Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Silence Of The Clams: Forestry Registered Pesticides As Multiple Stressors On Soft-Shell Clams., Alexandra G. Tissot, Elise F. Granek, Anne W. Thompson, Michelle L. Hladik, Patrick W. Moran, Kaegan Scully-Engelmeyer

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Contaminants are ubiquitous in the environment, often reaching aquatic systems. Combinations of forestry use pesticides have been detected in both water and aquatic organism tissue samples in coastal systems. Yet, most toxicological studies focus on the effects of these pesticides individually, at high doses, and over acute time periods, which, while key for establishing toxicity and safe limits, are rarely environmentally realistic. We examined chronic (90 days) exposure by the soft-shell clam, Mya arenaria, to environmentally relevant concentrations of four pesticides registered for use in forestry (atrazine, 5 μg/L; hexazinone, 0.3 μg/L; indaziflam, 5 μg/L; and bifenthrin, 1.5 μg/g organic …

Mapping The Publics: The Production Of Spatial Knowledge And Public Interest, Paul Thomas Manson

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past decades, calls for comprehensively managing and planning ocean resources have emerged internationally and within the United States. Central to these calls is a drive to expand coastal and marine spatial planning with a particular focus on technologically mediated public involvement. These new public involvement technologies aim, more quickly and thoroughly, to solicit and analyze public values and existing uses of the coastal and marine environments. One particular technological innovation is the use of participatory geographic information systems (PGIS). These new tools allow for stakeholders, members of the public, and planning entities to collect, visualize, and interact with …

Planning For Future Fire: Scenario Analysis Of An Accelerated Fuel Reduction Plan For The Western United States, Alan A. Ager, Cody Evers, Michelle A. Day, Fermin J. Alcasena, Rachel Houtman

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent fire seasons brought a new fire reality to the western US, and motivated federal agencies to explore scenarios for augmenting current fuel management and forest restoration in areas where fires might threaten critical resources and developed areas. To support this effort, we modeled the scheduling of an accelerated forest and fuel management scenario on 76 western US national forests. Specifically, we modeled a 10-year ramp up of current forest and fuel management that targeted the source of wildfire exposure to developed areas and simulated treatment in areas that accounted for 77% of the predicted exposure. We used a sample …

Online Activism And Real Life Environmentalism, Emily Grace Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

Past and present human activities have created and accelerated an array of environmental catastrophes and various systems in the environment remain under threat as a result of human behavior. In hopes of mitigating environmental consequences, a social movement has arisen to encourage people to behave in ways that are more environmentally sustainable. Research shows that individual behavior choices impact the environment, and this influence can be used to positively affect the environment through engagement in pro-environmental behavior. Like with many other social movements, the internet has been a tool in spreading awareness of a cause and allowing people the opportunity …

A Collaborative Approach To Cultural Resource Risk Assessment, Preservation, And Prioritization: A Case Study From Sauvie Island, Oregon, Phillip James Daily

Dissertations and Theses

New and increasing threats to cultural heritage resources have pushed archaeologists, land managers, and Indigenous peoples to develop strategies to identify at-risk resources, determine condition, vulnerabilities, and value of said resources, and then provide mitigation and preservation prioritizations and recommendations for the future. One such strategy is the risk assessment approach. Typically, to guide ongoing and future management of vulnerable cultural resources, risk assessments consider preexisting archaeological data, alongside geomorphological and hydrological landform characteristics, to prioritize sites for preservation. While such assessments have been conducted around the globe, they have not been widely applied on the Lower Columbia of Oregon …

Representation Justice As A Research Agenda For Socio-Hydrology And Water Governance, Melissa Haeffner, Dana E. Hellman, Alida Cantor, Idowu Ajibade, Vinka Oyanedel-Craver, Maura Kelly, Laura Schifman, Lisa Weasel

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

We propose representation justice as a theoretical lens for socio-hydrology and water governance studies. An exploratory survey of 496 water sector employees in the United States revealed that self-identifying females felt more strongly discriminated against due to their gender and other social factors, compared to self-identifying males. Responses unveiled how macro- and microaggressions impede career pathways to leadership positions and, therefore, representation. We identify ways in which socio-hydrology can benefit from a representation justice lens by considering the following: (1) how power and politics shape the composition of the water sector and decision-making processes; (2) how available quantitative data do …

Participatory Gis Mapping Highlights Indirect Use And Existence Values Of Coastal Resources And Marine Conservation Areas, Kaegan M. Scully‐Engelmeyer, Elise F. Granek, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Greg Brown

