This study presents potential Low Impact Development (LID) solutions for the Ash Creek watershed and designs several tools to assist localities in implementing the solutions they may choose. Ash Creek is a tributary of the Willamette River flowing through Dallas, Monmouth, and Independence in Polk County, Oregon. Currently, Ash Creek...
Research on community forests, primarily governed and managed by local forest users, in the United States is limited, despite their growth in numbers over the past decade. We conducted a survey to inventory CFs in the U.S., and better understand their ownership and governance structures, management objectives, benefits, and financing....
Deciduous shrubs are an integral component of mixed conifer forests of the interior Pacific Northwest by providing structural complexity, forage, and niche habitat. Currently, these species are under pressure from high levels of ungulate herbivory and forest management activities such as fuels reduction treatments. Ungulate herbivory is influential in the...
The ecosystem services provided by our forest resources and woodlands are multiple and diverse on all spatial and temporal levels, and include provision, regulating, cultural, and supporting services (Hanson, et al. WRI, 2008). Human activities are proximate and direct drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. In the Latin American region,...
This work combines both applied and basic research regarding previously undescribed relationships between two ecologically and economically important insect groups in coniferous forests, bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) and wild bee (Hymenoptera: Apiformes) communities in Western North America. Across the continent, native bark beetle outbreaks are key drivers of structural...
This dissertation constitutes a multi-scale quantitative and qualitative investigation of patterns of urban development in metropolitan regions of the United States. This work has generated a comprehensive data set on spatial patterns of metropolitan development in the U.S. and an approach to the study of such patterns that can be...
Cold-season storms are responsible for generating most of the snow that accumulates in mountainous watersheds across the western United States, but with overwhelming evidence of warming temperature trends, this seasonal snowpack is at risk for melt, The vast majority of snow trend studies utilize undifferentiated air temperature records – these...
This dissertation explores two economic phenomena involving forest-dependent areas: wage distribution and migration pattern of individuals. Are forest-dependent rural areas less desirable for workers from the standpoint of labor market returns? Are different skills (e.g. education, experience) rewarded differently in these areas? If there are interregional wage differences, would that...
Earth’s atmosphere is unequivocally warming due to CO₂ and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities and this is having widespread impacts on forest ecosystems that provide important services to human societies. Forest ecosystems help regulate atmospheric CO2 concentrations by sequestering carbon in tree biomass and soils, which is...
The concept of ecosystem services broadens perspectives on nature to include not only intrinsic value but also the utilitarian value it provides to society. Viewing nature through this lens informs our understanding of how particular ecological processes benefit different actors. In this research, I examine how water utilities in the...
Transformation is a major bottleneck for genetic engineering and gene editing in forest tree species. This includes most genotypes of Populus and Eucalyptus, which are some of the world’s most widely-cultivated genera of plantation forest trees. To provide new tools for transformation, I tested the transcription factor-protein chimera consisting of...
In this dissertation, I combined a scenario-based, standard-response optimization model with a stochastic simulation model to improve the efficiency of the deployment of initial attack firefighting resources on wildland fires in California and the Republic of Korea. The optimization model minimizes the expected number of fires that do not receive...
County governments in the United States play important roles in the tax collection and public service provisions. Thus, a better understanding of the local government finances is closely related to the welfares of residents. In this dissertation, I provide two essays: in the first essay, I examine the fiscal impacts...
This thesis explored the experiences of four Student Affairs practitioners working within Multicultural Affairs (MA). The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how professionals within MA offices were developing and conducting assessment as well as identify barriers they faced and best practices used. Data for this study was...
Federally designated wilderness areas in the United States are uniquely required to provide opportunities for particular types of recreational experiences. According to the Wilderness Act of 1964, the law that governs the management of designated wilderness in the U.S., wilderness areas are to provide “outstanding opportunities for solitude or a...
This thesis is a report of a phenomenological-informed study of public university student spiritual development. The research was based primarily upon semi-structured personal interviews and a focus group with undergraduate students at a large, public research institution on the west coast. Since the introduction of scientific objectivity into the academy...
