Geography Commons^™

Modeling Vegetation Mosaics In Sub-Alpine Tasmania Under Various Fire Regimes, Gabriel I. Yospin, Samuel W. Wood, Andrés Holz, David M.J.S. Bowman, Robert E. Keane, Cathy Whitlock

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Western Tasmania, Australia contains some of the highest levels of biological endemism of any temperate region in the world, including vegetation types that are conservation priorities: fire-sensitive rainforest dominated by endemic conifer species in the genus Athrotaxis; and fire-tolerant buttongrass moorlands. Current management focuses on fire suppression, but increasingly there are calls for the use of prescribed fire in flammable vegetation types to manage these ecosystems. The long-term effects of climate and alternative management strategies on the vegetated landscape are unknown. To help identify controls over successional trajectories, we parameterized a spatially explicit landscape-scale model of vegetation and fire …

Short-Tailed Temperature Distributions Over North America And Implications For Future Changes In Extremes, Paul C. Loikith, J. David Neelin

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Some regions of North America exhibit nonnormal temperature distributions. Shorter-than-Gaussian warm tails are a special subset of these cases, with potentially meaningful implications for future changes in extreme warm temperatures under anthropogenic global warming. Locations exhibiting shorter-than-Gaussian warm tails would experience a greater increase in extreme warm temperature exceedances than a location with a Gaussian or long warm-side tail under a simple uniform warm shift in the distribution. Here we identify regions exhibiting such behavior over North America and demonstrate the effect of a simple warm shift on changes in extreme warm temperature exceedances. Some locations exceed the 95th percentile …

Evaluating User Interaction With A Web-Based Group Decision Support System: A Comparison Between Two Clustering Methods, Martin Swobodzinski, Piotr Jankowski

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Task-Technology Fit theory and the Technology Acceptance Model identify system utilization as an important indicator for the performance of complex software systems. Yet, empirical evaluations of user interaction with group decision support systems are scarce and often methodologically underdeveloped. For this study we employed an exploratory evaluation of user interaction in the context of web-based group decision support systems. Specifically, we used information-rich server logs captured through a web-based platform for participatory transportation planning to identify groups of users with similar use patterns. The groups were derived through multiple sequence alignment and hierarchical cluster analysis based on varying user activity …

Discourses Of Deflection: The Politics Of Framing China’S South North Water Transfer Project, Britt Crow-Miller

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite significant financial, ecological and social trade-offs, China has moved forward with constructing and operationalising the world’s largest interbasin water transfer project to date, the South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP). While it is fundamentally linked to broader political-economic goals within the context of China’s post-Mao development agenda, the SNWTP is frequently discussed in apolitical terms. Based on extensive discourse analysis and interviews with government officials across North China, I argue that the Chinese government is using "discourses of deflection" to present the project as politically neutral in order to serve its ultimate goal of maintaining the high economic growth rates …

Self-Reported Experiences Of Climate Change In Nigeria: The Role Of Personal And Socio-Environmental, Idowu Ajibade, Frederick Ato Armah, Vincent Kuuire, Isaac Luginaah, Gordon Mcbean

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this study, we examined the individual and socio-environmental factors that mediate differential self-reported experiences of climate change in coastal communities in Lagos, Nigeria. Binary complementary log-log multivariate regression was used to model residents’ experiences of changing rainfall patterns, ocean surges, and flood events. An analysis of both compositional and contextual factors showed that there were urban communities where vulnerability to flooding tends to be clustered, and that this was not fully explained by the characteristics of the people of whom the community was composed. This study, thus, underscores the importance and complex nature of the interaction between personal and …

Digital Cinema, Montage And Other Visualities, Shaun Huston

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Digital technology is enabling a reconceptualization of film and cinema. The pliability of digital media opens up, particularly, the theory and practice of montage to revision. This pliability allows for cheap and easy copying and combining of images, and, relatedly, the transition from film frame to digital screen provides a less precious and more flexible creative space for filmmakers. In this article, I use my documentary, Comic Book City, Portland, Oregon USA (2012), to demonstrate and discuss how digital production can be used to construct new forms of montage, particularly in the combination of creative norms and practices traditionally associated …

Mapping Landscape Values: Issues, Challenges And Lessons Learned From Field Work On The Olympic Peninsula, Washington, Diane Besser, Rebecca J. Mclain, Lee Cerveny, Kelly Biedenweg, David Banis

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

In order to inform natural resource policy and land management decisions, landscape values mapping (LVM) is increasingly used to collect data about the meanings that people attach to places and the activities associated with those places. This type of mapping provides geographically referenced data on areas of high density of values or associated with different types of values. This article focuses on issues and challenges that commonly occur in LVM, drawing on lessons learned in the US Forest Service Olympic Peninsula Human Ecology Mapping Project. The discussion covers choosing a spatial scale for collecting data, creating the base map, developing …

