The habitat use of thirteen female and four male GPS collared white-tailed deer, captured in the Clear Lake area of Riding Mountain National Park between 2012 and 2014, was examined. Range sizes were smallest during the summer and largest during the breeding season for both sexes, with an additional peak in female range size occurring in April. Female deer displayed a greater association with areas of human use and infrastructure than males, with the highest use of these areas by females occurring during the late winter and early spring. This increased use of developed areas by deer during the winter and early spring is thought to relate to factors including food resource availability, snow depth, predator avoidance, and thermal cover. / October 2016

The purpose of the study is to classify the retarded children from the viewpoint of selection for special education to determine the probable percentage of slow-learning children in the elementary school, and to evaluate the provisions made for the retarded group.

As the United States becomes increasingly urbanized, the importance of federally designated wilderness areas as places of reflection and refuge from city life becomes even more apparent. These wilderness areas provide visitors with opportunities for solitude, recreation, and connecting with nature. Wilderness has long been important to American society, influencing the likes of John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry David Thoreau. With the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964, the assurance that these areas would remain protected in perpetuity for the enjoyment of the American people was enshrined into law. While these wilderness areas remain protected by Federal law, increasing visitation rates and changing social norms may begin to threaten the so-called "wilderness experience," making it difficult for visitors to enjoy and experience the conditions set forth in the Wilderness Act. Wilderness managers must therefore seek to understand the attitudes, preferences, and motivations of wilderness visitors using these areas to ensure that management conditions provide for a high-quality wilderness experience. This study uses quantitative survey methods to explore differences in management preferences, wilderness conditions, and crowding perceptions between overnight and day visitors to wilderness areas. Visitors were surveyed at 30 trailheads throughout the Olympic National Park Wilderness during the summer of 2012. While wilderness visitors held many similar opinions on management preferences and wilderness conditions, there were differences in the degree to which they agreed or disagreed. Overnight visitors tended to be more sensitive to crowding than day visitors, both on hiking trails and at attraction sites, and were more supportive of management policies that limited access in favor of increasing opportunities for solitude experiences. This study supports the use of a management by objectives framework that incorporates indicators and standards of quality to ensure that certain conditions are met. Findings from this study can aid in the development of standards for crowding and the establishment of other management policies in Olympic National Park Wilderness to ensure that all visitors are provided with the opportunity for a high-quality wilderness experience.

National parks have famously been called "America's best idea" and preserve the nation's natural and cultural resources for the enjoyment of all. One of the current working priorities of the National Park Service (NPS) is enhancing the relevancy and engagement of the national parks with diverse audiences, especially for underserved groups. To address this priority, transportation is needed to provide access to national parks, but transportation may not be equally accessible to all groups in society. Understanding the effects of transportation on visitation to the national parks by racial/ethnic groups is essential for the NPS to improve the accessibility of transportation systems and encourage greater visitation by racial/ethnic minority groups. Moreover, transportation can be more than a means of access, it can also be a form of recreation itself, providing opportunities for visitors to experience and appreciate parks and related areas. But, differences in desirability of transportation recreation opportunities across recreation settings and among racial/ethnic groups are rarely addressed. The intent of this dissertation is three-fold: 1) identify transportation related barriers impacting visitation to national parks by racial/ethnic groups, and the effects of transportation on the visiting national parks, 2) identify the differences in indicators of the transportation recreation opportunity spectrum among racial/ethnic visitors and across recreation settings, 3) measure spatial accessibility of national parks and the effects of spatial accessibility and other factors on visitation to national parks among racial/ethnic groups. The first phase of research is designed to identify barriers to visiting national parks that are related to marginality, subculture, and discrimination hypotheses, and examine the effects of transportation incentives on visitation among racial/ethnic groups. Study results found that racial/ethnic minority groups visited national parks less frequently than Whites. Hispanics were more likely to perceive transportation-related barriers to visiting national parks than Whites. Moreover, providing transportation incentives can increase visitation by Hispanics significantly. The second phase of research developed indicators for a transportation recreation opportunity spectrum (T-ROS), and examined the differences in desirability for T-ROS indicators among alternative transportation modes, different types of recreation settings, and different racial/ethnic groups. Study results identified the important indicators for transportation service in different types of recreation areas, which can help inform transportation planning and management for the NPS. The final phase of research examined the spatial accessibility of national parks from different geographic locations by incorporating geospatial analytics, assessed the spatial accessibility of different types of national parks among racial/ethnic groups, and estimated the effects of spatial accessibility on visitation to national parks. Results showed that Hispanics and Blacks had higher accessibility to national parks than Whites within short distance radii, however, Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to perceive distance as a barrier to visiting national parks than Whites. Study results can help the NPS understand the spatial structure of national parks, provide visual information for visitors about proximate national parks and recreation opportunities, and identified effective management strategies for enhancing visitation of racial/ethnic minority groups from different geographic areas.

