Oregon’s high hunger and food insecurity rates have been a concern throughout the last decade. These high rates earned Oregon the dubious distinction as the most food insecure with hunger state in the late 1990’s. While Oregon’s ranking has improved in recent years, our understanding of why Oregon ranked so...
Millions of U.S. households experienced hunger in 2005 and millions more experienced food insecurity. Previous research indicates that low-wage work and little social support contribute to food insecurity. Research also suggests that individuals cope by finding alternate food sources and drawing on social support. Further, researchers have found that rural...
State parks in Oregon provide important sites for visitor recreation and natural resource education. With the increasing number of visitors to Oregon coastal parks, tide pools and beach areas, there is growing need for site-specific marine education to enhance stewardship, interpretation and safety knowledge. The Oregon Sea Grant Program and...
Concern over the incidental catch of non-targeted species in commercial and
recreational fisheries has greatly increased. Public attention, negative publicity,
controversies between differing fisheries and gear groups and the reauthorization of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act have led to an increased
awareness of the issue. The Pacific halibut...
Numerous development projects are implemented in developing countries to attain economic and ecological development. However, in most cases, the encouraging results observed during the implementation phase terminated with the project period, raising concerns on these projects' sustainability after the project period has ended. This study focuses on this sustainability issue...
Disturbance and microclimate interact to play a central role influencing the composition and structure of plant communities. In this thesis, I examined plant community composition and structure twenty years after high severity wildfires with and without post-fire management (salvage logging, fuel treatment, tree planting, and shrub release) under contrasting microclimatic...
The purpose of the research project leading to this paper was to determine if a
community management approach to fishery management would be feasible in Oregon.
The basis for answering this question was a survey of residents in Oregon's eleven
incorporated fishing port communities.
This study documents the occurrence of stereotypical representations of
gender, race, and other characteristics in individuals that appear in advertisements in
the prestigious academic journal Science. It repeats and expands upon a study
conducted by Mary Barbercheck (2001) that analyzed advertisements in Science
between 1995 and 1997. In this study,...
This study examines the long-term role of interference on stand development of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco) and red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) planted mixtures in the Central Cascades of Oregon, USA. The two species are common associates in naturally regenerated and planted conifer stands in the Pacific Northwest. Due...
I examined the relative roles of biotic and abiotic factors in structuring redband trout
Oncorhynchus mykiss distributions in the South Fork John Day. I first examined the
relationship between the biological traits of the fish assemblage and riparian-geomorphic features in context of prevailing theories of stream ecology stemming from the...
In Prek Toal, a poor subsistence fishing village on Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake, the conservation organization Osmose is using ecotourism revenues to finance poverty intervention programs and promote conservation in a threatened ecosystem. This thesis examines local perceptions of tourism as a measure of Osmose’s success. Limited awareness of tourism...
The environmental justice framework has been applied to many environmentally negative issues in the past such as toxic storage and disposal facilities, toxic release inventory sites, air quality, transportation, and global climate change. It has not yet been applied to energy production in a quantitative study. This study investigates the...
Conflict among residents of a gateway community regarding the breadth of perceptions of impacts from commercial whitewater rafting and the need for mitigating policies persists despite an intensive planning process and implementation of policies to mitigate negative effects. With an overarching purpose of exploring the nature of conflict, specific study...
Riparian areas that can be used as reference sites on which to base goals of vegetation restoration have not been documented in the Oregon Coast Range. I examined the composition and distribution of unmanaged riparian overstories in the central Oregon Coast Range along nine streams which have experienced minimal disturbance...
I examined factors regulating decomposition rates of red alder (Alnus rubra)) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) leaf litter in Coast Range riparian areas in western Oregon. Overall, this study was designed to examine the influence that leaf litter quality characteristics and decomposition site treatment have on decomposition rates, to provide a...
