http://hdl.handle.net/1957/1723 Search the Channel search http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/simple-search http://hdl.handle.net/1957/9285 Title: Landslide occurrence in the Blue River Drainage, Oregon <br/> <br/>Abstract: Rapid, shallow soil mass movements (landslides) are examined for a 6,000 ha managed forest area in the Oregon Western Cascades. Analysis of landslide occurrence considers the physical characteristics and frequency, the influence of clearcutting and road construction, and some resource impacts. Nonparametric statistical methods are employed to test the significance of the observed variations in landslide characteristics. Landslide size and site characteristics appear highly consistent. Fifty-five to eighty percent of all landslide length, width, depth, area, and volume measurements fall within the lower 15% of their respective dimension ranges. Landslides occur most frequently at slope angles of 300 - L00, in northern aspects (NW - NNE), and in smooth slope locations. Landslide occurrence does not vary significantly (c(= 0.05) with relative hillslope position. Clearcutting and road construction appear to strongly affect landslide frequency and location. Landslides occur 2k and 253 times more frequently (relative to forest rate) in clearcut and road areas, respectively. Significant variation in landslide geomorphic setting with land use suggests that clearcutting and road construction may increase the landslide susceptibility of hillslope nose and hollow locations. They do not influence landslide size, slope angle, slope aspect, or hillslope position. Resource impacts from landslides are varied. Although on-site disruption is generally substantial, total ground area affected by landslides is small (approximately 0.5%). Roads stand out as an important resource consideration because landslide frequency and the number of stream entries by landslides are significantly higher for road-related failures. Road location, drainage, and fill slope construction methods are the probable causes of this accelerated landslide activity. <br/> <br/>Description: Graduation date: 1981; Presentation date: 1981-03-20 Thu, 19 Mar 1981 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/9220 Title: A case analysis of Oregon's Willamette River Greenway Program <br/> <br/>Abstract: The Willamette River Greenway Program was created by an act of the Oregon Legislature in 1968 and modified by a second act in 1973. The purpose of the program was to protect the natural environment of the river from approximately the foot of the Cascade Range near Eugene, north to the Columbia River confluence, a river distance of 204 miles; while opening up additional parts of the river environment for outdoor recreation use. From its inception the Willamette River Greenway Program was immersed in controversy. Rural property owners along the river objected to the program chiefly on account of its provision for public outdoor recreation. Urban dwellers tended to support the goals of the program. However, even in their case objections were raised regarding limitations on industrial development and urban expansion along the river. This thesis examines the Willamette River Greenway Program from the middle l960s, when the idea for a greenway was first proposed, through December 31, 1978. Specific questions addressed by this thesis are (1) How and why did the program develop as it did? (2) What were the major issues? How were these issues resolved? (3) Who were the principal actors? What were their roles? (4) How might the program have been (and still be) improved to bring about a greater realization of greenway objectives? (5) What can be learned about this program that would aid in implementation of similar programs in other areas? and (5) How do these findings relate to some commonly held theories in the social, political, and environmental fields? The analysis divides the program into three broad phases: (1) State and federal grants-in-aid to local government for land acquisition along the river (1967-1972); (2) State-local partnership in Willamette River Greenway planning (1973-1975); and (3) joint State administration of the greenway program and integration with local comprehensive planning (1975-1978). Each phase is introduced by a major legislative or administrative action affecting the direction of the greenway program. The analysis concludes that the Willamette River Greenway Program has been a limited success at best. The reasons for this are complex, but in general they stem from conflicts inherent in the patterns of land ownership and land use along the Willamette River at the time the program was created; from a failure on the part of policy makers early in the program to look objectively at conditions along the river and to examine the requirements for a successful program in light of the methods advanced to satisfy the program's objectives; from neglect of the political element in the program's formative stages; from mistakes on the part of the program's principal administrative agency, the Oregon Department of Transportation; and from deficiencies in the greenway legislation and in other related legislation that might have been of assistance in furthering the objectives of the greenway program. The relationship of events in the Willamette River Greenway Program to general systems theory and dialectical theory is discussed in detail. The analysis suggests that, while each of these theories by itself is able to provide no more than a partial explanation of events in the greenway program, a synthesis of these two theories might provide a more complete explanation. <br/> <br/>Description: Graduation date: 1980 Thu, 17 Apr 1980 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/9156 Title: Land trusts in the New West : conserving and responding to local geographies? <br/> <br/>Abstract: This research focuses on the relationship between the emerging role of land trusts and rapid growth and change in the West. Teton County, Idaho, Teton County, Wyoming, and Sublette County, Wyoming, and each of their associated land trusts, are used as case studies. Each county has experienced varying levels of agricultural activity throughout their respective histories, with transformations over time bringing about the current local economies and land use patterns that exist today. Interviews were conducted with land trust staff members and city and county planning officials and integrated with an evaluation of the local geographies of each county (biophysical attributes, population dynamics, industry, policies, and residents' land management preferences) as well as broader scale regulations and economies. The end result of this project demonstrates at local and regional scales how land trusts have become major players in the land use-land tenure equation of Western communities and how their operations are unique to the cultural, physical, and economic-political geographies of their service areas. While the West tends to be lumped together as one large entity with regard to policy decisions and ideas about private property rights, this research reveals a high amount of variation in the processes occurring in and shaping relatively small areas of the Western states -- lending itself to further studies on the interaction between different scales of land patterns in the region as well as how communities are approaching the challenges of New West landscapes. <br/> <br/>Description: Graduation date: 2009 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:55:06 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/9121 Title: Transfers of water rights in New Mexico's Rio Grande basin : spatiotemporal and sociocultural patterns <br/> <br/>Abstract: Water right marketing and transfers represent a resource reallocation strategy that has received considerable attention in the American West owing to nearly full appropriation of water in the region. Several western states permit transfers between different uses and places of use thus allowing water to move to higher-value economic activities. While facilitating economic development, reallocation can produce adverse economic, sociocultural, and/or environmental third-party effects. The purpose of this study was to describe transfer characteristics and conformity to a conceptual model, identify spatiotemporal transfer patterns, and determine the degree of association of sociocultural factors with transfer activity in New Mexico's Rio Grande basin (1975-1995). Transfer data from the Office of the State Engineer were merged with 1990 Census data in a geographic information system and stratified into sub-basins. Analytical methods included: comparison of the data with a conceptual model of transfer types, Peuquet's Spatiotemporal Triad Framework to identify patterns on the landscape, and multivariate statistical modeling techniques to identify significant sociocultural variables. The research revealed that transfers primarily involve irrigation-to-higher value use shifts as the conceptual model proposed. Market-based transfers are critically important to expanding municipal water supplies in the study area. Transfer activity was responsible for the retirement of 2,096 acres of farmland in the Middle sub-basin, was intensely clustered in the Upper and Middle sub-basins, and particularly so for growing communities within the former. The spatiotemporal pattern of transfer activity in these communities suggests the operation of a distance-decay function related to urban expansion. Multivariate regression modeling showed variables related to rurality, farming, income, race, and development to be significant variables for the study area and Middle sub-basin. Significant variables in the Upper sub-basin were related to recreational residential development. No important associations were found to occur in the Lower subbasin. The study suggests that economic, environmental, and socio-cultural thirdparty effects of transfer activity are more likely to be felt in the more populous and urbanized Middle sub-basin. Water marketing has implications for agricultural production and land retention in this sub-basin. Third-party effects in Upper subbasin are more likely to be confined to urban places and their immediate hinterlands. <br/> <br/>Description: Graduation date: 2000 Thu, 03 Jun 1999 22:58:59 GMT