Doctoral Dissertation Research: Sociocultural Effects of Ecosystem Restoration: Remaking Identity, Landscape, and Belonging in the Florida Everglades

博士生丽贝卡·I·加沃耶(佛罗里达国际大学)将在劳拉·A·奥格登博士的指导下，从事生态系统恢复的文化后果研究。她的研究重点将是修复倡议可能对当地身份、环境态度以及对地区及其管理的长期期望的影响。这项研究很重要，因为世界各地的政府和发展组织越来越多地选择生态系统恢复作为恢复退化环境的一种手段。为了解决这些问题，Garvoille将在佛罗里达南部的大沼泽地进行为期12个月的研究，研究地点是受各种大沼泽地修复计划影响数十年的两个地点。沼泽地的修复已经花费了数十亿美元，并正在以重大的方式影响着当地的生活和生计，这使它成为这个项目的绝佳地点。Garvoille将使用多种社会科学研究方法收集数据，包括参与者观察、半结构访谈和档案研究。参与者观察将在当地重要的场所进行，例如与大多数文化户外工作者和当地土著人民有关的场所，以及国家资源管理机构举行的公开会议。将对土著人民、户外工作者、州政府官员和环境非政府组织工作人员进行半结构化采访。档案研究将补充访谈数据并将其与背景联系起来。这项研究的发现将有助于生态系统恢复项目的社会层面和权衡的理论。研究结果还将帮助规划者更好地预测和应对刻意的景观改造对社会和文化的影响。支持这项研究也支持社会科学家的教育。

Doctoral candidate, Rebecca I. Garvoille (Florida International University), with the guidance of Dr. Laura A. Ogden, will undertake research on the cultural consequences of ecosystem restoration. The focus of her research will be the effects that restoration initiatives may have on local identities, environmental attitudes, and long-term expectations for regions and their management. The research is important because governments and development organizations around the world are increasingly choosing ecosystem restoration as a means to rehabilitate degraded environments. To address these questions, Garvoille will conduct 12 months of research in the southern Florida Everglades, at two sites affected for several decades by various Everglades restoration plans. Everglades restoration has cost billions of dollars and is affecting local lives and livelihoods in significant ways, which makes it an excellent site for this project. Garvoille will gather data using multiple social science research methods, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and archival research. Participant observation will be conducted at locally significant venues, such as those associated with majority culture outdoorsmen and local indigenous peoples, as well as at public meetings held by state resource management agencies. Semi-structured interviews will be carried out with indigenous peoples, outdoorsmen, state officials, and environmental NGO staff. Archival research will complement and contextualize the interview data.Findings from this research will contribute to theories of the social dimensions and tradeoffs of ecosystem restoration projects. Findings also will help planners better anticipate as well as respond to social and cultural effects of deliberate landscape transformation. Supporting this research also supports the education of a social scientist.