The George Wright Forum
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WILD & SCENIC RIVERS ISLE ROYALE: 50 YEARS OF A LANDMARK STUDY CLIMATE CHANGE & CULTURAL HERITAGE COMMERCIAL GRIZZLY VIEWING The George Wright Forum The GWS Journal of Parks, Protected Areas & Cultural Sites volume 25 number 2 • 2008 Origins Founded in 1980, the George Wright Society is organized for the pur poses of promoting the application of knowledge, fostering communica tion, improving resource management, and providing information to improve public understanding and appreciation of the basic purposes of natural and cultural parks and equivalent reserves. The Society is dedicat ed to the protection, preservation, and management of cultural and natu ral parks and reserves through research and education. Mission The George Wright Society advances the scientific and heritage values of parks and protected areas. The Society promotes professional research and resource stewardship across natural and cultural disciplines, provides avenues of communication, and encourages public policies that embrace these values. Our Goal The Society strives to be the premier organization connecting people, places, knowledge, and ideas to foster excellence in natural and cultural resource management, research, protection, and interpretation in parks and equivalent reserves. Board of Directors ROLF DlAMANT, President • Woodstock, Vermont STEPHANIE TOOTHMAN, Vice President • Seattle, Washington DAVID GllABER, Secretary • Three Rivers, California REBECCA CONARD, Treasurer • Murfreesboro, Tennessee BRAD BARR • Woods Hole, Massachusetts SUZETTE M. KlMBALL • Kearneysville, West Virginia SUZANNE LEWIS • Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming MELIA LANE-KAMAHELE • Honolulu, Hawaii BRENT A. MITCHELL • Ipswich, Massachusetts JOHN WATTHAKA • Ottawa, Ontario ROBERT A. WINFREE • Anchorage, Alaska Graduate Student Representative to the Board: REBECCA E. STANFIELD MCCOWN • Burlington, Vermont Executive Office DAVID HARMON, Executive Director EMILY DEKKER-FIALA, Conference Coordinator P. O. Box 65 • Hancock, Michigan 49930-0065 USA 1-906-487-9722 • fax 1-906-487-9405 [email protected] • www.georgewright.org The George Wright Society is a member of US/ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites—U.S. Committee) and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). © 2008 The George Wright Society, Inc. All rights reserved. (No copy right is claimed for previously published material reprinted herein.) ISSN 0732-4715 Editorial and manuscript submission guidelines may be found on our website at www.georgewright.org/forum.html. Text paper is made of 50% recycled fibers. Printed by Book Concern Printers, Hancock, Michigan. The George Wright Forum The GWS Journal of Parks, Protected Areas & Cultural Sites volume 25 number 2 • 2008 Society News, Notes & Mail • 3 The National Park Service Centennial Essay Series Reassessing the National Park Service and the National Park System Janet A. McDonnell • 6 Celebrating 40 Years of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act: An Evolution of River Protection Strategies Sue Jennings and Abby Miller, guest editors Celebrating Forty Years of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act Sue Jennings • IS The Wild and Scenic St. Croix Riverway Kate Hanson • 27 Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers Jamie Fosburgh, Joe DiBetto, and Fred Alters ' 37 2(a)(ii)-Designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers: The Confluence of Local Management and Federal Protection Lauren Koshcre • 45 Commercial Grizzly Bear Viewing in the Fishing Branch (Ni'iinlii Njik) Protected Area, Yukon, Canada Erik Vol • 52 Climate Change and Cultural Heritage Michelle L. Berenfeld, guest editor Climate Change and Cultural Heritage: Local Evidence, Global Responses Michelle L. Berenfeld • 66 Sustain the 9!: Greening of the Holy Cross/Lower 9th Community Charles E. Allen HI • S3 Protecting Cultural Resources in Coastal U.S. National Parks from Climate Change Maria Cajfrey and Rebecca Beavers ' 86 The Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project: Fifty Years of Challenge and Insight Michael P. Nelson, RolfO. Peterson, and John A. Vucetich • 98 On the cover: The Upper Falls of the Tahquamenon River, Michigan, a unit of the national wild and scenic rivers sys tem. Photo courtesy of Sue Jennings. A series of articles marking the 40th anniversary of the Nationa Wild and Scenic Rivers Act begins on p. 15. 2 The George Wright Forum SOCIETY NEWS, NOTES & MAIL GWS Board sets near-term strategic directions In March the Society's Board endorsed an updated Strategic Statement for the period 2008-2012. The Board produces these statements every five years. They are, in effect, con cise strategic plans: a pithy outline of where we want to go and how we want to get there over the near term. The new Strategic Statement sets six directions for the Society, each elaborat ed with a small number of actions matched to benchmarks of success: 1. Enhance fiscal solvency while actively seeking to expand our financial, governance, and administrative capacities so that we are in a position to seize new opportunities when they arise. 