Dissertations / Theses: 'Land stewardship'

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DeAngelo, Matthew Thomas. "Watershed Management and Private Lands: Moving Beyond Financial Incentives to Encourage Land Stewardship." PDXScholar, 2016. http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3034.

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Public water utilities are tasked with providing high quality, inexpensive water often sourced from watersheds representing a diverse mix of public and private land ownership. There is increasing recognition amongst water resource managers of the role that private landowners play in determining downstream water quality, but bringing together landowners with a wide variety of land management objectives under the umbrella of watershed stewardship has proven difficult. Recently, a large number of "Payment for Watershed Services" programs have aimed to engage private landowners in watershed stewardship initiatives by offering financial incentives for adopting watershed best management practices. However, a growing field of research suggests that financial incentives alone may be of limited utility to encourage widespread and long-standing behavior change, and instead understanding landowner attitudes and non-financial barriers to stewardship program enrollment has become a focus of research. This research examines a population of rural landowners representing a diversity of agricultural, forestry, recreational, and investment objectives in the Clackamas River watershed, Oregon. I designed and distributed a mail and web-based survey instrument intended to measure land uses and land ownership objectives, attitudes towards watershed stewardship programs, barriers to enrollment in stewardship programs, and preferred incentives and goals that would promote enrollment. I received 281 valid responses for a response rate of 29%. I conducted two primary analyses: one focused on relating attitudes and barriers to intent to enroll in a watershed stewardship program, and one focused on identifying how diverse landowners differ according to factors influencing enrollment in stewardship programs. I found that landowners did not report financial considerations to be a primary barrier to enrollment and expressed low interest in receiving financial incentives. Instead, landowners reported that primary barriers related to lack of trust, ecological understanding, and concerns that stewardship program enrollment would be incompatible with their land management objectives. I do not discount the potential utility of financial incentives under certain circumstances, but emphasize the importance of addressing these other considerations before incentives can make a meaningful impact. I compared how barriers to enrollment were perceived by landowners with different land management objectives relating to production, investment, and conservation. I found that landowner attitudes were differentiated from one another primarily by their use of land for production purposes; however, I found a large amount of diversity between producers and non-producers in the degree to which they considered investment and conservation objectives in their land management, and these two variables added further explanatory power to understanding fine-scale differences in how landowner typologies relate to conservation programs.

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Ffolliott, Peter F. "Integrated Watershed Management: A Comprehensive Approach to Land Stewardship." Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/296994.

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Finlayson, Ian James 1974. "Towards sustainable land stewardship : reframing development in Wisconsin's dairy gateway." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/30281.

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Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-89).
Changing economic realities in the dairy industry have profoundly affected the viability of the dairy farming community in Wisconsin. In addition they face mounting local opposition to dairy modernization and expansion, and an increased regulatory burden. This survey looks at ten farms in the Dairy Gateway counties and the broader trends in the industry, and reveals incongruities with neo-classical economic theory. An ecological economics framework is then applied in an attempt to better explain what it happening in the Dairy sector and to support policy directions that might lead the dairy community back towards both economically and ecologically sustainable land stewardship.
by Ian James Finlayson.
M.C.P.

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Ramsdell, Chadwick Paxton. "Paying for Nature: Incentives and the Future of Private Land Stewardship." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/25110.

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Privately owned lands provide a number of benefits to humans, including food, clean air and water, and building materials. Private lands are also home to a host of wildlife species and the habitats that they rely upon for survival. As such, balancing human and ecological needs on private lands is of critical importance. Stewardship is a term popularly used to refer to this balanced approach of managing land for a host of benefits. When landowners lack the interest, ability, or willingness to incorporate stewardship into their management strategies, incentives are often provided to spur greater conservation outcomes. This two-part case study is focused on private land stewardship. Using qualitative data analysis, I first examined the behaviors that a sample of production-oriented ranchers defined as stewardship. I then explored the environmental values underlying their behaviors. Utilitarian values dominated the four broad themes that emerged from respondents' operationalization of stewardship, including: maintaining economically productive rangelands, protecting water resources, maintaining an aesthetically pleasing property, and providing for wildlife. Next, I sought to better understand the impact of incentives on durable conservation behaviors. As incentives can reduce intrinsic motivation, I used Self-Determination Theory as a framework for surveying participants in an existing conservation incentive program. The results suggest that landowners maintained their willingness to continue protecting a threatened bird species following the removal of an incentive. Each paper concludes with an analysis of findings within the context of the empirical literature, and present potential practical implications for future conservation efforts.
Master of Science

