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Browsing by Author "Cottrell, Stuart, committee member"

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    Connecting to nature via ecotourism as sustainable development
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) McLane, Daniel Newell, author; Carolan, Michael, advisor; Cross, Jeni, committee member; Hogan, Michael, committee member; Cottrell, Stuart, committee member
    This dissertation presents a case study of ecotourism as sustainable development focused on the potential of the tourist as agent of sustainable development when she returns to the global North. This possibility is framed in terms of a tourist "connecting to nature" and thus becoming an agent of sustainable development. This potential is investigated via the comparison of a "real" rainforest and its "simulation" and this also investigates the role of the biophysical in shaping this connection. After describing an initial period of data collection the author explains why he adopted the framework of "environmental imaginaries" as a language to describe the multiple and often conflicting natures to which tourists connect. Using this framework two forms of connecting are identified, "recruiting" and "reinforcing". The role of the biophysical is explored for both forms of connecting as well as the implications for both upon the tourist's return home.
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    Crystallizing change in a tourism-based economy during COVID-19: an intermountain western gateway case study of Nederland, Colorado
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Branstrator, Julia, author; Cavaliere, Christina T., advisor; Bruyere, Brett, committee member; Cottrell, Stuart, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
    The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped mobility patterns within the tourism system uniquely stressing parks and protected areas (PPAs) and respective bordering gateway communities. Tourism research has explored changes related to PPAs since COVID-19 at the international (Spenceley et al., 2021), national (Lebrun, et al., 2021), and regional and local scales (Cavaliere & Branstrator 2023; Sohn et al., 2021). Recent scholarship in tourism has brought attention to the experiences and knowledge of residents living within communities bordering PPAs to understand the impacts of COVID-19 from local perspectives (Jones et al., 2021). However, tourism scholarship related to COVID-19 underrepresents the experiences of intermountain western gateway communities (IWGCs) - small communities within remote mountain regions bordering PPAs that often live with tourism-based economies (Stoker et al., 2021). Throughout COVID-19, IWGCs have lived through societal, political and health crises compounded by climate disasters such as wildfires and flooding. The remote geographic location and economic basis of tourism shapes the impacts, adaptations and needs of IWGCs, imperative to inform crisis and disaster management due to the presence and power of tourism-based economies. Residents from the Town of Nederland, Colorado hold lived, situated knowledge of changes experienced during COVID-19 which can further tourism scholarship of resiliency as related to the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, this research aims to explore the relationships between changes experienced by Nederland residents hosting a tourism economy during COVID-19 through a narrowed scope of identity, affect, and technology use – each representing important components of crisis and disaster management needing further exploration. Three objectives are established to achieve the aim of this research. First, to further the critical and affective turns within tourism scholarship through an embodied research design exploring identities of Nederland residents. Second, to assess the role of technology in navigating spatial and social realities of the COVID-19 pandemic impacting identities. Third, cultural realignment is used as a tool of analysis to explore processes and agents of change revealing power dynamics within Nederland including community resilience and representation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Influential literature from social-ecological and psychological resiliency, embodiment and affect, biocultural knowledge, identities, and technology underpins this research. Through an embodied approach, the worldviews of myself as researcher and Nederland residents become new contributions to knowledge by considering the body as an intersecting point between affective, biocultural, and technocultural influences. A crystallization methodology is employed guided by a feminist new materialist epistemology to construct a robust representation of resident accounts through critical qualitative methods. Reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured, in-depth interviews is complemented by field notes and secondary sources such as online featuring and representation of Nederland to conceptualize identities at the individual and community scale. This investigation of identities within crisis management and resiliency through the research context of Nederland, Colorado conducts holistic, empirical reflection upon resident agency and community resilience to changes during COVID-19. This methodological approach elicits rich knowledge to conceptualize identities of Nederland residents as complex, affective embodiments of multi-scalar changes mediated by tourism impacts during the COVID-19.
