Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Ecocentric Turn: Emerging Narratives In The Growing U.S. Rights Of Nature Movement, Raechel E. Youngberg

WWU Graduate School Collection

This research project utilizes the Narrative Policy Analysis framework to analyze print news media coverage of the Rights of Nature (RoN) movement in the United States. This burgeoning movement draws upon Indigenous principles of animism and interconnectedness to recognize the existence rights and legal personhood of non-human animals, plants, and ecosystems. This project highlights the legal and legislative challenges the RoN movement has faced. Including the complexities of attempting to incorporate Indigenous epistemologies into a colonialist legal system and highlighting the narrative strategies and emerging coalitions present in the U.S.-based movement.

Affordable Infill, Virginia Macdonald

WWU Graduate School Collection

This graduate research field study delves into the design of land use and municipal policies aimed at fostering the creation of entry-level homeownership opportunities in Bellingham, Washington. Drawing upon recommendations from the Final Report of the Washington Department of Commerce Homeownership Disparities Working Group and the American Planning Association's "Planning for Equity Policy Guide," this study prioritizes affordable homeownership. Methodologically, it incorporates insights from a thorough literature review, an analysis of diverse case studies across North America, and guidance from the Incremental Development Alliance. Furthermore, it integrates proposed modifications to Bellingham's municipal code, as advocated by the Kulshan Community Land …

Collective Benefits, Individualized Responsibility: A Q Method Case Study Of Local Food Consumer Subjectivities In Bellingham, Wa, Henry Fisher

WWU Graduate School Collection

The local food movement (LFM), positioned as a challenge to the dominant industrial agri-food system (IAFS), has become increasingly visible in the United States cultural mainstream since the 1990s. For LFM advocates, local food consumption promises personal (e.g., enhanced nutrition, higher quality), economic (i.e., supporting small-scale producers, keeping money in the community), and environmental (e.g., organic and/or regenerative production methods) benefits. However, a body of theoretical literature advanced by political economists, critical sociologists, and critical geographers suggests that the prevalence of neoliberal notions of individual responsibility in LFM discourse may—at a basic level—reproduce some of the very processes the movement …

Beyond Dystopia: The Effect Of Reading Hopeful Climate Fiction On Climate Anxiety And Environmental Self-Efficacy, Brandon Mcwilliams

WWU Graduate School Collection

Climate communication and climate storytelling have thus far been unrelentingly bleak. However, growing evidence suggests that the barrage of negative, technical communication may result in negative mental health impacts and doesn’t necessarily translate into climate action. Rather than continuing to focus on technical and fear-based communication, there are calls to shifts towards narrative communication and hopeful communication frames. In this study, I investigate what effect hopeful climate fiction has on readers through three related avenues of inquiry using the popular solarpunk novella A Psalm for the Wild Built as an experimental text. I examined (1) what effect, if any, the …

Motivations For And Barriers To Forest Certification Of Washington State Trust Lands, Tracy Petroske

WWU Graduate School Collection

Forest management certification is a system to assess whether forests are grown in a manner that complies to a pre-determined set of requirements. Certification programs (called “Standards”) are designed to indicate that compliance to those conditions demonstrate the forest is managed in a way that is environmentally responsible, economically viable, and socially beneficial. In the United States, there are two recognized forest certification programs: the Forest Stewardship Council^® (FSC^®) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI^®). The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) certifies 100% of their forested trust lands to the SFI Standard. …

Social Justice Through Beach Access And Community-Based Placemaking In Puna, Hawai'i, Yumi-Shika Shridhar

WWU Graduate School Collection

This project investigates how tourist-dependent regions can implement community-based placemaking to create an inclusive outdoor space and experience for both tourists and locals. My area of focus is on Puna District, located on the southeast side of Hawai'i’s Big Island; their community was damaged by a volcanic eruption from Mount Kīlauea in 2018. The county, economic development organizations and community members are working to rebuild the region and infrastructure and reopen parts of the land covered by the lava. The research is conducted through a case study methodology of the Puna District and how the area is revitalizing their region, …

