Thesis (MSc (Geography and Environmental Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / A multitude of unique fauna and flora exist within the Western Cape of South Africa. Fire plays an intricate role in the conservation and extinction of many of these species. It is therefore imperative to understand this delicate relationship in order to help preserve the province’s uniquely balanced ecosystem. The Western Cape Nature Conservation Board (WCNCB) expressed the need for a system that would allow reserve managers to produce basic fire frequency and veld age maps with considerable ease. These maps are needed for intelligent decisionmaking regarding the management of veldfires. Information concerning vegetation and historical veldfires in the Western Cape, collected over a period of 50 years exist in tabular format in databases of the WCNCB. Some of these tables contain spatial information elements, such as areas affected by fires. Tabular data with spatial elements can be converted to a geographical information system (GIS) format, extracting value previously shielded from the user. Using GIS techniques and the programming language Avenue, two tools with powerful decision-making qualities were created to extract value from these datasets. One tool shows the fire history of a specified area as a digital map. This map shows areas with varying occurrences of fires over time, thereby highlighting hot spots within the specified location. The ability to view various fire scar datasets spatially over a specified period, as opposed to records in a table, enables the user to understand the extent to which areas have been repeatedly exposed to fire and quickly identify areas most affected. The second tool shows vegetation age in a similar fashion, allowing the user to see the current spatial distribution of vegetation and its age. Knowledge about the age of indigenous vegetation, such as fynbos, in a predetermined area, facilitates the reserve manager in decisions related to block burning. This is an accepted practise in areas where vegetation requires fire to stimulate germination. Both tools provide decisionmaking support to reserve managers regarding the most suitable course of action in terms of the implementation of a proactive or passive approach towards fires. This study satisfies the needs of the WCNCB by exploring the hidden value within their datasets. GIS supported by the programming language, Avenue, was successfully utilised in the development of a system capable of extracting information from current datasets to support reserve managers in their critical decision-making processes.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Current efforts to address Zimbabwe‘s decade long veld fire crisis has partly been hindered by a lack of financial resources and fire data. This study illustrates the potential of using the MODIS burned area product as an alternative cost- and time-effective method for reconstructing historical fire records in Zimbabwe. Two MODIS burned area products were evaluated, namely the MCD45A1 and WAMIS (Meraka Institute‘s MODIS burned area product). Both products yielded similar levels of accuracy despite the difference in algorithms. However, it is assumed that at certain thresholds, either in tree cover or fire intensity, WAMIS ceases to map fires as accurately as the MCD45A1. Ten years of fire data for Charara Safari Area (CSA) was extracted from the MCD45A1, and used as a basis to establish six parameters: fire incidence, extent, seasonality, fire size, frequency and fire return interval (FRI). It was observed that approximately 50% of CSA burned annually, with an average of 132 fires occurring every year. Although there was no overall increase or decrease in the extent of area burned over the 10 year study period, an increasing trend in fire incidence was noted. Through an assessment of effective fire size, it was established that more fires in CSA were gradually becoming smaller in size, while the extent of area burned remained fairly constant. Hence, the increase in fire incidences and lack of a corresponding increase in area burned. This study was also used to identify areas in the fire regime that may be a potential ecological risk to the miombo woodland in CSA. Three points of concern were revealed: firstly, a high prevalence of late season fires was observed in the northern bounds of CSA. Secondly, 64.2% of the total area burned in CSA burned between 6 and 10 times over the 10 year period, and lastly, 85% of the total area burned over the period 2001 and 2010 had a FRI of less than 2 years. The combination of late season fires, high fire frequency and short FRI in CSA is indicative of possible alterations in the state of the miombo woodlands, which may have negative socio-economic implications on CSA and its surrounding communities. This study has demonstrated that the MCD45A1 is a useful source of much needed fire information for Zimbabwe. Therefore, the possibility of integrating methods employed in this study into the current collection of fire data should be given due consideration. