published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

As discussed in the National Parks Service’s (NPS) Directors Orders/Natural Resources Management Reference Manual #77 and the 2006 NPS Management Policy Handbook, implementing a management plan specifically for cave and karst resources within a national park is paramount to afford these resources appropriate protection. With support from the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act and the National Park Service Organic Act of 1906, management actions protecting caves has begun to place significant importance outside the traditional cave environment onto a broader karst landscape. The need to understand and protect the karst environment and caves as a karst resource has taken a much larger role in the scientific literature and has increased interest in its federal management application. Proactive management through the use of holistic karst wide management plans and programs is shown to provide superior measures for resource protection when compared to the shortcomings associated with reactive cave focused management. The use of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) as a case study supports the need to develop and implement a proactive cave and karst management plan specific to their resources. Management decisions with regards to cave and karst resources currently follow the park's general directives and Superintendent's Compendium. GRSM’s caves and karst areas represent unique resources, such as extensive vertical relief and rare biota, requiring special management in order to effectively protect them and to manage those who study and recreate within them. Characteristics such as these necessitate holistically addressing management of these resources.

Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) is a paradigm that has emerged in response to the perceived failure of past approaches to conservation and development. CBNRM is intended to deliver socio-economic development to impoverished rural communities, who manage natural resources, and harness the utility of these resources as a vehicle for development. This dissertation revisits the concept of CBNRM, using the Tchuma Tchato project at Bawa, Tete Province, Mozambique as a case study. A conceptual framework for a CBNRM project intervention is developed and used to analyse the Tchuma Tchato project. The role of external agents, and particularly the lead institution, is vital to a project intervention. It is shown that external agents need to be well organised, and they need to interact effectively as a team. External agents need to have the financial and human capacity, and an understanding of CBNRM to play a constructive and effective role in a time-bound project intervention. A project intervention must evolve from a top-down intervention into an autonomous CBNRM programme, that is sustainable, and that can contribute to a process of sustainable development and conservation after the end of a project life. In order to realise this, a project intervention must be rigorously planned and designed. This formulation is critical to the subsequent implementation and operation of a project. It is vital that a CBNRM addresses the key characteristics of CBNRM, and that in doing so, it delivers social, economic and environmental development to the targeted community. Analysis of the Tchuma Tchato project at Bawa has elucidated that the project is floundering. Application of the conceptual framework to Tchuma Tchato has established causes for this. The primary cause is a weakness in the roles played by the lead institution and external agents. The project was not rigorously formulated. The project has not been effectively managed. The project has failed to address the key characteristics of CBNRM, and it is not contributing to a process of sustainable development. This analysis has facilitated the identification of remedial actions for Tchuma Tchato at Bawa, and recommendations for future CBNRM projects have been made. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