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Patzke, Karin Lynn. "Valuing Constituency| Property Assessments, Land Management and Environmental Stewardship in Central Texas." Thesis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10606146.

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This dissertation examines the recent history of environmental conservation in Texas from three perspectives, and provides an analytic framework for evaluating how political actors and constituents participate in the rule of law. The centerpiece of this analysis examines the use of legal fictions as genres of social action in which evidence and expertise are used to adhere to the rule of law by creating legitimacy through the negotiation of practice. Preliminarily, I examine state environmental politics in the 1990s to understand how wildlife management was construed as a conservation policy for private landowners. I then explore the states legal codes and practices that establish land management practice characterized by property tax law. Finally, I turn to the contemporary practices of Central Texas landowners to understand the consequences of the policy. The focus of this dissertation is the examination of bureaucratic participation and the resulting documents for property tax assessment. Evaluating these different scales of action reveal how landowners, biologists, and state administrators use the bureaucratic policies of tax law to create conservation practices. This work adds to the growing body of literature investigating “actually existing neoliberalism” (Brenner and Theodor 2002; Hilgers 2011; Ong 2007; Wacquant 2012) to reveal how contradictions between legality and practice are mediated across social relationships. As a component of neoliberal governance, conservation on private lands presents a set of contradictions in which the productive and economic value of land diverges from its historical and cultural value. In conclusion I posit a new legal fiction of property, the inherited value, to understand these contradictions.

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Hursin, Tamara Julie Irene. "Wetland retention on the prairies through private landowner stewardship." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/29887.

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Loss and degradation of wetlands across Canada's prairie pothole region in Canada is severe and accelerating as on-going intensification and expansion of the agricultural land base continues to exert pressure on the remaining wetland resource. Traditionally wetlands have been regarded as unexploited wastelands to be converted to more productive agricultural uses. Although wetlands are now recognized as providing vital functions of a hydrological, ecological and social nature which have economic and social value as well as intrinsic value, difficulties in quantifying these benefits, coupled with readily calculated and realized benefits from agricultural production, result in continuing wetland losses. As well, because wetland benefits accrue to the general public rather than the private land holders who dominate the pothole region, individual owners cannot capture payment for these benefits and thus favor agricultural production over wetland retention. The primary objective of the thesis is to evaluate nonregulatory approaches to encouraging private landowner stewardship on the prairies with respect to wetland retention. From the literature, it is established that a nonregulatory approach to preserving wetlands on private lands is preferable to police power regulation from both a landowner and general public perspective. Several benefits associated with using nonregulatory tools to promote changes in landowner behavior are identified and developed into an analytical framework. Using this framework, six market and moral suasion nonregulatory tools commonly used to encourage landowners to retain wetlands are assessed for their apparent advantages and disadvantages in supporting the primary concerns of landowners faced with a decision whether to enter into a stewardship program. From this assessment, conclusions regarding probable owner acceptability of the mechanisms are drawn, acceptability being a measure for how successful the nonregulatory tools will be in promoting private stewardship of wetlands. The expected landowner appeal of the mechanisms is tested by evaluating their actual owner appeal as implemented in three on-going Canadian stewardship programs. Actual appeal is found to be fairly consistent with results from the literature analysis and conclusions from these results indicate that the mechanisms do vary in their effectiveness to encourage landowners to retain wetlands and thus vary in their ability to secure wetland acreage for protection. Data limitations are encountered in the case studies due to the infancy of stewardship programs in Canada and thus it is concluded that it will take time to demonstrate the effectiveness of nonregulatory mechanisms in promoting private landowner stewardship of wetlands. The evaluation of nonregulatory tools allows a number of recommendations to be drawn with regard to improving stewardship programs in order to effectively encourage landowner participation, the type of data base that needs to be established in order to effectively monitor the success of nonregulatory mechanisms, and opportunities for further investigation in this area of study.
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Graduate

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Means, Peter T. "Forest stewardship council certification of public forests| Five case studies." Thesis, Colorado State University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1564491.

