The tense conflict over sage grouse management in the West, where livelihoods have been pitted against the possibility of an endangered species listing, has been ongoing for many years and has been described as being as tense as the spotted owl conflict in the Northwest in the 1990s. This research is designed to highlight the different frames or narratives within the sage grouse debate in Sublette County, Wyoming while exploring a resurging research methodology. Q methodology, a method intended to identify distinct viewpoints within a sample was employed to understand the different narratives among these conflict parties. The Q method suggested three distinct viewpoints or knowledge communities existed within the sample: ultra locals, classic biologists and harmonizers. Ultra locals largely consisted of ranchers (75%) and others dependent on the land for their livelihood and showed a strong preference for local county management that included local information. The narratives of the classic biologists, a group consisting solely of biologists working for agencies, consulting firms and conservation organizations, preferred that science and research point the way to a solution. Finally, agency biologists and energy industry employees made up the final group identified, the harmonizers. This group favored working with all stakeholders to work together to build a solution. A number of areas of agreement including the lack of support for an ESA listing, and disagreement such as the role of predators on sage grouse populations were highlighted. To move forward on the conflict, this research suggests that instead of pursuing issues that may only serve to increase the conflict, such as issues of predators or sources of knowledge, a path forward may be found in merging the livelihood interests of ranchers with the preservation interests of biologists. Results also show that the Q method was helpful in pinpointing distinct viewpoints on sage grouse management in Sublette County; however, without the use of an in-depth interview, the Q method results may have been difficult to clearly and meaningfully interpret.

Maintaining the Ninth Circuit's Clarified Arbitrary and Capricious Standard of Review after Lands Council v. McNair

A review of litigation and appeals over timber sales on the Lolo National Forest for the years 1999 thru 2008 revealed that of the 157 timber sales that could have been appealed or litigated, 27%, representing 55% of the timber volume in all the reviewed sales, had some form of appeal or litigation.. The categories of timber sales with the highest percentage of appeals and/or litigation in relation to their representation within the population as a whole were those that were performed to improve forest health or to meet stewardship goals. The silvicultural prescription that had the highest percentage of appeals and/or litigation in relation to their representation within the population as a whole were thin from above prescriptions while the least frequent was a clear cut. This study intends to serve as a source of information about appeals and litigation on the Lolo National Forest over timber sales by discussing reasons why environmental groups litigate and appeal timber sales. Additionally, this study hopes to give individuals, the Forest Service, private interest groups, or citizen groups involved with attempting to decrease the number of timber sales appealed or litigated as well as the volume of wood appealed or litigated, a point of comparison to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts.

Erosion from forest roads is a known problem in mountainous terrain. To abate these negative consequences, physical Best Management Practices (BMPs) are implemented, sometimes with no knowledge of erosion hot spots. With the need to minimize water quality impacts while at the same time accounting for multiple considerations and constraints, road BMP planning at the watershed scale is a difficult task. To assist in this planning process, a methodology is presented here that combines WEPP: Road erosion predictions with simulated annealing optimization. Under this methodology, erosion predictions associated with BMP options for a segment comprise the objective function of an optimization problem. This methodology was tested on a watershed in the Lake Tahoe Basin. WEPP: Road input data was gathered through road surveys. Modeling results predicted relatively little sediment leaving the forest buffer, as a result of numerous well-maintained BMPs and the dry climate found in the watershed. A sensitivity analysis for all WEPP: Road input parameters is presented, which provides insight into the general applicability of these erosion estimates as well as the relative importance of each input parameter. After evaluating erosion risk across the entire watershed, applicable BMPs were assigned to problem road segments and WEPP: Road was used to predict change in sediment leaving the buffer with BMP implementation at a given site. These predictions, combined with budget constraints as well as equipment scheduling considerations, were incorporated into an algorithm using simulated annealing as its optimization engine. Three modeled scenarios demonstrate the viability of this methodology in reducing total sediment leaving the road buffer over a planning horizon. Of the 173 segments surveyed, 38 segments could be treated using generic BMPs. For all three scenarios, BMP-SA reduced sediment leaving the buffer by as much as 70% over the course of a 20-year planning horizon. For the 38 segments treated with BMPs, sediment was reduced by greater than 90% over the planning horizon. This methodology is a viable approach for streamlining watershed-scale road network BMP planning, despite its heavy reliance on road erosion estimates.