Oregon, much like the nation, has historically had a paradoxical relationship to migration. Oregon is famous for the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Oregon Trail. It is, and always has been, greatly affected and inspired by interstate migration yet each successive generation has been less than welcoming to further...
Tourism development has expanded in Oregon coast communities and in rural communities elsewhere in the nation. This expansion has brought economic gains, but has also brought social costs. The identification and management of tourism's actual and perceived social impacts has received significant attention. This dissertation presents two approaches that extend...
An alternative to traditional roofing, extensive green roofs are contained ecosystems consisting of a drainage layer, a thin media profile which is planted with hardy plant species. Extensive green roof plants must maintain multiple functions while growing in a highly aggregate media at a depth of equal to or less...
This essay examines the low-income weatherization program in rural Oregon, shedding light on difficulties in increasing weatherization services to low-income rural households. This essay also identifies policy limitations. There are strict rules in place for utilizing Department of Energy weatherization funding and some of these rules
are likely to make...
In recent years, economic, social, technological, and environmental changes have all imposed challenges on forest-based communities. This has revived interest in studying these communities to understand their ability to tackle these challenges. This study is built around a case study of an industrial forest-based community and aims at characterizing the...
In the social context, distinct worldviews provide multiple, subjective, durable and conflicting views of natural resource situations. This research analyzes worldviews that shape people's perceptions, understandings and evaluations of forests and forestry in order to examine conflict associated with forestry issues. Differences in local residents' views of wildland fires and...
Depleted species of rockfish (Sebastes spp.) from the Northeast Pacific experience high discard mortality due to "barotrauma," induced from the rapid change in pressure during capture. Research suggests rockfish have the potential to survive barotrauma if immediately recompressed, but the potential for long-term recovery is unknown. In this project, we...
Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) have been created to encourage companies to engage in behaviors that mitigate environmental impacts (e.g., recycling, emissions reduction). Many ski areas participate in the Sustainable Slopes Program, an initiative that promotes VEPs in the ski area industry. Past research has addressed the performance of VEPs in...
Regression analysis was used to examine the effect of a change in agricultural prices on land use and conservation. The planted acreage for each of three crops – corn, soybeans, and spring wheat – was regressed on the expected prices of the three crops,
the input prices, and past land...
The current thesis presents contingent valuation research incorporating social psychological measures that investigates recreationists' willingness to pay recreation access fees at McDonald-Dunn Forest, Oregon. Context is provided through an extensive literature review of recreation fee management, issues and concerns related to recreation fees, recreationists' attitudes toward fees, relevant social psychological...
As Europeans settled the Willamette Valley in the 1800s, they began to simplify Oregon's largest river contained wholly within state boarders—the Willamette. The river lost miles of channels from dikes, dams, and development. Some channels vanished under concrete. Others became meander scars, or shallow, dry depression in the land where...
The easy picking characteristic, expressed as low pod detachment force (PDF),
offers a way to decrease pod damage in bush green beans mechanically harvested for
processing and fresh market, and makes hand picking easier and faster. This study was
undertaken to examine inheritance in a cross of two green bean...
In the United States during the last 30 years there has been a shift from extractive natural resource-based economies of the Old West to a New West defined by environmental protection. Over the past century, a growing national support for environmental protection has influenced a lengthening list of national and...
Since the 1990s the U.S. and especially the Western U.S. have experienced more intense and costly fires. To help address this problem government agencies are increasingly looking at homeowners in fire-prone landscapes to mitigate fire risk. Part of this effort involves communicating risk and understanding how residents perceive risk. This...
Since the 1990s the U.S. and especially the Western U.S. have experienced more intense and costly fires. To help address this problem government agencies are increasingly looking at homeowners in fire-prone landscapes to mitigate fire risk. Part of this effort involves communicating risk and understanding how residents perceive risk. This...
