Browsing by Author "Kimmel, Courtney E."

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    An Exploration of Emerging Collaborative Conservation Strategies to Support Sustainable Development in the United States
    Kimmel, Courtney E. (Virginia Tech, 2011-03-22)
    Completed as a series of manuscripts, this dissertation reflects four aspects of my research into the intersections of conservation and sustainable development as practiced by conservation land trusts and community landcare groups, as well as by faculty and staff at land grant universities. The first paper included in this dissertation explores "Conservation 2.0" strategies being developed and employed by land trust across the US to integrate social and economic development goals into their conservation missions. The second paper explores one of these Conservation 2.0 strategies in greater detail, in particular the support of ecological entrepreneurship by land trusts and partners they involve in "ecological entrepreneurship support networks". The third piece emerged out of five years of engaged research with Catawba Landcare as one community landcare group in the region. As a means to capture the development path and history of the organization as well as to facilitate its path forward, I developed a dynamic content management system (CMS) based website for the group, which is explained in Chapter 4. The fourth and final piece of this dissertation is a collaboratively written piece that examines the relationship between Catawba Landcare and Virginia Tech using four theoretical lenses for community capacity building, ultimately proposing one engagement strategy for land grant universities to build and strengthen social infrastructure in their neighboring communities. In total, this collection of works chronicles a larger endeavor to explore place-based sustainability and the role of institutions and civil society in constructing a more sustainable future.
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    Rural Land in Transition: A Role for Community Landcare
    Kimmel, Courtney E. (Virginia Tech, 2008-04-29)
    Many rural communities in the United States are experiencing a transition away from traditional conceptions of agrarian lifestyles and landscapes, and are increasingly faced with a new set of values, desires, and perspectives being brought in by new residents. This change in land use and land ownership presents opportunities as well as challenges to rural areas. This paper explores the some of the grounds behind some of the changes taking place, specifically in a political economic context, and the effect these changes are having on rural landscapes and the communities they support. In the face of a changing perception of "rural", I argue that it is important to acknowledge and foster respect for a plurality of values and desires for the land, both in how productivity of the land is conceptualized, as well as the approaches taken to manage these changes into a sustainable future. Community Landcare is one approach emerging in the United States, and presents a model to foster a sense of community in a multifunctional landscape, while providing the forum for landowners to maintain their individual values while coming together with a shared interest in "caring for the land". A case study of the Catawba Valley and its developing Catawba Landcare group illustrates these connections.