Forging a Common Vision for Maine’s North Woods

Robert Lilieholm takes stock of the challenges and opportunities facing Maine’s North Woods, the largest undeveloped forested block in the eastern United States. In the face of changing ownership patterns and development pressures, there is lively debate over current land use policies and trends. Lilieholm suggests that a broader, regional vision for the North Woods might better serve the long-term interests of both the area’s forests and its struggling communities

Undergraduate Enrollment Trends in Natural Resources at NAUFRP Institutions: An Update

Undergraduate enrollments in natural resources were analyzed for 30 NAUFRP institutions from around the country, covering the period 1980-2009. Results indicate that the steady downturn in enrollments beginning in the mid 1990s reversed itself in 2003 and continued to increase steadily through the present. Enrollments in the general category of Natural Resources and Environment recently eclipsed those in other more traditional fields of study such as forestry and wildlife and fisheries. Forestry enrollments, which in 1980 constituted nearly half of the total enrollments in all natural resource fields, currently make up less than only about one-fifth of these enrollments. These results have important implications for the academic institutions offering programs in natural resources and for the various employers of the graduates of these programs

Impact of Demographic Trends on Future Development Patterns and the Loss of Open Space in the California Mojave Desert

During the post-World War II era, the Mojave Desert Region of San Bernardino County, California, has experienced rapid levels of population growth. Over the past several decades, growth has accelerated, accompanied by significant shifts in ethnic composition, most notably from predominantly White non-Hispanic to Hispanic. This study explores the impacts of changing ethnicity on future development and the loss of open space by modeling ethnic propensities regarding family size and settlement preferences reflected by U.S. Census Bureau data. Demographic trends and land conversion data were obtained for seven Mojave Desert communities for the period between 1990 and 2001. Using a spatially explicit, logistic regression-based urban growth model, these data and trends were used to project community-specific future growth patterns from 2000 to 2020 under three future settlement scenarios: (1) an historic scenario reported in earlier research that uses a Mojave-wide average settlement density of 3.76 persons/ha; (2) an existing scenario based on community-specific settlement densities as of 2001; and (3) a demographic futures scenario based on community-specific settlement densities that explicitly model the Region\u27s changing ethnicity. Results found that under the demographic futures scenario, by 2020 roughly 53% of within-community open space would remain, under the existing scenario only 40% would remain, and under the historic scenario model the communities would have what amounts to a deficit of open space. Differences in the loss of open space across the scenarios demonstrate the importance of considering demographic trends that are reflective of the residential needs and preferences of projected future populations

Forest Biomass Harvesting in the Northeast: A Special-Needs Operation?

There is growing interest in harvesting forest biomass to meet the needs of bioenergy and bioproducts facilities in the Northeast. This interest is accompanied by increased concern over the potential impacts of biomass removals on forest ecosystems. Debates over biomass proposals have revealed a considerable level of confusion over the term biomass harvest, much of which stems from ambiguity surrounding the term forest biomass. Indeed, all forest material removed during harvest is forest biomass, yet many view only a small portion of this—typically low-value chipped material—as biomass. Since much of this material is destined for use as energy, we feel that communication among the public, foresters, academics, and industry representatives would improve by referring to forest biomass of this nature as what it really is: energy wood. Once terms are clarified, it is easier to understand how concerns with market dynamics, soil productivity, water quality, and forest biodiversity can be addressed through forest policy development

Resource Use, Dependence and Vulnerability: Community-Resource Linkages on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

Understanding how rural communities use and depend upon local natural resources is a critical factor in developing policies to sustain the long-term viability of human and natural systems. Such “community-resource” linkages are particularly important in Alaska, where rural communities – many of them comprised of indigenous Alaskan Natives – are highly dependent upon local resources found on public lands. Alaskan communities utilize forests in many ways. To better understand these coupled “social-ecological” systems, we combined socio-economic data from the 2000 U.S. Census with timber permit data from the USDA Forest Service to describe communities and their use of forest resources. Our results suggest that private access to public resources is an important feature of Alaskan communities, and that continued access is likely to be a key factor in sustaining human systems on the landscape. As a result, public land managers should give special consideration to local resource use when making policy decisions

Community Attitudes Toward Wildlife and Protected Areas in Ethiopia

Across Africa, national policies that established protected areas (PAs) typically limited local use of wildlife and other resources. Over time, these policies have raised tensions with rural communities and today threaten to undermine conservation goals. This article examines community–PA relationships at four important sites in Ethiopia—a country of rich tradition with an unusual colonial past. Using focus groups and household surveys, we found that despite local tensions, most respondents held positive views toward wildlife and nearby PAs. Factors influencing positive views included receiving PA benefits, good relations with PA staff, higher education levels, being older, having a large family, diversified income sources, owning fewer livestock, and fewer incidents of wildlife conflicts. In contrast, the devolved control of PAs from federal to regional levels has not influenced community–PA relations as intended. Our results suggest that relations could be improved through involving communities in co-management arrangements, honoring resource tenure and use rights, providing benefits, and implementing conservation education programs

Land Conservation in the Northeastern United States: An Assessment of Historic Trends and Current Conditions

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