lakehead u researchers explore interaction of recreation/tourism with commercial forest operations

(thunder bay - june 1, 2006) two 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 researchers have received funding to explore the integration of recreation, tourism, and commercial forest operations in order to reduce conflict, and costs of operations, and provide enhanced certainty in wood supply

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dr. mike yuan and dr. norman mcintyre, both with the school of outdoor recreation, parks, and tourism, have received $177,000 from the forestry futures trust, enhanced forest productivity science program, and an additional $20,000 from the ontario ministry of natural resources. the title of their research is, "reducing uncertainty of wood supply through better understanding of recreation use: an application of the spatial recreation planning framework."

the study, which focuses on lake superior's north shore region, will test the transferability of the recently developed spatial recreation planning framework into a new geography that is used both for general purposes (including tourism and recreation) and for enhanced management areas. the researchers will also look at the potential of this framework to act as a forecasting tool to identify spatial recreation places. dr. yuan and dr. mcintyre hope to gain a better understanding of key criteria that exist within already identified spatial recreation places as well as identify the seasonal importance of spatial recreation places.

"this project is one of the first of its kind to integrate recreation and tourism values in forest planning in canada," says dr. yuan. "until our original research, recreation and tourism on crown lands were seen as just an afterthought in ontario. it is hoped that future planning on crown lands will use the model to better address non-timber values on the resource. obviously the importance of tourism development and crown land management in this region are interconnected. this is especially true given the desperate economic state of many rural communities."

assisting with the study will belen hunt, a research scientist with the centre for northern forest ecosystem research, and jeff moore, a phd student in the faculty of forestry and the forest environment at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 .