Natural Quiet and Natural Darkness

Christopher Monz is Associate Professor of Recreation Resources Management in the Department of Environment and Society at Utah State University. He has previously served as an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at St. Lawrence University in New York, the Academic Dean of Sterling College in Vermont and the Research Director for the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming. He holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management from Colorado State University and an MS in ecology and BA in biology. He has taught courses in outdoor recreation management, ecological impacts of recreation, public lands planning and conservation, nature-based tourism, interpretation and outdoor education. His research specialty is recreation ecology where he has worked extensively on recreation disturbance in arctic and alpine ecosystems. He has been the PI or Co-I on over $3.2M of grant funded research. Several of his current research projects examine the consequences of park transportation systems on ecological and visitor experience conditions. Dr. Monz has worked throughout the US and internationally in Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Australia and was a Fulbright Scholar for the 2013- 2014 academic year in Norway. He is a co-author on the forthcoming textbook, Wildland Recreation: Ecology and Management to be published in March, 2015.

Peter Newman is the Martin Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management and department head. He is also the co-director of the Protected Areas Research Collaborative (PARC) at The Pennsylvania State University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont and his M.S. in Forest Resource Management from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry College.

Peter’s research focuses on social carrying capacity decision making in the context of protected areas management. He has conducted numerous visitor use management studies in parks and protected areas within the United States, including Yellowstone National Park, and internationally. Current research interests include visitor management in and regarding protected areas, soundscape/acoustic management in parks, transportation management and planning, efficacy of Leave No Trace practices, and health/well-being.

Steven Lawson is director of Resource Systems Group’s practice in public lands planning and management.

Robert Manning is Professor Emeritus in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, where he taught the history, philosophy, and management of parks and related areas and conducted a program of research for the U.S. National Park Service and related agencies. He was also Director of the University’s Park Studies Laboratory. Dr. Manning has spent four year-long sabbatical leaves with the U.S. National Park Service at Grand Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the headquarters office in Washington, DC.

Jeffrey Hallo, Ph.D. is a Professor and the Graduate Coordinator in Clemson University’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management. His research and teaching are focused on understanding, planning for, and managing visitor use in parks, forests, and other protected areas. He has authored or co-authored over 80 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, books, or book chapters on these topics. He was an interviewed expert for news articles appearing in The Washington Post, National Geographic, Delta Sky Magazine, and WalletHub. In 2016, Jeff released his first children’s book titled Rosy Ralph Visits His National Parks. In 2017 and 2018 he received university awards for his graduate student mentoring and for his scholarship in scientific journals. In 2022, Jeff received an award for his Distinguished Service as the Interim Chair of the PRTM department.

Jeff has an expertise in parks and in large project administration, having both a M.S. in Technical/Project Management and having led or co-led numerous applied projects. His work has specifically focused on empirical studies of visitor use management; park visitors/tourists; potential park visitors/tourists and stakeholders; natural, historical, and culturally-based recreation; carrying capacity; sustainable transportation planning; scenic driving/ORV recreation; and modeling of recreational use patterns. Methods, tools, and concepts used in this research include indicator/threshold-based planning and management frameworks (including the federal Interagency Visitor Use Management Council’s Visitor Use Management Framework), normative approaches, GPS, GIS, automated field cameras, visual simulations, surveys, and qualitative research techniques (e.g., focus groups, interviewing, Photovoice, and rigorous qualitative analysis).

Jeff’s projects have occurred at places such as Cumberland Island National Seashore, Pinnacles National Park, Cape Cod National Seashore, Acadia National Park, Congaree National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Petra Archeological Park (Jordan), Kenai Fjords National Park, Denali National Park, Sumter National Forest, Tennessee State Parks, Maasai Mara National Reserve (Kenya), ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve, and El Yunque National Forest (Puerto Rico). Jeff completed a project at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to conduct visitor and carrying capacity studies to inform one of the first formal Visitor Use Management Plans in the U.S. National Park Service. Also, he led a multi-year, multi-university study at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to help support the implementation of a management strategy to protect an endangered public recreation experience related to a marine mammal of global concern – the polar bear. Many of these projects support formal planning efforts and documents. The overall intent of Jeff’s work is to ensure that we sustainably and appropriately use parks, tourism sites, and protected areas for public enjoyment.

Jeff lives in Central, SC with his wife Lisa and their three young children Cooper, Ashlyn, and Bridger. Jeff greatly enjoys experiencing parks and the natural world with his family.