As an applied approach to recreation management, adaptive management allows researchers and protected area managers to cooperatively improve management policies, and achieve the dual mandate to protect natural resources and provide high-quality recreational experiences. Through an evaluation of the efficacy of campsite and campfire management policies, this research provides land managers with an empirical assessment to aid in the adaptation and improvement of their visitor management strategies. Results from the Shenandoah National Park camping management study suggest that an established camping visitor containment strategy succeeded in reducing the areal extent of camping impacts while minimizing restrictions on visitor campsite selection options. Findings from the campfire research in seven protected areas indicate that current campfire policies have been largely ineffectual at reducing resource damage, and may exact a heavy toll in visitor experiences via campfire restrictions. The incorporation of resource and social research in this research offers a holistic approach to the evaluation of management objectives and affords protected area managers a more balanced perspective on the assessment of their policies. The conclusions reached by this integrated research will provide land managers with germane and timely information that will allow them to adapt their policies to better achieve their recreation management objectives. / Master of Science

<p>Forest management involves numerous stochastic elements. To sustainably manage forest resources, it is crucial to acknowledge these sources as uncertainty or risk, and incorporate them in adaptive decision-making. Here, I developed several stochastic programming models in the form of passive or active adaptive management for natural mixed-species hardwood forests in Indiana. I demonstrated how to use these tools to deal with time-invariant and time-variant natural disturbances in optimal planning of harvests.</p> <p> Markov decision process (MDP) models were first constructed based upon stochastic simulations of an empirical forest growth model for the forest type of interest. Then, they were optimized to seek the optimal or near-optimal harvesting decisions while considering risk and uncertainty in natural disturbances. In particular, a classic expected-criterion infinite-horizon MDP model was first used as a passive adaptive management tool to determine the optimal action for a specific forest state when the probabilities of forest transition remained constant over time. Next, a two-stage non-stationary MDP model combined with a rolling-horizon heuristic was developed, which allowed information update and then adjustments of decisions accordingly. It was used to determine active adaptive harvesting decisions for a three-decade planning horizon during which natural disturbance probabilities may be altered by climate change.</p> <p> The empirical results can be used to make some useful quantitative management recommendations, and shed light on the impacts of decision-making on the forests and timber yield when some stochastic elements in forest management changed. In general, the increase in the likelihood of damages by natural disturbance to forests would cause more aggressive decisions if timber production was the management objective. When windthrow did not pose a threat to mixed hardwood forests, the average optimal yield of sawtimber was estimated to be 1,376 ft³/ac/acre, while the residual basal area was 88 ft²/ac. Assuming a 10 percent per decade probability of windthrow that would reduce the stand basal area considerably, the optimal sawtimber yield per decade would decline by 17%, but the residual basal area would be lowered only by 5%. Assuming that the frequency of windthrow increased in the magnitude of 5% every decade under climate change, the average sawtimber yield would be reduced by 31%, with an average residual basal area slightly around 76 ft²/ac. For validation purpose, I compared the total sawtimber yield in three decades obtained from the heuristic approach to that of a three-decade MDP model making <i>ex post</i> decisions. The heuristic approach was proved to provide a satisfactory result which was only about 18% lower than the actual optimum.</p> These findings highlight the need for landowners, both private and public, to monitor forests frequently and use flexible planning approaches in order to anticipate for climate change impacts. They also suggest that climate change may considerably lower sawtimber yield, causing a concerning decline in the timber supply in Indiana. Future improvements of the approaches used here are recommended, including addressing the changing stumpage market condition and developing a more flexible rolling-horizon heuristic approach.