Dendrohydrological Reconstruction Of North Fork Nooksack River August Streamflow From Subannual Mountain Hemlock Ring-Widths, Cascade Mountains, Washington State, Hannah Lagassey

WWU Graduate School Collection

Climate warming is driving changes to snowpack and streamflows in snow and ice-driven systems throughout the world. To better understand present and future conditions, we need to examine conditions prior to the onset of climate warming. Tree ring records are used widely to reconstruct pre-instrumental climate and hydrological records. Some locations are more conducive to this methodology than others, however, and moisture-rich environments such as the west slopes of the Cascade mountains continue to present challenges to effective hydrological record reconstruction. Previous researchers working in this environment have employed several techniques in response to this problem, which require integrated dendrochronological …

Was The Grass Always Greener? Mapping The Historical Extent Of Grassland Ecosystems In The San Juan Islands, Kailey Schillinger-Brokaw

WWU Graduate School Collection

The San Juan Islands, an archipelago in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the Washington coast, are one of the few places native temperate grasslands are found in western Washington State. These ecosystems are important sources of biodiversity and support many rare and endemic species. In addition to their ecological importance, native temperate grasslands have profound cultural significance to the Coast Salish peoples who historically stewarded these landscapes using traditional land management practices-particularly fire-for the production of bulb crops such as common camas (Camassia quamash). Unfortunately, these ecologically and culturally valuable ecosystems have become rare, greatly impacted by the …

Seeing Environmental Injustice Through Moss-Colored Glasses: Neighborhood Monitoring Of Toxic Metal Air Pollution Disparities With Orthotrichum Lyellii, Allison Hayes

WWU Graduate School Collection

Toxic air pollution in the United States has been regulated through the Clean Air Act (CAA) since the 1970’s. Yet, a growing body of research suggests that the CAA’s air pollution management system has several blind spots. The CAA’s inability to identify and remedy pollution hot spots across the country. These hot spots are areas where air pollution exists but are often entirely overlooked because of the extreme hyperlocal scale and the current methods for identifying areas of concern outlined in the CAA for the Environmental Protection Agency. Researchers find that these hot spots are more prevalent in minority and …

Who’S Nature? Ontological Narrative Dissonance Among Skagit River Fishery Coalitions, Jann Eberharter

WWU Graduate School Collection

My research investigates narratives within fisheries management for Washington state’s Skagit River, focusing on ecological restoration and diminishing salmon runs. I ask, how might differing narratives affect progress and reflect the ontological orientations of the fishery’s co-stewards? Asked with a twist, Who is Nature? (abbreviated Who’s Nature?), I aim to critique the classic Euro-American paradigm of nature and examine the connections between us, the who, and natural world? I hope my research illuminates these important questions. I selected three entities with varying Euro-American and Indigenous affiliations—the Skagit Watershed Council (SWC), Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC), and Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission …

Adoption Of Agroforestry Practices In Northwest Washington State: An Ex-Ante Case-Study, Ava Stone

WWU Graduate School Collection

Agroforestry (AF) practices mitigate climate change, provide ecosystem services, benefit communities, and create long-term economic opportunities for farmers and land managers worldwide. Despite these well-documented benefits, however, the adoption of agroforestry practices remains low. This study aimed to understand the barriers and incentives to adoption by applying the stated choice method to a case study of direct-to-market farmers in the four counties of northwest Washington State: Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, and Island. Our results indicate that the scale of initial implementation and the upfront costs of seedlings had the largest relative impact on respondent decision making. Similarly, one early adopter …

Weaving Fragmented Lands Together: Perspectives On A National Framework For Landscape Conservation, Jaimie Baxter

WWU Graduate School Collection

Conservation goals that transcend political boundaries and integrate social-ecological systems are foundational to an emerging field of research and practice called landscape conservation. A nationwide example of a landscape conservation strategy is the Biden administration’s “30 by 30” goal and related “America the Beautiful (ATB) initiative.” The national 30 by 30 goal aims to protect 30 percent of the United States’ (U.S.) terrestrial lands, fresh waters, and ocean waters by 2030. To accomplish the objectives outlined in the ATB initiative and 30 by 30 goal, practitioners and scholars put forth recommendations to design a durable and effective national framework for …

