The Social Dynamics of Protected Area Centered Ecosystems

In the United States many of these protected areas have been designated as national parks and are managed by the National Parks Service. The jurisdictional boundaries of National Parks rarely cover an entire ecosystem. Therefore, the activities that take place beyond the park boundaries must be considered when trying to understand the ecosystem at a landscape scale. Furthermore, when it comes to land stewardship, it is important to realize the social dynamics that influence the larger protected area centered ecosystem (PACE). A PACE includes various public agencies and private land owners that make up a management mosaic. Land management jurisdictions are defined by administrative boundaries and can affect the social dynamics, livelihoods, flow of information and ecological characteristics across a PACE. The geographical area of a PACE is defined by ecological data and therefore provides information about the ecological system. This project aims to contribute to the PACE concept by exploring the social aspects of the ecologically defined area(s). More broadly, this project will help to understand the greater social-ecological systems of PACEs across the contiguous United States. The purpose of this project is to (1) Visually convey the amount of social change over time (5-year incriminates) for the Rocky Mountain National Park PACE, and (2) Identify and classify populations of private land owners within a PACE to inform survey data collection