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Two parks are studied as successful examples of protected natural areas in developing countries to demonstrate the importance of addressing local human needs while caring for the park ecosystem. Nominated as successful in a survey of park experts, Pakistan's Kirthar National Park and Nepal's Royal Chitwan National Park are presented as case studies. Strategies reported to be successful in dealing with conflicts with local human populations in 28 protected areas in 18 countries are also discussed. The need for cultural sensitivity by land use planners and managers in protecting and creating sustainable natural areas is stressed.

A long standing program of research has found consistent and substantial evidence of the underrepresentation of people of color in national parks and has identified potential reasons for this underrepresentation and barriers to participation. However, little research has examined cases where the National Park Service (NPS) has begun to successfully address diversity issues and engage diverse audiences. Through exploration of programs that successfully engage diverse youth, this study identifies promising practices that can be incorporated into NPS diversity programs across the national park system. The study was conducted in two phases. Phase one examined the current state of knowledge and learning needs of the NPS related to relevancy among new and diverse audiences through the use of qualitative interviews with NPS staff and select individuals outside the NPS. The findings from the interviews were used to develop a conceptual model based on key themes for successful engagement. The model was then applied in phase two of the study through the examination of relevancy programs within the NPS. Phase two used case study research techniques to explore programs designed to engage youth of color at two NPS units, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area. This research examined how programs at the two study areas were successful at engaging youth of color. A model of deep engagement was developed, building on the model developed in phase one. The model of deep engagement highlights six processes through which parks can more effectively engage diverse and traditionally underserved audiences.

Submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand. June 2015 / This dissertation critically examines the transformation of the South African National Parks with special reference to the role of the Social Ecology Directorate during the period 1994-2004. The establishment of a non-racial democratic social order required a different approach to the conservation of biodiversity which involved substantive change. This change included the organisation confronting its role in the apartheid legacy of dispossession, environmental racism and injustice. The Social Ecology Directorate and the concept of Social Ecology were established by the South African National Parks to drive a process of transformation. However, it is argued that these ideas and structures were not strong and cohesive enough to do so. Nevertheless the dissertation suggests that during this period, in a series of complex and contested processes, constrained but significant change was achieved in four areas: a shift to a more people-centred and developmental approach to conservation, restructuring to make the organisation more representative and to eliminate racism and sexism, land restitution, improved relations with neighbouring communities and greater inclusivity and openness to all South Africans through the promotion of tourism and cultural heritage. These changes laid the basis potentially for more radical change which links the conservation of biodiversity to social justice. / MT2016

This thesis examines the history of Tasmania’s national parks and protected areas from 1885-2005, analysing the interests, and the organisations and individuals representing them, which have influenced outcomes. Significant organisations representing different and sometimes competing interests have been community based groups, chiefly the naturalist and scientific bodies, bushwalking clubs and environmental organisations; tourism associations, industry interests, notably forestry, mining and hydro-electricity, federal, local and state governments and government agencies, notably the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The thesis argues that the establishment and development of Tasmania’s national parks and protected areas have been shaped by the negotiations, accommodations, conflicts and shifting relative power among these competing interests. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries consensus of interest among Tasmania’s social and political elite facilitated the declaration of Tasmania’s first scenery reserves and national parks. Conflicts of interest between preserving land in its natural state and industrial development grew apparent from the 1920s however, and Tasmanian governments managed park expansion through politics of compromise in which national parks accommodated industry demands. The environment movement that emerged in the 1960s protested national parks’ ‘residual’ status and with federal government support defeated the State government’s plan to build a dam within an area proposed for a Wild Rivers National Park. Following environmentalists’ success in over-riding State government processes to expand the State’s national park estate and World Heritage Area in the early 1980s; the State government strengthened its direct control over the National Parks and Wildlife Service and focused its attention on national parks’ tourism role. Aspects of tourism in national parks are, however, incompatible with the preservation of environmental and wilderness values, which resulted in further political conflict between government-supported tourism interests and the national parks movement. This thesis complements earlier research on Tasmanian national park history by Mosley, Castles, Shackel, Mendel and Cubit by extending analysis of that history to the twenty-first century, examining the role of the National Parks and Wildlife Service in that history since the agency’s inception in 1971, and addressing both environmental and social perspectives of national park history. It concludes that by the twenty-first century Tasmanian national park policy required a framework of social values associated with national parks in which to situate environmental protection as national parks’ primary purpose.

