Evolving institutions of environmental governance: the collaborative implementation of stewardship contracts by the USDA Forest Service

2013 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.Collaborative forest management policies are increasingly being enacted in the U.S. Increased pressure to implement collaborative forest management processes emphasizes the need to understand the extent to which such policies are being adopted, the factors influencing their implementation, and how well these efforts are meeting policy intentions. This dissertation provides practical and theoretical insight to the adoption of collaborative forest management approaches by focusing on the implementation of stewardship-end-result contracting (stewardship contracting). A mixed-methods research design was used to systematically assess the collaborative implementation of stewardship contracts by the USDA Forest Service (USFS). The first phase of this research employed a statistical analysis of the adoption of USFS stewardship contracts from 1999 to 2011 to provide a foundational understanding of its use. This analysis identified consistent adoption of stewardship contracts across USFS regions, with a significant increase in the number of contracts and associated acres during this time period. The second phase of this research statistically analyzed the levels of collaboration associated with USFS stewardship contracts. This large-N analysis determined collaboration has a significant role in meeting stewardship contract objectives. Key process indicators identified in the collaborative governance literature - the number of interests involved, the amount of outreach used, the roles of the community, and who initiated the project - have a strong association with the levels of collaboration. This analysis identified a significant variation in the levels of collaborative stewardship contract implementation across USFS regions. The third phase of this research utilized a qualitative multiple-case study approach to build upon the previous statistical analyses and to attain an in depth understanding of the contextual factors influencing the levels of collaboration associated with stewardship contracts in the USFS Rocky Mountain Region. The results reveal a combination of institutional, community, and individual attributes are essential for the use of collaboration in USFS stewardship contracting processes. These attributes include guidance and support from the USFS, high levels of social capital within the community, and strong leadership from individuals within both the agency and community. The results indicate the collaborative forests identified and achieved a greater number of objectives than the non-collaborative forests and thereby confirm previous findings of this dissertation in which collaborative stewardship contracting processes achieved more forest management and community social and economic objectives than non-collaborative processes. Collaboration therefore has a critical role in achieving the policy intentions of stewardship contracting. This dissertation advances the existing collaborative governance literature by quantitatively analyzing collaborative process components and outcomes across a large population of similar efforts, while providing a detailed qualitative analysis of the factors influencing the adoption of collaborative processes and the associated outcomes. Additional comprehensive evaluations of the adoption of collaboration, the factors associated with its use, and its role in achieving the policy intentions are necessary to determine the first- and second-tier influences and outcomes of collaborative processes. Such comprehensive evaluations of collaboration can improve its application in policy and management and prevent it from being falsely identified as a panacea to address all social-ecological management issues

2-D electric fields and drifts near the magnetic separatrix in divertor tokamaks

A 2-D calculation is presented for the transport of plasma in the edge region of a divertor tokamak solving continuity, momentum, and energy balance fluid equations. The model uses anomalous radial diffusion, including perpendicular ion momentum, and classical cross-field drifts transport. Parallel and perpendicular currents yield a self-consistent electrostatic potential on both sides of the magnetic separatrix. Outside the separatrix, the simulation extends to material divertor plates where the incident plasma is recycled as neutral gas and where the plate sheath and parallel currents dominate the potential structure. Inside the separatrix, various radial current terms - from viscosity, charge-exchange and poloidal damping, inertia, and {triangledown}B - contribute to the determining the potential. The model rigorously enforces cancellation of gyro-viscous and magnetization terms from the transport equations. The results emphasize the importance of E x B particle flow under the X-point which depends on the sign of the toroidal magnetic field. Radial electric field (E{sub y}) profiles at the outer midplane are small with weak shear when high L-mode diffusion coefficients are used and are large with strong shear when smaller H-mode diffusion coefficients are used. The magnitude and shear of the electric field (E{sub y}) is larger both when the core toroidal rotation is co-moving with the inductive plasma current and when the ion {triangledown}B-drift is towards the single-null X-point

Designing a new science-policy communication mechanism for the UN Convention to Combat Desertification