Where Do Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest Visitors Go And Which Roads Do They Use To Get There? An Analysis Of The Spatial Data From The 2013 Sustainable Roads Workshops, Rebecca J. Mclain, David Banis, Alexa Todd, Mike Psaris

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report provides an overview of the key patterns that emerged from the spatial analyses of the destination and route data collected during the 2013 Sustainable Roads workshops on the Mount Baker Snoqualmie (MBS) National Forest. We excluded the pilot workshop data from the analyses because a somewhat different process was used to collect the mapped data. The data used in the analysis was collected from 262 participants in eight workshops (Bellingham, Sedro-Woolley, Darrington, Monroe, Everett, Seattle, Issaquah, Enumclaw). During the workshops, participants mapped up to eight destinations of importance to them, and in most cases, also mapped the routes …

Impact Of Soil Moisture–Atmosphere Interactions On Surface Temperature Distribution, Alexis Berg, Benjamin R. Lintner, Kirsten L. Findell, Sergey Malyshev, Paul C. Loikith, Pierre Gentine

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding how different physical processes can shape the probability distribution function (PDF) of surface temperature, in particular the tails of the distribution, is essential for the attribution and projection of future extreme temperature events. In this study, the contribution of soil moisture–atmosphere interactions to surface temperature PDFs is investigated. Soil moisture represents a key variable in the coupling of the land and atmosphere, since it controls the partitioning of available energy between sensible and latent heat flux at the surface. Consequently, soil moisture variability driven by the atmosphere may feed back onto the near-surface climate—in particular, temperature. In this study, …

Development Of Future Land Cover Change Scenarios In The Metropolitan Fringe, Oregon, U.S., With Stakeholder Involvement, Heejun Chang, Roberrt W. Hoyer

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

We describe a future land cover scenario construction process developed under consultation with a group of stakeholders from our study area. We developed a simple geographic information system (GIS) method to modify a land cover dataset and then used qualitative data extracted from the stakeholder storyline to modify it. These identified variables related to our study area’s land use regulation system as the major driver in the placement of new urban growth on the landscape; and the accommodation of new population as the determinant of its growth rate. The outcome was a series of three scenario maps depicting a gradient …

Live/Work: Portland, Oregon As A Place For Comics Creation, Shaun Huston

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

In my documentary film, Comic Book City, Portland, Oregon USA (2012), I construct a representation of the city as a place for comics creation based on interviews primarily with writers and artists, but also publishers, editors, and editorial staff, who have chosen to live and work in Portland. In this chapter, I highlight key aspects ofthis representation and elaborate on the broader contexts for understanding the significance of the city for people in this field. While comics creation and comics creators can be located in relation to broad categories such as the creative class (FLORIDA 2002) or "neo-bohemia" (LLOYD 2006), …

Food Deserts And Migrant Farmworkers: Assessing Food Access In Oregon's Willamette Valley, Katie Grauel, Kimberlee J. Chambers

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Food insecurity, often correlated with “food deserts,” affects migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW) at greater rates than other populations. Our research evaluates the food desert experiences of MSFW communities in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Through GIS mapping, interviews with MSFW, and food retailer inventories, our research helps elucidate the degree to which the geographical distribution of food retailers and the products they carry affects MSFW. Access to food retailers was assessed for distances of 0.25, 1.5, 5, and 10 miles. Mapping locations of registered MSFW labor camps (n = 62) and food retailers (n = 215) in the Willamette Valley revealed …

Getting Salmon Back In Salmon Creek: Systematizing Comparative Water Quality Analysis For Targeted Restoration, Zbigniew J. Grabowski, Sarah Janjua, Michael Swamer, Heejun Chang, Eric Watson

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on water quality restoration efforts in Salmon Creek

Engaging Stakeholders In Ecosystem Service Assessment Under Climate Change And Urban Development Scenarios, Heejun Chang, David E. Ervin, Wes Hoyer, Mike Psaris, Ken Lyons, Emily D. Dietrich, Samantha Hamlin, John Lambrinos, Tammy Winfield, Bobby Cochran

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on how scientists can engage stakeholders in ecosystem service assessment.

Urban Water As A Coupled System: Interactions And Feedbacks Among Climate, Land Cover, Water Governance, Heejun Chang

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on the changes in urban water systems and includes information on the relationship between water quality and property value, changes in land cover and dissolved oxygen, spatial variations of water temperature, and the need for integrative water and land planning.

