This thesis explores the potential for communities to become involved in efforts to develop ecologically sustainable societies. As the concept of community is often ill defined, this thesis explores traditional and interest-based ideas of community, and develops a conceptualization of a work-based community. The history and development of the Appalachian Trail is reviewed as an example of how private citizens can reshape unbuilt environments through physical work and dedication to a common goal. Through the work of maintaining a 2,100-mile hiking trail, trail managers come to share common experiences and goals, as well as developing relationships with people and places that make it possible to recognize these maintainers as a work-based community. The A.T. management community exemplifies the potential for communities to have substantive in efforts to develop more ecologically sustainable and socially equitable ways for humans to live, work, and play in built and unbuilt environments. / Master of Arts

A great deal of previous sociological research has examined the social contours of subcultures, focusing either on highly transient subcultures (e.g., among youth) or, conversely, stable institutionalized subcultures (e.g., among professionals). More recent scholarship has examined how leisure subcultures are formed and sustained around a particular interest or activity (e.g., windsurfing). However, little attention has been paid to the role of recreational settings (i.e., specific geographical locales) in the formation of leisure subcultures. Using the Appalachian Trail as a case study, I aim to fill that gap by examining a long-distance hiking subculture. I use ethnographic data collected from long-distance hikers on the Appalachian Trail to carry out the study. My investigation is guided by a subcultural perspective which allows me to identify and understand the sociality and social practices of a long-distance hiking subculture. Consequently, long-distance hikers can be identified and understood through (1) a negative relation to work, (2) a negative or ambivalent relation to class, (3) an association with territory, (4) non-domestic forms of belonging, (5) a range of excessive attributes, and (6) a refusal of the banalities of ordinary life. My qualitative analysis of long-distance hikers’ accounts and interactions permits me to explore how subcultural ideologies and practices are combined with a socially significant place to forge powerful emotional bonds among long-distance hikers and strong attachments to the Appalachian Trail.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of Educational Studies

Thesis (M.A.) in History--University of Maine, 2006. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-164).

No description available.

The current status of the Appalachian Trail in the Commonwealth of Virginia is presented, and the role that easements will play in promoting Virginia's efforts to protect the Trail is investigated. Various aspects of easements are analyzed, including approaches to the appraisal of easements, and the effect of easements on income and property taxes. In concluding, easements are compared with fee acquisition of recreational lands and purchase and lease back. Both positive and negative aspects of easements as reflected in the Virginia Appalachian Trail program are discussed. / M.S.

Rooted in a critical dialogue that endeavours to theorize experience in contrast to the colonial impetus, this dissertation explores the lived experience of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers. As a result of this disposition, the purpose of this dissertation is to expose the dynamics associated with colonized experiences and empirically research the lived experience of thru-hikers from an ecophenomenological perspective. The subsequent approach views the activities of the lived human body as the process through which the world comes into being. Building on Merleau-Pontian phenomenology, ecophenomenology provides the foundation of the experiential self, and thus underlies the representation of the trail environment as a sensuous field of human activity where one is merged with one's socio-ecological surroundings. Explication of empirical materials from 27 participant interviews resulted in a wide range of thru-hiking experiences representing the operative essence of Appalachian Trail thru-hiking. The operative essence was identified across 4 broad dimensions: Perseity, Sojourning, Kinship, and Wild Imbrication. Each dimension comprised a dialectic which emerged from interview excerpts both congruent with and in contrast to wilderness ideology. Further exploration of wilderness ideals resulted in thru-hikers negotiating tensions related to ideological wilderness meanings and their own actual thru-hiking experiences. This negotiation allowed a broader conception of wilderness to be illustrated as a continuum of meaningful experiences. In addition, ecoliteracy emerged as an experientially driven learning process whereby thru-hikers negotiate alternative meanings of wilderness with ideological meanings. The implications for experiential and wilderness related research along with management concerns are discussed.

