AN ECCENTRIC PLACE OF VERY HIGH QUALITY: OSSABAW ISLAND, GEORGIA AS A CONTEXT FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF HISTORICAL, CULTURAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE ON THE ATLANTIC COAST by LINDA ORR KING Under the Direction of Glenn T. Eskew, PhD ABSTRACT This sweeping narrative demonstrates how Ossabaw Island’s landowners, some with a dedicated will and others unwittingly, managed to galvanize social, cultural, scientific, and political forces to preserve its natural environment despite a culture motivated by profit. Although geographically isolated, Ossabaw Island’s owners and inhabitants were active participants within the Atlantic World. Ossabaw’s owners and inhabitants adapted environmental strategies and social ideologies in accommodation not only with Ossabaw’s fragile barrier island ecosystems, but also with Southeastern coastal Georgia’s social and political movements. In particular, this work examines how the advantages of wealth and privilege provided the catalyst that ultimately benefited rather than exploited social and economic conditions on the island, leading Ossabaw Island to become the first barrier island Heritage Preserve on the southern Atlantic Coast. In addition to an analysis of unpublished manuscripts, maps, correspondence, and oral histories, this endeavor expands on the current knowledge about barrier island planters, slaves, freedmen, tenant farmers, lumbermen, boatmen, industrialists, and privileged families. It builds on previous works by including the guests, artists, scientists, writers, and environmentalists who visited the island. Furthermore, it investigates their interaction within political, economic, cultural, religious, and ideological spheres. Ossabaw Island’s indigenous societies, landed gentry, and wealthy owners shaped its cultural and economic identity from the 1560s to the modern day. It analyzes additional materials, including colonial and plantation records, official and personal correspondence, travel narratives, newspaper and magazine articles, and oral histories. This study seeks to expand the discourse on the exchange of sea island economies and societies well beyond the Savannah coastal region of the Atlantic World. The Ossabaw community evolved through conflict and compromise, and eventually encompassed not only sons and daughters of privilege and descendants of former slaves, but also artists, writers, scientists, and scholars from around the world. The central theme of this narrative history is the study of the motivating forces, both natural and synthetic, that shaped Ossabaw Island’s current distinctive cultural, environmental, and educational mission, with the major emphasis placed on the events of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Archaeological sites in the boreal forest are facing threats due to urban development, resource exploitation, vandalism, and infrastructure development, among others. In the context of archaeological site preservation as a public issue, I examine the perspectives of various publics towards the preservation and stewardship of archaeological sites in the boreal forest. Through a series of interviews, I examine the opinions of three publics involved in the archaeological process in Ontario: developers, First Nations, and archaeologists. I outline the participants??? opinions on the meaning and goals of preservation, the preservation of non-physical aspects of sites, such as oral history and site spirituality, preservation methods, site ownership and access, land use and development, involvement in the archaeological process, and funding. I also identify common themes which presented themselves throughout the interview process, such as the importance of education; the necessity for communication, collaboration, and cooperation; the problem of artifact curation; the perceived lack of genuine government involvement; and the publication of cultural resource management (CRM) archaeology???s ???grey literature???. Finally, I present suggestions on the preservation of archaeological sites which take into account the participants??? perspectives uncovered during the interview process. I conclude that preserving archaeological sites can be done using three techniques: education; communication, collaboration, and compromise; and using one of three general methods to preserve sites and artifacts. Education can be used to create public issues, teach people about the importance of archaeology and archaeological sites, and teach the involved publics about the goals and methods of CRM archaeology in Ontario. Encouraging communication, collaboration, and compromise between the interested publics includes the perspectives of formerly neglected parties, builds relationships between publics, and creates newly vested interests in site preservation. Three methods to preserve archaeological sites include site stabilization and monitoring, allowing sites to decay naturally, and excavating sites and curating the artifacts and oral histories for the long-term.