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    "Destination Pine Ridge": a longitudinal case study of barriers to collaboration in culturally appropriate tourism initiatives
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Akers, Andrea, author; Pickering, Kathleen, advisor; Leisz, Stephen, committee member; Cottrell, Stuart, committee member
    According to Ross et al. (2011) there are many barriers to genuine collaboration and natural resource co-management between Indigenous groups and westernized government groups but do these barriers exist for partnerships with Indigenous groups in other realms? This thesis is a specific case study of a partnership between the Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce, the National Park Service, and several other South Dakota entities involved with the region's tourism industry. This partnership, as a strategy to increase tourism to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota through education, has had to tackle many of the same barriers as Ross et al. (2011) argues exist for natural resource co-management attempts, but have also made significant achievements. A participatory epistemology and Pierre Bourdieu's (2009[1977], 1991, 1986) concept of capitals elaborate the case study analysis. This partnership has a long way to go before it is truly and equally collaborative, and has to confront many barriers until Lakota knowledge is incorporated into NPS interpretation. It has, though, accomplished many important steps to facilitating a mutually beneficial partnership have been accomplished, as well as individual growth and understanding among the participants.
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    Firefighter observations on mountain pine beetle post-outbreak lodgepole pine fires: expectations, surprises and decision-making
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Moriarty, Kevin, author; Cheng, Antony S., advisor; Hoffman, Chad, committee member; Cottrell, Stuart, committee member
    Recent wildfires in mountain pine beetle (Dendrocronas ponderosae; MPB) post-outbreak lodgepole (pinus contorta var. latifolia) stands in the western United States have generated concern among stakeholders and disagreement over predicted fire behavior in the scientific literature. A study was conducted of wildland firefighters' observations of fire behavior in beetle-killed lodgepole pine forests to garner a better understanding of expected vs. observed fire behavior, with a focus on what fire behaviors surprised firefighters. Twelve MPB post-outbreak wildfires and one prescribed fire were identified in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming using USDA aerial surveys, USGS MODIS based perimeter mapping and local knowledge. Twenty-eight wildland firefighter interviews were conducted among 7 different federal, state, county, local and non-profit agencies with a total of 55 observations. Expectations, observations, surprising fire behavior and tactical decisions were categorized using qualitative coding and interpretation. Expectations were greatly based on prior wildland fire experiences rather than the scientific research results. Surprising fire behavior in the red phase included increased fire behavior in moderate conditions, increased spotting, faster crown fire transition and crown fire transition with limited or no ladder fuels. Surprising fire behavior in the grey phase included crown ignition and crown fire propagation. Observations support the increased fire behavior in MPB post-outbreak red phase and diverge from studies predicting reduced crown fire potential in red and mixed phases. Firefighters formed new expectations of active fire behavior potential in all weather conditions and MPB phases. However, respondents concluded that specific conditions of fuel, weather and topography are the main driving forces in fire behavior and MPB influence was limited to distinct events. Firefighters changed tactics by taking more indirect suppression approaches due to fire behavior and tree hazard.
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    The efficiency and effectiveness of marking methods on spatially heterogeneous forest treatments
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Cadry, Jeff, author; Smith, Frederick, advisor; Dickinson, Yvette, advisor; Cottrell, Stuart, committee member; Mackes, Kurt, committee member
    Fire suppression, historic grazing, past logging, and climate change have resulted in increased tree densities and fuel loads, greater forest homogeneity, and large, uncharacteristic wildfires in the lower montane forests of Colorado's Front Range. The Pike and Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forests are currently restoring forest structure through the implementation of forest thinning. Historically these forests were more heterogeneous with individual trees, groups of trees varying in quantity, and openings. The silvicultural prescriptions required for these restoration treatments are complex, and foresters are experiencing difficulties conveying these complex prescriptions to the contractors implementing the treatments. The forest service has used three different marking methods to implement this prescription: individual tree marking (ITM), designation by prescription (DxP), and designation by description (DxD). The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of these marking methods. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods were used to address the objective. The quantitative methods investigated the heterogeneity of pre- and post-treatment forest structures at eight sites within the lower montane zone of the Colorado Front Range. The qualitative methods investigated the facilitators and constraints among stakeholders with respect to marking methods. These methods were implemented by conducting semi-structured interviews with stakeholders (n=10) who were involved in the treatments being analyzed in the quantitative portion. The results of the quantitative portion indicated that each of the three marking methods created more heterogeneity than the control (traditional fuels treatment). The marking method creating the largest increase in heterogeneity depended on the metric that was being utilized. This was a result of the scales of measurement being different for each of the metrics. With each marking method creating heterogeneity, marking method selection criteria should be utilized to choose the most appropriate marking method. The qualitative analysis identified selection criteria in the following categories: experience of the stakeholders, marking vs. designation, DxP vs DxD, and hybrid marking methods. These categories should be considered when selecting a marking method for a spatially heterogeneous treatment.