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This study characterizes the experience of five states that have chosen to pursue third party sustainable forest certification of publicly owned lands using the principles and criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Studying the impact of FSC certification on Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania may provide the Colorado State Forest Service and other forest stakeholders with an improved understanding of the potential impact of FSC certification of Colorado's public forests. This issue is especially pertinent to Colorado green builders who are attempting to acquire structural lumber from sustainably managed forests within a 500 mile (805 km) area of the construction site, as prescribed by US Green Build Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) standards. As there are no FSC certified forests in Colorado or neighboring states, sustainable builders cannot comply with some pertinent green building standards. Additionally, It is intended that this study will support sustainable forest policy studies and facilitate continuing research on the impact of FSC certification of Colorado public forests.

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Hudson, Teresa Michelle. "Assessing and evaluating the Forest Stewardship Program : promoting and conducting sound wildlife management /." Thesis, This resource online, 1995. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-01102009-063302/.

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Ahiamadu, Amadi. "Re-defining stewardship : a Nigerian perspective on accountable and responsible land ownership according to the Old Testament." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/1251.

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Thesis (DTh (Old and New Testament))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
This dissertation has explored the Biblical basis for a redefinition of stewardship, and has done so in the light of land ownership customs and ethos in some parts of Africa. It has employed a postcolonial hermeneutics in interpreting Genesis 1:26-28 using also a functional equivalence approach in its translation and exegesis. In chapter one the conceptual scheme is outlined, while providing a highlight of the problem, the hypothesis, the methodology and various definitional terms which feature in the discussion. In chapter two various scholarly views are examined in order to critically assess the criteria for either a humans-above-nature or humans-in-partnership-withnature mindset. The implications of such divergent views have been critically examined. In the third chapter views of African scholars were brought to bear on gerontocracy which has transcended pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial economic and political influences and has sustained an ongoing cultural practice of a “giraffe principle” of stewardship, land ownership and use. In the fourth and fifth chapter, the use of a postcolonial critical hermeneutics in interpretation is rationalised. A functional equivalence approach in translating our pericope into Ogba is used, and then re-read using a postcolonial critical hermeneutics. The imago Dei and the cultural mandate which goes with it has been re-interpreted in line with a hermeneutics that is humane and sensitive to a post-colonial context. In the sixth chapter a redefinition of stewardship has been attempted, using the fruits of our close reading, functional translation, and the cultural perceptions derived from our empirical research. In the final chapter, a conclusion has been drawn to show how this study contributes to a new appreciation of the concept of stewardship when applied to land ownership and use especially when humans are properly located in a relationship with God and with nature that is ongoing.

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Willcocks, Ann. "Factors affecting participation in group agri-environment schemes : a case study of the Dartmoor Commons." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/8549.

