Teaching Responsibilities

• FOR 3524: Environmental Interpretation
• FOR 4984: Environmental Education Service Learning
• FOR 5464: Social Science Research Methods in Natural Resources

Selected Research Activities

• Public response to natural resource management:  This realm of my research focuses upon human behavior, its precursors, and the ways in which management procedures influence various responses. Why do people respond to natural resource policies and management in the ways they do?  The research spans local reactions to the policies and practices of multiple forms of natural resource management in both the U.S. and abroad.  One example looks at why people living within the immediate vicinities of national parks actively oppose or support those parks.
• Decision-making and policy implementation within federal land management agencies:  This research has focused largely on the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act by federal land management agencies in the United States.  We’re examining the perceptions and behaviors of agency personnel as they navigate through competing interests and procedural requirements to make or inform management decisions.  The research addresses such questions as: How does NEPA actually influence agency decision-making?  How do agency personnel define successful NEPA processes?  What practices in NEPA practices lead to specific outcomes? How do managers balance scientific analyses with public knowledge and values in their management practices?  What are the appropriate roles for various stakeholders in public land management decisions?  How do agency officials navigate complex problems in the face of competing demands and accountabilities?  How do different stakeholders formulate their strategies for interaction in these processes?
• Management effectiveness of conservation initiatives:  This research has involved working with numerous national and international organizations to gauge their degree of effectiveness in their conservation initiatives.  Examples of this work include gauging the effectiveness of different forms of marine conservation strategies around the world, explaining differential outcomes in conservation grants programs, examining the institutional resiliency of community-based conservation organizations, and understanding the impacts of network relationships upon conservation outcomes.
• Evaluating environmental outreach:  Numerous programs exist around the world to build constituencies for environmental conservation.  This research largely focuses upon the impacts of environmental education initiatives upon participants, examining both changes in the participants’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors and the aspects of the programs that appear to drive those changes.  The research also examines differential influences of environmental communications on different target audiences, varying in ethnicity, urbanity, education, and economic class.

Selected Publications

• Stern, M.J. (forthcoming). The power of trust: toward a theory of local opposition to neighboring protected areas.  Society and Natural Resources.
• Stern, M.J. (forthcoming). Payoffs vs. process: Expanding the paradigm for park/people studies beyond economic rationality.  Journal of Sustainable Forestry (slated to be co-published in a book by the Haworth Press entitled People in Parks: Beyond the Debate).
• Stern, M.J. and M.J. Mortimer (forthcoming). Comparing NEPA processes across federal land management agencies.  USDA Forest Service General Technical Report.
• Baral, N., M.J. Stern, and J.T. Heinen 2007.  Integrated conservation and development project life cycles in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal: Is development overpowering conservation? Biodiversity and Conservation 16(10): 2903-2917.
• Powell, R.B., M.J. Stern, and N. Ardoin 2006. A sustainable evaluation program framework and its application.  Applied Environmental Education and Communication: An International Journal 5(4): 231-241.
• Stern, M.J. 2006.  Measuring conservation effectiveness in the marine environment: a review of evaluation techniques and recommendations for moving forward.  The Nature Conservancy, Washington, DC: 88 pp.
• Stern, M.J. 2004.  Understanding local responses to protected areas.  In Communicating Protected Areas.  Hamu, D., Auchincloss, E, and Goldstein, W. (Eds). IUCN Commission on Education and Communication.  Gland, Switzerland: 40-45.
• Fortwangler, C. and M.J. Stern 2004.  Why history and culture matter — a case study from the Virgin Islands National Park.  Policy Matters 13: 148-161.
• Stern, M.J. 2004. Communicating with park neighbors:  Lessons on content, delivery, and consistency. 3rd World Conservation Congress Meeting of the IUCN Commission on Communication and Education Programme.  16-17 November 2004.  IUCN Commission on Education and Communication, Gland: 20-26.
• Stern, M.J. 2004.  Shaping outreach to fit local complexity: themes for building local support for protected areas in varying contexts.  In The Global Challenges of Parks and Protected Areas Management. Camarda, I., M.J. Manfredo, F. Mulas, and T.L. Teel (Eds.). Carlo Delfino Editore: Sassari, Italy: 463-478.
• Stern, M.J. and C. Fortwangler 2004.  “Making your local national park work for you.”  St. John Times. August 2004: 6.
• Stern, M. J. 2004.  Good neighbours, better protected nature. PAN Parks Courier. Spring 2004: 4-5.
• Brunton, C., M. Stern et al. 2003. Young conservationists and the future of protected areas worldwide: A call to discussion at the Fifth World Parks Congress, Durban, South Africa, September 2003.  Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.  Available at: www.yale.edu/environment/publications
• Goodale, U. M., A. G. Lanfer, M. J. Stern, C. Margoluis, and M. Fladeland (Eds.) 2003.  Transboundary Protected Areas: The Viability of Regional Conservation Strategies.  Haworth Press, Inc., West Hazleton, PA.
• Stern, Marc 2001.  Parks and Factors in Their Success.  Science 293(5532): 1045.

Professional Affiliations

• International Association for Society and Natural Resources
• IUCN Commission on Education and Communication
• North American Association for Environmental Education
• Rural Sociological Society
• Society for Conservation Biology, Social Sciences Working Group