Emissions largely associated with the combustion of fossil fuels and agriculture has caused elevated atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) throughout much of the developed world. Increased atmospheric deposition of N and S can lead to soil and surface water acidification and affect forest soil nutrient supply. The...
The purpose of this thesis is to examine and compare sustainable design methods used in the United States and Chile, focusing on sustainable materials and certification programs, to see if sustainable design methods used in the United States can be implemented in Chile to further its sustainable development. Through literature...
Within the United States, the number of "out" Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) individuals attending a college or university is on the rise (Rosario, Schrimshaw, Hunter & Braun, 2006). With this increase, the new and/or different ways that lesbian and gay individuals can present and express their sexual orientation has...
Firms' participation in exporting or foreign direct investment is an extremely rare behavior: only 4 percent of over 5.5 million U.S. firms were exporters in 2000. Exporters are generally larger (e.g. output and employment) and more productive than firms serving only domestic markets. Such heterogeneity within a narrowly defined industry...
Campus administrators are partially responsible for how a campus responds to a critical incident and how the students and outside community are impacted. It is important for administrators responding to critical incidents to take an objective look at their plans and preparations to determine if they will truly be effective...
Softwood plywood is one of the structural wood products studied in the CORRIM
II effort to document the environmental performance of wood product in residential
structures. Life-cycle inventory (LCI) models were developed to provide performance
data for plywood production by tracking all of its inputs and outputs in a gate-to-gate...
The USDA Forest Services' actions have come under greater scrutiny by a public that has become increasingly concerned with the legality of their actions. Often, challenges involve the quality of science used in the decision-making. Congress has mandated that the agency use the "best available science" in its decision making...
Due to public and regulatory restrictions, genetic containment technology is critical for research and development of transgenic trees in forestry. A multi-year field trial demonstrated that the RNAi-LFY construct successfully induces sexual sterility in 6K10 poplar (Populus alba) without visible effects on vegetative development. However, its limited number of replicates...
In order to mitigate climate change and increase sustainability, many states and nations have introduced policies intended to support the growth of renewable energy sources. Among these sources, wind energy has risen most prominently in the 21st century. However, its rise has been accompanied by various constraints and by local...
In recent years, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) have become one of the fastest-growing racial groups within the United States, increasing by 40% between 2000 and 2010, and expected to nearly double in population size by 2030 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012; Empowering Pacific Islander Communities & Asian Americans Advancing...
From 1925 to 1930, Ernest H. Wiegand, a professor of Horticultural Products at Oregon State Agricultural College, developed an improved brining process for cherries. Brined cherries are used in the production of maraschino and glacé cherries, which already had a sizable market in the United States by the 1920s. This...
The goal of this thesis is to identify the factors which have most significantly contributed to historical dam removals in the United States. The trend of increased dam removals over time is specifically analyzed for evidence that increased scarcity of environmental goods and services is motivating dam removals. A theoretical...
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...
Silvopasture is the planned and managed agroforestry system in which forage, livestock, and trees or shrubs are integrated in order to enhance individual components. Silvopasture has been identified as the most promising agroforestry system for the Pacific Northwest and Southeast United States. However, there have been few studies describing the...
The over-arching theme of this work is that soil data affect the performance and realism of vegetation models with particular focus on their ability to predict or explain disturbances such as fire or disease. We tested the sensitivity of the Excel version of the 3-PG model to soil properties and...
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...
In the last few decades new trends and innovations in wood products have emerged that are changing the way we can use this material in buildings. Additionally, wood is a material that has been touted to have many positive attributes in comparison to nonrenewable construction materials such as steel and...
This dissertation studies the microeconomics of forest fire suppression programs. It starts with an inquiry into the causes of increasing shares of public land management budgets devoted to wildland fire suppression in lieu of hazardous fuel reduction or other pre-fire risk mitigation programs. The first two chapters consider competing economic...
According to Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel (2001), "[c]ulture has a profound effect on why and how people buy and consume products and services" (p. 320). In the present study, Hofstede's classifications of national culture are used as a framework to examine the relationships among long-term orientation national culture (Taiwan and...