Patterns in the floristic composition, stand structure, species richness and environmental characteristics of plant communities at a number of spatial scales were examined in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, New South Wales. Vegetation patterns in eastern Australia have often been related primarily to a single environmental variable, soil phosphorus concentration. This study examines the 'single nutrient' hypothesis regarding the distribution of plant species. If soil phosphorus concentration is the majot factor affecting the distribution of plant species, then this should be highly correlated with spatial patterns in the floristic composition of plant communities within the study area. Floristic composition was determined as the frequencies of all vascular species occuring within duplicate 500 m2 quadrants from fifty sites within the Park. Environmental data consisted of 21 variables, including soil physical and chemical characteristics, from each quadrant. The patterns in floristic composition and environmental factors are described and the relationships between composition and environment were examined. through indirect and direct gradient analyses. The measured environmental factors showed strong correlations with floristic patterns; however, two scales of species distributions were apparent: between and within soil type. Direct gradient analyses of composition and environmental data showed soil phosphorus concentration was inadequate in explaining the observed patterns in floristic composition of plant communities are a response to complex multivariable environmental gradients. The structural characteristics of vegetation stands were examined through the development of a multivariate approach to the classification of stand structure. This multivariate approach is essentially a modification of an existing scheme utilising foliage projective cover of various recognisable strata within the strands. Multivariate classification and ordinations of plant communities based on structural characteristics showed strong correspondence to that obtained by compositional analyses. The complex multivariable gradient hypothesis is supported from results examining stand structure-environment relationships. The relationship between species richness and richness of three growth-form types (tree, shrubs, and herbs) and environmental variables were examined through generalised linear models. The measured environmental variables showed strong relationships with species richness, consistent with the results found multivariately with floristic composition and stand structure. No single measured environmental variable adequately predicted the observed patterns in species richness, rather species richness showed strong relationships with complex multivariable environmental gradients. This study clearly demonstrates the the 'single-nutrient' or 'phosphorus' hypothesis is inadequate in explaining all the patterns in the various components of vegetation within Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The complex multivariable environmental gradient hypothesis suggested by the relationships between floristic composition and environmental variables is supported by the relationships exhibited by two other attributes of vegetation communities: stand structure and species richness. Further studies testing the significance of the complex multivariable environmental gradient hypothesis are required.

This dissertation examines the potential use of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and alternative transportation systems (ATS) in national parks. Visitors at two of the national park units in California, Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GOGA) and Sequoia and Kings Canyons National Parks (SEKI), were surveyed during May and July 2002 regarding their attitudes and intentions toward a variety of transportation and travel planning items (including ITS and ATS tools). There were three principal areas of inquiry: attitude toward transportation and travel planning tools, likelihood of using transportation and travel planning tools, and the difference between intentions for using tools before arriving at the study parks and while at the study parks. The results revealed several key findings. First, there was substantial support for the relationship between attitudes and intentions. Furthermore, both experience with technology and attitude toward technology were predictive of intention to use technology in the study parks. Third, there was a significant difference between the attitudes and intentions of visitors to an urban park (GOGA) and visitors to a rural park (SEKI). In particular, GOGA respondents perceived alternative transportation (e.g. shuttle, public bus, park and bike) as more appropriate than did SEKI respondents. Fourth, while some support was found for a relationship between one of the ITS goals, safety, and attitude toward ITS tools in national parks, there was no support for the relationship between other ITS and ATS goals (e.g. reduction of congestion) and attitudes toward or intent to use these tools in national parks. Finally, there was a significant difference between the types of tools respondents would use before arriving at and while at the study parks. Technology such as the Internet was more likely to be used before arriving at the parks. Following from diffusion of innovations theory, changes in perception toward these tools, as well as possible changes in the likelihood that they will be used in national parks, may be monitored by future research.

Thesis (Ph. D.) in Forestry--University of Maine, 2003. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 201-211).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2002. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-91). Also available on the World Wide Web.