Coos Watershed Association (CoosWA) and the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (SSNERR) are interested in forming a community stakeholder group as the foundation of the Partnership for Coastal Watersheds project. CoosWA and SSNERR have engaged Oregon Consensus to conduct a neutral assessment of issues related to the convening of...
Executive Summary
This report analyzes how land use regulations – and government programs
generally – have affected the value of private real property in Oregon. Its objective is to
inform discussion of the issues surrounding the current debate over Measure 37.
Measure 37 was passed in 2004 in response to...
This essay provides a snapshot of sustainability and acceptability of wave energy and eight other electricity-generating energy sources in Oregon. Since “sustainability” is an important point of view in decision-making, the paper is centered around the concept. Although there is no consensus on the definition of sustainability in the academic...
This report describes the accomplishments in the second and final year of a project to develop a
set of measures to monitor the socio-economic effects on the local community of the stream
restoration efforts on the upper Middle Fork John Day River. A panel of Grant County residents
helped develop...
Climate change policies present multiple quandaries to the field of public policy and science studies. Despite the prevalent scientific consensus, approaches demonstrate great heterogeneity. With one side advocating for the facticity of climate change and a pro-active stance, while the other argues about negative economic trade-offs, viewpoints diverge. Between controversy...
This report summarizes the outcomes of a March 22-25, 2010, workshop in Seattle, Washington, on the environmental effects of tidal energy development. The workshop focused on building capabilities to evaluate the environmental effects of tidal energy from turbines placed in the water column throughout the United States. However, it did...
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...
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...
In 2008, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind and Water Power Program issued a funding opportunity announcement to establish university-‐led National Marine Renewable Energy Centers. Oregon State University and the University of Washington combined their capabilities in wave and tidal energy to establish the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy...
Requirements are growing for peer review of the science used for governmental management decisions. This is particularly true for fisheries science, where management decisions are often controversial. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service instituted the Center for Independent Experts (CIE) in 1998 as a national peer-review...