People and Their Environments:
Social Science Supporting Natural Resource Management and Policy
As human populations increase in size, extent, and diversity, natural resource planners and policymakers must address growing concerns about a wide range of environments. To make the best decisions – for people and for nature – they need information about how people and natural environments influence each other in rural and urban areas and everywhere in between. That is the focus of the People and Their Environments research unit.
Staffed with social scientists from a wide range of backgrounds, People and Their Environments is one of only a few Forest Service research work units that studies the human component of natural resource management. Our expertise ranges across the social science disciplines: economics, psychology, geography, sociology, and related fields like landscape architecture, recreation, and planning.
Our Research Areas
- Changing Population Demographics, Changing Land Uses
- Perceptions and Experiences of Nature
- People’s Outdoor Activities
- Environmental Values
- Natural Resource Disturbances
- Urban Ecology
Recent Publications
- Svendsen, Erika S. 2013. Storyline and design: how civic stewardship shapes urban design in New York City. Chapter 13. In: Pickett, S.T.A.; Cadenasso, M.L.; McGrath, B., eds. Resilience in ecology and urban design: linking theory and practice for sustainable cities. Vol. 3. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands: 269-287.
- Kilgore, Michael A.; Snyder, Stephanie A.; Block-Torgerson, Kayla; Taff, Steven J. 2013. Challenges in characterizing a parcelized forest landscape: why metric, scale and threshold matter. Landscape and Urban Planning. 110: 36-47.
- Horie, Tetsuya; Haight, Robert G.; Homans, Frances R.; Venette, Robert C. 2013. Optimal strategies for the surveillance and control of forest pathogens: A case study with oak wilt. Ecological Economics. 86:78-85.
- Connolly, James J.; Svendsen, Erika S.; Fisher, Dana R.; Campbell, Lindsay K. 2013. Organizing urban ecosystem services through environmental stewardship governance in New York City. Landscape and Urban Planning. 109: 76-84.
- Steelman, Toddi A.; McCaffrey, Sarah. 2013. Best practices in risk and crisis communication: Implications for natural hazards management. Natural Hazards. 65(1):683-705.
- Burns, Eileen S.; Toth, Sandor F.; Haight, Robert G. 2013. A modeling framework for life history-based conservation planning. Biological Conservation. 158: 14-25.
- Ballard, Heidi L.; Evans, Emily R. 2012. Wildfire in the Foothills: youth working with communities to adapt to wildfire. Res. Note NRS-160. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 14 p.
- Monroe, Martha; Oxarart, Annie. 2012. Etoile Firewise: youth working with communities to adapt to wildfire. Res. Note NRS-159. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 14 p.
- Miller, Kristell A.; Snyder, Stephanie A.; Kilgore, Michael A. 2012. An assessment of forest landowner interest in selling forest carbon credits in the Lake States, USA. Forest Policy and Economics. 25: 113-122.
- Bengston, David N., comp. 2012. Environmental futures research: experiences, approaches, and opportunities. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-107. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 79 p.
Last Modified: 01/11/2012