The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of two residential camp settings on the development of environmental attitudes by 4-H members (CA = 11-15 years). Subjects attending a 4-H Conservation Camp were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment conditions, the outpost camp setting (n=30), or the central camp setting (n=30). A control group (n=30) was comprised of individuals who had applied to attend camp but withdrew their application. Both treatment conditions received the same environmental education program delivered by the same instructors. Subjects in the outpost camp condition were assigned to one of three 10-person "families" where they slept in two-man tents, cooked all their meals over a wood fire, and, as a group, planned the recreational activities for afternoon and evening programs. Emphasis was placed on group decision making. Subjects in the central camp were assigned to cabin groups where the individual chose his/her spare-time activities, ate in a central dining hall, and slept in wooden, 10-person cabins. The Millward-Ginter Outdoor Attitude Inventory was the instrument utilized to pre and posttest all subjects on overall outdoor attitude, and specific attitudes toward environment, socialization, education, and pollution. Data were analyzed by employing the Kruskal-Wallis One Way Analysis of Variance By Ranks Test, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, and a post hoc paired comparison's test. Results of the analyses indicated that the posttest overall outdoor, environment, education, and pollution attitude scores for campers in the outpost camp setting were significantly more positive from those in the control group or the central camp setting. Socialization attitude scores were significantly different between the central camp setting and the outpost camp but were not significantly different from the control group. It was concluded that the outpost camp setting was effective in the development of positive overall outdoor, environment, education, and pollution attitudes. Outpost camp setting's effect on socialization attitudes was inconclusive. / Ed. D.

An examination of temporal and spatial variation of water quality across the whole watershed is undertook in this research. It is observed that the seasonal variation is apparent in all of the water quality parameters measured. And the spatial variation of water quality parameters gives us the general ideas that water quality is correlation with the watershed landscape. / An integrated approach involving Remote Sensing (RS) technology, Geographic Information System (GIS), Statistical and Spatial Analysis, as well as hydrologic modeling is put forward to perf0ll11 a comprehensive study on the relationship between land use-land cover and water quality in Wenyu River Watershed. Landsat TM data is used to extract land use-land cover information of the study area; while Arc Hydro model is employed to perform the stream network tracing and watershed delineation. / Based on an exponential model, separate multiple regression models are developed to estimate the contributions of different land types on six stream water quality variables, including TN, NO3- N, TP, PO4- P, COD and DO, in Wenyu River watershed. The resulted models are identified to well explain the water quality variables using land use types. And the goodness-of-fit of these modles are reasonably satisfactory. / Finally, this research also discusses the future-oriented studies: l) Higher resolution remote sensing imagery and more in-situ water quality data will be employed to improve the models with higher degree of "goodness of fit" in linking land uses and water quality. 2) Except LULC-related variables, other controlling factors will be considered to establish the more rigorous linkage models. 3) Identifying the relationship between the buffer landscape and stream water quality will be another subject of the future study. 4) Estimating the links between land use-land cover and water quality over an extended period is crucially important job in the future works. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) / The above results and analysis provide insight into the linkages between land-use practices and stream water quality, and the developed models can help in examining the relative sensitivity of water quality variables to alterations in land use made within a watershed. The predicted values are close to the actual monitored values, which indicates that with little calibration and validation, the regression model can be used in another watershed under a different geographical scale, in a different region with variable landscapes. / The results of water quality comparison between different land-use structures tell us that land use types are significantly correlated to water quality variables in Wenyu River Watershed. And the Spearman's rank correlation analyses verify this conclusion, and reveal that urban and village have strong positive relationships with the water quality variables of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorous (TP), phosphate (PO4-P) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). On the contrary, forest land represents the negative correlation with all the above variables and only positively correlates with dissolved oxygen (DO), which demenstrates that forest land is acting as a "sink" or active transformation zone. / The study offers supporting evidence for previous studies and can serve as a reference to similar studies estimating the response of water quality to the land use-land cover change. The results also indicate that with the integration of GIS and ecological modeling, a decision-making support system can be developed to manage land development and control non-point sources pollution at the watershed scales. This study also suggests that if we pursue a sustainable development, the land management with respect to its development must consider the further erosion on water quality in this area. / Wang, Yufei. / Adviser: Yuanzhi Zhang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-06, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-136). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

This study sought to determine the impact of a free-choice environmental learning event on "at-risk" eighth graders' self-perceived environmentally responsible behaviors.