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Environmental stewardship schemes are an important driver of biodiversity and habitat improvement throughout England, with the provision of funding to land managers to deliver effective land management that will benefit wildlife, habitats, natural resources and the population. Participation in agri-environment schemes is voluntary and much is done to encourage scheme participation. Dartmoor is a designated landscape, a National Park, and a Special Area of Conservation and encompasses areas of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Dartmoor is a farmed landscape, with the area divided into 92 common land units, over which a diversity of common rights are exercised. At present, the majority of Dartmoor Commons are managed by Environmental agreements, protecting the habitat and the SSSI’s. There is a demand for Dartmoor to be a recreational area, an environmental jewel, and a farmed landscape. Protection of this landscape requires the amalgamation of various organisations and individuals. Research indicates the benefits of group agri-environment schemes, of a landscape-scale approach to the improvement of habitats and the provision of wildlife corridors, crossing the boundaries of land ownership. vi The research considers the factors associated with group agri-environment schemes, where it is not necessarily like-minded individuals who come together because of a common cause and a shared vision. The issue surrounding common rights results in persons coming together because they have common rights and not necessarily a common view. A combination of interview responses and questionnaire data has been pulled together to ascertain the factors affecting agri-environment scheme participation on Dartmoor. The data reflects on the impacts of group agri-environment schemes on the commons of Dartmoor. The question remains as to the voluntary nature of group agri-environment schemes on Dartmoor. Hardin (1968) recognised the impact of one commoner’s decision had on another. Dartmoor agri-environment schemes require participation from the majority of commoners; therefore an individual’s action has a consequence. This research aims to investigate the impacts of agri-environment schemes on the commons of Dartmoor.

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Barrameda, Pricillo G. Sansanee Choowaew. "Certificate of stewardship contract and watershed management : a comparative study between participants and non-participants of integrated social forestry program /." Abstract, 2008. http://mulinet3.li.mahidol.ac.th/thesis/2551/cd412/4937421.pdf.

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Reich, Denis Andrew. "Evaluating the Conservation Security Program utilizing the perceptions and economics of producer participation implications for land stewardship in Iowa agriculture /." [Ames, Iowa : Iowa State University], 2007.

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Emory, Jorie Lynne. "Exploring the Role of Artist Residencies on Local Land Stewardship: A Case Study of the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1248715949.

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Franke, Larissa, Francesco Amabile, and Chantal Spruit. "Sustainable landscape conservation and human well-being : A study of the Santa Cruz Mountains Stewardship Network." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för strategisk hållbar utveckling, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-18275.

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This report aims to answer the question “What is the relationship between adopting a landscape conservation approach and human well-being?” through a case study of the Santa Cruz Mountains Stewardship Network. The Network is a collective that involves a variety of stakeholders that belong to a multidimensional scale and focuses on achieving a wide spectrum of goals. This research looks at the landscape conservation approach, which the Network uses, through the lens of strategic sustainable development by taking a systems perspective. The eight sustainability principles, which are used for the analysis, function as system boundaries for sustainability to aim towards human well-being. The environmental sphere is connected with the social sphere and make up the socio-ecological system and should not be considered separately. This research aims to make this connection clearer to compliment the lack of knowledge on this topic. The main conclusion is that by operating within the 8SPs and using a landscape conservation approach, organizations can contribute directly or indirectly to human well-being and the health of ecosystems. Some of the benefits for humans are an increase in physical and mental health and having the opportunity to find meaning by being out in nature.

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Stone, Neal A. "The role of land stewardship and sedimentation management in the Upper Wascana Creek Watershed in the long-term maintenance of the Saskatchewan capital region and preservation of existing Wascana Lake functions." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp04/mq23515.pdf.

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Cochrane, David Alan, and david cochrane@au ey com. "Maintaining Environmental Values in a Commercial Environment - a Framework for Commercial Development in Victoria's National Parks." RMIT University. Graduate School of Business, 2007. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20080220.163331.