2. Build membership so that membership in the GWS is widely considered a "must" for park and protected area professionals. 3. Increase the visibility and connectedness of the organization so that GWS is better known to the audiences we wish to reach — make GWS "the NPR of protected areas." 4. Continue to develop the GWS's role as a leading convener and facilitator of confer ences on parks, protected areas, and cultural sites. 5. Enhance the quality and expand the influence of the GWS's publications so that they are seen as a principal clearinghouse for information about protected area research and management. 6. Establish the GWS as a leader in promoting diversity within professions dealing with research in and management of parks, protected areas, and cultural sites. To read the entire Strategic Statement (5 pages), go to www.georgewright.org/strategic.html. We welcome any comments you might have; send them to the Executive Director Dave Har mon at [email protected]. GWS member survey coming your way As just noted, one of our strategic directions is to build up the GWS membership. The first step is finding out what current members think are the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, and what specific tasks they'd like to see the Society take on. We have never done a member survey before, but that deficiency is about to be remedied. Sometime in the next few months, all GWS members will receive an invitation to fill out (anonymously) a short web-based survey. Like you, those of us on the Board and in the executive office are fre quently asked to fill out web surveys, and we know such requests can be tiresome. However, we hope all members will be receptive to our invitation—your input really will help us strengthen the organization we all share. So watch your inbox, and when you get your invi tation, please take five minutes to fill out the survey. Call for nominations, 2009 GWS awards Nominations are now open for the 2009 round of Imagine Excellence, the Society's awards program. Imagine Excellence recognizes outstanding accomplishments in fields Volume 25 • Number 2 (2008) 3 associated with research in, administration and management of, and communication about parks, other kinds of protected areas, cultural sites, and related supporting activities. The GWS awards are handed out every two years at a banquet on the closing evening of our con ference. The 2009 banquet, to be held March 5 at the conference in Portland, is a joint affair at which the National Park Service's top natural resources awards will be bestowed. GWS members are invited to submit nominations for the following awards: • The George Melendez Wright Award for Excellence, given in recognition of lifetime contributions on behalf of the Society or in furtherance of its purposes. This is the Society's highest award, and it is reserved for exceptional achievements in any of the areas with which the GWS is concerned. It is a top-of-career award. • The GWS Cultural Resource Achievement Award, given in recognition of excellence in research, management, or education related to the cultural resources of parks, cultur al and historic sites, reserves, and other protected areas. This award is generally aimed at mid-career to senior-level accomplishments. • The GWS Natural Resource Achievement Award, given in recognition of excellence in research, management, or education related to the natural resources of parks, reserves, and other protected areas. This award is generally aimed at mid-career to sen ior-level accomplishments. • The GWS Communication Award, given in recognition of excellence in communica tion, interpretation, or related areas pertaining to the purposes of the Society. This award is given specifically to recognize outstanding efforts in communicating highly technical or controversial park-related subjects to the public in a clear and understand able manner. Please note: Nominations must be made by a current GWS member, but the person being nominated does not have to be one. All nominations must be made via the online application form; you can find more information about Imagine Excellence, and a link to the form, at www.georgewright.org/awards.html. The deadline is October 31, 2008. New guidelines out on sacred natural sites in protected areas A new set of guidelines, co-published by IUCN and UNESCO, finds that thousands of sacred natural sites are in jeopardy around the world despite the fact that many lie within for mal protected areas. These sacred sites are endangered because indigenous peoples are sometimes excluded or forcibly removed from their traditional territories and thus can no longer care for the sites. There is growing interest in, and recognition of the importance of, sacred natural sites as critical elements to both biological and cultural preservation, especial ly in light of the accelerating loss of biocultural diversity as an unintended by-product of globalization. Sacred Natural Sites—Guidelines for Protected Area Managers, the latest in IUCN's Best Practice Guidelines series, summarizes experience in recognizing, planning, and managing sacred natural sites in a variety of protected areas.