South African estuaries have high biodiversity value and provide many benefits to society, including food, real estate, a place for recreation and economic enterprise. However, they are facing growing human pressures such as urban encroachment, development in river catchments and interference in hydrological cycles. This dissertation provides an exploratory study of the environmental history of the Mgeni River Estuary, KwaZulu-Natal in an attempt to improve the understanding of the forces that drive environmental change. Through the application of the techniques and methodologies of environmental history, it explores the dynamics, characteristics and impacts of human interaction with the Mgeni River Estuary over time. It focuses on the emergence of a capitalist! industrial society in the twentieth century as this period has been characterised by the most significant environmental alteration and degradation. With the aid of the techniques and methodologies employed, the study highlights a complexity of natural and human events that have altered the estuary over time. Comparative analysis of aerial photographs between 1937 and 1996 reveals that physical changes to the estuary were linked to prevalent social and economic activities. The study describes cultural beliefs, modes of resource use and the political economy as significant and interwoven factors that facilitate environmentally intrusive activities. The study has provided insights into the complexity of factors that influence the rate and extent of change of an estuarine system. It concludes that to improve the understanding of the causes of environmental change, it is necessary to look further than the physical impacts on the environment to the attitudes and beliefs that underlie them. While the solutions to the problems facing the Mgeni River Estuary are not easily at hand, such analysis should assist policy makers and managers in finding a way to initiate more sustainable estuarine development in the future. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1978 R62 / Master of Regional and Community Planning

Human/wildlife interactions at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge were investigated in this research. Personal interviews and a mapping exercise were used to examine a variety of questions about recreational use. These included visitor backgrounds (their recreational histories, socioeconomic profiles, and past refuge visits), their perceptions (of current and proposed management policies, and visitor effects on wildlife), and their experiences of the refuge (their activities, most memorable experiences and exploration of the environment). Most visitors questioned were middle-aged individuals who resided in New Mexico. The refuge's unique character--its diversity of wildlife and landscape features--was perceived as its greatest asset. Visitors saw the refuge as a wildlife sanctuary, protected and controlled by officials who prevented visitors from having damaging impacts on the resource. While visitors differed by season of visit and purpose of visit, most did agree that the refuge should be managed for the sake of wildlife first. After that, visitors felt that it should be managed for the sake of recreation. Snow Geese responses to certain visitor behaviors were also examined. Simulations of visitor behaviors were made in the presence of small groups of geese. Behavioral observations of geese were made prior to, during, and after simulations. Environmental factors (weather, habitat, and temporal) were also examined. This analysis revealed a general tendency among geese to respond to visitor simulations in characteristic ways. However, variations in geese responses were also observed. Several factors may have most strongly influenced geese behavior. The predictability of visitor behaviors as perceived by geese influenced their patterns of response. Then too, certain environmental factors (habitat and temporal) were important, as well as the particular nature of the animal behaviors themselves. This research indicates that significant transactions occur between people, animals, and the environment. Understanding them is crucial in managing natural resources for ecological as well as recreational values.

Pacific salmon populations in Johnson Creek, Portland, Oregon have been adversely impacted by urbanization, and by residential and agricultural land development. f Ecological impacts include loss or depletion of riparian vegetation features which directly influence stream and associated salmonid ecology. This research examines the nearstream riparian zone's contribution to instream habitat complexity for anadromous salmonids in Johnson Creek. Visual surveys were conducted on over half the stream length. Five features were assessed to determine the extent of riparian influenced stream habitat including, overhead enclosure, overhanging vegetation, undercut banks, and large and small woody debris and root wads. The stream survey showed that areas of riparian-influenced habitat are spatially intermittent and present in areas of the least stream disturbance. Suitable riparian habitat is limited to locations where there is minimal riparian disturbance, property management, and channelization. I Although salmonid populations have been reduced, insufficient riparian influenced salmonid habitat features are not the primary limiting factor on salmon populations. Other factors such as pollution, sedimentation, hatchery fish introduction, low flows, inadequate food supplies, high stream temperatures, repress wild salmon populations.

