Browsing by Subject "Recreation"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    Citizen Input on Parks and Recreation in the City of Hugo, Minnesota (Volume 1 Summary Report)
    (Minneapolis: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, 2010) Cedarleaf Dahl, Erik
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    Citizen Input on Parks and Recreation in the City of Hugo, Minnesota—Volume 2: Technical Appendices
    (Minneapolis: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, 2010) Cedarleaf Dahl, Erik
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    Dayton Mississippi River Trail
    (Minneapolis: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, 2009) Shively, Emily; Workman, John
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    Integrated emerald ash borer management: Testing a novel approach to assess stakeholder perceptions
    (2023-01-23) Schneider, Ingrid; Rannow, Brett; Russell, Matt; Gupta, Angela; Windmuller-Campione, Marcella; ingridss@umn.edu; Schneider, Ingrid
    These data describe Minnesota state park visitors' perceptions, attitudes, preferences, and behaviors pertaining to landscapes managed in response to emerald ash borer (EAB, Agrilus planipennis) and EAB itself. Two primary datasets are included: 1) Onsite data captured from visitors at Fort Snelling, Lake Bemidji, and Wild River state parks and 2) Data obtained from online surveys. These data aim to inform researchers and managers of the public's understanding of EAB, their acceptance of common Minnesota forest management strategies, their intended visitation behaviors in response to management surrounding EAB, and preferences for landscapes managed in response to EAB. Coding manuals, data descriptions, and participant consent forms are included. Data were released to provide transparency and data to potential stakeholders and interested parties.
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    Louisville Township Community Trails Plan and Development Project
    (Minneapolis: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, 2009) Lovell, Erin
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    Neighborhood Revitalization: Phalen Greenway
    (1999) Goetz, Edward; Humphrey Institute Class on Strategies for Neighborhood Revitalization
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    The positive story of couples and wilderness
    (2014-12) Miller, Matthew Collins
    Interdisciplinary researchers from a variety of fields have recently become interested in studying the consequences of wilderness experiences. Different scholars have theorized about the impact of time spent in the wilderness, including implications for individual-level physiological, psychological, and emotional health. Before attempting to incorporate wilderness experiences into programming for couples, we must first begin exploring the relational implications of shared time in the wilderness. The purpose of this study is to develop a preliminary understanding of how wilderness experiences affect couples. The specific research question being addressed in this work is: What are the perceived relational implications of positive shared wilderness experiences for couples? Using a qualitative methodology and a phenomenological approach, the author gathered and analyzed stories from times that couples ventured into the wilderness together. Ten couples participated by telling twenty stories of positive shared wilderness experiences. Findings shed light onto the lived experience of couples in wilderness. Shared wilderness experiences allowed for uniquely intimate encounters, provided opportunities for rest and rejuvenation, and brought couples closer together through both challenges and conversations. Implications for programming and future research are discussed.
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    Water and well-being: Advances in measuring the value of water quality to people
    (2013-12) Keeler, Bonnie L.
    Water quality is declining in many parts of the world due to land-use change, pollution, and other stressors. In addition to the ecological impacts of these changes, water quality also affects the provision of multiple ecosystem goods and services including human health, recreation, and livelihoods. Investments designed to protect or restore water quality can be expensive and decision-makers must weigh the costs of new regulations against the public benefits provided by clean water. In order to make informed decisions regarding the management of our land and water resources, we need information on the ways that changes in water quality affect human well-being and the economic value of those changes. In Chapter One I address this gap by introducing a comprehensive framework for the valuation of water quality-related ecosystem services. In Chapter Two I apply this framework to an investigation of land-use change and consequences to groundwater quality and find that grassland conversion to agriculture is likely to result in significant costs to private well owners. In Chapter Three I use geo-tagged social media to assess visitation patterns to recreational lakes and find that lake users visit clear lakes more frequently and travel further to lakes with greater water quality. Using interdisciplinary approaches that are both generalizable and scalable, my work highlights the real costs associated with changes in water quality and in doing so addresses an important information gap needed to support environmental decision-making.
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    Youth and nature: assessing the impact of an integrated wellness curriculum on nature based play and nature appreciation for youth in out-of-school time recreation programming.
    (2009-05) Lewis, Terence Grant , Jr.