Against The Grain: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of The Effects Of Climatic And Cultural Changes On Grain Agriculture In Northwest Washington, Natalie Furness

WWU Graduate School Collection

Local food movements are growing in popularity across the United States. Communities are interested in gaining more control over their food choices and food sources. Northwest Washington is one area where multiple communities are concerned with their food choices. Over the last 10 years, communities have invested increasing amounts of resources and energy in growing grains in San Juan, Skagit, and Whatcom counties rather than importing all their grain from Eastern Washington. This study examines how grain agriculture has changed both climatically and culturally in Northwest Washington since the late 19^th century. To address this knowledge gap, climatic factors, …

Investigating Perennial & Annual Eelgrass (Zostera Marina L.) In Padilla Bay As Potential Donor Sources For Seed-Based Restoration, Yuki Wilmerding

WWU Graduate School Collection

This paper explores recovery of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) meadows through seed-based restoration to address declines from natural and anthropogenic disturbances. The study focuses on the Joe Leary meadow site in Padilla Bay, Washington, aiming to (1) determine the spatial distribution of perennial and annual Z. marina, (2) understand variation in flowering shoot density and potential seed production, and (3) compare the phenology of flowering shoots. These objectives were investigated using field-based methods to collect presence/absence transect data for delineation, quadrat-based count data, and monitor seed development. Data collection occurred in the summer throughout the flowering life stage …

Restoring The Nooksack Watershed Through Community-Driven Forest Stewardship, Alexander Harris

WWU Graduate School Collection

Native salmon runs in the South Fork Nooksack River watershed have dramatically declined from historical levels, primarily due to the degradation of their habitat and a persistent decline in water quality and quantity. Research suggests that commercial logging—the dominant land use in the watershed—has been a primary driver of these watershed impairments. Community-driven forest stewardship offers an alternative approach to forest management that can help restore watershed health while simultaneously producing high-quality wood products and supporting local jobs in the woods. Stakeholder groups have joined Whatcom County and the Nooksack Tribe to develop a community forest on Stewart Mountain, just …

Edible Seaweeds Of The Salish Sea: Contaminant Levels And Comparison With Common Foods, Jennifer Hahn

WWU Graduate School Collection

To increase our seafood safety knowledge with respect to seaweed, this study compares contaminant concentrations in three species of edible seaweeds (Fucus distichus, F. spiralis, and Nereocystis luetkeana) harvested from 43 locations within the Salish Sea from June to September 2015. Fucus spp. were analyzed for 162 chemicals: 17 metals, 94 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and 51 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Nereocystis luetkeana was analyzed for metal content. Two health-based screening levels were calculated, one on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Reference Dose (RfD) and the other on the USEPA Cancer Slope Factor (CSF) when these data …

Public Lands And Climate Change: An Evaluation Of The North Cascadia Adaptation Partnership, Kristen Doering

WWU Graduate School Collection

Public lands in the United States serve critical roles for ecosystems and humans alike, but they have become increasingly vulnerable to climate change. Many agencies have attempted to reduce negative effects of climate change through adaptation planning. This research evaluates the implementation of the North Cascadia Adaptation Partnership (NCAP), which was developed in 2010 to provide science-based guidance to land managers in the North Cascades Ecosystem (Raymond, Peterson & Rochefort, 2013). The NCAP consists of four federal land units: North Cascades National Park, Mt. Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, and Mt. Rainier National Park. Relying on survey and …

Assessing Energy Justice: The Case Of Xwe’Chi’Exen, Cherry Point, Andrea Gemme

WWU Graduate School Collection

Energy justice, based within the roots and philosophy of environmental justice, is a relatively new framework of assessing justice throughout our energy systems from production to consumption (Jenkins et al., 2020). Environmental justice emerged in the 1980s in response to the disproportionate burden that low income and communities of color experience from environmental harms and their negative externalities (Bullard & Johnson, 2000). Energy justice applies these concepts to our energy systems in a variety of ways. This research operationalizes one popular definition of energy justice to assess the presence of justice within the siting proposal of an energy infrastructure project. …