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Huidige pogings om Zimbabwe se dekade lank veldbrand krisis aan te spreek is gedeeltelik belemmer deur 'n gebrek aan finansiële hulpbronne en vuurdata. Hierdie studie illustreer die potensiaal van die gebruik van die MODIS verbrande area produk as 'n alternatiewe koste-en tyd-effektiewe metode vir die rekonstruksie van historiese vuurrekords in Zimbabwe. Twee MODIS verbrande area produkte is geëvalueer, naamlik die MCD45A1 en WAMIS (Meraka Instituut se MODIS verbrand area produk). Beide produkte het soortgelyke vlakke van akkuraatheid opgelewer ten spyte van die verskil in die algoritmes. Dit word egter aanvaar dat op sekere drempels, óf in die boom bedekking, of brandintensiteit, WAMIS brande minder akkuraat karteer as die MCD45A1 produk. Tien jaar van vuurdata vir Charara Safari Area (CSA) is uit die MCD45A1 data onttrek, en gebruik as 'n basis om ses parameters vas te stel: vuurvoorkoms, omvang, seisoenaliteit, vuurgrootte, frekwensie en tyd tussen die terugkeer van vuur na ‗n spesifieke plek (nl. FRI). Dit is waargeneem dat ongeveer 50% van die CSA jaarliks gebrand word, met 'n gemiddeld van 132 brande wat elke jaar voorkom. Daar was nie 'n algehele toename of afname in die omvang van die totale verbrande area oor die 10 jaar studietydperk nie. Maar 'n toenemende neiging in die vuurvoorkoms was wel opgemerk. Deur middel van 'n assessering van effektiewe vuurgrootte, is daar vasgestel dat meer kleiner brande in CSA voorkom, terwyl die omvang van die verbrand area redelik konstant gebly het. Dus was daar ‗n toename in die aantal vuurvoorvalle al was daar nie 'n ooreenstemmende toename in die totale verbrande oppervlakte was nie. Hierdie studie is ook gebruik om gebiede in die vuurregime te identifiseer wat 'n potensiële ekologiese risiko vir die miombobosveld in CSA inhou. Drie punte van kommer word geopenbaar: eerstens, 'n hoë voorkoms van laatseisoen brande is waargeneem in die noordelike grense van CSA. Tweedens, 64,2% van die totale verbrande oppervlakte in die CSA brand tussen 6 en 10 keer bine die 10-jaar periode. Laastens, 85% van die totale verbrande oppervlakte oor die tydperk 2001 tot 2010 het 'n FRI van minder as twee jaar. Die kombinasie van laatseisoen brande, hoë vuurfrekwensie en kort FRI in CSA is 'n aanduiding van moontlike veranderinge in die toestand van die miomboveld, wat negatiewe sosio-ekonomiese implikasies op die CSA en die omliggende gemeenskappe kan uitoefen. Hierdie studie het getoon dat die MCD45A1 'n nuttige bron van broodnodige vuur inligting vir Zimbabwe is. Daarom, moet die moontlikheid van die integrasie van die metodes wat gebruik word in hierdie studie in die huidige versameling van vuurdata behoorlike oorweging gegee word.

Alaska, which has been the 49th state of the USA since 1959, is a very unique locality according to many viewpoints. Although it is a part of the civilized Western world, it presents one of the last well- preserved wildlife on the Earth. Although Alaska is gradually settled by immigrants, native people have to deal with their dilemma connected with assimilation for many centuries. They did not create their own new culture - its cultural specifics are still defined by combination of original cultural patterns of Yup'ik and Inupiat Eskimos and natural tribes Tlingit, Haida, Athabaska, Aleut and imported cultures. My work is a study of clashes between civilization and nature resp. civilization and original ethnic groups and it goes throughout structural analysis of audiovisual artefacts, in this case visual records and films from fictional and non-fictional category. The subject of my analysis is a method and variability of possible approaches to Alaska presentation by audiovisual means and mainly examines formation and development of stereotypes in presentation of wildlife and human lifestyle in their specific conditions. The advantage of my research is a limited locality and relatively lowly explored area and also overview (even numerous) of audiovisual materials in its own way. Next to the...