Lidar is fast becoming one of the most widely used and accurate remote sensing tools for forest inventory. The means by which the lidar data is used to accomplish these inventories varies greatly. This study examines the use of individual tree detection and attribution to assess various forest characteristics, along with testing two alternative methods of determining canopy cover from lidar. Individual stem detection was accomplished using a local maxima algorithm. The total number of stems detected by lidar was 6% lower than field tallied stems, with regression analysis yielding an R2 of 0.59 and RMSE of 188/ha. The difference in number of lidar versus field trees also differed by density. For those plots with a density greater than 600 trees/ha, the number of stems detected by lidar was 26% lower than field measured stems. For those plots with less than 600 trees/ha, lidar detected a much larger number of small stems (< 35 cm diameter), leading to a larger estimate of tree density overall (~25% more lidar trees). Field based measures of mean and maximum height were highly correlated with the lidar data, resulting in R2 values of 0.85 and 0.89, and RMSE values of 1.6 and 1.7 respectively. Overall mean diameter and basal area were closely estimated by lidar, with both field and lidar mean diameter at 27.8 cm and total basal area at 77.3 m2 for lidar and 77.4 m2 field data. Plot-level comparisons of these 2 attributes showed some variation however. Mean for the diameter had an R2 of just 0.56 and an RMSE of 4.7 cm. For the plot level basal area, R2 was 0.57 with an RMSE of 0.8 m2/0.1 ha. Canopy cover was found to be most accurately estimated using the intensity (i.e. returned energy) of the lidar pulses and calculating the ratio of canopy intensity to total intensity. The high correlation between lidar-based estimates and field-based estimates suggests that lidar data can be effectively used to help provide complete wall-to-wall data for key forest inventory attributes.

As the community forestry movement matures, a question remains regarding what kind of educational experience nurtures and inspires people in community forestry? This thesis seeks to contribute to a better understanding of community forestry education by examining a field educational program known as Landscape and Livelihood (LL) offered by Northwest Connections, a small community-based conservation organization in the upper Swan Valley of western Montana. Based on extensive interviews, observation and the authors own personal experience as a former LL student, the thesis documents the programs use of field ecological studies involving both scientific and local knowledge integrated with journaling, homestays, and involvement in Swan community activities such as fuelwood gathering and citizen science projects. Analysis of interview data was informed by key concepts and concerns from popular, place-based and process educational theories. The results suggest that the LL program contributed to students gaining a more nuanced understanding of and appreciation for rural people and their forest-based connections, knowledge and livelihoods, and a greater sense of joy, hope, and inspiration for participating in conservation related activities in the future. Swan residents who participated as homestay families gained validation of their local knowledge and role as community forestry educators and also experienced joy, hope and inspiration for the future as a result of their interaction with students and the LL field semester. The thesis concludes on the possibilities generated by LL for community forestry and lessons for community forestry education more generally.

Over the last 30 years, the structural development of western old-growth ecosystems has been of great interest in ecological research. As the loss of historical forested acreage in western Montana became more widely recognized, the preservation of frequent-fire old-growth stands became a focus of forest management. And, although old-growth studies are commonly found in the literature, few studies focus on long-term carbon (C) storage associated with interior old-growth. This limited understanding of the C storage capacity and patterns in old-growth forests of western Montana leaves little ability to evaluate the role of old-growth forests in ecosystem level C storage capacity. Further, there is a disconnect between old-growth definitions and old-growth management. Forest Service definitions for interior old-growth ecosystems inadequately describe the structure, composition, and function of these ecosystems, and definitions applied from the Pacific Northwest do not capture the unique qualities of old-growth of the Northern Rockies. In this thesis, I first present a review of existing literature on definitions and characteristics of old-growth ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest and contrast these with old-growth forests of the Northern Rockies. In the second chapter, I present studies undertaken to generate empiric data on C storage in old-growth forests of this region. Specifically, studies were conducted to compare ecosystem C of old-growth western larch (Larix occidentalis) stands to that of paired 30-40 year old second growth stands in western Montana. Old-growth forests were found to store nearly three times more C than second growth forests, with most of the difference coming from C stored in the overstory. Finally, the third chapter describes a web-based plant guide that simplifies the challenge of plant identification by eliminating the use of technical vocabulary, focusing instead on visually recognizable plant characters and providing students with a more user-friendly means of identifying specimens and obtaining species-specific information.

