The impetus for this research was the increasing threat of catastrophic wildfires resulting from the accumulation of fuels across the West. Guided by the priorities, goals, and guiding principles outlined by the national fire plan (NFP), the objective was to identify those areas within a pinyon-juniper woodland-dominated landscape with the highest hazard of catastrophic wildfire. The intent was to help managers prioritize proactive fuels management efforts outside of the wildland urban interface (WUI). Based on a management paradigm, constraints were placed on the data collection, analysis, and model development. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to create a hazard assessment at a landscape scale in Tintic Valley, Utah. Hazard categories were a classification of fuels based on crown cover of pinyon-juniper trees, utilizing remotely sensed data. The data set consisted of digital orthophoto quadrangle (DOQ) images from 1993. The methods were developed in three phases. Phase One resulted in a hazard assessment protocol. In Phase Two, data layers were created to further divide the hazard categories into more tractable management units. Phase Three, through the retrospective examination of recent wildfires, indicated the limitations and utility of the assessment technique. The protocol presented provides a relatively fast, inexpensive, and timely hazard classification technique for pinyon-juniper woodlands at a watershed level. It is intended to be used for coarse-scale assessments of fuel hazards for strategic planning purposes. While not appropriate for fire behavior predictions, this assessment can focus managerial efforts for additional tactical planning.

Tourism in England has grown to become an activity worth around £111billion to the English economy, and constituting around 4% of employment. This has led to increasing numbers of local areas becoming involved with tourism development. However local authorities supporting tourism are impacted by financial pressures and pressures for ‘less government’, which are indicative of a ‘managerial paradigm’ which has surrounded public sector management in England. This study has examined the impact of the managerial paradigm on management of tourism at the local level. Using the English cities as a ‘case’, a methodological triangulation of questionnaire and contact with senior management in local authorities involved with tourism policy was used. The findings have led to an important understanding of the current picture concerning public sector management of tourism at the local level. This study has found that tourism is worth over £17billion to the English cities, and supports around 360,000 jobs. The findings suggest that the driving forces that characterised the managerial state continue to impact management of local tourism. This study has also examined the impact of policy changes introduced by the Conservative/Liberal Democratic Coalition government on local tourism. The accession of a new government has led to a significant realignment in public sector engagement with tourism. Policy discourse has stressed government ambition for tourism to be ‘industry-led’ with a ‘re-balancing’ the economy towards the private sector. As a result, this study has found the most significant challenges facing local tourism management centre around financial pressures. Reductions in tourism budgets are leading to major changes in departmental structures and tourism managers’ roles. Reductions in tourism budgets are leading to significant pressures on tourism departments to raise income in order to make departments financially viable. This study has found that in some cases local authorities are ceasing to financially-support tourism. This research also suggests that pressure from government for the private sector to increasingly fund tourism partnerships may be difficult to achieve locally. Respondents have argued that high levels of engagement with the private sector already exist locally, and as the private sector in tourism is predominately small businesses there are limitations as to how much such businesses can contribute to marketing partnerships. Policy for the private sector having the ‘majority power’ in the new emerging tourism partnerships may also have implications for the motivation of such partnerships. Doubts have been raised in this study from within the public sector, concerning the ability of local tourism businesses to take ‘responsibility for their own future’ whilst at the same time protecting the public interest. It is concluded that a ‘realignment’ towards more private sector involvement in partnerships brings with it potential consequences if local tourism businesses are unable to ‘increasingly fund’ the new arrangements, and the new tourism bodies are unable to establish a ‘pluralistic’ tourism policy environment in their areas. With evident reductions in local authority budgets, it is legitimate to question the scope of funding that the emerging DMOs will have at their disposal, and thus their ability to deliver local ambitions for tourism development. Therefore, the new tourism partnerships will require careful structuring and management. However, their financial futures will inevitably hinge on the value that the private sector places on the new local tourism arrangement, and their ability to maintain the public interest will depend on striking an appropriate balance of power amongst all stakeholders within the partnership.