An Evaluation Of Data Collected By Middle School And College-Level Students In Stream Channel Geomorphic Assessment, Martin D. Lafrenz

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

This project tested the accuracy and repeatability of geomorphic stream channel assessments conducted by two different middle school classes from the Walt Morey Middle School in Troutdale, OR and college students from Portland State University in Portland, OR. Each group surveyed the same three cross-sections in Fairview Creek, a tributary to the Lower Columbia River, in order to assess stream channel geometry, discharge, composition of the bed material, and water quality. The three student groups were all able to accurately document the stream channel geometry, including stream width and mean depth, indicating that these data can be successfully collected by …

Future Flooding Impacts On Transportation Infrastructure And Traffic Patterns Resulting From Climate Change, Heejun Chang, Martin Lafrenz, Il-Won Jung, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Rolando Melgoza, David Ruelas, Deena Platman, Cindy Pederson

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study investigated potential impacts of climate change on travel disruption resulting from road closures in two urban watersheds in the Portland metropolitan area. We used ensemble climate change scenarios, a hydrologic model, stream channel survey, a hydraulic model, and a travel forecast model to develop an integrated impact assessment method. High-resolution climate change scenarios are based on the combinations of two emission scenarios and eight general circulation models. The Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System was calibrated and validated for the period 1988-2006, and simulated for determining the probability of floods from 2020-2049. We surveyed stream cross sections at five road crossings …

Science And Practice Of Integrated River Basin Management : Lessons From North And Central American Unesco-Help Basins, Heejun Chang, Anne Browning-Aiken

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) program, a cross-cutting component of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP), has as its goal to facilitate dialogue among hydrologists, social and economic scientists, water resource managers, water lawyers, policy experts, and river basin stakeholder communities in setting a research agenda driven by local management and policy issues. HELP seeks to improve the benefits to society by applying the principals of integrated water-resources management to complex, interdisciplinary issues within catchments.

This Monograph is the culmination of a workshop held in 2010 in which the managers from the six North American basins …

Filming Postbourgeois Suburbia: Office Space And The New American Suburb, Shaun Huston

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article examines how the depiction of American suburbia in motion pictures illustrates the physical, cultural, and demographic changes in modern suburban society. Particular attention is paid to the portrayal of the suburban landscape in the 1999 film "Office Space," written and directed by Mike Judge. The "polymorphous" landscape of "Office Space" shows single family homes along side office parks, apartments, restaurants and retail spaces. How the film introduces new sources of angst and oppression to contemporary suburbia is assessed. It is suggested that the film highlights the fact that the suburbs Americans actually live in are fundamentally different from …

Hydrologic Impacts Of Climate Change In The Upper Clackamas River Basin, Oregon, Usa, David Graves, Heejun Chang

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Pacific Northwest of the USA is dependent on seasonal snowmelt for water resources that support its economy and aquatic ecosystems. Increased temperatures resulting from higher concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases may cause disruptions to these resources because of reductions in the annual snowpack and the earlier occurrence of seasonal snowmelt. We applied a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based distributed hydrologic model at a monthly scale to assess the effects of future climate change on runoff from the Upper Clackamas River Basin (UCB; located near Portland, Oregon, USA). Once validated using historic flow data, the model was run for 2 future …

Place, Sport And Globalization: Making Sense Of La Marca Barça, Hunter Shobe

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

The case of Football Club (FC) Barcelona provides a compelling case for
examining the impact of globalization on the place/identity role of football
clubs. FC Barcelona has deep historical connections to Barcelona and
Catalonia. These connections were de-emphasized by the clubs leadership
under Josep Lluís Núñez (1978-2000) and Joan Gaspart (2000-2003) and
promoted again by Joan Laporta and his directors (elected in 2003). At the
same time, under Laporta, FC Barcelona has developed into a successful
global brand. How are we to understand this renewed focus on the local and
national discourses of place while the team is simultaneously promoted …

Street Trees In The Urban Forest Canopy: Portland, Oregon, Joseph Poracsky, David Banis

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Attempts to identify the contribution of street trees to the overall urban forest of a city have been rare and lack consensus on how to measure that contribution – percentage of trees, percentage of canopy cover, or percentage of leaf area. The actual numeric values presented in the literature also vary over a broad range and often are based on estimates, extrapolations from aggregated data, or simply stated with no empirical data referenced. This study was undertaken to evaluate the contribution of street trees to canopy in Portland, Oregon. The study involved both visual and digital analysis of multi-band aerial …

The Everyday City: Portland's Changing Neighborhoods, Carl Abbott

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Chapter 5 focuses on neighborhood life and neighborhood patterns in Portland, Oregon.