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This thesis traces the acquisition and potential applications of 35 mm aerial photography as a tool in helping to make decisions in the allocation of land to forest recreation. The advantages of the 35 mm aerial system, including its versatility, simplicity, applicability, and relatively low cost, were tested and applied to the field of forest and wildland recreation. Dealing first with the technology and equipment available, methods of acquiring the imagery were investigated, experimented with, and adopted. Then, working with the results of eleven hours of flying time, photogrammetric and photointerpretive techniques were applied to the reflected attributes of the physiographic, edaphic, hydrologic, and vegetative environments. In addition, the use of the system was investigated for recording recreational use on existing sites. The 35 mm aerial system can help identify those attributes of the land important to forest recreation. In addition it has benefit in the closely related fields of archaeology, protection, and wildlife and in evaluating hazard potential. Used in conjunction with either the small scale imagery soon becoming available through the Earth Resources Technology Satellite Program or existing air photos, the 35 mm system can accurately capture and monitor changes in the natural and artificial environments at a relatively low cost and assist the forest manager in decisions relating to the allocation of forest land to recreational use. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

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The purpose of this study was to field test a portion of the recreation quality theory: a conceptual framework which seeks to provide insight into the behavior of outdoor recreationists. Specifically, the inverse relationship of two variables which may affect the quality of outdoor recreation was examined. These were the force of motivation and the psychological distance to the user's destination in a recreation environment. Time spent hiking to the destination was considered a function of force, and physical distance was considered a function of the psychological distance to the destination. It was hypothesized that people who were able to accurately determine the distance remaining to the destination, as they were hiking along the trail, would arrive sooner than those who could not accurately determine the distance remaining to the destination. A map was used to provide users with information about· distances. The hiking times for 109 visitor groups at the Cascades Nature Trail in the Jefferson National Forest, Virginia were unobtrusively recorded between September 26 and November 7, 1976. Differences between the hiking times of groups were analyzed by means of Wilcoxon's Rank Sum Test, the Ansari-Bradley Dispersion Test, and the Moses Dispersion Test. The effects of changing environmental conditions were assessed by means of the Kruskal-Wallis Test for Multiple Comparisons, as well as by Wilcoxon's Rank Sum Test. This study provided evidence that supports the hypothesis proposed in the recreation quality theory, that an inverse relationship exists between the force of motivation and the psychological distance to a goal in a forested recreation environment. / Master of Science

Nonprofit, volunteer organizations assist government agencies in managing the recreational resources of public lands in many parts of the Eastern United States. With a depressed economy, the role these organizations take can be particularly important in the continuing provision of quality outdoor recreation experiences. This study examines the contributions of five nonprofit groups in the East, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Green Mountain Club, Adirondack Mountain Club, Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, and the Appalachian Trail Conference, and their cooperative relationships with, respectively, the White Mountain National Forest, Green Mountain National Forest, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Shenandoah National Park, and the Appalachian Trail Project Office (National Park Service). Interviews with key members of the agencies and the nonprofit groups provided most of the information on club activities and the advantages, problems, and constraints of cooperative relationships from the point of view of each party. Legislation and policy affecting nonprofit involvement on public lands is discussed as well as the prospects of future involvement of these groups. / Master of Science

Outdoor recreation on national forests near large urban centers is changing and diversifying as users of many ethnic and racial backgrounds increasingly choose urban-proximate forests as recreation sites. These changes are particularly evident on the national forests of Southern California where large numbers of individuals of Hispanic origins are utilizing dispersed, relatively undeveloped sites for day-use recreation activities including picnicking, barbecuing, and swimming. This usage is the focus of the study. Previous studies of outdoor recreation participation have treated ethnic group membership as a unidimensional, categorical variable. Using a social structural model, this study more fully explores inter- and intra-ethnic differences by examining the role of ancestry, generational status, and acculturation in influencing recreation experiences. Additionally, the study attempts a more holistic exploration of recreation experiences, including their meaning and significance as a way of more fully understanding the experience from the visitor's point of view. The study uses a combination of quantitative (on-site, self-administered surveys) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews and observations) methods to accomplish these objectives. From the results of the study it appears that Hispanic visitors to the study sites vary in terms of their structural characteristics. Certain forest sites are visited primarily by relatively unacculturated immigrants to the United States, with few Anglos or more acculturated Hispanic present. Other areas are composed of more acculturated individuals of longer generational tenure. In addition to structural variation in the study site's Hispanic visitors, there is also variation in meanings and preferences related to the recreation experience. Among the variables examined were past use history, social group composition, primary reason for the visit, what respecting the forest means, and place attachment. The largest differences among the study's respondents in the above questions were found between those of Anglo and Central American descent. Among the study's findings are that those of Anglo descent come to the sites more frequently and had been doing so for a longer time, are in smaller groups, and are less attached to the sites than those of Hispanic descent. Considerable structural differences between the two primarily Hispanic ancestral groups were revealed. The Central American response group contained more individuals born outside the United States and of lower acculturation levels. Hispanic participants born outside the United States were more dissimilar to Anglos in their responses to the questions related to recreation experiences than those born in the United States. / M.S.

