Mountain Scholar :: Browsing by Author "Jones, Kelly, committee member"

Browsing by Author "Jones, Kelly, committee member"

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Open Access
A socio-cultural assessment of ecosystem services for community planning and sustainability
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Beck, Scott Michael, author; McHale, Melissa R., advisor; Jones, Kelly, committee member; Cross, Jeni, committee member; Falkowski, Michael, committee member
Ecosystem service (ES) mapping is a useful mechanism for measuring and communicating ES values spatially; however, most ES mapping is conducted at coarse resolutions over large spatial scales, which calls into question their practicality for local decision-making. Since policy is implemented and managed locally, mapping efforts in Europe, Australia, and the United States have shifted towards local-scale, stakeholder-driven assessments over the past several years. Despite this shift, it is unclear whether similar efforts have been undertaken in Africa, where resource management has direct impacts on impoverished, marginalized communities. The following three chapters in this dissertation represent a novel effort to assess socio-cultural ES in rural South Africa. (Chapter 1) In the first chapter, we conduct a systematic literature review of ES mapping in Africa to identify gaps and trends in research. The intent of this analysis is to: (1) identify where ES maps exist and where coverage gaps remain in ES mapping across the continent; (2) pinpoint which mapping approaches have been used to map ES in Africa and understand whether valuation methods are being integrated in maps; (3) determine whether or not trends in ES mapping in Africa follow recommendations for more localized and inclusive approaches (e.g. socio-cultural & participatory); and (4) assess the appropriateness of management recommendations stemming from these mapping analyses with support from the literature. We identified 25 ES mapping studies, most of which occur in East and South Africa. Additionally, large-scale biophysical approaches are overwhelmingly represented. The results of this review demonstrate that ES mapping research in Africa has not shifted towards local-scale, participatory approaches and that few maps represent local values for ES. Furthermore, 72% of these studies make recommendations for ES management, despite the potential scalar misalignments and lack of community participation in the mapping and valuation of ES. New local-scale ES mapping evaluations are needed to revise our understanding of the potential impacts of decision-making on vulnerable communities. (Chapter 2) In the second chapter, we implement a socio-cultural valuation approach intended to understand how services are valued by people living in rural-urban landscapes. Specifically, we ask: (1) what ecosystem services do communities value; (2) where are these services located on the landscape (parcels vs. communal lands); (3) how do these services relate to land cover; and (4) what are the social and spatial characteristics of households that determine values/demand for services? We implement our study in Bushbuckridge, South Africa using 26 walking interviews and 105 household surveys. We find that communities value an assortment of ecosystem services on both parcels and in communal lands, and roughly 80% of all ecosystem services are associated with tree cover; however, parcels provide a more diverse and sustainable array of services to individuals than communal lands. Additionally, ecosystem service values are at least partially related to how isolated communities are from more urbanized townships. This narrative is counter to previous studies and management plans that emphasize the value of communal lands at the expense of more developed areas. Furthermore, these types of participatory socio-cultural valuations are potentially more representative of community needs, making policy and management strategies based on their results more likely to succeed (or be less harmful). (Chapter 3) In the third and final chapter, our goal is to utilize stakeholder input to map community-identified, socio-cultural ES related to tree cover in urbanizing South Africa at a high spatial resolution. Our specific objectives are to: (1) quantify the probabilities that trees will be used to secure ES benefits both within villages and in communal lands; and (2) map and assess these probabilities to compare villages sampled along a gradient of urbanization. We ask whether or not differences in tree ES values among villages can be captured with high-resolution, local-scale mapping? To achieve these objectives, we link information collected from walking-interviews and social surveys to a high-spatial resolution (1m2) land-cover classification in two rural villages in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, South Africa. We apply an advanced HUFF model to calculate and map tree ES use probabilities among these communities within parcels and communal lands. We then compare these probability distributions using violin and boxplots to determine whether or not differences in ES use/benefits among these communities are adequately captured. We find that there are subtle differences among tree ES use probabilities in communal lands among these communities, and more substantial differences among use of ES on parcels, which are determined by community specific ES priorities. These results have important implications for community planning in this and similar regions throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Open Access
Corporate investments for public land management: insights into the Forest Service's corporate partnerships
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Collins, Natasha, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Jones, Kelly, committee member; Huber-Stearns, Heidi, committee member
