Tourism has become an important factor in Oregon's and
New Zealand's economies. Both destinations are trying to
attract even more tourists. However, many other destinations
are also competing for a bigger share of the tourism market.
Tourism itself is a multi-faceted phenomenon and the travel
destination decision is of some...
The City of Newport, in Lincoln County, is undergoing change in response to shifts in
demographics and the economic base. Following a 1990 report, a comparative growth study of the region
was initiated to observe the effectiveness of Oregon's mandatory urban growth boundaries. Data was
collected for land use permits...
Since 1983, the Oregon legislature and the Land Conservation
and Development Commission have been attempting to develop a
process whereby secondary resource lands can be identified and
designated. The most recent attempt at developing a secondary
lands model was completed in 1990 and was tested in six Oregon
Counties. Planners...
Zimbabwe's Communal Areas Management Program For Indigenous
Resources (CAMPFIRE), is a grassroots natural resource management
initiative that promotes utilization of natural resources as an
economic and sustainable land use option in Zimbabwe's rural areas.
Currently the program focuses on wildlife utilization as a
development intervention to improve the economic livelihood...
The present day vegetation pattern of the Willamette Valley is a result of a long past of human alteration of the landscape. Beginning with aboriginal burning of the grasslands to present day land uses, the vegetation of the valley has been affected by anthropogenic activity. Wet prairie is a vanishing...
Many ecological systems follow a seasonal cycle affecting primary production,carbon flux, and vegetative gas emissions. The seasonal variation of ecological systems are both affected by and have effects upon climatic factors. A quantitative estimate of the seasonal variation of vegetation is required to characterize ecological systems and their interaction with...
For the Army aviator, Night Vision Goggle (NVG) flight in the tactical rotarywing
profile is a very demanding, task saturated environment. Map navigation is just one
of the many tasks that must be accomplished during flight. The dim, monochromatic
lighting required for NVG flight alters map colors, decreases image detail...
Historically the U.S. Forest Service has used uncorrected
aerial photographs to delineate proposed and past management
activities on the land base it manages. Transferring a boundary
from an image not planimetrically correct to a planimetrically
corrected image introduces errors. Positional accuracy of
boundaries affects the number of acres the Forest...
Sound wetland management depends on an accurate comprehensive
assessment of functional wetland values. This management should account
for the cumulative impacts to regions and landscapes resulting from
piecemeal destruction and degradation of wetland resources. A regional or
watershed evaluation of wetland values can also make site-specific
assessments more efficient. The...
Due to recent changes in Oregon land-use regulations, agricultural
resource lands within exclusive farm-use zones are being designated
as high-value, important, or small-scale farmland according to their
relative potential for commercial agriculture. Potential gross
agricultural sales are used as a threshold in the designation of
small-scale farmlands; however, the regulations...
The purpose of this research was to develop methods for using geographic information system (GIS) analysis and unsupervised classification of Global Vegetation Index (GVI) images to improve carbon budget estimates of the former Soviet Union (FSU). A GIS was used to locate the geographic distribution and estimate the area of...
Large woody debris (LWD) consists of boles, root wads and large branches that
enter the stream through a variety of processes including senescence, wind throw, bank
failure, fire, and debris torrents brought on by flood events. Within the stream, LWD
provides significant benefits to aquatic organisms by contributing nutrients, providing...
Benton County established the Jackson-Frazier Wetland as a park in 1992.
My project was undertaken to assist Benton County Parks in managing the wetland. The
project contains two elements: a GIS and a vegetation change analysis from 1936 to 1994.
GIS coverages created in ARC/INFO were: 1) the course of...
A site suitability analysis for reforestation of the endemic Hawaiian forest tree koa (Acacia koa var. hawaiiensis) was performed. The study will assist the Hawai'i Resource Conservation and Development's (RCD) Forestry Committee in their effort to develop a master land use plan for koa regeneration on the Island of Hawai'i....
A spatially explicit population model written in C++ programming language is used in
this study examining the population dynamics of the Desert Tortoise (Gopherus
agassizii) in the California Mojave Desert. The model is constructed with hexagonal
divisions of space, and with one-year increments of time. Four thematic maps: vegetation,
soil...
