No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis concerns the cultural and scientific practices involved with turn-of-the-century struggles to conserve the Maine Woods. Conservation was underwritten by the powerful and productive fiction that an essential nature exists as something completely apart from the elaborately organized exhibitions by which it has been staged for our benefit. The absolute distinction between nature and culture is profoundly problematic but tremendously productive as well. Drawing on a variety of historical and theoretical sources, this thesis describes the various ways in which the essential nature of the Maine Woods was set up and represented as something demanding protection and conservation. The thesis is divided into three parts. Part I sets the stage for the historical discussions that follow by assessing debates in geography and environmental history about the social construction of knowledge and nature. Recent scholarship has been caught on the horns of a theoretical dilemma: while understanding of the present environmental crisis and its historical roots seems to demand recognition of the independent agency of nature, social theory suggests the impossibility of stepping outside the bounds of culture to represent an independent nature as it really is. Different responses to this dilemma are discussed. It is argued that environmental critique demands a more humble approach to truth, one sensitive to the meanings of its metaphors and the politics of its practices. Part II assesses the forest conservation movement. The objects of scientific forestry depended fundamentally upon the ways in which the forest was framed as an object of knowledge. Very different programs of action flowed from competing metaphorical definitions of the Maine Woods as a crop, a mine, or a kind of capital. The ascendency of technical and quantitative knowledge of the forest and its displacement of local understandings are described as are public policy disputes in Maine about the regulation of private property, the institution of publicly owned forest reserves, and the role of the state in forestry. Part in deals with the conservation of wildlife for sport. Flocking to the forest to hunt, wealthy sportsmen articulated a variety of sexual, class, and racial anxieties about the debilitating embrace of modern life. The transfomation of the Maine Woods into a vacationland for their manly recreation demanded the institution of game laws and the criminalization of traditional lifeways to save the game for sport. In these struggles, conservationists had to contend not only with local residents, who resisted this construction of the Maine Woods, but also with a variety of non-human actors, such as deer, predators, and pathogens, whose presence, though difficult to deny outright, was culturally framed and mediated in materially significant ways. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Characteristics of Maine trappers were investigated by monitoring license buying behavior from 1976-1980 and by using a mail questionnaire after the trapping season in 1980. Trapping license sales increased 56% during the 5-year study period. From 37-41% of individuals who first purchased a license during this time period did not purchase one the next year. Most individuals who purchased a second license continued to purchase one. Through the questionnaire, individuals described attitudes, behaviors, and preferences. A disproportionately large number of individuals who claimed to be professional or semi-professional trappers attended public hearings. Although money received for fur pelts is important, the most common reason given for trapping was the challenge involved. Fall land trapping was the most preferred type of trapping and the one in which most trappers participated. Fox was the most preferred upland species and muskrat was the most preferred aquatic species. Detailed information was obtained from individuals who trapped in the fall. Effort per day of season was estimated in both trapper-days and average trap-nights. The problems rated highest by trappers in Maine involved people. Top-rated objectives of trappers were maintaining animal populations in proper balance with carrying capacity and maximizing pelt primeness. When presented with regulation options, respondents rated a species bag limit per trapper as the most acceptable option even though this regulation has been opposed consistently at public hearings. Information on trappers, animals, and harvests is combined into a Management system. / Master of Science

In recent years, gull control has become closely tied to seabird restoration in the Gulf of Maine. Herring (Larus argentatus ) and Great Black-backed (L. marinus) gulls are the principal targets of control, yet anecdotal reports suggest that gull predation remains an important source of egg and chick mortality at many managed seabird colonies. The main objective of this study was to examine the impact of gull predation on the reproductive success of several waterbird species nesting at restoration sites in Maine. Particular emphasis was placed on understanding gull foraging behavior, identifying foraging constraints, and applying this knowledge to management of gulls and small seabirds. / Productivity of Common (Sterna hirundo), Arctic ( S. paradisaea), and Roseate (S. dougallii) terns was monitored and daily predation watches were conducted at Eastern Egg Rock, Maine from 2003-2005. In 2004 and 2005 only, attempts were made to shoot gulls preying on terns. Shooting failed to eliminate predation, and tern predation risk was influenced by nest location, but not year. Common and Arctic terns experienced heavy predation in all years, but Roseate Tern nests were seldom depredated, presumably because Roseates selected nest-sites with more cover. Great Black-backed Gull predation was influenced by visibility, tidal state, and year, while Herring Gull predation depended only on the stage of the tern breeding cycle. There was little evidence that gulls preyed selectively on unfit chicks. The limitations of shooting are discussed and non-lethal alternatives suggested. / Common Eider (Somateria mollissima dresseri) nest (hatching) success, habitat use, and duckling survival were studied at Stratton Island, Maine in 2004-2005. Eiders nested in a variety of habitats offering vegetative cover and enjoyed high nest success. Duckling survival was negligible however, because of opportunistic, group attacks by Great Black-backed Gulls. Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) also appeared to suffer heavy gull predation, with adults occasionally attacked in flight. In 2006, gull displacement walks, gull nest/egg destruction, and occasional shooting were used on a trial basis and may enhance future eider production.