Drivers and Constraints Affecting Community Capacity for Watershed Management

A report released by The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005 explicates the interdependence of healthy ecosystems and societal well-being because of the multiple services ecosystems provide human communities. Still, development practices and land uses continue to degrade hydrologic systems and water quality on which humans depend for services like drinking water, stormwater regulation, and recreation. Decisions at the local level have the greatest impact on water resources. Landowner compliance with regulations, enrollment in cost-share or easement programs, and perhaps most important, voluntary adoption of sustainable land use practices are fundamental to the future of water resources in Illinois and nationwide. Furthermore, local governments have a central role in promoting, incentivizing and regulating sustainable development and land use practices at a watershed scale. Three questions emerge: (1) What drives communities to engage in sustainable watershed management? (2) What constrains communities from engaging in sustainable watershed management? (3) How can resource professionals, policy-makers, and citizens build community capacity to protect watershed health? This paper investigates these issues, presents a theoretical model of community capacity for sustainable watershed management, and describes “lessons learned” about the roles human communities play in watershed management. The insights presented are based on an extensive literature review, empirical research, and ongoing dialogue with water resource professionals and policy-makers across the Midwest. Most notably, a lack of organizational capacity including problems with coordination and long-term visioning in community planning is identified as a primary constraint

How Will Climate Change Affect Winter Recreation? Recent Research from Northern Minnesota

This fact sheet reviews recent research examining how winter-based outdoor recreation along the North Shore of Lake Superior will be affected by climate change. The research revealed the majority of outdoor recreationists who visit the region now won’t change their travel plans as temperatures increase and the snow and ice thins out. However, a substantial number of outdoor recreationists indicated they will visit the region more often in the future. This is largely due to longer shoulder seasons, which support these individuals’ preferred outdoor recreational activities. Knowing how outdoor recreationists’ behavioral responses to climate change vary will help community planners and natural resource managers make decisions that will benefit both their communities and their guests

Winter visitors to Yellowstone National Park, their value orientations and support for management actions

The idea of a National Park contains a diversity of values and missions. This paper takes a multi-dimensional, context- specific approach to measuring the perceived values of Yellowstone National Park. It is an initial step in recording how perceptions of National Parks are changing over time. Responses of 1064 winter visitors to 24 park value items were factor and cluster analyzed to produce four groups. Examination of the relationship between cluster membership and support / opposition to a variety of management actions showed significant differences for all 19 proposed actions. Groups of visitors with different value orientations showed correspondingly different levels of support for management actions. The National Park Service (and other natural resource agencies) can, therefore, expect to encounter and manage for a diversity of perceived values and conflicting attitudes towards park management and planning

Assessing the Relationship Between Desired Experiences and Support for Management Actions at Yellowstone National Park Using Multiple Methods

The nature of recreation and resource management issues related to the winter season in Yellowstone National Park requires a holistic approach in understanding visitor preferences, perceptions, and support for management actions. A dramatic increase in winter visitation over the past three decades and intense controversy related to bison management in the park have posed difficult challenges to managers. Specific questions such as what do visitors want out of their experience and how do visitors perceive management initiatives are central to these challenges. A multiple methods approach, one quantitative and one qualitative, was employed to gain more depth and breadth in understanding. The quantitative study used a mail-back questionnaire to measure the importance of certain visitor experiences and agreement with specific management initiatives. An apparent discord between respondents’ desired experiences and support for management actions sparked a qualitative investigation. In-depth interviews provided insight into why visitors believe wildlife is at the heart of the experience, but are unlikely to support management actions aimed at protecting the bison herd in the park. The complement of the two methods suggests that other factors, such as awareness of a problem, perceived role of the park, and trust in the decision-makers, influence visitors’ perceptions of management actions

Crossing Methodological Boundaries: Assessing Visitor Motivations and Support for Management Actions at Yellowstone National Park Using Quantitative and Qualitative Research Approaches

Winter use of Yellowstone National Park has given rise to a complex of management issues, including rapid growth in recreation demand, environmental impacts of snowmobiling, and a string of litigation against the National Park Service (NPS) designed to both protect park resources and maintain public access (Sacklin et al. 2000). The intertwined character of these problems suggests that none can be resolved independently of the other, that policy must be comprehensive in nature, and that many sources of knowledge may be required to effect their resolution

Measurement of Trilinear Gauge Couplings in e+e−e^+ e^- Collisions at 161 GeV and 172 GeV

Trilinear gauge boson couplings are measured using data taken by DELPHI at 161~GeV and 172~GeV. Values for $WWV$ couplings ($V=Z, \gamma$) are determined from a study of the reactions \eeWW\ and \eeWev, using differential distributions from the $WW$ final state in which one $W$ decays hadronically and the other leptonically, and total cross-section data from other channels. Limits are also derived on neutral $ZV\gamma$ couplings from an analysis of the reaction \eegi