<p>This research combines the economic contribution analysis of hardwood industries in Indiana and the economic impact analysis of furbearer hunting and trapping in Indiana. This research employs input-output analysis using Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN) software. </p>

Our thesis project consists of three architectural interventions: The Mushroom, The Gnat and The Snake, fitting into a vision of a Swedish forest managed in a more sustainable way. A future in which the practice of clear-felling has been abandoned in favor of alternative methods falling under the umbrella term Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF). As the biological aspects of forestry is not our area of expertise, we have investigated what this reorganization at large would mean for the Swedish landscape, economy and society. Where it becomes a question for architecture. When the timber industry looses its hegemony over the forest, the forest becomes available to different uses. For life and recreation, and for the production of forest goods other than timber, such as wild game meat, berries, and mushrooms. These activities are able to take place within the same space as forestry, thereby overcoming the spatial separation of functions we see today. Our interventions work by docking onto different points of today’s logistics flow, in order to later replace them. They take into account more of the different values and users of the forest which we have identified. The project follows the flow of goods from the forest as they make their way towards the larger markets. The Mushroom is an outpost in the middle of the productive forest which supplies the surrounding area with the necessary infrastructure in order to extract goods from it, doubling as a recreational dwelling. One of these can be placed every 30 km. The Gnat is a tower structure containing multiple different functions ranging from marking the pick-up spot for the harvested timber, functioning as a hunting tower, shelter and storage. Many of them are placed along forest roads. The Snake is a local processing plant managing small-scale refinement of the goods of the forest close to their site of harvest, thus channeling some of the economical flow back to the communities living of the forest. Together they form a complete series of infrastructure demonstrating how we could organize the future Swedish forest.

Human activity affects white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) movement and habitat selection during all times of the year, but knowledge is limited regarding how human risk affects white-tailed deer during the summer and winter. During spring and summer, variation in patch selection varied. Natural vegetation was selected for early in the year, with anthropogenic forages being important for deer use during the summer. During the winter, deer responded to different levels of risk. As hunter risk increased on the landscape, deer altered selection of the landscape. Deer avoided areas that were heavily used by hunters, using areas containing less hunter risk. Use of land cover classifications varied temporally, with cover selected for during the day and forage selected for at night. I have demonstrated that deer respond to human activity on the landscape, by selecting for anthropogenic foraging sources during the spring and summer and avoiding patches that contain risk.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

I investigated ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) population ecology in the southern and central Appalachians as part of the Appalachian Cooperative Grouse Research Project (ACGRP). Several hypotheses have been offered to explain the low abundance of ruffed grouse in the region including inadequate quantity of early-successional forests due to changes in land use, additive harvest mortality, low productivity and recruitment, and nutritional stress. Through the cooperative nature of the ACGRP, researchers tracked >3,000 ruffed grouse between October 1996 and September 2002 and gathered data on reproduction, recruitment, survival, and mortality factors. As part of the ACGRP My objectives were (1) estimate reproductive rates, (2) estimate survival and cause-specific mortality rates, (3) determine if ruffed grouse harvest in the Appalachian region is compensatory, and (4) estimate ruffed grouse finite population growth. Ruffed grouse population dynamics in the Appalachian region differed greatly from the core of ruffed grouse range. In general, ruffed grouse in the Appalachian region had lower productivity and recruitment, but higher survival than reported for populations in the Great Lakes and southern Canada. However, within the southern and central Appalachian region, ruffed grouse population dynamics differed between oak-hickory and mixed-mesophytic forest associations. Productivity and recruitment were lower in oak-hickory forests, but adult survival was higher than in mixed-mesophytic forests. Furthermore, ruffed grouse productivity and recruitment were more strongly related to hard mast (i.e., acorn) production in oak-hickory forests than in mixed-mesophytic forests. The leading cause of ruffed grouse mortality was avian predation (44% of known mortalities). Harvest mortality accounted for only 12% of all known mortalities and appeared to be compensatory. Population models indicate ruffed grouse populations in the Appalachian region are declining, but estimates vary greatly stressing the need for improved understanding of annual productivity and recruitment. We posit ruffed grouse in the Appalachian region exhibit a clinal population structure and changes in life-history strategies due to gradual changes in the quality of food resources, changes in snow fall and accumulation patterns, and predator communities. Recommendations are presented for habitat and harvest management and future research and management needs. / Ph. D.