Using Richard Matland’s ambiguity/conflict model of policy implementation, this research examines the connections that agencies and organizations in one rural county, Klamath, and one urban county, Multnomah, in Oregon utilize to implement a particular state policy. The policy being examined is ORS 418.746-800, which mandates the use of Multidisciplinary Teams...
Cultural competence is a topic that concerns social scientists and medical anthropologists who pay attention to demographic changes and health disparities. This study demonstrates practical approaches to developing cultural competence in medical education by using factors from the social environment to develop protocols for action. With current concerns in domestic...
The process of land acquisition for the conservation of plants or wildlife habitat
can raise controversial issues, issues often perceived differently by the individuals and groups
involved. After the land acquisition process is completed, there is rarely an opportunity to
analyze the differing perceptions of the issues and their relative...
Attempts to site nuclear waste storage facilities are highly contentious. Given that nuclear related facilities are the most commonly opposed types of proposed land uses, one might expect to observe strong contentious interactions between proponents and immediate community members. In some cases, what is expected is not necessarily observed; why?...
Natural resource data are typically non-linear and complex, yet modeling methods often utilize statistical analysis techniques, such as regression, that are insufficient for use on such data. This research proposes an innovative modeling method based on pattern recognition techniques borrowed from the field of machine learning. These techniques make no...
Co-management is considered an alternative approach to fisheries management,
however, not all co-managed fisheries have been successful. Most studies discussing the
success and failure of co-management have emphasized economic and social attributes of
success and failure, such as fishery rights and institutional arrangements. The effect on
co-management of biological characteristics,...
On January 11, 2011, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) instituted a catch
share program for the West Coast groundfish trawl fishery. The program was intended to
create a more sustainable fishery and increase economic efficiency through the use of
individual fishing quotas and fishing cooperatives. While there are extensive...
The purpose of this study is to identify the aspects of successful collaboration within an inter-organizational context. This essay is a case study of a tightly niched network of fire chiefs in central Oregon situated within multiple contiguous boundaries of federal and state agencies, county and municipal governments, industrial forests,...
The U.S. Forest Service has been forced to adapt to numerous changes over the last three decades. These include a dramatic reduction in workforce, a declining budget, and controversial lawsuits. Moreover, recent agency wide studies suggest that within the Forest Service a new resource management paradigm has emerged that differs...
Hardrock mining is associated with severe environmental and economic costs. Of particular concern is acid mine drainage which has contaminated several thousand kilometers of streams across the United States representing a formidable danger to watershed health. Given the high risks of this activity, ensuring high regulatory standards may be an...
This paper explores the contributions of social capital, social connections, and stakeholder engagement to the goals of ecosystem-based management in a local scale marine planning process. The body of work presented here, through a journal article and report, uses the lens of social capital to evaluate stakeholder engagement in making...
Oregon State University and the City of Corvallis have recently embarked on a three-year series of meetings and forums (‘Collaboration Corvallis’) designed to increase collaboration between the two organizations and other relevant stakeholders as well as find solutions to worsening problems in the areas of parking, noise and student population...
In the field of natural resource policy and management, community-based collaboration is a strategy that has been growing in scope and usage over the past three decades, and often offers hope in complex, difficult conflict situations. In Oregon's Illinois Valley, where conflicts over natural resource management have been ongoing for...
There is a growing movement in the U.S., and throughout the world, involving top down government bureaucracies or government agencies within the natural resources field, to develop new and innovative processes and structures for integrating societal viewpoints into agency decision-making. This study examines Urban Matters, a community of practice within...
This thesis investigates Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) as a method of instruction for natural resources education. The research follows the adoption of CTL in the K-12 classrooms of six teachers focusing on natural resources education at two rural schools in Western Oregon. CTL is being investigated because it connects...
Rising human global population, appetite for seafood, and the effects of climate change have pushed commercial marine fisheries around the globe onto trajectories that are chillingly unsustainable. Input from fishermen on what it means to have a “sustainable fishery” is often absent or ignored. Some commercial fisheries are lauded for...