Plywood is the second largest, by value, wood-based product being imported by United Arab Emirates (UAE), below paper products and also second in terms of volume below sawn wood. Very few studies have been done of the UAE market for plywood. This thesis takes a scientific, marketing planning approach to...
The objective of this dissertation is to examine federally administered soil conservation policy within the United States and the broadly defined Columbia River Basin in the US Northwest. I accomplish this in five chapters. In the first chapter I provide background information for the study. In the second chapter I...
This study explores how environmental governance mechanisms affect state management of forest roads to address the chronic delivery of sediment to streams in Oregon, Washington, and California on private and state forestlands. Forest roads can degrade water quality and harm aquatic life when runoff mobilizes fine sediments from the road...
In the study of rebuilding and recovery after natural disasters in the United States, little attention is paid to understanding how and why people rebuild following recurring, small-scale events, like wildfire. Hazard and risk literature, instead, is focused on understanding how larger communities with greater resources, economics, and social capital,...
Effective management of urban forests is vital to society due to the numerous ecological, economic, and social benefits they provide. In many cities, management efforts are commonly supported by citizen advisory groups, which are often generically referred to as “tree boards” within the urban forestry context. Very little is known...
This paper will focus on the “possible economic, environmental and other effects” as they relate to one former military base (BRAC, 2013). With a focus on natural resource sustainability and stakeholder engagement, the research and findings within this paper will answer the question: How can understanding the process of military...
Innovativeness, or the propensity of a firm to create and/or adopt new products, process and business systems, has been measured using several methods in previous research. Examples of theses methods include current technology, self-evaluation, research and development funding, the number of new products, and intellectual property. In addition to the...
Business is a social institution and society has always designated a role for
business which has been undergoing changes with changing societal values and
paradigms. Thus while business has always had some responsibilities, the modern
connotation of the words corporate social responsibility commonly refers to business
assuming responsibilities in economic,...
Advancing the understanding of natural resource management is an important step in mitigating the effects of human activity on the environment, and ensuring efficient outcomes for many sectors of the economy. As humanity’s role in the natural world becomes better understood, the importance of interdisciplinary modeling has grown in leaps...
The debate over GM crops is one of the most controversial issues of recent decades. The debate has many dimensions, including environmental impacts, benefits and risks to human health, intellectual property rights, adequacy of biosafety regulations, and fundamental ethical acceptability. The potential benefits of GM crops are numerous, including improved...
Methamphetamine has flooded the media for the past two decades however, this
drug has impacted the nation for many decades prior. Since its synthesis in 1893,
methamphetamine has appealed to various aspects of society including soldiers,
housewives, college students, businessmen, truck drivers, drugged crazed hippies, and
athletes. The extensive effects,...
The settlement history of a remote area in the Coast Range of Oregon, from the 1870s to the 1930s, is examined through factors that may have influenced the success or failure, and length of residence of the homesteaders and later residents. Despite the rugged and isolated location, a small community...
The settlement history of a remote area in the Coast Range of Oregon, from the 1870s to the 1930s, is examined through factors that may have influenced the success or failure, and length of residence of the homesteaders and later residents. Despite the rugged and isolated location, a small community...
Oregon State University campus grounds have long been admired for their beauty and the diversity of over 65,000 individual woody plants that grace the 570 acres of campus. The woody plant collection has provided a living learning laboratory for the university and surrounding community for decades. The campus grounds include...
For decades, sexual violence has been a persistent crisis and challenge for universities and colleges across the United States. In order to address this problem and adhere to the strict legal obligations that require post-secondary institutions to prevent sexual violence on their campuses, universities and colleges have implemented a range...
This study seeks to explore the relationship between social capital and well-being in the rural Western United States. Mixed methods were employed to understand the concepts from multiple angles, using both profile and process indicators. An econometric approach used profile indicators and relied on data from 414 counties in the...
