USDA Forest Service
 

Pacific Southwest Research Station

 

Pacific Southwest Research Station
800 Buchanan Street
Albany, CA 94710-0011

(510) 883-8830

United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. USDA logo which links to the department's national site. Forest Service logo which links to the agency's national site.

Programs and Projects

(RWU-4902)

Wildland Recreation and Urban Cultures

Update

Greetings from the Wildland Recreation and Urban Cultures research project. We believe it is important for research results to get to managers in a timely manner. The purpose of this Update is to keep you informed relative to the Wildland Recreation and Urban Cultures project. Our intent is to make this a periodic source of research generated information that resource managers will find useful in the course of their duties. The Recreation Research Update is available March, July and November of each year. If you wish to receive a hard copy of past issues please send a message to Recreation Research Update E-mail Address Image.

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March 2010 - Featured Articles

Environmentalism and community: A study of diverse urban-publics - Benjamin Marcus (doctoral student) and Dr. Allen M. Omoto of Claremont Graduate University are collaborating with Dr. Pat Winter (PSW Station) on a study examining community as a pathway to environmental responsibility. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted with an ethnically diverse mix of urban-residents. Underlying this study was the working premise that environmentalism is both fostered by and can help foster connections to and sense of community.

A multi-ethnic comparison of forest recreation service quality - A collaborative paper authored by Dr. Chieh-lu Li (National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan), Jim Absher (PSW Station) and three others looked at perceptions of service quality on an ethnically diverse national forest adjacent to a large metropolitan area (Angeles NF). Specifically, it looks at differences among whites, Hispanics, and Asians in cross-cultural comparisons of perceived service quality. Because service quality can play a central role in serving minority populations better, managers will be aided by knowing how visitors perceive service quality components and be able to employ appropriate customer service quality strategies.

'SINAMI': A tool for the economic evaluation of forest fire management programs in Mediterranean ecosystems - Wildland fires are a major problem worldwide, causing not only significant economic and natural resources losses, but loss of life. The economic analysis of fire management and protection programs in the US has been in use since the early 1980s with the development of the NFMAS model in the USDA Forest Service. The model was developed as a budgetary tool to determine the most efficient fire management program.


November 2009 - Featured Articles

Wildfire Management and Decision Making - Research findings are now available from a study conducted by Dr. Robyn Wilson, Dr. Eric Toman, and Timothy Ascher at The Ohio State University, Dr. Lynn Maguire at Duke University, and Dr. Pat Winter (PSW). This study involved 206 Forest Service fire managers with line officer and incident management experience. We aimed to improve our understanding of how fire management decisions are made, viewed from a risk management perspective.

WUI Homeowners' Wildland Fire Values, Attitudes and Behaviors - A compilation report that summarizes and integrates recent research studies is now available. Dr. Jim Absher (PSW) with co-authors Dr. Jerry Vaske (Colorado State University) and Dr. Lori Shelby (George Mason University) produced it from four studies which developed a theoretical and practical understanding of homeowners' attitudes and behaviors in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) in relation to the threat from wildland fires.

Perceptions about Law Enforcement - This synthesizes a series of studies to evaluate perceptions of U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) law enforcement and investigations (LEI) conducted by Dr. Debbie Chavez and Dr. Joanne Tynon (Oregon State University).


July 2009 - Featured Articles

Day Use on the Mountaintop Ranger District - A day use visitor contact study was conducted on the Mountaintop Ranger District on the San Bernardino National Forest in summer 2008 (n=337). The purpose was to provide to managers information based on day use visitor opinions. Day use sites are those in which people visit for some portion of the day but they do not stay overnight.

Sustainable Recreation and Tourism - Preliminary results are available from a study conducted by Dr. Kelly Bricker (University of Utah) and Dr. Pat Winter (PSW) that focuses on sustainable recreation and tourism. Forest Service recreation managers (n=433) across the U.S. were surveyed for this study.


Past Issues: - Featured Articles

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Last Modified: Mar 28, 2013 03:00:07 PM