Arts and Humanities Efforts in the US Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network: Understanding Perceived Values and Challenges - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 252

Fig. 16.9 Perceived challenge responses ranked >80 % relative value

Participants consistently ranked three challenges— Funding, Time or Available
Labor , and Available Expertise —much higher than the other responses. We expected
these responses to top the list, both because LTER sites are grant-funded and
research requires input, including money and labor, and also because these are
standard responses to limitations in academic settings. This result, though, is
important, because with the right resources, these perceived hurdles could also be
addressable.
Challenges seem to fall into three general categories: practical, logistical, and
ideological. Practical challenges include funding, available labor, and expertise;
these kinds of challenges primarily involve external resources. Logistical challenges
include internal resources and procedure, like site space and scheduling. Both these
categories of challenges present obstacles that are potentially surmountable. Grants
exist, experts are available, schedules and appointments can be restructured.
Ideological challenges, however, are more diffi cult to address. If sites are just not
interested in this work, then the work has little future. Only two sites ranked the
ideological challenge “Do not view arts and humanities within the purview of LTER
sites” with a relative value 80 %. This particular challenge ranked lowest of all 11

responses. Therefore, the majority of LTER sites perceive the challenges presented
by arts and humanities inquiry to be primarily practical and logistical.

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