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has lacked an efficient mechanism to access scientific knowledge since entering into force in 1996. In 2011 it decided to convene an Ad Hoc Working Group on Scientific Advice (AGSA) and gave it a unique challenge: to design a new mechanism for science-policy communication based on the best available scientific evidence. This paper outlines the innovative 'modular mechanism' which the AGSA proposed to the UNCCD in September 2013, and how it was designed. Framed by the boundary organization model, and an understanding of the emergence of a new multi-scalar and polycentric style of governing, the modular mechanism consists of three modules: a Science-Policy Interface (SPI); an international self-governing and self-organizing Independent Non-Governmental Group of Scientists; and Regional Science and Technology Hubs in each UNCCD region. Now that the UNCCD has established the SPI, it is up to the worldwide scientific community to take the lead in establishing the other two modules. Science-policy communication in other UN environmental conventions could benefit from three generic principles corresponding to the innovations in the three modules-joint management of science-policy interfaces by policy makers and scientists; the production of synthetic assessments of scientific knowledge by autonomous and accountable groups of scientists; and multi-scalar and multi-directional synthesis and reporting of knowledge

An applied methodology for stakeholder identification in transdisciplinary research

In this paper we present a novel methodology for identifying stakeholders for the purpose of engaging with them in transdisciplinary, sustainability research projects. In transdisciplinary research, it is important to identify a range of stakeholders prior to the problem-focussed stages of research. Early engagement with diverse stakeholders creates space for them to influence the research process, including problem definition, from the start. However, current stakeholder analysis approaches ignore this initial identification process, or position it within the subsequent content-focussed stages of research. Our methodology was designed as part of a research project into a range of soil threats in seventeen case study locations throughout Europe. Our methodology was designed to be systematic across all sites. It is based on a snowball sampling approach that can be implemented by researchers with no prior experience of stakeholder research, and without requiring significant financial or time resources. It therefore fosters transdisciplinarity by empowering physical scientists to identify stakeholders and understand their roles. We describe the design process and outcomes, and consider their applicability to other research projects. Our methodology therefore consists of a two-phase process of design and implementation of an identification questionnaire. By explicitly including a design phase into the process, it is possible to tailor our methodology to other research projects

Adaptive capacity in social–ecological systems: a framework for addressing bark beetle disturbances in natural resource management

The ability of natural resource agencies to act before, during, and after outbreaks of conifer bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is important to ensure the continued provision of ecosystem services. Adaptive capacity refers to the capability of an agent or system to adapt to change, regardless of whether it is examined as an independent social or ecological entity, or as a coupled social–ecological system. Understanding the components of a disturbance and the associated effects to ecosystem services, social systems, and natural resource management increases the ability to adapt to change and ensure continued resilience. This paper presents a definition and conceptual framework of adaptive capacity relevant to bark beetle disturbances that was developed through an interdisciplinary workshop held in 2016. The intent is to assist natural resource managers and policy-makers in identifying important adaptation characteristics to effectively address bark beetle disturbances. The current state of knowledge regarding institutional, social, and environmental factors that influence adaptive capacity are identified. The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) in the western USA is used as a specific example to discuss several factors that influence adaptive capacity for increasing resilience. We hope that our proposed framework serves as a model for future collaborations among both social and physical scientists and land managers to better address landscape-level disturbances that are being exacerbated by climate change

Evaluating the integrated resource restoration line item : results from a survey of National Forest System staff

32 pagesThe Integrated Resource Restoration (IRR) budgetary approach, which has been implemented on a pilot basis in the Northern, Southwestern, and Intermountain Regions since fiscal year 2012, is meant to facilitate holistic and integrated restoration work at landscape scales on national forests. It combines previously separate budget line items into a consolidated funding stream for integrated restoration planning and implementation. At the request of the U.S. Forest Service, we are conducting a third-party evaluation of the IRR pilot.This study was made possible by funding from the USDA Forest Service (13-CS-11132420-254), Colorado State University, and the University of Oregon

Algorithm for Wave-Particle Resonances in Fluid Codes - Final Report

We review the work performed under LDRD ER grant 98-ERD-099. The goal of this work is to write a subroutine for a fluid turbulence code that allows it to incorporate wave-particle resonances (WPR). WPR historically have required a kinetic code, with extra dimensions needed to evolve the phase space distribution function, f(x, v, t). The main results accomplished under this grant have been: (1) Derivation of a nonlinear closure term for 1D electrostatic collisionless fluid; (2) Writing of a 1D electrostatic fluid code, ''es1f,'' with a subroutine to calculate the aforementioned closure term; (3) derivation of several methods to calculate the closure term, including Eulerian, Euler-local, fully local, linearized, and linearized zero-phase-velocity, and implementation of these in es1f; (4) Successful modeling of the Landau damping of an arbitrary Langmuir wave; (5) Successful description of a kinetic two-stream instability up to the point of the first bounce; and (6) a spin-off project which uses a mathematical technique developed for the closure, known as the Phase Velocity Transform (PVT) to decompose turbulent fluctuations

A study of the mechanism of alkali cellulose autoxidation

Ph.D