Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond Environmental Harm: Industry Claims, Lived Experiences, And The Impacts Of Gas Extraction, Martina Angela Caretta, Melissa Haeffner, Ryan Emanuel, Racheal Hood, Julia Seydel

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The peer-reviewed literature presents overwhelming evidence that fossil fuel based energy infrastructure projects are responsible for lower residential property values, environmental destruction and pollution that decrease residents' quality of life. These projects also challenge local people's sense of identity and even the threat of such a project can make residents question their sense of place. As evidence, we first present a bibliographic analysis of the environmental impact statements for the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia and the Jordan Cove Energy Project in Oregon. We find that their approval processes relies on non-peer-reviewed, industry-funded claims that pipelines will bring economic …

Application Of Participatory Process Mapping To Evaluate Environmental Decision-Making And Implementation, Karissa Courtney, Emily Rabung, Jennifer Brousseau, Antony S. Cheng, A. Paige Fischer, Harrison Fried, Matthew Hamilton, Federico Holm, Jordan Inskeep, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Multiple Additional Authors

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Environmental governance outcomes hinge on the design and implementation of management decisions. Yet, available research methodologies can be limited in their ability to capture the complexity of decision-making and implementation processes and in turn predict and explain environmental governance outcomes. We present participatory process mapping as a method for examining the pathways that emerge and evolve over time that result in natural resource management decisions and on-the-ground outcomes, as perceived by participants in collaborative processes. The approach leverages a large-N comparative design, participatory diagraming within semi-structured interviews, and mental modeling toward a method that can fit into both quantitative and …

Water Throughout The Green Energy Transition: Hydrosocial Dimensions Of Coal, Natural Gas, And Lithium, Joshua J. Cousins, Alida Cantor, Bethani Turley

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Energy transitions are reshaping hydrosocial relations. How they will be reshaped, however, depends on location and water's material relationship to other resources and industrial activities embedded within energy transitions. To highlight this, we focus on three different resources—coal, natural gas, and lithium—to signal how the water–energy nexus will be reworked in a transition away from fossil fuels. We examine the water–coal nexus as an example of a resource relationship that is transitioning out, or that is being moved away from in the green energy transition. Natural gas represents the “bridge fuel” used through the transition. Lithium illustrates a resource inside …

When Overextended Surface Allocation Turns To Groundwater: A Q Methodology Of Well Users In Oregon’S High Desert, Melissa Haeffner, Janet Cowal, Brandy Walker, Clare Mcclellan

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

As legal battles over surface water allocation in Klamath County, Oregon, USA have gained national attention, earning the name “Water Wars,” authorities have been increasingly turning to groundwater to compensate for water shortfalls. This case study aims to identify the nuanced perspectives of household groundwater well users who are affected by groundwater extraction. Using Q methodology, we uncover groundwater well users’ perceptions and to what extent they think water problems are dealt with fairly. We identify four water perspectives that differ in the degree to which respondents prioritize clean water accessibility, industry accountability, individual responsibility for water management, and trust …

Modelling Postfire Recovery Of Snow Albedo And Forest Structure To Understand Drivers Of Decades Of Reduced Snow Water Storage And Advanced Snowmelt Timing, A. Surunis, K. E. Gleason

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Forest fires darken snow albedo and degrade forest structure, ultimately reducing peak snow–water storage, and advancing snowmelt timing for up to 15 years following fire. To date, no volumetric estimates of watershed-scale postfire effects on snow–water storage and snowmelt timing have been quantified over decades of postfire recovery. Using postfire parameterizations in a spatially-distributed snow mass and energy balance model, SnowModel, we estimated postfire recovery of forest fire effects on snow–water equivalent (SWE) and snowmelt timing over decades following fire. Using this model, we quantified volumetric recovery of forest fire effects on snow hydrology across a chronosequence of eight sub-alpine …

Wasted Space: Using Parking Lots & Vacant Land To Improve Neighborhood Completeness, Ryan Martyn

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

This study conducts a spatial analysis of Portland, Oregon, focusing on leveraging underutilized areas like parking lots and vacant land—termed "wasted space"—to improve the city's completeness. Central to this investigation is the concept of a "complete neighborhood," characterized by access to daily necessities within convenient active transportation trip. This comprehensive idea encompasses walkability, equitable access to services, and sustainability.

