From a landscape ecology perspective, meadows are often seen as landscapes in
transition. Succession and change in meadows may be investigated by considering the
physical and anthropogenic factors that influence the landscape through time. What is
often unknown is how changes occur and how physical and anthropogenic factors
contribute to...
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...
This research focuses on the relationship between the emerging role of land trusts and
rapid growth and change in the West. Teton County, Idaho, Teton County, Wyoming, and
Sublette County, Wyoming, and each of their associated land trusts, are used as case studies. Each county has experienced varying levels of...
Since the early 1980s, satellite imagery has been commonly used to detect change
in wetlands. The overall objective of this study is to utilize remote sensing and
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to determine the extent of change of
the wetland area and of other land use and land cover...
Protected natural areas are important reserves for biodiversity, and in the tropics, often play a role in deterring deforestation. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a protected-area with a
two-tiered management regime in Bolivia, Amboró National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area (IMNA), in deterring clearance of forest. Four satellite...
Satellite imagery has been a useful tool in monitoring land cover changes, including changes within protected areas. In the 1980’s and 1990’s Honduras created over 100 protected areas, yet few resources have been dedicated to their management. This study used Landsat satellite imagery to evaluate deforestation in the Río Plátano...
The settlement patterns of European immigrants arriving around the turn of the 20th
Century have been described using the theory of spatial assimilation. Recent academic
literature has called into question whether this theory is still relevant in describing the
settlement patterns of recent non-European immigrant groups, but has not been...
This research looks at the demographics, industry, and land use shifts over the past decades in the John Day Region of Eastern Oregon in order to better understand the shifting rural community in the United States. Census data was collected and analyzed to describe the shift. Published literature and interviews...
As GIS becomes more prominent in academic classrooms at all levels of education, the subject of geography and its related disciplines can be approached with a geospatial technology perspective, using new tools and lesson plans. The implementation of Google Earth in classrooms is just one example of this. Research was...
The specific geography of individual wine growing regions has long been understood to be a significant factor in predicting both a region’s success in producing high quality grapes, and the resulting demand for wines produced from that region's fruit. In the American wine industry, American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) are increasingly...