In many areas of the developing world, the continued overexploiting forest resources has the potential to have significant detrimental impacts be placed on sustainable forest management (SFM) can help communities and organizations responsibly manage and utilize the remaining forests over the long term. Ethiopia’s forest lands provide tangible benefits from...
Past afforestation programs launched to promote private and community woodlots in rural Ethiopia have not been based on clear understanding of the incentives and constraints of smallholder farmers. This study investigated the characteristic differences between tree-growing and non-tree-growing farm households and identified factors influencing farmers’ tree-growing decisions from a farming...
This dissertation investigates livelihood and land use change dynamics in a community at the farm-forest periphery in highland Ethiopia. I use interviews and livelihood assessment data to compare the strategies used by members of different wealth groups to negotiate and maintain access to forest resources, and integrate socioeconomic, bio-physical and...
Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP) is currently considered the most important conservation area in Ethiopia. BMNP was established over forty years ago to protect Ethiopian endemic fauna and to preserve an array of habitat types including Afroalpine, Afromontane, and the second largest natural humid forest (Harenna forest) left in Ethiopia....
Sustainable management of the world’s forests is a key component for conserving biodiversity, soil and water resources, mitigating climate change, strengthening economies, and promoting sustainable communities and human well-being, now and in the future. While international cooperation is important, the actual policies and management actions that affect forest conditions and...
How does transboundary water cooperation begin at the initial stages? Countries in many transboundary basins either do not cooperate at all or have ceased cooperation altogether. Yet cooperation does often prevail, resulting in 688 water-related treaties signed between 1820 and 2007. The question we address here is, by which practices...
This research paper investigates the water conflict management approaches of the Anuak indigenous people in Gambella, Ethiopia. The paper poses the question do indigenous approaches to water conflict management provide some effective mechanisms that help to resolve conflict? If so, how? In order to provide answers to the research question,...
Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations currently exist in less than half of their historic range in the state of New Jersey. The remaining populations are confined to the northwestern part of the state in the Highlands, Appalachian Ridge and Valley, and Piedmont physiographic provinces, with the exception of Mason's Run,...
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BadegeBishaw,
Chair of the Master of Natural
Resources Program
I understand that my capstone will
Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) encroachment has been associated with negative ecological and hydrological consequences including reductions in herbaceous production and diversity, deterioration for wildlife habitat, and higher erosion and runoff potentials. As a result, western juniper removal is a common and accepted rangeland management practice. Although studies evaluating the ecological...
The Eastern black rail (laterallus jamaicanesis) is the smallest of the rail species and facing catastrophic decline throughout its home range. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the black rail population has decreased as much as 90%, leading to its proposed Federal listing as threatened under the Endangered...
This paper examines ways in which natural resource management – NRM – may be decolonized in order to better serve Hawaiʻi communities. Expressed needs for diversity in NRM has brought about inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge in recent years. Here, traditional ecological knowledge is redefined as ʻIK, ʻike kupuna –...
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest federal nutrition assistance program in the US aiming at improving health and nutrition among low-income individuals and households. SNAP is a means tested program that provides monthly cash benefits to eligible households and individuals whose assets and net monthly incomes are...
Greenway trails have become a popular way to connect communities, increase public health and provide ecosystem services. Urban forests provide similar and overlapping benefits as greenways but are often unknown and underfunded. Integrating urban forest management with greenway management could be a way to create synergistic benefits for the community....
Forest composition in Paraguay has been in a state of change for the past half century due to land management practices, forest fragmentation, and deforestation for agriculture. How these factors affect dendrological diversity and wood anatomy in Paraguay is not well understood. This thesis documents Paraguayan forest composition on the...
East Palo Alto is a small working-class community of color in the San Francisco Bay Area. Though the community has rich agrarian roots, fertile soil, and good weather, racially-charged policies have influenced East Palo Alto’s development and significantly impacted the state of natural resources in the city in stark contrast...
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have an extensive history of harvest in the United States. The Pacific Northwest is well-reputed as a major source of floral greens for international markets. One NTFP in particular, beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax), has been repeatedly identified as a prominent, high-value species in the floral greens industry...