This paper aims to redefine the concept of a complete neighborhood with precision and delve into its implications. The research looks at five regional, town, and neighborhood centers as defined by the city of Portland. These centers act as pivotal hubs …

Commercial Property Vacancies In American Cities, Emily Dinh

University Honors Theses

This paper examines the alarming impacts of the vacancy phenomenon on commercial properties across American during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in remote work encourages people to work from home more frequently. This does not only lessen employees' foot traffic to offices, but also disconnects the engagement of consumers and visitors to public areas, such as malls, stores, and other amenities. Many commercial properties have closed, shrunk their operating spaces, or reallocated for safety and security reasons. Reduction in occupancy rate among mentioned properties influences negatively on business owners, their associated partners, residents of the impacted areas, and …

Pendarvis Farm Amphitheater: A Roadmap To Conservation Development, Maia Wiseman, Max Del Hierro, Wyatt Schaffner, Dawn Walter, Summer Cook, Miguel Gelin Ferreira

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

This report focuses on the impacts and potential economic benefits of developing the Pendarvis Farm Amphitheater in Happy Valley, Oregon. Specifically, Cadence Planning Associates provides mitigation strategies for potential negative impacts to the surrounding areas; developed through community engagement and comparative case analysis. Key economic benefits, including increased regional activity and job creation, are projected alongside potential tax revenue. Mitigation strategies for impacts to the community developed to assuage community concerns, such as increased noise and decreased air quality, are proposed; including bike and pedestrian infrastructure improvements along key roads, a 10:00 pm end time for shows, and native tree …

How Reuse Rooms Can Reduce Waste On University And College Campuses, Zoe Slabodnik

University Honors Theses

This undergraduate honors thesis discusses the importance of how reuse rooms on university and college campuses can reduce waste by providing an alternative method of disposal other than landfills. There is currently no definition in use that exists for the term reuse room. This thesis defines a reuse room as a community room where anyone with access can donate and take free items that can be reused, recycled, repurposed, repaired and reworn. The goal of a reuse room is to encourage waste reduction, promote and destigmatize the use of second-hand materials, and save money and items from going to landfills. …

An Exploration Of Degrowth: Reimagining The Economy In The Face Of Climate Change, Nicole Kristene Martinez-Bergman

University Honors Theses

Climate change is an issue of great magnitude facing the world, and communities are already feeling its effects, especially the most vulnerable. As the planet warms, it threatens to upend global ecosystems, from the oceans to the forests to the earth's atmosphere. Furthermore, the strains climate change places on the earth are a threat to global economic systems as erratic weather damages cities and creates an increasingly unstable agricultural system. However, these changes to the climate are due to anthropogenic impacts, meaning humans have caused this issue. This uniquely positions humans to create a structure to slow and eventually reverse …

Trends Of Groundwater Levels Over Time, Parvaneh Z. Karch-Agnew

Student Research Symposium

Groundwater is water absorbed by the soil and earth beneath the surface, saturating it, and the groundwater level is the level at which the saturation zone ends near the surface. Despite groundwater’s critical importance, only a few studies have compared groundwater level changes from in-situ measurements made in different aquifers on diverse continents. Here, I analyzed groundwater level time series to characterize how groundwater levels have changed over time in different places. I used Python and Jupyter Notebook along with the pandas and matplotlib modules to graph groundwater level changes over time. The data analyzed here derive from a Hydroshare …

Preservice Teachers Learning To Teach In An Anti-Racist/Climate-Justice Program: Challenges And Promises, Richard Sawyer

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

The global climate crisis represents the most urgent problem facing the planet, impacting social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental dimensions of life. Alarmingly, it has impacted communities of color in disproportionate ways (Goddell, 2023; Pellow, 2013). The climate crisis, along with the intertwined context of racism, places a profound responsibility on social justice teacher educators to prioritize addressing these issues in teacher preparation. The intent of the following two case studies is to explore the impact of a project based teacher preparation program focused on cultural and environmental justice on the pedagogical knowledge and practice of teaching interns at the …