    The United States is facing a dilemma related to the wellbeing of today's children and adolescents. Youth, on a broader scale, are increasingly afflicted with what author Richard Louv, in his book Last Child in the Woods (2005), has labeled "nature deficit disorder" (NDD). The NDD phenomenon is considered to have emerged as a result of children and adolescents not having as many direct experiences with or exposure to nature. Estimations are that from the years 1997 to 2003 there was a 50% drop in the number of youth who participated in outdoor activities, including walking, hiking, and fishing ("Mother Nature Knows Best", 2007). Furthermore, only six percent of children age 9 to 13 plays outside on their own (Louv, 2007). Play, however, is considered an essential part of the learning process throughout life and should not be neglected (Rieber, Smith, & Noah, 1998). In addition, there is growing evidence indicating that there are healthy outcomes associated with unstructured play in nature and that although children only play outdoors for limited amounts of time, they enjoy playing outdoors, and given more choice and/or opportunity, many would play outdoors more than they currently do (British Market Research Bureau, 2005; Ericson, 2001; White & Stoecklin, 1998). The purpose of the study was to further investigate the premise that structured integrative health and wellness programs in an out-of-school setting can play a significant role in helping young people adopt physical activity habits and behaviors, as well as influencing dietary choices. This study focused specifically on the evaluation of the Säjai® Wise Kids® Outdoors program to gain an increased comprehension of the effects that may result from intentional out-of-school time programming with wellness and outdoor exploration focus areas. The program was designed to be fun, experiential, and educational in promoting nature based play and nature appreciation in youth ages 6 to11 years of age while teaching them basic wellness concepts. The research design used to evaluate the program's effects is best described as a mixed-methods approach. The study is based on a quasi-experimental, repeated measures design that utilized a collective (multi-site) case study technique with pre-, post- and follow-up assessments. Multiple sources of evidence were used in the study, including surveys, observations, and focus groups with youth and staff. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) served as the theoretical framework as the latent constructs of the TPB have been indicated in the literature as being predictive of behavior related to physical activity and dietary choices. Although program enrollment in the cities of St. Paul and San Francisco totaled 170 participants, 67 youth ages 6 to 13 from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds completed all three phases of data collection. Quantitative measures were administered to assess change in adolescent outcomes related to the latent constructs of the TPB. While results of the quantitative analysis did not show significant differences across the three measures of the study, youth were found to display significantly higher than average means at baseline. This supports the possibility that youth who showed a higher affiliation towards the constructs measured at baseline, as well as at the end of implementation, will have a continued or greater desire or intention to spend time in the outdoors, thus leading to increased physical activity. Triangulation of qualitative and quantitative findings provided further evidence that out-of-school time programs that are intentionally designed to engage youth with concepts focused on wellness and the natural environment, such as Wise Kids® Outdoors, have the ability to serve as a gateway of opportunity for youth to explore and discover a relationship with nature.
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    Youth and nature:aassessing the impact of an integrated wellness curriculum on nature based play and nature appreciation for youth in out-of-school time recreation programming.
    (2009-05) Lewis, Terence Grant , Jr.
    The United States is facing a dilemma related to the wellbeing of today's children and adolescents. Youth, on a broader scale, are increasingly afflicted with what author Richard Louv, in his book Last Child in the Woods (2005), has labeled "nature deficit disorder" (NDD). The NDD phenomenon is considered to have emerged as a result of children and adolescents not having as many direct experiences with or exposure to nature. Estimations are that from the years 1997 to 2003 there was a 50% drop in the number of youth who participated in outdoor activities, including walking, hiking, and fishing ("Mother Nature Knows Best", 2007). Furthermore, only six percent of children age 9 to 13 plays outside on their own (Louv, 2007). Play, however, is considered an essential part of the learning process throughout life and should not be neglected (Rieber, Smith, & Noah, 1998). In addition, there is growing evidence indicating that there are healthy outcomes associated with unstructured play in nature and that although children only play outdoors for limited amounts of time, they enjoy playing outdoors, and given more choice and/or opportunity, many would play outdoors more than they currently do (British Market Research Bureau, 2005; Ericson, 2001; White & Stoecklin, 1998). The purpose of the study was to further investigate the premise that structured integrative health and wellness programs in an out-of-school setting can play a significant role in helping young people adopt physical activity habits and behaviors, as well as influencing dietary choices. This study focused specifically on the evaluation of the Säjai® Wise Kids® Outdoors program to gain an increased comprehension of the effects that may result from intentional out-of-school time programming with wellness and outdoor exploration focus areas. The program was designed to be fun, experiential, and educational in promoting nature based play and nature appreciation in youth ages 6 to11 years of age while teaching them basic wellness concepts.The research design used to evaluate the program's effects is best described as a mixed-methods approach. The study is based on a quasi-experimental, repeated measures design that utilized a collective (multi-site) case study technique with pre-, post- and follow-up assessments. Multiple sources of evidence were used in the study, including surveys, observations, and focus groups with youth and staff. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) served as the theoretical framework as the latent constructs of the TPB have been indicated in the literature as being predictive of behavior related to physical activity and dietary choices. Although program enrollment in the cities of St. Paul and San Francisco totaled 170 participants, 67 youth ages 6 to 13 from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds completed all three phases of data collection. Quantitative measures were administered to assess change in adolescent outcomes related to the latent constructs of the TPB. While results of the quantitative analysis did not show significant differences across the three measures of the study, youth were found to display significantly higher than average means at baseline. This supports the possibility that youth who showed a higher affiliation towards the constructs measured at baseline, as well as at the end of implementation, will have a continued or greater desire or intention to spend time in the outdoors, thus leading to increased physical activity. Triangulation of qualitative and quantitative findings provided further evidence that out-of-school time programs that are intentionally designed to engage youth with concepts focused on wellness and the natural environment, such as Wise Kids® Outdoors, have the ability to serve as a gateway of opportunity for youth to explore and discover a relationship with nature.