The expansion of native, woody plants is a global phenomenon with characteristics and effects that are often indistinguishable from exotic invasions. These expansions have largely been driven by altered fire regimes and favorable climatic conditions. In the Great Basin of western North America, expansion of conifers such as western juniper...
Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations declined range wide during the past 50 years. Grouse populations were 2-3 times larger than the current population as recently as the early 1970's. In addition to habitat loss and fragmentation, declines were attributed habitat degradation that caused reduced productivity. Because chick survival remains the...
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...
Habitat for wildlife species that depend on sagebrush ecosystems is of great management concern. Evaluating how management activities and climate change may affect the abundance of moderate and high-quality habitat necessitates the development of models that examine vegetation dynamics, but modeling tools for rangeland systems are limited. I developed state-and-transition...
Communication in purposeful human activity systems plays a critical role in the design, management, and change management of these systems. However, its impact on and integrated nature in purposeful human activity systems is not well understood from a holistic viewpoint. In addition, a formal definition and methodology for identifying signs...
The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) is a ground nesting gallinaceous bird that requires large contiguous patches of sagebrush. Sage-grouse populations have declined, especially in the Great Basin where changes in wildfire regimes and the invasion of annual grasses have contributed to habitat loss and fragmentation. During the last...
The focus of this single-site case study was to explore how rural dispersed Hispanic-serving community colleges in the Pacific Northwest support the development of Hispanic-Serving initiatives and strategies. The conceptual frameworks of Latino critical theory and the multicultural organizational development model were used to analyze and interpret the data. Interviews...
The purpose of this research study is to investigate and gain understanding of the factors contributing to development of the Center for Advanced Learning (CAL), a regional collaborative educational reform project and the partnerships that emerged from that process. The development process and partnerships are examined from a systems thinking...