Creating A New Border Culture In The Midst Of The Climate Crisis: Activism And Pedagogy Strategies For Teacher Preparation, Puneet S. Gill

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This paper documents the efforts of an activist group that came to teach about activist efforts, climate change/climate justice/climate crisis issues, and to create leaders in one border community. The leaders of this three-day workshop are a part of an activist organization named SOMOS Sunrise, the Latine constituency of the Sunrise movement. In this paper, I will analyze the climate change workshop training days and components of the workshops. Secondly, this paper will document a climate cohort education group conducted with undergraduate students and pre-service teachers the following summer. This climate cohort helped articulate art activism and public speaking opportunities …

Proceedings Of The 22nd Annual Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium (2024), Lori Hennings

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

These proceedings document the agenda and abstracts for presentations and posters from the 22nd annual conference (2024) organized by the Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver (UERC). The UERC is a consortium of people from various universities and colleges, state and federal agencies, local governments, non-profit organizations and independent professionals interested in supporting urban ecosystem research and creating an information-sharing network of people that collect and use ecological data in the Portland/Vancouver area. The annual conference has an open call for abstracts. The UERC organizing committee selects the final oral and poster presentations, along with 2 invited keynote presentations

Reconnecting A Stream Channel To Its Floodplain: Implications For Benthic Diatoms And Macroinvertebrate Trophic Structure, Patrick M. Edwards, Nicole C. Popp, Yangdong Pan, Christine L. Weilhoefer, Aspen Peterman, Lauren Mork, Matthew F. Johnson, Megan Colley, Multiple Additional Authors

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Streams systems draining upland landscapes provide valuable ecosystem services, but they are vulnerable to incision and channelization caused by anthropogenic disturbance. Restoring a degraded stream to its pre-disturbance condition by reconnecting the channel to its historical floodplain aims to recover lost hydro-morphological processes and functions. Seeking evidence to indicate whether that aim is met in practice, we examined diatoms and the stream macroinvertebrate trophic structures in three reaches of Whychus Creek, Oregon, United States. Two reaches were reconnected to their pre-disturbance floodplains in 2012 and 2016. The third, control reach, was not restored and was selected to represent the degraded …

Urban Streetscape Changes In Portland, Oregon: A Longitudinal Virtual Audit, Tomoya Hanibuchi, David Banis, Hunter Shobe, Tomoki Nakaya, Shohei Nagata

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Streetscape imagery has considerable potential for observing urban change. The literature lacks sufficient longitudinal studies, however, on urban change considering human perception and activities. We conducted a longitudinal virtual audit to observe the change in urban liveliness, human activities, and built environment by examining streetscape imagery taken in the late 2000s and the late 2010s in Portland, Oregon. Eleven untrained crowd workers were recruited to provide liveliness ratings of 24,242 streetscape images for both periods. Tabulation, mapping, and multilevel regression analyses were conducted to observe the distribution, changes in liveliness, and the factors affecting these changes. The results confirmed that …

An Exploration Of Two Information Literacy Open Learning Object Repositories: Value, Content, And Engagement, Tiffanie Lynn Ford-Baxter

Communications in Information Literacy

Information literacy (IL) open learning object repositories (LORs) provide a space for librarians to find and exchange instruction resources and lessons. Given many librarians enter the workforce with little or no formal training or educational opportunities to learn about pedagogy, these repositories are indispensable resources to the Library and Information Science field. This study explored the contents of two popular IL LORs, Project Cora and the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox, to uncover how users engage with the resources and how the repositories differ. This study's findings suggest that while resources within the LORs …

Large-Scale, Collaborative Imagery Survey In Archaeology: The Geospatial Platform For Andean Culture, History And Archaeology (Geopacha), Steven A. Wernke, Parker Van Valkenburgh, James Zimmer-Dauphinee, Bethany Whitlock, Giles Spence Morrow, Ryan Smith, Douglas Smit, Daniel Plekhov, Multiple Additional Authors

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Imagery-based survey is capable of producing archaeological datasets that complement those collected through field-based survey methods, widening the scope of analysis beyond regions. The Geospatial Platform for Andean Culture, History and Archaeology (GeoPACHA) enables systematic registry of imagery survey data through a ‘federated’ approach. Using GeoPACHA, teams pursue problem-specific research questions through a common data schema and interface that allows for inter-project comparisons, analyses and syntheses. The authors present an overview of the platform's rationale and functionality, as well as a summary of results from the first survey campaign, which was carried out by six projects distributed across the central …