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Consideration of social and cultural dimensions in coastal and marine planning has increased and ecosystem services provide important framing to investigate values and priorities associated with these systems. Research efforts in coastal communities offer insights on social dimensions of ocean and coastal management decisions, but questions remain about how demographics and geographic residence affect perceptions of marine resources and management. We conducted and analyzed a public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) mapping survey of Oregon residents to capture uses and perceived values of coastal and marine areas. We measured coastal values, explored regional differences in those values, and identified a …

A Ground-Based Assessment Framework For Validating Diesel Particulate Emission Models And Applicability In Portland, Or, Kirsten Marie Sarle

Dissertations and Theses

Exposure to diesel emissions causes a range of health effects throughout the body, impairing; respiratory, cardiovascular, central nervous, renal, and cognitive systems. Diesel particulate matter (DPM) in Portland, Oregon is prevalent due to the layout of highly trafficked roadways, rail lines, and marine ports exposing a dense population to high levels of exhaust pollution. These high concentrations of ambient diesel emissions disproportionately impact minority and low-income populations.

Ground-based monitoring and modeling are two ways to assess ambient DPM. However, there are uncertainties in modeled DPM due to knowledge gaps in emissions inventories as well as lack of model validation against …

Influence Of Climate Change On Forest Fire Occurrence And Distribution Of Sri Lanka And Modeling Of Forest Fire, Mohan Heenatigala

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Forest fire is one of the main causes for forest degradation and deforestation which affect ecosystem services provided by the given landscapes. Weather variables like temperature, wind speed and direction, rainfall, and relative humidity also govern the forest fire regime and vulnerability. On the other hand, forest fuel characteristics, human impacts, population density, forest canopy density, slope, elevation, road density, closeness to the human settlement areas are other factors that determine the forest fire impact and potential of damage. Annually, 100 to 2500 hectares of forest resources are damaged due to forest fires in Sri Lanka. From the past few …

Understory Species Increase Project: Investigating The Revegetation Of Native Herbaceous Species From Seed In Urban Forest Fragments, Erin Mcelroy

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Management of urban forest fragments often aims to reduce invasive species and promote native species abundance and diversity. Often, these environments lack natural establishment of native forest species, including herbaceous species that are especially sensitive to site conditions. While herbaceous understory species may represent a small proportion of forest biomass, they perform important functions within forest environments, including nutrient cycling, erosion and runoff control, and providing habitat for wildlife, as well as hosting the greatest biodiversity among other forest strata. However, many restoration projects focus primarily on the revegetation of dominant woody forest species, such as hardwood trees and shrubs. …

Current Stormwater Practices And Future Implementation At Portland State University With The Uncertainty Of Climate Change, Evan Suemori, Alexandra Vargas Quiñones

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Stormwater runoff is one of the most critical environmental issues in urban areas and is only expected to worsen as climate change persists (EPA, 2016). When precipitation events occur, stormwater travels across impervious surfaces collecting soils and pollutants which can negatively impact water quality in receiving waters. Additionally, stormwater has human health impacts, specifically through flooding and the contamination of drinking water. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it has been determined that climate change will increase the frequency, intensity, and/or number of precipitation events in some regions, including the Pacific Northwest, and decrease in others (IPCC, …

Agency, Sense Of Place, And Knowledge On The Zumwalt Prairie: A Social Study Of Place-Based Conservation And Resilience, Dana Elyse Hellman

Dissertations and Theses

Shifting and often diminishing environmental conditions, due to climate change, resource loss, and ecosystem degradation, pose a significant concern to both social and ecological systems. The field of conservation science has attempted to address environmental threats through varying approaches, transitioning from fortress conservation and complete human exclusion to community-based and co-managed models which incorporate human actors and social dimensions in the conservation process. The latest iteration of conservation scholarship, place-based conservation, is deeply rooted in interdisciplinary, social scientific thinking, and calls for significant practitioner engagement with local knowledge, practices, social constructions, and place meanings. It is an approach which emphasizes …

Urban Lakes: Ecosystem Services And Management, Laura Costadone

Dissertations and Theses

Lakes provide a variety of ecosystem services and benefits that greatly contribute to urban sustainability. Despite the growing interest in integrating freshwater systems into management and policy decisions, urban lakes are often overlooked in land-use planning. Nutrient and pollutant runoff from the surrounding urbanized watershed result in water quality deterioration that negatively impact the lake ecological functions and related ecosystem services. The vulnerability and degradation of these urban ecosystems should be a matter of concern, especially considering that, in rapidly growing metropolitan areas, the demand for aesthetic and recreational services provided by urban lakes is increasing. The overall goal of …

Socio-Ecological Perceptions Of Wildfire Management And Effects In Greece, Palaiologos Palaiologou, Kostas Kalabokidis, Andreas Troumbis, Michelle A. Day, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Alan A. Ager

