This study examined predictors of self-reported general responsible environmental behavior (GREB) among recreational boaters in Maryland in 1992. Findings show a relationship between cognitive (professed knowledge of environmental issues), affective (environmental concern), and conative (verbal commitment) components of attitudes with pro-environmental behavior. Multiple regression results show that two attitudinal variables explained 23.8% of total variance in GREB. Verbal commitment was the strongest predictor, followed by professed knowledge of environmental issues. Environmental concern was moderately correlated with GREB but did not contribute significantly to the regression model. When sociodemographics were added to the model, stand on political issues added another .2% to the variance explained. A path diagram (AMOS 4.01) was used to reexamine the GREB framework. Results model those of the stepwise regression procedures (23% variance explained) in SPSS, and the path diagram simplifies interpretation of structural relationships among variables in a regression equation.

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This paper presents a conceptual geographical information systems (GIS)supported sustainable tourism infrastructure planning (STIP) framework including attraction, service and transportation facilities. This framework focuses on tourism planning as an integrated approach based on sustainability criteria. STIP aims to integrate a set of sustainability criteria (i.e. development objectives, visitor experience preferences, carrying capacity standards and resource impacts) into infrastructure planning via GIS. Based on these criteria, STIP provides protected area management insights in the most sustainable locations and layout of future infrastructure. STIP involves three phases: a visitor segmentation (not GIS supported) phase, a zoning phase (GIS supported) and a transportation network planning phase (GIS supported). To demonstrate the integration of these phases, STIP was applied as a trail planning demonstration on data (i.e. social and physical) from the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a tropical rainforest in Sri Lanka's southwestern wet zone. The area experiences increasing visitor use and requires additional trail development to mitigate resource stress. Nature and cultural tourist opportunity trail networks were mapped based on the sustainability criteria which provide directives for sustainable trail development within the reserve.

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Due to recent outbreaks of native bark beetles, forest ecosystems have experienced substantial changes in landscape structure and function, which also affect nearby human populations. As a result, land managers have been tasked with sustaining ecosystem services in impacted areas by considering the best available science, public perceptions, and monitoring data to develop strategies to suppress bark beetle epidemics, and in some cases to restore affected lands and ecosystem services. The effects of bark beetle outbreaks are often detrimental to the provision of ecosystem services, including degraded landscape aesthetics and diminished air and water quality. However, there have been instances where bark beetle outbreaks have benefited communities by, for example, improving habitat for grazing animals and enhancing real-estate values. As a consequence of the interaction of a warming climate and susceptible forest stand conditions, the frequency, severity, and extent of bark beetle outbreaks are expected to increase and therefore will continue to challenge many social-ecological systems. We synthesize experiences from recent outbreaks to encourage knowledge transfer from previously impacted communities to potentially vulnerable locations that may be at risk from future bark beetle epidemics.

Summary Recent bark beetle outbreaks in North America and Europe have impacted forested landscapes and the provisioning of critical ecosystem services. The scale and intensity of many recent outbreaks are widely believed to be unprecedented. The effects of bark beetle outbreaks on ecosystems are often measured in terms of area affected, host tree mortality rates, and alterations to forest structure and composition. Impacts to human systems focus on changes in property valuation, infrastructure damage from falling trees, landscape aesthetics, and the quality and quantity of timber and water resources. To advance our understanding of bark beetle impacts, we assembled a team of ecologists, land managers and social scientists to participate in a research prioritization workshop. Synthesis and applications. We identified 25 key questions by using an established methodology to identify priorities for research into the impacts of bark beetles. Our efforts emphasize the need to improve outbreak monitoring and detection, educate the public on the ecological role of bark beetles, and develop integrated metrics that facilitate comparison of ecosystem services across sites.

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