whether it is practical to expect restoration of natural fire regimes in wilderness and if they cannot be restored, what are the options and implications for wilderness resources and values?

  • Parsons, David J. 2000. The Challenge of Scientific Activities in Wilderness. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 3: Wilderness as a place for scientific inquiry; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-3. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 252-257.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2000). The Challenge of Scientific Activities in Wilderness

    Science is an appropriate and necessary use of wilder-ness. The long-term protection of wilderness, including decisions related to the planning and management of wilderness resources, use and values, requires an understanding often available only through scientific investigation. In addition, wilderness provides opportunities for scientific understanding not available in other, less protected areas. Yet the acquisition of scientific information often requires activities that affect wilderness resources and values. Decisions about what scientific activities are appropriate and necessary in wilderness require consideration of apparently conflicting mandates, as well as the balancing of the benefits and impacts of proposed actions. Improved communication and cooperation between wilderness managers and scientists is necessary to assure the best possible science with the minimum possible impact.

  • Parsons, David J. 2000. Restoration of natural fire to United States Wilderness Areas. In: Watson, Alan E.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Hendee, John C., comps. 2000. Personal, societal, and ecological values of wilderness: Sixth World Wilderness Congress proceedings on research, management, and allocation, vol. II; 1998 October 24-29; Bangalore, India. Proc. RMRS-P-14. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 42-47.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (2000). Restoration of natural fire to United States Wilderness Areas.

    The restoration of fire to its natural role in wilderness has proven to be a significant challenge to the United States Federal wilderness management agencies. Although both natural (lightning) ignitions and management-ignited fires have been generally accepted as appropriate wilderness management tools, the implementation of wilderness fire management programs has been incomplete and inconsistent. Program constraints and consequent emphasis on fire suppression have limited accomplishments to date. The fact that even the most successful wilderness fire management programs have been largely unable to restore presettlement fire regimes raises serious questions about future program needs and priorities. Issues and challenges in need of attention are identified.

  • Parsons, Russ; Morgan, Penny; Landres, Peter. 2000. Applying the natural variability concept: Towards desired future conditions. In: D'Econ, Robert G.; Johnson, Jacklyn F.; Ferguson, E. Alex. Ecosystem Management of Forested Landscapes: Directions and Implementation; 1998 October 26-28; Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. Ecosystem Management of Forested Landscapes Organizing Committee: 222-237.
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    Abstract for Parsons, Russ; Morgan, Penny; Landres, Peter (2000). Applying the natural variability concept: Towards desired future conditions.

    Natural resource managers increasingly use the natural variability concept in landscape assessment and planning. This coarse-filter approach argues that restoring or managing ecosystems within the bounds of past structure, composition, and disturbance regimes is most likely to sustain the viability of diverse species. The natural variability concept can be useful for understanding dynamic ecosystems, for evaluation changes in ecosystems over time, for placing priorities on management actions, and for assessing risk and hazard. A comparison of past natural variability, present conditions, and desired future conditions will provide general direction for ecosystem management. When desired future conditions lie outside of past natural variability, people must accept both the costs of sustaining unprecedented conditions and the increased risk of unpredictable and often unacceptable changes in ecosystems. The magnitude of the departure may determine the degree of difficulty and uncertainty that might be associated with attempting to maintain the system outside of its normal limits. The natural variability concept can be useful in ecosystem management, but it is not a panacea to solve all problems. When information about past conditions is insufficient, when present conditions are substantially different from past conditions, or when management focus is on isolated reserves, it may be inappropriate to use the natural variability concept as a driving force in ecosystem management. If risk and hazard associated with past disturbances are socially or politically unacceptable, it may be inappropriate to manage for the full range of natural variability. In many cases, a narrower range of conditions, or management variability, must be defined to guide management direction to decrease the probability of extreme events that defined the range of past natural variability.

  • Pilliod, David S.; Peterson, Charles R. 2000. Evaluating effects of fish stocking on amphibian populations in wilderness lakes. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference—Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 328-335.
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    Abstract for Pilliod, David S.; Peterson, Charles R. (2000). Evaluating effects of fish stocking on amphibian populations in wilderness lakes

    To balance wilderness lake use between recreational fisheries and protected habitat for native species, managers need to understand how stocking non-native predaceous fish affects amphibian populations within a landscape. The goal of this paper is to help managers design and conduct studies that will provide such information. Desirable study characteristics include multiple- visit surveys of all wetlands within a watershed to provide information on amphibian distribution, abundance, breeding, recruitment and seasonal variation in habitat use. By identifying the distribution of critical amphibian habitat and source populations, this approach should enable managers to target specific lakes for protection or restoration as fishless amphibian habitat without overly compromising wilderness fishing opportunities.

  • Rollins, Matthew; Swetnam, Tom; Morgan, Penelope. 2000. Twentieth-Century Fire Patterns in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area, Idaho/ Montana, and the Gila/Aldo Leopold Wilderness Complex, New Mexico. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 283-287.
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    Abstract for Rollins, Matthew; Swetnam, Tom; Morgan, Penelope (2000). Twentieth-Century Fire Patterns in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area, Idaho/ Montana, and the Gila/Aldo Leopold Wilderness Complex, New Mexico

    Twentieth century fire patterns were analyzed for two large, disparate wilderness areas in the Rocky Mountains. Spatial and temporal patterns of fires were represented as GIS-based digital fire atlases compiled from archival Forest Service data. We find that spatial and temporal fire patterns are related to landscape features and changes in land use. The rate and extent of burning are interpreted in the context of changing fire management strategies in each wilderness area. This research provides contextual information to guide fire management in these (and similar) areas in the future and forms the basis for future research involving the empirical definition of fire regimes based on spatially explicit time-series of fire occurrence.

  • Spildie, David R.; Cole, David N.; Walker, Sarah C. 2000. Effectiveness of a Confinement Strategy in Reducing Pack Stock Impacts at Campsites in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Idaho. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 199-208.
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    Abstract for Spildie, David R.; Cole, David N.; Walker, Sarah C. (2000). Effectiveness of a Confinement Strategy in Reducing Pack Stock Impacts at Campsites in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Idaho

    In 1993, a management program was initiated in the Seven Lakes Basin in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness to bring high levels of campsite impact into compliance with management standards. The core of the strategy involved confining use, particularly by stock groups, and restoring certain campsites and portions of campsites. In just five years, campsite impacts were reduced substantially. Disturbed and bare area decreased on campsites, as did tree scarring and mineral soil exposure. Vegetation cover increased. The only impact parameter that continued to get worse was tree root exposure. Continuation of this program would likely reduce the extent of disturbance to less than one-third of the disturbance that existed before implementation. Fiscal costs were substantial, but experiential costs were judged to be minimal. This program should provide a good model for other wildernesses with campsite problems in certain destination areas.

  • Stewart, William; Cole, David; Manning, Robert; Valliere, William; Taylor, Jonathan; Lee, Martha. 2000. Preparing for a Day Hike at Grand Canyon: What Information Is Useful?. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 4: Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 221-225.
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    Abstract for Stewart, William; Cole, David; Manning, Robert; Valliere, William; Taylor, Jonathan; Lee, Martha (2000). Preparing for a Day Hike at Grand Canyon: What Information Is Useful?

    Most parks are interested in conveying hiking safety and minimum impact techniques to visitors. At Grand Canyon National Park, providing such information to more than 2000 day use hikers per day has been a longstanding concern whose effort has increased in intensity over the past decade. This study evaluates aspects of the “Heat kills, hike smart” campaign that targeted day use hikers during summer, 1997. The park’s information campaign was able to reach most day use hikers, and affected the behavior of the majority of them. Among various media sources and locations used by the park to convey safety information to day use hikers, the two most effective sources were the Park Guide distributed upon entering the park (in newspaper-style) with its banner headline claiming “Heat kills, hike smart” and posters at each trailhead with the same “heat kills” information. Day use hikers of remote backcountry trails reported the highest probability for problematic behavior (e.g., no water, became sick or injured). Minimum impact information concerning the proper disposal of toilet paper and food scraps was widely unknown.

  • Watson, Alan E. 2000. Wilderness Use in the Year 2000: Societal Changes That Influence Human Relationships With Wilderness. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 4: Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 53-60.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (2000). Wilderness Use in the Year 2000: Societal Changes That Influence Human Relationships With Wilderness

    The purpose of this paper is to extend a synthesis of knowledge about wilderness visitors and their visits developed in 1985. At that time, visitor research was in decline, and there was very little ability to understand trends. Over the last 15 years, wilderness visitor research has been initiated at many places in the U.S. where no previous studies had been completed. There have also been several studies specifically aimed at providing comparisons over time. Although review of these studies has concluded that very little has changed about how we describe visitors, their visits or their preferences for management, limited data suggest that the way visitors relate to wilderness has changed and will continue to change well into the next century.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Aplet, Greg H.; Hendee, John C. 2000. Personal, societal, and ecological values of wilderness: Sixth World Wilderness Congress proceedings on research, management, and allocation, Volume II Proc. RMRS-P-14. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 248 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Hendee, John C. (2000). Personal, societal, and ecological values of wilderness: Sixth World Wilderness Congress proceedings on research, management, and allocation, vol. II

    The papers contained in Volume II of these Proceedings represent a combination of papers originally scheduled for the delayed 1997 meeting of the World Wilderness Congress and those submitted in response to a second call for papers when the Congress was rescheduled for October 24-29, 1998, in Bangalore, India. Just as in Volume I, the papers are divided into seven topic areas: protected area systems; challenges, solutions, and changes; understanding and protecting biodiversity; human values and meanings of wilderness; wilderness for personal growth; understanding threats and services related to wilderness resources; the future of wilderness; challenges of planning, management, training, and research; and international cooperation in wilderness protection.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Cole, David N.; Turner, David L.; Reynolds, Penny S. 2000. Wilderness recreation use estimation: a handbook of methods and systems. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-56. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 198 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Cole, David N.; Turner, David L.; Reynolds, Penny S. (2000). Wilderness recreation use estimation: a handbook of methods and systems

    OUT OF PRINT. Documented evidence shows that managers of units within the U.S. National Wilderness Preservation System are making decisions without reliable information on the amount, types, and distribution of recreation use occurring at these areas. There are clear legislative mandates and agency policies that direct managers to monitor trends in use and conditions in wilderness. This report is specifically designed as a convenient resource for wilderness managers and others who have the responsibility of monitoring and describing visitor use in wilderness. It is a comprehensive manual on estimation techniques and procedures that are essential to appropriately and accurately measure visitor use-related characteristics and conditions. Guidelines enable the manager to evaluate options and decide on a use estimation system that meets the needs of a specific area and set of circumstances. This handbook provides, in a single source, all relevant information on setting objectives, making decisions about what to monitor, developing a sampling plan, collecting the needed information, and computing basic statistics to provide input into management decisions. The user should have mathematical abilities at least through algebra; knowledge of statistics and calculus would be helpful.

  • Wright, Vita. 2000. The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute: A National Wilderness Research Program in Support of Wilderness Management. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 3: Wilderness as a place for scientific inquiry; 2000 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-3. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 260-269.
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    Abstract for Wright, Vita (2000). The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute: A National Wilderness Research Program in Support of Wilderness Management

    The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute strives to provide scientific leadership in developing and applying the knowledge necessary to sustain wilderness ecosystems and values. Since its 1993 dedication, researchers at this federal, inter-agency Institute have collaborated with researchers and managers from other federal, academic and private institutions to support and conduct research on high priority topics related to recreation, natural disturbances and nonnative species. This paper gives an overview of the research conducted through the Leopold Institute and suggests future wilderness research directions for these is-sues. Leopold Institute staff strive to make research applicable to management through all phases of the research process.

  • Zabinski, Catherine; Cole, David. 2000. Understanding the Factors That Limit Restoration Success on a Recreation- Impacted Subalpine Site. In: Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management; 2000 May 23– 27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 216-221.
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    Abstract for Zabinski, Catherine; Cole, David (2000). Understanding the Factors That Limit Restoration Success on a Recreation- Impacted Subalpine Site

    Factors that limit successful revegetation of a subalpine site were studied through a combination of soil assays, greenhouse studies, and field manipulations. Campsite soils had higher available nitrogen, lower microbial community diversity, and lower seed bank density than undisturbed soils. In the greenhouse, there was no significant difference in plant growth on disturbed versus. undisturbed soils. In the field, seedling establishment patterns did not vary between experimental plots with five different soil treatments (ranging from a control to a compost and inoculum amendment). Addition of seeds and transplants increased seedling density, but not growth. Microclimatic variation may be the overriding limiting factor at this site.

  • Zabinski, Catherine; Wojtowicz, Todd; Cole, David. 2000. The effects of recreation disturbance on subalpine seed banks in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. Canadian Journal of Botany 78(5): 577-582.
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    Abstract for Zabinski, Catherine; Wojtowicz, Todd; Cole, David (2000). The effects of recreation disturbance on subalpine seed banks in the Rocky Mountains of Montana.

    We investigated the soil seed bank in a subalpine ecosystem with patchy disturbance from camping. Soil cores were collected from three site types, heavily impacts, lightly impacts, and undisturbed, that differed in area of bare ground and depth of surface organic matter. We hypothesized that the density and composition of the seed bank would vary with depth of surface organic matter and distance from established vegetation. Seedling emergence was determined in the greenhouse. Seed density was significantly lower on disturbed sites, averaging 441 seeds/m2 on heavily impacted sites, 1495 seeds/m2 on lightly impacted sites, and 4188 seeds/m2 on undisturbed sites. Seed density declined exponentially with distance from established vegetation and increased with depth of surface organic matter. The number of species present did not vary across site types, but 10 species that occurred on lightly impacted and undisturbed sites were not present on heavily impacted sites. We concluded that disturbance that causes removal of surface organic matter can affect natural revegetation by lowering the density of propagules and affecting the species represented in the seed bank.

  • Cole, David N. 1999. Recreation, ecological impacts. In: Alexander, David E.; Fairbridge, Rhodes W., eds. 1999. Encyclopedia of environmental science. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers (sold and distributed in North America by Kluwer Academic Publishers, Hingham, MA): 506-508.
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  • Davis, Jeffrey C.; Minshall, G. Wayne. 1999. Nitrogen and phosphorus uptake in two Idaho (USA) headwater wilderness streams. Oecologia 119: 247-255.
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    Abstract for Davis, Jeffrey C.; Minshall, G. Wayne (1999). Nitrogen and phosphorus uptake in two Idaho (USA) headwater wilderness streams

    Nitrate and phosphate solutions were released into two reaches of two central Idaho streams to determine within- and between-stream variability in uptake lengths, uptake rates, and mass transfer coefficients. Physical and biotic stream characteristics and periphyton nitrate-uptake rates in recirculating chambers were measured to determine their influence on nutrient dynamics. Phosphate uptake length did not differ among the four reaches. There were no within-stream differences in nitrate uptake lengths but they did differ between the two streams. Long nitrate uptake lengths likely were due to instream concentrations above saturation but also may have been influenced by differences in active surface area and algal abundance. Nitrate and phosphate uptake lengths were longer, and uptake rates higher, than most other published values. However, mass transfer coefficients were comparable to measurements in other streams. Mass transfer coefficients may be a better parameter for temporal and spatial comparisons of instream nutrient dynamics, and for determining the underlying causes of variability in uptake length.

  • Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Anderson, Stanley H. 1999. Spatial extent of human-intrusion effects on subalpine bird distributions. The Condor 101: 378-389.
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    Abstract for Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Anderson, Stanley H. (1999). Spatial extent of human-intrusion effects on subalpine bird distributions.

    Low levels of human intrusion have become ubiquitous, yet the distance at which they affect bird distributions remains unclear. By testing for changes in bird abundance, we assessed whether low levels of intrusion altered bird distributions within and beyond intruded sites. In Wyoming subalpine forests, we experimentally implemented intrusions within circular 1.0-ha (113-m diameter) sites for 1-2 hr (Snowy Mountains, 1989-1993) or for 5 hr (Pole Mountain, 1991-1993) each week during 10 consecutive weeks of the breeding season. The intrusions did not displace birds during most years, with the following exceptions. Mean abundances for Mountain Chickadee (Parus gambeli) in the Snowy Mountains (1992) and at Pole Mountain (1993), and mean abundances for American Robin (Turdus migratorius) and Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) in the Snowy Mountains (1989), were 46-57% lower within intruded sites than they were within control sites. Intrusion did not influence abundances outside of the 1.0-ha intruded sites. Minimum detectable effect sizes (R2s for the intrusion effect) were 18-32%; effects of this magnitude and larger were detectable with a probability of 0.80. We would therefore have readily detected moderate and large abundance changes had they occurred. The spatial extent of intrusion effects on distributions was thus limited to the actual sites of intrusion, and the effects occurred infrequently. Knowledge about the distance at which low levels of intrusion do and do not alter bird distributions is essential for protecting intrusion-sensitive species and avoiding unnecessary restrictions on landscape use by the public.

  • Hendricks, William W. 1999. Persuasive communication and grade level effects on behavioral intentions within a wilderness education program. International Journal of Wilderness 5(2): 21-25.
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    Abstract for Hendricks, William W. (1999). Persuasive communication and grade level effects on behavioral intentions within a wilderness education program.

    In investigating the effects of persuasive communication sources and messages and student grade levels on low-impact camping behavioral intentions, the impact monster skit was utilized. This wilderness education program employs a quasi-experimental design (pre-test/post-test). First, third, and sixth grade students (N=574) were randomly assigned to treatments. There was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores in the short-term behavioral intentions of students following exposure to the program. When considering pre- and post-test scores, a wilderness hiker was more effective than a wilderness ranger as a positive message source; and third and sixth grade students’ scores were significantly higher than first grade students’ scores. Chi-square tests for 15 of 17 potential behaviors were significant and in the expected direction.

  • Hendricks, William W.; Watson, Alan E. 1999. Wilderness educators' evaluation of the Impact Monster Program. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-15. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 12 p.
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    Abstract for Hendricks, William W.; Watson, Alan E. (1999). Wilderness educators' evaluation ofthe Impact Monster Program.

    Since its development by Jim Bradley in the late 1970\'s, the Impact Monster, a wilderness education skit designed to teach minimum impact techniques, has been used as a wilderness education tool by federal land management agencies. This paper reports on an evaluation of the perceived effectiveness of the Impact Monster program and its content. Results indicate that the Impact Monster program remains a widely used wilderness education tool to teach appropriate wilderness behavior. In addition, the program is rated good to excellent by most study participants. Most participants considered a figure clothed in bright colors an effective program element. Fourth, fifth, third, and sixth grade children, respectively, were considered the most appropriate recipients of the Impact Monster program. Problems experienced with the program included children fearing the gun used in the skit, wilderness educators tired of presenting the program, and sixth to eighth grades and high school students identifying too strongly with the Impact Monster. The most frequent suggestions to improve the program were: avoid stereotypes, be sensitive to cultural differences, acquisition of props, emphasize positive behavior, maintain program flexibility, and develop evaluation methods. Behavioral objectives established for the program should focus on Leave No Trace principles, which establish a land ethic that promotes appropriate behavior, recognizes impacts, and increases wilderness knowledge.

  • Hunger, Donald H.; Christensen, Neal A.; Becker, Kurt G. 1999. Commercial and private boat use on the Salmon River in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, United States. International Journal of Wilderness 5(2): 31-36.
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    Abstract for Hunger, Donald H.; Christensen, Neal A.; Becker, Kurt G. (1999). Commercial and private boat use on the Salmon River in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, United States.

    Historically, float permits on the Middle and Main Forks of the Salmon River in Idaho, United States, have been approximately split evenly between private and commercial float groups. A study of these two dominant user groups was conducted to understand likely response of the two groups to potential changes in management. Findings from this research emphasize many differences between private and commercial users. Though these groups are using similar equipment and traveling on the same river at the same time, they differ in most aspects of their expectations for the trip, problems they encounter, and what they think managers should do to protect the resource.

  • Landres, Peter B.; Morgan, Penelope; Swanson, Frederick J. 1999. Overview of the use of natural variability concepts in managing ecological systems. Ecological Applications. 9: 1179-1188.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter B.; Morgan, Penelope; Swanson, Frederick J. (1999). Overview of the use of natural variability concepts in managing ecological systems.

    Natural resource managers have used natural variability concepts since the early 1960s and are increasingly relying on these concepts to maintain biological diversity, to restore ecosystems that have been severely altered, and as benchmarks for assessing anthropogenic change. Management use of natural variability relies on two concepts: that past conditions and processes provide context and guidance for managing ecological systems today, and that disturbance-driven spatial and temporal variability is a vital attribute of nearly all ecological systems. We review the use of these concepts for managing ecological systems and landscapes.

  • Meyer, Shannon S. 1999. The role of legislative history in agency decision making. A case study of wilderness airstrip management in the United States. International Journal of Wilderness 5(2): 9-12.
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    Abstract for Meyer, Shannon S. (1999). The role of legislative history in agency decision making. A case study of wilderness airstrip management in the United States.

    The Wilderness Act, which established the United States\' National Wilderness Preservation System in 1964, contains both a clear definition of wilderness and multiple "nonconforming" exceptions to this definition. Managers are given discretion to manage these nonconforming uses within the framework of wilderness that the Act sought to preserve. This article presents a process for assessing congressional intent by closely examining legislative language and legislative history, especially as it relates to wilderness airstrips.

  • Parsons, David J.; Swetnam, Thomas W.; Christensen, Norman L. 1999. Uses and limitations of historical variability concepts in managing ecosystems. Ecological Applications 9: 1177-1178.
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  • Richer, Jerrell Ross; Christensen, Neal A. 1999. Appropriate fees for wilderness day use: Pricing decisions for recreation on public land. Journal of Leisure Research 31(3): 269-280.
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    Abstract for Richer, Jerrell Ross; Christensen, Neal A. (1999). Appropriate fees for wilderness day use: Pricing decisions for recreation on public land.

    An appropriate fee for the use of public lands strikes a balance between the need for fee revenues, the desire to maintain access and other normative concerns: fairness, equity, others\' ability to pay and congestion. Including these other concerns in pricing decisions improves the likelihood that fees will be acceptable to users. Information was collected about wilderness visitors\' maximum willingness to pay (WTP) for a day-use fee and the price they considered appropriate (AP). Sixty-two percent of Desolation Wilderness day users stated a WTP greater than the AP. The cost of choosing a fee at the median AP ($2), rather than the revenue maximizing price ($5), is a 30% reduction in revenue, while the gain is a smaller drop in participation (17% vs. 52%). Managers are faced with complex decisions about the purpose of fee programs. Alternative purposes will lead to alternative fee levels.

  • Stewart, William P.; Cole, David N. 1999. In search of situational effects in outdoor recreation: Different methods, different results. Leisure Sciences 21(4): 269-286.
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    Abstract for Stewart, William P.; Cole, David N. (1999). In search of situational effects in outdoor recreation: Different methods, different results.

    Relationships between outdoor recreation situations and experiences have been the targets of widespread research interest. Although scores of studies are directed at understanding linkages between various situational conditions and satisfaction, crowding, and various experiences, empirical evidence has not been highly supportive of consistent relationships across studies. The lack of persuasive evidence regarding situational effects may be an artifact of the traditional research design associated with outdoor recreation research. Specifically, the posttrip mailback questionnaire is limited in its ability to assess situational effects because of (a) reliance on long-term memory, (b) inappropriate use of global measures, and (c) inability to distinguish situational from individual differences. Within the empirical portion of this article, analyses using time length of encounters and perceived crowding illustrate contrasting results between a mailback questionnaire and a diary-like method from a sample of overnight backcountry uses at Grand Canyon National Park. Results of the mailback questionnaire are aligned with past studies of the same variables in that less than 10% of the variance of crowding was explained. Using the same sample, results of a multilevel analysis associated with a diary-like method indicated that 84% of study participants exhibited significant positive relationships between perceived crowding and time length of encounters. The concluding discussion argues that the search for situational effects could be assisted by use of diary-like methods.

  • Vogt, Christine A.; Williams, Daniel R. 1999. Support for wilderness recreation fees: the influence of fee purpose and day versus overnight use. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 17(3): 85-99.
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    Abstract for Vogt, Christine A.; Williams, Daniel R. (1999). Support for wilderness recreation fees: the influence of fee purpose and day versus overnight use.

    This paper examines public support for new user fees established at the Desolation Wilderness in California as part of the Fee Demonstration Program. Traditional approaches to fee policy evaluations have typically focused on economic or revenue issues and equity impacts of various pricing strategies. Support for fees has been shown to vary by users in terms of attitudes toward fees, nature of usage or behaviors, and demographics. Fee support may also vary by the type of recreation or resource area, especially in the case of dispersed recreation areas such as wilderness or other sites, which have historically been provided by tax dollars. To evaluate the role of new fees on public support for spending revenues, this paper compares ratings of support for the use of fees for 19 different management activities, assuming two different rationales across two user group samples. One rationale asks about support for fees to improve upon the current level of service, while the other asks about support for fees to provide the current level of service. A split sample was used to test for effects associated with the two rationales. The list of management activities was developed jointly by managers and researchers to gather input on spending priorities. Data came from a 1997-98 study which surveyed campers and day users. The results suggest general support for wilderness use fees, with strongest support for restoration of human damaged sites, litter removal, and related information provision. Unlike most customers, the wilderness users surveyed in this study, particularly campers, gave more support for using fees to maintain or provide the current level of service rather than to improve service. Differences between campers and day users for both rationales on particular management activities are presented, as well as a rank order of management activities. Managers can use these results to determine the platform or positioning of spending new revenues. The results show wilderness users prefer a maintenance spending program to restore wilderness conditions over a development and new services spending program. Managers can also begin to match the agencies\' project priorities with customers\' needs and desires. Overall, this paper provides a case study of customer involvement in fiscal policy.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Herath, Gamini 1999. Research implications of the theme issues "Recreation Fees and Pricing Issues in the Public Sector" (Journal of Park and Recreation Administration) and "Societal Response to Recreation Fees on Public Lands" (Journal of Leisure Research). Journal of Leisure Research 31(3): 325-334.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Herath, Gamini (1999). Research implications of the theme issues "Recreation Fees and Pricing Issues in the Public Sector" (Journal of Park and Recreation Administration) and "Societal Response to Recreation Fees on Public Lands" (Journal of Leisure Research).

    The purpose of this final article is not merely to summarize the findings of each article or to point out inconsistencies or agreement. Rather, we now have the ability to stop and think about the usefulness of the information contained in these two special issues, and use the information gathered here to guide us in future research and application of that research. It is neither a simple task nor one beyond controversy.

  • Watson, Alan; Landres, Peter. 1999. Changing wilderness values. In: Cordell, H. Ken, prin. investigator. Outdoor recreation in American life: a national assessment of demand and supply trends. Champaign, IL: Sagamore Publishing: 384-388.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Landres, Peter (1999). Changing wilderness values.

    In addition to work on Wilderness use and users as reported earlier in this chapter, scientists at the Leopold Institute have conducted or sponsored other studies aimed at understanding the values of Wilderness protection in the United States. Biologists, ecologists, and social scientists have merged their knowledge in terminology and perspective to seek ways to improve Wilderness management in the future. Current knowledge suggests that values are constantly changing. The source of this change is a combination of general societal trends and specific influences on Wilderness values. Creation of a National Wilderness Preservation System, with instant classification of over nine million acres of Forest Service lands as Wilderness, reflected the values of U.S. society at that time. Emphasis was on preserving and protecting for the American people of present and future generations an enduring resource of Wilderness. Wilderness was to be administered for future use and enjoyment by the American people. The act stressed both preservation and use of these places, particularly for recreation. Wilderness areas are receiving increasing numbers of visits by backpackers, day hikers, anglers, horseback riders, canoeists, berry pickers, photographers, and hunters. Recreation use increased steadily through the 1960s and 1970s, into the early 1980s, when it appeared leveled off. By the late 1980s, a resurgence of growth in Wilderness visits occurred and it continues today. Along the way, nearly 100 million additional acres were legally classified as Wilderness, adding land managed by the NPS, BLM, and USFWS, as well as more FS land, and that system of protected lands continues to be considered for additional growth today. With many changes in society and how people view protected areas, what are the values we associate with Wilderness today? How has society changed, what forces have worked to influence our beliefs about Wilderness?

  • Williams, Daniel R.; Vogt, Christine A.; Vitterso, Joar 1999. Structural equation modeling of users' response to wilderness recreation fees. Journal of Leisure Research 31(3): 245-268.
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    Abstract for Williams, Daniel R.; Vogt, Christine A.; Vitterso, Joar (1999). Structural equation modeling of users' response to wilderness recreation fees.

    This paper examines wilderness users\' response to recently established overnight camping fees at the Desolation Wilderness in California. Fee program evaluations have typically focused on economic or revenue issues, distributional or equity impacts of various pricing strategies, and questions of price fairness. In the case of wilderness recreation fees, it is also important to recognize the complex public purpose of wilderness and the long history of not having access fees in wilderness. To evaluate these various factors, this paper examines the impact of past wilderness experience and residential proximity on response to wilderness use fees using data from the 1997 Desolation Wilderness Fees Study. The results suggest general support for wilderness use fees, but fees are judged to be less appropriate for wilderness than for more developed recreation facilities and services. Structural equation modeling shows that experienced wilderness uses, experienced Desolation Wilderness users, and users residing in close proximity to the Desolation Wilderness are less supportive of fees and less likely to see positive benefits from fees. A history of paying fees for access to other recreation sites and perceptions of wilderness problems, though positively related to past wilderness experience, do not contribute to fee support.

  • Borrie, William T.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. 1998. Describing the wilderness experience at Juniper Prairie Wilderness using experience sampling methods. In: Kulhavy, David L.; Legg, Michael H., eds. Wilderness & natural areas in eastern North America: research, management and planning. Nacogdoches, TX: Stephen F. Austin State University, Arthur Temple College of Forestry, Center for Applied Studies: 165-172.
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    Abstract for Borrie, William T.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. (1998). Describing the wilderness experience at Juniper Prairie Wilderness using experience sampling methods.

    Wilderness managers continue to pursue a goal of providing quality experience opportunities within the lands they manage. However, the question of what dictates a quality experience begs a greater understanding of the visitor experience in wilderness. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) is suggested as a means to gaining information about the experience as it unfolds. This study applies the ESM to the study of visitor experiences at Juniper Prairie Wilderness in northern Florida. The ESM is used to allow immediate visitor feedback on positive and negative aspects of the visit, as well the dominant focus of attention at particular times and places in the visit. Experiences in high-use conditions are compared with those during low-use conditions. Thus, managers have access to a valuable description of the wilderness as it is experienced by the visitors.

  • Cable, Suzanne; Watson, Alan E. 1998. Recreation use allocation: alternative approaches for the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station Res. Note RMRS-RN-1: 7 p. 
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    Abstract for Cable, Suzanne; Watson, Alan E. (1998). Recreation Use Allocation: Alternative Approaches for the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex

    The allocation of recreation use is a task that has challenged wilderness managers throughout the National Wilderness Preservation System for nearly two decades. This note reviews and evaluates approaches for allocating wilderness recreation use between commercially outfitted, institutionally outfitted, and nonoutfitted visitors to wildlands. Of the 17 identified approaches to allocation, 11 of those are sufficiently defined to allow a comparative evaluation to determine how these approaches are able to address eight wilderness recreation allocation goals. The analysis results in a relative ranking of alternatives from most suitable to least suitable for addressing the stated goals. Although this evaluation was conducted specifically for one area (the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Montana), the methods reviewed and results obtained are likely to be applicable to other wildernesses and wildland recreation areas with some site-specific modifications.

  • Christensen, Neal A.; Borrie, Bill; Williams, Daniel R. 1998. Appropriateness to pay: is wilderness a unique recreation experience? Paper presented at conference, Societal Response to Recreation Fees on Public Lands; 1998 May 27-31; Columbia, MO.
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    Abstract for Christensen, Neal A.; Borrie, Bill; Williams, Daniel R. (1998). Appropriateness to pay: is wilderness a unique recreation experience?

    The debate about public recreation fees is particularly vigorous in the case of designated Wilderness. Wilderness may be unique as a public recreation resource in terms of its function within public lands.

  • Christensen, Neal; Richer, Jerrell Ross. 1998. Maximum and appropriate price for day use in the Desolation Wilderness. Paper presented at conference, Societal Response to Recreation Fees on Public Lands; 1998 May 27-31; Columbia, MO.
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    Abstract for Christensen, Neal; Richer, Jerrell Ross (1998). Maximum and appropriate price for dayuse in the Desolation Wilderness.

    Visitors to a wilderness area may be willing to pay a considerable amount for the experience. That is, if wilderness use is highly valued, and financial resources are available to them, then visitors\' maximum willingness to pay (MWTP) can be substantial. However, the mean MWTP alone may not be the appropriate criteria to establish fee levels. This web publication was replaced by the following more recent publication: Richer, Jerrell Ross; Christensen, Neal A. 1999. Appropriate fees for wilderness day use: Pricing decisions for recreation on public land. Journal of Leisure Research 31(3): 269-280 (Leopold Publication Number 370).

  • Cole, D. N.; Spildie, D. R. 1998. Hiker, horse and llama trampling effects on native vegetation in Montana, USA. Journal of Environmental Management 53: 61-71.
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    Abstract for Cole, D. N.; Spildie, D. R. (1998). Hiker, horse and llama trampling effects on native vegetation in Montana, USA.

    Intensity of trampling disturbance varies with type of recreation traffic. The purpose of this study was to assess the relative impact of hiker, horse, and llama traffic on vegetation and groundcover conditions. Hiker, horse, and llama traffic were applied at two trampling intensities to two previously undisturbed forested vegetation types. Trampling effects were assessed immediately after traffic application and 1 year later. For most impact parameters, intensity of trampling impact varied with type of user. For all parameters that varied with type of user: (1) horse traffic caused the most disturbance; and (2) hiker and llama impacts could not be differentiated statistically. The forb-dominated vegetation type was highly vulnerable to vegetation impact but recovered rapidly. The shrub-dominated type was more resistant but lacked resilience. Higher trampling intensities caused more disturbance but the relationship between trampling intensity and disturbance intensity was non-linear.

  • Cole, David N. 1998. Written appeals for attention to low-impact messages on wilderness trailside bulletin boards: experimental evaluations of effectiveness. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration. 16(1): 65-79.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1998). Written appeals for attention to low-impact messages on wilderness trailside bulletin boards: experimental evaluations of effectiveness.

    Visitor attention to low-impact messages posted on trailside bulletin boards as assessed in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Montana. Various appeals for attention, written on4-inch-wide banners, were placed on the bulletin board along with six low-impact messages. The most simple appeal read "Please take time to read these messages." Five more elaborate appeals contained an additional line of text. Three of these more elaborate appeals attempted to increase the personal relevance of messages. Two appeals attributed the messages to sources that might be perceived as credible, likeable, or similar to visitors. This study suggests that if managers want visitors to read messages posted on bulletin boards, they should ask for visitors\' attention. They should not assume visitors will read messages simply because they are posted. Elaborating on why visitors should attend to messages was not very useful. Although it is possible that other written appeals might be more effective, it is also possible that visitors who will not comply with a simple request for attention will not comply with requests for attention, regardless of the appeal. However, attention is a prerequisite for behavioral change and simply asking for attention is a surprisingly effective means of increasing attention.

  • Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F. 1998. The Limits of Acceptable Change Process: Modifications and Clarifications. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N., comps. 1998. Proceedings: Limits of Acceptable Change and related planning processes: progress and future directions; 1997 May 20-22; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-371. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 61-68.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F. (1998). The Limits of Acceptable Change Process: Modifications and Clarifications

    There are ways to improve the LAC process and its Implementational procedures.One significant procedural modification is the addition of a new step. This step—which becomes the first step in the process—involves more explicitly defining goals and desired conditions. For other steps in the process, clarifications of concept and terminology are advanced, as are numerous sugges-tions about how to implement LAC more effectively.

  • Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F. 1998. Limits of Acceptable Change and Natural Resources Planning: When is LAC Useful, When is it Not?. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N., comps. 1998. Proceedings: Limits of Acceptable Change and related planning processes: progress and future directions; 1997 May 20-22; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-371. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 69-71.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F. (1998). Limits of Acceptable Change and Natural Resources Planning: When is LAC Useful, When is it Not?

    Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) was originally for-mulated to deal with the issue of recreation carrying capacity in wilderness. Enthusiasm for the process has led to questions about its applicability to a broad range of natural resource issues—both within and outside of protected areas. This paper uses a generic version of the LAC process to identify situations where LAC can usefully be applied and situations where it cannot. LAC’s primary usefulness is in situations where management goals are in conflict, where it is possible to compromise all goals somewhat, and where planners are willing to establish a hierarchy among goals. In addition, it is necessary to write standards for the most important (constraining) goals—standards that are measurable, attainable, and useful for judging the acceptability of future conditions.

  • Cole, David N.; Stankey, George H. 1997. Historical development of limits of acceptable change: conceptual clarifications and possible extensions. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N., comps. Proceedings - limits of acceptable change and related planning processes: progress and future directions: from a workshop held at the University of Montana’s Lubrecht Experimental Forest. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-371. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 5-9.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Stankey, George H. (1998). Historical development of Limits Of Acceptable Change: conceptual clarifications and possible extensions.