The thesisdeals with theuse ofurban andsuburbanparksand cycle routes by neighbouringkindergartens. The theoretical part ofthe thesissummarizesthe basic terminology, explains the concept offorest,park, forest park, bicycle path.Furthermore,it is trying todefinetermsrelatedto the topic(movement, motor skills, and sports). Separatechaptersare alsodevoted toforestpedagogy, its history andthe emergingtrendof forestnurseries. The practicalpart of thethesisintroducesmethodsof research.Theseare thequestionnaire survey, interview and observation.Research ispart ofthe weeklyproject for childrenfrom kindergartens, created specifically forthis topic. Subsequently, thethesisseeksto answer the stated hypotheses. It examines therange ofthe activities of childrenduring their stayoutside,motivationof childrento activities, the use of cyclingkindergartens. It examines whichoutdoorlocationchildrenin kindergartenprefer for their morningactivities. Thethesisconcludeswith an overview of significant Pragueparks. Keywords: park, forest, cycling, physical activity, nature, kindergarten

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / Effective open space is critical to the urban quality of life because it fosters environmental, social, and economic vitality. However, some designers, planners, and developers have a tendency to focus on only one of these aspects and, thus, create spaces that are monofunctional and inefficient over time. To ensure effective open spaces in cities, landscape architects must think strategically and employ design tactics that are multifunctional and perform environmentally, socially, and economically. My objective was to provide landscape architects with a framework that ensured effective open spaces through the manipulation of the urban surface. In this report, I explored how the urban surface could be used to create multifunctional, flexible, and adaptive solutions that informed and directed (re)development so that urban spaces had lasting value. A thorough literature review that explored concepts from Jane Jacobs, Alex Wall, and Ying-Yu Hung was used to create a theoretical framework that consisted of various tactics. The tactics were aesthetic, programmatic, contextual, and/or performative in nature, and the aggregation of these tactics in the urban surface catalyzed environmental, social, and economic vitality in urban open spaces. My methodology was iterative, cycling periods of research, design, and analysis in both group and individual settings. The theoretical framework was used to evaluate and inform design decisions, and the design decisions refined and validated the theoretical framework itself. The theoretical framework was first applied to two precedent studies through a series of diagrammatic mapping exercises. Then, the theoretical framework was applied to two collaborative, multidisciplinary redevelopment projects. The first project was the redevelopment of the Village Plaza shopping center in Manhattan, Kansas (MHK Project), and the second project was the revitalization of Downtown East in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the annual Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition, sponsored by the Urban Land Institute (ULI Competition). Both of these projects were evaluated and refined using the same diagrammatic mapping exercises. The effectiveness of using the theoretical framework as a guide for designing successful open spaces was validated with my team’s victory in the finalist round of the ULI Competition. The tactics in the theoretical framework offered pragmatic and multiscalar strategies that I incorporated into the open spaces that my team and I designed. Ultimately, I discovered that the role of surface was to accommodate, organize, structure, and facilitate the dynamic processes necessary for environmental, social, and economic vitality, which enhanced the urban quality of life and created an indisputable sense of place.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional and Community Planning / Jessica Canfield / As urban populations continue to grow, parks will become a critical component to creating and sustaining healthy cities. A review of literature related to landscape performance and 21st century parks reveals a paradigm shift in the ways we engage our built landscapes. No longer is it environmentally or fiscally responsible to implement and maintain resource consumptive city parks that are exclusively concerned with fulfilling social needs. To create environmentally, socially, and economically beneficial spaces, 21st century parks must include design elements and best management practices that ensure long-term sustainability. In Manhattan, Kansas, most of the city’s parks are recreation centric and primarily focused on fulfilling social needs. However, Fairmont Park has yet to be fully realized, and therefore presents the city an opportunity to implement its first sustainable park. Using the Sustainable Sites Initiative’s 2009 Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks as a guide, a series of sustainability evaluations were conducted on Fairmont Park’s existing conditions in order to reveal its current level of sustainability. To understand how the park was originally envisioned to perform, the same analysis was conducted on Fairmont Park’s 1998 Master Plan. Findings from this process revealed an opportunity to update the park’s current master plan, in order to achieve enhanced environmental, social, and economic benefits. Guided by 21st century park design, implementation, and management strategies, the redesign of Fairmont Park will not only help Riley County fulfill its goal of becoming a State leader in sustainable design, but it will provide the Manhattan community with a state-of-the-art productive park, which promotes environmental education and stewardship, physical activity, local food production and composting, and stormwater management practices.