Human development researchers consider adolescence a rich time for interest development and identity exploration. A relatively new movement in the Free-Choice Learning (FCL) arena, the Maker movement, offers learners interest-driven, experiential, often collaborative, and process-oriented activities ranging from game design (computer-based and otherwise) and robotics, to sewing LEDs into clothing...
Many nations that invest in aquaculture and fisheries for improved nutrition and food security are located in areas prone to natural disasters, such as typhoons. While all residents are vulnerable to the effects of disasters, research suggests that women are disproportionately affected at all stages of disaster management: preparedness, response,...
This pilot study of South Sister Creek (8 km length) examined stream-scale (i.e., longitudinal trends) and sub-reach scale (less than 100 m) water temperature. Hourly summer temperature time-series data were gathered at four to seven locations along South Sister Creek in 2006, 2012, and 2013 and were used to explore...
A fundamental problem that emerges during the planning of a city or neighborhood is how to prioritize sustainable development criteria and where to focus efforts. Solving this problem is a complex task requiring an integrated approach, which considers environmental, economic, and social criteria, as well as stakeholder preferences. Given the...
This thesis analyzes the emerging technology of hydraulic fracturing and shale gas extraction process through a pluralistic philosophical approach. Rather than defending traditional values in nature, such as intrinsic value, I defend a metaphilosophical pragmatism centered on policy implications. I argue that different philosophical positions will, most of the time,...
This dissertation examines the spatial distribution of park access by type in relation to trajectories of gentrification in Seattle from 1990 to 2010. The dissertation includes 5 Chapters. The first chapter provides an overview of the literature that motivated this research. The second, third and fourth chapters are research papers...
Scientists say that climate change is very likely to cause more frequent and more severe weather events. In order to understand how communities respond to changing weather patterns, an exploration of the connection between extreme weather events and climate change awareness, collective action, and policy is warranted. This case study...
The Linn and Benton County Gleaner network has helped the low-income families of urban and rural Oregon reclaim moral, social and cultural capital that is lost in the act of being poor in America. Rather than participating solely in government safety nets, these people reject “hand-outs” in favor of exchanging...
The Oregon wine industry is growing and becoming increasingly valuable to the regional economy. As with many production industries, the wine industry has faced concerns around its environmental practices and community impact. The use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and associated wastewater run-off are a few issues vineyard managers experience....
Commercial fishing is a culturally and economically significant industry on the Oregon coast. The importance of this industry to human communities is often neglected in fisheries research, with economic and ecological data being favored by managers and decision makers. Recent observations in many coastal communities have indicated aging of fishermen...
Climate change and the increase in meteorological drought have generated global concern over the persistence of ecosystems already in decline from decreased moisture. Evidence suggests dryland ecosystems have been more impacted by drought because of their tightly coupled growth-water relationships and high sensitivity to environmental shift. Removal of competing vegetation...
This dissertation seeks to understand Yi farmers’ livelihoods in the midst of an agricultural transition in Yunnan, Southwest China. This dissertation examines a community’s traditional knowledge related to wild edible plants (WEPs), analyzes socio-ecological vulnerability and resilience in the face of agricultural transition from subsistence farming to cash cropping, and...
Gunung Leuser is a national park in Sumatra Island, Indonesia. This park is one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the country. For instance, it is home to endangered and endemic species of Indonesia, such as the Sumatran orangutan, the Sumatran tiger, the Sumatran elephant, and the Sumatran rhino....
Few studies examine whether public attitudes toward forest management practices differ between public and private forests, with virtually no recent studies examining these differences in the Pacific Northwest, despite the coexistence of millions of acres of both public and private forest lands. Knowing whether public attitudes differ between public and...
South Louisiana has a major coastal erosion problem, exposing coastal communities to storm surge. The state is spending billions of dollars on projects that are not expected to last beyond 20 years. Research indicates that predominate stories influence problem definitions and solutions. Colten (2017) identified a shift in Louisiana's coastal...
