UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.National Park

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    NATURE | BEING | CONTEMPLATION: Framing Human Experiences in Zion National Park
    (2014) Heyworth, Rochelle; Rockcastle, Garth; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    For almost two centuries, people have traveled to America's National Parks to experience the majesty and grandeur of nature. In a physical search for renewal and truth, many people turn to the American landscape to reap the benefits of nature's revitalizing qualities. These spiritual and enlightening experiences unite humans to a particular place and invite them to perceive their environments through all their senses harmoniously. This analysis will characterize the contributing perceptual systems and natural phenomena to explore new ways of instigating powerful experiences in Zion National Park in order to create a set of architectural principles that can improve the transcendent experiences in the splendor of nature. Through the introduction of a welcoming interpretive center in the Kolob portion of Zion, this thesis will set a framework for future generations of artists and architects to continue to enhance the phenomena of the park with minimal disruption.
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    Nature, Culture, Craft: Re-thinking the National Park Visitor Experience
    (2012) Rubenstein, Michele L.; Eisenbach, Ronit; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This thesis explores the role that architecture might play in the experience of wilderness. This case study focuses specifically on how architecture in the National Parks serves as a threshold to nature. The National Park building tradition began in the 19th century with the grand lodges of the west sponsored by the railroad. With the advent of the automobile, the visitor center typology was developed and the architecture shifted to focus on personal visitor needs. This project attempts to demonstrate how the architecture of an Interpretive Center can provide a destination and launching point into the National Parks. By combining ideas of a "traditional" visitor center with a science and research component, the program can become both educational and participatory. This thesis proposes a design in Apgar Village in Glacier National Park. The design reaches beyond the confines of the Interpretive Center complex to create connections throughout the landscape helping to strengthen Apgar Village as a place.
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    Exerting Local Power Over Federal Process: Stakeholder Negotiation Process in the Canyon Forest Village Land Exchange Process 1992-2002
    (2006-05-01) Kearney, Barbara Ann; Geores, Martha E; Geography; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This is a study of the National Forest Land Exchange process as it relates to the development of gateway communities. The study area is outside the Kaibab National Forest in Northern Arizona. This land exchange represented a collaborative partnership between the National Park Service, the Forest Service meant to consolidate private inholdings within the forest and to provide services for the Grand Canyon National Park outside park borders. The stakeholders involved in the land exchange discourse included the Forest Service, the developer, the National Park Service, the gateway communities of Tusayan, Williams, and Flagstaff, the Havasupai tribe, and environmental organizations. This study demonstrates that the public interest is dependent on scale. Using a mixed methodological approach, this study examined the impact stakeholders had on the land exchange process. A content analysis of articles and editorials written in local and regional newspapers, of public comments on the Environmental Impact Statement, and of semi-structured interviews of key participants in the land exchange debate helped to elucidate the most prominent concerns resonating with each category of stakeholder. A survey of the city of Williams, Arizona, was also conducted. Though it never came to fruition, the Canyon Forest Village land exchange demonstrated the economic issues facing gateway communities and their vulnerability to the actions and policies of public land agencies. By voicing their concerns and conducting a media campaign against the development plan, the gateway communities took control of both the land exchange process and their own economic development.