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Nature tourism in the High Coast of Sweden The conditions for nature tourism in the form of kayaking in the High Coast of Sweden. The aim of this study was to investigate the conditions for nature tourism in the form of kayaking in the High Coast of Sweden. The work focused on examining: the impact of protected areas, logistics and security for the kayak activity, visible evidences from the last glacial period (Weichsel), isostatic uplift and coastal processes, and also time- and site specific environmental effects of kayaking. Three destinations were selected as the main investigation sites.   In a protected area there are regulations that limits activities that may be carried out. Protected areas also promote outdoor recreation as a main goal. Logistics and security risks were documented for possible starting locations and routes. The results showed that evidences of glacial processes, isostatic uplift and coastal processes were visible at all three destinations. Trysunda showed the greatest presence of traces/kilometer. However, Trysunda was surveyed by hiking which may have affected the results. Trysunda showed the largest number of evidences of coastal processes, which may depend on the high exposure of this island to wave energy. At all three destinations environmental effects were found as abrasion on the vegetation as well as the disturbance of birds.   The conclusion is that all three destinations represent good sites for the experience of distinct educational traces of glacial and postglacial processes. Furthermore, the study emphasizes that the kayaker should have some experience of previous kayaking. The kayaker can benefit from the free facilities established in the protected areas.

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Our Human connection to the Earth and its living species has become withdrawn from our daily lifestyles and has been taken for granted over the passing years with ever-increasing technological advancements. This so-called technological advancement has provided conveniences, which have pulled people indoors and drawn them to the computer resulting in an unhealthy lifestyle. Christopher Brandlin (2011) discussed the variety of ways human health has been affected by technology. A few of the effects noted by Brandlin were obesity, lack of Vitamin D, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Through activity, outdoor interaction, and the development of an understanding of our critical relationship to other living species, physical and psychological health can be improved. Many of today’s youth have lacked a physically active and outdoor interactive lifestyle due to the technological gadgets they have at their fingertips. A Growing and Connected Future: Exposing Youth to Nature Through Education is a design practicum that poses the following question: Using an open space network, how can the community, specifically High School youth, be integrated into a healthy lifestyle, and enrich Dryden High School’s outdoor programs? To address this question, this document has included an overview of the Biophilia Hypothesis and the health benefits that arise from the practice of this concept. Learning styles have been broken down to specific gender needs that influenced aspects of the proposed design. Dryden High School’s outdoor programs have been addressed and proposals were made to expand this area of the curriculum. Lastly, examples of successful active transportation routes were examined and incorporated into Dryden’s existing trail system. The addressed information influenced design decisions that will increase exposure to the outdoors through activity and knowledge resulting in Biophilia values that increase physical and psychological health.

The Power of a Small Green Place is an ethnographic case study among the volunteers and urban wilds of Ottawa’s Fletcher Wildlife Garden (FWG). Through the conceptual lens of the geographical concept of place – with its wide range of physical, relational and deeper meaningful considerations – this urban wildlife habitat project emerged as a place of profound significance. Volunteers working to create and maintain the FWG’s diverse habitats benefit from opportunities to engage in physical outdoor activity, establish social connections, make contact with the natural world, find deep personal satisfaction and meaning, and experience healthier and mutually beneficial relations with nature. This case study fills a knowledge gap in geography regarding the significant relationships that can emerge between people and the land they work with, thereby contributing to geography’s “latest turn earthward” examining practices and relationships of cultivation with the land. The case study also contributes to a growing interdisciplinary dialogue on human-nature relations and their implications in the context of future environmental and societal uncertainties.

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Increased interest in nature tourism may be what saves small and dying villages, like Borgsjö in the county of Västerbotten in northern Sweden, from disappearing. The nearly untouched nature in these areas is in many cases an unused resource, since true wildlife experiences are sought by many travelers. The purpose with this report is to investigate if Borgsjö has the potential and abilities to become a destination for nature tourists, and how this should be done to avoid negative effects on nature, wildlife and culture. To find the answers of these questions I have sought information in reports relevant for the subject and organizations that handles hunting, wildlife- and nature care. I have also interviewed local villagers for their opinion and knowledge. A lot of the information about the nature and wildlife comes from my own experience and knowledge, since I have spent a lot of time in the area during several years. Several studies in the area regarding the status of wildlife populations, the production of fish in the waters and the recreational bearing capacity of the land have to be made before any organized tourism can take place. Borgsjö has a big potential for nature tourism, and the villagers agree. Most of the villagers are rather old and the project requires an entrepreneur experienced in nature tourism, a new way of thinking and possibilities to invest. Nature tourism, Borgsjö, ecotourism

The purpose of this essay is to examine descriptions of nature, both in terms of physical setting and as an abstract entity, and their relation to the concepts of place and regional identity in Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone (2006) and The Outlaw Album (2011). The main thesis is that when it comes to the characters’ relation to nature there is acceptance instead of resistance, and unification instead of separation. The essay also puts forth the argument that acceptance of nature can be seen as one of the key elements in both Winter’s Bone and The Outlaw Album. Moreover, the essay contains the idea that nature is a crucial part of the characters’ sense of regional identity in Winter’s Bone and The Outlaw Album. The theoretical background consists of ecocriticism along with theorizations of regional identity. When it comes to ecocriticism, a wide and multilayered theoretical field, the essay focuses on the works of three different scholars who all address the relationship between man, nature and place, namely Lawrence Buell, Fred Waage and Leonard Lutwack. The analysis consists of two parts. The first part addresses Winter’s Bone and mainly deals with the concept of family, the aspect of rurality and unification with nature within the novel. The second part looks at similar aspects in The Outlaw Album, but here, the emphasis is rather on the concept of outsider–insider, i.e. the difference between native Ozarkers and people who originate from outside the region.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2005. / Also available online.