    The Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) process was developed to deal with the issue of recreational carrying capacity. For that purpose, the LAC process sought to explicitly define a compromise between resource/visitor experience protection and recreation use goals. The most critical and unique element of the process is the specification of LAC standards that define minimally acceptable conditions. This paper identifies the antecedents of LAC, describes the rationale behind its formulation, and attempts to clarify LAC terminology and concepts. It assesses the extent to which a more generic LAC process might be applied to issues beyond recreation management in wilderness.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen. 1998. Effects of ultraviolet radiation on boreal toads in Colorado. Ecological Applications 8(1):18-26.
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen (1998). Effects of ultraviolet radiation on boreal toads in Colorado

    Field exposures of Bufo boreas embryos to fractions of ambient UV-B radiation at two sites in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA, were conducted to evaluate UV-B as a possible cause of recent severe declines of this species. There were no differences in hatching success of B. boreas embryos exposed to 0-100% of ambient UV-B radiation at either study site, results that are different from those of recent studies in Oregon that found increased mortality of B. boreas embryos exposed to ambient UV-B. The reasons for these differing results are not apparent, and several possible explanations exist, including differences in experimental design, presence or absence of a pathogenic fungus, and geographic variation. Bufo boreas embryos were probably not receiving the higher doses of UV-B radiation during the experiments in Oregon compared to the experiments in this study. Results of this study do not support UV-B radiation alone as the cause of the decline of B. boreas during the past 20 years in the southern Rocky Mountains, but UV-B cannot be dismissed because of the contradictory results from other studies.

  • Dawson, Chad P.; Newman, Peter; Watson, Alan. 1998. Cognitive dimensions of recreational user experiences in wilderness: an exploratory study in Adirondack wilderness areas. . In: Vogelson, Hans G., comp., ed. 1998. Proceedings of the 1997 northeastern recreation research symposium; 1997 April 6-9; Bolton Landing, NY. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-241. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 287 p.
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    Abstract for Dawson, Chad P.; Newman, Peter; Watson, Alan. (1998). Cognitive dimensions of recreational user experiences in wilderness: an exploratory study in Adirondack wilderness areas.

    This exploratory study involved identifying the dimensions of a wilderness experience sought by users based on the available literature and on input from wilderness users. Input was collected using focus group interviews with members of four groups that were primarily involved in wilderness use and preservation in recent years. Positive and negative dimensions are proposed for further research.

  • de Groot, Kristi. 1998. Highlights from the first Latin American congress on national parks and other protected areas. International Journal of Wilderness 4(2): 7-11.
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    Abstract for de Groot, Kristi (1998). Highlights from the first Latin American congress on national parks and other protected areas.

    Although each Latin American country faces a diversity of protected area challenges, most are confronted by some of the following issues: communication between resident indigenous groups and the national parks and other protected areas; the need for community-based conservation and environmental education; protected area designation and management; conservation of biodiversity; and threats from deforestation, land degradation, and tourism. Situations may differ from region to region, however, and the First Latin American Congress on National Parks and Other Protected Areas offered all participating countries the opportunity to share the successes and failures of their projects. This exchange of ideas should lead to new and better practices, in turn diverging from the path of project duplication. This article will discuss a series of topics that were emphasized during the congress, and resolutions that were made by the participants that later were compiled by the staff of the Colombian National Park System.

  • DeLuca, T. H.; Patterson, W. A., IV; Freimund, W. A.; Cole, D. N. 1998. Influence of llamas, horses, and hikers on soil erosion from established recreation trails in western Montana, USA. Environmental Management 22(2): 255-262.
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    Abstract for DeLuca, T. H.; Patterson, W. A., IV; Freimund, W. A.; Cole, D. N. (1998). Influence of llamas, horses, and hikers on soil erosion from established recreation trails in western Montana, USA.

    Various types of recreational traffic impact hiking trails uniquely and cause different levels of trail degradation; however, trailhead restrictions are applied similarly across all types of packstock. The purpose of this study was to assess the relative physical impact of hikers, llamas, and horses on recreational trails. Horse, llama, and hiker traffic were applied to 56 separate plots on an existing trail at Lubrecht Experimental Forest in western Montana. The traffic was applied to plots at intensities of 250 and 1000 passes along with a no-traffic control under both prewetted and dry trail conditions. Soil erosion potential was assessed by sediment yield and runoff (using a Meeuwig type rainfall simulator), changes in soil bulk density, and changes in soil surface roughness. Soil moisture, slope, and rainfall intensity were recorded as independent variables in order to evaluate the extent that they were held constant by the experimental design. Horse traffic consistently made more sediment available for erosion from trails than llama, hiker, or no traffic when analyzed across wet and dry trail plots and high and low intensity traffic plots. Although total runoff was not significantly affected by trail user, wet trail traffic caused significantly greater runoff than dry trail traffic. Llama traffic caused a significant increase in sediment yield compared to the control, but caused erosion yields not significantly different than hiker traffic. Trail traffic did not increase soil compaction on wet trails. Traffic applied to dry trail plots generally resulted in a significant decrease in soil bulk density compared to the control. Decreased soil bulk density was negatively correlated with increased sediment yield and appeared to result in increased trail roughness for horse traffic compared to hiker or llama traffic. Differences described here between llama and horse traffic indicate that trail managers may want to consider managing packstock llamas independent of horses.

  • Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Clements, Krista L.; Marcum, Heidi A.; Wilkins, Charles A.; Anderson, Stanley H. 1998. Vertical distributions of breeding-season birds: is human intrusion influential? Wilson Bulletin 110 (4): 497-503.
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    Abstract for Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Clements, Krista L.; Marcum, Heidi A.; Wilkins, Charles A.; Anderson, Stanley H. (1998). Vertical distributions of breeding-season birds: is human intrusion influential?

    Human intrusion has become a widespread and chronic disturbance for birds in many wildlands. Because bird species often seek refuge, feed, and nest only in certain vegetation strata, intrusion-induced changes in vertical distributions could reduce access to such strata, increase interspecific competition, heighten energetic expenditures, and reduce nesting success. In Wyoming subalpine forests during the breeding seasons of 1989-1993, we studied the effects of intrusion on vertical distributions of Mountain Chickadees (parus gambeli), Ruby-crowned Kinglets (Regulus calendula), Yellow-rumped Warblers (Dendroica coronata), and Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis). Intrusion by one person for 1-2 hours per week, similar in intensity to intrusion from some wildland recreationists and ecotourists, did not appreciably affect distributions of any of the species in three vegetation strata above the ground. Although human disturbance has caused an increase in the height at which bird species in various habitats nest and roost, we found little evidence that intrusion altered vertical distributions of four passerines that nest, forage, sing, and seek refuge in subalpine forest. The minimal effects we observed indicate that the species we studied were able to tolerate low levels of intrusion. Studies of intrusion levels that do and do not affect vertical distributions are necessary to define the range of intrusion intensity that is influential.

  • Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Marcum, Heidi A.; Harvey, Henry B.; Roth, James D.; Anderson, Stanley H. 1998. Bird tolerance to human intrusion in Wyoming montane forests. The Condor 100: 519-527.
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    Abstract for Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Marcum, Heidi A.; Harvey, Henry B.; Roth, James D.; Anderson,Stanley H. (1998). Bird tolerance to human intrusion in Wyoming montane forests.

    Human intrusion can be a serious problem for birds because it can cause displacement, prevent access to resources, and reduce reproduction and survival. The factors that influence avian tolerance to intrusion are poorly understood. We studied passerine responses to intrusion in Wyoming montane forests during the breeding season by using two indices of intrusion tolerance: detectability period, the amount of time that a bird remains near its initial flush point; and approach distance, how close one can get to a bird before it flushes. A solitary observer experimentally approached focal individuals and recorded detectability period, approach distance, the seasonal and daily timing of intrusion, number of nearby conspecifics, number of nearby heterospecific individuals, and surrounding vegetation conditions. Using data from the literature, we also assessed influences of migratory status, body mass, conspicuousness, and height above the ground at which species are active during the breeding season. Detectability period was significantly shorter, indicating intrusion tolerance was lower, when fewer conspecifics were nearby. Approach distance was significantly longer, indicating tolerance was lower for more-conspicuous species and for species that are active closer to the ground. Effects of other variables studied were not significant. These results demonstrate that social and biological factors can influence tolerance to intrusion. Intrusion-induced behaviors such as nest abandonment and decreased nest attentiveness have led to reduced reproduction and survival in species that are intolerant of intrusion. With knowledge of factors that influence tolerance, the risk of disturbing birds that are sensitive to intrusion could be reduced.

  • Landres, Peter B. 1998. Integration: a beginning for landscape-scale stewardship. In: Knight, Richard L.; Landres, Peter B., eds. 1998. Stewardship across boundaries. Covelo, CA: Island Press: 337-345.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter B. (1998). Integration: a beginning for landscape-scale stewardship.

    It seems that all boundaries have dual and contrasting qualities, positive and negative effects. Most generally, boundaries both separate and bind: they separate one thing from another, but these entities also are linked by their common boundary. Boundaries have both positive and negative effects on ecological and social systems. Boundaries aid understanding by classifying and simplifying complex phenomena, but they prevent complete understanding by artificially fragmenting the whole. Boundaries define exclusive limits and responsibilities of individuals, while clearly showing the inclusive lines of the broader community to which the individual belongs. Because many boundaries have a long and rich history and are now relatively fixed, stewardship across landscapes requires working within the framework of existing boundaries to maximize their positive aspects while minimizing their negative effects. In this chapter, these various perspectives are integrated to begin establishing some general premises and required actions for achieving stewardship.

  • Landres, Peter B.; Knight, Richard L.; Pickett, Steward T. A.; Cadenasso, M. L. 1998. Ecological effects of administrative boundaries. In: Knight, Richard L.; Landres, PeterB., eds. 1998. Stewardship across boundaries. Covelo, CA: Island Press: 39-64.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter B.; Knight, Richard L.; Pickett, Steward T. A.; Cadenasso, M. L. (1998). Ecological effects of administrative boundaries.

    All lands, no matter how large or small, remote or near, pristine or modified, are delineated by administrative boundaries. Imposed for a variety of purposes, boundaries have many intentional and unintentional effects on the surrounding lands. To understand the effects of administrative boundaries we first define borders and the boundary zone surrounding borders, discuss structural and functional attributes of boundaries, and last develop a conceptual model of the major ecological effects caused by boundaries. The model provides a structured framework for understanding potential boundary effects that may be useful in planning and mitigating the adverse ecological effects of administrative boundaries. We conclude that administrative boundaries may have profound effects on ecological systems: understanding these effects and the larger cultural and ecological context of landscapes is fundamental to improving the long-term stewardship of the natural resources that provide benefits and services valued by society.

  • Landres, Peter B.; Marsh, Susan; Merigliano, Linda; Ritter, Dan; Norman, Andy. 1998. Boundary effects on wilderness and other natural areas. In: Knight, Richard L.; Landres,Peter B., eds. 1998. Stewardship across boundaries. Covelo, CA: Island Press: 117-1 39.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter B.; Marsh, Susan; Merigliano, Linda; Ritter, Dan; Norman, Andy (1998). Boundary effects on wilderness and other natural areas.

    Boundaries delineate wildernesses and other natural areas from lands managed for other purposes and uses. These adjacent land uses may fragment a natural landscape, causing a host of isolation impacts to the remnant natural areas. Natural areas are increasingly valued by many people for the ecological services they offer, as well as the social benefits people derive from them. The purpose of this chapter is to examine boundary impacts on the ecological, social, and managerial aspects of areas managed for their natural values and benefits to society. We explore whether the same boundaries that define and protect natural areas also compromise their ecological integrity and social values, whether these areas are at risk of becoming "prisons rather than fortresses".

  • Landres, Peter B.; White, Peter S.; Aplet, Greg; Zimmermann, Anne. 1998. Naturalness and natural variability: definitions, concepts, and strategies for wilderness management. In: Kulhavy, David L.; Legg, Michael H., eds. Wilderness & natural areas in eastern North America: research, management and planning. Nacogdoches, TX: Stephen F. Austin State University, Arthur Temple College of Forestry, Center for Applied Studies: 41-50.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter B.; White, Peter S.; Aplet, Greg; Zimmermann, Anne (1998). Naturalness and natural variability: definitions, concepts, and strategies for wilderness management.

    Wilderness managers are increasingly questioning what it is they are managing for and the benchmarks used for evaluating change in wilderness conditions. This debate is largely focused on defining what "natural" is and how it should be protected and managed. In this paper we describe the reasons for defining naturalness, briefly review current understanding about ecological integrity and variability, define naturalness and discuss the issues that must be addressed in developing such a definition, and finally we offer a strategy for setting management goals and evaluating outcomes of management actions related to naturalness. Our intent is to provide a structured framework for thinking about and making the hard decisions required to manage for naturalness: decisions on spatial and temporal scales, and on value judgments related to the issues of native people\'s influence and the criteria that trigger management actions in wilderness.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N. 1998. Experiencing Limits of Acceptable Change: Some Thoughts After a Decade of Implementation. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N., comps. 1998. Proceedings: Limits of Acceptable Change and related planning processes: progress and future directions; 1997 May 20-22; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-371. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 72-78.
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N. (1998). Experiencing Limits of Acceptable Change: Some Thoughts After a Decade of Implementation

    Wilderness managers and researchers have experienced implementation of the Limits of Acceptable Change planning system for over a decade. In a sense, implementation of LAC has been a broad scale experiment in planning, with the hypothesis being that LAC processes are more effective approaches to deal with questions of recreation management in protected areas than the carrying capacity paradigm. Workshop participants identified a number of both positive and negative consequences resulting from their experience with LAC. This paper synthesizes these outcomes by discussing the positive results, describing the problems encountered, and outlining lessons learned.

  • Merigliano, Linda; Cole, David N.; Parsons, David J. 1998. Application of LAC-Type Processes and Concepts to Nonrecreation Management Issues in Protected Areas. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N., comps. 1998. Proceedings: Limits of Acceptable Change and related planning processes: progress and future directions; 1997 May 20-22; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-371. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 37-43.
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    Abstract for Merigliano, Linda; Cole, David N.; Parsons, David J. (1998). Application of LAC-Type Processes and Concepts to Nonrecreation Management Issues in Protected Areas

    When Limits of Acceptable Change concepts are applied to nonrecreational issues, two primary problems are encountered: (1) developing zoning schemes which are compatible when multiple issues are addressed, and (2) defining the desired condition and establishing measurable standards for ecosystem attributes which change in unpredictable ways. Approaches to overcome these two difficulties are described. We conclude that LAC can and should be used to address many impacts that are not related to recreational use. Where impacts are localized, nearby reference sites are often available, thus LAC standards can be developed for the amount of acceptable deviation from conditions at the reference site. However, effects-based, measurable standards may be impossible to define for landscape-scale impacts where no undisturbed reference sites exist. Substituting time as a reference, using system inputs rather than outcomes, and identifying the desired direction of desired change without specifying a standard are three approaches to overcome the problem with changeable ecosystem attributes but each approach has drawbacks.

  • Parker, Julia Dawn; Koesler, Rena. 1998. Urban populations as an impact on wilderness: a study of values in the Los Angeles Basin. In: Kulhavy, David L.; Legg, Michael H., eds. Wilderness & natural areas in eastern North America: research, management and planning. Nacogdoches, TX: Stephen F. Austin State University, Arthur Temple College of Forestry, Center for Applied Studies: 245-249.
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    Abstract for Parker, Julia Dawn; Koesler, Rena (1998). Urban populations as an impact on wilderness: a study of values in the Los Angeles Basin.

    Most residents of the United States live in urban areas, and many wilderness users come from large cities. The study presented here was designed to assess the wilderness values, and effective communication mediums of residents of one urban area, Los Angeles, California. Preliminary results of a survey of Los Angeles basin residents revealed a great deal of support for wilderness. The ethnically and economically diverse respondents recognized a need for protection of wilderness, the recreational value of wilderness, and the need for wilderness to remain under public management. To promote communication between urban residents and wilderness managers, managers should employ the mediums currently used and preferred by urbanites. The respondents in Los Angeles indicated mediums they preferred and/or used including friends and family, brochures, guidebooks, maps and newspapers. To access the word of mouth or "friends and family" network, wilderness managers need to contact established groups in urban areas. According to respondents, the most popular groups were religious, neighborhood, and school organizations.

  • Parsons, David J. 1998. Integrating science into natural resource planning and management. In: Hill, Linda M., ed. 1998. Learning from the land: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument science symposium proceedings; 1997 November 4-5; Cedar City, UT. BM/UT/GI-98-006+1220. [Publisher's location and name unknown]: 37-40.
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  • Parsons, David J. 1998. The dilemma of wilderness fire. Wilderness Watcher 10(1): 12-13.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (1998). The dilemma of wilderness fire.

    The restoration of fire as a natural ecological process poses a significant challenge to wilderness managers. Following nearly a century of efforts to eliminate fire, it is now widely recognized that fire plays an essential role in the evolution of many natural ecosystems, and fire suppression eliminates one of the most important factors influencing wilderness. The restoration and maintenance of fire as a natural process is essential to the long term preservation of wilderness ecosystems. However, despite widespread recognition of the importance of restoring natural fire to wilderness, suppression continues to dominate most wilderness fire programs. The failure to restore natural fire to most wilderness areas poses a dilemma for wilderness advocated and managers.

  • Parsons, David J. 1998. Scientific activities in wilderness, a workshop to address issues and concerns. International Journal of Wilderness 4(1): 10-13.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (1998). Scientific activities in wilderness, a workshop to address issues and concerns.

    A review of the workshop "The Dilemma of Scientific Activities in Protected Areas "which was conducted March 21, 1997, at the George Wright Society\'s 9th Conference on Research and Resource Management in Parks and on Public Lands. The purpose of the workshop was to examine issues associated with the conduct of research and monitoring on wilderness and other protected lands. Workshop participants represented the perspectives of both scientists and managers. Examples of concerns, frustrations, and successes were presented, along with a proposed framework to facilitate decisionmaking.

  • Parsons, David J.; Landres, Peter B. 1998. Restoring natural fire to wilderness: how are we doing? In: Pruden, Teresa L.; Brennan, Leonard A., eds. Proceedings: 20th Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference: Fire in ecosystem management: shifting the paradigm from suppression to prescription; 1996 May 7-10, Boise, ID. Lawrence, KS: Allen Press: 366-373.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J.; Landres, Peter B. (1998). Restoring natural fire to wilderness: how are we doing?

    The restoration of natural fire to wilderness ecosystems poses a significant challenge to the federal land management agencies. The U.S. Department of the Interior (USDI), National Park Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service have conducted progressive prescribed natural fire (PNF) programs for more than two decades. The USDI, Bureau of Land Management has only recently approved the use of PNF in a few wilderness areas, whereas the USDI, Fish and Wildlife Service has relied primarily on the use of management-ignited fires to accomplish wilderness objectives. Despite recognition of the role of natural fire, suppression continues to play a dominant role in wilderness fire policy for all four wilderness management agencies. Ways must be found to substantially increase the acreage burned through prescribed fire in wilderness. Unfortunately, differences in program approaches and criteria for reporting the occurrence of prescribed natural fire and management-ignited fire in wilderness units managed by the four agencies make it extremely difficult to fully assess accomplishments of wilderness fire management programs. There is an urgent need to improve reporting as well as develop criteria and standards by which to judge the success of wilderness fire programs.

  • Patterson, Michael E.; Watson, Alan E.; Williams, Daniel R.; Roggenbuck, Joseph R. 1998. An hermeneutic approach to studying the nature of wilderness experiences. Journal of Leisure Research 30(4): 423-452.
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    Abstract for Patterson, Michael E.; Watson, Alan E.; Williams, Daniel R.; Roggenbuck, Joseph R. (1998). An hermeneutic approach to studying the nature of wilderness experiences.

    The most prevalent approach to understanding recreation experiences in resource management has been a motivational research program that views satisfaction as an appropriate indicator of experience quality. This research explores a different approach to studying the quality of recreation experiences. Rather than viewing recreation experiences as a linear sequence of events beginning with expectations and ending with outcomes that are then cognitively compared to determine experience quality, this alternative approach views recreation as an emergent experience motivated by the not very well-defined goal of acquiring stories that ultimately enrich one\'s life. Further, it assumes that the nature of human experience is best characterized by situated freedom in which the environment sets boundaries that constrain the nature of the experience, but that within those boundaries recreationists are free to experience the world in unique and variable ways. Therefore this alternative approach seeks a more context specific description of the setting/experience relationship that is intended to complement more general management frameworks developed in conjunction with the motivational research program.

  • Puttkammer, Annette; Watson, Alan E. 1998. Acceptability of fees for various recreation activities as a function of activity orientation and past fee behavior. Paper presented at conference, Societal Response to Recreation Fees on Public Lands; 1998 May 27-31; Columbia, MO.
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    Abstract for Puttkammer, Annette; Watson, Alan E. (1998). Acceptability of fees for various recreation activities as a function of activity orientation and past fee behavior.

    Understanding visitor support for, and opposition to, fee payment is critical to managers. Although the public has been asked to pay recreation fees for a variety of services and facilities, such as developed camping and entrance to National Parks for many years, wilderness recreation has, up until now, traditionally been free. The purpose of this paper is to use cluster analysis to further explore visitor evaluations of fee acceptability in relation to varying involvement levels in a range of 14 selected recreation activities and varying past experience paying fees.

  • Russell, Keith; Hendee, John C.; Cooke, Steve. 1998. Social and economic benefits of a U.S. wilderness experience program for youth-at-risk in the Federal Job Corps. International Journal of Wilderness 4(3): 32-38.
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    Abstract for Russell, Keith; Hendee, John C.; Cooke, Steve (1998). Social and economic benefits of a U.S. wilderness experience program for youth-at-risk in the Federal Job Corps.

    Wilderness Discovery (WD), a seven-day wilderness experience program designed to empower and strengthen the skills and motivation of youth-at-risk in the Federal Job Corps, was tested in 46 trips of four Federal Job Corps Centers (JCCs). Student journals and exit interviews showed that Job Corps students learned valuable lessons from WD: (1) that they said they would use to improve communication with other students and authority figures; (2) a more positive attitude toward Job Corps; and (3) a sense of accomplishment. WD participants were matched with control groups revealing that WD reduced early terminations 35% at Curlew JCC in 1993, and an average reduction of 23% at three centers in 1994. Steering committees at each center came to consensus on many positive benefits of WD, which were then linked to five critical variables in a benefit/cost model developed for Job Corps by Mathematica (1985). Based on all the study evidence, modest adjustments of 1%, 3%, and 5% were made in critical variables of the model to simulate potential economic benefits which exceeded costs of WD, as an adjunct to Job Corps. This analysis and framework helps document the idea that in designing a wilderness program around desired outcomes, in this case reducing early terminations and enhancing employability of JCC students, and designing analysis of these outcomes, wilderness experiences may be justified for economic reasons.

  • Vogt, Christine A.; Watson, Alan E. 1998. Brand loyalty as indicator of fee support by Desolation Wilderness visitors. Paper presented at conference, Societal Response to Recreation Fees on Public Lands; 1998 May 27-31; Columbia, MO.
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    Abstract for Vogt, Christine A.; Watson, Alan E. (1998). Brand loyalty as indicator of fee support by Desolation Wilderness visitors.

    The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that unique wilderness camping segments can be derived from measures of brand loyalty, and then test for differences among groups for support of fees. Following a marketing approach, previous knowledge about the fee program and attitude toward the organization are also explored in relation to customer satisfaction indicators. This types of analysis is imperative to understanding the proportion of visitors who will remain customers, as well as understanding the effects of communication tools on the public\'s response to the programs.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Hendee, John C. 1998. Personal, societal, and ecological values of wilderness: Sixth World Wilderness Congress proceedings on research, management, and allocation, vol. I; 1997 (1998) October; Bangalore, India. Proc. RMRS-P-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 158 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Hendee, John C. (1998). Personal, societal, and ecological values of wilderness: Sixth World Wilderness Congress proceedings on research, management, and allocation, vol. I

    The papers contained in Volume I of these Proceedings were originally scheduled for presentation at the Sixth World Wilderness Congress in Bangalore, India, in 1997. Due to a delay of the Congress until 1998, these 27 papers were compiled for publication prior to presentation. Volumes I and II contain papers covering seven topics: protected area systems; challenges, solutions, and changes; opportunities and challenges of wilderness as a basis for sustainable development; understanding and protecting biodiversity; human values and meanings of wilderness; wilderness for personal growth; understanding threats and services related to wilderness resources; and the future of wilderness: challenges of planning, management, training, and research.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Christensen, Neal A.; Blahna, Dale J.; Archibald, Kari S. 1998. Comparing manager and visitor perceptions of llama use in wilderness. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-10. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 7 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Christensen, Neal A.; Blahna, Dale J.; Archibald, Kari S. (1998). Comparing manager and visitor perceptions of llama use in wilderness.

    Llama use in wilderness is projected to increase over the next 5 years. While the greatest concerns about this increase in use are unexpected impacts to native flora, impacts to native fauna, and conflicts with other use types, there is also concern about how prepared managers are to deal with this increasing recreation demand. This research compares manager attitudes and knowledge to those of hikers, horseback riders, and commercial llama customers in the Intermountain West. With managers\' expectations that all packstock use will continue to increase in the near future, this assessment of differences in attitudes will help in understanding current positions regarding impacts of llama use in wilderness.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Cronn, Rich; Christensen, Neal A. 1998. Monitoring inter-group encounters in wilderness. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-14. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 20 p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Cronn, Rich; Christensen, Neal A. (1998). Monitoring inter-group encounters in wilderness.

    Many managers face the challenge of monitoring rates of visitor encounters in wilderness. Thus study (1) provides estimates of encounter rates through use of several monitoring methods, (2) determines the relationship between the various measures of encounter rates, and (3) determines the relationship between various indirect predictors of encounter rates and actual encounter rates. Exit surveys, trip diaries, wilderness ranger observations, trained observers, mechanical counters, trailhead count observations, and parking lot vehicle counts were used to develop better understanding of the relationship between these various monitoring methods. The monitoring methods were tested at Alpine Lakes Wilderness in Washington.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Hunger, Don; Christensen, Neal; Spildie, Dave; Becker, Kurt; Comstock, Jeff. 1998. Wilderness boaters: protecting unique opportunities in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, Idaho, U.S.A. In: Personal, societal, and ecological values of wilderness: Sixth World Wilderness Congress proceedings on research, management, and allocation, volume I; 1997 October; Bangalore, India. Proc. RMRS-P-4. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 151-158.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Hunger, Don; Christensen, Neal; Spildie, Dave; Becker, Kurt; Comstock, Jeff (1998). Wilderness boaters: protecting unique opportunities in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, Idaho, U.S.A.

    The focus of most wilderness visitor research is on areas of highest use concentration and greatest management presence. These are the areas where most problems seem to exist. Within the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho, there is a great diversity of land-based and water-oriented opportunities to experience nature, solitude, challenge, and spiritual excitement. Comparisons were made across samples of 301 private float visitors, 238 commercial float clients, and 174 peak flow tributary floaters on the Salmon River within the Wilderness. Management of these groups differs, and the groups themselves differ in many ways. Planners for this Wilderness must acknowledge these differences and must appropriately attempt to accommodate, through intentional management actions, the very different orientations to the rivers expressed by private float parties, commercial float parties, and the tributary floaters.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Puttkammer, Annette; Christensen, Neal. 1998. Support for recreation fees as a function of purpose of appeal (increasing services versus maintaining current level of services). Paper presented at conference, Societal Response to Recreation Fees on Public Lands; 1998 May 27-31; Columbia, MO.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Puttkammer, Annette; Christensen, Neal (1998). Support for recreation fees as a function of purpose of appeal (increasing services versus maintaining current level of services).

    Across the federal agencies challenged to pilot test new recreation fees, some differences have been evident in the messages provided to the public about the likely uses of collected revenue. In newspaper articles and public statements by the agencies there have been suggestions that declining budgets have been making it difficult to maintain historic levels of services. Some campgrounds and picnic areas have been closed or threatened with closing. The fee pilot program was designed to allow the majority of collected fees to remain at the site of collection, therefore potentially avoiding reduction of services. On the other hand, some agency statements have suggested the need for local managers to demonstrate definite improvements in services as a result of collected fees. The purpose of this paper is to explore responses from visitors when the purpose of fees is varied across these two different potential uses.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. 1998. Selecting human experience indicators for wilderness: different approaches provide different results. In: Kulhavy, David L.; Legg, Michael H., eds. Wilderness & natural areas in eastern North America: research, management and planning. Nacogdoches, TX: Stephen F. Austin State University, Arthur Temple College of Forestry, Center for Applied Studies: 264-269.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. (1998). Selecting human experience indicators for wilderness: different approaches provide different results.

    The Limits of Acceptable Change planning process calls for the selection of key indicators of the wilderness resource and wilderness experiences. Wilderness planners and managers have in the past used three primary approaches to select indicators of wilderness experiences: focus groups or working groups representing key interest groups and management, interdisciplinary teams of specialists, or surveys of visitors to the wilderness. Each process strives for agreement about the significance of potential indicators. At Juniper Prairie Wilderness, in Florida, on-site qualitative interviews and experience sampling methods were used to identify the major dimensions of the visitor experience. A better understanding of the experience resulted, and potential indicators are naturally suggested.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Vogt, Christine. 1998. Wilderness visitor perceptions of obtrusiveness and their attitudes toward the agency in predicting recreation fee level support. Paper presented at conference, Societal Response to Recreation Fees on Public Lands; 1998 May 27-31; Columbia, MO.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Vogt, Christine (1998). Wilderness visitor perceptions of obtrusiveness and their attitudes toward the agency in predicting recreation fee level support.

    While national emphasis has mostly been on methods of pricing, predicting revenue and monitoring satisfaction with newly imposed recreation fees on public lands, research at the Desolation Wilderness in California has focused on understanding the sources of negative reaction to the fees. While it is most commonly assumed that visitor response to fee programs will be a function of satisfaction with on-site recreation experiences, this paper addresses the possibility that response to the fees is at least somewhat based on trust, confidence and perceptions the public has of the agency administering the fee program.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Williams, Daniel R.; Vogt, Christine; Richer, Jerrrell; Puttkammer, Annette; Christensen, Neal; Parsons, David J.; Trainor, Sarah Fleisher. 1998. Providing science input to management issues: defining and answering researchable questions - introduction to a case study of the Desolation Wilderness fee pilot program. Paper presented at conference, Societal Response to Recreation Fees on Public Lands; 1998 May 27-31; Columbia, MO.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Williams, Daniel R.; Vogt, Christine; Richer, Jerrrell; Puttkammer,Annette; Christensen, Neal; Parsons, David J.; Trainor, Sarah Fleisher (1998). Providing science input to management issues: defining and answering researchable questions - introduction to a case study of the Desolation Wilderness fee pilot program.

    Scientists and managers teamed up to define a set of researchable questions related to public response to a new fee program at the Desolation, a Forest Service wilderness in California. Agreement was reached on the major dependent variables of interest (attitudes or behavioral intentions about new or proposed fees) and the types of visitor descriptors that may influence or be associated with these dependent variables. This paper provides a simple description of the fee pilot program at the Desolation, the attitudes and behavioral intentions visitors hold about fees there, the potential factors that may influence these attitudes and behavioral intentions, and methods of data collection.

  • Williams, Daniel R.; Watson, Alan E. 1998. The impact of place meaning and attachment on attitudes towards fees for wilderness use. Paper presented at conference, Societal Response to Recreation Fees on Public Lands; 1998 May 27-31; Columbia, MO.
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    Abstract for Williams, Daniel R.; Watson, Alan E. (1998). The impact of place meaning and attachment on attitudes towards fees for wilderness use.

    The recent decision by the U.S. Congress to allow agencies to recover costs for wilderness management through charging a fee represents a major shift in policy and has generated considerable controversy. Economic approaches to such policy considerations typically assume a use-value orientation and focus on willingness to pay and equity issues. From a business orientation the decision to set prices is typically based on revenue, and thus the uniqueness of wilderness or "brand loyalty" should translate into a willingness to pay a higher price. However, building from the tradition of the public purpose of wilderness, attitudes toward fees are likely to be complicated by social and historical factors related to the concept of wilderness as a public good worthy of subsidy. Thus, a number of attitudinal reactions to fees are possible. Some users may be willing to pay fees in order to maintain access to something they value, yet at the same time regard them as philosophically inappropriate. Others may have a long history of use of an area resulting in a sense of personal ownership in conflict with paying fees. Others may perceive a favorite wilderness area as lacking substitutes and willingly pay the new fees. As a way to understand these differing views, this paper examines the relationship between place attachment and attitudes toward fees using data from the 1997 Desolation Wilderness Fees Study.

  • Blahna, Dale J.; Archibald, Kari S. 1997. Backcountry llama packing: what do other wilderness visitors think?. Yellowstone Science Summer: 9-12.
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    Abstract for Blahna, Dale J.; Archibald, Kari S. (1997). Backcountry llama packing: what do other wilderness visitors think?

    A survey of hikers, horseback riders, and commercially outfitted llama clients in the Yellowstone Region of the United States provided insight into issues managers need to address. Hikers who encountered horses and llamas indicated that the physical and social impacts of horses are more problematic than those of llamas. Horseback riders had some serious concerns about social aspects of meeting llamas, but they were even less troubled than hikers about the physical impacts.

  • Cole, David N. 1997. Recreation management priorities are misplaced--allocate more resources to low-use wilderness. International Journal of Wilderness 3(4): 4-8.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1997). Recreation management priorities are misplaced--allocate more resources to low-use wilderness.

    Wildernesses and places within wilderness that receive heavy recreation use typically are allocated the most wilderness management resources. I argue that more resources should be allocated to lightly used wilderness areas because these are the places that are most precious, most vulnerable, and most responsive to management. These resources should be used to monitor conditions and implement management actions where needed to keep these places from degrading.

  • Cole, David N. 1997. Experimental evaluations of two Leave-No-Trace techniques: removing boots and using geotextile groundcloths (scrim). Res. Pap. INT-RP-497. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 7 p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1997). Experimental evaluations of two Leave-No-Trace techniques: removing boots and using geotextile groundcloths (scrim).

    One experiment was designed to compare vegetation impacts when hikers wear lug-soled boots and when they wear lightweight running shoes. A second experiment compared vegetation impacts following trampling with and without a geotextile groundcloth (scrim) in place. Vegetation impacts were greater when hikers wore boots and when the groundcloth was not in place. Differences were small, however, and persisted for less than a year.

  • Cole, David N. 1997. Visitors, conditions, and management options for high-use destination areas in wilderness. In Harmon, David. Making protection work. Proceedings of the Ninth Conference on Research and Resource Management in Parks and on Public Lands; 1997 March 17-21; Albuquerque, New Mexico: The George Wright Society Biennial Conference: 29-35.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1997). Visitors, conditions, and management options for high-use destination areas in wilderness.

    Primary objectives of wilderness recreation management are to protect natural conditions and provide for primitive and unconfined recreation use, with an emphasis on opportunities for solitude experiences. These objectives challenge wilderness managers everywhere, particularly at attractive, high-use destination areas, a short distance from trailheads. To contribute information on how to manage high-use destination, we conducted case studies of six of these areas.

  • Cole, David N., ed. 1997. Solitude: researchers continue to delve into solitude component of wilderness. Signpost for Northwest Trails Jan.: 33-34.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N., ed. (1997). Solitude: researchers continue to delve into solitude component of wilderness

    This article briefly describes research on solitude in general and on management of high-use destination areas in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Problems with allowing use to increase are articulated, as are problems with limiting use. A compromise option is suggested.

  • Cole, David N.; Hammond, Timothy P.; McCool, Stephen F. 1997. Information quantity and communication effectiveness: low-impact messages on wilderness trailside bulletin boards. Leisure Sciences 19: 59-72.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Hammond, Timothy P.; McCool, Stephen F. (1997). Information quantity and communication effectiveness: low-impact messages on wilderness trailside bulletin boards

    This study assessed the attention wilderness visitors gave to environmental messages encouraging low-impact practices posted on trailside bulletin boards at a national wilderness area, the ability of visitors to retain message content, and their ability to correctly identify agency-recommended practices. The number of posted messages was varied from two to eight, as well as whether there was a map posted beside the messages, to assess the effect of information overload when numerous messages were posted. As the number of messages increased, total message attention increased, but the attention devoted to each message and the ability to retain message content declined. This finding helps explain why hikers exposed to all eight messages could not identify any more of the agency-recommended low-impact practices than those exposed to only two messages. Posting a map had no effect on message attention or message content retention.

  • Cole, David N.; Watson, Alan E.; Hall, Troy E.; Spildie, David R. 1997. High-use destinations in wilderness: social and biophysical impacts, visitor responses, and management options. . INT-RP-496. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 30 p. .
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Watson, Alan E.; Hall, Troy E.; Spildie, David R. (1997). High-use destinations in wilderness: social and biophysical impacts, visitor responses, and management options.