Thesis (MScConEcol)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Reductionism, an approach to understanding complex systems based on reducing the system to its individual components and the interactions between these components, is the linear and rigid approach to traditional management and research that allows us to understand complicated systems. Yet its application to complex systems has likely added to the degradation of social-ecological systems. In recognition of this, there is currently a shift to holism: the concept that a system is greater than the sum of its components and that the system has emergent properties that are only present through the complex interactions of the whole system. The inclusion of this natural complexity within social-ecological systems is thought to promote resilience – the ability of a system to absorb shock and thus promote sustainability. However, these concepts are largely theoretical and few examples exist that demonstrate ways of transferring them to pragmatic land management. Holistic ManagementTM (HM) could potentially be such a working example. It is a decision-making framework that provides a holistic context for the adaptive management of natural resources. However, limited peer-reviewed research has been applied to this potential to promote sustainability. Thus the current study aimed to address this apparent gap by determining if HM land managers were a distinct group from non-HM (NHM) land managers in regards to their management practices and if HM land managers had a greater adaptive capacity (the management of resilience) than non-HM land managers. The study was conducted in a community of livestock farmers in the arid rangelands of the Karoo, South Africa. Data were mainly gathered through face-to-face interviews with land managers – including 20 self-defined HM land managers and 20 self-defined NHM land managers. To compare the reported management approaches of land managers, two scoring systems were developed. The HM Adoption Index measured the extent to which participants were aligned with key principles and practices of HM (including having a holistic goal, testing decisions, applying the Holistic Planned Grazing, demonstrating continuous learning and innovation). The Adaptive Capacity Index measured the extent to which participants demonstrated key traits of adaptive capacity as identified from the literature. In addition, participants were also asked to describe the strategies they apply to deal with local livestock farming challenges including parasite control, predation management and drought management. A significant difference was found between HM and NHM land managers for both the HM Adoption Index and Adaptive Capacity Index (p<0.01). The majority of HM land managers adopted ―true holistic and ―adaptive management practices (80%) while NHM land managers were mostly ―semi holistic and ―coping (65%). HM land managers also notably tended to report more innovative and environmentally aware methods in dealing with farming challenges and were more likely to be part of study groups which build social capital and promote social learning. Results imply that HM provides a framework that introduces holistic principles to land management, making the holistic context and resilience accessible to individual managers for practical day-to-day decision-making. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Reduksie, 'n benadering om komplekse sisteme te verstaan deur om die sisteme te besnoei tot sy individuele komponente en interaksies tussen die komponente, is die liniêre en rigiede benadering tot tradisionele bestuur en navorsing. Dit laat ons toe om komplekse sisteme te verstaan. Tog het die toepassing van reduksie op komplekse sisteme waarskynlik bygedra tot die degradasie van sosiaal-ekologiese sisteme. In herkenning van laasgenoemde is daar tans 'n skuif na holisme: die konsep dat 'n sisteem groter is as die somtotaal van al sy komponente en dat die sisteem voortkomende eienskappe het wat net navorekom deur die komplekse interaksies van die sisteem. Die insluiting van die natuurlike kompleksiteit binne sosiaal-ekologiese sisteme bevorder moontlik weerstandigheid; die vermoë van 'n sisteem om 'n skok te absorbeer en so volhoubaarheid te bevorder. Hierdie konsepte is egter meestal teoreties en min voorbeelde bestaan wat metodes demonstreer om die konsepte oor te dra na pragmatiese grondbestuur. Holistiese BestuurTM (HB) kan moontlik so 'n werkende voorbeeld wees. Dit is 'n raamwerk vir besluitvorming wat 'n holistiese konteks verskaf vir die aanpasbare bestuur van natuurlike hulpbronne. Daar is min eweknie-hersiende navorsing wat HB se potensiaal om volhoubaarheid te bevorder ondersoek. Dus het die huidige studie beoog om die gaping aan te spreek deur te bepaal of HB praktiseerders onderskei kan word van 'n groep van nie-HB (NHB) praktiseerders in terme van bestuurspraktyke en of HB praktiseerders 'n groter aanpasbaarheid (die bestuur van weerstandigheid) toon as NHB praktiseerders. Die studie het plaasgevind in 'n gemeenskap van veeboere in die dorre veld van die Karoo, Suid Afrika. Data was versamel deur aangesig tot aangesig onderhoude met grondbestuurders; 20 self-geïdentifiseerde HB praktiseerders en 