x, 111 p. ； ill. (some col.), maps / Mission 66 was a ten-year program that began in 1956 and concluded in 1966, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service. The stated goal of Mission 66 was to increase public access and enjoyment of the national parks through a program of development and reconstruction. However, wilderness conservationists and environmentalists criticized the program heavily during its time. This reaction has left Mission 66 with a controversial legacy that reflects negatively on the historical developments of the program. The goal of this thesis is to delve into why Mission 66 was such a controversial program by examining the historic roots of wilderness and environmental thought in the national parks in the United States. It is hoped this study work will provide an important perspective on Mission 66 that can be utilized in the ongoing conversation about Mission 66 and its cultural legacy. / Committee in charge: Dr. Robert Z Melnick, Chair; Hugh C. Miller, Member;

This thesis explores representations of wild nature in two Arthurian texts – one British and one American – produced in an age characterised by rapid social transformation: Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King (1859-1885) and Howard Pyle’s Story of King Arthur and His Knights (1903). By investigation of the textual descriptions of wilderness and the portrayals of characters living there, the study aims to investigate what attitudes towards unkempt nature are displayed in the two texts. While both narratives give evidence of a powerful nostalgia for a vanishing paradise, the yearning for Eden is expressed quite differently. Pyle’s text fuses the concepts of wilderness and paradise together by depicting the unkempt landscape as a place of splendour and spiritual enjoyment. Such a celebration of nature might well be seen a reaction against the rapid loss of wild spaces across America (and Britain) during the life-time of the author. In the Idylls, paradise is represented in the domesticated yet green landscape of the faraway fairy island of Avilion. Wilderness, on the other hand, is depicted as a harmful disease progressively spreading across the realm, arguably bringing about a moral degeneration among the human characters. In the end, however, it is not wilderness, but the corruption of the supposedly civilised characters that causes the collapse of Arthur’s empire. On closer inspection, the real danger thus seems to come from culture and material conditions rather than from nature.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This study seeks to understand the landscape through the artisanal activity of lime in the Municipality of Parnamirim, located in the central wilderness of Pernambuco. The examination is focused on aspects of the daily life of the region that can be discussed from particularities of recent history. The intention is to analyze the landscape through the materiality and oral testimonies of the lime producers. The relations of people with things are focused to discuss notions of the limely activities and use of lime through social practices, in a context in which the importance of the incorporation of the studied landscape is emphasized. Through the subjectivity of the people involved in the documentation I look for the interpretation of the landscape that active subjects perceive, act and give meaning through a handmade production. In this way, I direct the research by gathering information about the lore, the materiality and memories present in the oral sources, the experience obtained by me in the field and my interpretation of scholars who discuss the landscape as a social environment. The perspective of active participation of the people is a central aspect of the discussion and involves directing the activities carried out in the region to the aspects of the individuals' permanence, which present ways of conceiving the landscape influenced by economic activities. This is a question captured by the way of understanding the landscape as an element inherent in the daily life of the local inhabitants. One of the arguments is that it is possible to know the social subjects surveyed on the basis of how they act in the landscape. It is an aspect of local socialization perceptible by the ways that those workers affirm their choice to remain in their place. / Este estudo busca a compreensão da paisagem através da atividade artesanal da cal no Município de Parnamirim, localizado no sertão central pernambucano. O exame é voltado aos aspectos do cotidiano da região que podem ser discutidos a partir de particularidades da história recente. A pretensão é analisar a paisagem através da materialidade e dos testemunhos orais dos produtores de cal. As relações das pessoas com as coisas são enfocadas para discutir noções das atividades caieiristas e uso da cal através das práticas sociais, em um contexto em que é ressaltada a importância da incorporação da paisagem estudada. Através da subjetividade das pessoas envolvidas na documentação busco a interpretação da paisagem que sujeitos ativos percebem, atuam e dão significado por meio de uma produção