Description:

My teaching and research focus on the social and political aspects of conservation, with an emphasis on rural communities and public lands in the Northern Rockies. I serve as the Director of the Resource Conservation Program and as Associate Professor of Natural Resource Social Science in the Department of Society and Conservation.  I teach NRSM 121S Nature of Montana, NRSM 370S Wildland Conservation Policy and Governance, NSRM 426 Climate and Society, and NRSM 570 Political Ecology.  My research examines the ways in which landowners, rural communities, and land management institutions navigate political and ecological change. 

 

My current research projects include:

• Forest Community Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity in the Context of Climate Change (funded by the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station)
• Working Ranchers, Conservation, and Drought Adaptation (funded by the U.S. Geologic Survey)
• The Ethics of Geoengineering in Response to Climate Change (funded by the National Science Foundation)
• Private Landowners and Weed Control Across Large Landscapes (funded by the Missoula County Weed District)
• Volunteer Monitoring, Citizen Science, and Community Involvement in Public Lands

Research Interests:

Community Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity Project

Rural Communities and Ecological Change

Community and Institutional Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity 

Landownership Change and Cross-Boundary Conservation

Social and Political Aspects of Climate Change Adaptation

Conservation Policy, Political Conflict, and Scale

Social Science Research Methods

Interdisciplinary Research Collaborations

Citizen Science

Courses:

NRSM 121S Nature of Montana

NRSM 370S Wildland Conservation Policy and Governance

NRSM 426 Climate and Society

NRSM 570 Political Ecology

Education:

2003: Ph.D. Forestry, University of Montana

1993: M.S. Environmental Studies, University of Oregon

1991: B.A. Psychology and Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
 

Selected Publications:

Carr, W., Preston, C., Yung, L., Szerszynski, B., Keith, D. and A. Mercer. (in press) Public Engagement on Solar Radiation Management and Why it Needs to Happen Now. Climatic Change. PDF

Yung, L., Schwarze, S., Carr, W., Chapin III, F.S., & Marris, E. 2013. Engaging the Public in Novel Ecosystems. In R.J. Hobbs, E.S. Higgs, & C.M. Hall (eds.) Novel Ecosystems: Intervening in the New Ecological World Order. London: Wiley-Blackwell. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118354222,subjectCd-EN40.html

 

Bridgewater, P. and L. Yung. 2013. The policy context: building laws and rules that embrace novelty. In R.J. Hobbs, E.S. Higgs, & C.M. Hall (eds.) Novel Ecosystems: Intervening in the New Ecological World Order. London: Wiley-Blackwell.

 

Cacciapaglia, M. and L. Yung. 2013. Participatory Place Mapping in Fire Planning. In Stewart, W., Williams, D. and L. Kruger (Eds) Place-Based Conservation: Perspectives from Social Sciences. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

Carr, W., Patterson, M., Yung, L. and D. Spencer. 2012.  The Faithful Skeptics:  Evangelical Religious Beliefs and Perceptions of Climate Change. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture 6(3):276-299. PDF

 

Craig, D.R., Yung, L. and W.T. Borrie. 2012. “Blackfeet Belong to the Mountains:” Hope, Loss, and Blackfeet Claims to Glacier National Park. Conservation and Society 10(3): 232-42 PDF

 

Cacciapaglia, M.S., Yung, L., & Patterson, M.E. 2011. Place Mapping and the Role of Spatial Scale in Understanding Landowner Views of Fire and Fuels Management. Society and Natural Resources 25(5):453-467. PDF

Watson, A., Matt, R., Knotek, K., Williams, D. and L. Yung 2011. Traditional Wisdom - Protecting Relationships with Wilderness as a Cultural Landscape.  Ecology and Society. PDF

Yung, L., Patterson, M.E., and W.A. Freimund. 2010. Rural Community Views on the Role of Local and Extra-Local Interests in Public Lands Governance.  Society and Natural Resources, 23:1170-1186.  PDF