20 self-geïdentifiseerde NHB praktiseerders. Twee puntestelsels is ontwikkel om die gerapporteerde benaderings van grondbestuurders te vergelyk. Die HB Toepassing Puntelys het gemeet tot watter mate 'n deelnemer inskakel met die kern beginsels van HB (insluitend om 'n holistiese doelwit te hê, om besluite te toets, om Holistiese Beplande BewydingTM toe te pas en om 'n voortsetting van leer en innovasie te demonstreer). Die Aanpasbaarheid Puntelys het gemeet tot watter mate 'n deelnemer die kern kenmerke van aanpasbaarheid, soos geïdentifiseer in literatuur, demonstreer. Bykomend was deelnemers ook gevra om die strategieë te beskryf wat hulle toepas om die uitdagings van plaaslike veeboerdery tegemoed te kom insluitend die beheer van parasiete, die bestuur van roofdiere en die bestuur tydens droogtes. 'n Betekenisvolle verskil was gevind tussen HB en NHB praktiseerders vir die HB Toepassing Puntelys en die Aanpasbaarheid Puntelys (p<0.01). Die meederheid van HB praktiseerders het ―ware holistiese en ―aanpasbare praktyke toegepas (80%) terwyl NHB praktiseerders se metodes meestal ―semi-holisties en ―korttermyn probleem hantering was (65%). HB praktiseerders het ook 'n waarneembare neiging gehad om innoverende en omgewingsbewuste metodes te rapporteer in verband met veeboerdery uitdagings en was meer waarskynlik deel van 'n studie groep wat sosiale kapitaal gebou en sosiale leer bevorder het. Die resultate het aangedui dat HB 'n raamwerk voorsien wat holistiese beginsels oordra na grondbestuur en so die holistiese konteks en weerstandigheid toeganklik maak vir die individuele bestuurder vir daaglikse praktiese besluitneming en toepassing.

Policy-makers, project planners and development organisations are becoming convinced that the failure of the new socio-ecologically sensitive strategies co-opted by 'professional' forestry could be better addressed by indigenous forestry. They believe that indigenous forestry might assist with the development of successful forestry projects that are ecologically sustainable and socio-politically equitable. In order, however, to learn from indigenous forestry systems, the acculturation of foresters in the vernacular culture of the forest users appears to be an essential process for understanding and intervening in a local forest management complex. Acculturation entails not only more attention to the immaterial cultural realm, but an understanding of multiple resource stewardship, local ways of knowing and perceiving, local forest values and 'practices of care'. While acknowledging the significance of the politics of knowledge and political ecology this study examines resource stewardship from an alternative neglected angle that of knowledge sustainability and synergistic bridging. It will examine in general modes of knowing and bridging between 'formal' and indigenous forestry knowledge, and in particular the identification of forest value paradigms that are evidently exemplars of bio-cultural sustainability. The main outcomes of this study include the cognitive mapping of forest values among 'Tibetan minority nationalities' in Eastern Kham, their spatial distribution and the coincidence of changes in forest values with cultural or biophysical phenomena. Conceptually this study relies heavily on knowledge-system, hypertext, and paradigm theory and a critique of the narratives of John Locke. The former provide a platform to compare and contrast alternative knowledge systems and a means of synergistic bridging between them and the latter encapsulates a trajectory of western knowledge often known as modernity. The quantitative methods employed in this study included text analysis for forest value identification, multidimensional scaling for the cognitive mapping of forest values, spatial analysis and kriging for forest value distribution, and boundary or wombling analysis for changes in forest values and their coincidence with cultural or biophysical phenomena. The latter four methods are groundbreaking in that they have never been used to study forest values before. The study concludes that there is compelling evidence suggesting homogeneity in forest values with up to 5 geospatial paradigms and up to 12 cognitive paradigms. The findings, especially close correlation between forest values and ethnolinguistics, provide a potential template for foresters to develop multiple models of natural resource or biodiversity stewardship based on local forest values. In terms of the wider application, indigenous knowledge cannot seemingly be sustained if it is integrated with or into western knowledge systems due to the lack of conceptual frameworks for cross-cultural epistemological or psychological integration. Coalescing under the rubric of post-modernism, however, we do find a number of complimentary trajectories, which seemingly provide space for knowledge equity, sustainability and bridging. These trajectories include hypertext theory, paradigm theory, abductive logic, adaptive management, ecospiritual paradigms, and post-modern forestry paradigms. These trajectories and findings offer planners globally a means for synergistic bridging between local and non-local knowledge systems on the road to sustainable forestry and biodiversity stewardship.

