Senate Bill 762, Oregon’s 2021 omnibus wildfire bill, directed Oregon State University to conduct a wildfire risk assessment including mapping socially vulnerable communities to help inform decisions and allocate resources related to state wildfire prevention, response, and recovery. This dataset was curated to identify socially vulnerable communities and largely follows...
The fire regimes of a 9,000 hectare study area on the east side of the Southern Oregon Cascades are described. Fire regime parameters included are frequency, extent, and predictability of fire return interval. Severity of two fires is mapped by type of evidence. Changes in fire regime due to fire...
We compared the potential fire behavior and smoke production of historical and current time periods based on vegetative conditions in forty-nine 5100- to 13 500-hectare watersheds in six river basins in eastern Oregon and Washington. Vegetation composition, structure, and patterns were attributed and mapped from aerial photographs taken from 1932...
The degree of wildfire risk depends on both the probability of an ignition and the potential for damage or harm (such as loss of trees, homes, or even lives). Recognizing that you may have a high wildfire risk is the first step in doing something about it. Whether you own...
Firefighting is a very hazardous profession. Firefighters experience an injury rate that is three times higher than other physically demanding professions and the death rate in the fire service is also much higher compared to typical. Throughout the literature, data suggest the physical nature of firefighting contributes to the high...
In this dissertation, I examine how the spatial configuration of forest ownership influences the risk-mitigating behavior of public and private forestland owners over time. I determine whether or not the predicted equilibrium outcomes are socially optimal and, if not, whether the introduction of regulation, liability, or private insurance would lead...
Internal conflicts are detrimental to a country’s development for a number of reasons. Therefore, it is beneficial to identify the factors that lead to internal conflict. The three perspectives used to understand why internal conflicts occur are the systemic lens, the individualist perspective, and an interpretation that emphasizes the role...
The creation of autonomous decision makers to handle potentially hazardous or logistically complicated tasks is desirable for the purpose of reducing human labor and exposure to risk, and for increasing the general performance of autonomous systems in a wide variety of environments. However, traditional autonomous decision makers perform poorly when...
Catastrophic earthquake and tsunami events that resulted in significant loss of life and property over the past two decades have raised the global awareness regarding the need to understand the response of communities and their built environment to multi-hazard extreme events. In recognition to this impending threat to the coastal...