Characteristics of Maine trappers were investigated by monitoring license buying behavior from 1976-1980 and by using a mail questionnaire after the trapping season in 1980. Trapping license sales increased 56% during the 5-year study period. From 37-41% of individuals who first purchased a license during this time period did not purchase one the next year. Most individuals who purchased a second license continued to purchase one. Through the questionnaire, individuals described attitudes, behaviors, and preferences. A disproportionately large number of individuals who claimed to be professional or semi-professional trappers attended public hearings. Although money received for fur pelts is important, the most common reason given for trapping was the challenge involved. Fall land trapping was the most preferred type of trapping and the one in which most trappers participated. Fox was the most preferred upland species and muskrat was the most preferred aquatic species. Detailed information was obtained from individuals who trapped in the fall. Effort per day of season was estimated in both trapper-days and average trap-nights. The problems rated highest by trappers in Maine involved people. Top-rated objectives of trappers were maintaining animal populations in proper balance with carrying capacity and maximizing pelt primeness. When presented with regulation options, respondents rated a species bag limit per trapper as the most acceptable option even though this regulation has been opposed consistently at public hearings. Information on trappers, animals, and harvests is combined into a Management system. / Master of Science

This study, concerned with evaluation of Cottontail Rabbit management techniques, was conducted at Camp Pickett, Virginia, a 47,000-acre deactivated military reservation. This public hunting area is managed cooperatively by the U. S. Second Army and the Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries. Cottontail Rabbit population fluctuations were measured by roadside counts during the summer months. It was found that a precipitous drop in the rabbit population occurred in mid-August. The suspected etiology of this population drop was disease, although no research data were collected to substantiate this theory. Land-cultural treatments were calculated by means of pellet counts and live-trapping. The treatments extant on Camp Pickett are installation of annual game bird mix and clover-small grain food patches, seeding of firelanes in fescue and clover-fescue combination, burning and mowing. Summer pellet counts showed the rabbit to be utilizing the annual mix food patches more than any other treatment type. The clover-small grain food patch was next in preference. Utilization of the remaining treatment types, which were mostly located in forested area, was rather low. Fall trapping data revealed a switch to the clover-small grain management unit, with the annual mix running second. Utilization of the other treatment types was again low. Winter trapping data showed an even greater preference for the clover-small grain than was found in the fall. Spring pellet count data resembled that obtained in the previous summer, with the exception of the burned areas, which received substantial usage by the rabbit. Differences between spring pellet count data and winter trapping data are believed due to an accumulation of older pellets. A pellet durability study showed winter loss of pellets to be minimal. An attempt to evaluate various population estimation formulae by live-trapping a known cottontail population in a five-acre enclosure met with failure when deer knocked down the fence, hunters poached, and rabbits were lost from various other causes, often unknown. A record was kept of all parasites, disease and injury encountered in the rabbit population. Forty-two per cent of all rabbits handled either were or presented evidence of having been infested with bot fly larvae. An incidence of 2.2 per cent of Shope's fibroma was found. A record was kept of all cottontail deaths known to have been caused by motor vehicles. The number of deaths per mile of highway traveled became progressively higher through the months of July to April, even though the rabbit population became progressively lower. This increasing highway kill was apparently due to the increased movement required of the rabbit in the winter months when food and cover are scarce, and the increased movement that occurs among the rabbit population when the spring breeding season arrives. / Master of Science

Most of the hunting opportunities in Virginia are on private land, and their continued existence is threatened by shrinking wildlife habitat and increasingly restricted public access to remaining wildlife habitat. The availability of land for hunting and reasons landowners restrict access to their land were investigated in four counties in piedmont Virginia. Landowners were surveyed with a mailed questionnaire. The typical respondent was a 55 year old male with a high school education, who was raised in the country, and did some farming and hunting. While about half the respondents posted their land, 90 percent allowed some hunting. Bad experiences with hunters were common, and usually involved trespassing or property damage. Attitudes toward hunters and hunting were generally favorable, but road hunting and non-local hunters met with disapproval. Respondents rated existence and aesthetic values of wildlife much higher than hunting and food values. A regression model of the determinants of access control had low predictive power. The study did find that attitudes towards hunter and road hunting were the best predictors of access control for most respondents, while attitude toward hunting was the best predictor for those who completely prohibited hunting. Landowners’ distrust of non-local hunters and widespread limitation of access to local residents emphasize the need to increase public hunting opportunities near urban areas through incentives to landowners. Altering landowners’ attitudes toward hunters, not toward hunting, seems to be the best way to increase access in general. A more favorable image of hunters can be achieved by improving hunter behavior through effective control of road hunting and promoting hunting ethics. Instilling an ethic of sportsmanship in all hunters is a difficult challenge, but it is the only major solution to landowner-hunter conflicts. / Master of Science