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This creative project examined design and management alternatives for the Hardin Ridge Recreation Area located in the Hoosier National Forest. The design intent of the project was to develop Hardin Ridge into a wildland recreation facility which offered visitors a variety of experiential opportunity and choice, and provided experiences which could effectively accommodate a demographically diversified population. This project would also provide environmental educational opportunities and attempt to retain the integrity of the sites natural systems. An examination of the importance and benefits of outdoor recreation, National Forest Service recreational planning, outdoor recreation demographic diversity and outdoor recreation design issues was conducted in formulating the projects design criteria and theory. This design criteria and theory was then utilized to create the design concepts directly applicable to the Hardin Ridge project site and develop a design ideology applicable to most U.S. wilderness recreation areas. The final product of the study was a design and management plan which effectively addressed the design objectives at Hardin Ridge and created a design model capable of meeting similar design objectives at the national level. / Department of Landscape Architecture

This study was designed to capture the complexity of man-to-forest relationships in the endangered, world-renowned tropical rain forests of the Congo Basin in Africa. Their biological complexity and integrity have been challenged by human development and new knowledge is urgently needed to save these forests and the people dependent on them. The scope of the study was enormous because of the complexity of the resource, the diversity of forest-dependent people and actors. The major benefit of this research was in accessing and exposing new and quantitative information in remote settlements of the region by applying innovative methodologies and analytical techniques. These included: 1. The definition of forest-dependency based on detailed annual inventories of sources of households’ incomes, their statistical ranking and interpretation with logistic regressions, and the Kuznets ratio and Gini coefficients as introduced by the World Bank; 2. critical appraisal of the international parks in the region based on auto-financing principles and tested with contingent valuation and tax maximization techniques, such as Laffer’s curves, and leading to the development of new conservation models of financial self-sufficiency and a new formula for practical park management; 3. the critique of poaching by explaining and exposing food insecurities, especially deficient supplies of animal protein and associated malnutrition among the rural poor; 4. assessment of housing inadequacy among forest dwellers and its impact on forest regeneration and resources; 5. clarification of the impacts of timber logging by accessing detailed unpublished information from timber companies; 6. the introduction of survey-based valuation techniques as essential prerequisites to policy formulation and the sustainable management of forests; 7. proposing a flow chart that embraced the resources and stakeholders through the flow of market values and services for further exploration. Contrary to traditional beliefs; the results showed that both poor and wealthy households are equally dependent on forest resources for their livelihoods with no significant difference in consumed forest products between the 25% higher income earners and the 25% lower income households. Forests contribute over 57% of wage income in the region and forest-derived income is of a higher total value than any other source, including agriculture. Among forest foods, wild fruit and bushmeat are by far the most important. Therefore, the clearing of forests for agriculture or instituting conservation policies that completely keep local people away from forests will result in constrained access to resources of immense importance to local livelihoods. However, the findings contradict the commonly propagated views that timber harvesting in the region is directly responsible for deforestation, the loss of forest structure and biodiversity. It was shown that the harvesting of saplings and poles for housing may endanger forest regeneration and species composition of forests neighbouring the villages. The desired financing of national parks should be through internally generated revenues, requiring deliberate investments in facilities and infrastructure. The necessity to satisfy the basic needs of the forest-dependent people remains urgent. The complexity of man-to-forest relationships is beyond one study and needs to be further expanded on, in our quest to sustainable forest management based on participatory principles. Such management needs to provide for and be supported by various stakeholders including the local communities, state agencies, donors, NGOs, and commercial conglomerates. Moreover, the need to understand forest values beyond market principles is required in order to translate the concept of sustainable forest management from a theoretical concept in the Congo Basin to one that can reduce conflicts, deforestation, poverty and famine.