There is a shift in environmental governance towards devolution and neoliberalism, whereby federal land management agencies increasingly rely on external actors to help them meet their management objectives. For the U.S. Forest Service, budget deficiencies and increasingly complex management challenges, in part due to climate change, drive the agency to seek external funding sources, including for-profit companies. As reliance on companies to meet gaps in agency funding and capacity increases, there is a need to better understand the expectations and interests of these corporate partners. My thesis aims to better understand the Forest Service’s corporate partners by identifying key partners and their mechanisms for investment, corporate motivations for engagement, company interests in metrics and return on investment, and overall successes and challenges of the partnerships. To address these research questions I conducted interviews with Forest Service staff, both in the Washington Office and with Regional partnership coordinators, for-profit companies funding projects on national forests related to climate change, and key non-profit organizations that serve as intermediaries between the Forest Service and companies to channel funds and implement the work. In the following thesis I synthesize my findings into two stand-alone chapters, bookended by an introduction and conclusion chapter. The first chapter is a comprehensive report to the Forest Service Office of Sustainability and Climate, which funded this project, regarding the mechanisms, motivations, desired metrics and overall successes and challenges of corporate partnerships with the Forest Service. Among other things, I find that corporate partners have a iii limited understanding of what national forests are, the role the Forest Service plays as an agency, and avenues that exist for partnerships with the Forest Service. I offer a few recommendations for the agency moving forward, including, improved storytelling by the Forest Service to corporate partners regarding who the agency is and the benefits of partnership, increased collaboration between companies to help tackle projects of larger scale, standardized metrics for improved measurement of project outcomes, and further developed options to participate in carbon markets on national forests. The second chapter is intended for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. The article dives deeper into exploring corporate motivations for engagement in these types of projects. I find that companies engage in projects for a variety of reasons, primarily including: desires to achieve sustainability goals driven by leadership; stakeholder pressures, such as those from consumers, employees, and investors; company characteristics, including the dependency of a company’s products or services relying on benefits that forests provide; and marketing tied to a company’s brand or reputation. Overall, insight into this topic can inform the Forest Service on its private partners in order to improve and expand these types of partnerships moving forward. This research also contributes to literature regarding the increasing role of public-private partnerships, consistent with a broader shift towards neoliberal approaches in environmental governance whereby private actors contribute funding and capacity in ways that help the Forest Service manage public forests, but also significantly influence public agency activities. Further research is still needed to evaluate the impact of increasing corporate influence on public lands management and to further explore the added value of intermediary organizations for the success of these partnerships.
Open Access
Examining emerging water quality markets through a collective action lens
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Kraft, Katherine L., author; Cheng, Antony, advisor; Jones, Kelly, committee member; Stednick, John, committee member
Water quality trading (WQT) is a collective action mechanism increasingly employed to address water quality concerns arising from nonpoint source pollution. Yet, many established WQT programs have experienced little or no trading activity. Collective action theory regarding common property resources (CPR) suggests that the external variables comprising a collective action institution's context dictate how effectively an institution can organize and perform. Because successful emergence is a precursor to successful performance and endurance down the road, understanding how and why external variables affect WQT collection action during early formative stages can provide insights into why some WQT programs may struggle to function and perform to their anticipated potential as they mature. However, few efforts have empirically examined WQT programs in terms of the external variables known to influence CPR collective action emergence, performance, and durability. In addressing this void, I use an in-depth case study approach of two incipient WQT initiatives in the western U.S. to assess if and how the manifestation of external variables considered to be enabling conditions for successful CPR collective action influences the development of emerging WQT programs. This research finds theory regarding CPR collective action enabling conditions useful in understanding the development trajectories of emerging WQT programs. Results suggest that the absence of enabling conditions and strong constitutional rules can undermine the ability of decentralized political systems to support emergent WQT programs. Contrarily, centralized systems with well-defined rules and roles may provide more stable scaffolding for institutional development. These findings demonstrate how the quality of constitutional rules interacts with other external variables, including policy norms, agency allocation, collective choice rules, and social capital, to dictate the evolution and eventual performance of emergent WQT programs and CPR collective action institutions more broadly.
