Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The U.S. Endangered Species Act And Agency Discretion: The Role Of Public Commenting During The Rulemaking Process, Krista Helmstadter Lyons

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The most recent International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List classifies 40,084 out of the 142,577 evaluated species as threatened with extinction, with 1,962 of those species identified in the United States. The U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted in 1973 to protect and recover threatened and endangered species from extinction. The ESA federal listing process can be lengthy and arduous, taking years for a species to be proposed for listing. During the process the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) seeks comments from the public and peer reviewers on the proposed rule. Previous research debates the …

Evictions In Idaho: Statewide Data For 2021, Benjamin Larsen, Mcallister Hall, Lantz Mcginnis-Brown

Idaho Policy Institute Reports

For the third consecutive year, IPI collected all court case data in Idaho. Data were obtained from the Idaho Supreme Court. In 2021, 1, 975 (about 1.0%) of Idaho’s renting households had an eviction filing and 1,107 (0.6%) were formally evicted.

Overall, eviction court filings rose by 11% from 2020 to 2021. However, the number of households with formal evictions decreased by 1.7%. For much of 2021, Idaho residents still had access to emergency rental assistance funds and federal eviction moratoria were still in place. This could explain the lower numbers of formal evictions despite an increase in filings. It …

Do Casinos Create Economic Development?: A 15-Year National Analysis Of Local Retail Sales And Employment Growth, Jonathan Lawrence Krutz

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Casino gambling has exploded across the United States over the past 30 years. Both the academic literature and gambling proponents agree that promises of economic development have driven casino policy decisions. While such claims are tempting to policy makers, the academic literature has been largely skeptical of both the methodologies and conclusions of the casino-sponsored research behind them. For such claims to be true, retail sales and employment must grow faster in local economies with casinos than in similar locations without them. Economic theory and academic research suggest that casinos do not attract new money to an area but instead …

Deviating From The Plan: Assessing The Impact Of Forest Management Delays On Ecosystem Function, Kathryn Joyce Murenbeeld

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Forests are under increasing stress due to changes in disturbance regimes, such as wildfire and pest or disease outbreaks, an increase in more severe and prolonged drought, and changes in land use. These stressors are already having an observable impact on forests in the western United States. Many forests within the western US are managed by the US Forest Service. Forest management is important as a tool for increasing a forest's ability to withstand or recover from these stresses. Additionally, because of the forest’s influence on interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere, forest management has implications for future …

Participatory Democracy In Dynamic Contexts: A Review Of Regional Transmission Organization Governance In The United States, Stephanie Lenhart, Dalten Fox

CAES Energy Policy Institute Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the United States, electricity law delineates authority across federal and state jurisdictions, yet many essential electricity system functions are organized at a regional-scale. Seven regional transmission organizations (RTOs) ensure open access to transmission, manage wholesale electricity markets, and maintain transmission system reliability. Each RTO has distinct decision-making processes that emerged from political negotiations and regional contexts. Drawing on participatory governance and institutional design literature, the paper compares RTOs across governance structures and participatory and power dimensions. This research increases the visibility of the existing balance of power in RTO governance, assesses the public interest accountability of current designs, and …