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Adapting to the growing frequency of catastrophic wildfires in Greece and mitigating their effects is a complex socio-ecological problem. We used an online survey to query more than 100 engaged stakeholders who can potentially influence possible legislation and fire management organizational reform, emphasizing civil protection agencies and research entities. We focused the questionnaire on the importance of different wildfire effects to understand which were considered negative or unacceptable, indifferent, or positive. For fire prevention, we examined the range of acceptance and views on fuel management and fire use activities that are limited in extent or not allowed in Greece. We …

Tribal Revegetation Project Final Project Report: 92-Acre Area, Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Complex, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Jeremy Spoon, Brittany Kruger, Richard Arnold, Kate Monti Barcalow, Tribal Revegetation Committee, Trc

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nuwu (Southern Paiute), Newe (Western Shoshone), and Nuumu (Owens Valley Paiute) are linguistically related, Numic-speaking peoples who are part of the broader Uto-Aztecan language group. Numic peoples view the land as a holistic, living, sentient being with feelings and purpose. The land is personified with human characteristics and it needs to be experienced to be understood through “learning by doing.” Numic peoples do not support ground disturbing activities within their ancestral lands, including activities tied to the storage of low-level radioactive waste or classified materials on the NNSS, which they view as culturally inappropriate. These deep-rooted ancestral connections are the …

Biological Invasions In Coastal Marine Ecosystems: How Changes In Trade Are Linked To Ballast Water Delivery Of Nonindigenous Species, Danielle Elizabeth Verna

Dissertations and Theses

Globalization has escalated transfers of nonindigenous species (NIS) across natural dispersal barriers. The resulting biological invasions have become a leading global mechanism of ecological change. NIS are often transported between coastal marine ecosystems in the ballast water of commercial ships, and patterns of NIS introduction and establishment can be linked to global trade dynamics. Here I examined drivers of trade and ballast water across spatial and temporal extents of invasion. The analyses incorporated a variety of datasets on trade, industries, and ship behavior to identify fluctuations in globally transported commodities that lead to changes in maritime shipping patterns and frequency. …

A New Agent-Based Model Provides Insight Into Assumptions In Modeling Forest Management Under Deep Uncertainty, Garry Sotnik, Robert M. Scheller, Brooke Alyce Cassell, Matthew Joshua Duveneck

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Context: Exploratory modeling in forestry uses a variety of approaches to study forest management questions. One key assumption that every approach makes is about the degree of deep uncertainty—the lack of knowledge required for making an informed decision—that future forest managers will face. This assumption can strongly influence simulation results and the conclusions drawn from them, but is rarely studied.

Objectives: Our objective was to measure the degree of deep uncertainty within a forest management simulation to compare alternative modeling approaches and improve understanding of when a specific approach should be applied. Methods We first developed a method for measuring …

Plastic Roads: Not All They’Re Paved Up To Be, Katie Conlon

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The growing, global plastic waste crisis is sparking a myriad of solutions from disparate fields. One such end-of-use solution is the application of plastic waste for paving roads. This solution is marketed as a win-win option for plastic waste, use the single-use waste material to pave roads and save money, and simultaneously tackle the accumulated plastic waste. Paving with plastic is occurring globally, but has been especially appealing in the global south contexts where waste management infrastructure is lacking, and pressure to do something about the plastic waste is high. However, there are several environmental and social considerations to paving …

Stories From The Outside: Oregon Wildfires 2020, Maude Hines, Marta Petteni, Stefanie Knowlton, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, Portland State University, Street Roots

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

These are the preliminary results of an ongoing project.

Stories from the Outside centers the voices of people experiencing homelessness during the 2020 Oregon wildfire season. PSU’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, in partnership with the Street Roots Ambassadors program, surveyed 73 people in the Portland area in June 2021. Ambassadors sought out Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color to ensure their voices were represented as BIPOC residents are disproportionately impacted by homelessness.

Many respondents felt disconnected and left out of emergency relief efforts. These are their stories.

Overview:

The most destructive wildfires in Oregon’s history spread across the …

Climate Change And Water Governance: Decision Making For Individual Vineyard Owners In Global Wine Regions, Erin Upton, Max Nielsen-Pincus

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study investigates the institutional, social, and ecological dynamics that influence regional water governance and individual vineyard owners’ decision making in global wine regions. Global wine grape production has grown steadily over the past 20 years, and climate change has emerged as a driver of transformation in wine regions resulting in a range of impacts. Changes to the climate are anticipated to accelerate in the future and present a number of challenges for wine regions; including risks to human systems, e.g., agriculture, labor, and economics, as well as ecological systems, e.g., surface and groundwater. Water is a critical resource for …