The Irwin River catchment, located in the central western region of Western Australia, has been the scene of significant geomorphological change over both historical and geological timescales. This thesis focuses on the most recent of these changes, the anthropogenic imprint, through the development of a catchment-scale understanding of system behaviour. Analysis and modelling of changes in the hydrological behaviour of the system indicates that while the Irwin River has displayed a natural susceptibility to large flood events, these have been exacerbated by the widespread clearing of native vegetation throughout the catchment. As a result, when such events do occur, the catchment response is now larger, more direct and has a greater ability to cause erosion. However, the nature and detail of sediment yield processes and stream channel response varies markedly throughout the system. A series of representative channel reaches, as defined by their planform characteristics, geometry and architecture, are presented to illustrate spatial changes in stream channel behaviour. A distinct variation in river morphotypes is seen both downstream throughout the system as well as across the tributary sub-catchments of the Irwin River, Lockier River and Green Brook. This inter and intra sub-catchment variation in stream channel response can be attributed to changes in the boundary conditions and coupling mechanisms in operation throughout the Irwin River system. The pronounced spatial variability in response to human disturbance and the changing nature of catchment-scale connectivity seen in the Irwin River system differs markedly to that reported elsewhere in the literature. Appreciation of the variability in form, behaviour and evolutionary history throughout the Irwin River catchment not only provides the foundation for effective management but also contributes to a wider understanding of fluvial system behaviour. Unlike the majority of existing literature, which tends to identify and measure channel changes in a single catchment where historical variation to the sediment and discharge regime is well known, this study demonstrates the role of boundary conditions in determining the response of the fluvial system to changing environmental controls.

People's level of development is a significant determinant in their relationship to wild nature. People today characterized by a high level of development value wild natural resources primarily for non-consumptive aesthetic and humanistic purposes. Modern nature conservation has been dominated by developed peoples' concerns with wild nature. Concerns of developed peoples with wild nature are described by a resourcism-preservationism paradigm. In contrast underdeveloped peoples rely upon wild nature to maintain the integrity of their cultures and increasingly for purposes of physical survival and promoting, development; this involves consumptive use of wild nature. As all people increasingly become part of a global development trajectory, resourcism-preservationism is articulating itself as the global people-environment dynamic. Emergent relations between nature conservation agency staff and reserve neighbours in South Africa offer a unique opportunity to study competing concerns around wild nature and assess the ability of approaches which link conservation and development to meet developed and underdeveloped peoples' concerns. Evaluation of reserve-neighbour interaction at Giant's Castle and Kosi Bay areas is achieved through determining whether it empowers reserve neighbours and conservation agency staff; fundamental to empowerment is people managing natural resources themselves. Natal Parks Board's and KwaZulu Department of Nature Conservation's frameworks for extension do not empower reserve staff or neighbours at Giant's Castle and Kosi Bay respectively. Trends in competition between developed and underdeveloped peoples for use of wild nature evidenced in field studies mirror global trends in people-environment relations. Recent attempts in South Africa and internationally to address the concerns of underdeveloped peoples, witnessed in efforts to link development to conservation such as reserve-neighbour interaction, are efforts by developed people to protect their particular concerns with wild nature. As a result these attempts have not been integrated into a larger conservation and development process. Instead they have been plagued by short term vision among nature conservation agencies and reserve neighbours. Linking conservation and development is a process fundamental to the future of conservation, benefitting people at all levels of development. A fundamental redefinition of conservation agency objectives and restructuring conservation agency operations is required such that people are empowered to manage their own natural resources. Principles to guide and an approach for structuring such an undertaking are proposed involving collaboration with relevant agents. / Thesis (M.Soc.)-University of Natal, Pietermartizburg, 1996.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-186) / Microfiche. / xi, 186 leaves, bound 29 cm