Os ecossistemas campestres que caracterizam os Campos Sulinos contêm alta biodiversidade e a sua manutenção está associada aos regimes de distúrbio como o fogo e o pastejo. Apesar de sua ampla contribuição social, nas últimas décadas esses ecossistemas têm sido substituídos por lavouras anuais e silvicultura, em razão de uma suposta vantagem econômica em relação à pecuária. Portanto, urge a consolidação de estratégias de manejo que conciliem a manutenção da diversidade biológica, dos processos ecossistêmicos e dos serviços ecológicos, com a viabilidade econômica aos produtores. Neste sentido, esta tese pretende colaborar com a concepção de estratégias de manejo para distintas formações dos Campos Sulinos. No Capítulo 1 discutimos a perspectiva de manejo adaptativo para a conservação de mosaicos de campos e florestas, propondo alternativas para serem testadas. Os Capítulos 2 e 3 abordam respostas das comunidades de plantas às três estratégias de manejo implementadas em um experimento conduzido em Aceguá/RS. No Capítulo 2 tratamos das mudanças na diversidade funcional e na estratégia de utilização dos recursos pelas plantas em resposta às estratégias de manejo. Em três escalas espaciais estudadas houve efeitos significativos dos diferentes manejos avaliados, incluindo o tratamento controle definido pelo manejo adotado na propriedade. No Capítulo 3 tratamos do efeito da roseta espinhenta Eryngium horridum sobre as comunidades de plantas, em resposta a um gradiente de altura da vegetação e aos dois sistemas de manejo conservativos implementados. Mesmo em uma pequena escala de tempo, neste estudo tivemos uma amostra da produção secundária dos campos de solos profundos e das respostas das comunidades de plantas às diferentes estratégias manejo aplicadas. / The Southern Brazil grassland ecosystems (Campos) contain high biodiversity and their maintenance is related to disturbance regimes as fire and grazing. Despite their contribution to society, in the last decades these ecosystems have been converted to crops and tree plantations due to the alleged economic advantage compared to livestock farming on the native grasslands. Therefore, it is urgent to consolidate management strategies that could combine the maintenance of biological diversity, ecosystem processes and ecological services, with economically viable livestock farming. In this sense, this thesis intends to collaborate with the design of management strategies for distinct grassland formations of the South Brazilian Campos. In Chapter 1 we discuss the concept of adaptive management as applied to grassland/forest mosaics that characterize southern Brazil formations, and propose management options to be tested. In Chapters 2 and 3 we refer to the responses of plant communities to three grazing management treatments implemented in an experiment conducted in Aceguá/RS. In Chapter 2 we investigated changes in plant functional diversity and resource use strategies in response to three grazing managements. At the three studied spatial scales we found differences between rotational grazing and the management used in farm. Finally, in the chapter 3 we study the effect of thorny rosette Eryngium horridum in plant communities, in response to the vegetation height gradient and the two conservative grazing managements. Even in a short time, in this work we verify the first results of the secondary production and the responses of plant communities to the applied management strategies.