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the characters of
winter wave climates of the Washington and Oregon coasts from 1980-
81 through 1989-90 and to compare these spatially and temporally
with the occurrence of storm events. Of particular interest is the
analysis of wave climates and weather events...
Management of national forests evokes controversy about the
allocation of limited resources among competing uses. A Land and Resource
Management Plan (Forest Plan) has been prepared for the Payette National
Forest. The Forest Plan describes resource management practices and the levels
of resource production at which the Forest would be...
The purpose of this study was to develop, implement, and test methods for
quantifying the relative proportion of hardwood and conifer cover from Thematic Mapper
(TM) imagery. The research was focused on closed canopy forests in the Oregon Coast
Range, where hardwood, conifer, and mixed stand conditions are prevalent. Based...
The American Proposed Standard for Digital
Cartographic Data presents the new national exchange format
which allows the transfer of spatial data among parties
that may use different computer hardware and different
operating system software.
A translator program for the conversion of the AutoCAD
DXf data structure to the Standard's output...
Training high school students to conduct field mapping and data
collection of wildlife habitat on public lands produces important data for
local government geographic information systems and introduces students
to the field of geography. However, the positional accuracy of the spatial
data is important for use in a GIS, as...
Hydroacoustic tertiary (T-) waves are seismically generated acoustic waves that propagate
over great distances in the ocean sound channel with little loss in signal strength.
Hydrophone recorded T-waves can provide a lower earthquake detection threshold and an
improved epicenter location accuracy for oceanic earthquakes than land-based seismic
networks. Thus detection...
Nine west-northwest-trending faults on the continental margin of
Oregon and Washington, between 43° 05'N and 470 20'N latitude, have been
mapped using seismic reflection, sidescan sonar, submersibles, and swath
bathymetry. Five of these oblique faults are found on both the Juan de Fuca
and North American plates, and offset abyssal...
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's (ODFW) Ecological Analysis
Center (EAC) is in the process of creating, from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM)
imagery, a vegetation map of Oregon that will meet the latest standards set by the
National Gap Analysis Program. Since field verification is often expensive and by...
Characterizing the distribution of precipitation at regional
scales is a requirement for the development of regional scale,
spatially distributed hydrologic water balance models. This
study performs a preliminary assessment of the utility and
limitations of historical hydro-meteorological data for
providing spatially distributed precipitation estimates over
large areas. The historical data...
Pre-flood (1995), and post-flood (1996) channel stability surveys were conducted on 22 reaches along Oak Creek, Benton County, Oregon in an effort to note if the flood of February 1996 altered the channel and if the channel stability survey that was being used accurately predicted the channels resistance to change...
The Columbia River system in the Pacific Northwest is currently comprised of a series of
reservoirs, resulting from regulation of river flow due to a series of hydroelectric dams.
A return to pre-dam conditions might improve salmon (Oncorhynchus sp.) survival rates
and increase migration efficiency. This study modeled both historic...
Riparian areas contribute to numerous ecological-maintenance functions and so are
often the focus of protection efforts by land and resource management agencies. The riparian
land-use regulations of one jurisdiction, Lane County, Oregon, are assessed for effectiveness in
protecting ecological functions. Evaluation of the current condition of five elements of riparian...
The Mosquitia Region of Honduras is part of the largest wilderness area in Central
America. In terms of biodiversity the area is rich in ecosystems including pine savannas,
tropical rain forests, and wetlands. These ecosystems are rich in millions of species
including rare and endangered. Honduras faces an economic, social,...
Vegetation along the banks of mountain streams in the western Oregon
Cascades comprises an integral part of the transition zone between land and
water based ecosystems, and as such, is a vitally important and unique natural
resource. Forestry is a major land use in this region, and harvesting riparian
vegetation...
Streamflow variability can provide valuable information for nonpoint source
pollution monitoring program planning. The research papers presented in this thesis
examine selected properties of streamflow variability in Oregon to advance its application
in regional planning of water quality monitoring programs. The products of this research
depict Oregon streams by their...
The Klamath Basin of Oregon and California has been the scene of extensive ecosystem restoration activities in recent years. The need for restoration is based on changes in land use that have adversely affected water quality and wildlife habitat. Many different kinds of restoration projects are occurring at many different...
