This study covers the following aspects of mine water management at the Clarence Colliery, located at the headwaters of the Wollangambe River, N.S.W. The Wollangambe River flows through the World Heritage listed areas of the Blue Mountains and Wollemi National Parks. 1. Quantification of the impact of discharge of treated mine water on the Wollangambe River, through analysis of sediment metal concentrations. 2. Investigation of the possible sources and causes of acid mine drainage within the mine. 3. Review of the current treatment process employed at the mine, as well as a review of other possible treatment options for avoidance or treatment of acid mine drainage. 4. Recommendation of a strategy for improving the process of mine water management at the colliery. The study reveals problems discovered from the investigation and describes the findings and recommendations. / Master of Engineering (Hons.)

The overarching question under investigation in this thesis is the extent to which the ideals of penal management as espoused by both British and Colonial authorities were implemented in the day to day administration and management of a convict work force. The focus of the examination is the construction of Major Thomas Mitchell’s line of road between Mt. Victoria and Bathurst in the 1830’s. Specifically the thesis documents the various sites on the line of road with a particular emphasis on the administrative centre and principal facility, No. 2 Stockade Cox’s River, to explain the dynamic interaction of the network and its role in the penal repertoire of New South Wales. In bringing together a large range of sources the thesis has enabled the first thorough reading of the convict sites associated with the Western road. This has led to a multi-dimensional understanding of the place, its people, and the process of its construction. It provides a basis for future scholarship on this neglected network, located almost at the doorstep of greater Sydney, on the western fringe of the Blue Mountains. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

n/a

Nature-based tourism and recreation is a growing phenomenon around the world. In Australia, nature-based tourism represents an important part of the tourism sector and is to a large extent dependent on protected areas such as World Heritage areas, marine parks and national parks. While tourism and recreation can benefit protected areas, some are under pressure from visitation and marketing should play a role in managing visitor demand. To this end, a number of authors have suggested demarketing as a management tool to address situations of excess visitor demand, however, research on demarketing in protected areas is limited. To address this research gap, this thesis examines the use of demarketing in Australian national parks that face excess visitor demand using a case study on the Blue Mountains National Park. The thesis investigates factors that contribute to high visitor demand for the park, the use of demarketing to manage demand and factors that influence when and how demarketing is applied. Demarketing is that aspect of marketing that deals with discouraging customers in general or a certain class of customers in particular on either a temporary or permanent basis. In protected areas specifically, demarketing is concerned with reducing visitor numbers in total or selectively and redistributing demand spatially or temporarily. Six factors that contribute to high visitor demand for the national park were identified including the attractiveness of the park, its proximity to Sydney and the fact that the park is a renowned destination with icon sites. It was established that no holistic demarketing strategy is currently employed in the park and that the demarketing measures that are applied are not consciously used as demarketing. The measures used in the Blue Mountains National Park were discussed according to their association with the marketing mix components (4 Ps). Demarketing measures related to �product� include limiting recreational activities by defining specific areas where they can be conducted, limiting the duration of activities and closures of sites or features in the park. The measures related to �place� are the use of a booking system, limiting visitor numbers and group sizes, commercial licensing and limiting signage. Measures related to �price� are not extensively used in the park. The promotional demarketing measures applied include stressing restrictions and appropriate environmental behaviour in promotional material and nonpromotion of certain areas or experiences in the park. Importantly, these demarketing measures are not employed across the whole park or for all user groups, but are used for certain experiences in specific contexts and circumstances. Three types of factors influence the use of demarketing in the Blue Mountains National Park: pragmatic considerations, resource considerations and stakeholder interests. Pragmatic considerations include the feasibility and effectiveness of certain demarketing measures, which are influenced by the specific context of the national park. Resource considerations relate to financial, human and temporal resources and the findings suggest that a lack of resources influences and at times inhibits the use of demarketing measures. It was also found that various stakeholders have a profound influence on the use of demarketing measures. The stakeholder groups have diverse interests and therefore influence the use of demarketing in different ways by supporting or impeding certain measures. Based on the findings and limitations of this study, recommendations for government and future research are made. These emphasise among others the need for more consistent and comprehensive collection of visitor information to tailor management actions more effectively. It is also suggested that a more conscious and holistic application of demarketing measures may help to manage visitor demand to parks proactively to ensure that the resource remains for future generations.

