In recent years the conversion of agricultural lands to more
intensive non-rural land uses has become a focus of increasing public
awareness and concern. The growing attention to farmland conversion
is manifested in increasing public policies and legilsation to protect
agricultural and forestry land uses. Nevertheless, our understanding
of the...
The protection of sensitive resources is an integral part of forest practices regulations in many states, affecting non-industrial private forest (NIPF) landowners. In Oregon, forest operations on private lands which will conflict with sensitive areas designated "specified resource sites" must meet spatial and temporal requirements to protect those sites. These...
Urban sprawl and the establishment of greenbelts to separate growing cities and towns has become a popular topic of conversation among land use professionals. Economists focus on urban growth in terms of land rents and have sought market solutions such as transfers and purchases of development rights to slow this...
Oregon's land use planning system is often recognized as having been successful in its goals of limiting urban sprawl and protecting resource lands from development. However, it is difficult to quantify the impact of these regulations, because we cannot observe what would have happened in the absence of land use...
Since at least the 1970s, rural areas in the western United States, as elsewhere across the country and world, have been subject to social, economic, and political forces that have resulted in novel demographic and land tenure trends when compared to previous decades. Collectively, these processes of restructuring have created...
Increasing rates of species imperilment and the loss of biological diversity in naturally functioning ecosystems can be directly linked to accelerated urban development and the conversion of natural habitats to satisfy the needs of man. In combating this loss of biodiversity, scientists and policy makers alike recognize the relevance of...
Wetlands play an important role in our social and economic well being. Many
services wetlands provide, such as wildlife habitat, recreation, and aesthetics, are
collective goods. Because these services are not represented in a market, an over supply
of wetlands converted to other uses and an under supply of protected...
The project of which this research was a part is designed to
provide an improved system of ecological resource analysis. Specific
objectives of this study were: (1) classification of plant communities
on the fringes of the sagebrush steppes and the salt desert of
southeastern Oregon, (2) development of symbolic and...
This research sought to explore the implications of different tenure regimes for both
landscape-level ecological processes and the overall resilience of a social-ecological
system in Central Oregon. The purchase by an investor of former industrial timberlands
known as the Bull Springs tract raised the specter of dispersed residential development on...