    Six high-use destination areas were studied in the Alpine Lakes, Mount Jefferson, and Three Sisters Wildernesses in Washington and Oregon. Exit interviews were conducted with visitors, and recreation impacts and visitor encounter rates between groups were quantified. Encounter rates were extremely high and impacts were substantial but localized. Visitors were more concerned about high impact levels than high encounter rates. Management implications are explored.

  • Corn, Paul Stephen; Jennings, Michael L.; Muths, Erin. 1997. Survey and assessment of amphibian populations in Rocky Mountain National Park. Northwestern Naturalist. 78: 34-55. .
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    Abstract for Corn, Paul Stephen; Jennings, Michael L.; Muths, Erin. (1997). Survey and assessment of amphibian populations in Rocky Mountain National Park

    We conducted surveys in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, for amphibians in 1987-1994. Four species, Ambystoma tigrinum, Bufo boreas, Pseudacris maculata, and Rana sylvatica, were recorded. Pseudacris maculata was the most widely distributed and abundant species in the Park. Two populations of P. maculata were estimated to contain 161 and 136 breeding males in 1988. There was no evidence of a decline of A. tigrinum or R. sylvatica, but these species were found at relatively few locations. We did not detect Rana pipiens, which had been known previously from 3 locations in the Park. We found 7 breeding populations of B. boreas, which has declined recently elsewhere in the southern Rocky Mountains, but all but 2 of these populations were small and may not reproduce annually. At least one of these small populations is thought to have been extirpated. Estimated numbers of males in the 2 large populations, which are 6.4 km apart in the same drainage, were stable or increasing slightly from 1992 to 1995, averaging 189 and 239 individuals. Current and known locations of amphibians did not differ in elevation, size, lake type, presence of shallow water or emergent vegetation on the north shore, or presence of trout. Water chemistry at amphibian breeding sites was variable, but pH decreased significantly with increasing elevation. Causes of declines of B. boreas and R. pipiens are not known. Populations of B. boreas in the North Fork of the Big Thompson River are critically important to the conservation of this species in the Rocky Mountains.

  • Crisafulli, Charles M. 1997. A habitat-based method for monitoring pond-breeding amphibians. In: Olson, Deanna H.; Leonard, William P.; Bury, R. Bruce, eds. 1997. Sampling amphibians in lentic habitats. Olympia, WA: Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology. Northwest Fauna. 4: 83-111.
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    Abstract for Crisafulli, Charles M. (1997). A habitat-based method for monitoring pond-breeding.

    A habitat-based amphibian survey uses a variety of methods to link measures of amphibian community composition, species richness, species relative abundance and/or density with specific habitat features at a monitoring site. The habitat-based sampling methods described in this chapter provide the framework for obtaining a wide variety of information. Investigating associations of amphibian population metrics with a single or a suite of habitat features is the primary reason for pursuing a habitat-based approach, as less laborious methods will provide species composition or relative abundance information. A habitat-based approach is particularly useful for assessing correlated amphibian and habitat responses to site-scale changes, for example, those that may result from natural or anthropogenic disturbances, or succession. Thus, the habitat-based sampling approach described here is best suited for a moderate or intensive monitoring program rather than inventory work. Although the methods described here are particularly well-suited for high-elevation lakes, they may, with some modifications, be useful in other types of aquatic systems.

  • Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Kroese, Elizabeth A.; Anderson, Stanley H.; Wilkins, Charles A. 1997. Does human intrusion alter the seasonal timing of avian song during breeding periods?. The Auk Allen Press, Inc. 114(1): 55-65.
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    Abstract for Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Kroese, Elizabeth A.; Anderson, Stanley H.; Wilkins, Charles A. (1997). Does human intrusion alter the seasonal timing of avian song during breeding periods?

    The seasonal timing of male song during breeding affects the timing of territory establishment, mate attraction, pair formation, egg laying, and transmission of information about breeding songs to young. Thus, alteration of the seasonal timing of song may influence reproductive success and survivorship. Human intrusion has the potential to influence avian singing behavior. Accordingly, we determined whether repeated intrusion affected the seasonal timing of male song for three passerines (Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Dark-eyed Junco) in Wyoming forests. Intrusions involved one person walking through habitats for 1-2 hours or for 5 hours each week for 10 consecutive weeks of each breeding season. For most comparisons, we did not detect a significant difference in the seasonal timing of singing activity between control and intruded sites.

  • Johnson, Laura C.; Wallace, George N.; Mitchell, John E. 1997. Visitor perceptions of livestock grazing in five U.S. wilderness areas--a preliminary assessment. . International Journal of Wilderness 3(2): 14-20 June.
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    Abstract for Johnson, Laura C.; Wallace, George N.; Mitchell, John E. (1997). Visitor perceptions of livestock grazing in five U.S. wilderness areas--a preliminary assessment.

    More than 1,000 visitors to five U.S. Forest Service wilderness areas in the intermountain west were surveyed using on-site interviews and a mail-back questionnaire to determine both site-specific and general perceptions about livestock grazing in designated wilderness and on public lands in general. The proportion of visitors who accepted livestock grazing in wilderness (43%) was similar to the proportion who considered grazing to be unacceptable (40%). Three-quarters of those who accepted grazing, however, predicated their approval on proper management to protect rangeland ecosystems. A majority of the wilderness visitors surveyed reported that direct encounters and livestock impacts detract from a wilderness experience. Results describe the types of impacts that were perceived and the relative acceptability of different types of encounters. Wilderness visitors were more tolerant of grazing on nonwilderness public lands if properly managed to protect ecosystems.

  • Kajala, Liisa; Watson, Alan E 1997. Wilderness--different cultures, different research needs: comparing conflict research needs in Finland and the United States. International Journal of Wilderness (2): 33-36. June.
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    Abstract for Kajala, Liisa; Watson, Alan E (1997). Wilderness--different cultures, different research needs: comparing conflict research needs in Finland and the United States

    Among the highest priorities identified for wilderness management and research in Finland is the conflict between different wilderness interest groups. Finland\'s unique land use history is reflected in its wilderness legislation. A significant difference between U.S. and Finland wilderness issues is how each has prioritized research on conflict issues. In Finland, conflict occurs between recreationists coming from distant locations and local people with local subsistence orientations toward the area, whereas in the United States, the most common conflict that has been studied, and managers struggle to address, is between members of different types of recreation groups. These differences in focus on wilderness conflict have important implications for future research.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N., comps. 1997. Proceedings--Limits of acceptable change and related planning processes: progress and future directions; 1997 May 20-22;Missoula, MT (Lubrecht Experimental Forest). Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-371. Ogden,UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 84 p.
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N., comps. (1997). Limits of Acceptable Change and Related Planning Processes: a Workshop

    Experience with Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) and related planning processes has accumulated since the mid-1980s. These processes were developed as a means of dealing with recreation carrying capacity issues in wilderness and national parks. These processes clearly also have application outside of protected areas and to issues other than recreation management. This proceedings represents an attempt to learn from that experience and suggest means of increasing the future utility of these processes.

  • McEwen, Douglas; Cole, David N. 1997. Campsite impact in wilderness areas. . Parks and Recreation 3(2): 24-32.
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    Abstract for McEwen, Douglas; Cole, David N. (1997). Campsite impact in wilderness areas.

    Wilderness campsites should be re-inventoried. This will show whether the number of sites is increasing or decreasing and whether conditions on individual sites are improving or deteriorating.

  • Muths, Erin; Corn, Paul Stephen. 1997. Basking by adult boreal toads (Bufo boreas boreas) during the breeding season. Journal of Herpetology 31(3): 426-428.
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    Abstract for Muths, Erin; Corn, Paul Stephen. (1997). Basking by adult boreal toads (Bufo boreas boreas) during the breeding season

    Adult boreal toads were observed basking (sitting out of the water in full sun) during the breeding season in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, in 1995. This is unusual behavior, but 1995 had a heavy, late snowpack and breeding was delayed by several weeks. Basking raised body temperatures of toads about 9C. Basking could pose an increased risk of predation, but no evidence was found that this happened.

  • Petersen, Richard R.; Carpenter, Kurt D. 1997. Nutrient limitation in five lakes near Mount St. Helens, Washington. In: Verhandlungen - Proceedings - Travaux of the International Association for Theoretical and Applied Limnology, Congress in Spo Paulo.Stuttgart: Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 26: 377-380.
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    Abstract for Petersen, Richard R.; Carpenter, Kurt D. (1997). Nutrient limitation in five lakes near Mount St. Helens, Washington.

    The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens produced a large pyroclastic flow and a blast zone covered with tephra of varying thickness. Recolonization of the pyroclastic flow and the blast zone by terrestrial vegetation has been influenced by the shortage of nitrogen in the material deposited by the 1980 eruption. Studies of plant-soil interactions indicate that early colonists are influenced by a shortage of nitrogen, but are not limited by phosphorus availability. A variety of evidence suggests that lakes in the blast zone of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens continue to be nitrogen limited. This study assessed the pattern of nitrogen and phosphorus limitation in five lakes in the blast zone13 years after the eruption. The principal method used in this study was based on the enrichment of isolated samples of the lake phytoplankton community incubated in situ.

  • Stewart, William P.; Cole, David N. 1997. Truths about solitude at Grand Canyon. In: Harmon, David. Making protection work. Proceedings of the Ninth Conference on Research and Resource Management in Parks and on Public Lands; 1997 March 17-21; Albuquerque, New Mexico: The George Wright Society Biennial Conference: 21-24.
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  • Taylor, James Y. 1997. Leave only footprints? How backcountry campsite use affects forest structure. . Yellowstone science 5(1-winter): 14-17.
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    Abstract for Taylor, James Y. (1997). Leave only footprints? How backcountry campsite use affects forest structure.

    Camping impacts on forest structure was assessed in Yellowstone National Park. Both tree canopy cover and sapling density were reduced on and around campsites.

  • Watson, Alan; Asp, Charles; Walsh, James; Kulla, Andy 1997. The contribution of research to managing conflict among national forest users. Trends 34(3): 29-35.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Asp, Charles; Walsh, James; Kulla, Andy (1997). The contribution of research to managing conflict among national forest users

    Repeat studies at the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area provided managers with information needed to manage and monitor recreation conflict between users. Research provided managers with information on the extent of conflict, trends in conflict, causes of conflict, options for management, and likely reaction by visitors to various potential solutions. Traditional approaches of describing users based on their method of travel on a single occasion was found to be misleading in drawing conclusions about conflict. Also, in some cases, it is believed that the impacts of management solutions on recreationists\' desirable outcomes may be more negative than the original conflict between user groups. Lower conflict levels should not be the only indication of success of recreation programs.

  • Zabinski, Catherine A.; Gannon, James E. 1997. Effects of recreational impacts on soil microbial communities. Environmental Management 21(2): 233-238.
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    Abstract for Zabinski, Catherine A.; Gannon, James E. (1997). Effects of recreational impacts on soil microbial communities

    The functional diversity of soil microbial communities in heavily impacted subalpine campsites and adjacent undisturbed areas was compared using the Biolog method of carbon utilization profiles. Principal components analysis of patterns and level of microbial activity indicate that microbial communities differentiate in response to disturbance in the top 6 cm of soil, while below 6 cm there were no recognizable differences between disturbed and undisturbed soil communities. Analysis of the factors that differentiate the upper microbial communities between disturbed and undisturbed sites revealed that the percent of total carbon sources utilized was significantly less in the disturbed (54%) than in undisturbed areas (95%). Carbon substrates important in the discrimination between soil communities include plant, invertebrate, and microbial derivatives that could not be metabolized by microbial communities from disturbed sites. Comparisons of total culturable actinomycetes, bacteria, and fungi reveal no difference in overall number of colony forming units (CFU) on disturbed and undisturbed sites, but a marked decrease in actinomycetes on disturbed sites. Biolog and spread-plate data combined indicate a shift in the structure and function of the microbial community in campsite soils, which may be a useful indicator of soil community disturbance.

  • Basman, Cem M.; Manfredo, Michael J.; Barro, Susan C.; Vaske, Jerry J.; Watson, Alan. 1996. Norm accessibility: an exploratory study of backcountry and frontcountry recreational norms. Leisure Sciences 18: 177-191.
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    Abstract for Basman, Cem M.; Manfredo, Michael J.; Barro, Susan C.; Vaske, Jerry J.; Watson, Alan. (1996). Norm accessibility: an exploratory study of backcountry and frontcountry recreational norms

    This study examined the norms that are salient to or accessed by subjects in response to scenes of frontcountry and backcountry settings. Inasmuch as salient norms are more likely to influence behavior, the concept of norm accessibility has utility for recreation and natural resource management. After viewing sets of photographic slides of either frontcountry or backcountry recreation settings, college students completed a questionnaire that elicited salient norms and measured students’ previous experience, knowledge, and frequency of visitation levels with the specific setting. Results suggest that while there seem to be few differences in the norm topics recalled or mean number of norms accessed by respondents in backcountry and frontcountry settings, there was slightly more group agreement in the norms accessed for the backcountry setting. The number of norms recalled by respondents was influenced by previous experience, frequency of contact with the setting, and level of knowledge with the recreational setting. Norm accessibility may be particularly relevant in influencing and predicting behavior of recreationists.

  • Christensen, Norman L.; Bartuska, Ann M.; Brown, James H.; Carpenter, Stephen; D'Antonio, Carla; Francis, Robert; Franklin, Jerry F.; MacMahon, James A.; Noss, Reed F.; Parsons, David J.; Peterson, Charles H.; Turner, Nomica G.; Woodmansee, Robert G. 1996. The report of the Ecological Society of America committee on the scientific basis for ecosystem management. Ecological Applications Ecological Society of America 6(3): 665-691.
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    Abstract for Christensen, Norman L.; Bartuska, Ann M.; Brown, James H.; Carpenter, Stephen; D'Antonio, Carla; Francis, Robert; Franklin, Jerry F.; MacMahon, James A.; Noss, Reed F.; Parsons, David J.; Peterson, Charles H.; Turner, Nomica G.; Woodmansee, Robert G. (1996). The report of the Ecological Society of America committee on the scientific basis for ecosystem management

    Ecosystem management is management driven by explicit goals, executed by policies, protocols, and practices, and made adaptable by monitoring and research based on our best understanding of the ecological interactions and processes necessary to sustain ecosystem composition, structure, and function.

  • Cole, David N. 1996. Wilderness recreation in the United States--trends in use, users, and impacts. International Journal of Wilderness 2(3): 14-18.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1996). Wilderness recreation in the United States--trends in use, users, and impacts

    Recreation use of the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) has increased sixfold since passage of The Wilderness Act in 1964. Use is currently increasing in most designated wilderness areas. However, the wilderness visitors of today, the trips they take, and their management preferences are not very different from those of a decade or two ago. Some of the impacts of recreation use are stable over an 11-year period. Conditions on long-established campsites only deteriorated slightly over 5- to 11-year periods. However, aggregate campsite impact has increased greatly due to dramatic increases in the number of campsites (53 to 123% increases in the wilderness areas studied). These findings suggest that problems with wilderness recreation are pronounced and increasing. More investment by management and commitment to dealing with problems is needed to meet wilderness recreation management goals.

  • Cole, David N. 1996. Wilderness recreation use trends, 1965 through 1994. Res. Pap. INT-RP-488. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station 10p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1996). Wilderness recreation use trends, 1965 through 1994

    Recreation use of wilderness is increasing. Total use of the National Wilderness Preservation System has steadily increased since 1965. In addition, at least one-half of the areas in this wilderness system currently receive more visitation than at any time in the past. Even those areas that were more heavily used in the past are experiencing increased use during the 1990\'s. Recreation use of wilderness is increasing. Total use of the National Wilderness Preservation System has steadily increased since 1965. In addition, at least one-half of the areas in this wilderness system currently receive more visitation than at any time in the past. Even those areas that were more heavily used in the past are experiencing increased use during the 1990\'s.Recreation use of wilderness is increasing. Total use of the National Wilderness Preservation System has steadily increased since 1965. In addition, at least one-half of the areas in this wilderness system currently receive more visitation than at any time in the past. Even those areas that were more heavily used in the past are experiencing increased use during the 1990\'s. Recreation use of wilderness is increasing. Total use of the National Wilderness Preservation System has steadily increased since 1965. In addition, at least one-half of the areas in this wilderness system currently receive more visitation than at any time in the past. Even those areas that were more heavily used in the past are experiencing increased use during the 1990\'s.

  • Cole, David N. 1996. Ecological manipulation in wilderness--an emerging management dilemma. International Journal of Wilderness 2(1): 15-19.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1996). Ecological manipulation in wilderness--an emerging management dilemma

    The 1964 Wilderness Act contains at least three conflicting goals: preservation of natural or pristine conditions, avoidance of intentional ecological manipulation, and provision of opportunities for use. As anthropogenic disturbance of wilderness intensifies, managers must increasingly face the dilemma of choosing between the goals of restoring pristine conditions and avoiding conscious manipulation of ecosystems. At the crux of this dilemma are questions about the value of wilderness as a reference area or baseline and what wilderness should provide a reference to. Several compromise approaches with the potential for partial resolution of this dilemma are offered but more ideas and debate are needed.

  • Cole, David N.; Landres, Peter B. 1996. Threats to wilderness ecosystems: impacts and research needs. Ecological Applications Ecological Society of America 6(1): 168-184.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Landres, Peter B. (1996). Threats to wilderness ecosystems: impacts and research needs

    One of the primary purposes of designated wilderness areas is protection of natural ecosystems. However, the ecological integrity of these most protected of public lands is threatened by direct and indirect effects of human activities both internal and external to wilderness. Accelerated research programs on threats to wilderness are needed to realize the purposes for which wilderness was established and to improve our understanding of natural ecosystems. This paper reviews current knowledge and critical research needs for some of the most significant threats to wilderness ecosystems: (1) recreational use and its management; (2) livestock grazing and its management; (3) fire management; (4) introduction of alien species; (5) diversion and impoundment of water; (6) emission of atmospheric pollutants; and (7) management of adjacent lands. Some of these threats cause highly disruptive localized impacts, whereas some have a more widespread effect. Other threats are highly significant because they threaten rare or irreplaceable ecological attributes. Ecological science needs to be applied to improve evaluations of wilderness conditions, improve efforts to protect wilderness ecosystems from further degradation, and improve efforts to restore the integrity of disturbed systems.

  • Franklin, Jerry F.; Graber, David; Johnson, K. Norman; Fites-Kaufmann, Joann; Menning, Kurt; Parsons, David; Sessions, John; Spies, Thomas A.; Tappeiner, John; Thornburgh, Dale 1996. Alternative approaches to conservation of late-successional forests in the Sierra Nevada and their evaluation. In: ADDENDUM--Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project: Final Report to Congress. Wildland Resources Center Report No. 40. Davis, CA: University of California, Centers for Water and Wildland Resources 53-70.
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    Abstract for Franklin, Jerry F.; Graber, David; Johnson, K. Norman; Fites-Kaufmann, Joann; Menning, Kurt; Parsons, David; Sessions, John; Spies, Thomas A.; Tappeiner, John; Thornburgh, Dale (1996). Alternative approaches to conservation of late-successional forests in the Sierra Nevada and their evaluation

    This report of the working group on late-successional conservation strategies for the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project presents a number of alternative approaches to conservation of old-growth forests in the Sierra Nevada. Six different strategies are evaluated in terms of their effectiveness in maintaining high-quality late-successional/old growth forest ecosystems. Although all of the strategies considered have weaknesses, several are identified that come closest to maximizing benefits.

  • Marion, Jeffrey L.; Cole, David N. 1996. Spatial and temporal variation in soil and vegetation impacts on campsites. Ecological Applications Ecological Society of America 6(2): 520-530.
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    Abstract for Marion, Jeffrey L.; Cole, David N. (1996). Spatial and temporal variation in soil and vegetation impacts on campsites

    We studied the impacts of camping on soil and vegetation at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. We assessed the magnitude of impact on campsites that varied in amount of use and in topographic position. We also evaluated change over a 5-year period on long-established, recently opened, and recently closed campsites, as well as on plots subjected to experimental trampling. Campsite impacts were intense and spatially variable. Amount of use and topographic position explained some of this variation. Soil and vegetation conditions changed rapidly when campsites were initially opened to use and when they were closed to use. Changes were less pronounced on the long-established campsites that remained open to use. In the trampling experiments, impact varied greatly with trampling intensity and between vegetation types. An open-canopy grassland vegetation type was much more resistant to trampling than a forb-dominated forest vegetation type. Campsite impacts increased rapidly with initial disturbance, stabilized with ongoing disturbance, and---in contrast to what has been found in most other studies---decreased rapidly once disturbance was terminated. Implications of these results for campsite management strategies, such as use concentration or dispersal, and rotation or closure of campsites, are discussed.

  • McEwen, Douglas; Cole, David N.; Simon, Mark. 1996. Campsite impacts in four wildernesses in the South-Central United States. INT-RP-490. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station 12p.
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    Abstract for McEwen, Douglas; Cole, David N.; Simon, Mark. (1996). Campsite impacts in four wildernesses in the South-Central United States

    Campsite impacts were studied in four wildernesses in the South-Central United States--Caney Creek, AR, Upper Buffalo, AR, Hercules Glades, MO, and Garden of the Gods, IL. Compared with wildernesses in other regions, campsite densities in these wildernesses are low to moderate, while impact intensities on individual campsites are low. Implications for monitoring procedures, management strategies, and educational programs are suggested.

  • McKelvey, Kevin S.; Skinner, Carl N.; Chang, Chi-ru; Erman, Don C.; Husari, Susan J.; Parsons, David J.; van Wagtendonk, Jan W.; Weatherspoon, C. Phillip. 1996. An overview of fire in the Sierra Nevada. In: Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project: Final Report to Congress, Vol. II. Wildland Resources Center Report No. 40. Davis, CA: University of California, Centers for Water and Wildland Resources 1033 - 1040.
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    Abstract for McKelvey, Kevin S.; Skinner, Carl N.; Chang, Chi-ru; Erman, Don C.; Husari, Susan J.; Parsons, David J.; van Wagtendonk, Jan W.; Weatherspoon, C. Phillip. (1996). An overview of fire in the Sierra Nevada

    This paper reviews the changing role of fire in the Sierra Nevada, from presettlement times to the present. It documents a significant reduction in areal extent of fire in the 20th century. This reduction of fire, coupled with the selective harvest of many large trees, produced forests which today are denser, have higher proportions of young trees, and higher levels of fuel than were present historically. This increase in fuel, coupled with efficient suppression of low and moderate intensity fires, has led to an increase in general fire severity. The paper suggests that extensive modification of forest structure will be necessary to minimize severe fires in the future. It recommends thinning and underburning coupled with strategically placed defensive fuel profile zones where forest structure and fuels are modified to reduce flame length and "spotting" and allow more effective fire suppression.

  • Olson-Rutz, K. M.; Marlow, C. B.; Hansen, K.; Gagnon, L. C.; Rossi, R. J. 1996. Recovery of a high elevation plant community after packhorse grazing. Journal of Range Management Society for Range Management 49: 541-545.
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    Abstract for Olson-Rutz, K. M.; Marlow, C. B.; Hansen, K.; Gagnon, L. C.; Rossi, R. J. (1996). Recovery of a high elevation plant community after packhorse grazing

    The impact of packstock grazing on a dry, upper timberline meadow was evaluated. Horses were picketed on 15 m ropes for different durations, months, and frequencies over 3 summers. Before horse grazing, estimated vegetal, bare soil, litter, rock, and moss cover were estimated; grass and forb plant heights were measured; grass and forb stems per area were counted; and the percentage of plants grazed was determined. These measurements were repeated 1 growing season later. More bare ground and less litter and vegetal cover were recorded 1 year following single 8- or 18-hour grazing events. Single grazing events of 4-hour duration had no effect on cover. Decreases in vegetal cover were associated with reduced stem numbers. Eighteen-hour picket durations reduced subsequent year production of grass and forb stems. The difficulties encountered in this study, including estimates of necessary sample sizes, are discussed to help in the design of future studies.

  • Olson-Rutz, K. M.; Marlow, C. B.; Hansen, K.; Gagnon, L. C.; Rossi, R. J. 1996. Packhorse grazing behavior and immediate impact on a timberline meadow. Journal of Range Management Society for Range Management 49: 546-550.
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    Abstract for Olson-Rutz, K. M.; Marlow, C. B.; Hansen, K.; Gagnon, L. C.; Rossi, R. J. (1996). Packhorse grazing behavior and immediate impact on a timberline meadow

    Recreational packhorse grazing is one of many uses of high elevation wildland meadows. The behavior of horses grazing on an upper timberline meadow in southwestern Montana and the immediate impact on the plant community were quantified. Horses were picketed on 15-m diameter circles for different durations, months, and frequencies over 3 summers. The amount of time horses spent grazing or resting, horse movement while grazing, plant height, and grazed plant frequency before and after grazing were recorded. Grazing was the dominant activity throughout the trial. After an initial 3- to 4-hour feeding bout, horses rested more than walked. Horses grazed a higher percentage of grasses at first but the percentage of forbs grazed increased with increased time on picket. After 18 hours of use, or after repeated use on the same picket circle through the summer, more than 50% of the grasses and 20% of the forbs had been grazed and tallest plant material was less than 12 cm tall. Recreational packhorse management should include previous training (picket grazing experience), limiting time on specific circles to 8 hours or less, and using picket circles only once each season.

  • Parsons, David J.; Botti, Stephen J. 1996. Restoration of fire in national parks. In: Hardy, Colin C.; Arno, Stephen  F., eds. The use of fire in forest restoration. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-341. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station 29-31pp.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J.; Botti, Stephen J. (1996). Restoration of fire in national parks

    The evolution of policies related to the management of fire in U.S. national parks is traced from the efforts to eliminate all fire to recognition of the importance of restoring and maintaining fire as a natural ecological process. Controversies surrounding the 1988 Yellowstone fires set back NPS fire policies by requiring adherence to onerous implementation guidelines. The result has been a decrease in the number of areas with active prescribed natural fire programs, the number of fires permitted to burn, and the total acreage burned. Challenges to the successful restoration of a natural fire program in national parks are addressed.

  • Parsons, David J.; van Wagtendonk, Jan W. 1996. Fire research and management in the Sierra Nevada National Parks. In: Halvorson, William L.; Davis, Gary E., eds. Science and Ecosystem Management in the National Parks. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press 281-294pp.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J.; van Wagtendonk, Jan W. (1996). Fire research and management in the Sierra Nevada National Parks

    This article reviews the history of fire research and its effects on the evolution of fire policy and the development of natural fire management programs in Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks. A review of our understanding of the historic role of fire in Sierra Nevada ecosystems provides the basis for detailing the development of one of the most progressive fire management programs on any federal lands.

  • Riffell, Samuel K.; Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Anderson, Stanley H. 1996. Does repeated human intrusion cause cumulative declines in avian richness and abundance?. Ecological Applications 6(2): 492-505.
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    Abstract for Riffell, Samuel K.; Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Anderson, Stanley H. (1996). Does repeated human intrusion cause cumulative declines in avian richness and abundance?

    Human intrusion, the mere presence of people in the environment, has the potential to cause impacts that accumulate through time and that are manifested as progressive declines in avian richness and abundance. From 1989 to 1993, we experimentally assessed whether or not temporally cumulative impacts occurred in Wyoming bird communities as a result of repeated intrusion by solitary hikers; the intrusions lasted 1-2 h each week during 10 consecutive weeks of each year\'s breeding season. Relative richness and abundance significantly declined between years during the 5-year period. The declines in these variables, however, were not cumulative. The yearly effects we detected for some richness and abundance variables may not have led to cumulative declines because individuals displaced one year may have been replaced in subsequent years, and some individuals each year may have habituated to or learned to tolerate the intrusions.

  • van Wagtendonk, Jan W.; Parsons, David J. 1996. Wilderness research and management in the Sierra Nevada National Parks. In: Halvorson, William L.; Davis, Gary E., eds. Science and Ecosystem Management in the National Parks. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press 281-294pp.
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    Abstract for van Wagtendonk, Jan W.; Parsons, David J. (1996). Wilderness research and management in the Sierra Nevada National Parks

    Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks were among the first wilderness areas to implement use restrictions and active resource and visitor management programs. These programs were based on a long history of scientific research and monitoring, beginning as early as the 1930\'s. This article reviews the history of scientific studies in these Sierran parks and the application of their findings to wilderness management programs.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Hendee, John C.; Zaglauer, Hans P. 1996. Human values and codes of behavior: changes in Oregon's Eagle Cap Wilderness visitors and their attitudes. Natural Areas Journal 16(2): 89-93.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Hendee, John C.; Zaglauer, Hans P. (1996). Human values and codes of behavior: changes in Oregon's Eagle Cap Wilderness visitors and their attitudes

    A study of visitors to Oregon\'s Eagle Cap Wilderness in 1965 offered a baseline against which to evaluate how those who recreate in wilderness have changed their views of wilderness. A study of visitors to that same wilderness area in 1993 provided comparative data. Some characteristics of the visitors changed in ways that would suggest that the values visitors places on wilderness and on the behaviors they would consider appropriate had changed as well. Specifically, visitors were better educated and were more likely to be members of conservation or outdoor recreation organizations. In addition, they were more supportive of actions to maintain the wilderness character of Eagle Cap, and they were more restrictive in the behaviors they considered appropriate in wilderness. Both manager-initiated education efforts and changes in society are believed to contribute to these changes in attitudes.

  • Watson, Alan; Zaglauer, Hans; Stewart, Susan 1996. Activity orientation as a discriminant variable in recreation conflict research. In: Dawson, Chad P., comp. 1996. Proceedings of the 1995 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium; 1995 April 9-11; Saratoga Springs, NY. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-218. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station 103-108pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan; Zaglauer, Hans; Stewart, Susan (1996). Activity orientation as a discriminant variable in recreation conflict research

    The validity of previously used dichotomous measures of activity participation is examined in relation to an index measure incorporating as assessment of cross-activity participation and intensity of involvement in each activity. Not only is this type of orientation measure important to future conflict research, providing a more accurate depiction of the groups in conflict and a more precise opportunity to study contributors to conflict, but the development of more accurate orientation measures may contribute to other types of recreation attitudinal research as well.

  • Blahna, Dale J.; Smith, Kari S.; Anderson, Janet A. 1995. Backcountry llama packing: visitor perceptions of acceptability and conflict. Leisure Sciences 17(3): 185-204.
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    Abstract for Blahna, Dale J.; Smith, Kari S.; Anderson, Janet A. (1995). Backcountry llama packing: visitor perceptions of acceptability and conflict

    There is little research on visitors\' reactions to encountering nontraditional backcountry recreational activities. This paper concerns potential conflicts between llama packers and traditional backcountry visitors. Both on-site and mail questionnaires were completed by 337 visitors at trailheads in the Bechler Meadow region of Yellowstone National Park and the Jedediah Smith Wilderness on the Targhee National Forest. Respondents were asked about past encounters with llamas, perceptions of conflicts and problems resulting from llama use, and attitudes toward five dimensions of social acceptability of llamas: social conflict, safety, physical impacts, managerial equity, and philosophical "appropriateness." About 30% of the respondents at both areas encountered llamas during the trip, and half had encountered llamas during backcountry trips during the past 5 years. Conflicts and problems related to llama use were low in both study areas, though horseback riders were more likely to have concerns than hikers. Llama management should focus on informational and educational approaches rather than simple reliance on designating areas specifically for horse or llama use. Acceptability judgments about nontraditional activities must include estimates of safety and philosophical appropriateness as well as social, environmental, and managerial conditions.

  • Borrie, W.T. and Roggenbuck, J.W. (1995). "Community-based research for an urban recreation application of benefits-based management." in Chavez, Deborah J., (Technical coordinator), Proceedings of Second Symposium on Social Aspects and Recreation Research, February 23-25, 1994, San Diego, California. (pp. 159-163). Gen. Tech Rep. PSW-GTR- 156. Albany, CA : Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; 186p.
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    Abstract for Borrie, W.T. and Roggenbuck, J.W. (1995). Community-based research for an urban recreation application of benefits-based management

    Benefits-based management is an approach to park and recreation management that focuses on the positive outcomes of engaging in recreational experiences. Because one class of possible benefits accrue to the community, a philosophical framework is discussed suggesting that communities are themselves the primary sources, generators, and repositories of knowledge. Communities are valuable sources of information about their own needs, and are important players in benefits-based management. A strategy is described to provide an overview of the needs of two communities within the city of Portland, Oregon, and the usefulness of this information to implementing a benefits-based management approach.

  • Cole, David N. 1995. Recreational trampling experiments: effects of trampler weight and shoe type. Research Note INT-RN-425. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station 4p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1995). Recreational trampling experiments: effects of trampler weight and shoe type

    A standard protocol for conducting experimental trampling studies was developed by David Cole and Neil Bayfield. Two variables that were not standardized in that protocol are the type of shoe worn by tramplers and the weight of tramplers. In a study conducted in four different vegetation types, tramplers wearing lug-soled boots caused significantly more immediate vegetation cover loss than tramplers wearing running shoes. Shoe type had no significant effect on cover loss 1 year after trampling or on vegetation height. Heavier tramplers caused a significantly greater reduction in vegetation height than lighter tramplers, both immediately after trampling and 1 year later. Trampler weight had no significant effect on vegetation cover loss. This suggests that it is important to standardize shoe type and trampler weight in trampling experiments.

  • Cole, David N. 1995. Wilderness management principles: science, logical thinking or personal opinion?. TREND/Wilderness Research 32(1): 6-9.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1995). Wilderness management principles: science, logical thinking or personal opinion?

    This paper argues that many wilderness management principles that are commonly perceived to be derived from science are really derived more from the logical thinking or personal opinion of scientists than from empirical research. Two examples are discussed: (1) direct management techniques should be applied only after indirect techniques and (2) limiting the number of users should be a last resort. Both of these principles contain germs of wisdom but, when strictly adhered to, can cause more problems than they solve. Suggestions for both scientists and managers are offered.

  • Cole, David N. 1995. Experimental trampling of vegetation. I. Relationship between trampling intensity and vegetation response. Journal of Applied Ecology 32: 203-214.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1995). Experimental trampling of vegetation. I. Relationship between trampling intensity and vegetation response

    Experimental trampling was conducted in 18 vegetation types in five separate mountain regions in the United States. Response varied significantly with trampling intensity and vegetation type. For most vegetation types, the relationship between vegetation cover after trampling and trampling intensity was best approximated by a second order polynomial of the form Y = A - BX + CX2. The relationship was linear in a few vegetation types. The curvilinearity of the relationship between trampling intensity and surviving vegetation cover decreased with increases in resistance, tolerance, and species diversity of the vegetation type.

  • Cole, David N. 1995. Experimental trampling of vegetation. II. Predictors of resistance and resilience. Journal of Applied Ecology 32: 215-224.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1995). Experimental trampling of vegetation. II. Predictors of resistance and resilience

    The response of vegetation to trampling is expressed in terms of three indices: resistance, tolerance, and resilience. Plant morphological characteristics explained more of the variation in response to trampling than the site characteristics that were assessed. Resistance was primarily a function of whether plants were chamaephytes, with perennating buds located above the ground surface. Tolerance, which measures the ability of vegetation to withstand a cycle of disturbance and recovery, was correlated more with resilience than resistance.

  • Cole, David N. 1995. Disturbance of natural vegetation by camping: experimental applications of low-level stress. Environmental Management 19(3): 405-416.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1995). Disturbance of natural vegetation by camping: experimental applications of low-level stress

    Previously undisturbed sites in four different vegetation types were camped on for 1 night and for 4 nights. Changes in vegetation cover and vegetation height were measured after camping and 1 year later. Results are presented separately for different campsite zones--parts of the site where campers slept, cooked meals, and stored their packs. Just 1 night of camping was sufficient to cause evident impact in all four vegetation types, although the amount of impact varied significantly between zones and between vegetation types. Vegetation impact on campsites used 4 nights was generally less than twice as severe as impact on the sites used 1 night. The effects of camping on vegetation were also predicted for 12 other vegetation types on the basis of vegetational responses to experimental trampling. These results suggest that impact can almost always be minimized by confining camping to a small number of campsites instead of dispersing use across many campsites.

  • Cole, David N. 1995. Defining fire and wilderness objectives: applying limits of acceptable change. In: Brown, James K.; Mutch, Robert W.; Spoon, Charles W.; Wakimoto, Ronald H., tech. coords. Proceedings: symposium on fire in wilderness and park management; 1995 March 30-April 1; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-320. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station 42-47pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1995). Defining fire and wilderness objectives: applying limits of acceptable change

    The Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) planning process was developed to help define objectives for recreation management in wilderness. This process can be applied to fire in wilderness if its conceptual foundation is broadened. LAC would lead decision makers to identify a compromise between the goal of allowing fire to play its natural role in wilderness and various constraints, such as threats to life and property. Fires would be allowed to burn as prescribed natural fires as long as preestablished criteria related to these constraints were not exceeded.