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This research has focussed on the development of a commercial business model (CBM) for providing tourism and support service based commercial activities in Victoria's national parks which also allowed for the protection of the parks natural values. National parks are vital if we as a nation are to retain our natural heritage - but the public sector land stewards of these important assets are facing increasing funding and user pressures. The result is a growing focus on the commercialisation of our national parks to provide services and generate the revenue required to maintain these assets. However, this has resulted in the exacerbation of a long existing conflict - these commercial operators are primarily focus on the achievement of a commercial return, while the land stewards' main responsibility is in the protection of the natural values of these assets. In completing this project an abductive research approach (using grounded theory) has been adopted. Specifically, the research activities undertaken included data collection via a number of techniques including stakeholder interviews, detailed examination of existing commercial arrangements, literature research on international approaches and models, development of a suggested commercial business model based on a synthesise of the research outcomes and, finally, obtaining user feedback. The use of the various data sources, and subsequent sourcing of user feedback facilitated the triangulation of the research results. The findings from this research challenge a number of the practices currently adopted in the structuring of commercial activities suggesting that these practices are inhibiting the quality of the service being provided to the national park visitor along with the level of protection being afforded to the parks natural values. The resulting CBM provides park managers with a framework for identification and structuring of commercial business activities, practical guidance on the actions required in the completion of a concession process and identification of a number of the relevant issues which need to be considered and addressed in establishing and managing a national park concession. The CBM has been developed specifically for application within Victoria's national parks (based on a public/private sector relationship). The output will also provide guidance on methods for embedding natural values on public/private sector relationships in other settings.

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Torrents, Pau. "Farmers' participation in conservation of rural landscapes : A case study of the Menorca Biosphere Reserve (Spain)." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-99774.

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In an European context of agricultural land abandonment, the role of the farming community as landscape stewards is crucial for maintaining the rural landscape as well as the ecosystem services provided by this landscape. Such stewardship is studied here by assessing the participation of the farming community in the management of Menorca Biosphere Reserve, a small Mediterranean island with very well conserved and rich rural landscape which is not escaping this tendency of land abandonment. A survey of 41 farms and interviews with 15 stakeholders were performed in order to assess the role of the farming community in participatory management processes and the effectiveness of the Menorca Biosphere Reserve Agency (MBRA) in facilitating their participation.The results show that the participatory activities of the MBRA are effective and highly valued by participating stakeholders but could be improved by: 1) engaging non-associated farmers and traditional farmers in the MBRA activities 2) finding a consensual and long-term solution on issues related to the access to private rural land 3) providing rapid feedback to participants after meetings and 4) transforming the MBRA structure in order to deal with changes and an uncertain future. Failing to do this could illegitimate further participatory activities, erode trust among stakeholders and alienate the farming community and the society, thereby affecting the maintenance of the rural landscape.This case study highlights the importance of appropriate management structure for adaptive co-management to benefit from the participation of stakeholders in general and farmers in particular. The findings should be of interest to managers, scholars and practitioners using adaptive co-management approaches to manage complex social-ecological systems such as rural, cultural landscapes.

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Blom, Carron Margaret. "Strategic intent and the management of infrastructure systems." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2017. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/268224.

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Infrastructure is presenting significant national and global challenges. Whilst often seen as performing well, infrastructure tends to do so against only limited terms of reference and short-term objectives. Given that the world is facing a new infrastructure bill of ~£40T, improving the benefits delivered by existing infrastructure is vital (Dobbs et al., 2013). This thesis investigates strategic intent and the management of infrastructure systems; how factors such as organisational structure and business practice affect outcomes and the ways in which those systems — not projects — are managed. To date, performance has largely been approached from the perspective of project investment and/or delivery, or the assessment of latent failures arising from specific shocks or disruptive events (e.g. natural disaster, infrastructure failures, climate change). By contrast, the delivery of system-level services and outcomes across the infrastructure system has been rarely examined. This is where infrastructure forms an enduring system of services, assets, projects, and networks each at different stages of their lifecycle, and affecting one another as they develop, then age. Yet system performance, which also includes societal, organisational, administrative and technical factors, is arguably the level relevant to, and the reality of, day-to-day public infrastructure management. This research firstly investigated industry perceptions in order to test and confirm the problem: the nub of which was the inability to fully deliver appropriate and relevant infrastructure outcomes over the long term. Three detailed studies then explored the reasons for this problem through different lenses; thereby providing an evidence-base for a range of issues that are shared by the wider infrastructure industry. In confirming its hypothesis that “the strategic intent and the day-to-day management of infrastructure systems are often misaligned, with negative consequences for achieving the desired long-term infrastructure system outcomes”, this research has increased our understanding of the ways in which that misalignment occurs, and the consequences that result. It found those consequences were material, and frequently not visible within the sub-system accountable for the delivery of those outcomes. That public infrastructure exists, not in its own right, but to be of benefit to society, is a central theme drawn from the definition of infrastructure itself. This research shows that it is not enough to be focused on technical outcomes. Infrastructure needs to move beyond how society interacts with an asset, to the outcomes that reflect the needs, beliefs, and choices of society as well as its ability to respond to change (aptitude). Although the research has confirmed its hypothesis and three supporting propositions, the research does not purport to offer ‘the solution’. Single solutions do not exist to address the challenges facing a complex adaptive system such as infrastructure. But the research does offer several system-oriented sense-making models at both the detailed and system-level. This includes the probing methodology by way of a diagnostic roadmap. These models aim to assist practitioners in managing the transition of projects, assets, and services into a wider infrastructure system, their potential, and in (re)orienting the organisation to the dynamic nature of the system and its societal imperative.

