Because it is usually assumed that the economic health of the counties surrounding Yellowstone National Park is tied almost exclusively to mineral and timber extraction, protection of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem is seen as inevitably in direct and serious conflict with local economic well-being. Such a conflict generally does not exist, however, because of the ongoing transformation of these rural economies over the last twenty years. Unpublished federal duta on income and employment document the decline in the relative importance of extractive indushy and the rise in the importance of service activities. These data also indicate major flows of income into the region that are not associated with current work effort but are at least partially associated with the residential choices of retirees. These income flows dwarf those associated with extractive industry. I n addition, in terms of employment, theprimary economic activity tied to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is not timber or mining but recreation. The character and quality of the natural and social environments in the region attract both permanent residents and temporary visitors. Both support and stimulate the local economy. These characteristics of the emerging economy suggest that protection of the Greater Yellowstone landcape is consistent with protecting a dominant element in the local economic base that has been a source of stability and expansion. I n that sense, protecting the integrity of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is not only not in conflict with local economic well-being but is a crucial element in any economic development strategy for the region.Paper submitteaJuly I, 1990; revised manuscript acceptedMarch 25, 1991.
The Northwest Forest Plan in the Pacific Northwest sought to stabilize local economies, including local employment and income, by stabilizing the flow of wood fiber from public forests. This is also a common forest management objective in other regions and countries. Because this economic strategy ignores basic market adjustments, it is likely to fail and to unnecessarily damage forest ecosystems. Application of basic economic principles on how markets operate significantly changes the apparent efficacy of efforts to manage local economies by managing timber supply. The emphasis on timber supply tends to ignore the dominant role that the demand for wood fiber and wood products, rather than wood-fiber supply, plays in determining levels of harvest and production. Contemporary economics indicates that markets tend to operate to offset reductions in wood-fiber supply. This significantly moderates the economic cost of reducing commercial timber harvest in the pursuit of environmental objectives. In addition, contemporary economic analysis indicates that the economic links between natural forests and local communities are much broader than simply the flow of commercially valuable logs to manufacturing facilities. At least in the United States, the flow of environmental services from natural forests has increasingly become an amenity that has drawn people and economic activity to forested areas. Attractive site-specific qualities, including those supported by natural forests, can potentially support local economic development even in the face of reduced timber harvests. These market-related adjustments partially explain the Northwest Forest Plan's overestimation of the expected regional impacts associated with reduced federal timber supply and the ineffectiveness of the plan's efforts to protect communities by stabilizing federal timber supply
The educational integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has led to unfounded hopes of meeting many recurring educational challenges: from increasing learner motivation to lowering drop-out rates. ICTs are not an educational revolution per se; in some situations, their pedagogical usage lead to truly technologically-enhanced learning (TEL) situations, whereas in others, ICTs could relegate the learner to a passive spectator or low-interactivity user/consumer of multimedia content that limits the implementation of a socio-constructivist learning process based on a collaborative knowledge construction process. In this article, we analyze the limits of techno-centric approaches in the integration process of ICTs to teaching and learning, and argue for active learning and reflexive approaches to TEL. The Passive-Participatory (P-P) model we are suggesting can be termed as being socio-constructivist, participatory and inclusive as it allows teachers to integrate ICTs into their own specific educational context. Our model introduces five learning engagement levels in the pedagogical usage of technology: (Level 1) passive ICT usage, (Level 2) interactive ICT usage, (Level 3) content creation, (Level 4) content co-creation and, ultimately, (Level 5) participatory knowledge co-creation, which is oriented toward problem understanding within learning/knowledge-building communities. Building on Coates' definition of learning engagement as being the extent to which learners are actively involved in educational activities, the PP model of TEL activities stresses learning engagement could be limited to passive listening (e.g. video), low-interactivity usages (e.g. interactive school manuals), or could be supported through the usage of technologies for engagement in creative work.
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