<P>The natural soundscape is becoming increasingly recognized as a threatened park resource. A variety of policies, laws, and regulations have rapidly been established that affect the National Park Service mandate and require the agency and individual parks to protect, preserve, and restore natural sounds. National Parks are grappling with how to manage the newly legitimized natural soundscape resource and this research provides some of the first significant knowledge of visitor experiences of park soundscapes and preferences for management policies. The role of the natural soundscape in visitor experiences was explored through both interview and survey data with the primary goal of documenting dimensions of the experiences of natural sounds. Findings from this research highlight that not only do the majority of winter visitors to Yellowstone National Park believe that natural sounds are important to their experience of the park, but that deep meanings and complexity characterize visitor perceptions of the role of the natural soundscape to the overall value of the park and influence perceptions of the role of mechanized sounds in the park. While differences among the three primary user groups (cross-country skiers, snow coach riders, and snowmobilers) do exist, the data reflects a much greater degree of common ground and general agreement on most issues related to the park natural soundscape that were explored in this research.</P>

High latitude regions are undergoing significant climate-related change and represent an integral component of the Earths climate system. Near-surface vapor pressure deficit, soil temperature, and soil moisture are essential state variables for monitoring high latitude climate and estimating the response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change. Methods are developed and evaluated to retrieve surface soil temperature, daily maximum/minimum air temperature, and land surface wetness information from the EOS Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite for eight Boreal forest and Arctic tundra biophysical monitoring sites across Alaska and northern Canada. Daily vapor pressure deficit is determined by employing AMSR-E daily maximum/minimum air temperature retrievals. The seasonal pattern of microwave emission and relative accuracy of the estimated land surface state are influenced strongly by landscape properties including the presence of open water, vegetation type and seasonal phenology, snow cover and freeze-thaw transitions. Daily maximum/minimum air temperature is retrieved with RMSEs of 2.88 K and 2.31 K, respectively. Soil temperature is retrieved with RMSE of 3.1 K. Vapor pressure deficit (VPD) is retrieved to within 427.9 Pa using thermal information from AMSR-E. AMSR-E thermal information imparted 27% of the overall error in VPD estimation with the remaining error attributable to underlying algorithm assumptions. Land surface wetness information derived from AMSR-E corresponded with soil moisture observations and simple soil moisture models at locations with tundra, grassland, and mixed -forest/cropland land covers (r = 0.49 to r = 0.76). AMSR-E 6.9 GHz land surface wetness showed little correspondence to soil moisture observation or model estimates at locations with > 20% open water and > 5 m2 m-2 Leaf Area Index, despite efforts to remove the impact of open water and vegetation biomass. Additional information on open water fraction and vegetation phenology derived from AMSR-E 6.9 GHz corresponds well with independent satellite observations from MODIS, Sea-Winds, and JERS-1. The techniques and interpretations of high-latitude terrestrial brightness temperature signatures presented in this investigation will likely prove useful for future passive microwave missions and ecosystem modeling.

Coalbed methane development has proliferated across much of the western United States. Campbell County, Wyoming, in the Powder River Basin is one area that has seem some of the highest amounts of this development, most of it occurring on land where the surface use is livestock grazing, resulting in conflicts over resource use. This thesis takes a grounded theory approach to understanding the meaning that the ranchers that operate on this land have attached to this development. In doing so, this paper argues that these ranchers form opinions and attitudes based on how CBM has affected the ranching way of life and not simply on the perceived opportunity for economic gain. It also argues that although objections raised by this population to the listing the Greater Sage-Grouse as an endangered species are largely framed as objections to the way in which scientific conclusions are drawn, this may be more representative of embedded cultural viewpoints thereby making efforts to resolve this conflict through further scientific research, futile. This paper concludes that a more collaborative approach to issues surrounding CBM may have helped to avoid much of the conflict that characterizes this issue.