  • Cole, David N.; Landres, Peter B. 1995. Indirect effects of recreation on wildlife. In: Knight, Richard L.; Gutzwiller, Kevin J., eds. Wildlife and Recreationists--Coexistence Through Management and Research. Washington, DC: Island Press Chapter 11, 183-202.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Landres, Peter B. (1995). Indirect effects of recreation on wildlife

    Provides a broad overview of the indirect influences that recreation has on wildlife. Recreational activities can change the habitat of an animal. This, in turn, affects the behavior, survival, reproduction, and distribution of individuals. Although more difficult to isolate and study, these indirect impacts may be as serious and long lasting as direct impacts for many species.

  • Cole, David N.; Watson, Alan E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. 1995. Trends in wilderness visitors and Visits: Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Shining Rock, and Desolation Wildernesses. Res. Pap. INT-RP-483.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Watson, Alan E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. (1995). Trends in wilderness visitors and Visits: Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Shining Rock, and Desolation Wildernesses

    Changes in wilderness visitors were studied over 12- to 21-year periods in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, MN, Shining Rock, NC, and Desolation, CA. Only five of the 83 variables assessed changed consistently in all wildernesses. Visitor age and educational attainment increased, as did the proportion of visitors who were female and who had been to other wildernesses. Visitor evaluations of litter in the wilderness also improved. Typical wilderness visits were relatively unchanged, as were visitor preferences for wilderness conditions and management.

  • Hammitt, William E.; Rutlin, William M. 1995. Use encounter standards and curves for achieved privacy in wilderness. Leisure Sciences 17(4): 245-262.
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    Abstract for Hammitt, William E.; Rutlin, William M. (1995). Use encounter standards and curves for achieved privacy in wilderness

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between wilderness use encounters and degree of privacy achieved at three locations within a wilderness. The theoretical perspective of the research was grounded in environmental psychology, which emphasized the dynamic nature of person and situation fit, rather than the sociology of normative behavior. The study depicted privacy as a dependent measure and argued that privacy is not the opposite of perceived crowding. It also suggested that privacy may be a more appropriate dependent variable for encounter studies than those measures used in past recreation research. Privacy was operationalized as "the level of desired privacy achieved," measured on a 10-point scale. It was then compared with level of actual, ideal, and maximum use encounters for 600 users of a South Carolina wilderness area. Results indicated that number of actual group encounters was inversely related to degree of desired privacy achieved, in the hypothesized inverse curve pattern anticipated but never proved for satisfaction research. Encounter-privacy curves for ideal and maximum encounter levels also resulted in predicted patterns. Finally, degree of privacy achieved was negatively affected when ideal and maximum encounters were exceeded by actual encounters, showing a high degree of congruency between theorized and empirical findings.

  • Knight, Richard L. ; Cole, David N. 1995. Wildlife responses to recreationists In: Knight, Richard L.; Gutzwiller, Kevin J., eds. Wildlife and recreationists--coexistence through management and research Island Press: Washington, DC Chapter 4: 51-69. 
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    Abstract for Knight, Richard L. ; Cole, David N. (1995). Wildlife responses to recreationists

    This book chapter reviews the adverse effects of recreation on wildlife. It provides a conceptual model of the most common recreational disturbances and a hierarchy of wildlife response to those disturbances. It also describes what is known about the effects of a wide variety of recreational pursuits on wildlife.

  • Knight, Richard L.; Cole, David N. 1995. Factors that influence wildlife responses to recreationists In: Knight, Richard L.; Gutzwiller, Kevin J., eds. Wildlife and recreationists--coexistence through management and research Island Press: Washington, DC Chapter 5: 71-79. 
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    Abstract for Knight, Richard L.; Cole, David N. (1995). Factors that influence wildlife responses to recreationists

    A number of factors influence the nature and severity of recreational impacts to wildlife. This book chapter describes two broad classes of influential factors: (1) characteristics of the recreational disturbance and (2) characteristics of the affected animals.

  • Landres, Peter B. 1995. The role of ecological monitoring in managing wilderness. TREND/Wilderness Research 32(1): 10-13.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter B. (1995). The role of ecological monitoring in managing wilderness

    The role ecological monitoring plays in protecting and preserving wilderness character, and improving wilderness management, is discussed. Three major topics are examined in detail: monitoring goals, what to monitor, and emerging issues related to monitoring. In wilderness, monitoring is essential for determining the effectiveness of management programs and for increasing our knowledge about wilderness systems. There is a plethora of attributes that could be monitored, and six criteria are discussed that all influence the choice of attributes to monitor. These criteria include ecological value, management impact, management uncertainty, administrative needs, administrative support, and external pressures. Emerging issues that are discussed include standardization across wildernesses, uncertainty of monitoring ecosystems, new management concepts and tools, and the importance of using foresight and expecting surprise.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Watson, Alan E., comps. 1995. Linking tourism, the environment, and sustainability. Gen.Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-323. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station .
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Watson, Alan E., comps. (1995). Linking tourism, the environment, and sustainability

    Tourism is an industry of global significance. It is one of the world’s largest industries and has become more attractive as a relatively quick generator of foreign exchange or income to local areas. The issues of sustainability, integration with ecosystem management, and impacts on local quality of life must receive attention by the tourism industry, by governments, and by the general populace. The papers in this volume were presented during the 1994 Leisure Research Symposium, National Parks and Recreation Association Annual Congress, at a special session entitled "Linking Tourism, the Environment, and Concepts of Sustainability."

  • Parsons, David J. 1995. Restoring fire to giant sequoia groves: what have we learned in 25 years?. In: Brown, James K.; Mutch, Robert W.; Spoon, Charles W.; Wakimoto, Ronald H., tech. coords. Proceedings: symposium on fire in wilderness and park management; 1995 March 30-April 1; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-320. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station 256-258pp.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (1995). Restoring fire to giant sequoia groves: what have we learned in 25 years?

    Giant sequoia ecosystems are well adapted to periodic fire. Fire suppression following the 1890 creation of Sequoia and General Grant (later to become Kings Canyon) National Parks represents the longest fire-free interval in the sequoia groves of the Sierra Nevada for at least the last several thousand years. Recognition of the effects of fire suppression on inhibiting sequoia reproduction, increasing hazardous fuel accumulations, and generally changing forest structure led to the implementation in 1968 of a prescribed burning program in the sequoia-mixed conifer forests of the two Parks. This program has been accompanied by an extensive research effort designed to improve both our understanding of the historical role of fire and the effects of varying fire frequencies and intensities on ecosystem properties.

  • Shafer, C. Scott; Hammitt, William E. 1995. Purism revisited: specifying recreational conditions of concern according to resource intent. Leisure Sciences 17: 15-30.
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    Abstract for Shafer, C. Scott; Hammitt, William E. (1995). Purism revisited: specifying recreational conditions of concern according to resource intent

    Understanding differences in recreational users, activities, and resource choices is essential to balanced management of outdoor recreation resources. Measures of purism (one’s attitudinal orientation toward an ideal) facilitate this understanding for wilderness recreation but have been superseded by the related concept of recreation specialization. Purism is revisited to determine if it is still useful in understanding differences in recreationists. Stankey’s (1972) Purism scale and specific wilderness condition measures were administered by questionnaire to recreational users of a designated wilderness. Results indicated that purism was significantly related to different levels of concern for wilderness condition domains defined as human impacts, natural features, solitude, management confinement, and primitive travel conditions. It was concluded that measuring the alignment of one’s attitudes with intended resources and their use is essential to understanding attitudinal aspects of recreational experiences and aids recreation management in wilderness.

  • Shafer, C. Scott; Hammitt, William E. 1995. Congruency among experience dimensions, condition indicators, and coping behaviors in wilderness. Leisure Sciences 17(4): 263-279.
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    Abstract for Shafer, C. Scott; Hammitt, William E. (1995). Congruency among experience dimensions, condition indicators, and coping behaviors in wilderness

    Understanding the way that policy translates into experiences, perceptions, and behaviors is important to managing recreation in wilderness. The limits of acceptable change (LAC) planning system was used to structure a relationship between three constructs: experience dimensions (goals), conditions of concern (condition indicators), and coping behaviors (actions) in wilderness recreation. The Wilderness Act of 1964 served as a conceptual basis, providing five descriptors: natural, solitude, primitive, unconfined, and remote; these were used to develop experience, condition, and behavior measures. Recreationists from two wildernesses in the southeastern United States were sampled and asked to participate in a mail survey. Results indicated that wilderness experience dimensions existed that reflected the five descriptors, and that these dimensions were congruent with the constructs representing perceived conditions and coping behaviors. Natural and solitude aspects of the recreational experience were most significant in the relationships among constructs. Results suggest that recreationists use behaviors to control and manage conditions, and thus their experience, in wilderness.

  • Watson, Alan E. 1995. Opportunities for solitude in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Northern Journal of Applied Forestry 12(1): 12-18.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (1995). Opportunities for solitude in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

    Recreation visitors to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota were surveyed to examine the effects of a Forest Service proposal to reduce the number of entrance permits in hopes of increasing opportunities for solitude and reducing resource damage. Results suggest that: (1) reducing recreation-use limits will benefit a portion of the overnight visitors who reported difficulty finding an unoccupied campsite; (2) solitude opportunities can be meaningfully described by comparing visitor encounter levels with visitor tolerance for encounters; and (3) the least number of daily encounters rather than the average number may be the most useful evaluation criteria in determining if solitude opportunities exist. Furthermore, while minimal opportunities for solitude must be provided to meet the mandate of the Wilderness Act, understanding visitor preferences can help determine the quality of wilderness recreation opportunities.

  • Watson, Alan E. 1995. An analysis of recent progress in recreation conflict research and perceptions of future challenges and opportunities. Leisure Sciences 17(3): 235-238.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (1995). An analysis of recent progress in recreation conflict research and perceptions of future challenges and opportunities

    This is the closing article in a Special Issue of Leisure Sciences on recreation conflict. The compilation of the articles into this special issue represents the latest thoughts of those involved in recreation conflict research. While the major contributions of the papers in this special issue are many, this summary paper discusses four major areas: (1) extension of recreation conflict research into new conflict areas, (2) introduction of new terminology and concepts into previously established lines of conflict research, (3) introduction of new conflict measures, and (4) expansion of theoretical approaches.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Cole, David N.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. 1995. Trends in wilderness recreation use characteristics. In: Thompson, Jerrilyn Lavarre; Lime, David W.; Gartner, Bill; Sames, Wayne M., comps. Proceedings of the Fourth International Outdoor Recreation & Tourism Trends Symposium and the 1995 National Recreation Resources Planning Conference; 1995 May 14-17; St. Paul, MN. St. Paul, MN: The University of Minnesota 68-71pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Cole, David N.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. (1995). Trends in wilderness recreation use characteristics

    Recent studies at the Leopold Institute have included analyses of use and user trends at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Desolation Wilderness, Shining Rock Wilderness, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Eagle Cap Wilderness. Some sociodemographics, like age, education, and the proportion of female visitors, have changed substantially without shifts in kinds of trips or preferences for conditions encountered. At the Eagle Cap Wilderness, visitors also showed a deeper commitment to wilderness and more purist attitudes toward appropriate behaviors in wilderness.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Kajala, Liisa 1995. Intergroup conflict in wilderness: balancing opportunities for experience with preservation responsibility. In: Sippola, Anna-Liisa; Alaraudanjoki, Pirjo; Forbes, Bruce; Hallikainen, Ville, eds. Northern Wilderness Areas: Ecology, Sustainability, Values; International Conference on Northern Wilderness Areas; 1994 December 7-9; Rovaniemi, Finland. Rovaniemi, Finland: University of Lapland, Arctic Centre The Arctic Centre 251-270pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Kajala, Liisa (1995). Intergroup conflict in wilderness: balancing opportunities for experience with preservation responsibility

    In contrast with the days of the early explorers, when wilderness travel in America was predominantly a solitary activity, the wilderness resource is now shared among many interests. Interaction among these various interests leads to varied amounts of conflict. Studies in the United States, conducted in multiple National Wilderness Preservation System units, across geographic regions and across agencies, closely examine the role of behavioral and attitudinal contributors to conflict between hikers and recreational packstock users as a case study conflict situation. A survey of previous literature indicates a lack of consistency in measurement of conflict in past studies. Results from five related studies suggest there are portions of conflict which can be addressed using light-handed, indirect methods such as education and persuasive communication to change behaviors or attitudes of visitors on either side of the conflict. Some contributors to conflict may be better addressed through more direct methods involving regulation and restrictions. Factors besides the conflict between recreational users must be considered in selection of management actions, however. In addition to quality of visitor experiences, preservation and scientific values of wilderness must also enter the decision about appropriate management actions.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Niccolucci, Michael J. 1995. Conflicting goals of wilderness management: natural conditions vs. natural experiences. In: Chavez, Deborah J., tech. coord. Proceedings of the second symposium on social aspects and recreation research; 1994 February 23-25; San Diego, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-156. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station 11-15pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Niccolucci, Michael J. (1995). Conflicting goals of wilderness management: natural conditions vs. natural experiences

    Beliefs and attitudes underlying wilderness visitors\' support for use restrictions were studied. Some evidence shows that in overused places visitors cite both protection of the resource and the wilderness experience as reasons for supporting restrictions. The research reported here provides the opportunity to assess the relative contribution of each of these reasons, and others, to visitor support for use restrictions at three wildernesses in Oregon. Support for reducing the total amount of use was best predicted by crowding measures for day visitors and by a combination of crowding and physical environment impact (dominated by physical impacts) for overnight users. This knowledge has implications for other situations involving conflicting demands on natural resources.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Williams, Daniel R. 1995. Priorities for human experience research in wilderness. TREND/Wilderness Research 32(1): 14-18.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Williams, Daniel R. (1995). Priorities for human experience research in wilderness

    A strategy for improving wilderness monitoring developed by Cole, Landres, and Watson emphasizes wilderness protection monitoring. This paper clarifies how recreation has been treated as a threat to wilderness in the past and how this threat is changing. A broadened array of wilderness attributes that are threatened by recreation use and its management are discussed, and the expanded list of forces which threaten human experiences in wilderness are presented. The purpose of this discussion is to establish a framework for human experience research in wilderness.

  • Cole, David N. 1994. Backcountry impact management: lessons from research. Backcountry Recreation Management/Trends 31(3): 10-14.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1994). Backcountry impact management: lessons from research

    This paper summarizes 50 years of recreation impact research and its application to management of backcountry. Particular attention is given to the results of studies that follow conditions over time and that assess the influence of explanatory variables (frequency of use, type and behavior of use, season of use, environmental conditions, and spatial distribution of use) on impact.

  • Cole, David N. 1994. The wilderness threats matrix: a framework for assessing impacts. Res. Pap. INT-475. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 14p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1994). The wilderness threats matrix: a framework for assessing impacts

    A comprehensive framework for assessing threats to wilderness is described. The framework is represented as a matrix of potential threats and attributes of wilderness character. Cells in the matrix represent the impacts of threats on each attribute. Potential applications of the matrix are described. An application of the matrix to the wildernesses in the Forest Service\'s Northern Region (northern Idaho and Montana) suggests that fire management is the most significant threat to those wildernesses and that aquatic systems are the most threatened wilderness attribute.

  • Daigle, John J.; Watson, Alan E.; Haas, Glenn E. 1994. National forest trail users: planning for recreation opportunities. Res. Pap. NE-685. Radnor, PA: USDA For. Serv., Northeastern Forest Exper. Stn. 13p.
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    Abstract for Daigle, John J.; Watson, Alan E.; Haas, Glenn E. (1994). National forest trail users: planning for recreation opportunities

    National forest trail users in four geographical regions of the United States are described based on participation in clusters of recreation activities. Visitors are classified into day hiking, undeveloped recreation, and two developed camping and hiking activity clusters for the Appalachian, Pacific, Rocky Mountain, and Southwestern regions. Distance and time traveled to national forest sites from home varied for activity clusters. Length of time at the site varied across activity clusters. Recreation activities combined with home range allows for assessing relative availability of, and demand for, different types of place- related opportunities and experiences users seek within a particular region.

  • Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Wiedenmann, Richard T.; Clements, Krista L.; Anderson, Stanley H. 1994. Effects of human intrusion on song occurrence and singing consistency in subalpine birds. The Auk Allen Press 111(1); 28-37.
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    Abstract for Gutzwiller, Kevin J.; Wiedenmann, Richard T.; Clements, Krista L.; Anderson, Stanley H. (1994). Effects of human intrusion on song occurrence and singing consistency in subalpine birds

    Experiments were conducted to assess whether human intrusions influenced the occurrence and consistency of primary song in breeding subalpine birds. Intrusions involved one person who walked through a site for 1 or 2 hours. Singing by a number of species did not appear to be influenced by intrusion. For several species, however, song occurrence and singing consistency were higher on control sites than on intruded sites, indicating intrusion reduced singing activity. Because song is essential in territory defense, mate acquisition, and in other reproductive activities, levels of intrusion that alter normal singing behavior have the potential to lower the reproductive fitness of males that are sensitive to this form of disturbance.

  • Hammitt, William 1994. The psychology and functions of wilderness solitude. In: Hendee, John C.; Martin, Vance G., eds. International Wilderness Allocation, Management, and Research. Fort Collins, CO: International Wilderness Leadership (WILD) Foundation 227-233pp.
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    Abstract for Hammitt, William (1994). The psychology and functions of wilderness solitude

    This paper presents two psychological measurement scales that were developed and field tested for the purposes of: (1) identifying and understanding the cognitive dimensions of wilderness solitude/privacy and (2) exploring the functions that solitude/privacy serve in wilderness environments. Both the scale items and field test results will be summarized and interpreted in hope that other wilderness researchers around the world might make future use of the scales.

  • Hollenhorst, Steve; Frank, Ernest, III; Watson, Alan. 1994. The capacity to be alone: wilderness solitude and growth of the self. In: Hendee, John C.; Martin, Vance G., eds. International Wilderness Allocation, Management, and Research. Fort Collins, CO: International Wilderness Leadership (WILD) Foundation 234-239pp.
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    Abstract for Hollenhorst, Steve; Frank, Ernest, III; Watson, Alan. (1994). The capacity to be alone: wilderness solitude and growth of the self

    This paper explores, through literature review and survey research, the meaning and structure of solitude as a benefit of the wilderness experience. The findings suggest the capacity to realize positive benefit from wilderness solitude is hierarchical in structure; from physical renewal at the lower end to self-discovery and self-realization at the highest levels. This capacity for personal growth appears to be positively related to wilderness involvement and commitment. A weak or nonexistent relationship existed between the level of wilderness solitude benefit achieved and the physical/social characteristics of the setting. Paradoxically, although wilderness solitude was positively perceived and highly valued, people rarely go alone into wilderness. While a partial explanation can be found in concern for personal safety, evidence also suggests fear of loneliness, along with the overwhelming importance placed on developing intimate relationships at the expense of the need to be alone. Management implications are also discussed.

  • Landres, Peter; Cole, David; Watson, Alan. 1994. A monitoring strategy for the National Wilderness Preservation System. In: Hendee, John C.; Martin, Vance G., eds. International Wilderness Allocation, Management, and Research. Fort Collins, CO: International Wilderness Leadership (WILD) Foundation 192-197pp.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter; Cole, David; Watson, Alan. (1994). A monitoring strategy for the National Wilderness Preservation System

    A broad, comprehensive monitoring strategy is developed. This strategy begins by describing a conceptual model of what to monitor in wilderness. Three broad areas are defined for monitoring. First, wilderness management monitoring includes "protection" monitoring to assess the impact of potential threats on attributes of wilderness character, and "use" monitoring to assess how well agencies are providing public services in wilderness. Second, wilderness reference monitoring is to improve the acquisition and use of knowledge from wilderness to detect subtle and long-term ecological changes and to improve management of natural resources on non-wilderness lands. And third, national system monitoring provides information to policy makers on the status and trends in the National System. The strategic process for developing monitoring direction is based on the interaction between managers and scientists in an iterative fashion to provide guidance and direction on monitoring to wilderness managers.

  • Parsons, David J. 1994. Objects or ecosystems? Giant Sequoia management in national parks. In: Aune, Philip S., tech. coord. Proceedings of the symposium on giant sequoias: their place in the ecosystem and society; 1992 June 23-25; Visalia, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-151. Albany, CA: USDAFS Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station 109-115pp.
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    Abstract for Parsons, David J. (1994). Objects or ecosystems? Giant Sequoia management in national parks

    Policies and programs aimed at protecting giant sequoia in the national parks of the Sierra Nevada have evolved from the protection of individual trees to the preservation of entire ecosystems. We now recognize that the long-term preservation of giant sequoia depends on our ability to minimize and mitigate the influences of human activities. National Park Service management strategies for giant sequoia focus on the restoration of native ecosystem processes. This includes the use of prescribed fire to simulate natural ignitions as well as the movement of visitor facilities out of the groves. Basic research is being carried out to improve our understanding of the factors influencing giant sequoia reproduction, growth, and survival. Future management decisions must recognize that giant sequoia are only part of a complex ecosystem; they cannot be managed as objects in isolation of their surroundings.

  • Patterson, Michael; Williams, Daniel; Scherl, Lea. 1994. Identity and the experience of wilderness: analysis of experience narratives from Australia and the United States. In: Hendee, John C.; Martin, Vance G., eds. International Wilderness Allocation, Management, and Research. Fort Collins, CO: International Wilderness Leadership (WILD) Foundation 240-246pp.
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    Abstract for Patterson, Michael; Williams, Daniel; Scherl, Lea. (1994). Identity and the experience of wilderness: analysis of experience narratives from Australia and the United States

    The goal of this paper was to outline a specific hermeneutic research program for exploring the relationship between recreationalists and wilderness settings. Because many readers are unfamiliar with a hermeneutic approach to science, a brief discussion of its normative commitments is included. Hermeneutics is not offered as a substitute or replacement for past approaches to wilderness research in the leisure discipline. It should be viewed as a complement to the existing approaches to research.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Cronn, Richard. 1994. How previous experience relates to visitors' perceptions of wilderness conditions. Backcountry Recreation Management/Trends 31(3): 43-46.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Cronn, Richard. (1994). How previous experience relates to visitors' perceptions of wilderness conditions

    This article considers data from recent studies in Minnesota and California, in two different types of wilderness, to see how previous experience at a wilderness relates to how visitors evaluate conditions they encounter. Visitor perceptions of social and resource impact conditions are examined. Generally, visitors with a more extensive history of visiting these two wildernesses perceived more social and resource impact problems, and there were differences in the extent of problems reported by day and overnight visitors.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Niccolucci, Michael J.; Williams, Daniel R. 1994. The nature of conflict between hikers and recreational stock users in the John Muir Wilderness. Journal of Leisure Research 26(4): 372-385.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Niccolucci, Michael J.; Williams, Daniel R. (1994). The nature of conflict between hikers and recreational stock users in the John Muir Wilderness

    This research was to determine the extent of conflict between hikers and recreational stock users in a Sierra Nevada wilderness and to test the relative importance of various hypothetical predictors of conflict using multiple conflict measures. A survey of hikers and recreational stock users of the John Muir Wilderness in California revealed the ability to predict expression of conflict was high using measures of definition of place, specialization, focus of trip/expectations, and lifestyle tolerance. The strongest relationship, however, was between hypothesized determinants and attitudes hikers maintain toward encountering stock groups, rather than between hypothesized determinants and a goal interference measure of conflict.

  • Wilson, John P.; Seney, Joseph P. 1994. Erosional impact of hikers, horses, motorcycles, and off-road bicycles on mountain trails in Montana. Mountain Research and Development University of California Press Berkley 14(1): 77-88.
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    Abstract for Wilson, John P.; Seney, Joseph P. (1994). Erosional impact of hikers, horses, motorcycles, and off-road bicycles on mountain trails in Montana

    This study examined the relative impact of hikers, horses, motorcycles, and off-road bicycles in terms of water runoff and sediment yield from 108 sample plots on existing trails in or near Gallatin National Forest, Montana. A modified Meeuwig drip-type rainfall simulator was used to reproduce natural rainstorm events. Treatments of 100 passes were applied to each plot. The results confirmed the complex interactions that occur between topographic, soil, and geomorphic variables noted by others, and the difficulty of interpreting their impact on existing trails. None of the hypothesized relationships between water runoff and slope, soil texture, antecedent soil moisture, trail roughness, and soil resistance was statistically significant. Five independent variables of cross-products explained 42% of the variability in sediment yield when soil texture was added as a series of indicator variables. Ten variables combined to explain 70% of the variability in sediment yield when trail user was added as a second series of indicator variables. Terms incorporating soil texture, slope, and user treatment accounted for the largest contributions. Multiple comparisons test results showed that horses and hikers (hooves and feet) made more sediment available than wheels (motorcycles and off-road bicycles) and that this effect was most pronounced on prewetted trails.

  • Cole, David N. 1993. Minimizing conflict between recreation and nature conservation. In: Smith, D.S.,; Hellmund, P.C., eds. Ecology of greenways: design and function of linear conservation areas. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press 105-122pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1993). Minimizing conflict between recreation and nature conservation

    Most greenways are created with multiple goals in mind. Two of the foremost are providing recreational opportunities and conserving nature. Although these two goals frequently enhance each other, sometimes pursuing both simultaneously can result in conflicts. In some cases, recreational use can so severely degrade an area that not only is the environment damaged but the quality of the recreational experience itself is diminished. This chapter explores various ways of reducing the conflict between recreational use and nature conservation. The chapter begins with an overview of the impacts of recreation on natural environments and the factors that influence the severity of these impacts. These factors--whether characteristics of recreational use or of the environment--suggest a number of alternative design strategies for managing impacts. A case study illustrates how a range of design and management strategies have been adapted to a specific situation. Finally, practical guidelines for design and management of greenways are proposed.

  • Cole, David N. 1993. Campsites in three western wildernesses: proliferation and changes in condition over 12 to 16 years. Res. Pap. INT-463. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 15p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1993). Campsites in three western wildernesses: proliferation and changes in condition over 12 to 16 years

    Changes in the number and condition of campsites were monitored for 12 to 16 years in portions of the Lee Metcalf, Selway-Bitterroot, and Eagle Cap Wildernesses. The number of campsites increased by 53 to 123 percent, indicating that campsite impacts have increased greatly. Suggestions for reducing campsite impacts are provided.

  • Cole, David N. 1993. Wilderness recreation management: we need more than bandages and toothpaste. Journal of Forestry 91(2): 22-24.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1993). Wilderness recreation management: we need more than bandages and toothpaste

    Wilderness management focuses too often on symptoms rather than underlying problems. Management also suffers from a tendency to focus on individual problems and places without considering the broader context. Consequently, unexpected problems often pop up in unexpected places. This paper provides examples of these problems and concludes that we need to increase investment in planning, knowledge, and monitoring to complement on-the-ground implementation programs.

  • Cole, David N. 1993. Trampling effects on mountain vegetation in Washington, Colorado, New Hampshire, and North Carolina. Res. Pap. INT-464. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 56p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1993). Trampling effects on mountain vegetation in Washington, Colorado, New Hampshire, and North Carolina

    Experimental trampling simulating hiking was conducted in 16 vegetation types around the country. Changes in vegetation cover and height, species richness (the number of species), and species composition were quantified. Some vegetation types were 25 to 30 times more resistant to trampling than others. Physiognomic characteristics of abundant species were the best predictor of vegetation type response. Management implications of findings are explored.

  • Cole, David N.; Bayfield, Neil G. 1993. Recreational trampling of vegetation: standard experimental procedures. Biological Conservation 63: 209-215.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Bayfield, Neil G. (1993). Recreational trampling of vegetation: standard experimental procedures

    In order to promote an increased ability to compare results from different studies, a standard protocol for controlled trampling experiments is suggested. The procedure will provide information on both damage to vegetation in response to short-duration trampling and subsequent recovery over a one-year period. Changes in vegetation cover, vegetation, height, bare ground cover, and the cover of individual species can be assessed. It is designed to be efficient both in area and in time requirements. Each vegetation type to be examined will require a total area of about 30 m2; treatments and measurements will require about three to four person-days of time. The protocol was developed after extensive trials and discussion in the USA and UK. It can be applied in a wide variety of vegetation types.

  • Doucette, Joseph E.; Cole, David N. 1993. Wilderness visitor education: information about alternative techniques. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-295. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 37p.
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    Abstract for Doucette, Joseph E.; Cole, David N. (1993). Wilderness visitor education: information about alternative techniques

    This report summarizes existing information about alternative techniques managers use to educate wilderness visitors. Managers of nearly all designated wilderness areas were surveyed to assess the status and perceived effectiveness of current information and education programs. Each technique is described in detail, including information about production, cost, maintenance, training, and the personnel time required. Tips are provided for effective use of the techniques.

  • Hammitt, William E.; Patterson, Michael E. 1993. Use patterns and solitude preferences of shelter campers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U.S.A. Journal of Environmental Management 38: 43-53.
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    Abstract for Hammitt, William E.; Patterson, Michael E. (1993). Use patterns and solitude preferences of shelter campers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U.S.A.

    Visitor use management in wildland recreation areas depends on visitor use and preference information about various types of users. This study reports on the user characteristics, use patterns, and encounter preferences of backcountry shelter campers. Results are discussed and compared with similar data reported for backcountry areas in the southeast and western U.S.

  • McClaran, Mitchel P.; Cole, David N. 1993. Packstock in wilderness: use, impacts, monitoring, and management. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-301. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 33p.
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    Abstract for McClaran, Mitchel P.; Cole, David N. (1993). Packstock in wilderness: use, impacts, monitoring, and management

    Information about packstock use in wilderness is summarized. The results of a survey of managers of all wilderness areas are presented. Sections describe: the amount and composition of packstock use in wilderness, impacts associated with packstock use, methods for monitoring impacts caused by packstock, techniques for managing packstock in wilderness, examples of packstock management programs, and research needs.

  • Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Williams, Daniel R.; Watson, Alan E. 1993. Defining acceptable conditions in wilderness. Environmental Management 17(2): 187-197.
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    Abstract for Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Williams, Daniel R.; Watson, Alan E. (1993). Defining acceptable conditions in wilderness

    The limits of acceptable change (LAC) planning framework recognizes that forest managers must decide what indicators of wilderness conditions best represent resource naturalness and high-quality visitor experiences and how much change from the pristine is acceptable for each indicator. Visitor opinions on the aspects of the wilderness that have great impact on their experience can provide valuable input to selection of indicators. Cohutta, GA, Caney Creek, AR, Upland Island, TX, and Rattlesnake, MT, wilderness visitors have high shared agreement that littering and damage to trees in campsites, noise, and seeing wildlife are very important influences on wilderness experience. Camping within sight or sound of other people influences experience quality more than do encounters on the trails. Visitors’ standards of acceptable conditions within wilderness vary considerably, suggesting a potential need to manage different zones within wilderness for different clientele groups and experiences. Standards across wildernesses, however, are remarkably similar.

  • Watson, Alan E. 1993. Characteristics of visitors without permits compared to those with permits at the Desolation Wilderness, California. Res. Note INT-414. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 7p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (1993). Characteristics of visitors without permits compared to those with permits at the Desolation Wilderness, California

    At the Desolation Wilderness a sample of visitors without the required use permit were asked to complete a short survey to allow them to be compared with visitors who had gotten permits. Previous research suggested that those without permits would be less experienced at the site, and be more likely to be anglers, on shorter visits, younger, in smaller groups, or with friends than visitors who had gotten permits. Some, but not all, of these earlier findings were true for the Desolation Wilderness. Additionally, visitors with permits were similar to those without permits for some important characteristics, including level of support for limiting day use, suggested party size limits, the proportion belonging to conservation groups, and the number of years since they first visited the Desolation Wilderness.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Niccolucci, Michael J.; Williams, Daniel R. 1993. Hikers and recreational stock users: predicting and managing recreation conflicts in three wilderness. Res. Pap. INT-468. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 35p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Niccolucci, Michael J.; Williams, Daniel R. (1993). Hikers and recreational stock users: predicting and managing recreation conflicts in three wilderness

    Visitors to National Forest wildernesses in California and Indiana and to a National Park Service wilderness in California were surveyed in 1990 and 1991 to study the conflict between hikers and recreational stock users. Hikers\' values for wilderness and their perceptions of horse users can predict with more than 80 percent success whether they will experience conflict when they encounter horses in wilderness. While educational messages may help reduce conflict between these two groups of visitors, failure to reduce the number of encounters that create conflict, or horse-related impacts, may force managers to adopt more severe restrictions on horse use.

  • Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. 1992. Trends in campsite condition: Eagle Cap Wilderness, Bob Marshall Wilderness, and Grand Canyon National Park. Res. Pap. INT-453. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 40p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Hall, Troy E. (1992). Trends in campsite condition: Eagle Cap Wilderness, Bob Marshall Wilderness, and Grand Canyon National Park

    Trends in campsite condition were followed over a period of 5 to 11 years. The overall trend in condition on established campsites was one of slight deterioration. The impact parameters that deteriorated the most were campsite area, mineral soil exposure, and tree damage. Impacts to groundcover vegetation were relatively stable. Differences in amount of impact between high- and low-use sites generally increased over time.

  • Cole, David N.; Krumpe, Edwin E. 1992. Seven principles of low-impact wilderness recreation. Western Wildlands 18(1): 39-43.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Krumpe, Edwin E. (1992). Seven principles of low-impact wilderness recreation

    Wilderness use has increased almost twentyfold over the past 50 years, with damage to pristine areas increasing accordingly. In this paper, key aspects of low-impact camping which are important for mitigating resource damage are presented and divided into seven categories. Included in these categories are: (1) concentrating use and impact in popular places, (2) dispersing use and impact in pristine places, (3) avoiding places that are lightly impacted, (4) minimizing noise and visual intrusion, (5) packing out all items, (6) properly disposing of items that can\'t be carried out of the wilderness, and (7) leaving visited areas in original or better condition. While some of these principles are commonsense, the first three are not intuitively obvious and were derived from extensive research on site impacts and the relationship between impacts and use. Rationale for these principles, as well as examples, are discussed.

  • Cole, David N.; Trull, Susan J. 1992. Quantifying vegetation response to recreational disturbance in the North Cascades, Washington. Northwest Science 66(4): 229-236.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Trull, Susan J. (1992). Quantifying vegetation response to recreational disturbance in the North Cascades, Washington

    The purpose of this study was to (1) describe vegetational response to various levels of controlled recreational trampling and (2) explore variation in response between different vegetation types and species. Four vegetation types were trampled at intensities that ranged from 25 to 700 times. Responses shortly after trampling and after 1 year of recovery were documented. Vegetational response varied significantly both with trampling intensity and vegetation types. A meadow dominated by black alpine sedge was about 25 times more resistant to trampling damage than a subalpine forb meadow in which Sitka valerian was the most abundant species. Recovery during the year that followed trampling was greatest in the forb meadow; it was lowest in the two vegetation types dominated by woody species--heather and mountain boxwood. Species resistance appears to be determined primarily by stature, arrangement and toughness/flexibility of aerial tissues. Resilience appears to be determined by the location and toughness of perennating tissues and by the growth rate of regenerating tissues. These results have immediate application to recreation managers and also increase our basic understanding of disturbance ecology.

  • Landres, Peter B. 1992. Temporal scale perspectives in managing biological diversity. In: Transactions of the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference 57: 292-307.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter B. (1992). Temporal scale perspectives in managing biological diversity

    This paper explores the implications of time in managing biological diversity. How does time affect biological systems? How does time affect our management of natural resources? What issues will likely become significant management concerns when the perspective of time is taken into account? Significant management implications result from examining the effect of time on biological systems. First, there is no "balance of nature"; therefore, management goals must be considered "moving targets" that change as environmental conditions and social values change. Second, a management approach is needed that emphasizes ecosystem-level interactions and processes, as well as individual species. Third, because of temporal variation in the abundance and distribution of natural resources, management plans need to account for metapopulation structure, succession, cumulative and region-wide effects, and changing species composition. Fourth, monitoring is necessary to determine whether changes are "natural" or human-caused, and the use of indicator species in most cases is inappropriate to assess changes in an ecosystem. Fifth, long-term planning and agency coordination is necessary for natural resources that vary over temporal and spatial scales. And sixth, given limited funding and personnel, a ranking or priority system is likely necessary to maximize the effects of management actions.

  • Landres, Peter B. 1992. Ecological indicators: panacea or liability?. In: McKenzie, D.H.; Hyatt, D.E.; McDonald, V.I., eds. Ecological Indicators. Vol. 2. Amsterdam: Elsevier Applied Scientific Publishers Vol.2: 1295-1318.
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    Abstract for Landres, Peter B. (1992). Ecological indicators: panacea or liability?

    Environmental indicators have been used for nearly 100 years, providing "... information about the state of environmental quality not obtainable in other ways." Individual species are currently used as indicators in three ways: (1) like the miner\'s canary, to assess environmental contamination from toxic compounds; (2) to assess environmental conditions such as temperature, nutrient concentration, and pH on land and in water; and (3) to assess ecological attributes, primarily population trends of other species, and habitat quality or ecosystem health. Using indicator species in the first two ways is well established with a broad empirical database. In contrast, using ecological indicators to assess ecological attributes is a relatively new and rapidly increasing procedure, but its use is neither conceptually nor empirically well established. This paper critically examines the use of terrestrial ecological indicators to assess population trends of other species and habitat quality or ecosystem health. This paper briefly reviews some traditional and current uses of ecological indicators in the United States, discusses potentially serious conceptual and practical problems in using vertebrate species as ecological indicators, presents a detailed analysis of an ecosystem-based approach to assessment using ecosystem indicators as an alternative to traditional indicators, and offers recommendations for mitigating some, but not all, of the problems in using ecological indicators.

