Quarterly Report:
Submitted 17 October 2004

Accomplishments this quarter:
(July 1 – September 30, 2004)

• Continued visits with natural resource managers at parks. Parks visited this quarter: Kirsten and Dan: MANA, PRWI, SHEN, HAFE, CHOH, FIIS; Kirsten: COLO, FRSP, ROCR, ANTI, MONO.

• Attended The Wildlife Society annual conference, including workshop: “Habitat Conservation in the Upper Bow Corridor, Alberta.”

• Drafted report of Phase I research: Preliminary Insights from Natural Resource Managers.

• Continued to receive input on and revise Issue Evolution Model.

• Updated project website: http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/research/deerinparks

Kirsten's Additional Accomplishments:

• Attended GIS trainings: “Introduction to ArcGIS for Land Management Agencies” and “I&M Metadata Workshop.”

• Met with other social scientists in the Fort Collins area: Shana Gillette (USGS), Dan Williams and Mike Patterson (USFS), Tony Cheng and Mike Manfredo (CSU).

• Finalized graduate special committee: Dan Decker, Natural Resources, Resource Policy and Management (chair); John Forester, City and Regional Planning; Katherine McComas, Communication; Paul Curtis, Natural Resources, Resource Ecology and Management (Field appointed member); Margaret Wild, NPS BRMD (external committee member).

• Ph.D. program coursework:

• The Craft of Anthropology (Anthropology 603, Vilma Santiago-Irizarry): This course examines problems that emerge in conducting fieldwork which raise ethical, methodological, theoretical, and practical issues in the observation, participation in, recording, and representation of culture(s). Focus is on ethnography through informal interviews and participant-observation.

• Sociology of the Community (Development Sociology 620, David Brown): This course critically analyzes the intellectual core of community sociology and its theoretical development over time. It will provide both a grounded conceptual foundation and a critical examination of the forms and shapes sociological research on the community assumes.

• Introductory Methods of Planning Analysis (City and Regional Planning 525, Rolf Pendall, audit): A course on quantitative and qualitative analysis of neighborhoods, cities, and regions. Tools include: descriptive and inferential statistics, mapping, and observation.

Next quarter plans: (October 1 – December 31, 2004)

• Present preliminary results of Phase I research to BRMD.

• Continue with park visits to MABI and SARA.

• Solicit input from managers who participated in Phase I research and revise written report accordingly.

• Develop theoretical pieces of conceptual framework.

• Develop methodology and complete study plan for Phases II and III of research.

• Begin NPS Fundamentals training modules.

• Finalize Issue Evolution Model: possibly submit to George Wright Forum.

• Continue reading NPS literature.

• Continue to update and maintain website.

• Continue to collect information about eastern NPS units with known deer interests.