The Florida Everglades is a highly diverse socionatural landscape that historically spanned much of the south Florida peninsula. Today, the Florida Everglades is an iconic but highly contested conservation landscape. It is the site of one of the world’s largest publicly funded ecological restoration programs, estimated to cost over $8 billion (U.S. GAO 2007), and it is home to over two million acres of federally protected lands, including the Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park. However, local people’s values, practices and histories overlap and often conflict with the global and eco-centric values linked to Everglades environmental conservation efforts, sparking environmental conflict. My dissertation research examined the cultural politics of nature associated with two Everglades conservation and ecological restoration projects: 1) the creation and stewardship of the Big Cypress National Preserve, and 2) the Tamiami Trail project at the northern boundary of Everglades National Park. Using multiple research methods including ethnographic fieldwork, archival research, participant observation, surveys and semi-structured interviews, I documented how these two projects have shaped environmental claims-making strategies to Everglades nature on the part of environmental NGOs, the National Park Service and local white outdoorsmen. In particular, I examined the emergence of an oppositional white identity called the Gladesmen Culture. My findings include the following: 1) just as different forms of nature are historically produced, contingent and power-laden, so too are different claims to Everglades nature; 2) identity politics are an integral dimension of Everglades environmental conflicts; and 3) the Big Cypress region’s history and contemporary conflicts are shaped by the broader political economy of development in south Florida. My dissertation concluded that identity politics, class and property relations have played a key, although not always obvious, role in shaping Everglades history and environmental claims-making, and that they continue to influence contemporary Everglades environmental conflicts.

The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County is interested in determining the approach that it may take if it decides to pursue conservation and limited development as a strategy to preserve land. In using conservation and limited development, the Conservancy may put into practice its core values by employing this intensely-collaborative conservation tool and informing itself about development, conservation, collaboration and financing, in order to meet multiple community needs. Information about the limited development process was collected from books, news articles and personal communications with professionals to determine its components. Each chapter of this report analyzes one component, putting authors’ strategies into conversation, critiquing these and then offering conservancies several different approaches to accomplish each component. This report concludes that the most important decision that a conservancy must make when pursuing conservation and limited development, is determining the level of involvement appropriate for its conservation mission, resources, expertise, and role in realizing project goals. The final portion of the report provides two case studies that draw upon telephone interviews with professionals, and analyze the contrasting levels of involvement that each project’s conservancy assumed. Since this report was requested by the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County, it addresses some concerns and realities particular to the county; however, most recommendations are generally applicable to other land conservancies.

The designation of state and private protected areas around the world has been increasing over the past years. Belize is not an exception to this reality. To date more than 103 protected areas have been recognized into the National Protected Areas System of Belize (NPAS). Private protected areas (PPA) did not become part of Belize’s NPAS until 2015. But long before its legislation, private protected areas have been contributing to conservation and development in Belize. The Golden Stream Corridor Preserve (GSCP) is one of Belize’s exemplary PPA which advocates for conservation through the promotion of sustainable livelihood development and community empowerment. Using the co-evolution model by Pretzsch et al. (2014) as a conceptual framework, direct use values and benefits of the GSCP are assessed to gain insight into its social ecological system. A single case (embedded) case study design was used to execute this assessment at three buffering communities: Medina Bank, Golden Stream and Indian Creek. A total of 60 households, representing 10% of household leaders in each community were interviewed using a semi structured questionnaire. Community leaders were also interviewed to discover customary rules relating to resource use and the history of each community. The direct use value assessment revealed that the GSCP only contributes to values associated with tourism and employment. These values were disproportionately distributed across buffering communities; with Indian Creek perceiving all values associated with tourism, and Golden Stream from employment. Medina Bank saw no direct use values from the GSCP. Community forests and lands were found to be the exclusive source of direct use values associated with the utilization of forest products. Sustainable livelihood development opportunities and community empowerment were the most reported benefits arising from the management of the GSCP. The adoption and contribution of livelihood strategies were however met with positive and negative criticism by community members. Results from this evaluation epitomizes the importance of SES thinking in protected areas. Customary rules of resource use have contributed positively to the integrity of the GSCP. The impending threat of land use change and population growth at buffering communities calls for the creation of enabling environments for the adoption of sustainable livelihood through community participation, consultation, monitoring and evaluation.:CHAPTER ONE 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Research question and justification 2 CHAPTER TWO 2. Theoretical and conceptual framework 4 2.2 Ecosystem service approach in protected areas 7 2.3 Emergence of private protected areas: global status, definition, benefits and downsides 11 2.4 Social ecological co-evolution: a conceptual Framework 13 CHAPTER THREE 3.1 National Context: protected areas in Belize 17 3.2 Local context: The Golden Stream Corridor Preserve 19 3.3 Case study approach 23 3.4 Data collection 25 3.5 Data analysis 29 3.6 Ethical considerations 32 CHAPTER FOUR 4. Embedded case studies . 34 4.1 Case study 1: Medina Bank Village 46 4.2 Case study 2: Golden Stream Village 48 4.3 Case study 3: Indian Creek Village 62 CHAPTER FIVE 5. Consolidating and comparing the embedded cases CHAPTER SIX 6. Implications of findings for management 92 CHAPTER SEVEN 7. Conclusions, limitations and outlook 102 Limitation 103 Outlook 104 REFERENCES 108 ANNEXS 115

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My thesis focuses on philosophical themes implicit in corridor conservation, using the Big Thicket National Preserve as an example. The way in which corridors, boundaries and communities are ambiguous, as both limits and connections, is dealt with. Corridor-patch matrices assemble ecological and human groups into temporary communities, often with conflicting interests. Such constellations foreground how a foreigner's boundary crossing is a notion important to both conservation and a philosophical study of being, seen as being always in relation with otherness. In this context, the notion of foreignness and Jean-Luc Nancy's idea of being-with is explored. Understanding the complex network of relations in which an entity exists leads to an awareness of its ambiguous nature. To facilitate judgment with such ambiguity, one needs a contextual understanding of a situation.

Currently, a variety of methods are available to monitor anurans, and little standardization of methods exists. New methods to monitor anurans have become available over the past twenty years, including PVC pipe arrays used for tree frog capture and Automated Digital Recording Systems (ADRS) used to remotely monitor calling activity. In addition to ADRS, machine-learning computer software, automated vocalization recognition software (AVRS), has been developed to automatically detect vocalizations within digital sound recordings. The use of a combination of ADRS and AVRS shows the promise to reduce the number of people, time, and resources needed for an effective call survey program. However, little research exists that uses the described tools for wildlife monitoring, especially for anuran monitoring. In the study, there were two problems addressed relating to AVRS. The first was the poorly understood relationship between auditory survey methods and physical survey methods. I tested this problem by using current auditory monitoring methods, ADRS and the AVRS Song Scope© (v.3.1), alongside more traditional physical monitoring methods that included drift fences, a PVC pipe array, and visual encounter transects. No significant relationship between physical and auditory community population measures was found. Auditory methods were also effective in the detection of call characteristic differences between urban and rural locations, further suggesting an influence of noise pollution. The second problem addressed was the call identification errors found in auditory survey methods. I examined the influence of treatments including the ADRS location, listener group, species, and season on the error rates of the AVRS Song Scope© (v.3.1) and groups of human listeners. Computer error rates were higher than human listeners, yet less affected by the treatments. Both studies suggested that AVRS was a viable method to monitor anuran populations, but the choice of methods should be dependent upon the species of interest and the objectives of the study.

Herbaceous communities are critical to the functioning of forest ecosystems. They recycle nutrients, help prevent erosion, provide critical microhabitats and maintain biodiversity. In the eastern United States, most hardwood forests are growing on land once entirely cleared or used for some form of agriculture. Although some of these forests are nearly 150 years old, they still have depauperate native herbaceous communities when compared to remaining old-growth forests. This long-term depletion may result from dispersal limitation or environmental limitation. I tested the hypothesis that dispersal was the primary factor contributing to the absence of five spring-flowering herbaceous species in four secondary mesic hardwood forests. I transplanted adults and sowed fresh propagules into chosen forests. By establishing negative controls, I showed that propagules of experimental species were not incidentally dispersed and would not have been present at the sites had I not introduced them. In all four sites, seeds of three ant-dispersed species germinated and adults of these species survived, flowered and self-sowed viable propagules. These results strongly indicated dispersal limitation in all sites. Another ant-dispersed species showed evidence of being dispersal-limited in at least two sites. The limitations of one gravity-dispersed species were unclear. I discuss results from the first year after transplanting and offer management suggestions to facilitate the return of these species to degraded forests.

The processes by which urban areas come to be and evolve create outdoor spaces that experience different uses and have different characteristics over a period of time. For example, a space previously used for industrial purposes may presently be used as a community park. In some cases, a significant area of land may become a kind of leftover or remnant space whose uses are unclear, undefined, or unprogrammed, but exhibits natural characteristics. The purpose of this study is to utilize one of these natural remnants, Marott Park, in the cultural arts district of Broad Ripple in Indianapolis, Indiana as the basis for a design effort that provides access to the site while retaining both its site-specific and contextual characteristics. The intent of this effort is to enhance the community/pedestrian recreational, educational, and cultural experience through a detailed design for a portion of Marott Park. A set of recommendations also addresses the potential for connections between the site and other features such as existing open space, schools, and cultural features in the Indianapolis area. / Department of Landscape Architecture