artesanal. Desta forma, direciono a pesquisa reunindo informações do saber fazer cal, da materialidade e de memórias presentes nas fontes orais, da experiência obtida por mim em campo e de minha interpretação dos estudiosos que discutem a paisagem como meio social. A perspectiva da participação ativa das pessoas é um aspecto central da discussão e envolve direcionar as atividades realizadas na região aos aspectos da permanência dos indivíduos, que apresentam formas de conceber a paisagem influenciada pelas atividades econômicas. Esta é uma questão captada pela maneira de entender a paisagem como um elemento inerente ao cotidiano dos habitantes locais. Um dos argumentos é que é possível conhecer os sujeitos sociais pesquisados com base na forma em que eles atuam na paisagem. É um aspecto da socialização local perceptível pelas maneiras que aqueles trabalhadores afirmam a sua escolha de permanecerem no seu lugar. / Laranjeiras

Esta dissertação tem como objetos centrais a Câmara Municipal de Vila Rica e as elites locais que controlaram suas prerrogativas, desde sua fundação em 1711, ate as revoltas que ocorreram no sertão de Minas Gerais a partir de 1736. Analisa-se, ao longo de cinco capítulos, as estratégias usadas pelos dois grupos que controlaram as prerrogativas da instituição, um durante a década de 1710, outro durante as décadas de 1720 e 1730. A partir da observação das rotinas administrativas e das finanças locais, e do estudo da trajetória dos 520 indivíduos que exerceram funções na instituição durante o período estudado especialmente dos 26 indivíduos mais influentes constatou-se uma oscilação da jurisdição do poder local, vinculada a uma redução das prerrogativas da Câmara Municipal. Este movimento foi causado pelo aumento da pressão dos agentes do monarca sobre as elites locais institucionalizadas, e por uma mudança de estratégia destas elites a partir da repressão à Revolta de Vila Rica em 1720. Antes deste episódio, o grupo dominante local era mais resistente aos interesses do rei na região, depois de 1720, o novo grupo que assumiu o controle da política local adotou uma linha mais conciliadora em relação aos agentes régios. A consolidação das elites locais, a partir deste momento, esteve diretamente vinculada a uma diminuição da jurisdição dos poderes locais em relação ao poder central. / This dissertation has as central objects the Municipal Council of Vila Rica and the local elites who controlled their prerogatives, from its foundation in 1711 until the riots that occurred in the hinterland of Minas Gerais in 1736. Over five chapters, we analyze the strategies used by the two groups that controlled the prerogatives of the institution, one during the decade of 1710, the other during the decades of 1720 e 1730. From the observation of local administrative routines and the study of the trajectory of the 520 individuals working in the institution during the period studied especially the 26 most influential individuals it was found oscillation of the jurisdiction of local authorities, linked to a reduction of the prerogatives of the Municipal Council. This movement was caused by increased pressure of the king\'s agents on institutionalized local elites, and a change of strategy of these elites from the repression of Villa Rica Revolt in 1720. Before this episode, the dominant local group was more resistant to the king\'s interests in the region; after 1720, the new group who took control of the local policy chose a more conciliatory line in relation to the king\'s agents. The consolidation of the local elites, since the decade of 1720, was directly linked to their decreasing autonomy in relation to the central power.

Des voyages de la fin du XVIIIe siècle au tourisme cynégétique contemporain, les relations entre l’Europe et le continent africain ont été marquées par la pratique de la chasse. Le terme safari, qui désigne la formalisation dans une activité codifiée de ces séjours de chasse, suffit à incarner une certaine image romantique de l’Afrique sauvage. À travers une ethnographie dans des zones de chasse du nord du Bénin et l’analyse de sources textuelles et iconographiques diverses, il s’agit d’interroger le sens que donnent les chasseurs d’hier et d’aujourd’hui à leur engouement pour le safari de chasse. Lié historiquement au colonialisme, celui-ci peut être interprété comme une forme symbolique d’appropriation, à travers la mise en trophée de l’animal, d’un continent réduit à sa nature sauvage. Mais cette conquête, malgré sa facilité apparente, nécessite toutefois une contextualisation permettant d’actualiser des représentations du sauvage : y compris dans sa version commerciale, le safari ne peut se réduire à l’acquisition d’un trophée à prix d’argent. Les chasseurs associent de plus à leur pratique tout un discours de légitimation tournant autour de l’éthique de la chasse, qui emprunte, de nos jours, à des registres humanitaires ou écologistes. Si le tourisme cynégétique est relativement marginal et contesté dans le monde occidental contemporain, les représentations qui l’accompagnent et le fantasme d’un sauvage à conquérir incarné par le continent africain