To effectively study dynamic processes like forest succession over long time periods one must effectively integrate data collected at many different times, locations and spatial scales. The purpose of this research is to integrate forest inventory data collected by the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program with...
Over the past half century, the USDA Forest Service has increasingly faced
diverse and often competing demands for forest resources, ranging from recreation,
to ecosystem services, and timber supply. Building positive community-agency
relationships has become increasingly important. Such relationships can improve
community support for forest planning and management activities, ultimately...
Biochar has shown promise as a soil amendment for improvement of agricultural and forest productivity, remediation of heavy metals, and sequestration of carbon, but has not yet been adopted for widespread use in any of these applications. By assessing the production potential as a carbon sequestration tool, and the stability...
This dissertation describes patterns in epiphytic macrolichen community composition along a nitrogen deposition gradient in the Yosemite region of the Sierra Nevada in California. This region is part of the largest federal air quality Class 1 designated air-shed in the western United States, covering the entire crest of the Sierra...
Guatemala is internationally recognized as a country suitable to invest in the forestry industry. The first Guatemalan Forest Incentive Program – PINFOR- was implemented in 1996 to foster local forestry through cost-sharing. However, it lacks both formal land use planning processes and mechanisms to assess economic potential of projects, so...
Irrigated agriculture accounts for 90 percent of consumptive use of freshwater in the western US and is considered the largest contributor to nonpoint source water pollution. The diffuse nature of most water quality and quantity challenges necessitates institutions that can more effectively engage agricultural producers in strategic, integrated, watershed-scale approaches...
The aggregate industry is responsible for the extraction and production of crushed stone, sand, and gravel— the literal building blocks of our society. Across the U.S. there are tens of thousands of quarries and sand and gravel pits, the majority of which are left abandoned or with minimal reclamation efforts....
Over 470 dams have been removed in the United States, and a significant increase in dam removals has
occurred since the early 1990s. The aging of dams is often cited as the primary factor influencing removals;
as dams surpass their functional life span, safety hazards, economic costs, and environmental concerns...
Among the suite of water resources management strategies, water banking can be a tool for water resource management in areas with high water demands or localized water scarcity. This research aims to further the understanding of water banking by conducting a review and analysis of relevant state legislation. This research...
Recent scientific studies show that framing climate change as a health issue rather than an environmental issue were more persuasive with American audience members (Maibach et. al., 2010; Maibach et. al. 2014). Also in 2014, a survey on respiratory healthcare providers and found that a large percentage believed that climate...
Export-oriented illegal logging has been recognized as a major global problem in environmental, social, and economic terms. It has been argued that export-oriented illegal logging does not benefit the community or government that should be benefited by its own natural resources. The emergence of policy initiatives targeting illegal logging could...
Wetlands are productive ecosystems providing many ecosystem services. Many regulatory agencies recognize the need to protect and preserve wetlands. However, some impacts may be unavoidable. Under those circumstances, compensatory wetland mitigation may be necessary to offset adverse impacts to wetlands. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New York...
In Islam, paying and receiving interest is prohibited based on the belief that money should not be a commodity that is “rented” out; instead, Islamic lending structures arrange loans on an equity basis. This work examines the historical origins of interest prohibition and explains how different Islamic financial products provide...
Reinhabitation is an approach to building local cultures and economies within industrial society. The food system is a vital starting point. What are the principles of reinhabitory food systems? What are the possibilities for a locally adapted food system in the Marys River region of western Oregon? I describe past...
Ixodes scapularis (e.g. blacklegged tick) is a hard-bodied tick considered endemic to certain regions within the United States. This species is considered a primary vector of Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi), anaplasmosis (Anaplasma phagocytophilum) and babesiosis (Babesia microti). Each of these tick-borne diseases represent a growing health concern within the nation...
Ideals of freedom, independence, and land ownership helped form and perpetuate the mythology of ranching in the United States. However, stereotypes emerged as a result of distortion from the media and the move away from the land. Social philosophies changed
regarding the environment, land use, and the health and safety...
