Complex Systems: 'Landscape Values Mapping from Start to Finish: An Applied Perspective from an Alaska EPSCoR Test Case on the Kenai Peninsula' - Feb. 13, 2015

Friday, Feb. 13, 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Administration/Humanities Building, Room 143A

Sarah Wandersee, Ph.D., will present a talk titled, "Landscape Values Mapping from Start to Finish: An Applied Perspective from an Alaska EPSCoR Test Case on the Kenai Peninsula." Wandersee is a faculty member in the UAA Department of Biological Sciences and also works with Anderson Geographics & Consulting LLC, Hermiston, Ore.

Abstract: The link between landscape and culture has been highlighted as research focus needed to better understand how humans values in certain areas may shape and be shaped by their environment. Although connections between values, action and landscape change may make sense intuitively, establishing those links has been a challenge. Landscape values mapping is one method used to approach human-environment relationships. In this talk, I explore the background of landscape values mapping approaches, discuss various ways of collecting values data, address methodological considerations and highlight applications and presentation of results.

Throughout the talk, I draw from a recent study on the Kenai Peninsula to provide an applied example of concepts and challenges and to illuminate the background behind the decisions we made in our approach. Part of a larger project (the Southcentral Test Case in Alaska EPSCoR), the study incorporates information from a 2014 survey of Kenai Peninsula residents and focuses on investigating how landscape values may be related to landscape change. Results may contribute to improved understanding of community-environment relationships and adaptive capacity.

About Complex Systems: All Complex System talks are free and open to the public. Talks are generally one hour long and followed by 30 minutes for questions. The talks are targeted for general audiences without an in-depth knowledge of the subject.

Upcoming talks for spring 2015:

• Feb. 20: Meagan B. Krupa, Ph.D., biology professor at UAA and APU - "Stakeholder Analysis of the Kenai River Fishery: Who's Who in the Race for Fish"
• Feb. 27: Donald M. "Matt" Reeves, Ph.D., faculty in the UAA Department of Geological Sciences - "Assessment of Potential Climate Change Impacts on Basin-Scale Water Resources: A Case Study from Martis Valley, Calif."
• March 27: Mark Faller, Ph.D., philosophy professor at APU - "The Four Demons of Causal Memory and the Taming of the Second Law"
• April 2 and 3: Raissa D'Souza, Complexity Sciences Center, UC-Davis - "Interdependent Networks and Network Failure"
• April 10: Martin Cenek and Spencer Dahl, departments of Computer Science and Engineering at UAA - "Making Sense of Our Lives: A Computational Approach to Understanding Multi-agent Simulations"
• April 16 and 17: Paul Kockelman, Ph.D., professor of linguistic anthropology at Yale University - "The Relation Between Computation and Interpretation"

February Archive