PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #68: Ecological Education -- Research and Theory.
Presiding: L. Mueller
Wednesday, August 7. 1:00 PM to 4:45 PM. Grand Ballroom West, Radisson.

A case for dual methodologies, quantitative and qualitative, in ecological restoration.

ORAN, SALLY^*,1, ¹ Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ

ABSTRACT- This presentation focuses on issues that jeopardize the present goals of congressional funding for fuels reduction and ecological restoration. An overview of the literature on ecological restoration and an inventory of the present goals of funding for fuels reduction is presented along with a systematic analysis of the diverse human communities that make up the Wildland Urban Interface at the site of the Los Alamos Fire of 2000. The presenter offers a case for using standard quantitative methodologies for applied ecological restoration research coupled with meticulous, qualitative methodologies to understand issues in human communities where restoration is needed and apply the conclusions of both methodologies to inform effective restoration treatments. Data gathered from pilot projects that implement these dual research methodologies evidence unique results that inform and invigorate effective collaboration for ecological restoration in diverse community contexts. This presentation concludes with a model to incorporate both methodologies in ecological restoration education, research, and the presentation of research to diverse audiences.

KEY WORDS: restoration, community, qualitative, education