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) is considered by many to be among the most powerful and most contentious environmental laws in the United States. Persistent challenges to the Act’s implementation make reaching conservation goals problematic. Most notably, the very nature of the law—providing protections for species already at...
Strategic planning for forests subjected to multiple uses is important for management that sustains and balances these many uses. In the wildland urban interface where forests are in the backyards of members of the public who avidly recreate in them, it is also important to include the community in the...
Approximately 5,500 years ago a discreet period of
wetter and cooler environmental conditions prevailed
across the southern Columbia Plateau. This period was
marked by the first prominent episodes of erosion to occur
along the lower Snake River following the height of the
Altithermal and eruption of Mt. Mazama during the...
This ethnographic study explores the social aspects of agricultural land-use in the Marys River region. The study seeks to understand how farmers define sustainability and how their views on agricultural issues help to define a sense of place and identity in the Marys River region, within the context of the...
Policy makers in the United States (US), following recommendations made by the international scientific community, have drafted national emissions reduction legislation in hopes of minimizing the harmful effects of global climate change. Included in this legislation is a national cap-and-trade system with provisions for carbon offsets. Specific provisions for forest...
Landslides are a natural hazard that have major societal, economic, and
environmental impacts. The understanding of landslides begins with the observation that
they are a spatial problem. Spatial relationships have historically been explored with
maps, and landslides are no different. Such maps range in focus from inventory maps,
which identify...
The last five decades of research in arid land ecology cites Invasive species as a source of imbalances in biodiversity through habitat destruction and reductions of native species through ecosystem alterations in favor of non-native species. Invasive species are known to damage not only the surrounding ecosystem but also cause...
This dissertation focuses on the life of Dixy Lee Ray as it examines important developments in marine biology and biological oceanography during the mid twentieth century. In addition, Ray's key involvement in the public understanding of science movement of the 1950s and 1960s provides a larger social and cultural context...
This dissertation consists of three essays on private landowners' response to incentives for carbon sequestration in forests. The first essay examines private landowner response to incentives for carbon sequestration through various combinations of intermediate management practices. The second essay focuses on agricultural landowners' willingness to participate in an incentive program...
Passive acoustic monitoring is a valuable tool for observing the status of marine environments. Comparisons of underwater soundscapes over temporal and spatial scales can provide data to inform marine conservation efforts, including protection of threatened and endangered species. This dissertation utilizes passive acoustic data collected via a broadly spaced array...
The purpose of this research is to evaluate longitudinal changes of wetland mitigation policy in the United States theoretically and quantitatively. This study offers a deeper understanding of critical wetland conservation policy in the United States while providing a useful reference for policy makers and policy implementers of biodiversity offset...
Within the U.S. there is a growing interest in the case of female adolescents being coerced into the sex industry (Bernstein, 2010; Estes & Weiner, 2001; Soderlund, 2010; Williams and Frederick, 2009). This interest, which emerged due to U.S. involvement in the international trafficking phenomena and grassroots organizing, has resulted...
The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of incarcerated women who participated in a service-learning program to help the homeless. Service-learning is effective pedagogy for involving students in civic engagement, and their involvement has been shown to increase the self-esteem of participating college students....
Plate boundaries are commonly regions of complex, diffuse deformation with
the motion across the boundary accommodated by numerous structural systems, rather
than being narrow, discrete zones of deformation. One such boundary occurs where
the North American plate makes contact with Juan de Fuca, Gorda, and Pacific plates
along the west...
Forest management is typically associated with a high degree of uncertainty, since it relies on predictions of natural growth processes over long periods of time. A number of methods exist for mitigating the risk associated with this uncertainty, but few have the ability to explicitly minimize risk. This study will...
More than 1500 species of plants and animals in the United States are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The U.S. Departments of Interior and Commerce are required, under Section 4(f)(1) of the ESA, to develop recovery plans for ESA-listed species under the respective agency...
Healthcare discrimination is associated with various health-related attitudes, behaviors, intentions, and outcomes including provider avoidance, underutilization or increased use of healthcare services, use of alternative means of healthcare, delays in medical care, less satisfaction with care, poor health behaviors, and poorer health outcomes. Since 2001, Muslims and Arabs in the...