Open Access
Factors predicting acceptability of toxicant usage to control feral swine
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) DeGroot, Samantha L., author; Bright, Alan, advisor; Bernasek, Alexandra, committee member; Jones, Kelly, committee member; Shwiff, Stephanie, committee member
The population increase and spread of feral swine across the United States is of increasing concern to producers, land managers, the common public, and government. Feral swine carry harmful diseases, cause extensive damage to property, and are opportunistic omnivores that will eat anything. This study explores how mass media coverage and aspects of the cognitive hierarchy influence the specific lethal management action of a toxicant usage to control feral swine. A content media analysis was conducted to observe how the media portrays the toxicant Kaput across different time periods and news platforms. Statistical analysis revealed that a little over half of the articles were published following four major events which included, a) approval of 'Kaput' as a state-limited-use pesticide in Texas b) restraining order against the use of 'Kaput' c) the passing of a bill requiring strict scientific study of any further toxicant before release in Texas, and d) the withdrawal of 'Kaput' in the state of Texas. An additional analysis revealed the most discussed themes within the articles including a) the use of a toxicant as a management tool to control feral swine b) the mention of the toxicant containing a Warfarin base, and c) challenges regarding the toxicant as being species-specific. The majority of these articles were either negative or neutral, mostly describing the toxicant and then explaining the faults in its use. This resulted in the toxicant being pulled off of the market. In addition to the content media analysis, a wildlife survey was mailed out to 200 urban residents and 200 rural residents from each of the 50 United States to measure individuals' wildlife value orientations, general beliefs toward feral swine, and their support or opposition of the use of poison to kill feral swine. The overall response rate was 11%. Statistical analysis revealed that negative attitudes toward feral swine and a domination wildlife value orientation were key identifiers of support for a toxicant lethal management action of feral swine (p < .05). The opposite was determined with a non-significant value for a mutualism value orientation, opposing the use of a toxicant. As wildlife managers and government agencies continue efforts to mitigate damages and manage feral swine, the value orientations and attitudes of the public should be taken into consideration. The lethal management action chosen should reflect the public's value orientations and attitudes to have an accepted management technique suitable to control feral swine as well as support the public.
Open Access
Partnerships on Colorado conservation lands: social-ecological outcomes of collaborative grazing management
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Monlezun, Anna Clare, author; Lynn, Stacy, advisor; Boone, Randall, committee member; Jones, Kelly, committee member; Rhoades, Ryan, committee member
To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document.
Open Access
Prioritizing restoration and fire preparedness at the public-private boundary
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Cyphers, Laren Alise, author; Mackes, Kurt, advisor; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Jones, Kelly, committee member
System processes, like wildfire, will continue to threaten life and property, particularly if land managers cannot work across the public-private boundary at large enough scales. Addressing the wildfire challenge will require more natural fire use and other fuel reduction strategies, like mechanical thinning and prescribed fire, to reduce hazardous fuels. As the wildland-urban interface continues to expand, so does the need to work across the public-private boundary and engage private landowners to create defensible space and address fuel loads where the goal is to reduce fire hazard. This two-part thesis informs the prioritization of funding and management activities related to wildfire management across the public-private boundary. Chapter One of this study reviews three Colorado wildfires, identifying the true costs of the fires through document review and conversations with government and community personnel. This cost data demonstrates the long-term unsustainability of current wildfire management and informs prioritization of funding and management based on an area's forest and land-use type. Chapter Two evaluates the effectiveness of the Joint Chiefs Partnership in tackling the challenge of large-scale, collaborative, cross-boundary work, based on the adaptive governance literature and my qualitative research on the Partnership to understand which aspects of the design of the authority supported that goal. Our research investigated the complete cost of wildfire and the effectiveness of the Joint Chiefs Partnership to inform prioritization of funding for restoration and fire preparedness and understand how policy can be better designed to support such work, particularly across agencies and jurisdictions.
