Community and landscape change in southeast Alaska

Area of Science:

• Social science research
• Natural resource management
• Human dimensions of environmental change

Background:

• Long-standing social science research since the 1970s.
• Studies initiated in 1997 by Pacific Northwest Research Station (PNW) to address information gaps in Tongass Land Management Plan development.
• Focus on the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska.

Purpose of the Study:

• To understand the interconnections between resource management and social/cultural change.
• To address identified information gaps for land management planning.
• To summarize findings from various social science studies.

Main Methods:

• Review and synthesis of findings from multiple social science studies.
• Studies included traditional ecological knowledge, subsistence resource use, tourism trends and impacts, and social acceptability of timber harvest practices.

Main Results:

• Summarized findings on traditional ecological knowledge and subsistence resource use.
• Analysis of tourism trends and their effects on local communities.
• Assessment of the social acceptability of alternative timber harvest methods.

Conclusions:

• Management implications derived from the summarized findings.
• Suggestions for future research directions in Tongass National Forest social science.
• Highlighting the importance of social science in natural resource management and planning.