  • Love, Timothy G.; Watson, Alan E. 1992. Effects of the Gates Park Fire on recreation choices. Res. Pap. INT-402. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 7p.
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    Abstract for Love, Timothy G.; Watson, Alan E. (1992). Effects of the Gates Park Fire on recreation choices

    The 1988 Gates Park Fire, along the North Fork of the Sun River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, provided an opportunity to explore fire effects on wilderness visitor choices. Recreation visitors along the North and South fork drainages were interviewed to assess the effects of 1988 fires on their 1989 visits. The fire had little impact on the choice to visit the North or South Fork. Visitors placed more importance on remoteness and naturalness in selecting trails and campsites than on the effects of the fires. Visitors to both burned and unburned areas expressed strong support for prescribed natural fire policies. Commercial outfitters expressed concerns about being excluded from preferred areas and some feared their businesses would decline.

  • Manfredo, Michael J.; Yuan, Susan M.; McGuire, Francis A. 1992. The influence of attitude accessibility on attitude-behavior relationships: implications for recreation research. Journal of Leisure Research 24(2): 157-170.
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    Abstract for Manfredo, Michael J.; Yuan, Susan M.; McGuire, Francis A. (1992). The influence of attitude accessibility on attitude-behavior relationships: implications for recreation research

    Recreation researchers frequently employ the attitude concept in studying recreation phenomenon, yet there are times when attitude-behavior relationships are weak. One explanation for this is attitude accessibility; i.e., attitudes might not guide behavior because they are not accessed or available in memory. Factors affecting accessibility are direct experience and repeated pairing of an attitude with an object. These concepts were tested by examining attitude-behavioral intention relationships for three levels of prior site visitation and three levels of prior topic discussion. The attitude object was a person\'s support of controlled-burn fire policies for parks and natural areas. Results show that at higher levels of experience and discussion (1) there is an improved prediction of intentions to support the policy from attitudes, and (2) attitudes are more extreme. These findings have implications for the use of attitudes in predicting recreation behavior, for examining issues of non-participation in recreation, and in attempting persuasive communication in recreation settings.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Cole, David N. 1992. LAC indicators: an evaluation of progress and list of proposed indicators. In: Merigliano, Linda, ed. Ideas for Limits of Acceptable Change process, Book II; Selected papers on wilderness management planning efforts and the LAC process. Washington, DC: USDAFS, Recreation, Cultural Resources and Wilderness Management Staff 109p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Cole, David N. (1992). LAC indicators: an evaluation of progress and list of proposed indicators

    One of the most critical and difficult steps in the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) process is the selection of indicators. This paper (1) briefly reviews some desirable characteristics of indicators and (2) lists indicators that have been proposed or adopted in LAC plans. From a comparison of this list of indicators and desirable characteristics of indicators, progress to date is briefly evaluated and three major problem areas in selecting LAC indicators are discussed. Indicators from dispersed backcountry and wild and scenic rivers, as well as from designated wilderness, are included in this paper.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Niccolucci, Michael J. 1992. Place of residence and hiker-horse conflict in the Sierras. In: Chavez, Deborah J., ed. Proceedings of the symposium on social aspects and recreation research; 1992 February 19-22; Ontario, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-132. Albany, CA: USDA For. Serv., Pacific Southwest Research Station 71-72pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Niccolucci, Michael J. (1992). Place of residence and hiker-horse conflict in the Sierras

    A mailback survey of overnight hikers at the John Muir Wilderness suggests that place of residence contributes slightly to our understanding of general desirability of encounters with horses, but not to our understanding of evaluations of specific encounters or of evaluations of potentially conflicting behaviors.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Niccolucci, Michael J. 1992. Defining past-experience dimensions for wilderness recreation. Leisure Sciences 14: 89-103.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Niccolucci, Michael J. (1992). Defining past-experience dimensions for wilderness recreation

    The past experience of wildland recreation users has been investigated in hypotheses of both causal and associative relationships. In the past, experience has been measured by asking visitors multiple questions about their past wildland recreation participation. These items have then been combined into unidimensional scales for hypothesis testing, without consistency in standardization or weighting methods. In this article, we describe the use of data from Cohutta wilderness visitors to demonstrate principal components and factor analysis techniques to define the experience construct for hypothesis testing. These approaches offer two ways to develop linear combinations of experience variables that maintain the multidimensionality of the experience construct during hypothesis testing and avoid questionable weighting and other combination processes. Factor analysis also offers the opportunity for understanding the underlying dimensions and theory building.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Williams, Daniel R.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Daigle, John J. 1992. Visitor characteristics and preferences for three national forest wilderness in the South. Res. Pap. INT-455. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 27p.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Williams, Daniel R.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Daigle, John J. (1992). Visitor characteristics and preferences for three national forest wilderness in the South

    Visitors to three National Forest wildernesses in the South were surveyed in 1989 and 1990 to learn their characteristics and to determine how their wilderness experiences were influenced by conditions in wilderness. Visitors had different characteristics at each of the three areas and differed from visitors studied earlier at other wildernesses. This report provides knowledge on current visitation for planning future educational programs, selecting wilderness quality indicators for Limits of Acceptable Change applications, and establishing management objectives for experience-related issues.

  • Williams, Daniel R.; Patterson, Michael E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Watson, Alan E. 1992. Beyond the commodity metaphor: examining emotional and symbolic attachment to place. Leisure Sciences 14:29.
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    Abstract for Williams, Daniel R.; Patterson, Michael E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Watson, Alan E. (1992). Beyond the commodity metaphor: examining emotional and symbolic attachment to place

    In contrast to the dominant commodity view of outdoor recreation settings, wilderness users are described as having emotional and symbolic ties to the setting that are manifested as attachment to the site and the wilderness concept. Data from four wilderness areas show stronger place and wilderness attachment to be associated with previous visits, rural residence, a "setting" focus, visiting alone and on weekdays, hunting in the area, and sensitivity to site impacts and horse encounters. The importance of understanding emotional and symbolic values of natural resources is discussed in relation to managing recreation user conflicts and public involvement in wildland resource planning.

  • Williams, Daniel R.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Patterson, Michael E.; Watson, Alan E. 1992. The variability of user-based social impact standards for wilderness management. Forest Science 38(4): 738-756.
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    Abstract for Williams, Daniel R.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Patterson, Michael E.; Watson, Alan E. (1992). The variability of user-based social impact standards for wilderness management

    A key element of wilderness management planning is prescribing standards for acceptable levels of change to wilderness conditions based on input from the public. To obtain standards for social impacts, wilderness users are surveyed to determine acceptable levels of encounters with other parties. Using a variance components model and generalizability analysis, this study examines four sources of variation in user-based social impact standards: occasion (onsite vs. mailback surveys), wilderness area, encounter context (type and location of encounter), and respondent. Data come from a survey of visitors to four wilderness areas. Results indicate that social impact standards are generalizable across wilderness areas and to a lesser degree across measurement occasions. Social impact standards vary depending on the context of contact. Contrary to normative theory in sociology, standards are also highly variable across respondents. These results suggest that respondents appear to share a high level of sensitivity to encounters, but that the task of assigning a numerical standard may be too abstract or hypothetical to be meaningful. Generalizability coefficients are reported to provide guidelines to future researchers and wilderness managers for obtaining user-based standards.

  • Cole, David N. 1991. Trampling disturbance and recovery of cryptogamic soil crusts in Grand Canyon National Park. Great Basin Naturalist Brigham Young University 50(4): 321-325.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1991). Trampling disturbance and recovery of cryptogamic soil crusts in Grand Canyon National Park

    Cryptogamic soil crusts in Grand canyon national Park were trampled by hikers, under controlled conditions, to determine how rapidly they were pulverized and how rapidly they recovered.

  • Cole, David N. 1991. Changes on trails in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Montana, 1978-1989. Res. Pap. INT-450. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station. 5p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1991). Changes on trails in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Montana, 1978-1989

    Three trails on the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness were monitored over an 11-year period. Although individual trail segments changed over this period, there was no net erosion from these trail systems. Most trail problems were highly localized; solutions generally involve either improved design and maintenance or rerouting.

  • Cole, David N. 1991. Modeling wilderness campsites: factors that influence amount of impact. Environmental Management 16(2): 255-264.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1991). Modeling wilderness campsites: factors that influence amount of impact

    A standard campsite model is proposed and then manipulated to examine the influence of individual variables on amount of vegetation loss. Amount of impact is influenced by amount of use, vegetation fragility, vegetation density, and the degree to which activities are concentrated spatially on the site. Degree of concentration also influences the importance of the other explanatory variables. Amount of use and vegetation fragility are equally important determinants of impact and are most influential where activity concentration is low.

  • Cole, David N.; Knight, Richard L. 1991. Wildlife preservation and recreational use: conflicting goals of wildland management. In: Transactions of the 56th North American wildlife and natural resources conference 233-237pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Knight, Richard L. (1991). Wildlife preservation and recreational use: conflicting goals of wildland management

    Increasing recreational use of wildlands conflicts with wildlife preservation goals for these areas. Unfortunately, our understanding of recreational impacts on wildlife is poor. We need to (1) understand the responses of wildlife to recreational activities, (2) understand the factors that influence the nature and magnitude of impacts, (3) improve research methods, and (4) develop and implement new management strategies.

  • Hammitt, William E.; Patterson, Michael E. 1991. Coping behavior to avoid visitor encounters: its relationship to wildland privacy. Journal of Leisure Research 25(3): 225-237.
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    Abstract for Hammitt, William E.; Patterson, Michael E. (1991). Coping behavior to avoid visitor encounters: its relationship to wildland privacy

    Too many visitor encounters can detract from the privacy sought in wildland environments. Coping behavior to avoid or adjust to visitor encounters is one procedure for reducing encounters and maintaining wildland privacy. This paper examines the degree to which backpackers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park used six physical and six social coping behaviors to avoid encounters and interactions with other backpackers. The influences of solitude importance, encounter norms, and level of backpacker experience on visitor use of coping behaviors were also analyzed. The findings are interpreted in the context of coping behavior as a means of avoiding or adjusting to visitor encounters in wildland recreation areas. The role that coping behavior may serve to control environmental conditions and desired level of wildland privacy is also discussed.

  • Knight, Richard L.; Cole, David N. 1991. Effects of recreational activity on wildlife in wildlands. In: Transactions of the 56th North American wildlife and natural resources conference 238-247pp.
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    Abstract for Knight, Richard L.; Cole, David N. (1991). Effects of recreational activity on wildlife in wildlands

    This paper reviews knowledge about recreational impacts on wildlife. It proposes a hierarchy of responses of wildlife to recreation and describes factors that influence the nature and magnitude of these responses. It explores causal mechanisms, the importance of learned behavior, and suggests areas of needed research.

  • Manfredo, Michael J.; Bright, Alan D. 1991. A model for assessing the effects of communication on recreationists. Journal of Leisure Research 23(1): 1-20.
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    Abstract for Manfredo, Michael J.; Bright, Alan D. (1991). A model for assessing the effects of communication on recreationists

    This study proposes a model of persuasion for evaluating informational techniques used in recreation management. The model focuses on the communication response process and factors which influence this process. Managerial implications of these findings suggest the importance of recognizing the knowledge level of visitors for whom information is being developed.

  • McAvoy, Leo H.; Schatz, Curt; Lime, David W. 1991. Cooperation in management: a model planning process for promoting partnerships between resource managers and private service providers. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 9(4): 42-58.
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    Abstract for McAvoy, Leo H.; Schatz, Curt; Lime, David W. (1991). Cooperation in management: a model planning process for promoting partnerships between resource managers and private service providers

    This study presents a modified transactive planning process intended to improve communication and cooperation between public sector resource managers and private sector businesses that serve visitors to an outdoor recreation resource. The elements of the transactive planning process are illustrated and applied in a case study approach with the U.S. Forest Service and commercial outfitters adjacent to a forest recreation area.

  • Moore, Steven D.; McClaran, Mitchel P. 1991. Symbolic dimensions of wildlife. Leisure Sciences 13: 221-237.
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    Abstract for Moore, Steven D.; McClaran, Mitchel P. (1991). Symbolic dimensions of wildlife

    The use of pack animals to transport people and equipment into wilderness has become increasingly controversial. This article proposes that the conflict results from the clash of three symbolic realms of belief: (1) wilderness as a sacred object, (2) arguments against packstock derived from an ecological ordering of wilderness, and (3) a cognitive ordering of the conflict that allows moral pain to be felt on both sides. Three hypotheses about wilderness managers\' attitudes toward symbolic statements were proposed and tested by using univariate statistics and bivariate and multivariate logistic analysis. The results indicate strong support for packstock symbolism. Numbers of packstock trips, Government Service grade, number of years in current position, education, and perceived environmental impacts influenced these attitudes.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Williams, Daniel R. 1991. The influence of past experience on wilderness choice. Journal of Leisure Research 23(1): 21-36.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Williams, Daniel R. (1991). The influence of past experience on wilderness choice

    A study of Southern Appalachian backcountry hikers tested the hypothesis that recreationists with high experience levels would have greater differentiation of site attribute values when making recreation choices than would individuals with low experience. Contrary to cognitive development theory, a simulated laboratory choice study found that more experienced subjects employed fewer and broader attribute value categories than did their less experienced counterparts.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Williams, Daniel R.; Daigle, John J. 1991. Sources of conflict between hikers and mountain bike riders in the Rattlesnake NRA. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 9(3):59-69.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Williams, Daniel R.; Daigle, John J. (1991). Sources of conflict between hikers and mountain bike riders in the Rattlesnake NRA

    Mountain bike riders and hikers in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area were studied to assess the extent of conflict between the two groups and to search for underlying reasons. Mountain bike riders tend to perceive bicyclists and hikers as more similar than hikers do. Actually, they do differ in attitudes they hold about the area and the reasons for visiting it. However, the groups tend to not differ in the areas they believe themselves to be different. Nearly two-thirds of the hikers feel that mountain bikes are objectionable, but the respondents have difficulty specifying behavior that reduces their enjoyment.

  • Young, Mark J.; Williams, Daniel R.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. 1991. The role of involvement in identifying users' preferences for social standards in the Cohutta Wilderness. In: Hope, Daniel, III, ed. Proceedings of 1990 Southeastern Recreation Research Conference. Vol. 12. Gen. Tech. Rep. SE-67. Asheville, NC: USDA For. Serv., Southeastern Forest Exper. Stn. Vol. 12.
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    Abstract for Young, Mark J.; Williams, Daniel R.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. (1991). The role of involvement in identifying users' preferences for social standards in the Cohutta Wilderness

    This paper examines the relationship between Cohutta Wilderness users\' level of involvement with the area, and their perceptions of acceptable social wilderness conditions. It was hypothesized that users showing higher levels of involvement with the wilderness resource would be more restrictive with regard to the number of alternative positions they were willing to accept in relation to their most preferred wilderness conditions.

  • Bergstrom, John C.; Cordell, H. Ken; Ashley, Gregory A.; Watson, Alan E. 1990. Economic impacts of recreational spending on rural areas: a case study. Economic Development Quarterly 4(1): 29-39.
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    Abstract for Bergstrom, John C.; Cordell, H. Ken; Ashley, Gregory A.; Watson, Alan E. (1990). Economic impacts of recreational spending on rural areas: a case study

    Researchers, planners, and policymakers are becoming increasingly interested in the rural economic development potentials of outdoor recreation. In this article, results of a study that examined local economic effects of spending associated with outdoor recreation in selected rural areas are reported. Results indicated that recreational spending contributed substantially to gross output, income, employment, and value added in the studied rural area.

  • Cole, David N. 1990. Some principles to guide wilderness campsite management. In: Lime, David W., ed. Managing America's Enduring Wilderness Resource: Proceedings of the Conference; 1989 September 11-17; Minneapolis, MN 181-187pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1990). Some principles to guide wilderness campsite management

    Seven principles, derived from research on wilderness campsites, are proposed: (1) campsite impacts are complex; (2) impact is inevitable with repetitive use of campsites; (3) impact occurs rapidly, recovery occurs slowly; (4) the relationship between use and impact is asymptomatic; (5) certain sites are more durable than others; (6) certain users cause less impact than others; and (7) campsite monitoring data are critical to professional management. Each principle is illustrated by example and the implications of each for campsite management are explored.

  • Cole, David N. 1990. Wilderness management: has it come of age?. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 45(3): 360-364.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1990). Wilderness management: has it come of age?

    In the 25 years since passage of the Wilderness Act, the National Wilderness Preservation System has become large and diverse. However, improvements in wilderness management have not kept pace with the increased challenge of management. This paper describes where progress in management has occurred. It outlines changes that must be made to meet current and future challenges.

  • Cole, David N.; Knight, Richard L. 1990. Impacts of recreation on biodiversity in wilderness. In: Wilderness areas: their impacts; proceedings of a symposium; 1990 April 19-20; Logan, UT. Logan, UT: Utah State University 33-40pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Knight, Richard L. (1990). Impacts of recreation on biodiversity in wilderness

    We discuss seven recreational impacts on biodiversity in wilderness areas. These include: (1) construction of trails, (2) trampling of vegetation and soils on trails and campsites, (3) collection and burning of wood in campfires, (4) water pollution associated with camping activities, (5) unintentional harassment of animals, (6) hunting, fishing, and associated management programs, and (7) grazing by recreational packstock. All of these activities can be considered detrimental because they alter the natural processes and functions of ecosystems. The activities which have caused the greatest impact on diversity at a regional scale are fishing, hunting, and associated management practices.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1990. How wilderness visitors choose entry points and campsites. Research Paper INT-428. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 12p.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1990). How wilderness visitors choose entry points and campsites

    The process of selecting trailheads and campsites is described for visitors to the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex in Montana. Factors influencing decisions by different types of visitors are analyzed. Implications, particularly for information and education programs, are presented.

  • Manfredo, Michael J.; Fishbein, Martin; Haas, Glenn E.; Watson, Alan E. 1990. Attitudes toward prescribed fire policies: the public is widely divided in its support. Journal of Forestry 88(7): 19-23.
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    Abstract for Manfredo, Michael J.; Fishbein, Martin; Haas, Glenn E.; Watson, Alan E. (1990). Attitudes toward prescribed fire policies: the public is widely divided in its support

    This study investigated attitudes and knowledge about wildland prescribed fire policy. A national sample and a regional sample of citizens revealed poor understanding of fire effects. When understanding was high, support for "controlled burn" policies was also high, however. Because national attitudes differ widely, policymakers face major hurdles in establishing fire policies that will be approved by a majority of the public.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Lucas, Robert C. 1990. Managing resources and people in wilderness: accomplishments and challenges. In: Lime, David W., ed. Managing America's Enduring Wilderness Resource: Proceedings of the Conference; 1989 September 11-17; Minneapolis, MN: 64-75pp.
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Lucas, Robert C. (1990). Managing resources and people in wilderness: accomplishments and challenges

    This paper provides an overview of progress in wilderness management over the 25-year period since the Wilderness Act was passed. Eight specific areas of accomplishment are identified, as are seven specific areas that need strengthening.

  • Patterson, Michael E.; Hammitt, William E. 1990. Backcountry encounter norms, actual reported encounters, and their relationship to wilderness solitude. Journal of Leisure Research 22(3): 259-275.
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    Abstract for Patterson, Michael E.; Hammitt, William E. (1990). Backcountry encounter norms, actual reported encounters, and their relationship to wilderness solitude

    Backcountry backpackers\' norms concerning the maximum acceptable tolerance limits for visual-social contacts at three encounter sites (trailhead, trail, and campsite) were examined in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Actual encounter levels were examined by asking backpackers to report the number of parties encountered at each of these three locations. Although 83% of the respondents reported encountering more parties than their acceptable norms, only 34% of the respondents reported that the number of encounters detracted from their solitude experience. Overall, 61% of the respondents whose personal norms were exceeded at one or more of the three encounter sites indicated that the number of encounters did not detract from the trip experience.

  • Pitt, David G.; Lime, David W.; Nassauer, Joan Iverson 1990. Seeing wilderness management solutions with computer graphics. In: Lime, David W., ed. Managing America's Enduring Wilderness Resource: Proceedings of the Conference; 1989 September 11-17; Minneapolis, MN .
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    Abstract for Pitt, David G.; Lime, David W.; Nassauer, Joan Iverson (1990). Seeing wilderness management solutions with computer graphics

    Developing an Image Capture System to See Wilderness Management Solutions: 541-548, David G. Pitt; Image Capture Technology: An Exciting New Tool for Wilderness Managers!: 549-552, David W. Lime; Using Image Capture Technology to Generate Wilderness Management Solutions: 553-562, Joan Iverson Nassauer. Recent advances in computer technology have provided wilderness managers and scientists with a new tool to help evaluate alternative landscape settings and conditions. Image capture technology (ICT) is a computer-based system, integrated with video components, which allows existing landscape conditions to be modified to portray realistic changes in the natural and built landscape. ICT has at least four important uses in wildland resource management: (1) training of managers, (2) public involvement, (3) enhancing visitor sensitivity, and (4) evaluating appropriate visitor use conditions.

  • Watson, Alan E. 1990. Why is it important to monitor social conditions in wilderness?. In: Lime, David W., ed. Managing America’s Enduring Wilderness Resource: Proceedings of the Conference; 1989 September 11-17; Minneapolis, MN 150-155pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (1990). Why is it important to monitor social conditions in wilderness?

    Social conditions in wilderness refers to all aspects of human use of the wilderness that pose the possibility of impact to the resource and visitor experiences. The reasons for monitoring (1) use levels and use trends (including characteristics of use and users) and (2) the quality of the recreation experiences provided (ability to provide naturalness, privacy, and solitude, with a lack of conflict) are discussed.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Cordell, H. Ken. 1990. Impacts of resource-based tourism on local income and employment. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-196. Fort Collins, CO: USDA For. Serv., Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 46-56pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Cordell, H. Ken. (1990). Impacts of resource-based tourism on local income and employment

    State and federal agencies have just started to make progress to estimate the economic impact of proposed or existing resource-based recreation opportunities. The Public Area Recreation Visitor Survey provides a method for assessing the economic impact of proposed changes in recreation opportunities or demand. The data set was built through a nationwide multi-agency effort and was designed to be adaptable for response to several economic impact questions.

  • Braithwaite, Amy M.; McCool, Stephen F. 1989. Social influences and backcountry visitor behavior in occupied grizzly bear habitat. Society of Natural Resources 2: 273-283.
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    Abstract for Braithwaite, Amy M.; McCool, Stephen F. (1989). Social influences and backcountry visitor behavior in occupied grizzly bear habitat

    Contemporary attitude theory suggests that social influences on behavior may affect the reception and adoption of information programs. This study investigated the importance of various social groups to backcountry visitors as sources of information and as influences on appropriate behavior in occupied grizzly bear habitat. Of nine referent groups, backcountry rangers and group members were identified as the most influential and reliable sources of information.

  • Cole, David N. 1989. Recreation in whitebark pine ecosystems: demand, problems, and management strategies. Paper presented at the Symposium on Whitebark Pine Ecosystems: Ecology and Management of a High-Mountain Resource; 1989 March 29-31; Bozeman, MT: 305-309pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1989). Recreation in whitebark pine ecosystems: demand, problems, and management strategies

    This paper explores the nature of the recreational opportunities that the whitebark pine ecosystem provides and the demand for those opportunities. Important management problems are described, as are strategies for minimizing problems and optimizing recreational opportunities.

  • Cole, David N. 1989. Future for wilderness management research programs for the USDA Forest Service. In: Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters national convention; 1989 September 24-27; Spokane, WA. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters 173-177pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1989). Future for wilderness management research programs for the USDA Forest Service

    The Forest Service has one research unit devoted to wilderness management research. The unit, created in 1967, has conducted research throughout the nation primarily on recreational aspects of wilderness management. Plans call for continued research on the development of indicators and monitoring methods. Research will also evaluate management techniques, investigate factors that influence both the quality of visitor experiences and user impact levels, and attempt to identify trends in visitor behavior and preferences as well as in resource conditions.

  • Cole, David N. 1989. Wilderness campsite monitoring methods: a sourcebook. General Technical Report INT-259. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 57p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1989). Wilderness campsite monitoring methods: a sourcebook

    Summarizes information on techniques available for monitoring the condition of campsites, particularly those in wilderness. A variety of techniques are described and evaluated; sources of information are also listed. Problems with existing monitoring systems and places where refinement of technique is required are highlighted.

  • Cole, David N. 1989. Recreation ecology: what we know, what geographers can contribute. Professional Geographer 41(2): 143-148.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1989). Recreation ecology: what we know, what geographers can contribute

    Geographers have made substantial contributions to the field of recreation ecology, the study of recreational impacts on the environment, despite the absence of a uniquely geographic perspective. Knowledge about recreation impact is still rudimentary and open to further contributions by geographers. Three areas where geographic methods seem particularly useful are (1) understanding the spatial variability of site susceptibility, (2) analyzing spatial distributions of impact, and (3) integrating social and ecological concerns in the development of management programs.

  • Cole, David N. 1989. Viewpoint: needed research on domestic and recreational livestock in wilderness. Journal of Range Management Society for Range Management 42(1): 84-86.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1989). Viewpoint: needed research on domestic and recreational livestock in wilderness

    Grazing by both domestic and recreational livestock conflicts with goals of wilderness management. While both of these uses are clearly permitted in wilderness, conflicts could be reduced. Improved management of grazing in wilderness is hampered by a dearth of information. This paper outlines some critical research needs.

  • Cole, David N. 1989. Area of vegetation loss: a new index of campsite impact. Res. Note INT-389. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 51p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1989). Area of vegetation loss: a new index of campsite impact

    Expressions of the amount of vegetation lost on campsites should reflect both the proportion of vegetation lost and the areal extent of vegetation loss. A new index--area of vegetation loss--incorporates these two elements by multiplying campsite area by absolute vegetation loss. Guidelines on how to take the measurements needed to calculate this index are provided. Results of previous studies--using this new index--reconfirm the importance of concentrating camping both on a small number of sites and in a small area on each site.

  • Cole, David N. 1989. Low-impact recreational practices for wilderness and backcountry. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-265. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 131p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1989). Low-impact recreational practices for wilderness and backcountry

    Describes low-impact recreational practices that can contribute to minimizing problems resulting from recreational use of wilderness and backcountry. Each practice is described and information is provided on such subjects as rationale for the practice, importance, and costs to visitors. Practices that may be counter-productive are described, as are important research gaps.

  • Cole, David N. 1989. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado: a challenge to float, a challenge to manage. Western Wildlands 15(3): 2-7.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1989). The Grand Canyon of the Colorado: a challenge to float, a challenge to manage

    Floating the Colorado River through Grand Canyon is one of the premier "wilderness" whitewater trips in the world. Managing this resource is difficult due to (1) excessive demand for river permits, (2) conflicts between commercial and noncommercial use, and (3) the effect of Glen Canyon Dam on the natural environment of the Colorado River downstream. Each of these problems is described, as is the National Park Service response to each challenge.

  • Cole, David N.;Lucas, Robert C., compilers 1989. Significant wilderness qualities: can they be identified and monitored?. Proceedings of the third annual NOLS wilderness research colloquium; 1987 August 10-15; Lander, WY. Lander, WY: The National Outdoor Leadership School 25p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.;Lucas, Robert C., compilers (1989). Significant wilderness qualities: can they be identified and monitored?

    This proceedings contains eight short papers that address the following theme: Given that the goal of wilderness management is to avoid the impairment of significant conditions, features, and qualities of the wilderness resource, (1) what are the most significant of these conditions, features, qualities? and (2) how can they be monitored to ascertain whether or not they are preserved? Contributors were Dan Burgette, David Cole, Bill Hammitt, Bob Lucas, Bob Manning, Jeff Marion, Steve McCool, and Toivo Sober.

  • Hammitt, William E.; Madden, Mark A. 1989. Cognitive dimensions of wilderness privacy: a field test and further explanation. Leisure Sciences 11: 293-301.
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    Abstract for Hammitt, William E.; Madden, Mark A. (1989). Cognitive dimensions of wilderness privacy: a field test and further explanation

    In 1981 and 1982, a psychological scale was developed for exploring the several meanings of privacy and solitude that wilderness recreationists find to be important. The present report describes the results of a field test of the wilderness privacy scale among backpackers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1987. The most important aspect of wilderness privacy in the field test was being in a natural, remote environment that offers a sense of tranquility and peacefulness and that involves a freedom of choice in terms of both the information that users must process and the behavior demanded of them by others.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1989. A look at wilderness use and users in transition. Natural Resources Journal 29(1): 41-55.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1989). A look at wilderness use and users in transition

    Wilderness has a variety of values for individuals and society. Some of these values are derived from onsite use of the wilderness resource. Other values come from offsite uses. Recreational use poses a strong challenge to those who manage wilderness. Recreational use of wilderness, after many years of rapid growth, has leveled off or declined in many areas in recent years. The reasons for this change are unclear, but the implications of changes in use patterns and user characteristics are important for both management and future wilderness allocation decisions.

  • Marion, Jeffrey L.; Cole, David N. 1989. Evaluating recreation impacts: a multi-faceted research design. Park Science 9(2): 23-24.
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    Abstract for Marion, Jeffrey L.; Cole, David N. (1989). Evaluating recreation impacts: a multi-faceted research design

    Most recreation impact research designs have serious limitations when used in isolation. This paper outlines a series of studies designed to provide a more comprehensive picture of resource impacts than single studies can. It describes (1) a cross-sectional survey of sites, (2) a longitudinal study of sites, (3) a study of change on newly developed sites, (4) a study of change on newly closed sites, (5) an experimental trampling study, and (6) development of a site monitoring system.

  • Martin, Steven R.; McCool, Stephen F.; Lucas, Robert C. 1989. Wilderness campsite impacts: do managers and visitors see them the same?. Environmental Management 13(5): 623-629.
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    Abstract for Martin, Steven R.; McCool, Stephen F.; Lucas, Robert C. (1989). Wilderness campsite impacts: do managers and visitors see them the same?

    Human-induced impacts from recreational use of wilderness continue to be a significant management challenge, threatening the integrity of the wilderness resource and the quality of visitor experiences. Campsite impacts are of particular concern to managers. One approach to this problem is the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) planning system, which focuses attention on the question, "How much change in wilderness conditions is acceptable?" The research reported here compares and contrasts wilderness manager and visitor perceptions of the acceptability of different levels of campsite impacts, amount of impact, and perceptual zoning of wilderness. The results reinforce previous findings regarding differences between managers and visitors. Management implications are discussed.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Braithwaite, Amy M. 1989. Beliefs and behaviors of backcountry campers in Montana toward grizzly bears. Wildland Society Bulletin 17(4): 514-519.
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Braithwaite, Amy M. (1989). Beliefs and behaviors of backcountry campers in Montana toward grizzly bears

    In order to suggest improvements in persuasive communication programs designed to reduce confrontations between backpackers and bears, visitor beliefs about bears were surveyed at Glacier National Park and Jewel Basin Hiking Area. Four belief dimensions were identified: negativistic, ecologistic, naturalistic, and moralistic. Of these, ecologistic beliefs are the most strongly held. This suggests that increasing ecological sensitivity about grizzly bears may be particularly effective in communicating appropriate backcountry camping practices.

  • Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Watson, Alan E. 1989. Wilderness recreation use: the current situation. In: Watson, Alan E., compiler. Outdoor recreation benchmark 1988: Proceedings of the national outdoor recreation forum; 1988 January 13-14; Tampa, FL. Gen. Tech. Rep. SE-52. Asheville, NC: USDA For. Serv., Southeastern Forest Exper. Stn 346-356pp.
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    Abstract for Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Watson, Alan E. (1989). Wilderness recreation use: the current situation

    The total amount of recreational use of the National Wilderness Preservation System is currently at about 14.5 million visitor days per annum. Trends indicate a stable or declining overall use; use on a per-acre basis is declining. The common stereotype of the wilderness user as young, wealthy, urban, leisured, and a nonresident of the State or region is largely incorrect. The one characteristic that does sharply distinguish wilderness users is their very high education level. Use patterns in wilderness also differ from commonly held perceptions. Size of individual user groups is small, and getting smaller. Most visits are day-use only. Distribution of use is highly skewed toward weekends and summers, but the trend is toward increased dispersal of use across time and space. Higher impact and consumptive activities like hunting and horse use are declining as a percentage of total use.

  • Stankey, George H. 1989. Beyond the campfire's light: historical roots of the wilderness concept. Natural Resources Journal 29(1): 9-24.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1989). Beyond the campfire's light: historical roots of the wilderness concept

    The Judeo-Christian origins of western society generally are credited with portraying wilderness as a synonym for desolate, wild, and uninhabited lands manifesting God\'s displeasure. But wilderness also served an important function in Christianity as a place where one could prepare for contact with God. Such contrasting perspectives created an ambivalence that still prevails. Yet despite the ambivalence, early European and North American societies perceived wilderness as a threat. A gradual rise in scientific understanding was a major force in promoting a change in this perspective. But not until the intellectual shifts prompted by Romanticism and transcendentalism, along with an increasing scarcity of wilderness, did efforts to protect wilderness gain support.

  • Watson, Alan E. 1989. Wilderness visitor management practices: a benchmark and an assessment of progress. In: Watson, Alan E., compiler. Outdoor recreation benchmark 1988: Proceedings of the national outdoor recreation forum; 1988 January 13-14; Tampa, FL. Gen. Tech. Rep. SE-52. Asheville, NC: USDA For. Serv., Southeastern Forest Exper. Stn 394-398pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (1989). Wilderness visitor management practices: a benchmark and an assessment of progress

    In the short time that wilderness visitor management practices have been monitored, some obvious trends have developed. The managing agencies, however, have appeared to provide different solutions to similar problems. In the early years, these problems revolved around concern about overuse of the resource and crowded conditions. Some of those concerns exist today, but they may be overshadowed by feelings that inadequate budgets and workforce are the primary hindrances to wilderness management. The differences in solutions used are largely due to differences in policies guiding the various agencies. Continued monitoring of wilderness visitor management practices is needed.

  • Watson, Alan E. 1989. The evolving relationship between wilderness and the American people. Trends 26(3): 23-28.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E. (1989). The evolving relationship between wilderness and the American people

    The importance of wildlands to our country\'s development and the changes in wilderness definitions up to 1964 reflect a very interesting and revealing aspect of our culture. Some misperceptions may exist about wilderness visits today, particularly as use patterns continue to evolve. Use of wilderness as a family recreational resource is more prevalent than might be expected, with the typical length of stay relatively short. As the population becomes more aware of the wilderness resource, use patterns may continue to change. The scientific and educational values of preserving natural ecosystems will become more important.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Cordell, H. Ken; Hartmann, Lawrence A. 1989. Characteristics of wilderness users in outdoor recreation assessments. In: Lee, Marty; Brown, Perry J., eds. Recreation and park management: papers from the first national symposium of social science in resource management; 1986 May 12-16; Corvallis, OR. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University, College of Forestry 1-10pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Cordell, H. Ken; Hartmann, Lawrence A. (1989). Characteristics of wilderness users in outdoor recreation assessments

    Wilderness use is often subsumed under outdoor recreation participation in large-scale assessments. Participation monitoring has indicated, however, that wilderness use has been increasing faster than outdoor recreation use in general. In a sample of Forest Service wilderness and non-wilderness users during the summer of 1985, detailed expenditure, activity, and travel profiles were developed. The purpose of this analysis is to explore the possibility of differentiating between the characteristics of wilderness and general outdoor recreation users on the basis of trip characteristics, expenditure, patterns, and such demographic factors as age, income, education, sex, employment status, and social group composition.

  • Cole, David N. 1988. Disturbance and recovery of trampled montane grassland and forests in Montana. Res. Pap. INT-389. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 37p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1988). Disturbance and recovery of trampled montane grassland and forests in Montana

    Five forested vegetation types and one grassland in western Montana were subjected to experimental trampling. Changes in vegetational cover, number of species, mineral soil exposure, and soil penetration resistance were examined, as were responses of individual species. Deterioration and recovery following various levels of trampling are described, and factors that influence resistance and resilience are noted. Management implications are discussed.

  • Cole, David N.; Marion, Jeffrey L. 1988. Recreation impacts in some riparian forests of the Eastern United States. Environmental Management 12(1):99-107.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Marion, Jeffrey L. (1988). Recreation impacts in some riparian forests of the Eastern United States

    Ecological impacts on camp and picnic sites were examined in three National Park Service units along the Delaware and New Rivers in the Eastern United States. All sites experienced pronounced impact to trees, ground cover vegetation, and soils. The nature and magnitude of impacts in these riparian forests were quite similar to those reported in wilderness areas in the mountainous Western States and northern Minnesota, despite more favorable growing conditions. The effectiveness of basic strategies for managing impact should not differ greatly between regions. Here, as elsewhere, actions taken to control the areal extent of impact appear to be particularly important.

