Department of Environmental Conservation

Associate Professor

413-545-1820 
115 Holdsworth
Email: rmmrmm(at)eco.umass.edu
 

Primary interests

Dr. Muth’s areas of expertise are in natural resource policy and the human dimensions of natural resources. During nearly 20 years of service with the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska, Washington, D.C., and Seattle, he participated in planning projects and programs of social research related to wilderness, subsistence use of natural resources, outdoor recreation, and social impact assessment in natural resource decision making. Current research interests include the public policy-making process, conflict resolution, and a broad array of social values and human activities related to natural resources, such as sport hunting and fishing, poaching, trapping, animal rights activism, and subsistence uses of natural resources.

Current Projects

• The sociocultural meaning of furbearer resources in six northeastern states.
   
• The role of renewable natural resource use in rural communities.
   
• Subsistence use of marine resources for subsistence in the northeast.
   
• Development of a typology of motivations for poaching
   
• Exploration of the attitudes and values of the animal rights movement

Current Student Projects

Improving public involvement in watershed restoration and management. Simona L. Perry, Ph.D.

Selected Recent Publications

Refereed

Muth, R.M., R.R. Zwick , M.E. Mather, J.F. Organ, J.J. Daigle, and S.A. Jonker. In press . Unnecessary source of pain and suffering or necessary management tool: Examining the attitudes of conservation professionals toward outlawing the leghold trap. Wildlife Society Bulletin.

Jonker , S.A. , R.M. Muth, R.R. Zwick, J.F. Organ, and W.F. Siemer. In press . Experiences with beaver damage and attitudes toward beaver of Massachusetts residents. Wildlife Society Bulletin.

Jonker , S.A. , J.F. Organ, R.R. Zwick, R.M. Muth, and W.F. Siemer. Submitted . Stakeholder norms toward beaver management in Massachusetts . Journal of Wildlife Management.

Odell, J., M.E. Mather, and R.M. Muth. 2005. A biosocial approach for analyzing environmental conflicts: A case study of horseshoe crab allocation. Bioscience, 55(9):735-748.