Rooted in a critical dialogue that endeavours to theorize experience in contrast to the colonial impetus, this dissertation explores the lived experience of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers. As a result of this disposition, the purpose of this dissertation is to expose the dynamics associated with colonized experiences and empirically research the lived experience of thru-hikers from an ecophenomenological perspective. The subsequent approach views the activities of the lived human body as the process through which the world comes into being. Building on Merleau-Pontian phenomenology, ecophenomenology provides the foundation of the experiential self, and thus underlies the representation of the trail environment as a sensuous field of human activity where one is merged with one's socio-ecological surroundings. Explication of empirical materials from 27 participant interviews resulted in a wide range of thru-hiking experiences representing the operative essence of Appalachian Trail thru-hiking. The operative essence was identified across 4 broad dimensions: Perseity, Sojourning, Kinship, and Wild Imbrication. Each dimension comprised a dialectic which emerged from interview excerpts both congruent with and in contrast to wilderness ideology. Further exploration of wilderness ideals resulted in thru-hikers negotiating tensions related to ideological wilderness meanings and their own actual thru-hiking experiences. This negotiation allowed a broader conception of wilderness to be illustrated as a continuum of meaningful experiences. In addition, ecoliteracy emerged as an experientially driven learning process whereby thru-hikers negotiate alternative meanings of wilderness with ideological meanings. The implications for experiential and wilderness related research along with management concerns are discussed.

This focused ethnography of Appalachian Trail (AT) long-distance hikers explored the situated and informal nature of individual knowledge construction as mediated through a community of practice. Unlike place-based or cyber-bound communities, the ever-changing membership and location dynamics of AT hikers offered a unique and researchable community for study. The complex and understudied sensemaking trajectories of individuals moving through this mobile community were investigated over three years through in-depth interviews and participant observations. Inductive analysis of expert and novice stories illuminated experiential patterns and collective traditions that comprise the AT learning culture. In contrast to traditional approaches to knowledge and skill acquisition, this study found socio-reflective exchanges, nested in hiking pods, to be critical sites for cognitive modeling and informal scaffolding between experts and novices. The situated encounters and developmental support of these nomadic pods were found to facilitate individuals' construction of community-based knowledge. / Ph. D.

Globally, wind power is leading the renewable energy revolution. While carbon neutral and cost-effective, wind energy infrastructure is immobile and has the potential to profoundly change land use and the visible landscape. As wind technology takes its place as a key contributor to the US energy grid, it becomes clear that these types of projects will come into greater contact with areas occupied by humans, and eventually with wilderness and other more natural areas. This increased visibility and close proximity necessitates the development of future wind farm sites that afford opportunities for auxiliary uses while maintaining their intrinsic value as energy producers. In short, it is important for wind farms to be versatile because land is a finite resource and because over time, increasing numbers of these sites will occupy our landscapes. In the Eastern US, the majority of onshore wind resources suitable for energy development are found along ridge lines in the Appalachian mountains. These mountains are ancient focal points in the landscape, and subsequently host myriad sites of historic, recreational, and scenic significance. In the future, these windswept ridges will likely become targets for wind energy development. This thesis demonstrates a methodology for the thoughtful siting and design of future wind projects in the Appalachian mountains. Opportunities for offsite views, diversified trail experiences, and planned timber harvests are realized by locating a seven-turbine wind park adjacent to the Appalachian Trail in Cherokee National Forest in Carter county, Tennessee. The proposed wind park demonstrates the sound possibility of thoughtfully integrating wind infrastructure along Appalachian ridges in conjunction with forestry and recreation opportunities, such as hiking and camping. The design is a wind park rather than a wind farm because in addition to its inherent function as a production landscape, it is also a place that is open to the general public for recreational use. / Master of Landscape Architecture / Wind power is among the fastest-growing renewable energy resources on the planet. While clean and cost-effective, wind turbines are immobile in the landscape and require large areas of land in order to function properly. Due to the vertical nature of wind turbines, much of the land within wind project boundaries is left unused. As more wind farms are built, they will begin to come into greater contact with areas where humans live and also with more natural areas. In order for this growth to occur responsibly, future wind farm sites should be planned to take advantage of the leftover ground within their boundaries. Incorporating other types of use into wind projects is important because unlike the wind, land is not an unlimited resource. On-shore in the Eastern U.S., the windiest places are the ridge lines in the Appalachian Mountains. In the future these mountains could become targets for wind energy development, which is problematic because they are significant for their environmental, cultural, and recreational values. This thesis provides a method for the thoughtful siting and design of future wind farms in the Appalachian mountains by locating a seven-turbine wind park next to the Appalachian Trail in Carter County, Tennessee. The design shows that it is possible to thoughtfully combine wind energy with other uses like forestry, natural resource conservation, and various types of recreation along Appalachian ridges. The design is a wind park rather than a wind farm because in addition to its basic function as a production facility, it is also a place that is open to the general public for recreational use.