Exploring The Role Of Information Literacy Instruction In Student Co-Creation Of Community-Based Research Products, Robyn Hall

Communications in Information Literacy

Supported by institutional commitments to community engagement, undergraduate students at universities across North America are participating in community-based research projects. These experiential learning activities allow students to collaborate with community partners to address issues in their communities, often resulting in co-creating research products that seek to have a real-world impact. This article reports on ways that academic librarians can support students engaged in these activities, informed by interview data gathered from university administrators and faculty members from across Canada with expertise in conducting and overseeing students' participation in research connected to university–community partnerships. This growing area of scholarly activity in …

Place For Sociohydrology In Sustainable And Climate-Resilient Agriculture: Review And Ways Forward, Soham Adla, Mohammad Faiz Alam, Melissa Haeffner, Murugesu Sivapalan

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Given the increasing demand for high-quality food and protein, global food security remains a challenge, particularly in the face of global change. However, since agriculture, food and water security are inextricably linked, they need to be examined via an interdisciplinary lens. Sociohydrology was introduced from a post-positivist perspective to explore and describe the bidirectional feedbacks and dynamics between human and water systems. This review situates sociohydrology in the agricultural domain, highlighting its contributions in explaining the unintended consequences of water management interventions, addressing climate change impacts due to/on agriculture and incorporating human behaviour into the description of agricultural water systems. …

Left Out To Dry: Understanding The Social Experiences Of Ground Depletion In Washington State's Columbia River Basin, Alexis Lisandro Guizar-Diaz

Dissertations and Theses

Millions of water wells worldwide risk running dry due to overpumping, drought, and climate change. This study adopts a political ecology framework to investigate how economic structures and power dynamics shape the effects of groundwater depletion in a highly impacted region. It is based on qualitative fieldwork conducted in the Odessa Aquifer region of Washington State. This agriculturally productive region has experienced severe groundwater depletion, endangering communities and threatening water supplies for many, as agribusiness has intensively used deep water wells to irrigate high-value crops. This research addresses three key questions: 1) How do residents and households excluded from irrigation …

Community Adaptations To Wildfire Risk In Central Oregon, Usa: An Empirical Study Of Inclusionary Practices In Collaborative Wildfire Risk Mitigation, Liam Resener

Dissertations and Theses

Adverse impacts of wildfire in Western North America have become increasingly present through the 21^st century, driven by landscape changes imposed by colonists in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Community adaptations to wildfire will be necessary through the 21^st century to restore landscapes and protect the safety and livelihoods of people who live in at-risk areas. Wildfire risk extends across countless environmental and social systems, and individuals have competing ideas about what constitutes that risk and how to best adapt to it. As resources are being allocated to community adaptations, important questions emerge about the values …

Canary In The Forest?—Tree Mortality And Canopy Dieback Of Western Redcedar Linked To Drier And Warmer Summers, Robert A. Andrus, L. R. Peach, A. R. Cinquini, Joseph Hulbert, J. T. Yusi, Andres Holz, M. Fischer, Kevan B. Moffett, Multiple Additional Authors

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Aim: Forest dieback is increasing from unfavourable climate conditions. Western redcedar (WRC)—a culturally, ecologically and economically important species—has recently experienced anomalously high mortality rates and partial canopy dieback. We investigated how WRC tree growth and dieback responded to climate variability and drought using tree-ring methods. Location: Pacific Northwest, USA. Taxon: Western redcedar (Thuja plicata). Methods: We collected tree cores from three tree health status groups (no canopy dieback, partial canopy dieback, and dead trees) at 11 sites in coastal (maritime climate) and interior (continental climate) WRC populations. From growth rates, we computed four growth indices that assessed the resilience to …

Wildfire Risk Governance From The Bottom Up: Linking Local Planning Processes In Fragmented Landscapes, Matthew Hamilton, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Cody Evers

