Laurie Yung

Faculty/Staff Image Director of Wilderness Institute; Research Assistant Professor

Department of Society and Conservation
College of Forestry and Conservation
University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812

Office: UH 308
Phone: 406-243-6934
Email: laurie.yung@umontana.edu

Personal Summary:

My teaching and research focuses on the social and political aspects of conservation, with an emphasis on rural communities in the Northern Rockies. I serve as the Director of the Wilderness Institute and as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Society and Conservation. I teach courses in conservation social science and policy in the College of Forestry and Conservation and in the Wilderness and Civilization program. My curricular home is the Resource Conservation program.

My current work examines the following: 1) conflict and collaboration in rural communities over issues such as fire management and wilderness designation; 2) how private landowners cooperate across property boundaries on conservation issues such as weeds and wildlife, especially in the context of changing landownership; 3) how volunteer monitoring and citizen science programs change community involvement in public land management; and 4) how local community views and interests are integrated into protected area planning and management.

Education:

2003: Ph.D. Forestry, University of Montana

Dissertation: The Politics of Cross-Boundary Conservation: Meaning, Livelihood, and Property on the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana

1993: M.S. Environmental Studies, University of Oregon

1991: B.A. Psychology and Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Current Courses:

RSCN 370S Wildland Conservation Policy and Governance

RSCN 570 Political Ecology

Research Interests:

Protected Area Conservation

Rural Communities and Ecological Change

Landownership Change and Cross-Boundary Conservation

Conservation Policy, Political Conflict, and Scale

Community Conservation/Community Forestry

Social Science Research Methods

Interdisciplinary Research Collaborations

Wilderness Citizen Science

Selected Publications:

Yung, L., Patterson, M.E., and W.A. Freimund. Rural Community Views on the Role of Local and Extra-Local Interests in Public Lands Governance. Society and Natural Resources. (accepted)

Hobbs, R.J., Cole, D.N., Yung, L., Zavaleta, E.S., Aplet, G.A., White, P.S., Landres, P.B., Chapin III, F.S., Graber, D.M., Higgs, E.S., Millar, C.I., Parsons, D.J., Randall, J.M., Stephenson, N.L., Tonnessen, K.A., and S. Woodley. Guiding Concepts for Parks and Wilderness in an Era of Global Environmental Change. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. (accepted)

Cole, D.N. and L. Yung (Eds.). Beyond Naturalness: Conserving Parks and Wilderness in an Era of Global Environmental Change. (forthcoming in 2010 from Island Press).

Watson, A., Matt, R., Knotek, K., Williams, D., and L. Yung. Traditional Wisdom: Preserving Wilderness as a Cultural Landscape. Sharing Indigenous Wisdom: An International Dialogue on Sustainable Development. College of Menominee Nation/Sustainable Development Institute. June 11-15, 2007, Green Bay, WI. (in press)

Yung, L., Freimund, W.A. and J. Chandler-Pepelnjak. 2008. Wilderness Politics in the American West: Rural Community Perspectives on the Development of Roadless Lands. International Journal of Wilderness, 14(2): 14-23. PDF

Cole, D.N., Yung, L., Zavaleta, E.S., Aplet, G.H., Chapin III, F.S., Graber, D.M., Higgs, E.S., Hobbs, R.J., Landres, P.B., Millar, C.I., Parsons, D.J., Randall, J.M., Stephenson, N.L., Tonnessen, K.A., White, P.S., and S. Woodley. 2008. Naturalness and Beyond: Protected Area Stewardship in an Era of Global Environmental Change. The George Wright Forum, 25(1): 36-56. PDF

Yung, L. and M. Haverhals. 2008. Landowner Views on Weeds: Moving Forward on Invasive Plant Management. Published by Missoula County and the University of Montana. PDF

Yung, L. and J. Belsky. 2007. Private Property Rights and Community Goods: Negotiating Landowner Cooperation Amidst Changing Ownership on the Rocky Mountain Front, Society and Natural Resources, 20(8), 689-703. PDF

Yung, L. 2007. Citizen Monitoring and Restoration: Volunteers and Community Involvement in Wilderness Stewardship. Science and Stewardship to Protect and Sustain Wilderness Values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress Symposium. September 30-October 6, 2005. Anchorage, AK. USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-49. PDF

Yung, L., Freimund, W. and J. Belsky. 2003. The Politics of Place: Understanding Meaning, Common Ground, and Political Difference on the Rocky Mountain Front, Forest Science, 49(6), 855-866. PDF

Yung, L. 2001. Some Lessons from Participatory Research. Regeneration! Newsletter of the Community Forestry Research Fellowships Program, 1(1).

Yung, L. 2000. Meaningful Community Involvement in Protected Area Issues. Wilderness Science Conference. USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-15-Vol-2, p. 301-307. PDF

Cacciapaglia, M. and L. Yung. Connecting Place to Fire Planning on the Kootenai National Forest: Participatory Mapping and the Role of Spatial Scale. In Stewart, W., Williams, D. and L. Kruger (Eds) Connecting Place to Decision-Making. (in review)