Protection of water resources in a changing climate depends on bottom-up stewardship and adaptive management. From the ground up, a vital component is maintaining soil ecosystem services that regulate water, recycle nutrients, sequester carbon, provide food, and other benefits. Interacting spatial, social, and physical factors determine agricultural and stormwater management, and their impact on water. This dissertation explores these dimensions within a complex social-ecological system. The first chapter evaluates a participatory process to elicit solutions to complex environmental problems across science, policy, and practice. The second chapter studies on-farm soil assessment and its role in informing management decisions and supporting adaptive capacity. The third chapter investigates cross-scale dynamics of residential green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) for improved water resource management in a broader social-ecological context. Integrating participant feedback into current science, research, and decision-making processes is an important challenge. A novel approach that combines a Delphi method with contemporary “crowdsourcing” to address water pollution in Lake Champlain Basin in the context of climate change is presented. Fifty-three participants proposed and commented on adaptive solutions in an online Delphi that occurred over a six-week period during the Spring of 2014. In a follow-up Multi-Stakeholder workshop, thirty-eight stakeholders participated in refining and synthesizing the forum’s results. The stakeholders’ interventions from the crowdsourcing forum have contributed to the current policy dialogue in Vermont to address phosphorus loading to Lake Champlain. This stakeholder approach strengthens traditional modeling scenario development to include priorities that have been collectively refined and vetted. Healthy agricultural soils cannot easily be prescribed to farms and require knowledge and a long-term commitment to a holistic and adaptive approach. The second chapter addresses the questions: “to what extent do farmers use indicators of soil health, and does feedback inform management decisions?” A survey of farmers in two Vermont watersheds was conducted in 2016 showed relatively high use of fourteen soil indicators and high rankings of their importance. The finding that there were differences in use and perceived importance of soil indicators across management and land-use types has implications beyond the farm scale for agriculture, and the provision of ecosystem services. Soil management relates to broader adaptation strategies including resistance, resilience, and transformation that affects adaptive capacity of agroecosystems. Bottom-up adoption of environmental behaviors, such as implementing residential GSI, need to be understood in the context of the broader social-ecological landscape to understand implications for improved water management. A statewide survey of Vermont residents paired a cross-scale and spatial analysis to evaluate how intention to adopt three different GSI practices (infiltration trenches, diversion of roof runoff, and rain gardens) varies with barriers to adoption and household attributes across varying stormwater contexts from the household to watershed scale. Improved stormwater management outcomes at the watershed and local levels depend on management strategies that can be implemented and adapted along the rural-urban gradient, across the bio-physical landscape, and according to varying norms and institutional arrangements.

This research seeks to understand how wetlands maintain a water supply in the Bear River Basin, where water is generally scarce. Research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with wetland and water experts in the basin and archival research of historical documents and water rights. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages three refuges on the Bear River, and has obtained water rights portfolios for each. Holding water rights does not ensure that there will be water available for refuge wetlands. Instead, position in relation to other powerful water users is the most important factor in determining the security of a refuge's water supply and the threats faced from drought. All refuges must manage their water because the human-hydrology of the river is complex and variable; this requires a combination of infrastructure and planning. Maintaining relationships with other water users is another important adaptation to the human-hydrology of the river, because all water users along the river are interconnected. Recognizing that they face the same threats to their water supply allows wetland managers and irrigators to cooperate in order to maintain the water supply for their region of the river and increases adaptability as the region faces climate change. The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is the oldest refuge on the river and has the least secure water supply, despite having the largest water rights portfolio. Because it is chronically short of water during the summer, refuge staff have developed an adaptive management strategy to effectively utilize the water they do receive. Management involves predicting water supplies each year, setting water level targets accordingly, actively diverting water to priority wetlands, and allowing non-priority wetland to dry. This is followed by extensive monitoring of habitat conditions and bird use, the results of which are shared in annual management plans. This strategy maintains the most wildlife habitat possible and offers important institutional adaptations. Most importantly, it demonstrates the refuge's water rights are being put to beneficial use. Sharing knowledge gained through management also builds trust and adaptive capacity among water users facing the complex human-hydrology at the end of the Bear River.

