Graduate Take-Home Exam

1. How is vegetation management related to the promotion of a just and sustainable society? [250 words; 10 points]

1. What are the "Two Cultures" of C.P. Snow (1959)? (Hint: E.O. Wilson writes about the consilience of these two enterprises) [4 points]

2. Suppose you could manage vegetation any way you wanted--society is yours to serve--what principles would you use to manage vegetation at a specific site? [6 points]

3. Ecosystems are naturally self-perpetuating systems. In general, why do manage them? [2 points].

4. Assume you are responsible for managing a large block of semi-desert grassland in southern Arizona. List three management goals you would like to achieve. Describe how achieving each goal will contribute to a just and sustainable human society. [3 points] Describe how achieving each goal will detract from a just and sustainable human society. [6 points] Describe a conflict between two or more of these goals. [2 points]

5. Dana Backer described her experiences with this nonnative grass at Saguaro National Park: ____________________________ [2 points] How is the park attempting to manage this species? [4 points] List one other person or organization that is focused on management of this species in southern Arizona. [2 points]

6. Ideally, the links between science, policy, and management should be strong and reciprocal, but often they are neither. Illustrated the links between science, policy, and management, and briefly explain why you draw the links how you do. [6 points]

7. Weinberg describes four adversaries of science. List two of them. [2 points] Describe how each of the two interferes with the advancement of knowledge. [6 points]

8. As a future land manager, briefly describe one specific step NOT MENTIONED IN CLASS you could take to repair the links between management of natural resources and science OR management of natural resources and policy. [4 points]

9. List the four 'spikes.' [4 points] Select one of the four 'spikes' (circle it) and list three outcomes and three potential solutions for that 'spike.' [3 points]

10. Explain why the four spikes are irrelevant to contemporary vegetation management OR describe how a career based on vegetation management can be spent solving the problems presented by one of the spikes. [4 points]