Open Access
The frequency, magnitude and connectivity of post-wildfire rainfall-runoff and sediment transport
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Wilson, Codie R., author; Kampf, Stephanie, advisor; Jones, Kelly, committee member; MacDonald, Lee, committee member; Ryan, Sandra, committee member
Wildfire increases the likelihood of runoff, erosion, and downstream sedimentation in many of the watersheds that supply water for communities across the western U.S. The goal of this research was to examine the complex interactions between fire, rainfall and landscape properties (e.g., burn severity, topography) across scales from hillslopes to watersheds. The research combines both regional data analysis and field monitoring to examine the frequency, magnitude and connectivity of post-fire rainfall-runoff events and associated sediment delivery. In the first part of this study (chapter 2), the goal was to quantify rainfall thresholds that cause runoff and sediment delivery across multiple fires, years post-fire, spatial scales, and mulch treatments in the Colorado Front Range. Rain intensity thresholds were identified for plots, hillslopes, and watersheds across three Colorado Front Range fires. Thresholds did not significantly differ among fires for any year post-fire, but were significantly different between spatial scales and years post-fire. Thresholds increased with time since burn likely due to vegetation regrowth, litter accumulation and recovery of soil infiltration capacity. The frequency of storms exceeding thresholds for runoff and erosion was mapped across Colorado to provide a tool for identifying areas most vulnerable to post-fire runoff and sediment delivery and prioritizing post-fire treatments. In chapter three, the goal was to improve understanding of the catch efficiency of sediment fences commonly used to measure post-fire hillslope erosion. During post-fire year two (2014) of the 2012 High Park Fire four sediment fences were modified to collect and measure both the sediment deposited behind the fence and the amount of runoff and sediment that overtopped the fence. Sediment fence catch efficiency ranged from 28-100% for individual events and from 38-94% across the sampling season. Increasing rainfall intensities were correlated with greater runoff and total sediment loads and lower sediment fence catch efficiencies. Enrichment ratios indicate that the sediment behind the fence was significantly enriched in sand relative to the hillslope soil samples. These results indicate that sediment fences underestimate sediment yields and demonstrate how sediment particle sizes may be sorted en route to the stream network. In chapter four, the goal was to examine connectivity between hillslopes and channel networks. Runoff and sediment from nested hillslopes (n = 31) and catchments (n = 12) were assessed for two rainfall events with different duration and intensity during post-fire year three (2015) of the High Park Fire to determine the factors affecting connectivity. The first event had a return interval of <1 year with low intensity rainfall over an average of 11 hours, whereas the second event had high intensity rainfall that lasted for an average of 1 hour with a maximum return interval of 10 years. The lower intensity event led to low hillslope sediment yields and widespread channel incision. The higher intensity event led to infiltration excess overland flow, high sediment yields and in-stream sediment deposition and fining. During both events, the percent of a catchment that burned at high severity was positively correlated with sediment delivery ratios and area-normalized absolute channel change. Overall, this research demonstrated that the rainfall events and thresholds associated with the generation of post-fire runoff and sediment transport vary with spatial scale and time since burn. In addition, not every threshold-exceeding event will produce the same type of response due to the complex and transient nature of post-fire responses from hillslope to watershed scale. Increasing our understanding of post-fire responses and connectivity will therefore require nested multi-scale monitoring over time to determine how sediment moves to and through channel networks.
Embargo
Three essays on the economics of land use and conservation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Shartaj, Mostafa, author; Suter, Jordan F., advisor; Manning, Dale T., committee member; Bayham, Jude, committee member; Jones, Kelly, committee member
This dissertation consists of three chapters focused on the economics of land use and conservation. The first chapter investigates the differences in groundwater use among wells irrigating State Land Board (SLB) parcels and nearby private parcels. SLB parcels represent leased parcels with limited tenure length and uncertainty of renewal. In the chapter, we demonstrate that wells irrigating SLB lands pump substantially more groundwater compared to non-SLB wells. The second chapter makes use of a novel dataset of discount rates elicited from agricultural producers across the United States to explore how estimates of discount rates for can be utilized to improve the performance of agri-environmental programs. The final paper examines camping in US Forest Service (USFS) campgrounds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data on campground reservations made through recreation.gov, we illustrate how camping on USFS lands was impacted by infection rates, public health restrictions and proximity to metropolitan areas and National Parks (NPs). Imperfect property rights can lead to over-extraction of resources and provide disincentives to invest in conservation of the resource stock. In the first chapter, making use of a natural experiment, we explore the case of groundwater usage on State Land Board (SLB) parcels, relative to nearby private parcels. The SLB of Colorado leases out land to agricultural producers, with groundwater rights tied to the land leases. Leases by the SLB have tenure lengths of 10 years, where the leaseholder is allowed to renew their lease if they can match the highest bid for the next lease term. This generates uncertainty regarding access to future groundwater stocks. