Lab Activities
Weiss Lab is seeking members. Follow the "hamburger" nav above to the Join Us! page.
New Publication:
Our team has an article out:
Weiss, Jill; Elliott, Jordan; and Sullivan, Deanna (2022) "Snapshot of Recreational Users in the Adirondacks 2020," Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies: Vol. 25: No. 1, Article 5.
In the Works:
Weiss, J. L., Pettingill, P. Longitudinal Study of Alpine Stewardship in Northeast, USA, Reveals Insights into Interpretation for Conservation (in review for 2022)
Alpine stewardship, the active and passive management of recreational trail users has been in practice for decades at popular hiking tourism destinations in the Northeast United States. The past decade has seen a marked increase in hikers, possessing varied and sometimes new motivations, resulting in eroding trails and non-compliant behaviors such as improper human waste disposal and camping on patches of endangered alpine plants. Alpine stewards have a unique practice that is a blend of field education and interpretation. This study has been collecting data on this practice from ten stewardship programs since 2010. The research characterizes alpine stewardship and the philosophies that drive it, the community of practice they formed, and how these actions promote knowledge transfer and institutional memory across the system. Our findings reveal that stewardship program response to hiking trends amounts to a form of co-adaptive management that have implications for interpretation, conservation, and hiking tourism.
October 2022: Another season in the can! Updates soon!
July 2022: A new season of data collection starting!
We are excited to get moving with our partners on the ASANE Recreation and Stewardship in the Northeast Project (Funded by the USDA NIFA McIntire-Stennis Program).
New Publication:
Our team has an article out:
Weiss, Jill; Elliott, Jordan; and Sullivan, Deanna (2022) "Snapshot of Recreational Users in the Adirondacks 2020," Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies: Vol. 25: No. 1, Article 5.
- Available at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/ajes/vol25/iss1/5
- This research was an in-kind partnership between the Adirondack Council, ESF, and the Adirondack Mountain Club at the height of the pandemic.
- Co-authors Jordan Elliot (EB MPS) worked in my lab in 2021-22; Deanna Sullivan (ES MS) is currently in my lab and a graduate student in Environmental Studies.
- Delaney Demro (GPES MS '21) and Weiss Lab members Gabriela Wemple (SRM MS), Breath Hand (GPES PhD), and Jonas Eaton (EEI BS) also contributed to this project.
- Great work everybody!
In the Works:
Weiss, J. L., Pettingill, P. Longitudinal Study of Alpine Stewardship in Northeast, USA, Reveals Insights into Interpretation for Conservation (in review for 2022)
Alpine stewardship, the active and passive management of recreational trail users has been in practice for decades at popular hiking tourism destinations in the Northeast United States. The past decade has seen a marked increase in hikers, possessing varied and sometimes new motivations, resulting in eroding trails and non-compliant behaviors such as improper human waste disposal and camping on patches of endangered alpine plants. Alpine stewards have a unique practice that is a blend of field education and interpretation. This study has been collecting data on this practice from ten stewardship programs since 2010. The research characterizes alpine stewardship and the philosophies that drive it, the community of practice they formed, and how these actions promote knowledge transfer and institutional memory across the system. Our findings reveal that stewardship program response to hiking trends amounts to a form of co-adaptive management that have implications for interpretation, conservation, and hiking tourism.
October 2022: Another season in the can! Updates soon!
July 2022: A new season of data collection starting!
We are excited to get moving with our partners on the ASANE Recreation and Stewardship in the Northeast Project (Funded by the USDA NIFA McIntire-Stennis Program).
In the Times Union May 8 2022
In the Times Union: Stewards: Friends of the Mountains, Resource for Hikers https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Stewards-17149059.php
Current projects:
In the Times Union: Stewards: Friends of the Mountains, Resource for Hikers https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Stewards-17149059.php
Current projects:
- Alpine Stewardship Activities In the Northeast (ASANE 2009-2021+) https://asaneproject.weebly.com/
- ASANE Manuscripts in progress including: Longitudinal Study of Alpine Stewardship in the Northeast, US Reveals Interpretive Insights for Managing Visitor Use and Alpine Allies Bolster Conservation Power through Community of Practice
- Managing the New Hiker: Characteristics, Perceptions, and Behavior Trends among Alpine Trail Users in the Northeast (an off shoot of ASANE, funded by USDA NIFA McIntire Stennis Program). Please contact me if want to know more about this program.
- AMR Recreational User Intent and Perspectives (sponsored by the NYS DEC)
- 2022 Catskill Research Fellowship for Masters Student Garrett Boland: Informal Trail Monitoring in the Catskills with the NYS DEC and the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies
- Pilot "360-view" Trail use and ecology analysis before and after trail relocation. This is part of the Adirondack Ecological Scorecard Project led by Stacy McNulty and Natasha Karniski, ESF Adirondack Ecological Center.
- Dugongs and Seadragons, a partnership with EFB student Karina Lang and Dr. Josh Drew. Measuring educational impacts of a Marine Conservation Podcast. Manuscript in progress.
- Various grant applications are pending including a study of knowledge sharing among trail maintainers in the Northeast.