Voluntary associations representing numerous types of recreation users and
environmental issues have flourished across the landscape in America. However, the
literature has not sufficiently studied these associations and their role in collaborative
natural resource management. A lack of understanding of voluntary associations has not
only limited managers’ ability to accommodate changing values of the American public,
but also resulted in tremendous costs for land management agencies.
This dissertation was aimed at gaining a better understanding of outdoor
recreation and environmental voluntary associations and their involvement in
collaborative forest management. Five objectives guided this study: (1) assessing the
organizational characteristics of voluntary associations; (2) exploring organizational
concerns about forest management issues; (3) examining organizational leaders’
experiences in collaborating with the Forest Service; (4) evaluating the perceived
effectiveness of collaboration efforts with the Forest Service, and (5) developing and
testing a social psychological model to predict members’ participation in organizational
activities.
To achieve our research goals, a case-study approach utilizing a mixed-methods
research framework was employed. The Sam Houston National Forest (SHNF) located
in New Waverly, Texas served as the geographic focus of this research. Semi-structured
interviews and a web-based survey were conducted with members in selected voluntary
associations that are currently involved in collaborative forest management at SHNF.
The findings identified stakeholder attributes and interests, validated assumptions
held regarding voluntary groups and assessed collaboration effectiveness, and helped to
uncover alternative explanations for members’ differential participation in voluntary
associations. The study offers a conceptual bridge linking several areas of study
including inter-organizational collaboration, environmental communication, outdoor
recreation studies, and volunteerism.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2010-12-8809 |
| Date | 2010 December 1900 |
| Creators | Lu, Jiaying |
| Contributors | Schuett, Michael A. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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