D'Antonio, Ashley

Position Type: 
Faculty
Job Title: 
Associate Professor
Department: 
Forest Ecosystems & Society
Office Location: 

318 Richardson Hall

Phone Number: 
(541) 737-5043
Education: 
Ph.D., Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management, Utah State University, Logan, UT, June 2015
M.S., Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management, Utah State University, Logan, UT December 2010
B.S., Biology (Ecology Concentration), The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA May 2006
Research Areas: 
  • Sustainable Recreation and Tourism
  • Social Science, Policy and Natural Resources
Research Interests: 
  • Human Dimensions
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Recreation Ecology
Bio: 
My specialty is recreation ecology - a field of research that examines and tries to manage the environmental consequences of nature-based recreation. I work mostly in parks and protected areas such as national parks and national forests. In my research, I use spatially-based methods such as GPS tracking, GIS analysis, and vegetation mapping to study the relationship between visitor movements and the potential ecological impacts of these behaviors. I also use social science methods - such as visitor surveys - to understand the motivations, perceptions, and behaviors of visitors. My work is very applied and is often used to inform the management of visitor use in protected areas. In an earlier part of my life, I was a middle school and high school science teacher and still thoroughly enjoy teaching outdoor recreation science and management. When not working on research or teaching, I enjoy knitting, yoga, trail running, and recreating outdoors myself.

Advising

Graduate Major Advisor
Graduate Students: 
Courses Taught: 
  • FES 351
    Outdoor Recreation Management on Public Lands
  • FES 357
    Parks and Protected Area Management
  • FES 456
    Planning for Sustainable Recreation
Selected Publications: 
  1. D'Antonio, A., Monz, C. (2016). The influence of visitor use levels on visitor spatial behavior in off-trail areas of dispersed recreation use. Journal of Environmental Management, 170, 79-87.
  2. Monz, C., D’Antonio, A., Lawson, S., Barber, J., Newman, P. (2016). The ecological implications of visitor transportation in parks and protected areas: Examples from research in US National Parks. Journal of Transport Geography. 51, 27-35
  3. D’Antonio, A., Monz, C., Lawson, S., Newman, P., Taff, D. (2013). Enhancing the utility of visitor impact assessment in parks and protected areas: A combined social-ecological approach. Journal of Environmental Management, 124, 72-81.

Complete Publications List:

For a complete list of publications, visit Full list of publications