semblent, pour leur part, particulièrement répandus. / Hunting has had a prominent place in the relations between Europe and the African continent, from the expeditions of the end of the 18th century through to contemporary hunting tourism. The word safari alone, which refers to the formalisation within a codified activity of these hunting trips, evokes a fairly romantic image of wild Africa. Using data from an ethnography in the hunting areas of north Benin, and with the analysis of various textual and iconographic documents, it is worth questioning the meaning that hunters of yesterday and today give to the their infatuation for safari hunting. Historically linked to colonialism, safari hunting can be interpreted as a kind of symbolical appropriation, in the shape of the hunting trophy, of a continent reduced to its wildness. This kind of conquest, however, in spite of its apparent ease, calls for a contextualisation to actualise the representations of the wild; even in its commercial version, a safari cannot be reduced to acquiring a paid-for trophy. Hunters furthermore link their activities to a legitimising discourse revolving around the ethics of hunting, a discourse which, nowadays, borrows from humanitarian or ecological discourses. Even though, on the one hand, hunting tourism is relatively marginal and controversial in the contemporary western world, the representations that go with it and the fantasy of a wilderness to be conquered – embodied by the African continent – are, on the other hand, particularly widespread.

This diploma thesis deals with the change of the landscape cover and the use of the landscape of the former Ralsko military training area after 1990. The former VVP Ralsko is located on the area of 250 km2 between Česká Lípa, Stráží pod Ralskem and Mnichovo Hradištěm. Most of its territory lies in the Liberec region and only its southern part reaches the Central Bohemian region. After the departure of the Soviet troops in 1991, the military training area was abolished and on 1 January 1992 the village of Ralsko, which currently has 171 km2 , was formed by merging nine municipalities in its former territory. The town of Ralsko is thus an area with the largest area in the Czech Republic. Between 1993 and 2004, the former military area was decontaminated, during which more than 120,000 pieces of ammunition were found and destroyed. Decontamination of contaminated soils and groundwater is ongoing. Some former military buildings are currently commercially used as warehouses for raw materials. The Military Airport at Hradčany is partly used for sports purposes, and a range of rare game species has been set up in the area of the Židlov tank space, of which the most interesting is the European Tooth (Bison bonasus). In the first part of the thesis there is a search of specialized literature dealing with...

Wilderness therapy, the practice of sending troubled young people into nature in order to re-socialize them, poses a paradox. Time spent in wilderness is imagined to produce civilizing effects on young people, rendering them better prepared to live responsible and productive lives in society. Study of wilderness therapy, therefore, provides insight into constructions of youth and nature in contemporary American society. This thesis emerges from ethnographic research conducted at Camp E-Wen-Akee, a therapeutic camping program for troubled youth, in Benson, Vermont, USA. In addition to living with the three groups of campers in their rustic camp sites and engaging in camp activities, I facilitated two camper-run research projects, and interviewed camp staff members, and the state social workers responsible for sending adjudicated youth to residential programs. I find that camp life is an achievement of many heterogeneous actors, some of whom are human and others nonhuman. The resulting work is an ethnography of a nature-culture, wherein I describe how the camp mobilizes various resources to create the conditions for therapeutic change. The differing nature narratives of campers and the adults indicated that expectations for nature are at least in part, outcomes of class processes. Close attention to camp life shows that therapy is a social strategy brought into being at a number of scales: the material body, built and temporal architectures, landscape, and 'public' wilderness outside of camp's borders. I find at each scale a tension between the ordering tactics deployed by camp staff members and resistance posed by campers and 'nature' alike. Campers' identities are meant to change as a result o f repeated performances of prosocial behavior, and the on-going circulation of success stories. Together these practices underscore that what one person does always has effects on others. The irony uncovered i n this research is that while troubled youth are sent to a nature imagined as separate from society, Camp E-Wen-Akee provides young people with an ecological model for social life. Wilderness therapy is the outcome not of a separation between nature and society, but of ongoing relations between the two. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate