CURRENT RESEARCH APPLICATION PROJECTS
The Linking Wilderness Research and Management Series of Annotated Reading Lists.
WHO: Vita Wright, Marion Hourdequin, Brian Glaspell, Sophie Osborn, Annette Puttkammer, Doug Tempel, Alison Perkins, Amy Cilimburg, and Brett Walker - Leopold Institute
WHAT: This series of annotated reading lists is being developed to help land managers and others access scientific information relevant to protecting and restoring wilderness and similarly managed lands, as well as the myriad of values associated with such lands. References in these reading lists are categorized to draw attention to the relevance of each publication, and then organized to provide a logical framework for addressing the issue.
Each volume begins with references necessary to understand the overall issue, and then provides references useful for identifying management goals, understanding influences on those goals, and finally, for selecting and implementing management approaches. Within each section, articles are annotated to clarify their relevance to that section and to highlight their importance for wilderness management. To date we have completed the first four in the series, with others soon to follow:
We are interested in who is using these reading lists and for what purposes. Please help us out by taking a minute to complete a very brief SURVEY.
Each volume can be downloaded here, or ordered by going to Publications and using the Leopold Institute Publication Number.
 Volume 1 -- Wilderness Fire Restoration and Management
Leopold Institute Publication # 438
 Volume 2 -- Defining, Managing, and Monitoring Wilderness Visitor Experiences
Leopold Institute Publication # 439
 Volume 3 -- Recreation Fees in Wilderness and other Public Lands
Leopold Institute Publication # 440
 Volume 4 -- Understanding and Managing Invasive Plants in Wilderness and Other Natural Areas
Leopold Institute Publication # 464
 Volume 5 -- Backcountry Recreation Impacts to Wildlife - (Draft, revised September 2005)
WHEN: This is an ongoing project. The first four volumes were published in 2001-2002. Additional reading lists will follow as funding becomes available.
WHY: Federal land management agencies have recognized the importance of incorporating the best available scientific knowledge into management decisions. Managers can base their decisions on the best available scientific knowledge only if they are aware of current and relevant science as well as how it fits into their management goals.
The Leopold Institute Web Site
WHO: Vita Wright, Suzanne Lingle and Amy Cilimburg - Leopold Institute; Chuck Besancon - University of Montana Wilderness Institute
WHAT: We are continually maintaining and improving our website in order to provide readily accessible information about the Leopold Institute, our research and research application efforts, our staff, and recent activities, as well as to allow easy access to our publications. This project is also designed to make sure wilderness research information, especially that produced by the Leopold Institute, is accurately and efficiently represented on the Wilderness Information Network (www.wilderness.net).
WHEN: Development and maintenance is ongoing.
WHY: The Internet has become an important and efficient medium for information exchange. This project is designed to increase the information available to managers, other researchers, educators, and the public, and to provide information as soon as it is available.
PRODUCTS: See http://leopold.wilderness.net
Leopold Institute Research in a Nutshell - Results and Management Implications
WHO: Vita Wright, Alison Perkins, Janet Doherty, Nathan Queener, and Amy Cilimburg - Leopold Institute
WHAT: This project was developed to provide brief overviews of selected research projects in order to highlight research results and management implications and to provide a list of associated publications or products.
WHEN: This is an ongoing project.
WHY: Wilderness managers, as well as many others, have limited time to search for and access the primary research literature. This project summarizes research findings into an easy to read and accessible format, so that readers can decide whether the associated publications with more detail on the topics are relevant to their objectives.
PRODUCTS: We have written web-based summaries within the following categories:
Nutshells are available for download at "http://leopold.wilderness.net/research/nutshell.htm".
Wilderness Stewardship Reference System:
Legislative, Administrative, Judicial, and Scientific Information
WHO: Beth Peluso, Shannon Meyer, and Peter Landres - Leopold Institute; Sue Matthews - Arthur Carhart Wilderness Training Center
WHAT: We are in the final stages of creating a database to serve as a research tool for wilderness managers, the general public, students, and academics. The database is organized by issue, allowing quick, easy access to relevant sections of the numerous wilderness acts, agency policies, legislative histories, court cases, and past examples of management decisions.
