Urban development and its mosaic of architecture and infrastructure fragments natural areas. Recognizing the need for nature and cities to coexist, conservationists now focus on protecting and restoring smaller remnant sites in urbanizing settings. Such small urban nature reserve parks are important for protecting wildlife and habitats and for providing opportunities for people to interact with nature for education, recreation, and research. At the same time, the reserves are more vulnerable to disturbance than larger natural areas; their ecological integrity is threatened more easily. Because this smaller scale urban conservation approach is fairly novel, managers of small nature reserve parks seek new and unique design and management strategies that will ensure their sustainability.

These issues present the following research question: what are the design and management approaches that address how to maintain the ecological integrity of a small nature reserve park (i.e., less than 100 acres) in an urbanizing context? This assumes that people are admitted to the site. In addition, how does a manager address threats or opportunities beyond the sites' boundaries, or regional context? Also, how does a manager balance conservation objectives with human visitors? Finally, how might the approaches be adapted for the Fern Cove case study?

Fern Cove, a small site located on Vashon Island, Washington, is an example of the need for new conservation strategies because of its setting in an urbanizing area in the Seattle/Tacoma region. The landscape of Fern Cove encompasses a healthy estuary, two streams with riparian corridors, wetlands, and second growth forest. It also supports many species of birds, fish and wildlife. The stewards, The Friends of Fern Cove, would like to protect the site in perpetuity and develop a management plan. The approaches developed in this thesis are applied to Fern Cove in an attempt to provide strategies to achieve the goals.

Research to answer these questions included an extensive interdisciplinary review of literature and a comparative study of conservation organizations and nature reserves. Then a synthesis of the results lead to discussion of the contexts of these issues and create a definitive framework. It then outlines general design and management guidelines to protect ecological integrity, that are applicable to the Pacific Northwest Puget Sound region. The thesis rejects traditional, isolationist views of conservation and the "carrying capacity" concept. Instead it seeks ways to balance conservation science and social issues in nature reserve parks. The proposed guidelines address internal and external management issues. Finally, the design and management approach is specifically illustrated for Fern Cove.