The topics in this dissertation center on the snow processes that dominate mountain environments in the Western U.S. and Alaska, particularly in locations lacking long-term observational datasets or locales that are difficult to access in-person. Some are currently glacierized or have been glaciated in the recent past. Each of the...
Diverse scientific fields collect multiple time series data to investigate the dynamical behavior of complex systems: atmospheric and climate science, geophysics, neuroscience, epidemiology, ecology, and environmental science. Identifying patterns of mutual dependence among such data generates valuable knowledge that can be applied either for inferential or forecasting purposes. Vector autoregressive...
In the Pacific Northwest, USA, the cumulative impact of human development has caused decades of salmon habitat degradation and the listing of multiple populations under the US Endangered Species Act. As a result, the need for implementation of recovery goals has encouraged the development of an economy focused on salmon...
In recent decades, local governments have desired to increase community engagement in collaborative governance processes, such as community visioning and strategic planning, in an effort to develop policies that are inclusive and supportive of those who live in the community. A key component of the community visioning process is the...
Marin County, located in the northern San Francisco Bay Area in California, faces significant threats due to climate change, including more frequent wildfires, flooding, and increased temperatures. Adaptation and mitigation efforts are necessary in order to promote resilience amidst these changing conditions. Scorecards and similar evaluation tools have previously been...
Anthropogenic climate change is an escalating environmental and humanitarian emergency, but American public opinion varies on the issue, particularly in terms of whether climate change is natural or human caused. Belief that climate change is human caused has been shown to be critical in terms of support for policy action....
Relative to other systems in the PNW, the rain-dominated, coastal watersheds of western Oregon have shallow aquifers. Given the seasonality of streamflow and storage limitations in coastal, rain-dominated watersheds, changes in the temporal patterns of precipitation have the potential to magnify the risk of extreme streamflow conditions during both high-...
The management of the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) gray wolf population is a longstanding controversy that has fueled generations of political and cultural turmoil in the American West. At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, wolves were eradicated from the West for the threat...
A product of global climate change, ocean acidification (OA) and other stressors increasingly put pressure on the economic, social, and cultural systems of Western U.S. coastal communities. In the face of increasing OA and local reports that OA is negatively impacting local communities’ socioeconomic structures, there is a clear need...
In September 2016, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and Bonneville Power Administration initiated an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to re-evaluate the long-term strategies for managing the Columbia River System Operations (CRSO). Most notably, these strategies included an option to remove four dams along the Lower Snake...
Hydrological and biogeochemical processes occurring throughout a watershed are typically reflected in stream water chemistry, including in coastal watersheds. While Oregon Coast Range streams have been studied in the past, there is a dearth of knowledge in terms of seasonal temporal trends and spatial variability that this study seeks to...
The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of policy diffusion in the policy development process of state healthy soil policies. Within the last decade state legislation on soil health has increased exponentially. In general, these policies are efforts by state governments to mitigate or adapt to climate...
Global annual average temperatures are rising, creating extreme heat events or heatwaves that are increasing in frequency, length, and severity. The world will endure more of these events as climate change worsens and heat-related mortality and morbidity will increase due to warming conditions. At the center of heatwaves are urban...
In 2021, Oregon’s legislature passed House Bill 2021 with relative ease. House Bill 2021 is a mandate for the state’s two largest utilities to reduce carbon emissions from electricity generation on a decreasing scale, reaching 100% below baseline levels by 2040. This ambitious piece of legislation, meant to reduce the...
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a problem for coastal communities, the fishing industry, and coastal organisms. Pseudo-nitzschia spp. is a regularly occurring diatom in Oregon’s coastal waters. At times, Pseudo-nitzschia spp. can facultatively produce domoic acid, a neurotoxin that can bioaccumulate in the food chain. While regular shore-based sampling provides...