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating the causal impact of SLB designation on groundwater use. We show that wells irrigating SLB lands, on average, use 15 to 24 percent more groundwater compared to nearby private lands. Adoption of conservation practices in agriculture often requires upfront costs, while the private benefits are produced in the future. As such, farmers' time preferences can play an important role in adoption decisions. In the second chapter, using elicited discount rates of farmers from 26 US states, we explore the role of farmers' discount rates in cover crop adoption, program participation, and continuation of cover cropping after the contract period. The data reveal that mean observed discount rates are lower both for farmers that adopt cover cropping and for farmers that participate in conservation programs, compared to those who do not. This suggests that time preferences play a key role in conservation adoption decisions. The empirical results are followed by a simulation analysis, which utilizes the discount rate data to explore benefits of tailoring conservation contracts based on discount rates. The simulations point out that a small increase in upfront payments can substantially increase cover cropping during the contract period, but they do little to increase continuation of cover cropping after the contract period. The simulations also reveal that tailoring the contract length and annual payment, according to the discount rate information, can allow policy makers to target higher levels of continuation, which are unattainable under the 5-year status quo contract. In the extreme case where the program administrator can observe individual discount rates, it is possible to dramatically reduce the costs of increasing continual adoption by individually tailoring the contracts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, US public land managers faced the challenge of catering to large increases in camping demand, while maintaining social distancing guidelines. In the final chapter, we use multivariate linear regression to analyze weekly changes in reservations to US Forest Service (USFS) campgrounds between 2019 and 2020. Our sample includes 1,688 individual USFS campgrounds from across the contiguous US. The results illustrate the dramatic increases in camping on USFS land that occurred in the summer of 2020 and demonstrate that increases in local infection rates led to significant increases in camping nights reserved in the summer. The results also illustrate that the increase in camping nights reserved at USFS campgrounds was particularly dramatic for campgrounds located near large metropolitan areas and near National Parks that saw increases in overall recreational visits. These results point to the important role that public lands played during the pandemic and can help guide public land resource allocations for campground maintenance and operation.
Open Access
Understanding protected areas: an analysis of drivers of forest loss and conservation trends
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Powlen, Kathryn Ann, author; Gavin, Michael, advisor; Boone, Randall, committee member; Jones, Kelly, committee member; Solomon, Jennifer, committee member
Global forests harbor much of the world's terrestrial biodiversity, provide critical ecosystem services, and directly support the livelihoods of over a billion people. Nonetheless, forest cover continues to decline rapidly, largely due to human-driven land use changes, such as conversion for agriculture, urban expansion, and increased forest market demands. Protected areas are one of the most common conservation tools used to counter global forest loss. However, forest conversion has been found to persist in protected areas globally. Understanding the diverse factors driving forest cover change in protected area is critical for ensuring forest conservation success. This dissertation contributes evidence to help advance our understanding of protected area performance through three empirical manuscripts. Each manuscript uses a unique approach to examine drivers of conservation outcomes in protected areas at different scales. All three manuscripts are focused on Mexico's protected area network. The first manuscript uses a machine learning approach – random forest regression – to identify the main drivers of deforestation in protected areas across Mexico. By comparing the relative importance of multiple socioeconomic, biophysical, and protected area design characteristics in driving forest loss, this manuscript highlights the important role that placement characteristics, such as topography and proximity to development, can play in protected area conservation success. Additionally, results from this manuscript demonstrate the nonlinearity of the relationships between most forest loss predictors and observed deforestation. The second manuscript uses a propensity score matching approach to quantify the influence of protected area management effectiveness on forest loss outcomes in protected areas across Mexico. This manuscript finds critical evidence that protected areas with high levels of management effectiveness reduce forest loss to a greater extent than those with lower management effectiveness. This manuscript also finds that multiple dimensions of management, such as effective planning, collaborative decision-making, equitable benefit sharing, as well as sufficient financial and human resources, can contribute to the reduction of forest loss. The final manuscript examines how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced protected areas and conservation outcomes across Mexico. This manuscript measures protected area managers' perceptions of the impacts of the pandemic on protected area inputs, mechanisms, moderators, and non-compliance. We find a perceived decrease in human capacity, monitoring capacity, and tourism, and an increase in a number of non-compliant activities in 2020 compared to 2019. Understanding how protected areas are impacted by unexpected global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic is critical for building more resilient protected area networks in the future. Together the three manuscripts demonstrate the range of factors that can influence protected area performance, including landscape characteristics, protected area management practices, and global events. By advancing our understanding of the factors influencing protected area performance, we can improve conservation planning, more strategically allocate resources, and more proactively protect key biodiversity areas in the future.

Browsing by Author "Jones, Kelly, committee member"

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