Master of Public Health / Department of Kinesiology / Andrew T. Kaczynski / Background: With the dramatic increase in childhood obesity rates over the last three decades, parks can offer an accessible and affordable population-level solution to the important issue of youth physical inactivity. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the association of park proximity and park features with nearby youth achieving recommended levels of physical activity. Methods: This community-based study was conducted in Kansas City, Missouri. Valid physical activity data were obtained for 191 youth via a parent proxy survey with an overall response rate of 27.4%. Geographic information systems (GIS) were used to create three measures of park proximity within 1 mile of children’s homes. Detailed park characteristic information for all parks within 1 mile of the youth (n=146 parks) was obtained via observational audits. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between each park proximity and park characteristic variable and the likelihood of youth meeting physical activity recommendations, while controlling individual and neighborhood level covariates. Results: All youth and female youth who had a park within one-half mile of home were more likely to achieve physical activity recommendations than those with no parks nearby. Likewise, all youth and male youth with three or more parks within 1 mile were significantly more likely to achieve physical activity recommendations than those with only 1 park. Further, youth that had a park with a playground within one-half mile or a baseball field within 1 mile of their home were more likely to achieve physical activity recommendations. Finally, having a park with particular amenities within 1 mile from home (transit stops, traffic signals, picnic tables, grills, trash cans, shade, and roads through the park) was also associated with greater odds of achieving physical activity recommendations. Conclusions: Parks are valuable community resources that can play an important role in the battle against rising rates of obesity and chronic disease in youth across the country. Better understanding the ways in which these settings are associated with physical activity among children can inform future research and environmental and policy changes that can promote the health and well-being of generations to come.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / From start to finish, implementing large public infrastructure projects, like a park, can be challenging. Funding shortages, public opposition, and physical limitations are all potential problems that can halt a project’s development. This study explores the complexities of implementation by using a proposed park designed by the Kansas City Design Center as a case study for examination. The visioning process, or first stage of implementation, is explored by examining the factors that influenced the design. Through interviews, this report then examines how the actors and processes of project implementation work together or against each other in project development. Applying the learned knowledge of implementation to the proposed park of the Kansas City Design Center presented multiple challenges, as well as opportunities for the park. After understanding implementation and its application to the Rail Park, three main strategies are proposed to move the Kansas City Design Center’s proposed park past the visioning stage. The three strategies are: to collaborate between actors, garner public support, and project phasing. General conclusions about implementation in this study found that there will be challenges and not all can be anticipated, but it is important to plan for those that can be. Being flexible and persistent to move a project forward is necessary in order to accommodate stakeholders’ concerns and unforeseen problems. Knowledge of implementation and its complexities will assist actors, developers, and students to advance visions into reality.

D.Phil. / What underlies species distribution and species coexistence has long been of key interest in community ecology. Several methods and theories have been used to address this question. However, it still remains a controversial debate. The recent development of plant DNA barcodes with possibility of merging phylogeny with ecology brings high expectation in uncovering the processes underlying community assemblages. Previous works that used molecular approach in community ecology focused mainly on rainforests. Using a phylogenetic approach, this study brings novel understandings about savanna ecology, especially regarding how megaherbivores impact plant community composition. The Kruger National Park (KNP) is one of the world’s largest reserves, but less studied from a phylogenetic perspective. A DNA database of 445 DNA sequences (plant DNA barcodes, rbcLa + matK) was generated for the woody plants of the KNP. This database proves reliable in reconstructing the phylogeny of Angiosperms of the park. Based on this phylogeny, the present study characterised plant community composition, and investigated how megaherbivores influence this composition. Results indicate that plant communities in the KNP are not neutral, i.e. they are more clustered than expected under various null models. This suggests that ecological forces, most likely habitat filtering may be playing key role in dictating community structure in the KNP. The KNP is well-known for its richness in megaherbivores. The contribution of these animals to the current shape of plant community structures was therefore further investigated. Where megaherbivores have been excluded, plant diversity decreases, but shifts in plant community structure are contingent upon the initial community composition, suggesting that herbivory might be important filter that drives the clustering pattern observed.