<p>The Swedish government has set up 16 environmental goals for Sweden to achieve. One of</p><p>them is “Living forests”, which is the foundation for the “National strategy for the formal</p><p>protection of forests”. The “National strategy” puts the private forest owner at the centre of</p><p>attention in order to achieve the environmental goal “Living forests”. Adaptive Management</p><p>could help with the implementation of the “National strategy”. 9 qualitative interviews have</p><p>been done in order to examine how the communication between private forest owners and</p><p>responsible authorities works. The interviews give the private forest owners’ perspective, and</p><p>what they want the communication to be like, when it comes to conservation biology.</p><p>Communication, language, and how to deal with conservation biology have been the main</p><p>issues brought up during the interviews. The private forest owners also demand more</p><p>flexibility and a keener ear from responsible authorities. The private forest owners would like</p><p>a better knowledge of what is happening when it comes to conservation biology on their land.</p><p>The private forest owners and the responsible authorities do have similar goals for what they</p><p>want to achieve with the forest, but they disagree on how to achieve that goal.</p>

This research investigates the application of an adaptive ecosystem approach to the problem of the Cooum River and environs in Chennai (formerly Madras), India. The Cooum River is an extremely polluted urban stream that flows into the Bay of Bengal through the heart of Chennai, India's fourth largest metropolis. During the dry (non-monsoon) season, the upper reaches of the river are dry and flow in the river may be attributed primarily to the production of sewage by the city's population. The river is essentially a foul-smelling open sewer. Complexity of the problem is due as much to human factors (population growth, poverty, uncontrolled urban development, jurisdictional conflicts, modes of behaviour of the citizenry, and institutional culture) as to physical characteristics of the system (flat topography, tidal action, blockage of the river mouth by sand bar formation, and monsoon flooding). Uncertainty in the situation is both structural (regarding main processes and activities in the system and the nature of relationships among the various actors and elements), and parametric (having to do with scarcity, poor quality and restricted access to data). This work has drawn upon methods and techniques of Adaptive Environmental Management and Soft Systems Methodology to operate the ecosystem approach and address the problem. Specifically, this has involved a series of workshops which have brought together planners, researchers, NGOs, and other stakeholders in a participatory process oriented toward problem definition, system identification and conceptualization, determination of objectives for management, and the generation and exploration of management interventions. In addition, a central component of the program has been the development of a loosely-coupled GIS, environmental simulation model, and a decision support module. This is based upon a framework provided by participants in the first workshop in the series, and operationalizes a common understanding of the system. In addition to generating new insight into the nature of the problem situation, the research has provided a potentially useful tool to planners, managers and researchers in Chennai in the form of a GIS database and decision support system (DSS). Aside from the tool itself, it was found that the process of developing a conceptual model, and attempting to represent this in the DSS has made a significant contribution to understanding of the Cooum system. In particular, this process forced assumptions to be stated explicitly and publically, highlighted areas of uncertainty and led to new understanding in participants' conception of the problem situation. The program of research also provided a much needed forum for open debate and exchange of information which was removed from the restrictive institutional culture of government departments.

This research investigates the application of an adaptive ecosystem approach to the problem of the Cooum River and environs in Chennai (formerly Madras), India. The Cooum River is an extremely polluted urban stream that flows into the Bay of Bengal through the heart of Chennai, India's fourth largest metropolis. During the dry (non-monsoon) season, the upper reaches of the river are dry and flow in the river may be attributed primarily to the production of sewage by the city's population. The river is essentially a foul-smelling open sewer. Complexity of the problem is due as much to human factors (population growth, poverty, uncontrolled urban development, jurisdictional conflicts, modes of behaviour of the citizenry, and institutional culture) as to physical characteristics of the system (flat topography, tidal action, blockage of the river mouth by sand bar formation, and monsoon flooding). Uncertainty in the situation is both structural (regarding main processes and activities in the system and the nature of relationships among the various actors and elements), and parametric (having to do with scarcity, poor quality and restricted access to data). This work has drawn upon methods and techniques of Adaptive Environmental Management and Soft Systems Methodology to operate the ecosystem approach and address the problem. Specifically, this has involved a series of workshops which have brought together planners, researchers, NGOs, and other stakeholders in a participatory process oriented toward problem definition, system identification and conceptualization, determination of objectives for management, and the generation and exploration of management interventions. In addition, a central component of the program has been the development of a loosely-coupled GIS, environmental simulation model, and a decision support module. This is based upon a framework provided by participants in the first workshop in the series, and operationalizes a common understanding of the system. In addition to generating new insight into the nature of the problem situation, the research has provided a potentially useful tool to planners, managers and researchers in Chennai in the form of a GIS database and decision support system (DSS). Aside from the tool itself, it was found that the process of developing a conceptual model, and attempting to represent this in the DSS has made a significant contribution to understanding of the Cooum system. In particular, this process forced assumptions to be stated explicitly and publically, highlighted areas of uncertainty and led to new understanding in participants' conception of the problem situation. The program of research also provided a much needed forum for open debate and exchange of information which was removed from the restrictive institutional culture of government departments.