Accomplishments this quarter: (October 1- December 31, 2003)
• Meeting with Margaret Wild and Human Dimensions Research Unit at Cornell University, October 8, 2003. Orientation of HDRU team to BRMD and the project, orientation for Margaret to HDRU expertise and specializations.
• Meeting with NPS core contact team representatives (John Karish and Margaret Wild) at Cornell University, October 8, 2003. Initial orientation for all team members, discussion of SCEP job description, began brainstorming about deer in parks in the northeast. Outlined framework to apply issue evolution model to deer issues in parks and broad elements of a questionnaire for eastern park managers with respect to deer issues.
• Continued weekly discussions of literature related to NPS history and agency structure: Preserving Nature in the National Parks (Sellars).
• Continued literature search on deer in parks, focus on case study information related to Gettysburg National Military Park and Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Discussions with John Karish and Michelle Batchellor regarding EIS development and with Elizabeth Lambert (citizen involved in lawsuit) regarding stakeholder perspectives related to GETT.
• Consulting and proposal review for social science inquiry related to EA for hunting at Cape Cod National Seashore.
• Meeting with Kirsten and Mary Foley (also core contact team member) at Boston Office, November 26, 2003 as extension of orientation meetings.
• Draft of document "Application of a Public Issue Evolution Model to Deer Management in National Parks" in review with contact team.
• Draft of self-rating questionnaire to better understand parks' perception of their stages of deer issue evolution, in review with contact team.
• Developed project website: http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/research/deerinparks
Next quarter plans: (January 1-March 31, 2004)
• Kirsten's Coursework:
• Environmental Law
• Action Research
• Field Conservation Ecology
• Disseminate self-rating questionnaire for parks
• Finalize Issue Evolution Model--post on website, submit to George Wright Forum?
• Kirsten to volunteer with Paul Curtis (Cornell Cooperative Extension) on Cayuga Heights deer project http://wildlifecontrol.info/chdp/default.htm
• Continue reading NPS literature.
• Continue to update and maintain website.
• Continue to collect information about eastern NPS units with known deer interests.