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The growing scale of natural hazards highlights the need for models of governance capable of addressing risk across administrative boundaries. However, risk governance systems are often fragmented, decentralized, and sustained by informal linkages among local-level risk mitigation planning processes. Improving resilience to the effects of environmental change requires a better understanding of factors that contribute to these linkages. Using data on the patterns of participation of 10,199 individual stakeholders in 837 community wildfire protection plans (CWPPs) within the western U.S., we document the emergence of a locally clustered but spatially extensive wildfire risk governance network. Our evaluation of factors that …

Association Between Fluoride Exposure And Blood Pressure, Man Hung, Amir Mohajeri, Teresa Vu, Hyma Moparthi, Martin S. Lipsky

Institute on Aging Publications

Objectives: This study investigated whether fluoride was associated with an increased prevalence of high blood pressure (BP) among adolescents in the United States. Methods: The study sample consisted of 2015–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey participants aged 13–17 years. Independent-samples t-tests, Chi-square tests, and regression models were used to analyze the data. Results: A total of 814 participants met the study criteria. The findings showed that the proportion of patients with high levels of water or plasma fluoride in the high BP group was higher than that in the normal BP group. However, after adjusting for sociodemographic covariates, neither …

Changing The Paradigm For Pesticide Resistance Management, David R. Shaw, Amy Asmus, Jill Schroeder, David Ervin

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Collaborative action on the part of all stakeholders in pest management is essential to effectively address the challenges of pesticide resistance. The US Environmental Protection Agency, through its Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee, recently posted a report on pesticide resistance management and the role the Agency can play in these efforts. In this perspectives piece, we commend the Agency for acknowledging these needs, and encourage implementation of the recommendations. We urge all stakeholders to follow the example set by EPA to engage openly, listen to other stakeholders, and determine their role as part of the broader community that is needed to …

Radical Urban Natures: Mitigating Urban Heat With Nature-Based Techniques In Portland, Oregon, Heather Day-Melgar

Dissertations and Theses

Anthropogenic rising heat associated with climatic changes in the built environment has become a serious global issue. The built environment is often comprised of impermeable, paved surfaces, lack of vegetation to make way for development, tree removal, and loss or alteration of urban waterways, which leads to a degraded ecosystem for humans and non-human life, and less of an ability for carbon capture, all of which contribute to higher urban temperatures. This alteration of the existing natural environment leads to populations often unable to conceptualize that a built environment is still an ecosystem, and restoration is possible and necessary for …

The Project‑Partnership Cycle: Managing City‑University Partnerships For Urban Sustainability And Resilience Transformations, Liliana Elizabeth Caughman, Fletcher Beaudoin, Lauren Withycombe Keeler

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Cities across the globe are striving to produce viable solutions to pressing urban sustainability and resilience problems. Despite aspirations, municipal governments often need additional support in terms of knowledge, capacity, or resources to achieve transformations. Partnerships between cities and universities are one mechanism for co-producing knowledge and achieving sustained progress on complex challenges. When properly structured and effectively managed, city-university partnerships (CUPs) are purported to increase transformative capacity in city administrations and support actions which accelerate urban transformations; but these outcomes are not always achieved. As CUPs grow in numbers, there is a pressing need to identify which principles and …

The Impact Of Sars-Cov-2 On The Consolidated Meatpacking System In The United States, Judith R. Solomon

Anthós

The Sars-Cov-2 virus has had a particularly intense impact on the meatpacking industry in the United States. In this paper I provide a brief introduction to the social, economic, and political realities that lead to mass deaths of meatpacking workers from COVID, and the impact of a consolidated meatpacking system on disease mitigation. These workers are considered expendable due to a lack of power.

Scaffolding The Open: Transforming An International Studies Course Using Open Pedagogy, Hilary Bussell, Amanda Larson

Communications in Information Literacy

This case study describes how two librarians transformed an international information literacy course by creating a scaffolded open pedagogy experience for students to build transferable skills while exploring how information is produced, disseminated, and interpreted across the world. The authors discuss how we collaborated on the project to incorporate open pedagogy, tools, and strategies to enhance learning. The result was a scaffolded course using open pedagogy to help students engage with global information issues. Using Pressbooks, students published multimedia content exploring topics including global news media, censorship, misinformation, and digital divides. Then students chose to either openly license their work, …