Grantee Research Project Results

Conservation's Imprint on the Landscape: Private Land Management on Yellowstone's Periphery

EPA Grant Number: U915959
Title: Conservation's Imprint on the Landscape: Private Land Management on Yellowstone's Periphery
Investigators: Compas, Eric D.
Institution: University of Wisconsin - Madison
EPA Project Officer: Lee, Sonja
Project Period: January 1, 2001 through January 1, 2004
Project Amount: $102,000
RFA: STAR Graduate Fellowships (2001) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Fellowship - Geography , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration , Academic Fellowships

Objective:

The objectives of this research project are to: (1) study the historic and spatial context of development; (2) explore the micropolitics of the contemporary planning process; and (3) relate the resulting development patterns to ecological patterns and goals within Gallatin County, Montana, a county in the northwest corner of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem (GYE).

Approach:

The limitations of existing protected areas have led conservation science to embrace the landscape scale for maintaining a region's biodiversity and ecological processes. The GYE is a key example of where these concepts apply and where there exists the need to put them into practice. Given the importance of lands surrounding Yellowstone park, it is surprising how little attention has been focused on the key processes shaping private lands, those linked to county-level land management. I will explore the ways in which local communities incorporate conservation goals into local planning efforts and the degree to which these goals are met through planning decisions. This project attempts to document these processes and better understand their ecological outcomes.

Supplemental Keywords:

fellowship, biodiversity, ecological processes, greater Yellowstone ecosystem, GYE, land management, conservation, conservation goals, planning decisions, ecological outcomes, private land management.

Progress and Final Reports:

The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.