Creating A Comprehensive Western American/Canadian Fire Dataset, 1880-2018, Katherine Welch

WWU Graduate School Collection

The currently available fire-history data of Western North America (US/Canada) available for geographic and other analyses is largely piecemeal and difficult to find. Data from before the 1980s is scattered among many sources and held by a plethora of different agencies. The aim of this project was to change that daunting reality and provide a single dataset that would fill that data gap and make doing research on and mapping of fires in the late 19th and early 20th centuries more accessible.

This data encompasses 138 years (1880 - 2018), 12 US states, three Canadian provinces and two Canadian territories. …

Vamos Outdoors Project’S Innovative Schools Based Programs During Covid-19: Program Assessment, Andrew Basabe

WWU Graduate School Collection

This Masters of Arts Project describes the evolution of a pilot program to a scale model that served youth in the Bellingham School District who were identified as “10% furthest from opportunity” and/or Latinx, Migrant, and English Language Learner (ELL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vamos Outdoors Project delivered the pilot project in partnership with the Bellingham School District, serving students in-person and on-site to improve educational and socio-emotional outcomes during online learning and quarantine. The scale model, Connections, was delivered as a multi-organizational community partnership with the same goals. As the literature describes, Latinx, ELL, and Migrant youth experience inequitable …

Electrification And Decarbonization For Mid-Sized Municipalities: A Case-Study Marginal Abatement Cost Analysis, Patrick Shive

WWU Graduate School Collection

This project provides a marginal abatement cost curve analysis for the City of Bellingham, based upon the recommendations provided by the City’s Climate Action Plan Task Force. A bottom-up methodology for performing the marginal abatement cost analysis is provided, including the relevant data and assumptions used in the analysis. The results show the massive potential emissions impacts of electrification and driving down the electric grid emissions intensity. The shortcomings and improvements of the resultant cost curves are discussed, and advice on future iterations is given. This project offers a pathway for Bellingham and other mid-sized municipalities to develop marginal abatement …

Dendrochronological Assessment Of The Easton Glacier's Terminus Position Over The Last 150 Years, Monica A. Villegas

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Easton glacier on Mt. Baker, Washington has been the focus of several studies looking at ecological succession, glacier recession, and glacier mass balance. Several of these studies have noted a gap in the literature regarding the Easton glaciers terminus position in the early twentieth century. This study has refined the glacier's terminus position by using dendrochronological methods and identified the latest Little Ice Age end moraines. A chronology of the Easton glaciers terminus position overtime was created showing its recession and advancement since 1879. The rates of recession and advancement were calculated during this time highlighting the unpredictable behavior …

Water Resources On The Pacific Crest Trail: Thru-Hiker Experiences And Alternate Water Sources In 2019, Riley Hine

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is a 2,650-mile long trail that connects Mexico and Canada through California, Oregon and Washington. For thru-hikers, water is a priority on trail that requires prior research and daily planning. Water resources fluctuate between seasons and years, requiring thru-hikers to adapt to variable resources. This case study examines how thru-hikers prepare for and experience water resources on the Pacific Crest Trail. Relying on thru-hiker interviews, online survey data, and analysis of water reports, this research uses a mixed-methods approach to examine water resource accessibility and variability on the PCT. Using a variation of Affordance Theory, …

Sun, Sand, & Afternoon Showers: Creating Nature-Based, Outdoor Classroom Curriculum For A Central Florida Preschool, Ali Burdick

WWU Graduate School Collection

This project was completed as part of Western Washington University's graduate requirements, and has been presented in a website format. The project centered around the creation and revision of a nature-based preschool curriculum. This curriculum is integral to the school programming at St. Luke’s Lutheran Preschool in Central Florida, where the project was completed. During this project, I evaluated the curriculum already in place and worked with the school’s administration to outline changes that were to be made. These changes mirrored the school’s need and desire for a curriculum that reflected our ever-changing cultural and natural world. Lessons that may …