WHEN: 1999-2001
WHY: Wilderness managers are responsible for translating the broad, sometimes ambiguous, language of the Wilderness Act of 1964 into on-the-ground decisions on a daily basis. However, many of the issues now facing wilderness managers were never envisioned by the framers of the Wilderness Act. The intent of the database is twofold. The first objective is to clarify the concept of wilderness, legally and officially, and explore the limits definitions place on management. By pulling from a variety of sources, the database offers insight into the intent and interpretation of the Wilderness Act that may not be evident in the legislation. The second objective is to foster interagency awareness of the different approaches to the Wilderness Act taken by the four federal agencies (the Forest Service, Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management) charged with managing wilderness.
PRODUCTS: The Wilderness Stewardship Reference System is available at: http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=wsrs&sec=intro
Assessing Wilderness Research Application Needs
Click here for project overview.
WHO: Vita Wright - Leopold Institute; Stefanie Kearns - North Country Community College
WHAT: The project will consist of three parts: (1) a literature review of social and organizational communication theories relevant to the adoption of new ideas and appraoches, (2) agency case studies, and (3) a national survey of wilderness managers. For each case study, we will engage in conversations with managers including both local and centralized decision makers and staff resource (fire, invasive plants, and recreation) specialists, to meet the following objectives:
- examine the roles that science currently plays in wilderness management,
- gain a better understanding of how land managers access and use science,
- gain a better understanding of how researchers successfully disseminate scientific information and/or work with managers,
- identify specific barriers that limit managers' ability to access and use science, and
- identify potential tools and techniques for improving managers' access to and use of science.
Information gathered during the case studies will be used to develop part two of this project, a nationwide quantitative survey of managers responsible for managing fire, invasive plants, or recreation in each wilderness management agency.
WHEN: 2001-2004
WHERE: Various locations
WHY: Our broad goal is to understand and improve the relationship between science and management of public lands, emphasizing wilderness issues. To achieve this goal, we are investigating how land managers access and use scientific knowledge. Information gathered in this study will be used to prioritize Research Application Program efforts to bridge the gap between science and wilderness management. In addition, we will share our conclusions with both with researchers and managers of U.S. public land management agencies, contributing to the broader objective of improving communication among researchers and managers.
Annotated Bibliography and Searchable Database on Wilderness Recreation
WHO: Yu-Fai Leung - North Carolina State University; Jeff Marion - U.S. Geologic Survey; David Cole - Leopold Institute
WHAT: This project will be an internet-served bibliography of recreation ecology research and will emphasize items published since the 1981 Cole and Schreiner bibliography.
WHEN: 1999-2002
WHY: A great deal of recreational impacts research has occurred in the last 20 years. This published bibliography will provide an update of references, superceding the publication by David Cole and Edward Schreiner, Impacts of backcountry recreation: site management and rehabilitation--an annotated bibliography (Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-121). Additionally, with the advent of easily accessible information served on the web, this bibliography will be made available as a searchable database.
Digital Wilderness Boundaries Database
WHO: David Spildie - Leopold Institute
WHAT: This project develops a comprehensive standardized set of digital Geographic Information System coverages of the National Wilderness Preservation System and Wilderness Study Areas. These will be served on the National Atlas web site (http://nationalatlas.gov/mld/wildrnp.html), which hosts easy to use, map-like views of natural and sociocultural landscapes in the United States.
WHEN: To be completed in early 2002
WHY: These map coverages will be available to anyone interested in the GIS application and analysis of wilderness areas.
COMPLETED RESEARCH APPLICATION PROJECTS
Leopold Institute Web Site Expansion
WHO: Amy Cilimburg, Vita Wright, and Suzanne Lingle - Leopold Institute
WHAT: We expanded our website to provide readily accessible information about the Leopold Institute, our research and research application programs, our staff, and recent activities, as well as to allow easy access to our publications. Research projects and publications were categorized by subject to facilitate the ability of site visitors to find them.
WHEN: Expansion completed December 2001; maintenance is ongoing.
PRODUCTS: See http://leopold.wilderness.net
Visitor Use Estimation Techniques
WHO: Brian Glaspell, Annette Puttkammer, Vita Wright, and Alan Watson - Leopold Institute
WHAT: Through increasing familiarity with the information and techniques described in the Wilderness Recreation Use Estimation Handbook (Watson et al. 2001), this project aimed to improve the ability of managers to develop accurate estimates of wilderness and backcountry recreation visitor use. Leopold Institute staff developed and conducted training workshops for managers from the U.S. Forest Service and other federal and state agencies in several regions of the U.S
WHEN: Two pilot use-estimation workshops were conducted in Spring 2000 and five additional workshops were conducted in Spring 2001.
WHERE: CA, NV, GA, AK
PRODUCTS: Workshops conducted; follow-up consultation on several use estimation sampling plans.
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