Since the 1890s, American federalism has been perceived as being unique in the world by having two different levels of government operating within the same jurisdiction without influencing one another. Modern scholars call into question the validity of this basic assumption, but few have published quantitative evidence to reject its...
The United States Congress is currently debating a bill to reauthorize the 1980 Superfund Hazardous Waste Cleanup Law. If this bill is not reauthorized by the end of 1995, the program will either continue in its present form or be eliminated altogether.' As currently administered, the Superfund program sets out...
The 24:1 Community is a growing community with ongoing concerns over historical residential segregation, minority-exposure to environmental hazards, and sparse tree canopy coverage. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the current state of the community’s urban forest through an assessment of the urban forest. It also highlights the need...
Spatially explicit ecosystem service valuation (ESV) allows for the identification of the location and magnitude of services provided by natural ecosystems to human activities along with a measure of their significance based upon economic valuation. While ESV has been used to provide new insight into land use management, few studies...
The showy biennial to short-lived perennial Oenothera wolfii (Munz) Raven, Dietrich & Stubbe (Wolf’s evening primrose) occurs in only a small number of isolated populations on the southern Oregon and northern California coast. This rare species is currently listed as Threatened in Oregon, and is considered a Species of Concern...
This dissertation looks at one landscape component of the Coquille Indian Tribe's ancestral lands in order to understand the place meaning created and assigned to Euphoria Ridge, Oregon. I focus on three cultural overlays across time that together with the unique biophysical components, generate an importance for the locale to...
Lodgepole pine (Pinus conorta) is a widely distributed forest type across western North America. Central Oregon lodgepole pine forests are ecologically unique when compared to other lodgepole pine ecosystems. Sierra lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. murrayana) is the dominant variety and often exists as the climax species on pumice soils,...
Using the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) this thesis shows that entomological information and material can be retrieved using current historical archaeological methods. Historical archaeology has the ability to uncover connections between arenas as varied, and seemingly isolated, as the honey bee, the environment, and human cultures. By focusing on...
This phenomenological inquiry explored the experiences of library leaders and discipline faculty members engaging in a collaborative instructional change initiative focused on a process-based learning pedagogy and led by an academic library. The investigation’s purpose was providing insight and understanding concerning the: (a) library’s role in instructional leadership; (b) experience...
African-born population is one of the fastest growing group in the United States. Very little is known about their socio-demographic characteristics, health behavior practices and long-term health. The purpose of this study was to examine hypertension prevalence, health behavior practices and the impact socio-demographic factors have on these outcomes among...
International students are a growing population at many institutions of higher education in the United States, and they face unique challenges in navigating both higher education and the United States as a whole. Though there is significant research about international students, few studies have examined how international students perceive student...
Northeastern Oregon geology and climate provides moderately productive conditions for forest management and timber production. Although site preparation and planting are commonly used silvicultural practices, little research exists on the efficacy of specific forest herbicides and responses of seedling survival and growth in this region. This research seeks to improve...
The environmental movement needs people from communities of color and the differing perspectives they provide. Latinas/os are one of the largest communities of color in the US, and their numbers continue to grow. However, mainstream environmental organizations have failed to engage this community in authentic ways. The lack of meaningful...
Society derives many critical and irreplaceable values from forests. With a growing global human population and rates of consumption, forests are under increasing pressure to provide all these values simultaneously. To meet societal demands for wood products, tree plantations are becoming increasingly common and are replacing native forests. Yet, forests...
This thesis explored the factors that influence members expression of hypermasculine behaviors in fraternity organizations serving male-identified students at a predominately White university in a predominately White state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. Utilizing the Auburn Differential Masculinities Inventory, this quantitative approach focused on...
The global cryosphere, defined as the world’s ice and snow covered regions, is a crucial water source for society and ecosystem functions, as well as an important regulator of the earth’s energy budget. Melt from glaciers and seasonal snow cover provides water for more than a sixth of the world’s...