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Masterson, Vanessa Anne. "Sense of place and culture in the landscape of home : Understanding social-ecological dynamics on the Wild Coast, South Africa." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-135280.

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Development for sustainable poverty alleviation requires engagement with the values and cultural frames that enable or constrain communities to steward ecosystems and maintain their capacity to support human well-being. Rooted in a social-ecological systems (SES) perspective, this thesis explores the concept of sense of place to understand how emotional and cultural connections to place mediate human responses to change and influence interventions for development. Sense of place is both the attachments to place, as well as the descriptive meanings to which one is attached. Paper I presents an approach and agenda for studying sense of place in SES that emphasizes place attachment and meaning underlying stewardship actions and responses to change. This is empirically explored through a case study on the Wild Coast, South Africa - an area with multiple contested meanings. In this former Bantustan (an area set aside for black South Africans), Apartheid created interdependence between small-holder agriculture and labour migration, where rural homesteads relied on remittances from migrant household members. Today, the contribution of agriculture to livelihoods has declined and many households rely on income from social grants. Interacting social and ecological factors in this region have resulted in social-ecological trap conditions and circular migration continues to be the pattern. Community conservation and ecotourism is one strategy for local socio-economic development. Papers II and III explore community tensions around a proposed nature reserve declaration. In Paper II, a focus on the meanings of locally-defined ecotopes (e.g. forest and abandoned fields) illuminates the interpretations of underlying social-ecological processes. Paper III examines the use of place meanings in narratives of change to show tensions in the discourse of win-win conservation. The stalling of this particular intervention indicates the importance of engaging with multiple meanings of place and the cultural importance of nature. Papers IV and V focus on declining agriculture and continued labour migration. From a theoretical model of people’s abilities, desires and opportunities, Paper IV develops a typology of responses that may contribute to maintaining or resolving social-ecological traps. For this case study, the model identifies the mismatch between i) cultural expectations that frame the desire to farm, and ii) the decline in opportunities for off-farm income to support agriculture. Paper V demonstrates that these expectations are expressed in the idea of emakhaya (the rural landscape of home) as well as reinforced through cultural rituals. The paper identifies a place-based social contract between the living and the ancestors that helps to maintain circular migration and agricultural practices. This suggests that sense of place contributes to system inertia but may also offer opportunities for stewardship. Sense of place is socially constructed as well as produced through experience in ecosystems, and thus constitutes an emergent property of SES. The thesis demonstrates the use of participatory methods to produce an inclusive understanding of place and SES dynamics. The application of place meanings through these methods facilitates critical engagement with imposed interventions. Finally, the thesis shows that sense of place and culture are key for understanding inertia in SES and the capacity for transformation towards stewardship.

At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 5: Manuscript.

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Schwichtenberg, Detmar. "Using incentives to promote stewardship on private forest land in BC." Thesis, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/9142.