  • Lucas, Robert C., McCool, Stephen F. 1988. Trends in wilderness recreational use: causes and implications. Western Wildlands Fall: 15-20.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C., McCool, Stephen F. (1988). Trends in wilderness recreational use: causes and implications

    This paper reviews wilderness recreation use data which suggest that wilderness use has stabilized and even declined in some places. Potential causes for this trend are offered, as are management implications.

  • Lucas, Robert C.; Stankey, George H. 1988. Shifting trends in wilderness recreational use benchmark. In: Watson, Alan E., compiler. Outdoor recreation benchmark 1988: Proceedings of the national outdoor recreation forum; 1988 January 13-14; Tampa, FL. Gen. Tech. Rep. SE-52. Asheville, NC: USDA For. Serv., Southeastern Forest Exper. Stn. 357-367pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Stankey, George H. (1988). Shifting trends in wilderness recreational use benchmark

    Wilderness recreational use grew rapidly during most of the post World War II era, but growth has slowed or reversed recently. National Park backcountry use began declining in the 1970’s and national forest use slowed or declined in the 1980’s in many areas. Reasons are unclear, but an aging population and changing interests are the most apparent causes. This change has implications for wilderness allocation and management.

  • Cole, David N. 1987. Effects of three seasons of experimental trampling on five montane forest communities and a grassland in western Montana, USA. Biological Conservation 40: 219-244.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1987). Effects of three seasons of experimental trampling on five montane forest communities and a grassland in western Montana, USA

    Six vegetation types, one grassland and five forest communities, were experimentally trampled for three successive summers. The relationships between amount of trampling and vegetation cover loss, species loss, and increase in penetration resistance were strongly curvilinear, beyond the level of trampling required to expose mineral soil. The relative vulnerability of each vegetation type was assessed, as was the number of years of trampling required before damage leveled off. Implications for management of recreation sites and design of trampling experiments are discussed.

  • Cole, David N. 1987. Research on soil and vegetation in wilderness: a state-of-knowledge review. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: issues, state-of-knowledge, future directions; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-220. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 135-177pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1987). Research on soil and vegetation in wilderness: a state-of-knowledge review

    This paper deals primarily with research on soil and vegetation impacts caused by recreational use of wilderness. Studies have documented the most obvious effects of trampling, described conditions on campsites and along trails, described the spatial distribution of impact, and documented changes in impact levels over time. Relatively little is known about the effect of trampling on soil biota and plant physiology or the impact of recreational stock. Lack of theoretical work and the short timeframes of most studies leave us with little ability to evaluate the significance of most of the impacts that have been described. An increasing number of studies have examined the importance of factors that influence amount of impact. Current high-priority research needs are identified.

  • Cole, David N.; Petersen, Margaret E.; Lucas, Robert C. 1987. Managing wilderness recreation use: common problems and potential solutions. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-230. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station .
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Petersen, Margaret E.; Lucas, Robert C. (1987). Managing wilderness recreation use: common problems and potential solutions

    This report summarizes information on the pros and cons of alternative tactics for managing wilderness recreation problems. Potential means of dealing with each problem are listed. Then each tactic is described, along with costs to visitors and management, likely effectiveness, other considerations, and sources of further information.

  • Driver, B. L.; Brown, Perry J.; Stankey, George H.; Gregoire, Timothy G. 1987. The ROS planning system: evolution, basic concepts, and research needed. Leisure Sciences 9(3): 201-212.
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    Abstract for Driver, B. L.; Brown, Perry J.; Stankey, George H.; Gregoire, Timothy G. (1987). The ROS planning system: evolution, basic concepts, and research needed

    This paper describes the evolution of the concept of the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS)--a largely resource-based approach to providing recreational diversity. It explains the needs of the USDA For. Serv. and USDI Bureau of Land Management for a recreation resource system to guide recreation planning of large areas. The basic concepts and tenets of the ROS system are explained and needed research is outlined.

  • Haas, Glenn E.; Driver, B. L.; Brown, Perry J.; Lucas, Robert C. 1987. Wilderness management zoning. Journal of Forestry 85(12): 17-21.
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    Abstract for Haas, Glenn E.; Driver, B. L.; Brown, Perry J.; Lucas, Robert C. (1987). Wilderness management zoning

    Zoning wilderness management is an effective way of dealing with varying use and site conditions. The rationale for zoning and controversial issues concerning the approach are presented, as well as an example from the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness in Colorado.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1987. Perspectives on the history of wilderness research. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: issues, state-of-knowledge, future directions; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-220. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 15-28pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1987). Perspectives on the history of wilderness research

    Reviews wilderness management-oriented research. Research was almost nonexistent before 1960. About then, recognition of the need for research knowledge to support management and protection of wilderness resulted in studies by Federal, private, and university scientists. Early research was exploratory, largely descriptive, and somewhat naive, but it was an exciting period. By the late 1960\'s, research efforts matured, and became more theoretical and interdisciplinary. The size of the wilderness research effort grew through about 1978 and has since declined. Early research stressed physical-biological studies of recreation impacts, but the emphasis quickly shifted to visitor studies. Carrying capacity was a major focus. The limits of acceptable change system was developed to deal with the carrying capacity issue. To maximize the contribution of a smaller research effort to protection of the large wilderness system, five recommendations are made.

  • Lucas, Robert C., compiler 1987. National wilderness research conference: issues, state-of-knowledge, future directions. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: issues, state-of-knowledge, future directions; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-220. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 369p.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C., compiler (1987). National wilderness research conference: issues, state-of-knowledge, future directions

    Contains background papers and nine major state-of-knowledge review papers.

  • Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Lucas, Robert C. 1987. Wilderness use and user characteristics: a state-of-knowledge review. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: issues, state-of-knowledge, future directions; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-220. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 204-245pp.
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    Abstract for Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Lucas, Robert C. (1987). Wilderness use and user characteristics: a state-of-knowledge review

    Reviews research on wilderness use and users. Similarities in use and especially users are more common than differences. Young adults, males, highly educated people, professional and technical occupations, moderately high incomes, predominantly local and regional visitors, low membership in conservation organizations, urban residents, considerable previous experience, and family groups are common characteristics. Use is distributed unevenly among areas, within areas, and over time. Parties typically are small, hiking, without outfitters, staying only a few days. he rate of increase in wilderness use has slowed, and use has declined in many areas. Use appears to be becoming more evenly distributed within many wildernesses with less pronounced peaks at certain times, stays are becoming shorter, parties are becoming smaller, there are more women visitors, and more visitors are visiting wildernesses not previously visited.

  • Stankey, George H. 1987. Scientific issues in the definition of wilderness. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: issues, state-of-knowledge, future directions; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-220. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 47-53pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1987). Scientific issues in the definition of wilderness

    This paper examines some of the important scientific issues underlying wilderness protection. Specific scientific criteria to define wilderness are identified, and the extent to which these criteria are incorporated within the process of preserving wilderness in the United States is discussed. Needed actions to highlight and protect scientific values in wilderness are discussed.

  • Stankey, George H.; Schreyer, Richard. 1987. Attitudes toward wilderness and factors affecting visitor behavior: a state-of-knowledge review. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: issues, state-of-knowledge, future directions; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-220. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 246-293pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; Schreyer, Richard. (1987). Attitudes toward wilderness and factors affecting visitor behavior: a state-of-knowledge review

    An understanding of user attitudes is essential to effective wilderness management. This review outlines historical and current societal and individual attitudes toward wilderness, reasons for participating in wilderness, factors affecting wilderness behavior (including attitudes toward management, crowding, and conflict), and how information and education affect behavior. Visitors usually have distinct attitudes though they vary considerably, and desire a role in the management process. Their views are increasingly important in the decisionmaking process. Research has a vital role in validating visitor input and presenting results to management in a timely and useful manner.

  • Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. 1986. Site attributes--a key to managing wilderness and dispersed recreation. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: current research; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-212. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 509-515pp.
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    Abstract for Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. (1986). Site attributes--a key to managing wilderness and dispersed recreation

    Knowledge of important recreation sites and their attributes will assist managers in evaluating the consequences of changes as a result of other resource uses on dispersed recreation opportunities both within and outside of wilderness. Such information aids in developing strategies to prevent or mitigate undesirable impacts while taking advantage of positive changes to provide a desired range of public benefits. A case example for identifying important attributes of potential recreation sites in southeast Alaska is described. Suggestions on how to incorporate this information into multiple resource planning and management are discussed.

  • Cole, David N. 1986. Ecological changes on campsites in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, 1979 to 1984. Res. Pap. INT-368. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station. 15p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1986). Ecological changes on campsites in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, 1979 to 1984

    Campsites in the Eagle Cap Wilderness were examined in 1979 and reexamined in 1984 to compare the extent of ecological impacts. The most consistent and pronounced changes were increases in the size of the campsite and its devegetated core. On most campsites, exposure of mineral soil increased, as did the number of felled trees. Amount of change did not differ significantly on campsites receiving different levels of use. The campsites most likely to deteriorate were those that were least impacted in 1979. High-use sites, once closed, did not recover much in 5 years. The results of this research have several important implications for management.

  • Cole, David N. 1986. Resource impacts caused by recreation. In: A literature review: The President's Commission on Americans Outdoors. Washington, DC: The President's Commission on Americans Outdoors: Management 1-11pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1986). Resource impacts caused by recreation

    The pursuit of recreational activities inevitably has an effect on the resource--vegetation, soil, wildlife, and water. Whether these impacts are considered to be positive or negative depends on the management objectives of the area affected. The severity of the positive or negative response, which dictates the acuteness of the need for mitigation measures, is also influenced by management objectives. The reasons for impacts compromise the objective of preserving natural conditions. Elsewhere impacts can make recreational areas and facilities less attractive, desirable, or functional.

  • Cole, David N. 1986. Recreational impacts on backcountry campsites in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Environmental Management 10(5): 651-659.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1986). Recreational impacts on backcountry campsites in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA

    Backcountry campsites were studied in three desert vegetation types (pinyon-juniper, catclaw, and desert scrub) in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Relationships between amount of use and amount of impact were examined within each vegetation type. The area disturbed was small, but impacts were generally severe. Important impacts were increased soil compaction and associated decreases in infiltration rates and soil moisture content; these were substantially more pronounced on high- than on low-use sites. The only impact parameter that differed significantly between vegetation types was core area. The types of impact identified are similar to those found in the coniferous forests studied elsewhere, as is the logarithmic relationship between amount of use and amount of impact. However, Grand Canyon sites can support more visitor use before reaching near-maximum levels of impact for important impact parameters.

  • Cole, David N.; Marion, Jeffrey L. 1986. Wilderness campsite impacts: changes over time. In: Lucas, Robert C., compiler. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: current research; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-212. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 144-151pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Marion, Jeffrey L. (1986). Wilderness campsite impacts: changes over time. In: Lucas, Robert C., compiler

    How wilderness campsite impacts change over time was the object of both a 5-year longitudinal study in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, OR, and a cross-sectional study in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, MN. Conclusions from the two studies generally support each other. The major types of impact that increase substantially after the first few years a site is used are campsite area, tree damage, loss of organic horizons, exposed mineral soil, and perhaps bulk density. Even with these types of impact, most change appears to occur within the first 5 to 10 years after a site is developed. Suggestions for minimizing long-term campsite deterioration are offered.

  • Krumpe, Edwin E.; Lucas, Robert C. 1986. Research on recreation trails and trail users. In: A literature review: The President's Commission on Americans Outdoors. Washington, DC: The President's Commission on Americans Outdoors: Management 151-163pp.
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    Abstract for Krumpe, Edwin E.; Lucas, Robert C. (1986). Research on recreation trails and trail users

    Relatively little research has been conducted that specifically addresses trails, despite the identification of issues facing trail use, development, and management in many national and state outdoor recreation plans. Trail research has centered around five broad categories of investigation: trends in trail use, measuring use, describing trail users, managing trail users, and controlling resource impacts. These are reviewed.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1986. Managing future forests for wilderness and recreation. In: Crowley, John J., ed. Research for tomorrow: 1986 yearbook of agriculture. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture 217-221pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1986). Managing future forests for wilderness and recreation

    Likely future developments in wilderness and forest recreation are discussed in this paper. Topics covered include increased diversity, a shift in emphasis from wilderness designation to wilderness management, operation of natural processes, limiting visitor impacts, managing carrying capacity with LAC (Limits of Acceptable Change), higher visitor expectations and stress on quality, use of visitor information, regulations and fees, integration of recreation and other forest uses, and more stable use.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1986. Influence of visitor experience on wilderness recreation trends. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: current research; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-212. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 261-268pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1986). Influence of visitor experience on wilderness recreation trends

    Many changes in use and users in the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex from 1970 to 1982 are associated with changes in visitor experience types. Experienced wilderness visitors who were newcomers to the Bob Marshall increased most, and had use characteristics linked to most major changes. Experienced newcomers, beginners, and veterans all differed in many ways. Implications for management and research are presented.

  • Lucas, Robert C., compiler 1986. National wilderness research conference: current research. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: current research; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-212. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 553p.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C., compiler (1986). National wilderness research conference: current research

    Contains papers in 9 major wilderness research sections: Fire; Air Quality; Soil and Vegetation; Fish and Wildlife; Water; Use and User Characteristics; Visitor Attitudes and Behavior; Benefits; Management Concepts and Tools; and a section entitled A Wilderness Planning-Application Example. The related pdf is 45.2MB This document is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.109401

  • Lucas, Robert C.; Krumpe, Edwin E. 1986. Wilderness management. In: A literature review: The President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors. Washington, DC: The President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors: Management 121-135pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Krumpe, Edwin E. (1986). Wilderness management

    The focus of this paper is on wilderness as a recreation resource, although the Wilderness Act makes it clear that a wilderness is not primarily a recreation area. Managing wilderness resources is largely a matter of managing use, mainly recreational use, to protect resources and provide visitors opportunities for quality wilderness experiences. Research and concepts pertinent to understanding visitors are discussed.

  • Lucas, Robert C.; McCool, Stephen F.; Stankey, George H.; Stokes, Gerald L.; Cole, David L.; Mercer, John; Wall, Ken; Ashor, Joseph L. 1986. A wilderness planning-application example. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: current research; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-212. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 523-553pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; McCool, Stephen F.; Stankey, George H.; Stokes, Gerald L.; Cole, David L.; Mercer, John; Wall, Ken; Ashor, Joseph L. (1986). A wilderness planning-application example

    A special evening session at the National Wilderness Research Conference presented a case study involving the integrated application of a variety of advanced management concepts and techniques to the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex. The session involved presentations on different components of the total management program, listed below. We think this session presented a practical program that could be borrowed from by other wilderness managers. The program described is also an encouraging example of cooperative teamwork among managers, scientists from the Forest Service, a university, and an environmental research firm, and the concerned public.

  • Marion, Jeffrey L.; Cole, David N.; Bratton, Susan P. 1986. Exotic vegetation in wilderness areas. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: current research; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-212. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 114-120pp.
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    Abstract for Marion, Jeffrey L.; Cole, David N.; Bratton, Susan P. (1986). Exotic vegetation in wilderness areas

    Exotic plant species have been introduced and dispersed throughout most, if not all, of our wilderness areas. Although most of these species are restricted to disturbed areas, some have become naturalized and are capable of invading and displacing native vegetation. This paper examines the reasons why wilderness managers should be concerned about these exotic species, their introduction and dispersal mechanisms, extent of occurrence, implications for managers, and potential methods for control.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Stankey, George H. 1986. Visitor attitudes toward wilderness fire management policy 1971-84. Res. Pap. INT-357. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station. 7p.
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Stankey, George H. (1986). Visitor attitudes toward wilderness fire management policy 1971-84

    Visitors to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, MT, were asked about their knowledge of fire effects and attitudes toward fire management in wilderness settings. In comparison to a similar 1971 study, visitors were more knowledgeable about fire effects and more supportive of fire management rather than fire suppression. About half the visitors felt that manager-ignited fires would be beneficial to wilderness, about 16 percent felt these fires would be detrimental, and about one-third were unsure.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Stankey, George H. 1986. Planning and social change: responding to the revolution in recreation demand. Planning and social change: responding to the revolution in recreation demand. In: Proceedings: 18th IUFRO World Congress--Division 6; 1986 September 7-21; Ljubljana, Yugoslavia. [publisher unknown] Yugoslav IUFRO World Congress Organizing Committee 67-77pp.
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Stankey, George H. (1986). Planning and social change: responding to the revolution in recreation demand

    Recreation planning is an essential activity to meet changing demands. Much planning, however, is unsuccessful. Many factors account for this, particularly fundamental structural problems in the traditional approaches to planning. Also, major changes in social values make successful planning difficult. An alternative model called transactive planning tested in land use planning in the United States compensated for many shortcomings while responding positively to changing social values.

  • Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Watson, Alan E. 1986. Providing information for management purposes. In: Kulhavy, David L.; Conner, Richard N., eds. A symposium: wilderness and natural areas in the Eastern United States: a management challenge; 1985 May 13-15; Nacogdoches, TX. Nacogdoches, TX: Stephen F. Austin University, School of Forestry 236-242pp.
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    Abstract for Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Watson, Alan E. (1986). Providing information for management purposes

    Providing information to wilderness users is a lighthanded management strategy that permits freedom of choice in wilderness. Information also meets the mandates of the Wilderness Act. Empirical research indicates that simple written brochures can disperse wilderness users, enhance opportunities for solitude, and reduce site impacts, but personalized information contacts are generally more effective. Effectiveness in modifying behavior is influenced by relevancy and detail of information, format and channel of presentation, timing, and the extent to which the target audience actually receives the message.

  • Shelby, Bo; Harris, Rick 1986. User standards for ecological impacts at wilderness campsites. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: current research; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-212. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 166-171pp.
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    Abstract for Shelby, Bo; Harris, Rick (1986). User standards for ecological impacts at wilderness campsites

    Traditionally, evaluative standards for campsites have been based on expert judgments, although several studies show that judgments of managers often differ from those of users. Other studies have focused on user evaluations of campsite impacts, but have not identified the point at which impacts become unacceptable. Although conclusions are speculative, data from the present study suggest that wilderness users have opinions about impacts and are willing to express them, norms or standards vary for different experiences offered by different locations, low to moderate impact may be more acceptable to users than no impact at all, and there is considerable agreement about impact standards.

  • Stankey, George H. 1986. Dispersed recreation use and users in Kosciusko National Park, Australia: a profile and comparison with the United States. Proceedings--National Wilderness Research Conference: current research; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-212. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 287-296pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1986). Dispersed recreation use and users in Kosciusko National Park, Australia: a profile and comparison with the United States

    Use and users in the Summit Area, an undeveloped portion of Kosciusko National Park in southeastern Australia, were compared with users in wilderness and wilderness-like areas in the United States. Users in both countries were young, predominantly male, resided close to the area visited, and were not members of organized conservation or recreation clubs. Most use characteristics were similar: short stays, small groups, and multiple activity participation. However, there were sharp differences in the evaluation of use conditions even though encounter levels were similar; United States visitors were much more concerned with crowding. Although use of wilderness-like areas appears similar in the two countries, perception of the meaning of these areas and their appropriate use and management appears mitigated by cultural influences.

  • Stankey, George H.; Manning, Robert E. 1986. Carrying capacity of recreation settings. In: A literature review: The President's Commission on Americans Outdoors. Washington, DC: The President's Commission on Americans Outdoors: Management 47-57pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; Manning, Robert E. (1986). Carrying capacity of recreation settings

    A recreation management idea, carrying capacity, peaked during the 1960\'s and 1970\'s as burgeoning recreational use raised concerns about appropriate amounts and types of use in the Nation\'s outdoor recreational areas. The carrying capacity model provides a basis for examining several important interactions: between supply and demand considerations, between concerns about resource conditions and perceived recreational quality, and between the quantity of recreational opportunities supplied and the quality of experiences derived from them. Over the past 20 years carrying capacity research, coupled with extensive management experience with the concept, has produced many findings that can be drawn into six basic conclusions.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. 1986. Recreation in eastern wilderness: do we know what the visitors expect?. In: Kulhavy, David L.; Conner, Richard N., eds. A symposium: wilderness and natural areas in the Eastern United States: a management challenge; 1985 May 13-15; Nacogdoches, TX. Nacogdoches, TX: Stephen F. Austin University, School of Forestry 243-246pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. (1986). Recreation in eastern wilderness: do we know what the visitors expect?

    Increased wilderness acreage in the East means increased numbers of wilderness managers. A very relevant question is to ask what we know about the expectations of visitors to eastern wilderness areas. While it appears that visitors to eastern areas do not expect different physical and managerial attributes and psychological experiences, differences within the East related to unique land form and ecosystem types may need further investigation.

  • Beaulieu, Jean T.; Schreyer, Richard. 1985. Choices of wilderness environments--differences between real and hypothetical choice situations. In: Stankey, George H.; McCool, Stephen F., compilers. Proceedings--symposium on recreation choice behavior; 1984 March 22-23; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-184. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 38-45pp.
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    Abstract for Beaulieu, Jean T.; Schreyer, Richard. (1985). Choices of wilderness environments--differences between real and hypothetical choice situations

    This study examines differences in factors considered in choosing a wilderness environment based upon whether the choice was an actual report of behavior or a hypothetical decision. Recreationists were contacted in wilderness areas in Utah and Wyoming and asked to report on why they had actually chosen that area. A mail survey of Utah Wilderness Association members requested a hypothetical decision concerning a place in which to recreate and the factors used to make that decision. Responses were analyzed for the two sets in terms of the most important factor cited in making the choice, the degree of specificity of the most important factor, the total number of factors considered important in making the choice, and the combination of attributes considered important.

  • Bird, Douglas; Lucas, Robert C. 1985. The high-intensity and large-fire issue in wilderness. In: Proceedings--symposium and workshop on wilderness fire; 1983 November 15-18; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-182. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn 302-303pp.
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    Abstract for Bird, Douglas; Lucas, Robert C. (1985). The high-intensity and large-fire issue in wilderness

    This paper summarizes one of the group discussions held at the symposium. The group identified eight areas of concern and gave five recommendations to improve wilderness fire management.

  • Bromley, Marianne 1985. Wildlife management implications of petroleum exploration and development in wildland environments. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-191. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 42p.
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    Abstract for Bromley, Marianne (1985). Wildlife management implications of petroleum exploration and development in wildland environments

    This report describes the sequence of events, their characteristics, and the associated environmental disruptions involved in the exploration, development, and production of petroleum. The potential effects of environmental disruptions on wildlife behavior, populations, and habitat are evaluated, drawing on a review of the literature, supported by a selective, annotated bibliography. Possible approaches to minimizing adverse effects on wildlife are presented, including changes in management of petroleum projects, personnel, and wildlife habitat and populations.

  • Cole, David N. 1985. Recreational trampling effects on six habitat types in western Montana. Res. Pap. INT-350. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station. 43p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1985). Recreational trampling effects on six habitat types in western Montana

    This paper examines the response of six vegetation types in western Montana to experimental trampling. All of the forest types showed a curvilinear relationship between amount of trampling and loss of vegetation cover, loss of plant species, and soil compaction. A grassland was more resistant to vegetation loss. These results can be used to evaluate the likely effects of different use levels on campsites and to identify the most durable locations for campsites.

  • Cole, David N. 1985. Management of ecological impacts in wilderness areas in the United States. In: Bayfield, N. G.; Barrow, G. C., eds. The ecological impacts of outdoor recreation on mountain areas in Europe and North America. R.E.R.G. Report No. 9. Wye, England: Recreation Ecology Research Group 138-154pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1985). Management of ecological impacts in wilderness areas in the United States

    This paper reviews research on campsite impacts. Research has identified what changes have occurred and their severity. The major factors that influence how much occurs on an individual site are (1) the amount and frequency of use the site receives, (2) the type and behavior of its users, and (3) the environmental conditions of the site itself. The effectiveness of various means of manipulating these factors to control site impacts is evaluated. The appropriateness of different management strategies varies both within and between wilderness areas, with amount and type of use. Practices commonly taken to mitigate trail damage and damage associated with the use of pack and saddle stock are described. Much less is known about the severity of wildlife disturbance and water pollution or how such problems should be rectified. Reasons why these impacts should be of particular concern are suggested. Barriers to improved management of ecological impacts include insufficient research, lack of monitoring, poor communication both between researchers and managers and among managers, and poorly defined management objectives.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1985. Visitor characteristics, attitudes, and use patterns in the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex, 1970-82. Res. Pap. INT-345. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 32p.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1985). Visitor characteristics, attitudes, and use patterns in the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex, 1970-82

    Trends from 1970 to 1982 in the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex of three adjacent wildernesses were analyzed. Data on use characteristics, use distribution, visitor characteristics, and visitor attitudes were compared. The greatest changes were increases in hiker use compared to horse use, and much more dissatisfaction with trail conditions.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1985. The management of recreational visitors in wilderness areas in the United States. In: Bayfield, N. G.; Barrow, G. C., eds. The ecological impacts of outdoor recreation on mountain areas in Europe and North America. R.E.R.G. Report No. 9. Wye, England: Recreation Ecology Research Group 122-136pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1985). The management of recreational visitors in wilderness areas in the United States

    This paper focuses on managing the quality of visitors\' experiences in the U.S. wilderness system. Wilderness managers perceive several problems as common, but usually afflicting only limited portions of each area. Environmental impact is the most widely perceived problem, followed by crowding, littering, and conflicts between different types of visitors. Visitor management can be classified as direct or indirect, and applied outside or within the wilderness. Most visitor management actions, whatever their intent, affect both visitor experiences and environmental impacts, with intricate interrelations and often with undesired side effects. Visitor management techniques vary in effectiveness and visitor acceptability, and major techniques are analyzed. There is more agreement among wilderness managers about problems than solutions. Little is known about major causal processes, including how ecological impact conditions affect visitors\' experiences, a particularly critical gap in linking managing social and ecological aspects of recreation. Lack of monitoring and evaluation impairs learning from experience.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1985. Recreation trends and management of the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex. In: Wood, James D., Jr., ed. Proceedings--1985 national outdoor recreation trends symposium II, Volume II; 1985 February 24-27; Myrtle Beach, SC. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Southeast Regional Office 309-316pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1985). Recreation trends and management of the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex

    Trends over 12 years in the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex include: slowing growth in use, a shift in predominant travel methods from horses to hiking, and growing complaints about trail conditions and user conflicts. The potential for impacts on a per-party basis has decreased, providing managers with an opportunity to catch up.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1985. Planned ignitions in wilderness: response to paper by William A. Worf. In: Proceedings--symposium and workshop on wilderness fire; 1983 November 15-18; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-182. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 286-289pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1985). Planned ignitions in wilderness: response to paper by William A. Worf

    Five questions basic to evaluation of a program of manager-ignited prescribed fire in wilderness are discussed: 1.Why not suppress all fires in wilderness? 2.Why not depend entirely on natural lightning ignitions? 3.Are planned ignitions in wilderness legal? 4.Are planned ignitions in wilderness consistent with the spirit and philosophy of wilderness and the Wilderness Act? 5.Can managers be trusted to apply a planned ignition policy? It is concluded that manager-ignited fires can play a useful role in preserving natural ecological processes in wilderness.

  • Lucas, Robert C.; Cole, David N.; Stankey, George H. 1985. Research update: what we have learned about wilderness management. In: Frome, Michael, ed. Issues in wilderness management. Boulder, CO: Westview Press: 173-188pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Cole, David N.; Stankey, George H. (1985). Research update: what we have learned about wilderness management

    The Wilderness Management Research Unit\'s program is summarized. Campsite management problems are described in more detail, and ecological and visitor research related to this problem is described. Two common management actions, (1) use dispersal vs. concentration, and (2) visitor education, are discussed.

  • Lucas, Robert C.; Stankey, George H. 1985. Role of research in applying the limits of acceptable change system. In: Watson, Alan E., ed. Proceedings: southeastern recreation research conference; 1985 February 28-March 1; Myrtle Beach, SC. Statesboro, GA: Georgia Southern College, Department of Recreation and Leisure Services 1-15pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Stankey, George H. (1985). Role of research in applying the limits of acceptable change system

    The Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) system shifts the focus from determining the amount of recreational use allowed to defining acceptable conditions and managing for them in many ways. The LAC process is reviewed and research needs related to each of the nine steps are discussed. Four research needs seem especially critical: 1.Determine how wilderness visitors perceive the relative importance of various aspects of the resource and social setting (to aid in selecting indicators). 2.Learn how visitors evaluate various degrees of resource impact (to help define standards). 3.Develop and test monitoring techniques for social indicators. 4.Develop, test, and evaluate a wide variety of management practices.

  • Marion, Jeffrey; Cole, David; Reynolds, David 1985. Limits of acceptable change: a framework for assessing carrying capacity. Park Science 6(1): 9-11.
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    Abstract for Marion, Jeffrey; Cole, David; Reynolds, David (1985). Limits of acceptable change: a framework for assessing carrying capacity

    This article describes the Limits of Acceptable Change concept and its application to several areas managed by the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service.

  • McCool, Stephen F.; Stankey, George H.; Clark, Roger N. 1985. Choosing recreation settings: processes, findings, and research directions. In: Stankey, George H.; McCool, Stephen F., compilers. Proceedings--symposium on recreation choice behavior; 1984 March 22-23; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-184. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 1-8pp.
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    Abstract for McCool, Stephen F.; Stankey, George H.; Clark, Roger N. (1985). Choosing recreation settings: processes, findings, and research directions

    This paper reviews the discussion contained in the 11 presentations given at a symposium on recreation choice behavior. It addresses major points of commonality in the papers, as well as areas where differences exist. It also suggests a number of areas in which additional research on recreation choice behavior is needed.

  • Petersen, Margaret E. 1985. Improving voluntary registration through location and design of trail registration stations. Res. Pap. INT-336. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 8p.
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    Abstract for Petersen, Margaret E. (1985). Improving voluntary registration through location and design of trail registration stations

    Four combinations of sign and location were studied on three trails in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, MT, to determine effect on visitor registration rates. Registration rates generally improved, and for some classes of visitor doubled, when the station was moved 1 to 3 miles up the trail from the trailhead. Sign message, though less influential than location, significantly raised registration rates for some visitors. Recommendations for choosing locations for trail registers are presented.

  • Schreyer, Richard; Knopf, Richard C.; Williams, Daniel R. 1985. Reconceptualizing the motive/environment link in recreation choice behavior. In: Stankey, George H.; McCool, Stephen F., compilers. Proceedings--symposium on recreation choice behavior; 1984 March 22-23; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-184. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 9-18pp.
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    Abstract for Schreyer, Richard; Knopf, Richard C.; Williams, Daniel R. (1985). Reconceptualizing the motive/environment link in recreation choice behavior

    Effective inventory, management, and planning for recreation resources depend on knowing why persons choose certain environments to attain specific goals, and what elements in those environments facilitate goal attainment. Research focused on relating motives for participation to specific components in the environment has had only limited success. This paper proposes an alternative organization of the motive-behavior/environment relationship. The model is founded on an attempt to separate the process of recreation behavior from the content. The process of recreation behavior is seen as the attempt to attain a desirable state of consciousness which is experienced as satisfaction in recreation.

  • Shelby, Bo; Harris, Richard 1985. Comparing methods for determining visitor evaluations of ecological impacts: site visits, photographs, and written descriptions. Journal of Leisure Research 17(1): 57-67.
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    Abstract for Shelby, Bo; Harris, Richard (1985). Comparing methods for determining visitor evaluations of ecological impacts: site visits, photographs, and written descriptions

    This study compares three methods for gathering evaluative data from users of wilderness campsites in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon. Dependent variables used for method comparisons include acceptability of specific impact, overall desirability of the site as a place to camp, and overall preference ranking of the sites observed. For specific impacts, photographs and written descriptions agreed with site evaluations 90% and 80% of the time, respectively. Evaluation of more general characteristics (desirability and preference) showed less agreement across methods (65% to 80% of the time), probably because photos and written descriptions are limited in their ability to convey background and context features. This may be an advantage for evaluation of specific impacts because it prevents background features from interfering with subjects’ assessments.

  • Stankey, George H.; Cole, David N.; Lucas, Robert C.; Petersen, Margaret E.; Frissell, Sidney S. 1985. The limits of acceptable change (LAC) system for wilderness planning. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-176. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 37pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; Cole, David N.; Lucas, Robert C.; Petersen, Margaret E.; Frissell, Sidney S. (1985). The limits of acceptable change (LAC) system for wilderness planning

    This paper describes the limits of acceptable change (LAC) system, a framework for establishing acceptable and appropriate resource and social conditions in recreation settings. The LAC has been developed in response to the need of managers for a means of coping with increasing demands on recreational areas in a visible, logical fashion. The LAC also represents a reformulation of the recreational carrying capacity concept, with the primary emphasis now on the conditions desired in the area rather than on how much use an area can tolerate. To demonstrate how these nine steps can lead to an effective management program, a hypothetical case example is described.

  • Stankey, George H.; McCool Stephen F. , compilers 1985. Symposium on recreation choice behavior. Proceedings--symposium on recreation choice behavior; 1984 March 22-23; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-184. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 106p.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; McCool Stephen F. , compilers (1985). Symposium on recreation choice behavior

    Presents an overview paper and 11 contributed papers focused on the issue of the processes that underlie decision-making by recreationists. The papers span a range of topics including the theory of choice behavior, empirical investigations of choice, and methodological approaches to the study of choice behavior.

  • Watson, Alan E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. 1985. Approximating recreation site choice: the predictive capability of a lexicographic semi-order model. In: Stankey, George H.; McCool, Stephen F., compilers. Proceedings--symposium on recreation choice behavior; 1984 March 22-23; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-184. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station 55-60pp.
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    Abstract for Watson, Alan E.; Roggenbuck, Joseph W. (1985). Approximating recreation site choice: the predictive capability of a lexicographic semi-order model

    The relevancy of a lexicographic semi-order model, as a basis for development of a microcomputer-based decision aid for backcountry hikers, was investigated. In an interactive microcomputer exercise, it was found that a decision aid based upon this model may assist recreationists in reduction of an alternative set to a manageable number.

  • Stankey, George H. 1984. Wilderness preservation activity at the state level: a national review. Natural Areas Journal 4(4): 20-28.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1984). Wilderness preservation activity at the state level: a national review

    A national review of state-level activity in wilderness was undertaken early in 1984. All state resource management organizations plus those in Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands were surveyed to determine the extent of such programs, the nature of management associated with such areas, and the problems confronting managers. Criteria were established to distinguish formal, systematic programs from those where wilderness preservation was only an incidental by-product. Nine states currently have promulgated guidelines, either through law or administrative regulation, to preserve wilderness; nearly 50 areas and almost 2 million acres have been set aside. Such areas represent important efforts to achieve nature conservation goals at the state level and play an important complementary role to the National Wilderness Preservation System.

  • Stankey, George H.; Lucas, Robert C. 1984. The role of environmental perception in wilderness management. Unpub. pap. on file at: Missoula, MT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory 20p.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; Lucas, Robert C. (1984). The role of environmental perception in wilderness management

    This paper discusses three issues for which an environmental perception approach is not only desirable but necessary to promote effective wilderness management. The issues include: perceptions of appropriate wilderness use and management, perceptions of recreational crowding and conflict, and perceptions of the environmental impacts resulting from recreational use.

  • Stankey, George H.; McCool Stephen F. 1984. Carrying capacity in recreational settings: evolution, appraisal, and application. Leisure Sciences 6(4): 453-473.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; McCool Stephen F. (1984). Carrying capacity in recreational settings: evolution, appraisal, and application

    This paper traces the evolution of the carrying capacity concept, arguing that many of the fundamental propositions of the concept were articulated early in its evolution. The literature reporting generally low levels of statistical association between trip satisfaction and levels of encounters is reviewed critically. It is suggested that research focused on defining "How much is too much?" is directed at the wrong issue; rather, the focus should be on the question of what kinds of resource and social conditions are appropriate and acceptable in different settings.

  • Stankey, George H.; McCool, Stephen F.; Stokes, Gerald L. 1984. Limits of acceptable change: a new framework for managing the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex. Western Wildlands 10(3): 33-37.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; McCool, Stephen F.; Stokes, Gerald L. (1984). Limits of acceptable change: a new framework for managing the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex

    Managers, citizens, and scientists all have expressed concern that increasing demands on the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex (BMWC) could damage the area\'s vegetation, soil, water, and wildlife. Moreover, the growing numbers of users make it increasingly difficult to provide the kinds of outstanding opportunities for solitude described in the 1964 Wilderness Act. This paper presents the limits of acceptable change (LAC) concept and describes how it was applied to the BMWC to address these concerns.

  • Cole, David N. 1983. Monitoring the condition of wilderness campsites. Res. Pap. INT-304. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 10p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1983). Monitoring the condition of wilderness campsites

    Information on the distribution and severity of wilderness campsite impacts is necessary for planning purposes. Monitoring of campsite conditions will also allow managers to evaluate change in campsite condition and how such changes relate to management actions. Existing campsite monitoring systems are based on visual estimates of impact, measurements of impact, or photographs. The most useful systems (1) evaluate a number of meaningful parameters, (2) record each of these parameters separately, and (3) use as precise techniques as management can afford and still be able to inventory all sites. Estimation techniques will probably have to be used in most wilderness areas where funds are short and campsites are numerous. Suggestions for how to develop such a system are provided. Keys to success include adequate training so techniques are used in a consistent manner, quantitative category definitions, and documenting site locations so they can be reassessed in the future.