Hobbs, R.J., Cole, D.N., Yung, L., Zavaleta, E.S., Aplet, G.A., White, P.S., Landres, P.B., Chapin III, F.S., Graber, D.M., Higgs, E.S., Millar, C.I., Parsons, D.J., Randall, J.M., Stephenson, N.L., Tonnessen, K.A., and S. Woodley. 2010. Guiding Concepts for Parks and Wilderness in an Era of Global Environmental Change.  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 8(9): 483-490.  PDF

Cole, D.N. and L. Yung (Eds.). 2010. Beyond Naturalness: Rethinking Park and Wilderness Stewardship in an Era of Rapid Change. Washington D.C.: Island Press.   http://islandpress.org/bookstore/details7f72.html?prod_id=2013

Yung, L., Freimund, W.A. and J. Chandler-Pepelnjak. 2008. Wilderness Politics in the American West:  Rural Community Perspectives on the Development of Roadless Lands.  International Journal of Wilderness, 14(2): 14-23. PDF

Cole, D.N., Yung, L., Zavaleta, E.S., Aplet, G.H., Chapin III, F.S., Graber, D.M., Higgs, E.S., Hobbs, R.J., Landres, P.B., Millar, C.I., Parsons, D.J., Randall, J.M., Stephenson, N.L., Tonnessen, K.A., White, P.S., and S. Woodley.  2008.  Naturalness and Beyond: Protected Area Stewardship in an Era of Global Environmental Change.  The George Wright Forum, 25(1): 36-56. PDF

Yung, L. and M. Haverhals. 2008.  Landowner Views on Weeds:  Moving Forward on Invasive Plant Management.  Published by Missoula County and the University of Montana. PDF 

Yung, L. and J. Belsky. 2007.  Private Property Rights and Community Goods: Negotiating Landowner Cooperation Amidst Changing Ownership on the Rocky Mountain Front, Society and Natural Resources, 20(8), 689-703.  PDF

Yung, L.  2007.  Citizen Monitoring and Restoration:  Volunteers and Community Involvement in Wilderness Stewardship.  Science and Stewardship to Protect and Sustain Wilderness Values:  Eighth World Wilderness Congress Symposium. September 30-October 6, 2005. Anchorage, AK.  USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-49.  PDF

Yung, L., Freimund, W. and J. Belsky. 2003. The Politics of Place: Understanding Meaning, Common Ground, and Political Difference on the Rocky Mountain Front, Forest Science, 49(6), 855-866. PDF 

Recent Graduate Students:

Dave Craig.  M.S. Resource Conservation, 2008.  Thesis:  Blackfeet Belong to the Mountains:  Blackfeet Relationships with the Glacier National Park Landscape and Institution.

 

Michael Cacciapaglia.  M.S. Resource Conservation, 2008.  Thesis:  Fire in My Backyard:  Place Meanings and Landowner Views on Fire and Fuel Management on the Kootenai National Forest, Montana.

 

Alayna DuPont. M.S. Resource Conservation. Thesis: Opposition and Barriers to Conservation Easements:  Insights from Montana Landowners.

 

Amy Quandt.  M.S. Resource Conservation (International Conservation and Development), 2010.  Professional Paper: Agroforestry Potential on Household Lands Outside the Mt. Hanang National Forest Reserve, Tanzania: Forest Conservation and Livelihood Implications.

 

Current Graduate Students:

 

Wylie Carr.  Ph.D. Forestry.  Research Topic:  Managing Sunlight: Exploring Underrepresented Populations’ Perspectives on Geoengineering.

Dave Craig.  Ph.D. Forestry.  Research Topic:  Public Views of Rapid Environmental Change. 

Mason Bradbury. M.S. Resource Conservation (International Conservation and Development). Research Topic:  Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) Agroforestry Systems, Agricultural Change, and Livelihood Security in Itapúa, Paraguay

 

Postdoctoral Scholars:

 

Carina Wyborn. Ph.D. Project:  Climate Change Adaptation in the Interior West:  Vulnerability, Adaptive Capacity, Science, and Governance. 

 

Dan Murphy.  Ph.D. Anthropology.  Project: Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity in the Interior West:  Using Scenario-Building to Investigate Community Decision-Making Under Uncertainty. (now at the University of Cincinnati)