Assessing Interconnections Between Wilderness and Adjacent Lands: The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

Wilderness managers have traditionally managed wilderness lands based on the ecological and social content of wilderness areas. The authors propose a framework to systematically account for the biophysical, socioeconomic, and wildness characteristics of the broader landscape context. The method was applied to the proposed wilderness lands of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. The results illustrate patterns of interdependencies across the landscape. Spatial data demonstrate links between the integrity of proposed wilderness lands and the management of adjacent land units, and links between the economic health of local communities and the management of proposed wilderness and adjacent federal lands

Wildland-urban interface maps vary with purpose and context

Maps of the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) are both pragmatic policy tools and powerful visual images with broad appeal. While the growing number of WUI maps serve the same general purpose, this paper demonstrates that WUI maps based on the same data can differ in ways related to their purpose, and discusses the use of ancillary data in modifying census data. A comparison of two methods suggests GIS methods used for mapping the WUI be tailored to specific questions. Dasymetric mapping to improve census data precision is useful but dependent on data quality, and land ownership datasets suffer problems that argue for caution in their use. No single mapping approach is “best,” and analysts must be clear about the problem addressed, the methods used, and data quality. These considerations should apply to any analysis, but are especially important to analyses of the WUI upon which public-sector decisions will be made

Guiding concepts for park and wilderness stewardship in an era of global environmental change

The major challenge to stewardship of protected areas 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 articulate more clearly the purposes of parks, 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 also likely to be considered important, including ecological integrity, resilience, historical fidelity (ie the ecosystem appears and functions much as it did in the past), and autonomy of nature. Until recently, the concept of "naturalness" was the guiding principle when making conservation-related decisions in park and wilderness ecosystems. However, this concept is multifaceted 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 such 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 of nature, ecological integrity, and resilience, as well as managing with humility. The relative importance of these guiding principles will vary, depending on management goals and ecological conditions

A portfolio approach to managing ecological risks of global change

The stressors of global environmental change make it impossible over the long term for natural systems to maintain their historical composition. Conservation's new objective must be to maintain the building blocks of future systems (e.g., species, genes, soil types, and landforms) as they continuously rearrange. Because of the certainty of change, some biologists and managers question continued use of retrospective conservation strategies (e.g., reserves and restoration) informed by the historical range of variability. Prospective strategies that manage toward anticipated conditions have joined the conservation toolbox alongside retrospective conservation. We argue that high uncertainty around the rates and trajectories of climate and ecological change dictate the need to spread ecological risk using prospective and retrospective strategies across conservation networks in a systematic and adaptively managed approach. We term this a portfolio approach drawing comparisons to financial portfolio risk management as a means to maximize conservation benefit and learning. As with a financial portfolio, the portfolio approach requires that management allocations receive minimum temporal commitments to realize longer‐term benefits. Our approach requires segregation of the strategies into three landscape zones to avoid counterproductive interactions. The zones will be managed to (1) observe change, (2) resist change, and (3) facilitate change. We offer guidelines for zone allocation based on ecological integrity. All zones should follow principles of conservation design traditionally applied to reserves. Comparable to financial portfolios, zone performance is monitored to facilitate learning and potential reallocation for long‐term net minimization of risk to the building blocks of future ecosystems

Defining sustainable forestry

170 hal. ; 21 cm

Patterns of Community Dynamics in Colorado Engelmann Spruce-Subalpine Fire Forests

Based on a 5-stand chronosequence (\u3e500 yr), changes are characterized for age structure, overstorey mortality, recruitment, and understorey growth in developing Picea engelmanniiAbies lasiocarpa /forests. It is suggested that stand development involves aspects of two models: an equilibrium coexistence model in which spruce and fir constitute a stable, climax community through balanced life-history strategies; and a nonequilibrium coexistence model relying on periodic catastrophic disturbance (from large-scale wildfires to small-scale tree deaths) to disrupt competitive exclusion of spruce by fir

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

POPULATION AND SITE CHARACTERISTICS OF A RECENTLY DISCOVERED DISJUNCT POPULATION OF CROTON ALABAMENSIS (EUPHORBIACEAE)

Volume: 16Start Page: 37End Page: 5