Since European American settlement of the Intermountain Region, dramatic changes in vegetation composition and structure have occurred in the sagebrush steppe ecosystem. Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis spp. occidentalis Vasek), although indigenous to the Intermountain Region, has increased since the late 1800s. Considerable work has been done documenting juniper woodland expansion in the Intermountain West, however, little is known about the environmental variables that influence rates of tree establishment and structural attributes of woodlands across landscapes. Most studies of western juniper have addressed site-specific questions at limited spatial scales. Consequently, there is a lack of research on broader scale patterns of woodland development occurring across heterogeneous landscapes. In addition, changes in the amount, composition, and structure of fuels during the transition from open sagebrush steppe communities to closed juniper woodlands have profound influences on the size, intensity, frequency, and behavior of fire. However, limited data exist quantifying changes in fuels during this transition, thus, consequences to fire behavior have been difficult to predict. The major impetus for the study was to determine the influence of environmental variables on rates and structural attributes of woodland development and associated changes in fuel loading characteristics during the transition from sagebrush steppe communities to closed juniper woodlands in the High Desert and Humboldt ecological provinces. The proportion of trees greater than 150 years old relative to trees less than 150 years suggest western juniper has greatly expanded in the Owyhee Mountains and on Steens Mountain since settlement of the areas. Ninety-five percent of the trees established after the 1850s. As evidenced by the presence of western juniper in 96% of plots sampled in this study, juniper is able to encroach upon a variety of plant alliances and under a broad range of environmental conditions over diverse landscapes. Although it appears the occurrence of western juniper within the woodland belt is not spatially limited by environmental or vegetative conditions, stand structural and fuel loading characteristics do vary considerably across heterogeneous landscapes. Total juniper density, density of dominant trees comprising the primary canopy, and certain live and dead fuels biomass very substantially with site potential. Spatial variation in stand structure and fuels may have significant implications to management of juniper at the landscape scale. / Graduation date: 2005

This research supports development of aquatic resource management strategies to address acid deposition in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GRSM) by 1) developing relationships between baseflow and stormflow chemical constituents and examining effects of elevation, area, geology, soil, and vegetation on stream chemistry; 2) evaluating physiological condition in brook trout in relation to changes in stream chemistry during stream acidification episodes, and 3) evaluating brook trout metrics with respect to stream chemistry, basin characteristics, and ecologically relevant hydrologic parameters. (1) Stream chemistry was monitored in eight GRSM streams considering basin area, site elevation, Anakeesta geology, soil, and vegetation. Following precipitation events, pH was significantly reduced and aluminum concentrations increased, while the concentration response of ANC, nitrate, sulfate, and base cations varied. Higher pH and ANC concentrations were observed in large and low-elevation streams. (2) Caged brook trout were exposed to two acid episodes during in situ bioassays conducted in three GRSM streams. Stream pH decreased (>0.7 pH units) and total dissolved aluminum increased (>0.175 mg/L) at all three sites during acid episodes. Whole-body sodium concentrations were significantly reduced (10-20%) when preceding 24-h time weighted average pH values (4.88, 5.09, 4.87) and corresponding 24-h aluminum concentrations (210, 202, 202 µg/L). Lower whole-body sodium concentrations were correlated with elevated proton and aluminum concentrations indicating physiological distress. (3) Water chemistry, hydrology and physical basin factors influenced brook trout distributions and densities in 16 collocated fish and water quality sampling sites (1990-2009). Higher concentrations of ANC, pH, sodium, and soil cation exchange capacity, and higher fall flows were associated with the presence of brook trout. Trout densities were higher in streams with higher concentrations of sodium, suggesting that sodium may ameliorate the effects of acid toxicity. These relationships provide useful information where GRSM managers can prioritize conservation and restoration efforts.

This research examined the fire history of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex P. Lawson & C. Lawson) forests in northwestern New Mexico. The study area included three sites in the Zuni Mountains of Cibola National Forest and one site along the boundary of El Malpais National Monument. I crossdated over 800 fire scars on 75 samples to reconstruct spatial and temporal characteristics of historic wildfire regimes. The Weibull Median Interval, Weibull Modal Interval, and Mean Fire Interval ranged from five to eight years across all sites and percent-scarred classes (all fires, 10% scarred, and 25% scarred) and indicated that low-severity wildfires occurred frequently in the study area during the period 1700 to 1880. Wildfires were historically driven by climatic variability. Superposed Epoch Analyses revealed that wetter conditions typically occurred one to three years prior to a fire event and were followed by drought during the fire year. No relationship was found between the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and wildfire occurrence. These findings implied that shorter-term fluxes between wet and dry conditions, rather than longer-term climatic variability, were historically most conducive to fire occurrence. Fire frequency decreased suddenly in the late 19th century across the study area, and results indicated that fire has been absent at all sites since the 1920s. Anthropogenic disturbances including livestock grazing, timber harvesting, and fire suppression likely explain observed differences between historic and contemporary wildfire regimes in the Zuni Mountains. This research has important implications for forest management. In ponderosa pine forests of the southwestern United States, land managers often aim to restore historic ecological conditions. The reintroduction of a frequent, low-severity wildfire regime might restore some ecological patterns and processes, but given the strong legacy of human disturbances and the influences of human-induced climate change, a complete return to historic conditions may be neither possible nor desired.

