Search

Invasive plants threaten natural areas, yet Acadia National Park, Maine, USA has been successful in managing invasive plant populations for over three decades. However, rapid environmental change and increasing pressure from encroaching invasive plants may adversely affect the success of ongoing management. This article presents an overview of invasive plant management in Acadia National Park, highlighting lessons learned in over 30 years of active management. Acadia provides a valuable case study for other protected areas, sharing many features with protected areas globally. We offer recommendations for protected area managers in the face of rapid environmental change. Deliberate and continuous management actions by park resource staff starting in the late 1980s and expanding in the mid‐2000s have resulted in extremely low incidence of invasion within Acadia. This success has resulted from effort centred around a science‐based and adaptive approach to management, early detection, and rapid response. Strong partnerships have ensured the continuation of this work. Park staff continue to reduce invasive species populations to <1% cover, monitor managed areas to track treatment success, and re‐treat upon reinvasion. However, total eradication is rare and continued management of new and re‐invasions is expensive and challenging. Maintaining effective invasive plant management is likely to become more difficult as climate change interacts with other stressors in protected areas. Synthesis and applications: Responding to these changes requires articulating desired and realistic future conditions for resources in protected areas, then using actions such as invasive plant removal and native plant revegetation to achieve goals. Long‐term management through a flexible experimental approach is critical to successful invasive plant management. Both Western and Indigenous science are needed to inform responses to the multiple and interacting global change stressors, and management is needed to advance scientific understanding of ecosystem and species responses to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), described as the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the ecosystem, has always been part of Indigenous communities and their daily lives; however, TEK has progressively been incorporated into the academic and professional field of North American wildlife management and ecology despite its historical domination by Western scientific attitudes, knowledge, and methods. The objective of this note is to provide an overview of such progression from the standpoint of the first author, an Indigenous professional trained in a Western scientific paradigm. More specifically, the paper categorizes the history and the current state of TEK in the wildlife management profession while providing insights for the future of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial introducing a new special issue in the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk communication is often viewed as imparting information and perhaps as a two‐way dialogue. Risk communication inadequacies on the part of both "communicator" and "community members" can lead to adverse consequences and amplify environmental justice disparities. The paper suggests a transformational approach where risk communicators must learn to trust community experts and their knowledge base (and act upon it), where risk information imparted by risk communicators addresses what communities are most concerned about (as well as risk from specific chemicals or radionuclides), and where risk information and assessments address underlying issues and disparities, as well as cultural traditions (among others). Providing risk probabilities is no longer sufficient; western science may not be enough, and community and native scientific knowledge is needed. Risk communication (or information transfer) for environmental risks that are ongoing usually applies to low‐income, minority communities—people living in dense inner cities, rural communities, Native American communities—or to people living near a risky facility. Communication within this context requires mutual trust, listening and respect, as well as acceptance of indigenous and community knowledge as equally valuable. Examples are given to illustrate a community perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual diversity, which is often assessed through social diversity proxies, such as race, ethnicity, and gender, is essential to innovation in ecology. There are many diverse ways of knowing, valuing, and discerning alternatives within ecology and as it is applied to solve global‐change issues. However, science is a cultural activity, one that is affected by colonialism, racism, and White supremacy and, like other fields of science, the pursuit of ecological careers has historically been a space of limited opportunities for participation for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)—narrowing the diverse ways of knowing, valuing, and engaging in ecological work. We seek to debunk the view that such limited participation is a result of BIPOC lacking interest in or proficiency in science, and instead offer that BIPOC communities are places of deep scientific understanding, sociocultural resilience, and cultural wealth. Scientists must broaden their consideration of the ecological sciences and work with BIPOC to establish community‐based scientific partnerships that will foster increased ecological career pathways for BIPOC youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is increasingly being applied in the field of wildlife conservation, yet conceptualizations of what TEK is and views regarding whether TEK is science remain diverse and, at times, conflicting in the TEK discourse. Many practical and philosophical challenges come with the pursuit of TEK initiatives, potentially leaving wildlife researchers and managers wondering how to conduct projects effectively and also in a culturally sensitive manner. The consideration of historical and philosophical contexts that affect tribal communities may be beneficial in such cases. I provide a historical context by presenting chronological events of Indian Country in the United States as related to Federal Indian Law in parallel with the development of wildlife management as a profession. Additionally, I explore the philosophical context of TEK as science by discussing Western and Indigenous scientific paradigms and their linkages to TEK. Finally, given these contexts, I provide several suggestions for developing culturally sensitive approaches to TEK research in the wildlife field. © 2018 The Wildlife Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the earliest days of the European Enlightenment, Western people have sought to remove themselves from nature and the ‘savage’ non-European masses. This distancing has relied upon various intellectual techniques and theories. The social construction of nature precipitated by Enlightenment thinking separated culture from nature, culture being defined as civilised European society. This separation has served to displace the Native voice within the colonial construction of Nature. This separation has also served as one thread in the long modern ‘disenchantment’ of Westerners and nature, a ‘disenchantment’ described so adeptly by Adorno and Horkheimer (1973 ). Unfortunately though, this displacement is not only a historical event. The absence of modern Native voices within discussions of nature perpetuates the colonial displacement which blossomed following the Enlightenment. In his book entitled, Native Science, Gregory Cajete describes Native science as ‘a lived and creative relationship with the natural world ... [an] intimate and creative participation [which] heightens awareness of the subtle qualities of a place’ (2000, 20). Perhaps place offers a ‘common ground’ between Western and Indigenous thought; a ‘common ground’ upon which to re/write the meta-narrative of Enlightenment thought. This paper will seek to aid in the re/placement of modern Native voices within constructions of nature and seek to begin healing the disenchantment caused through the rupture between culture and nature in Western science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]