This dissertation seeks to expose through a systemic approach the complexity and centrality of governance in community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). This is premised on the hypothesis that an appreciation of this complexity and of drawing analytic distinctions between governance and management is necessary for successful interventions. The study adopts community-based environmental governance (CBEG) as the core heuristic variable in a conceptual framework for analysing CBNRM. The application of this framework generates empirical evidence concerning CBNRM processes adopted in the Kafue Flats socio-biophysical system. It is illustrated that CBNRM processes are established and implemented in a complex context. It is observed that social actors on the Kafue Flats usually do not constructively understand and appreciate this complexity. Several examples are demonstrated in which the thinking and actions of these actors reflect a limited conceptual framework of systems thinking and the inherent complexity in CBNRM. It is illustrated that these actors do not appreciate that CBNRM is a significant component of the governance of natural resource utilisation. This lack of appreciation is essentially identified as a contributing factor to poor performance. Ultimately, CBNRM processes are not only about sustainable use of natural resources; but also the nature and quality of relationships amongst social actors in CBEG. By drawing attention to these relationships, this study broadens our understanding of what goes into CBNRM processes. The implications of ignoring these relationships can be detrimental to the success of CBNRM. Accordingly, the establishment of productive CBNRM systems depends on how firmly CBEG issues and concerns are incorporated into CBNRM analyses and operations. Evidently, CBNRM cannot be pragmatically pursued in rigid socio-biophysical settings. It requires systemic and structural changes in the socio-political, economic and cultural mechanisms of CBEG. Thus, all cooperating partners, governments included, should accept that CBEG and CBNRM are inseparable. This understanding necessitates them to spearhead CBEG capacity building schemes at international, national and local levels. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Protecting and managing National Parks and Monuments effectively is very important for their future sustainability. Urban encroachment on areas adjacent to protected areas is often considered a potential threat to the natural resources inside the protected areas. To minimize these threats, evaluating and assessing the effects of urban encroachment on protected areas and developing effective management strategies is critical. To implement any management strategy, interactions, support and perceptions of changing conditions from neighboring communities is imperative. The goal of this study was to develop a framework to assess perception of land use change along the borders surrounding Saguaro National Park East. The objectives of this study were to determine 1) the change in landscape that has occurred as a result of urban encroachment in and adjacent areas to Saguaro National Park (SNP) over a 15 year period 2) the degree to which neighbors surrounding SNP perceive that these changes have occurred due to urban encroachment 3) the perception of neighbors surrounding SNP that increased urbanization has led to more impacts on local wildlife 4) the possible planning and management strategies that neighbors agree would lead to reduce impacts of urban encroachment on protected areas and how strongly do they support the implementation of these proposed planning and management strategies. Results of this study indicated that landuse / landcover changes have occurred over the landscape at a rapid rate and in large areas within one mile of lands adjacent to the boundary of SNP East. Urban area increased 2.45%, agricultural lands decreased 76.15% and forested lands decreased 6.19% from its previous class in one mile adjacent land to the park from 1992 - 2001. Building units (residential) increased dramatically by 71.53% in this one mile buffer in the period between 1992 and 2007. In addition, respondents that live in adjacent lands perceive these changes over the landscape due to urban encroachment at a moderate degree strongly agree that increased urbanization has led to more negative impacts on local wildlife. Further, respondents strongly support more communication between authorities, developers and neighbors and environmental education programs with regards to urban encroachment on SNP.

4 pp. / This fact sheet explores the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of the Hualapai reservation, and includes the extension program methods which work well on the reservation as well as collaborators who work with extension.

2 pp. / This fact sheet briefly describes the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of the Hualapai reservation.

110 pp.

Montane ecosystems of the western United States have experienced dramatic changes in their fire regimes over the last 150 years. Fire behavior modeling enables understanding of how ecosystem changes have altered past fire regimes. The Valles Caldera National Preserve in the Jemez Mountains, northern New Mexico, contains one of the largest montane grasslands in North America. This area is used for multiple uses ranging from logging to grazing and recreation. These important ecosystems have experienced increased fuel loads and stem densities resulting from a century of fire exclusion and tree encroachment, resulting in potentially anomalous fire behavior. We investigated whether fire pathways tend to spread along the grassland-forest ecotone or if fire would spread directly across grasslands under extreme fire weather conditions. We used the program FlamMap to model fire behavior under a variety of weather and fuel conditions. Fire spread pathways and burn perimeters were computed for the 50th, 90th, and 99th percentiles of historic weather conditions. The results are compiled into a probability surface that represents the most parsimonious pathways of fire spread in this landscape. We found that pathways were related to the origin of ignition; fires tended to spread around the ecotone, facilitating fire spread to adjacent grasslands. These results, complemented with fire history studies in dendrochronology and empirical observations of the Las Conchas Fire in 2011, further the understanding of the role and dynamics of fire in maintaining the montane-grassland conifer ecotone, and can guide efforts to restore a landscape affected by the effects of fire exclusion.

Prepared by the Arid Lands Information Center, Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona ; A. Paige Grant, compiler (with assistance from Doug Stotz).