Newswise — Boise State University political scientist and public land policy expert John Freemuth has received a $275,000 grant from the U.S. Geological Survey to improve the availability and usefulness of data on lands managed by the federal, state and local governments.
Land use managers have access to the Protected Areas Database of the U.S. (PAD-US), a national inventory of protected areas that is part of the Gap analysis program. The data is intended to help inform critical land management issues, such as how to protect and restore ecosystems, protect biodiversity, improve recreational access, explore renewable energy resources and mitigate climate change.
“The systems for collecting data are in place but my work will focus on what we do with that information and how we make it more useful to land managers,” Freemuth said. “We will look at what kinds of conservation efforts need the most immediate attention and at ways government agencies can better collaborate.”
Kevin Gergley of the USGS Gap program said USGS has worked for many years to develop large data sets that will assist in data-driven management decision-making.
“This is a unique opportunity to work at the policy-science interface,” he said. “Land management issues often are a combination of uncertainty, science and values. The USGS chose to work with Boise State University and Professor Freemuth because of unique expertise in working with these complicated natural and social science issues.”
About 61 percent of Idaho is managed by federal agencies and another 10 percent by the state, as is common in the western U.S.
“Most of us use public lands for some purpose —we hike, we hunt, we fish,” Freemuth said. “Assessing priorities in a limited-budget, changing-climate world is pretty important.”
Freemuth and graduate assistants will interview top agency managers and will organize an advisory panel of scientists and natural resource managers to assess and suggest improvements to the database.
Freemuth was the CASE/Carnegie Professor of the Year in 2001, is a senior fellow at the Cecil Andrus Center for Public Policy, and a professor in the Department of Political Science at Boise State. His research and teaching emphasis is in natural resource and public land policy and administration. Freemuth also is the author of an award-winning book, “Islands under Siege: National Parks and the Politics of External Threats,” numerous articles on aspects of natural resource policy and eight Andrus Center white papers, all of which can be found at http://andruscenter.org.
Freemuth has worked on many projects with federal and state resource bureaus, including the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service at the federal level, and the Departments of Fish and Game and Parks and Recreation, and the Division of Environmental Quality in Idaho. He was the chair of the Science Advisory Board of the Bureau of Land Management, where he worked on policies that can improve the use of scientific information for land managers and better develop the relationship between science and democratic decision processes. He also has been a high school teacher and seasonal park ranger. While a ranger at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area he wrote “Wanderer for Beauty: Everett Ruess in the Glen Canyon Area,” a park interpretive handout.
To learn more about Freemuth’s work, visit http://beyondtheblue.boisestate.edu/blog/2012/06/18/john-freemuth/ for a podcast on exploring public lands.
Editor’s note: The project described in this article was supported by Grant/Cooperative Agreement Number G12AC20199 from the United States Geological Survey. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessary represent the official views of the USGS.
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Media contact: Sherry Squires, University Communications, (208) 426-1563, [email protected]
About Boise State UniversityAs an emerging metropolitan research university of distinction, Boise State University plays a crucial role in the region’s economic development and famed quality of life. Idaho’s largest institution of higher education offers nearly 200 degrees and certificates in seven colleges. While remaining committed to the strong teaching legacy that has resulted in 11 Idaho Professor of the Year awards since 1990, Boise State’s added emphasis on innovation and creativity is fueling the fastest growing research program in Idaho.
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