World-wide amphibian declines sparked concern and encouraged investigation into potential causes beginning in the 1980’s. Infectious disease has been identified as one of the major potential contributors to amphibian declines. For example, Ranavirus has caused amphibian die-offs throughout the United States. Investigators isolated Ranavirus from dead or moribund amphibians during large-scale die-offs of amphibians in the Cades Cove area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1999-2001. In 2009, after nearly a decade without follow-up monitoring, I undertook an investigation to determine if the virus persisted in the area, and if so, to assess spatial, temporal, and taxonomic patterns in prevalence. Three amphibian breeding ponds, including Gourley Pond, the site of these earlier mortality events, were monitored for Ranavirus during the 2009 amphibian breeding season. A peak in prevalence occurred at Gourley Pond corresponding to a massive amphibian die-off. Prevalence varied among three different taxonomic groups during this mortality event with the highest prevalence, 84%, detected in larval Ambystomatids, 44.4% prevalence in adult Newts, and no virus detected in adult Plethodontids. I did not detect virus at either of the other two breeding ponds despite equivalent sampling effort, similar community composition, and close proximity to Gourley Pond. These results suggest that the severity and spatial extent of Ranavirus in Cades Cove remains unchanged since its initial detection a decade ago. Also, despite the observed massive die-offs there is no evidence of local amphibian extinction at Gourley Pond.

Understanding energetic potential of habitat patches is important for management designed to provide adequate habitat for wildlife species. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) has a high density of black bears that have been studied intensively from 1968-1997; habitats within the Park are relatively undisturbed, and similar vegetative cover types can be found throughout the southern Appalachian mountains. Black bear reproduction in the Park has been correlated to hard mast production, however little work has been done to assess the importance of soft mast. Geographic Information System (GIS) based habitat use models have been developed for bears in the Park, yet the importance of foods in determining habitat selection, and the possibility of sexual habitat segregation due to food availability have not yet been determined. The primary objectives of the study included estimation of the location, timing, and amount of caloric production by 19 important black bear foods and determination of the significance of caloric production by mast type, season, overstory vegetation type, and plant species. Secondary objectives were to test for correlation of bear habitat use with estimated caloric production from mast, and to test for sexual segregation of habitats based on caloric production. This study was limited to the northwest quadrant of GSMNP during 1995.

Fire, logging, livestock grazing, and insect outbreaks are disturbances that have significantly influenced both the historic and present fire regimes. The composition and structure of vegetation communities within Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) have likely changed in response to these disturbances. Two study sites (CRX, the near site, and CRT, the far site) were chosen along the Cooper Road Trail based on topographic separation, presence of mixed oak-pine communities, presence of fire-scarred yellow pine trees, and GSMNP land acquisition records. To quantify and evaluate fire regimes, individual fire histories were developed for each site from fire-scarred yellow pine trees, and two 1000 m2 (0.1 ha) study plots were established for vegetation surveys. Fire history analysis yielded mean fire intervals of 6.2 years at the near site, 3.4 years at the far site, and 3.2 years when combined. Spatial analysis showed significant differences in fire activity between study sites. Temporal analysis showed significant differences in mean fire intervals between the pre-settlement (1720–1818) and post-settlement periods (1819–1934). Superposed epoch analysis showed the over-riding influence of climate at these sites. At the near site, trees displayed greater species diversity, larger diameter, and older age. Eastern white pine, pitch pine, red maple, and black gum were the dominant species. At the far site, tree species diversity was lower and trees were generally younger. Mixed oak-pine communities are succeeding to a canopy dominated by shade-tolerant, fire-sensitive species such as eastern white pine and red maple. Without fire disturbance, yellow pine communities will cease to regenerate, as will oak species that prefer a fire-maintained habitat.