Drivers of Landcover and Landuse Change Associated with Land Restitution Policies in Gauja National Park, Latvia

Between the Second World War and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, privately held land was generally forbidden in the Soviet Union. In Latvia, as well as in other former States of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the government has instituted a land restitution policy to reinstate lands to their previous owners. Latvia’s Gauja National Park was created as the second Soviet national park over a period of years extending throughout the 1970’s. Since Latvia’s independence in 1991, Gauja has remained a national park, but in accordance with land restitution policies, the Latvian government has restored many parcels of land within the Park to their previous owners. However, the government has imposed stringent landuse restrictions along with the privatization of these Park lands. This research examines the drivers of landuse and landcover change within and surrounding Gauja National Park, including the effects of land restitution on the biophysical and social environment of the Park. The interactions between the returnmigrating population, secondary plant succession, LCLU dynamics, and the environment are studied through (a) use of a Landsat TM image time-series, (b) manipulation and analysis of multiple GIS layers representing population patterns and characteristics, landuse patterns, and environmental resource endowments, (c) a review of Park landuse policies and legislation, (d) a social survey of Park landowners indicating knowledge about and attitudes towards the Park’s landuse regulations, and (e) interviews with multiple stakeholder groups within the Park addressing socio-economic, land development, conservation and ecological concerns. The major objectives of this research are to study landuse and landcover dynamics in and around Gauja National Park. To do so, we will ascertain the objectives and progress of the Park’s new management plan regarding the recently privatized lands, understand the actions and interests of Park landowners and recreational visitors concerning the processes of change associated with land restitution within the Park, and assess the social, biophysical, and geographical drivers of LULC dynamics that function within a space-time context. Resource endowments, environmental policy, exogenous factors, and a historical context are examined through imageand model-based analyses that are integrated to study human-environment interactions and their concomitant influences on the landscape ecology of the Park and its environs. (1.0) Introduction The proposed investigation serves as a proof of concept regarding LCLUC research in the former Soviet Union. It combines the interpretation of multi-temporal satellite imagery with GIS analyses, social surveys, and qualitative interviews at household and administrative levels to study the drivers of landcover and landuse change associated with land restitution policies and practices on lands formerly controlled by the Soviet Union. Lands within Park borders and its immediate vic inity are now regulated through restricted use arrangements involving public ownership as well as private ownership with substantial public controls. This research on national park management in Latvia has implications for environmental and conservation policies throughout the former Soviet Union and parts of Eastern Europe. It addresses complexities of current post-Soviet land restitution policies as they interact with environmental planning, ecological protection, and land conservation. This research uses a Landscape Ecology (e.g., Forman and Godron, 1986), Political Ecology (e.g., Blaikie and Brookfield, 1987), and Human Ecology (e.g., Johnston et al., 1995) framework to study the relationships between land