Metrics Of Shoreline Armoring Impacts On Beach Morphology In The Salish Sea, Wa, Hannah Drummond

WWU Graduate School Collection

Coastal development, and the shoreline defenses that accompany it, makes it important to understand the shoreline’s response to anthropogenic modifications. Armoring, or shoreline erosion control structures such as seawalls or riprap, is found on an estimated one third of Salish Sea shorelines and has been shown to degrade nearshore habitat. We compared physical beach characteristics from adjacent sections of armored and unarmored shoreline at locations throughout the Salish Sea to assess the effects of armoring on beach morphology. Nineteen sites, each approximately 500 meters alongshore, were selected from ten reaches sampled with boat-based LiDAR by the WA Dept. of Ecology …

A Case Study Of A Moderate-Sale Small Family Farm In King County, Washington: An Example Of Social Capital, Socioemotional Wealth In The Context Of Civic Agriculture, Kayanne J. Sullivan

WWU Graduate School Collection

This case study used a multi-method research design including online surveys, personal interviews, and participant observation to generate data organized into two major themes: psychological sense of community and valuing of direct and local food systems. These themes refer to the community connections of social capital, the social ties and emotional connection of socioemotional wealth, and in the context of the local food systems of civic agriculture. In the discussion, I highlight the importance of direct engagement with the owner-operator of a farm to cultivate engagement with the community as an example of the importance of social capital and socioemotional …

Applying The United States Forest Service National Framework For Sustainable Recreation To The Entiat Ranger District: From Theory To Implementation, Katherine Galambos

WWU Graduate School Collection

Recreation managers in the United States Forest Service (USFS) across the country face reduced budgets, increased visitation, and costly infrastructure problems . In the West especially, increased frequency and severity of wildfires has led to the closure and/or extreme damage to recreation opportunities. To address these issues, the USFS released the Framework for Sustainable Recreation in 2010 to guide recreation planners using principles of sustainability. Sustainable planning theory has existed in the literature since the 1980s as an approach to the consequences of climate change that incorporates economic, environmental, and social equity (Brundtland, 1987). Since 2010, some National Forest …

Textile Recycling: The Influence Of Moral Licensing On The Overconsumption Of Clothing, Rebecca A. Williams

WWU Graduate School Collection

The advent of fast fashion has drastically altered how Americans consume clothing, from purchase to disposal. Unnecessary clothing consumption may be perceived as morally transgressive in a pro-environmental context. Clothing donation has become the provided solution to deal with the surplus of unwanted clothing, and recycling adheres to pro-environmental morals. Clothing donation may provide guilt alleviation from overconsumption and morally license people to consume more new clothing. This thesis investigates the effect of moral licensing on the overconsumption of clothing and seeks to quantify the relationship between quantity of clothing purchased and donated.

A total of 904 undergraduate students participated …

Washington State’S Centennial Accord And The Role Of Tribal Governments In Regional Comprehensive Planning Under The Growth Management Act And Associated Planning Laws, Elliott Winter

WWU Graduate School Collection

Tribal governments in Washington State are important regional governments that exist in and border many counties. Tribal interests often extend beyond the boundaries of the reservation and into the county space where they may be affected by county and local government planning. Properly integrating tribal interest into regional comprehensive planning is necessary to reduce conflict and provide Indian tribes a seat at the government table.

The purpose of this project is to determine the extent to which planning laws, regulations, and policies within Washington State advance coordination with Indian tribes based on the government-to-government principles of the Centennial Accord, particularly …

Barriers And Coping Strategies Among Women In A Food Desert, Renee Holt

WWU Graduate School Collection

This qualitative research focused on how women living in a neighborhood identified as a “food desert” experience food insecurity, and to learn what coping strategies are used in response. The closure of the full-size Albertsons grocery store centrally located in the Birchwood neighborhood on Northwest Avenue led to the identification of the area as a food desert by the USDA in 2016. Food deserts, neighborhoods with limited options for buying fresh food, are created through socio-economic and spatial inequalities that impact food access. In food deserts, fresh food access may be severely limited, which leads communities to organize in order …