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The government of British Columbia plans to regulate forest practices on private land in the province, largely in response to public pressure. The stated goals are to ensure a long term and stable timber supply and to protect environmental values. To achieve these goals, the BC government must choose among regulatory options ranging from a highly coercive and punishment-oriented approach such as the Forest Practices Code at one extreme, to an encouragement and reward-based approach at the other. The ideal choice is one that achieves the desired goals at the lowest cost to both the public and landowners. My hypothesis is that a shift away from traditional punishment-based command-cmd-control approaches and toward education-and-incentives would greatly promote regulatory efficiency. To test the hypothesis, three areas of research are considered. First, Organizational Behaviour research is examined to better understand the relative efficacy of punishment and reward in motivating people, and to assist in designing a reward-based motivation system. Second, a survey of BC private forest landowners helps determine how they might best be motivated to achieve public objectives. Third, other forest jurisdictions are examined to gain practical knowledge on the relative effectiveness and cost of different regulatory options. The survey indicates most forest landowners recognize a legitimate public interest in forest management on private land, but also that landowners place a high value on their independence and freedom to manage their forests. Landowners therefore favour a regulatory system based on education and financial incentives. Landowner preferences are supported by Organizational Behaviour research and experience in other jurisdictions. Studies indicate education greatly enhances the willingness and ability of landowners to meet public objectives, and that regulatory systems based on incentives are less expensive to administer, less intrusive on private property rights, and more likely to promote innovation. Research also shows government predilection for coercive regulatory measures is mainly the result of perceived political advantages. Finally, the paper outlines a regulatory system based on education, freedom to manage forest resources and financial incentives that can be used to achieve public objectives on private forest land in BC.

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Mackenzie, Bruce. "Supporting Environmental Stewardship and Livelihood Benefits in Ontario's Greenbelt: Assessing the Potential Contribution of the Alternative Land Use Services Program." Thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/4117.

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Ontario’s Greenbelt is key to the region’s sustainability and plays an important role in stopping urban sprawl, preserving agricultural land and maintaining ecological goods and services. However, there have been concerns expressed in the literature and by non-government organizations that the Greenbelt legislation, on its own, will not ensure the viability of the farming economy in this region, or ensure adequate ecological stewardship. These concerns point to the need for other programs and policies to complement the Greenbelt legislation, and to help ensure that the goals of the Greenbelt are met. This research study assesses the potential of the Alternative Land Use Services Program (ALUS) as a tool for promoting agricultural viability and associated land stewardship in Ontario’s Greenbelt. An Alternative Land Use Services program would pay farmers for the provision of environmental services in the public interest. Using a qualitative methodological approach based on a literature review, a review of government and non-government organization documents and interviews with key stakeholders, this study compares the potential contribution of the ALUS program with that of other reasonable alternatives currently available to promote farmland protection and farm stewardship. The research also provides an analytical framework and a comprehensive set of criteria for selection and design of programs in support of sustainable agriculture in the Greenbelt. The primary research findings indicate that an ALUS program in the Greenbelt, established as a stand-alone regional project or as part of a provincial or national program, could help to strengthen the Greenbelt’s roles in stopping urban sprawl, preserving agricultural land and maintaining ecological goods and services. The ALUS concept and means of applying it could also play an important role in discussions regarding how to support the farm economy and rural communities in the Greenbelt. ALUS may be particularly appropriate as a means of enhancing the economic and ecological aspects of peri-urban agriculture. One of the thesis conclusions is that while ALUS could play a positive role in the Greenbelt, the program would be insufficient if it were applied on its own. ALUS will need to be packaged with a suite of existing programs that would be able to complement ALUS and address some of its weakness in order to make a stronger contribution. This research has identified new opportunities to promote land stewardship and enhance livelihoods in the agricultural sector as well as a new agenda for sustainable agriculture in the Greenbelt. More generally, the framework for analysis that was applied in this research has a broader applicability and usefulness in sustainability-based decision making processes. The approach outlines how sustainability assessments might specify sustainability considerations and integrate them together in particular applications.

