ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION EFFECTS ON PERCEPTION OF RECREATIONAL AND SCENIC QUALITIES OF FOREST BURN AREAS.
Issue Date
1982Keywords
Forest fires -- Prevention and control -- Psychological aspects.Forests and forestry -- Arizona -- Recreational use -- Psychological aspects.
Fire ecology -- Arizona -- Psychological aspects.
Prescribed burning -- Psychological aspects.
Environmental psychology.
Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
The purpose of this study has been to test public perceptions of both scenic quality and recreational acceptability of southwestern ponderosa pine forests exibiting one-to-five years of recovery from both light and severe fire. Public fire-effects information documents were also constructed and tested. Appropriate ponderosa forest areas in Arizona were selected and randomly photographed. Population samples, drawn from Tucson, Arizona, first read fire-ecology or "control" information brochures and then rated forest scenes on 1-to-10 scales for scenic quality and for acceptability for selected forms of outdoor recreation. Respondents finally answered a short fire-knowledge, fire-attitude questionnaire. Ratings were subjected to SBE analysis (Daniel and Boster, 1976), and analysis of variance was applied to both ratings and questionnaire results. The clearest distinction drawn, for both scenic quality and recreational acceptability, is between light-fire and severe-fire effects. Light fire improves scenic quality for a 3-to-4 year period, while severe fire seriously detracts from scenic quality for an unknown length of time exceeding the 5-year period tested. Recreational acceptability is differentiated according to the recreational activity selected: camping is nearly twice as sensitive to severe fire effects as scenic quality, and is somewhat disrupted by light fire effects; picnicking is second-most impacted by severe fire effects; hiking or backpacking is affected by severe fire to about the same degree as scenic quality; nature study is least affected. Picnicking, hiking and nature study are not significantly affected by light fire. Provision of fire-effects information does not significantly affect scenic or recreational evaluation of forest burn areas. The fire-effects information brochures produced general "halo" effects on both fire knowledge and fire attitude in the groups sampled. Fire knowledge shifted toward the expert position that fire effects are less severe than generally believed. Fire attitude shifted toward the expert position of greater tolerance for fire in ponderosa ecosystems. Results show prescribed burning as generally acceptable. The results of this study demonstrate distinctions between affect (perceptual evaluations) and cognition (questionnaire response). Scenic and recreational evaluations emerge as clearly distinct entities.Type
textDissertation-Reproduction (electronic)
Degree Name
Ph.D.Degree Level
doctoralDegree Program
Renewable Natural ResourcesGraduate College
Degree Grantor
University of ArizonaCollections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Life on hold: A theory of spouse response to the waiting period prior to heart transplantation.The purpose of this study was to generate a grounded theory explaining the social and psychological processes used by spouses during the waiting period prior to heart transplantation. Theory discovery was accomplished using the grounded theory methodology. Life on Hold was identified as the basic social psychological process generated from the data that explains the responses of spouses during the waiting period prior to heart transplantation. Life on Hold is the process of "tabling" life's activities for an indefinite period of time in order to devote one's life to another person(s) or event. Spouses of heart transplant candidates set aside life's activities and focus all thoughts, actions, and energy on maintaining the life of the candidate until a donor heart is obtained. The process consists of two stages: Freeing Self and Making Life the Transplant. The theory provides a basis for the development of relevant interventions to assist family members to cope with the uncertainty and stress of the transplant experience.
-
Postpartum adaptation of the adolescent mother/infant dyadThis study has a threefold purpose to: 1) describe early postpartum adaptation of adolescent mothers, 2) describe the early postpartum adaptation of infants with adolescent mothers, and 3) compare early postpartum adaptation of adolescent mother/infant dyads and adult mother/infant dyads. 8 Analysis of data involved 1) identification of nursing diagnoses generated from the adolescent mother/infant dyad's theory-based Roy-Postpartum Adaptation Assessment Tool (RPAAT) and 2) comparison of the number of nursing diagnoses generated from the adult mother/infant dyad's R-PAAT. A total of eighteen nursing diagnoses were identified for the adolescent mother/infant dyad, eleven were in the physiologic mode and seven were in the psychosocial mode. When compared, seventeen of the eighteen nursing diagnoses identified for the adolescent mother/infant dyad were identified for the adult mother/infant dyad, although frequency of identification differed between the dyad groups.
