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A List
8/21/06
SLU PROF GETS GRANT TO STUDY SUSTAINABLE RECREATION
CANTON - A St. Lawrence University environmental studies professor is the co-investigator
of a research project to help define and guide sustainable outdoor recreation and
tourism on Northern Forest mountain summits, funded by a grant of $85,260 from the
Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC) and the University of Vermont (UVM).
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Christopher A. Monz has been named
co-investigator; Robert Manning, professor in the Rubenstein School of Environment
and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, is principal investigator.
In the research proposal, Manning and Monz state, "Outdoor recreation/tourism,
like other important and growing uses of the Northern Forest, must ultimately be
sustainable. This will require thoughtful management that is informed by a strong
scientific foundation."
With an advisory panel, the two plan to select specific summits for study,
focusing on the "icon summits" of Mount Mansfield (Vermont), Mount Marcy (New York),
Cadillac Mountain and Mount Kahtadin (both, Maine). They will gather scientific data
that can be used to help formulate "indicators and standards of quality of sustainable
outdoor recreation/tourism"; integrate the ecological and social/experiential components
of sustainability within a management context; and demonstrate the way in which the
framework of indicators and standards of quality can be used to guide management. The
research project will take place over two years.
Manning is a social scientist, with expertise in the experiential aspects of
outdoor recreation, while Monz is a natural scientist with expertise in the
ecological impact of outdoor recreation.
The NSRC is a competitive research grant program specifically created for studies
of the 26-million-acre Northern Forest, a region spanning the states of Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Established by Congress in 1998, the NSRC supports
cross-disciplinary, collaborative ecosystem, socioeconomic, forest product and
conservation research that benefits the unique landscapes and communities of the
Northern Forest region.
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More information: Christopher Monz
Science at St. Lawrence
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