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Pawlowska-Mainville, Agnieszka. "Escaping the "progress trap": UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination and land stewardship through intangible cultural heritage in Asatiwisipe First Nation, Manitoba." 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/24097.

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The First Nation community of Poplar River in Northern Manitoba is using a UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination to assist with meeting local needs. Going beyond the expected, non-renewable resource development, Asatiwisipe First Nation is taking control over its own developmental plans, and forging an ecologically sustainable vision of community-controlled economic and political development. This initiative is an escape from the ‘progress trap’ where Indigenous resource stewardship practices will guide sustainable community economic development. This thesis explores the application of intangible cultural heritage as a lens for looking at the culture/nature discussion, food sovereignty, Indigenous resource management as well as Aboriginal and treaty rights. Based on longitudinal research over the past eight years, this dissertation is a collection of interviews and narratives from community members, personal experiences and policy research. Despite systemic Eurocentrism and many challenges, permanent protection of the Poplar River Community Conserved Area through the World Heritage Site nomination is perhaps the best solution for the community as it is an initiative that has been instigated by the First Nation itself.

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Schreyer, Christine. "Reserves and resources:local rhetoric on land, language, and identity amongst the Taku River Tlingit and Loon River Cree First Nations." Phd thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10048/491.

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This dissertation compares and contrasts aboriginal language planning within Canada at both the national and local scale. In 2005, the Aboriginal Languages Task Force released their foundational report which entailed “a national strategy to preserve, revitalize, and promote [Aboriginal] languages and cultures” (2005:1); however, discrepancies exist between their proposed strategies and the strategies employed locally by the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, located in Atlin, British Columbia, and the Loon River Cree First Nation, located in Loon Lake, Alberta. Using data collected during ethnographic fieldwork with each First Nation between 2005 and 2008, I provide a rationale for these discrepancies and propose reasons why the national strategy has, as of 2008, been unsuccessful. Both national and local strategies have focused on the relationship between land and language and its role in language planning. National language planning rhetoric has also utilized the concept of nationhood. However, both the Taku River Tlingit and the Loon River Cree use the concept of nationhood in conjunction with assertions of sovereignty over land and, therefore, situate their language planning within land planning. Throughout my research, I have been involved in volunteer language projects for each of the communities. These have included creating a Tlingit language board game entitled “Haa shagóon ítxh yaa ntoo.aat” (Traveling Our Ancestors’ Paths) and Cree language storybooks entitled Na mokatch nika poni âchimon (I will never quit telling stories). Both of these projects connect land use and language use and can be seen as part of local language planning strategies. Finally, the Aboriginal Languages Task Force uses the concept of “language as a right” within their national language planning strategies; however, the Taku River Tlingit and the Loon River Cree have instead utilized a “language as resource” ideology (Ruiz, 1984). I argue that the Taku River Tlingit First Nation and the Loon River Cree First Nation use “language as a resource” rhetoric due to their ideologies of land stewardship over Euro-Canadian models of land ownership and I argue that language planning can not stand on its own – separated from the historical, political, economic, social, and cultural considerations that a community faces.

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Lytle, Zachary John. "The third sector : the missing piece of the brownfields puzzle." Thesis, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/22538.

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The US Environmental Protection Agency defines brownfields as “real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.” The existence of brownfield presents enormous challenges for cities across the United States. This report explores the possible roles nonprofits can play in brownfield development. As part of this investigation, the problems and opportunities brownfields offer socially, environmentally and economically are examined through literature review. Further on, three existing brownfields-specific nonprofit corporations are discussed through case studies. Each of these organizations The Guardian Trust, The Brownfields Stewardship Fund, and The Center for Creative Land Recycling, provide unique services facilitating the redevelopment of brownfields across the country. The lessons learned are then applied to the City of Dallas. The report concludes by exploring the potential roles the third sector could play in the redevelopment of brownfields in Dallas. With increased involvement, nonprofits can help convert brownfields back to their highest and best use for the benefit of the community.
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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Land stewardship'

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