The lower Columbia River (LCR) riparian zone is rich in habitat diversity. However, the natural beauty and species diversity along the river have increasingly become affected by human activity. This study quantifies the areal extent and degree of wetlands change and associated causes along the LCR over the past 44...
present a unique modeling approach to investigate the
potential impacts of future land use alternatives on amphibian population
dynamics in two agricultural watersheds in central Iowa. An individual-based
spatially explicit population was used to predict the consequences of alternative
landscape design and management for populations of four amphibian species. The...
Ecological regionalization is a form of spatial
classification, where boundaries are drawn around areas
relatively homogeneous in landscape characteristics. In the
delineation of ecological regions, or ecoregions, the process
includes the analysis of ecosystem structure and function.
Ecoregions have been developed at national and state scales
for research and resource...
A Delphi Expert Opinion procedure was used for evaluating Land Evaluation
and Site Assessment (LESA) ratings in Linn County, Oregon. The Delphi procedure uses
an expert panel to answer a set of questions by anonymous responses, controlled
feedback in two or three iterations, and a statistical summary of group responses....
This work examined the transformation of the concept of biodiversity into natural resource policies of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Bank through 1988. The study identified several groups as playing key roles in the transformation process. These were nongovernmental environmental organizations, the scientific community, and the...
Satellite imagery has become an efficient and time effective tool that
may aid in the development of regional terrestrial and aquatic resource management
schemes. A methodology utilizing National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)
imagery, 1.1 kilometer spatial resolution at nadir, was developed for delineating...
Benton County, Oregon has been experiencing relatively high growth and
development during the last five years. This new growth has put a strain on urban and
rural development in the county. To cope with this growth, comprehensive plans,
zoning, and many other planning issues must be assessed and revised according...
Magnetic and gravity modelling was completed along two E-W transects offshore central Oregon. These models indicate that the backstop-forming western edge of the Siletz terrane has a seaward dip of approximately 40° to 49° at 44°48'N, shallowing to ~28° at 44°1 1 'N. This is a well-determined result, given available...
The equilibrium response of Canadian vegetation to climate and climatic change was modeled at three organizational levels of the vegetation mosaic. The climatic parameters used as model drivers (i.e., snowpack, degree-days, minimum temperature, soil moisture deficit, and actual evapotranspiration) are components of climate that physiologically constrain the distribution of dominant...
Water quality problems have been identified in the Chehalis River in the vicinity of Centralia and Chehalis since the 1960's. In 1992, the Washington State Department of Ecology listed four Chehalis River segments, three segments of the Newaukum River, two segments of the Wynoochee River, and three other tributaries -...
At collisional mountain ranges the tectonic history of crustal shortening and
subsequent post-collisional erosion is preserved in the form of the presently observed
gravity anomalies. In this study, models of erosion and isostatic rebound at various stages
of collision illustrate the evolution of crustal structure, topography, and resulting gravity
anomalies....
A change to a warmer, drier climate beginning as early as 1900 was responsible
for triggering a dramatic, rapid retreat of Collier Glacier, Oregon, between 1924 and
1940. Although there was a dramatic decrease in precipitation contemporaneous with this observed "step-function" response of mass loss, it is unclear if climate...
During the Cenozoic, tectonics in the Cuyama basin of the southeastern Salinian block changed from extension to strike-slip faulting to compression and rotation. During the Oligocene-early Miocene, the Cuyama basin was adjacent to the southern Mojave region and part of that extensional tectonic regime. Many present-day reverse faults have an...
The purpose of this paper is to identify significant storm events
occurring over a ten year period along the Oregon coast. The findings will be
used in a larger research framework to build an information base that looks into
the role of climatic forcing on coastal erosion and sediment transport...
With the current pressure for increased growth, the affects of climatic forcing events
pose serious threats to Oregon's Coastal Communities. Mathematical methods have been
implemented to establish setback distances for development adjacent to littoral cells.
Using formulae developed by the Coastal Construction Setback Taskforce (CCST) under
the Oregon Coastal Management...
Data on ocean wave height and energy have been gathered via microseismometer at
Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon since 1971. Data on wave characteristics at
Newport for the winter seasons (November through March) from 1982 to 1990 were analyzed to
ascertain any relationships with winter storm events. Newport...