  • Cole, David N. 1983. Campsite conditions in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana. Res. Pap. INT-312. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 18p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1983). Campsite conditions in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana

    The conditions of campsites was examined in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana. The amount of change that has occurred on these sites was inferred by comparing campsites with comparable control sites. Trampling disturbance – loss of vegetation, exposure of mineral soil, and compaction of the soil – was generally comparable to that found in other backcountry areas. Campsites were unusually large, however, and tree damage was severe. Such impacts were particularly pronounced on sites by outfitters and large parties with stock. Actions for reducing damage are suggested.

  • Cole, David N. 1983. Assessing and monitoring backcountry trail conditions. Res. Pap. INT-303. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn 10p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1983). Assessing and monitoring backcountry trail conditions

    The costs of mitigating trail deterioration problems could be reduced through improved trail location and design and through improved monitoring of conditions. This paper describes assessment techniques with the potential for improving management of backcountry trails. Three types of assessment techniques are considered – replicable measurements, rapid surveys, and censuses. Sampling and measurement techniques are described for each, and the utility of the results is assessed. To illustrate their application, specific techniques are applied to the Big Creek trail system in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Both repeated measures of the cross-sectional area of the trail and rapid surveys show that most of the trail system is stable and in good condition. Certain segments are in poor condition, however. An examination of the relationship between trail condition and site, design, and use characteristics indicated that poor location was the major cause of problems. A census of trail problems and associated site and design characteristics identified (1) vegetation and soil indicators to guide trail location, and (2) design techniques to avoid damage where poor locations cannot be bypassed.

  • Cole, David N.; Benedict, Jim. 1983. Wilderness campsite selection--what should users be told?. Park Science 3(4): 5-7.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Benedict, Jim. (1983). Wilderness campsite selection--what should users be told?

    Recreational use of National Forest wilderness in 1981 exceeded 10 million visitor days (a 12-hour stay by one person)…an increase of more than 25 percent over 1980. Backcountry use in the national parks for the last several years has remained fairly constant at between 2 and 3 million overnight stays per year. While these measures are not comparable, together they clearly indicate increasing numbers of people crowding into America’s wilderness areas, threatening wilderness values and leading some to suggest that we are loving wilderness to death.

  • Cole, David N.; Benedict, Jim. 1983. How to pick a campsite you can leave without a trace. Backpacker 11(5): 40, 44, 87.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Benedict, Jim. (1983). How to pick a campsite you can leave without a trace

    We’re certainly using our wilderness these days. In 1982, our National Forests were used more than 11 million “visitor days” (a 12-hour stay by one person), an increase of more than 20 percent over 1980. Visitation in the National Parks is a whopping two to three million overnight stays per year. When you think about it, the news might not be all good; suppose we eventually “love” America’s wilderness areas to death?

  • Cole, David N.; Fichtler, Richard K. 1983. Campsite impact on three western wilderness areas. Environmental Management 7(3): 275-288.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Fichtler, Richard K. (1983). Campsite impact on three western wilderness areas

    Campsites were studied in subalpine forests in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in Oregon, and in the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness and the Rattlesnake Wilderness in Montana. Research objectives were to examine ecological changes on these sites and the extent to which these changes become more pronounced as use increases. For most parameters measured, impact on campsites used for only a few nights per year exceeds threshold values beyond which further increases in use have little effect. Loss of litter, tree root exposure, and site enlargement are the major types of alteration that are more pronounced on sites occupied more frequently than several nights per year. In heavily used parts of backcountry areas, this suggests that ecological change can be minimized by limiting use to a small number of sites. In the three areas studied, campsite occupancy rates would probably have to be higher than a few nights per year before dispersal of use among a large number of sites would be an ecologically sound strategy.

  • Cole, David N.; Ranz, Beth. 1983. Temporary campsite closures in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Journal of Forestry 81(11): 729-732.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Ranz, Beth. (1983). Temporary campsite closures in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

    Overused campsites near a Montana lake were closed to allow vegetation to recover, but examinations after five and eight years showed that little recovery had occurred. Lack of success is attributed to slow rates of natural recovery, poor compliance with the closures, and failure to apply active measures to assist revegetation.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1983. The role of regulations in recreation management. Western Wildlands 9(2): 6-10.
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  • Lucas, Robert C. 1983. Low and variable visitor compliance rates at voluntary trail registers. Res. Note INT-326. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 5p.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1983). Low and variable visitor compliance rates at voluntary trail registers

    Only 20 percent of the visitors to the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Mont., during 1981 complied at voluntary trail registers. Rates varied from 0 for day-use horseback riders to 47 percent for backpackers. Summer rates were seven times as high as fall rates. Unless rates are higher, trail registers do not provide a good base for use estimates. Methods of raising registration rates are discussed.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1983. Keeping the wild in wilderness recreation. In: Hayes, Jack, ed. Using our natural resources: yearbook of agriculture. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture 384-393pp.
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  • Stankey, George H,; Brown, Perry J.; Clark, Roger N. 1983. Monitoring and evaluating changes and trends in recreation opportunity supply. In: Bell, John F.; Atterbury, Toby, eds. Renewable resource inventories for monitoring changes and trends: proceedings of an international conference; 1983 August 15-19; Corvallis, OR. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University, College of Forestry: 227-230pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H,; Brown, Perry J.; Clark, Roger N. (1983). Monitoring and evaluating changes and trends in recreation opportunity supply

    The recreation opportunity spectrum (ROS) offers a framework for monitoring changes in recreation opportunity supply. It uses measurable criteria and standards to define recreation opportunity settings. The ROS is mainly used as an inventory tool; its use for monitoring has not been fully developed. Monitoring of trends, however, is fundamental to effective planning and management. A useful monitoring system requires clear definition of variables, systematic collection, replicable and cost-effective procedures, and sensitivity to changes. Monitoring provides feedback on conditions, changes in conditions, management effectiveness, and the effects of allocation decisions. Monitoring demonstrates how decisions regarding recreation and other resources alter the type and amount of recreation opportunity supply.

  • Stankey, George H. 1983. Wilderness in New Zealand: an outside perspective. In: Molloy, Leslie F., ed. Wilderness recreation in New Zealand: proceedings of the FMC 50th jubilee conference on wilderness; 1981 August 22-24; Nelson Lakes National Park, New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: Federated Mountain Clubs of N.Z. (Inc.): 76-78pp.
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  • Washburne, Randel F.; Cole, David N. 1983. Problems and practices in wilderness management: a survey of managers. Res. Pap. INT-304. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 56p.
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    Abstract for Washburne, Randel F.; Cole, David N. (1983). Problems and practices in wilderness management: a survey of managers

    This report presents the results of a survey of the managers of all units within the National Wilderness Preservation System and many units that will probably be added. Use characteristics, management problems, management techniques, nonconforming uses, and other topics of interest are described for 269 areas. Information is most frequently organized by administering agency, but also by status of the area (wilderness, proposed wilderness, or primitive area), and by region of the country. Important differences in agency philosophy are highlighted. A tabular summary of key data provides opportunities for detailed analysis and further study, and also documents current conditions for future comparison.

  • Cole, David N. 1982. Controlling the spread of campsites at popular wilderness destinations. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 37(5): 291-295.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1982). Controlling the spread of campsites at popular wilderness destinations

    All composites in a 132-hectare (325-acre) area around two popular subalpine lakes in Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness were located, and the ecological impacts were evaluated at each site. Of 221 sites found, most had experienced significant loss of vegetation and tree damage. Exposure of mineral soil and tree roots was less pronounced. Managers should be concerned about campsite proliferation. Spread of sites may be limited by concentrating use on selected sites or by restricting campfires to selected sites.

  • Cole, David N. 1982. Wilderness campsite impacts: effect of amount of use. Res. Pap. INT-284. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 34p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1982). Wilderness campsite impacts: effect of amount of use

    Campsites that were located near subalpine lakes in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oreg., were studied. Research objectives were to determine what ecological changes had occurred on the sites, the extent to which amounts of change increased with increasing use, whether lakeshore sites had been more highly altered than sites set back from lakeshores at least 200 ft (61 m) , and the sensitivity of selected indicators of ecological change.

  • Cole, David N. 1982. Vegetation of two drainages in Eagle Cap Wilderness, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon. Res. Pap. INT-288. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 42p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1982). Vegetation of two drainages in Eagle Cap Wilderness, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon

    A classification of vegetation is presented for part of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Compositional data and descriptions are supplied for 14 coniferous forest types and nine other community types. An additional four communities are described. Under each type the author discusses implications for wilderness management: campsite and trail suitability, unusual problems, fire management, and so on. This work should be expanded to include the entire Wallowa Mountains and incorporated into a habitat type classification while still retaining information on serai vegetation types.

  • Cole, David N.; Dalle-Molle, John 1982. Managing campfire impacts in the backcountry. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-135. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 16p.
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  • Jungst, Steven E.; Countryman, David W. 1982. Two regression models for projecting future wilderness use. Iowa State Journal of Research 57(1): 33-41.
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    Abstract for Jungst, Steven E.; Countryman, David W. (1982). Two regression models for projecting future wilderness use

    Two regression models were fitted to U.S. Forest Service Data on wilderness use. The first model utilized time-series cross-sectional regression techniques to determine the relation between wilderness use and four regional variables. The second model utilized generalized least squares regression to determine the relation between wilderness use, lagged wilderness use, and four other variables. Predictions for the year 2020 ranged from 2% to 7.2% average annual rate of increase depending on model used and assumptions about increases in independent variables.

  • Krumpe, Edwin E.; Brown, Perry J. 1982. Redistributing backcountry use through information related to recreation experiences. Journal of Forestry 80(6): 360-362, 364.
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    Abstract for Krumpe, Edwin E.; Brown, Perry J. (1982). Redistributing backcountry use through information related to recreation experiences

    A controlled experiment in Yellowstone National Park tested a “trail selector” consisting of a brochure and map containing information designed to enable visitors to select trails offering the type of recreation experience they desired and to provide alternatives to the most highly used trails. In decision-free format, the trail selector gave information on specific backcountry characteristics for 28 lightly used trails. The experiment demonstrated that simple information about trail attributes could redistribute use. Recreationists considered the trail selector useful, most said they would use it in planning subsequent trips, many had showed it to others planning a backcountry trip in the study area.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1982. Recreation regulations--when are they needed?. Journal of Forestry 80(3): 148-151.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1982). Recreation regulations--when are they needed?

    Regulation of outdoor recreation needs to be minimized. Managers should establish regulations only when they are the best way to achieve important objectives. Decisions can be arrived at through a seven-step systematic analysis that focuses on problem identification, consideration of non-regulatory alternative approaches, and the estimation of costs and benefits of potential management actions. The analysis should weed out avoidable regulations, and ensure that those adopted are effective and justified.

  • Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Watson, Alan E.; Stankey, George H. 1982. Wilderness management in the southern Appalachians. Southern Journal of Applied Forestry 6(3): 147-152.
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    Abstract for Roggenbuck, Joseph W.; Watson, Alan E.; Stankey, George H. (1982). Wilderness management in the southern Appalachians

    Wilderness managers need information about visitor preferences and behavior if they are to protect wilderness experiences and resources. Linville Gorge, Shining Rock and Joyce Kilmer/Slickrock wilderness users have different perceptions of wilderness problems, but too many people in certain places, a lack of information about use, litter and destruction of vegetation are commonly mentioned. Wilderness users expect few contacts with other groups, especially with large groups and at campsites. Use controls are generally supported and visitors favor unobtrusive management strategies over direct regulation.

  • Shelby, Bo; Danley, Mark S.; Gibbs, Kenneth C.; Petersen, Margaret E. 1982. Preferences of backpackers and river runners for allocation techniques. Journal of Forestry 80(7): 416-419.
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    Abstract for Shelby, Bo; Danley, Mark S.; Gibbs, Kenneth C.; Petersen, Margaret E. (1982). Preferences of backpackers and river runners for allocation techniques

    In a questionnaire study, river runners and backpackers in Oregon reacted most favorably to pricing and reservation as means of allocating scarce recreation resources. Differences in reactions to three other alternatives (lottery, queuing, and merit) apparently reflected differences in the characteristics of the areas and types of recreation studied.

  • Stankey, George H. 1982. Recreational carrying capacity research review. Ontario Geography 9:57.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1982. Management needs and problems associated with wilderness preservation. In: Martin, Vance, ed. Wilderness. Findhorn, Moray, Scotland: The Findhorn Press 159-163pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1982). Management needs and problems associated with wilderness preservation

    Although the wilderness designation process draws much attention and excitement, it is actually only the first step towards the long-term objective of preserving wilderness. The long-term task involves the definition and implementation of a program of policies and actions to manage wilderness in such a way that it appears unmanaged. The task is complicated by the inherently complex nature of the job, frequently low levels of information, a high degree of uncertainty, and the risk of irreversible consequences in the event of mistakes.

  • Stankey, George H. 1982. Philosophy, science and management: the fundamentals of Natural Area conservation. Unpub. pap. on file at: Missoula, MT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory 13p.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1982). Philosophy, science and management: the fundamentals of Natural Area conservation

    The tone and thrust of this paper have been chosen purposely to be somewhat in contrast with the other papers presented in this workshop. In the following papers, we will discuss pragmatic difficulties facing the managers of natural areas, including such issues as walking tracks, fire management, monitoring procedures, and administrative systems. These are all important matters, often made so by the immediacy that surrounds them and it is hoped that the papers and ensuing discussion will shed some helpful insight on with how they might be resolved. In this paper, I argue that a successful programme of natural area preservation must rest on three components. First, it is necessary to build a logical and defensible philosophical framework that provides a clear statement of the rationale underlying preservation. Basically, this provides a statement of the purpose, function, and role of natural areas in society. Second, a solid data base regarding the resource and its use is needed. The best thoughtout philosophy is of little value if the information base is inadequate. And third, there must be an effective delivery system – a management system – to purpose, implement, and monitor, actions to achieve the goals and objectives set up for such areas. The combination of these three elements provides the essential features of any successful programme of natural area conservation.

  • Stankey, George H. 1982. The role of management in wilderness and natural-area preservation. Environmental Conservation 9(2): 149-155.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1982). The role of management in wilderness and natural-area preservation

    It is argued that, while designation (i.e. allocation) of an area to wilderness or related nature conservation purposes is an important action, it is merely a necessary but efficient step in the long-term preservation and provision of such areas. Although one can argue that areas designated for preservation objectives require little or no management, the persistent pressures stemming from their continued use, as well as external pressures stemming from increasing (and/or increasingly mobile) human populations, make the issue of management not one of whether but rather or how. Wilderness management is an inherently difficult task. Generally low levels of information foster great uncertainty with which managers must contend. The difficulty is further promoted by the relative scarcity of the wilderness resource, and by potentially irreversible consequences stemming from decisions made in the face of uncertainty. The difficult nature of the job of wilderness management could be made less so by improvements in the following areas: 1. Development of accurate baseline information about the wilderness resource and its use; 2. Development of a hierarchical management framework that specified goals, objectives, and actions; 3. Improved understanding of the consequences of alternative management actions; 4. Resolution of the underlying philosophical basis for management; and 5. Development of a broad spectrum of areas with varying levels of importance placed on Nature conservation, so that some areas are provided with relatively high levels of human presence and impact, while others are managed so as to provide the highest degree of protection to Nature and conservation values.

  • Stankey, George H. 1982. Carrying capacity, impact management, and the recreation opportunity spectrum. Australian Parks & Recreation May, 24-30.
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  • Stankey, George H.; Wood, John. 1982. The recreation opportunity spectrum: an introduction. Australian Parks & Recreation February: 6-14.
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  • Temple, Kenneth L.; Camper, Anne K.; Lucas, Robert C. 1982. Potential health hazard from human wastes in wilderness. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 37(6): 357-359.
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    Abstract for Temple, Kenneth L.; Camper, Anne K.; Lucas, Robert C. (1982). Potential health hazard from human wastes in wilderness

    Shallow burial of feces, recommended to backcountry recreationists, does not result in quick deconstruction of intestinal pathogens. Samples of feces inoculated with two bacteria, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, were buried at two depths at four sites in Montana’s Bridger Range. Both bacteria survived in large numbers during the summer and fall. Salmonella persisted over winter at all sites; Escherichia persisted at some sites. Depth of burial had no effect on persistence, and differences among sites were minor. Management implications are discussed.

  • Washburne, Randel F. 1982. Wilderness recreational carrying capacity: are numbers necessary?. Journal of Forestry 80(11): 726-728.
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    Abstract for Washburne, Randel F. (1982). Wilderness recreational carrying capacity: are numbers necessary?

    In most wildernesses, where there is currently no need to reduce amounts of use, setting numerical carrying capacities is not helpful. Such capacities are intended to be indicators of overuse; when use reach capacity, wilderness values are in imminent danger. However, amount of use is only one factor weakly related to wilderness conditions. In most situations, setting standards and monitoring specific conditions would be more effective than calculating use capacities. Such monitoring would seem to meet requirements of the National Forest Management Act pertaining to wilderness management.

  • Campbell, Gene E.; Countryman, David W. 1981. Comparing estimated wilderness costs among National Forests. Journal of Forestry 79(9): 605-607.
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    Abstract for Campbell, Gene E.; Countryman, David W. (1981). Comparing estimated wilderness costs among National Forests

    Wilderness costs can be extremely variable among national forests. For example, the Willamette (in Oregon) has 471,245 fewer acres suitable for wilderness and a maximum marginal cost per acre of wilderness 820 times greater than on the Beaverhead (in Montana). Marginal cost curves developed from linear programming models can depict relative wilderness costs among forests and thus assist society in comparing economic trade-offs, making wilderness selections cost-effective, and isolating those forests where wilderness decisions have greatest impact.

  • Cole, David N. 1981. Vegetational changes associated with recreational use and fire suppression in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon: some management implications. Biological Conservation 20(4): 247-270.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1981). Vegetational changes associated with recreational use and fire suppression in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon: some management implications

    Construction and use of trails and campsites, grazing by recreational packstock, and suppression of fires have altered the vegetation of Eagle Cap Wilderness Area in northeastern Oregon, USA. The amount and type of alteration has varied among vegetation types and with the kind of activity. Changes attributed to intensive recreational use are localized but severe, particularly in more densely forested areas. Suppression of fires has produced subtle but widespread changes. Current attempts to minimize these changes are often inadequate due to the lack of ecological information and the difficulties of implementing regulations. Management suggestions are offered.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1981. Redistributing wilderness use through information supplied to visitors. Res. Pap. INT-277. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 15p.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1981). Redistributing wilderness use through information supplied to visitors

    The USDA Forest Service managers of a large part of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Montana sought to influence some visitors to shift from heavily used trailheads to more lightly used ones. To do this, they designed a brochure on relative use levels and on how to locate trailheads. They began distributing the brochure in 1974. An elevation showed overall use patterns were not shifted toward the lightly used trailheads. A majority of visitors never saw the brochure. Only about one-fourth had it before they reached the trailhead, and about one-fourth of these said they used the brochure to choose a trailhead, usually a lightly used one. The number of visitors increased an average of 26 percent per year during the 2-year evaluation, apparently overwhelming the small redistributional effect of the brochure. Information on crowding was not one of the main factors cited by visitors as influencing trailhead choices, suggesting that the brochure’s focus was too narrow. This study, and several other similar studies that are reviewed, suggest information programs – which are an attractive, nonauthoritarian, indirect technique – can redistribute use substantially if information about a variety of area conditions is presented to visitors early enough in the location choice process.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1981. Wildland recreation research needs: a Forest Service viewpoint. In: Gum, Russell L.; Arthur, Louise M., eds. Outdoor recreation and the public interest: proceedings of the 1979 meeting of W-133; [date and location of meeting unknown]. Spec. Rep. 610. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University, Argicultural Exper. Stn.: 31-42pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1981). Wildland recreation research needs: a Forest Service viewpoint

    Outdoor recreation research needs are numerous and diverse, and research programs are small. The challenge is to select high-priority problems and develop cumulative, improved knowledge. Thousands of people in the Forest Service are involved in outdoor recreation and problem perceptions vary. I will review a recent Forest Service research program planning effort and the Forest Service’s own recreation research program as indicators of the agency’s viewpoint and add a few personal interpretations.

  • Lucas, Robert C.; Kovalicky, Thomas J. 1981. Self-issued wilderness permits as a use measurement system. Res. Pap. INT-270. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 18p.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Kovalicky, Thomas J. (1981). Self-issued wilderness permits as a use measurement system

    A self-issued, mandatory visitor permit system was evaluated as a use measurement system during its first year of operation in the Spanish Peaks Primitive Area, Montana. Overall, 53 percent of all visitor groups obtained permits. Length-of-stay was the factor most related to compliance. Overnight visitors (campers) complied well; day-visitors did not, especially those making brief visits. Self-issuing permit stations located up their trail performed better than those adjacent to parking areas. Self-issued permits appear to have advantages over voluntary trail registers for measuring use. Recommendations for raising compliance, which would also apply to trail registers, are presented.

  • Stankey, George H. 1981. Integrating wildland recreation research into decision making: pitfalls and promises. Recreation Research Review University of Waterloo- Dept. of Rec and Leisure Studies 9(1): 31-37.
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  • Stankey, George H.; Brown, Perry J. 1981. A technique for recreation planning and management in tomorrow’s forests. In: Proceedings of XVII IUFRO world congress, Division 6, Kyoto, Japan: 63-74pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; Brown, Perry J. (1981). A technique for recreation planning and management in tomorrow's forests

    Tomorrow’s forests will be affected by many pressures for forest-dependent goods and services and for non-forest uses such as urbanization and agriculture. In preparing to address these pressures, forest recreation researchers and managers are developing new techniques for planning and management of the recreational use of the forest resource. One of these techniques is Recreation Opportunity Planning which is based on the idea that a Recreation Opportunity Spectrum needs to be offered to recreationists. This technique involves assessing recreational desires and demands, identifying resource capabilities, making choices among possible sets of recreation opportunities, and managing forest resources and users to insure delivery of desired recreation opportunities.

  • Cole, David N. 1980. Managing ecological impacts at wilderness campsites: an evaluation of techniques. Journal of Forestry 79(2): 86-89.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1980). Managing ecological impacts at wilderness campsites: an evaluation of techniques

    Visitor dispersal and campsite closure are common managerial reactions to campsite degradation in classified wilderness and other backcountry areas. Ecological research suggests that such actions will do little to improve the condition of campsites and will usually increase the extent of deterioration. Concentrating use on as few campsites as possible and closure on a site-by-site basis would confine inevitable damage, leaving most of the wilderness undisturbed by recreational use.

  • Cole, David N.; Schreiner, Edward G.S., compilers. 1980. Impacts of backcountry recreation: site management and rehabilitation--an annotated bibliography. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-121. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 58p.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N.; Schreiner, Edward G.S., compilers. (1980). Impacts of backcountry recreation: site management and rehabilitation--an annotated bibliography

    Management of wilderness and backcountry areas will profit from an increased understanding of recreational impacts and of how to respond to these impacts. Over 300 references on recreational impacts, impact management, and rehabilitation of impacted sites have been annotated in this bibliography. References have been indexed by location, subject, and plant species used for rehabilitation.

  • Frissell, Sidney S.; Lee, Robert G.; Stankey, George H.; Zube, Ervin H. 1980. A framework for estimating the consequences of alternative carrying capacity levels in Yosemite Valley. Landscape Planning 7: 151-170.
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    Abstract for Frissell, Sidney S.; Lee, Robert G.; Stankey, George H.; Zube, Ervin H. (1980). A framework for estimating the consequences of alternative carrying capacity levels in Yosemite Valley

    In the total process of developing a master plan for Yosemite National Park, the determination of appropriate visitor uses and use levels within Yosemite Valley is of great significance. Changes in use types or levels in the valley could significantly affect the basic values of the area by either improving or impairing their preservation. The ability to assess the relative consequences of such changes is a critical decision-making tool in management planning. A scheme for making these assessments is presented in this paper. Evaluation of park history, legislation, and management policies identified scenery and natural biotic communities as the primary resource values in Yosemite Valley. The lands within the valley were classified and mapped according to three “quality” levels of each resource value producing a summary of area within each of nine scenic/biotic resource categories. Existing use patterns were evaluated relative to criteria for “acceptable uses” within each scenic/biotic type. Areas violating these criteria were subtracted from the “existing conditions” data to produce a corrected set of “baseline” data. All proposed alternatives for use allocation can be assessed against these baseline data to determine if conditions for the preservation of scenic and biotic resource of the Valley would be improved or impaired by the new use pattern. Possible uses of the assessment approach in other parks are discussed.

  • Harrison, Robin T.; Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. 1980. Predicting impact of noise on recreationists. ED&T Project No. 2688. San Dimas, CA: USDA For. Serv., Equipment Development Center 32p.
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    Abstract for Harrison, Robin T.; Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. (1980). Predicting impact of noise on recreationists

    This Project Record consists of two parts. The first part describes the Outdoor Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (OROS) and how the acceptability of impacts of various influences on natural resources varies as a function of outdoor recreation opportunities at any given site. The second part presents a method of predicting the impact of noise on outdoor recreation – called the System for the Prediction of Acoustic/ Detectability (SPreAD) – and instructions on how to use SPreAD with examples of its use. Additional Project Records are being issued as companion documents to this report so that specific acoustic impacts can be calculated. For instance, “Predicting Snowmobile Acoustic Impact – Simplified Method,” which addresses itself to a field-usable method for making preliminary predictions of the acoustic impact of snowmobiles on snow-covered ground when the listener is at least 350 ft away.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1980. Use patterns and visitor characteristics, attitudes, and preferences in nine wilderness and other roadless areas. Res. Pap. INT-253. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 89p.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1980). Use patterns and visitor characteristics, attitudes, and preferences in nine wilderness and other roadless areas

    A comparison of use patterns and visitor characteristics among nine wilderness and other roadless areas showed similarities for many characteristics and sharp differences for others. Differences were most pronounced for use patterns, such as length of stay, method of travel, and activities, and were least noticeable for visitors\' attitudes and preferences. Overall, satisfaction was high, but many visitors felt that conditions were deteriorating. Use controls and only minimal levels of development were supported. Visitors to the heavily-used California study area showed some adjustment of preferences for solitude levels compared to visitors to the relatively lightly-used Northern Rocky Mountains areas. The overall pattern of responses suggests a need for a range of dispersed recreation opportunities outside wilderness, and for wilderness management that emphasizes managing use.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1980. The "backcountry concept": a positive viewpoint. Montana Outdoors 11(6): 24-25.
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  • Petersen, Margaret E. 1980. Trends in recreational use of National Forest wilderness. Res. Note INT-319. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 3p.
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    Abstract for Petersen, Margaret E. (1980). Trends in recreational use of National Forest wilderness

    Trends in recreational use are useful as predictors of the need for future management decisions. As more land has been added to the National Forest Wilderness System, increases in use have occurred primarily on areas established by 1965. Visitor use of the areas designated by 1965 has been increasing at an average rate of 4 percent per year.

  • Ream, Catherine H., compiler 1980. Impact of backcountry recreationists on wildlife: an annotated bibliography. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-84. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 62p.
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    Abstract for Ream, Catherine H., compiler (1980). Impact of backcountry recreationists on wildlife: an annotated bibliography

    An annotated bibliography and evaluation of the literature on the effects of backcountry recreationists on wildlife. Literature was taken from biological, managerial, sociological, and popular publications. Orientation includes descriptions of impacts and methods of reducing impacts of recreationists on wildlife.

  • Shechter, Mordechai; Lucas, Robert C. 1980. On the optimal use of natural and scenic resources for recreation. Resource Management and Optimization 1(1): 1-27.
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    Abstract for Shechter, Mordechai; Lucas, Robert C. (1980). On the optimal use of natural and scenic resources for recreation

    Results of the simulation of problems associated with recreational uses of natural and scenic resources are presented. The significance of various approaches to the same fundamental problems is examined. Relation to economic optimization is discussed.

  • Shechter, Mordechai; Lucas, Robert C. 1980. A park visitor travel simulation model as a management tool. In: Hawkins, Donald E.; Shafer, Elwood L.; Rovelstad, James M., eds. Tourism marketing and management issues. (The International Symposium on Tourism and the Next Decade); 1979 March 11-15; Washington, DC. Washington, DC: George Washington University 379-390pp.
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  • Shechter, Mordechai; Lucas, Robert C. 1980. Validating a large-scale simulation model of wilderness recreational travel. Interfaces 10(5): 11-18.
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    Abstract for Shechter, Mordechai; Lucas, Robert C. (1980). Validating a large-scale simulation model of wilderness recreational travel

    A large-scale simulation model of the use of outdoor recreation areas, especially ones with dispersed recreation patterns, has been developed that provide a means for experimenting with modifications of use or area conditions to determine effects on use patterns and congestion. The model and its applications to date, especially to the Desolation Wilderness in California, are briefly discussed. The main purpose of this paper, however, is to illustrate a validation procedure for such a large-scale simulation model, employing a series of validity tests. Because the question of validation has always constituted a thorny problem in the field of simulation, the paper attempts to show — in the context of a case study — how tests can go beyond the customary “tests of reasonableness” often employed in such cases.

  • Stankey, George H. 1980. Wilderness carrying capacity: management and research progress in the United States. Landscape Research 5(3): 6-11.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1980. Environmental preservation: a symbol of responsibility. Habitat Australia 8(5): 22-24.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1980. Some observations on the future of wilderness in Australia in planning, research and education. In: Robertson, R.W.; Helman, P.; Davey, A., eds. Wilderness management in Australia; 1978 July 19-23; Canberra, Australia. Canberra, Australia: Canberra College of Advanced Education, School of Applied Science, Natural Resources 323-332pp.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1980. Wilderness concepts and management: an international perspective. In: Robertson, R.W.; Helman, P.; Davey, A., eds. Wilderness management in Australia; 1978 July 19-23; Canberra, Australia. Canberra, Australia: Canberra College of Advanced Education, School of Applied Science, Natural Resources 1-34pp.
  • Stankey, George H. 1980. The application of the carrying capacity concept to wilderness and other low-density recreation areas. In: Robertson, R.W.; Helman, P.; Davey, A., eds. Wilderness management in Australia; 1978 July 19-23; Canberra, Australia. Canberra, Australia: Canberra College of Advanced Education, School of Applied Science, Natural Resources 150-177.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1980. A comparison of carrying capacity perceptions among visitors to two wildernesses. Res. Pap. INT-242. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 34p.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1980). A comparison of carrying capacity perceptions among visitors to two wildernesses

    Visitors to two wildernesses – the heavily-used Desolation Wilderness in California and the lightly-used Spanish Peaks Primitive Area in Montana – were surveyed. Research objectives were to determine whether use levels produced differences in how wilderness was defined, what constituted appropriate use, the threshold at which crowding occurred, and what management actions were acceptable. In terms of socio-economic characteristics, visitors to the two areas were similar. Type and pattern of recreational use differed, however: there was virtually no stock use or outfitter use in the Desolation Wilderness while day use and large parties were significantly more common in the Spanish Peaks. Most visitors in both areas reported previous wilderness use, although Desolation Wilderness visitors had more experience in the particular area. Higher use levels in the Desolation Wilderness did not produce any appreciable differences among respondents in terms of generalized concepts of appropriate and desirable use. This finding is similar to the findings of other studies. Visitors in both areas hold common perceptions about wilderness and its use. Significant differences were revealed in an analysis of the preference for inter-party contacts and the consequences of not finding preferred conditions. For contacts with backpackers and with large parties (defined as 12 or more people), medium satisfaction levels were consistently higher at increasing levels of contact in the Desolation Wilderness than in the Spanish Peaks. No contact with other parties at campsites was especially important in both areas. In general, it appears that Desolation visitors, exposed to higher use levels, have become more tolerant of heavy use than their Spanish Peaks counterparts. Nevertheless, while tolerant, it is evident Desolation Wilderness visitors perceive high use as contributing to impact on the area; they were twice as likely to report that area quality was worse than before and that the area was used beyond its capacity. Perhaps as a result of the perception, nearly half of the Desolation Wilderness visitors who reported the area as used beyond capacity changed either the length or route of their trip to avoid crowding. When use exceeds capacity, visitors in both areas agree that restrictions should be imposed. But there were differences in the types of controls favored. Not only was there a greater acceptance of regulation in the Desolation Wilderness, there was also more acceptance of direct regulation of use and users. Desolation visitors were more supportive of party size regulation and the control of stock numbers. The data support the need for managers to be flexible and sensitive in their imposition of visitor management programs. Although the types of experience sought by visitors in these two areas were similar, individual differences in use intensity suggest the necessity of adjusting programs to meet particular circumstances. However, it is important that management impose regulation only as is necessary and be careful not to enact excessively regimenting actions before they are needed.

  • Stankey, George H. 1980. Forests and forestry. In: McGraw-Hill yearbook of science and technology. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company 197-200pp.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1980. What have we learned: a symposium summary. In: Shaw, Joan, ed. Dispersed recreation and resource management: a focus on issues, opportunities and priorities; 1979 April; Logan, UT. Logan, UT: Utah State University, College of Natural Resources 88-91pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1980). What have we learned: a symposium summary

    A number of issues and concerns have been addressed at this symposium on “Dispersed Recreation and Resource Management.” The use of public and private lands and waters for dispersed recreation is rapidly growing. With this growth have come attendant problems, including the integration of dispersed recreation with other land users and the development of guidelines for dispersed recreation management. The following discussion is a selective reflection upon some of these issues and concerns raised by the nearly 20 papers presented at this symposium.

  • Temple, Kenneth L.; Camper, Anne K.; McFeters, Gordon A. 1980. Survival of two enterobacteria in feces buried in soil under field conditions. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 40(4): 794-797.
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    Abstract for Temple, Kenneth L.; Camper, Anne K.; McFeters, Gordon A. (1980). Survival of two enterobacteria in feces buried in soil under field conditions

    Feces samples, inoculated with 106 Escherichia coli resistant to streptomycin and nalidixic acid and with 105 Salmonella typhimurium per g, were buried at five mountain field sites ranging from 2,005 to 2,730 m in elevation. Counts of each bacterium rose initially and then declined to 103 or 104 per g of feces in 8 weeks. The survival pattern was similar at all sites regardless of marked differences in elevation, soil, moisture, exposure, and vegetation. S. typhimurium numbers were consistently higher than E. coli numbers after week 3. The test encompassed most of the time that the area is snow-free and accessible for hiking. The results were judged to discredit the recommendation for shallow burial of feces and to indicate a potential health hazard under intensive use.

  • Washburne, Randel F. 1980. Carrying capacity assessment and recreational use in the national wilderness preservation system. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 36(3): 162-166.
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    Abstract for Washburne, Randel F. (1980). Carrying capacity assessment and recreational use in the national wilderness preservation system

    A 1979 survey of wilderness managers on problem, techniques, and management processes in the national wilderness preservation system (NWPS) indicated that carrying capacity assessment in far from complete and visitor-use densities are not clearly related to managers’ perceptions of capacity situations or the need to ration use. A national assessment of recreational use in the NWPS suffers from the use of inconsistent units of measurement by the various agencies and nonsystematic data collection methods.

  • Washburne, Randel; Wall, Paul. 1980. Black-White ethnic differences in outdoor recreation. Res. Pap. INT-249. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 13p.
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    Abstract for Washburne, Randel; Wall, Paul. (1980). Black-White ethnic differences in outdoor recreation

    Analysis of a national sample on outdoor recreation participation indicates little evidence that Blacks’ generally lower rates of participation (in comparison to Whites’) in wildland-related activities stem from either inhibitory factors or statistical artifacts or population composition. Blacks’ perceived constraints on outdoor recreation participation differed from Whites’ only in greater transportation difficulty; desired activities for outdoor recreation tended to accentuate Black-White differences rather than reduce them. Instead, the perspective is presented that Black leisure patterns result from a distinct cultural value and normative system contrasted to White “mass society,” suggesting that leisure may in fact function as a mechanism to help maintain contrasting ethnic minority subcultural systems in coexistence with a dominant culture.

  • Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. 1979. Determining the acceptability of recreational impacts: an application of the outdoor recreation opportunity spectrum. In: Ittner, Ruth; Potter, Dale R.; Agee, James K.; Anschell, Susie, eds. Conference proceedings: recreational impacts on wildlands; 1978 October 27-29; Seattle, WA. No. R-6-001-1979. Seattle, WA: USDA For. Serv., Pacific Northwest Region 32-43pp.
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    Abstract for Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. (1979). Determining the acceptability of recreational impacts: an application of the outdoor recreation opportunity spectrum

    Impacts from recreational activities on wildlands are of increasing concern to resource managers and recreationists. Determining the acceptable level of recreation impacts is difficult because there are no absolute standards of acceptability. In this paper the Outdoor Recreation Opportunity Spectrum is used to describe the role recreation impacts play in defining recreation opportunities. Noise is used as a case example.

  • Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. 1979. The recreation opportunity spectrum: a framework for planning, management, and research. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-98. Portland, OR: USDA For. Serv., Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Exper. Stn 32p.
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    Abstract for Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. (1979). The recreation opportunity spectrum: a framework for planning, management, and research

    In this paper we describe a framework for outdoor recreation managers and policymakers who must answer questions concerning both the allocation and management of opportunities for recreation. This framework rests on the concept of the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS). It is distinguished by varying conditions, ranging from modern and developed to primitive and undeveloped, or as Nash (1973) succinctly phrased it, “from the paved to the primeval.” We will review the background of the opportunity spectrum concept and how it has been used in the past; describe six manageable factors or setting attributes that influence the opportunities for recreation; and describe uses of the spectrum concept for identifying and measuring the consequences of alternative allocations of and management actions on opportunities for outdoor recreation.

  • Cole, David N. 1979. Reducing the impact of hikers on vegetation: an application of analytical research methods. In: Ittner, Ruth; Potter, Dale R.; Agee, James K.; Anschell, Susie, eds. Conference proceedings: recreational impacts on wildlands; 1978 October 27-29; Seattle, WA. No. R-6-001-1979. Seattle, WA: USDA For. Serv., Pacific Northwest Region 71-78pp.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1979). Reducing the impact of hikers on vegetation: an application of analytical research methods

    After a brief review of several approaches for studying the impact of hikers on backcountry vegetation, this paper describes a study of vegetation alteration along trails located in different vegetation types. Results show that in Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon, hiker impact on vegetation is more pronounced in dense forests than in meadows or open forests. Similar investigations of impacts on environmental characteristics (other than) vegetation would help managers locate recreational facilities where undesirable ecologic change would be minimized.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1979. Perceptions of non-motorized recreational impacts: a review of research findings. In: Ittner, Ruth; Potter, Dale R.; Agee, James K.; Anschell, Susie, eds. Conference proceedings: recreational impacts on wildlands; 1978 October 27-29; Seattle, WA. No. R-6-001-1979. Seattle, WA: USDA For. Serv., Pacific Northwest Region 24-31pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1979). Perceptions of non-motorized recreational impacts: a review of research findings

    Recreational use of wildlands will inevitably change the environment. Change perceived as undesirable constitutes damage and requires corrective action. Managers and visitors perceive recreational impacts differently, based upon different training, background, responsibilities, and time frames. Studies reviewed indicate visitors’ perception of recreational impacts is limited. Visitors’ satisfaction is not strongly affected by severity of impacts on trails and campsites. Management of recreational impacts on wildlands must be based mainly on: (1) professional recognition of long-term consequences of impacts; and (2) legal and policy goals that set standards for acceptable impact levels.

  • Norgaard, Judith King; Kovalicky, Tom; Stankey, George H. 1979. Wilderness myths: some falsehoods are put to rest. Montana Magazine 9(6): 53-56.
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    Abstract for Norgaard, Judith King; Kovalicky, Tom; Stankey, George H. (1979). Wilderness myths: some falsehoods are put to rest

    It is the intention of the Wilderness Act to preserve and protect wilderness lands. This paper discusses the myths that surround wilderness and wilderness management.

  • Ream, Catherine H. 1979. Human-wildlife conflicts in backcountry: possible solutions. In: Ittner, Ruth; Potter, Dale R.; Agee, James K.; Anschell, Susie, eds. Conference proceedings: recreational impacts on wildlands; 1978 October 27-29; Seattle, WA. No. R-6-001-1979. Seattle, WA: USDA For. Serv., Pacific Northwest Region .
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    Abstract for Ream, Catherine H. (1979). Human-wildlife conflicts in backcountry: possible solutions

    Wildlife is increasingly threatened by growing numbers of backcountry recreationists and diminishing wildlands. Biological, sociological, managerial, and popular literature was reviewed to identify the extent of human impacts as well as possible solutions to them. Although intentional harassment does occur, the major impact results from recreationists who innocently produce stressful situations for wildlife. Possible solutions to the problem include: people management (spatial, temporal, and behavioral); wildlife management, in the sense of modifying wildlife behavioral responses to certain recreational activities; and habitat modification to affect the spatial distribution of wildlife. These approaches can be used individually or in combination.

  • Shafer, Elwood L., Jr.; Lucas, Robert C. 1979. Research needs and priorities for dispersed recreation management. Journal of Leisure Research 10(4): 311-320.
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    Abstract for Shafer, Elwood L., Jr.; Lucas, Robert C. (1979). Research needs and priorities for dispersed recreation management

    Research needs in dispersed forest-recreation are described and prioritized by probable worth of results to management. Results indicate where dollars and scientists can be used most effectively on high priority problems.

  • Stankey, George H. 1979. Use rationing in two southern California wildernesses. Journal of Forestry 77(6): 347-349.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1979). Use rationing in two southern California wildernesses

    A majority of applicants supported visitor quotas in two wildernesses on the San Bernardino National Forest in southern California. Even persons who did not obtain a permit agreed rationing was needed. The most common problem was inadequate advance knowledge about the rationing system. People obtained information about the system chiefly from the Forest Service, but also from other visitors, conservation organizations, and news media.

  • Stankey, George H. 1979. A framework for social-behavioral research: applied issues. In: Burch, William R., Jr., ed. Long-distance trails: the Appalachian Trail as a guide to future research and management needs. New Haven, CT: Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies 43-53pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1979). A framework for social-behavioral research: applied issues

    Under terms of the National Trail Acts and its accompanying management guidelines for “scenic trails,” it is clear that not all the various demands for facilities and trail standards can be met along the Appalachian Trail. However, just as clearly, by thinking of the Appalachian Trail as a part of a broader regional trail system, these demands can be met through the provision of a diversity of trails on adjacent lands. Trails for cyclists, the elderly, the handicapped, and others with special needs and desires (which can be identified by research) need to be developed. In a recent speech, Forest Service Chief John McGuire made a commitment to construct 20,000 miles of trails near population centers (McGuire, 1977). In addition, an estimated 60,000 miles of National Recreation Trails and 8,000 miles of National Scenic trails are envisioned within the National Forest System. Thus, abundant opportunity is available for offering a diverse range of trail-related opportunities, and it is through this opportunity for diversity that the special qualities and traditional challenges offered by the Appalachian Trail can be best protected.

  • Stankey, George H. 1979. Management options for limiting use. Unpub. pap. on file at: Missoula, MT: USDA For. Serv., Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute 10p.
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  • Clark, Roger N.; Lucas, Robert C. 1978. The forest ecosystem of southeast Alaska: outdoor recreation and scenic resources. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-66. Portland, OR: USDA For. Serv., Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Exper. Stn 116p.
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    Abstract for Clark, Roger N.; Lucas, Robert C. (1978). The forest ecosystem of southeast Alaska: outdoor recreation and scenic resources

    Southeast Alaska offers a variety of recreational and esthetic or scenic resources not found elsewhere in the United States. Use of these resources for commodity production and recreational purposes is increasing, which often results in conflicts. This report summarizes what is known about the recreational and esthetic resources of the region, the present and anticipated recreation uses, and the important issues concerning recreation and esthetics.

  • Cole, David N. 1978. Estimating the susceptibility of wildland vegetation to trailside alteration. Journal of Applied Ecology 15: 281-286.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1978). Estimating the susceptibility of wildland vegetation to trailside alteration

    (1) Trailside vegetation was compared with undisturbed vegetation in a variety of vegetation types in a wilderness area in the north Rocky Mountains, Oregon, U.S.A. (2) Cover was reduced and floristic composition changed along trails. (3) Measures of changes in cover and floristic composition were used to evaluate the relative susceptibility of different vegetation types to trailside alteration. (4) Densely forested vegetation was more altered by trails than the vegetation of meadows or open forests.

  • Frissell, Sidney S. 1978. Judging recreation impacts on wilderness campsites. Journal of Forestry 76(8): 481-483.
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    Abstract for Frissell, Sidney S. (1978). Judging recreation impacts on wilderness campsites

    Numbers of people visiting most kinds of outdoor recreation areas continue to grow. This growth often creates problems for management, with the nature of the problems depending on the type of area and the management objectives established for it. In the United States, growth in use of dispersed recreation areas has been rapid (Lloyd and Fischer, 1972) and the resulting problems of congestion and resource damage have been difficult for managers to solve. These problems have been particularly severe on lands established as wilderness. Wilderness, by law, is to be managed to permit natural ecological processes to operate without alteration by modern man and also to provide visitors with “outstanding opportunities for solitude.”

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1978. Impact of human pressure on parks, wilderness, and other recreational lands. In: Hammond, Kenneth A.; Macinko, George; Fairchild, Wilma B., eds. Sourcebook on the environment: a guide to the literature. Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press 221-239pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1978). Impact of human pressure on parks, wilderness, and other recreational lands

    The impact of man’s recreational activities on the environment is severe and is likely to be more so in the future. There are many different types of impacts on many kinds of lands. There are impacts on the land and on people, especially other recreationists. Some impacts are sudden; others are long-term and gradual. Some are only of local concern; others attract much broader attention. This chapter will review sources for several selected, important types of impacts. An overview of the basic sources – the major journals, basic references, and bibliographies – will compensate somewhat for the vast range of topics that must be omitted in this case-study approach.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1978. Wilderness policy and management problems: possible applications of psychology. Unpub. pap. on file at: Missoula, MT: USDA For. Serv., Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute .
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1978). Wilderness policy and management problems: possible applications of psychology

    Wilderness and the relations between it and people offer a wide array of possible subjects. My focus here is more narrow – I will only deal with the possibilities for applying psychology to the formulation of more effective wilderness policies and management practices. This includes both the application of the existing body of psychological knowledge and, also, research to provide new knowledge or knowledge more specifically related to wilderness issues. My focus is on applied or management-relevant research and knowledge. I am aware that there are concepts and theories in psychology that might be tested in somewhat different behavioral setting that exists in wilderness, and that such research could be pursued without any reference to management and policy issues. However, discussion of such a topic would require a psychologist, which I am not. (My academic background is in aiding management). In any case, I suspect that most psychological research, for whatever motivations it might be conducted, would have management implications. Wilderness management involves a wide range of problems with important psychological aspects. The issues fall in two main categories: (1) classification of lands, and (2) management of lands after classification. Human values are an important justification for the classification of areas of wilderness. I will discuss the psychological dimensions of these values later. Management, as I will also explain further in a few moments, is primarily the management of people and their behavior to produce human benefits (while protecting natural values) and has many psychological elements.

  • Rinehart, Robert P.; Hardy, Colin C.; Rosenau, Henry G. 1978. Measuring trail conditions with stereo photography. Journal of Forestry 76(8): 501-503.
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    Abstract for Rinehart, Robert P.; Hardy, Colin C.; Rosenau, Henry G. (1978). Measuring trail conditions with stereo photography

    Stereo photographs taken with an ordinary camera mounted on a shop-made tripod attachment proved valuable in studying trail entrenchment, and may have other field applications.

  • Cole, David N. 1977. Ecosystem dynamics in the coniferous forest of the Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA. Journal of Biogeography 4: 181-192.
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    Abstract for Cole, David N. (1977). Ecosystem dynamics in the coniferous forest of the Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA

    Forested communities in the proposed Fox Hollow Research Natural Area in the foothills of the Willamette Valley. Oregon were sampled to determine how the distribution of tree species has varied with time and topographic position. Prior to 1850, a forest almost exclusively dominated by Pseudotsuga menziesii occupied the north-facing slopes of this area, while south-facing slopes were occupied by an open forest of mixed Pseudotsuga menziesii and more xeric species such as Pinus ponderosa and Quereus garryana. Since 1850, the density of this forest has increased spectacularly, apparently because of the cessation of annual Indian burning practices. Associated with this increase in density are successional trends, which vary with topographic position. Most of the current reproduction on north-facing slopes and lower south-facing slopes is of Abies grandis. Pseudotsuga menziesii is reproducing well only on ridge crests and on upper south-facing slopes, in situations where Abies grandis is only just beginning to invade. All the other more xeric tree species appear to be unable to reproduce well in this forest. Thus a forest dominated by Pseudotsuga menziesii, and attuned to former Indian burning practices is being replaced by one dominated by Abies grandis, which is spreading widely as a result of protection from fire. Both human influences, burning and fire protection, result in unnatural frequencies of disturbance to this ecosystem, and the consequences of both appear to be the gradual impoverishment of the tree flora therein.

  • Lime, David W.; Lucas, Robert C. 1977. Good information improves the wilderness experience. Naturalist 28(4): 18-19, 21.
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    Abstract for Lime, David W.; Lucas, Robert C. (1977). Good information improves the wilderness experience

    This study demonstrates the influence of information within brochures on the recreational wilderness experience of visitors in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1977. Symposium summary. In: Proceedings: river recreation management and research symposium; 1977 January 24-27; Minneapolis, MN. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-28. St. Paul, MN: USDA For. Serv., North Central Forest Exper. Stn. 221-239pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1977). Symposium summary

    A summary of the symposium that includes participant attendance, general impressions, specific themes developed, and what is to be expected for future symposiums on river recreation.

  • Lucas, Robert C.; Shechter, Mordechai. 1977. A recreational visitor simulation model as an aid to management planning. In: Elsner, Gary, compiler. State-of-the-art methods for research, planning, and determining the benefits of outdoor recreation. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-20. Berkeley, CA: USDA For. Serv., Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 31-35pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Shechter, Mordechai. (1977). A recreational visitor simulation model as an aid to management planning

    A simulation model for dispersed recreation areas has been developed that provides a means for experimenting with modifications of use or area conditions to determine effects on use patterns and encounters between visitor groups. The model, the results of a test of it, and potential future applications are discussed.

  • Lucas, Robert C.; Shechter, Mordechai. 1977. A recreational visitor travel simulation model as an aid to management planning. Simulation and Games 8(3): 375-384.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Shechter, Mordechai. (1977). A recreational visitor travel simulation model as an aid to management planning

    Numbers of people visiting most kinds of outdoor recreation areas continue to grow. This growth often creates problems for management, with the nature of the problems depending on the type of area and the management objectives established for it. In the United States, growth in use of dispersed recreation areas has been rapid (Lloyd and Fischer, 1972) and the resulting problems of congestion and resource damage have been difficult for managers to solve. These problems have been particularly severe on lands established as wilderness. Wilderness, by law, is to be managed to permit natural ecological processes to operate without alteration by modern man and also to provide visitors with “outstanding opportunities for solitude.”

  • Stankey, George H. 1977. Recreational geography: its evolution and application to problems of wilderness management. In: Winters, Harold A.; Winters, Marjorie K., eds. Applications of geographic research. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, Department of Geography 75-87.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1977. Rationing river recreation use. In: Proceedings: river recreation management and research symposium; 1977 January 24-27; Minneapolis, MN. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-28. St. Paul, MN: USDA For. Serv., North Central Forest Exper. Stn. 397-401pp.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1977. Some social concepts for outdoor recreation planning. In: Hughes, Jay M.; Lloyd, R. Duane, compilers. Outdoor recreation: advances in application of economics--proceedings of a national symposium; 1974 November; New Orleans, LA. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-2. Washington, DC: USDA Forest Service 154-161.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1977). Some social concepts for outdoor recreation planning

    Increasing competition for funds has increased the necessity for recreation managers to have accurate measures of outdoor recreation’s costs and benefits. However, because many of the values of recreation cannot be increased in economic terms, it is important that other social sciences be utilized in addition to economics. Seven important concepts that provide added depth to our understanding of recreation behavior are discussed in this paper, including: (1) the recreation opportunity spectrum; (2) recreational preference; (3) substitutability; (4) carrying capacity; (5) dependent satisfaction; (6) externalities; and (7) cost effectiveness. Coupled with economic analyses, these concepts offer recreation planners increased understanding of the various costs and benefits associated with alternative courses of action. Additional work is needed to refine these concepts into operational guidelines in the form of specific criteria.

  • Stankey, George H.; Baden, John. 1977. Rationing wilderness use: methods, problems, and guidelines. Res. Pap. INT-192. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 20p.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; Baden, John. (1977). Rationing wilderness use: methods, problems, and guidelines

    Wilderness managers can regulate ecological and social impacts by implementing one or more of five basic rationing systems: reservations, fees, queuing, lottery, or merit. Each system has advantages and disadvantages for both administrators and users. Managers must consider the effect on user groups, administrative experience with the rationing system, acceptability to users, difficulty of administration, efficiency, principal way impacts are controlled, and effect on user behavior. Managers should strive to control environmental and social impacts, not merely visitor numbers, with a minimum of regimentation. The following guidelines will help managers implement effective rationing: (1) Know both the wilderness and its users, (2) Ration only when less restrictive measures fail, (3) Combine rationing systems to help minimize costs to users and administrators, (4) Adopt rationing systems that require users to judge the relative value of the opportunity, (5) Monitor and evaluate rationing programs.

  • Brown, Perry J.; Driver, Beverly L.; Stankey, George H. 1976. Human behavioral science and recreation management. In: XVI IUFRO world congress, Division VI (Oslo, Norway; June) Proc. IUFRO Section, Vienna, Austria 53-63pp.
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    Abstract for Brown, Perry J.; Driver, Beverly L.; Stankey, George H. (1976). Human behavioral science and recreation management

    An understanding of recreational preferences and behavior can be useful in making recreation management decisions. This paper examines the usefulness of preferences and behavioral information by focusing on three questions. How do preferences and behavioral information fit into recreation management decision processes? How well have researchers done in getting the necessary preference and behavioral information? What must now be done to make the contribution of behavioral science more meaningful and useful to recreation management? Most of the literature and examples utilized in this paper focus on wildland (forest and range land, and national parks) recreation in the U.S.

  • Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. 1976. Analyzing public input to resource decisions: criteria, principles, and case examples of the CODINVOLVE system. Natural Resource Journal 16(1): 213-236.
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  • Lucas, Robert C.; Rinehart, Robert P. 1976. The neglected hiker. Backpacker Magazine 4(1): 35-39.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1976. Forest management policy: its evolution and response to changing public values. In: Watson, J. Wreford; O'Riordan, Timothy O., eds. The American environment: perceptions and policies. London; New York; Sydney; Toronto: John Wiley & Sons 241-258pp.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1976. Wilderness fire policy: an investigation of visitor knowledge and beliefs. Res. Pap. INT-180. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. .
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1976). Wilderness fire policy: an investigation of visitor knowledge and beliefs

    Discusses the attitudes and knowledge of wilderness visitors toward wilderness fire suppression policy. Although most users favored suppression, a substantial minority favored a more natural role for fire. Few found either total suppression or no suppression at all acceptable. A major finding was that as visitor knowledge about the role of fire increased, the likelihood of support for a more natural role for fire also grew. Important policy implications include education and involving the public, making gradual changes in fire policy, and developing a communications program aimed at different audiences.

  • Stankey, George H.; Lucas, Robert C.; Lime, David W. 1976. Crowding in parks and wilderness. Design and Environment 7(3): 38-41.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; Lucas, Robert C.; Lime, David W. (1976). Crowding in parks and wilderness

    The wilderness portions of our national forests, and wildlife refuges are among our most valued natural resources. Concern with possible development, road building and the commitment of resources to exploitive purposes in these areas led to the establishment of a federally-protected National Wilderness Preservation System in 1964. While inclusion of an area in the wilderness system generally eliminates threats of development, our wilderness lands still face serious problems. Nearly 30 years ago, Aldo Leopold forecast that it would not be logging, mining or roads that would threaten the wilderness; but the people who came to visit these areas. Today, we find that Leopold’s forecast might have been alarmingly accurate.

  • Helgath, Sheila F. 1975. Trail deterioration in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Res. Note INT-193. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 15p.
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    Abstract for Helgath, Sheila F. (1975). Trail deterioration in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

    The relationship of environmental factors to trail deterioration in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho and Montana was studied from June through November of 1972. Trail erosion was quantified by using a cross-sectional area loss index. Landform, vegetative habitat type, and trail grade have a greater effect on erosion and bog formation than elevation, aspect, parent material, side slope, soil horizon depths, or amount of use. Landslides or mass failure of trails were most related to side slope, landform, and vegetative habitat type. Biophysical units that combine important landform and vegetative habitat types are proposed as the basis for planning trail construction and maintenance. Trail location, construction, and maintenance standards are described for several sample biophysical units. Tentative management guidelines are suggested.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1975. Low compliance rates at unmanned trail registers. Res. Note INT-200. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 6p.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1975). Low compliance rates at unmanned trail registers

    Only 28 percent of the visitors to a portion of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness registered at voluntary trail registration stations. This is much lower than previous studies implicated and means some use estimates based on trail registers may be very unreliable.

  • Stankey, George H.; Hendee, John C.; Clark, Roger N. 1975. Applied social research can improve public participation in resource decision making. Rural Sociology 40(1): 67-74.
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  • Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H.; Hendee, John C. 1974. An introduction to CODINVOLVE: a system for analyzing, storing, and retrieving public input to resource decisions. Res. Note PNW-223. Portland, OR: USDA For. Serv., Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Exper. Stn. 16p.
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    Abstract for Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H.; Hendee, John C. (1974). An introduction to CODINVOLVE: a system for analyzing, storing, and retrieving public input to resource decisions

    The Codinvolve System for analyzing the content of public input was developed in response to increasing requests by land managers for a tool to handle the citizen input they were receiving. The concepts and criteria on which the system was based are discussed. General procedures for applying Codinvolve are explained.

  • Hendee, John C.; Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. 1974. A framework for agency use of public input in resource decision-making. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 29(2): 60-66.
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    Abstract for Hendee, John C.; Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. (1974). A framework for agency use of public input in resource decision-making

    How to obtain and effectively use public input in making resource management decisions is a problem that confronts agency administration at every level of government.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1974. Forest Service wilderness research in the Rockies: what we've learned so far. Western Wildlands 1(2): 5-12.
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  • Lucas, Robert C.; Stankey, George H. 1974. Social carrying capacity for backcountry recreation. In: Outdoor recreation research: applying the results; 1973 June 19-21; Marquette, MI. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-9. St. Paul, MN: USDA For. Serv., North Central Forest Exper. Stn. .
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Stankey, George H. (1974). Social carrying capacity for backcountry recreation

    Carrying capacity in wildland recreation areas is a complex concept that related to many aspects of use in addition to numbers of users. Management objectives are essential to provide standards against which changes caused by use can be judged as acceptable or unacceptable. Visitors’ attitudes are a second essential factor in setting carrying capacities. Impacts of use on physical-biological resources are the third important influence of capacities. Social carrying capacity is considered in relation to “backcountry”, defined as roadless recreation areas, but not classified as Wilderness. Growing use, decreasing opportunities, and the lack of a comprehensive management program contribute to the problem of social carrying capacity. Social carrying capacity research to date is reviewed. It shows that solitude is a major attraction and influences satisfaction. Campsite privacy is particularly important. Mechanized recreationists value solitude less and detract from the experience of nonmechanized visitors. This is the major use conflict. Most visitors do not desire much in the way of facilities. Research results suggest environmental management in backcountry, especially for fish and wildlife, could be intensive. Projections point to rapid future growth in backcountry use. A more positive management program appears necessary to meet this growing pressure.

  • Stankey, George H. 1974. Criteria for the determination of recreational carrying capacity in the Colorado River Basin. In: Crawford, A. Berry; Peterson, Dean F., eds. Environmental management in the Colorado River Basin. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press 82-101.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1974). Criteria for the determination of recreational carrying capacity in the Colorado River Basin

    In this paper, we will discuss the concept of carrying capacity as it applies to recreation and how this concept can serve as a major criterion in the allocation and management of recreation resources. Then, given an understanding of the various implications of alternative carrying capacity strategies, we will focus on several concepts that can serve as criteria for policymakers to evaluate in allocating resources to meet a mix of recreation demands and in establishing management programs to achieve specific objectives. Finally, we will suggest some of the implications that seem likely if an integrated and regional perspective is not brought to traditional resource management programs. The principle orientation of the discussion is conceptual rather than empirical. Although a reasonable body of empirical literature has developed regarding carrying capacity (Stankey and Lime, 1973), the lack of systematic, conceptual framework to guide research and decision-making has been a significant shortcoming and has resulted in most of the empirical work being non-accumulative (Frissel and Stankey, 1972). The concepts and criteria outlined herein are aimed at improving the situation.

  • Stankey, George H.; Lucas, Robert C.; Lime, David W. 1974. Patterns of wilderness use as related to congestion and solitude. Unpub. pap. on file at: Missoula, MT: USDA For. Serv., Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute .
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  • Hendee, John C.; Lucas, Robert C. 1973. Mandatory wilderness permits: a necessary management tool. Journal of Forestry 71(4): 206-209.
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    Abstract for Hendee, John C.; Lucas, Robert C. (1973). Mandatory wilderness permits: a necessary management tool

    Two important and controversial topics in wilderness management concern the need for better control over users and for rationing of use to protect the wilderness environment from excessive impact. Implementing management programs to deal with these two issues, depends to a large degree on the feasibility of requiring permits for all wilderness visitors. In this article we explore some costs and benefits of mandatory permits, basing out judgement on relevant research findings, experience with wilderness registration and permit systems, and an assessment of the need for such control.

  • Hendee, John C.; Stankey, George H. 1973. Biocentricity in wilderness management. BioScience 23(9): 535-538.
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  • Lucas, Robert C. 1973. Wilderness:a management framework. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 28(4): 150-154.
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  • Lucas, Robert C.; Stankey, George H. 1973. A selected bibliography of wilderness literature. Unpub. pap. on file at: Missoula, MT: USDA For. Serv., Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. .
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Stankey, George H. (1973). A selected bibliography of wilderness literature

    The following listing contains selected, annotated references relative to several dimensions of wilderness; Allocation; Management; Users; Research; etc. By no matter of means is this a comprehensive listing. To the contrary, it contains only a small sampling of the richness of the literature regarding wilderness that is available. Many other pertinent references may be obtained by examining the lists of references accompanying many of these citations. The books published for the Sierra Club for their bi-annual wilderness conference are another excellent source of background information. The references included in this bibliography are arranged alphabetically under various subject headings. However, many of the references have useful information on several of the subjects. Rather than attempting to cross reference the citations, we have simply shown them under the heading that most accurately covers their major focus.

  • Stankey, George H. 1973. Visitor perception of wilderness recreation carrying capacity. Res. Pap. INT-142. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. .
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  • Stankey, George H.; Lime, David W., compilers 1973. Recreational carrying capacity: an annotated bibliography. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-3. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. .
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H.; Lime, David W., compilers (1973). Recreational carrying capacity: an annotated bibliography

    Recreational carrying capacity is a major management and research issue. An annotated bibliography including over 200 citations is presented, covering both the ecological and social dimensions of the capacity problem.

  • Stankey, George H.; Lucas, Robert C.; Ream, Robert R. 1973. Relationships between hunting success and satisfaction. In: Transactions of the thirty-eighth North American wildlife and natural resources conference; 1973 March 19-21; Washington, DC. Washington, DC: Wildlife Management Institute Wildlife Management Institute .
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  • Frissell, Sidney S., Jr.; Stankey, George H. 1972. Wilderness environmental quality: search for social and ecological harmony. In: Proceedings of the 1972 national convention; 1972 October 1-5; Hot Springs, AR. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters .
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  • Lucas, Robert C. 1972. Forest Service wilderness research--the problem, research to date, and needed research. Unpub. rep. on file at: Missoula, MT: USDA For. Serv., Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute .
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1972). Forest Service wilderness research--the problem, research to date, and needed research

    Wilderness research is discussed under three headings in this paper. First, the need that justifies wilderness research is described. Then, research to date is briefly reviewed. The emphasis in this section is on research directly related to wilderness management, while recognizing that much research, particularly of a basic biological nature contributes to understanding wilderness. Finally, the third section presents one view of what the Forest Service should try to do in wilderness research. This organization means most of the same topics appear two or three times in different perspectives each time. The last section argues for a strong, Forest Service leadership role in wilderness research, based on an enlarged and more integrated program.

  • Stankey, George H. 1972. The use of content analysis in resource decision making. Journal of Forestry 70(3): 148-151.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1972). The use of content analysis in resource decision making

    The technique of content analysis is outlined and steps in its application are described. A case study of the use of content analysis on public response to the Mission Mountains Primitive Area management proposal is discussed.

  • Stankey, George H. 1972. A strategy for the definition and management of wilderness quality. Krutilla, John V., ed. Natural environments: studies in theoretical and applied analysis. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press for Resources for the Future, Inc., Washington, DC 88-114pp.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1972). A strategy for the definition and management of wilderness quality

    Wilderness management is in many ways a paradoxical term, for wilderness connotes an image of a landscape untouched and an opportunity for free and unconfined use, while management suggests control and planned direction. It is perhaps because of the inherently contradictory nature of the term that wilderness management is one of the more challenging and difficult tasks facing resource managers today. This paper focuses on two topics. First, when formulating a relevant management strategy, how can the administrator most effectively utilize feedback from the wilderness visitor population? Second, what aspects of wilderness recreation use appeal to visitors whose perception of wilderness is most consistent with the concept given statutory recognition by the Wilderness Act of 1964 – specifically, lands without permanent improvements, structures, or human habitation that offer man an opportunity for solitude and a challenging, primitive kind of experience, and where the forces of nature predominate?

  • Lime, David W.; Stankey, George H. 1971. Carrying capacity: maintaining outdoor recreation quality. Larson, E. vH., ed. Recreation symposium proceedings 1971 October 12-14; Syracuse, NY. Upper Darby, PA: USDA For. Serv., Northeastern Forest Exper. Stn. 174-184.
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    Abstract for Lime, David W.; Stankey, George H. (1971). Carrying capacity: maintaining outdoor recreation quality

    A discussion of (1) what is meant by the concept of recreational carrying capacity; (2) what is known about capacities in terms of both how resources and experience of visitors are affected by recreational use; and (3) what alternative procedures the administrator can use to manage both resources and visitors for capacity.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1971. The challenge and the response to Forest Service wilderness management in the Northern Rockies. Naturalist 22(3): 2-5.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1971). The challenge and the response to Forest Service wilderness management in the Northern Rockies

    During the 1920’s and 1930’s three Forest Service men – Aldo Leopold, Bob Marshall, Arthur Carhart – pioneered the wilderness concept as an integral part of a land management policy. The agency takes pride in their foresight, but recognizes that implementation of this concept is an ongoing challenge today.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1971. Hikers and other trail users. Larson, E. vH., ed. Recreation Symposium Proceedings 1971 October 12-14; Syracuse, NY. Upper Darby, PA: USDA For. Serv., Northeastern Forest Exper. Stn. 113-122.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1971). Hikers and other trail users

    Trail users seem neglected. Trail systems are limited, largely relics of fire control rather than designed for recreation; and total trail miles are probably declining. On the other hand, participation in various kinds of trail-oriented recreation is substantial and growing. Most activity is for short periods of time close to participants homes. A varied and diffuse trail system, with an emphasis on opportunities near urban areas, is needed. The research base for planning needs to be strengthened.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1971. Natural amenities, outdoor recreation, and wilderness. In: Behan, R.W.; Weddle, Richard M., eds. Ecology economics environment. Missoula, MT: University of Montana, School of Forestry, Montana Forest and Conservation Exper. Stn. 131-150pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1971). Natural amenities, outdoor recreation, and wilderness

    This paper discusses the environment and its natural amenities, rapidly growing participation in outdoor recreation, and unusual controversy that surrounds the topic of wilderness. Each of these concepts has importance that is changing. The reasons why these are changing is stated in more detail along with some resources involved, their abundance, distribution, and use.

  • Lucas, Robert C.; Oltman, Jerry L. 1971. Survey sampling wilderness visitors. Journal of Leisure Research 3(1): 28-43.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Oltman, Jerry L. (1971). Survey sampling wilderness visitors

    Surveys of wilderness visitors can be valuable in meeting the difficult challenges of wilderness management, but improved sampling methods are needed. The methods used in past surveys have serious weaknesses. Mail surveys have overcome many of the shortcomings of personal interviewing, and rates of return for completed questionnaires have been high. However, there has been no adequate source of names and addresses of wilderness visitors from which to draw samples. The unmanned trail registers commonly used provide only names of party leaders, and many groups do not register at all. Furthermore, certain types of visitors are less likely to register than others; thus, the registration list is not only incomplete, but also biased. A pilot test was made of two new methods for obtaining sample lists of wilderness visitors and a modification of an old method. The most successful method—in which a sign was used to inform visitors that research was in progress and to explain why names and addresses were needed—raised registration rates substantially, especially for hikers, and also produced names of individuals over sixteen years of age in addition to the party leaders. Nonregistrants were personally contacted on the trails. Both registrants and nonregistrants were mailed questionnaires. Over 90 percent of all questionnaires were returned, and analysis revealed significant differences between registrants and nonregistrants. Responses of party leaders also differed from the responses of other party members. Thus, the potential sources of bias in sampling from trail registers do seem important. Improved practices are recommended for many common field situations.

  • Lucas, Robert C.; Schreuder, Hans T.; James, George A. 1971. Wilderness use estimation: a pilot test of sampling procedures on the Mission Mountains Primitive Area. Res. Pap. INT-109. Ogden, UT: USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Exper. Stn. .
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C.; Schreuder, Hans T.; James, George A. (1971). Wilderness use estimation: a pilot test of sampling procedures on the Mission Mountains Primitive Area

    Methods for estimating wilderness recreational use were pilot tested during the summer and fall of 1968 in the Mission Mountains Primitive Area. The main basis for the estimating methods was trail register information. Intensive field sampling provided data on actual use to relate to registration data. Both ratio and regression methods produced estimates with acceptably small error terms (6 percent for estimated visits, in the case of the ratio estimates, for example), but the ratio methods seemed to have a small advantage over regression methods. Overall, 65 percent of the visitor groups were estimated to have registered, but there were substantial variations in registration rates associated with a number of factors—type of activity, model of travel, length of stay, and weather. The registration rate patterns were generally similar to those reported from an earlier study in Oregon. Use of the Mission Mountains Primitive Area is described. Suggestions are made for wilderness use estimation and for increasing the effectiveness of trail register systems.

  • Stankey, George H. 1971. Wilderness: carrying capacity and quality. Naturalist 22(3): 7-13.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1971. Myths in wilderness decision-making. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 26(5): 183-188.
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  • Lucas, Robert C. 1970. User evaluation of campgrounds on two Michigan National Forests. Res. Pap. NC-44. St. Paul, MN: USDA For. Serv., North Central Forest Exper. Stn. .
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1970). User evaluation of campgrounds on two Michigan National Forests

    The main objective of this study was to determine how variation in recreational use among campgrounds is related to characteristics of the campground sites and to people’s ideas about them. Variation among sites within campgrounds is not included. Although use of campgrounds, picnic areas, beaches, and access points to lakes and streams on the Huron and Manistee National Forests in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula was investigated, the study emphasized campground use; therefore, this paper will make only incidental references to other recreation uses.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1970. User concepts of wilderness and their implications for resource management. In: Proshansky, Harold M.; Ittelson, William H.; Rivlin, Leanne G., eds. Environmental psychology: man and his physical setting. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc 297-303pp.
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  • Stankey, George H. 1970. An appeal for uniform income categories in outdoor recreation studies. Journal of Leisure Research 2(1): 88.
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    Abstract for Stankey, George H. (1970). An appeal for uniform income categories in outdoor recreation studies

    This paper is an appeal to standardize the method of categorizing income in order to make comparative analyses between outdoor recreation studies.

  • Lucas, Robert C. 1969. Research needed for National Parks. Nelson, J.G., ed. Canadian parks in perspective. 284-309pp.
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    Abstract for Lucas, Robert C. (1969). Research needed for National Parks

    National parks are complex entities and in selecting and administering them we could draw upon an immense range of knowledge from a wide array of scientific disciplines. Most national parks have sections that run the gamut from wilderness to small cities, and the research needs are just as wide-ranging.

  • Lucas, Robert C.; Priddle, George B. 1964. Environmental perception: a comparison of two wilderness areas. Annals of the Association of American Geographers In: Annals of the Association of American Geographers 54(3): 428-429.
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Treesearch is another resource for storing and making accessible work that is produced by ALWRI scientists or with Forest Service resources. This search engine provides full text publications by Research and Development (R&D) scientists in the USDA Forest Service. Through Treesearch, you can find links to and download scholarly works authored by USDA Forest Service researchers. Treesearch links to resources such as journal articles, conference proceedings, and books, as well as other work published by the agency. All publications appearing in Treesearch are based on peer-reviewed research to provide the best and most up-to-date scientific information possible.

Data Portal

The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute (and previously as the Forest Service Wilderness Research Unit) has been engaged in wilderness science for over 50 years. This history of research has resulted in countless publications, papers, and conferences. However, wilderness research itself produces another vital resource: data. In order to ensure the accessibility and longevity of scientific data, the Leopold Institute has worked to archive historical data within a digital database. Raw data sets, survey instruments, coding manuals, and study plans often reside physically and electronically within the Leopold Institute. The more accessible raw data are, the more value they can be for other current and future analytical efforts. The value of research data only grows over time, as access to historical raw data and metadata is vital for understanding the changing dynamic of wilderness, and how it is impacted by the environment and people. 

Access to data archived by ALWRI can be found here.