Environmental Studies Commons^™

Social Vulnerability To Large Wildfires In The Western Usa, Palaiologos Palaiologou, Alan A. Ager, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Cody Evers, Michelle A. Day

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Federal land managers in the US can be informed with quantitative assessments of the social conditions of the populations affected by wildfires originating on their administered lands in order to incorporate and adapt their management strategy to achieve a more targeted prioritization of community wildfire protection investments. In addition, these assessments are valuable to socially vulnerable communities for quantifying their exposure to wildfires originating on adjacent land tenures. We assessed fire transmission patterns using fire behavior simulations to understand spatial variations across three diverse study areas (North-central Washington; Central California; and Northern New Mexico) to understand how different land tenures …

Do Corporate Owned Adaptive Learning Platforms Perpetuate Banking Style Learning? Integrating Technology For Activism Into Transformational Sustainability Education, Tina M. Garner

Leadership for Sustainability Education Comprehensive Papers

We live in a world that tends to be controlled by corporations. The public school system should be wary of the problems that corporate control has on education. Even though public schools should not have corporate influence, the fact remains that they do, and this perpetuates Freire's banking style learning. Through time, the corporate influence in education was through educational materials such as book sales. Since the decline of the use of books and the growth of the use of technologies, corporations have followed suit through the sales of Adaptive Learning Platforms. Through leveraging the technology which students enjoy using, …

Conference Introduction: Setting The Stage - June 2019, Allen Blackman

Forest Collaborative Research

Conference welcome, goals, agenda, and brief self-introductions.

Synergies And Tradeoffs Among Sdgs And Policies (Syntrap) - June 2019, John A. Oldekop

Forest Collaborative Research

Presentation focuses on the following research questions:

1) Under what conditions do policies and programs aimed at achieving SDG 15—in particular by conserving or restoring forests—promote or inhibit achieving other SDGs?

2) Under what conditions do policies and programs aimed at achieving SDGs other than SDG 15 promote or inhibit achieving SDG 15?

3) Under what conditions do various policies and programs aimed at conserving or restoring forests (SDG 15) have synergies or tradeoffs with each other?

4) What policy lessons can be learnt from cases where synergies and tradeoffs have occurred, and how can these lessons be used to …

Forests And Health In Mexico: Preliminary And Pre-Preliminary Work - June 2019, Alejandro López-Feldman

Forest Collaborative Research

Presentation focuses on subjective wellbeing and natural protected areas in Mexico

Effects Of Water Funds Projects On Forest Loss And Water Quality In Ecuador And Brazil, Allen Blackman, Laura Villalobos

Forest Collaborative Research

Presentation focuses on Water Funds Projects

Devolution And Collective Action In Forest Management: The Case Of China - June 2019, Yuanyuan Yi, Jintao Xu, Gunnar Köhlin

Forest Collaborative Research

This paper examines: Can further devolution trigger collective action in forest management and benefit member households?

Empirically-Informed Agent Based Modeling Of Incentivized Forest Conservation - June 2019, Amare Teklay Hailu

Forest Collaborative Research

Presentation focuses on payment for ecosystem services (PES) and framed field experiment (FFE).

Key Emerging Issues For Forests And Livelihoods In The 21st Century - June 2019, John A. Oldekop, Laura Vang Rasmussen, Arun Agrawal, Anthony Bebbington, David N. Bengston, Allen Blackman, S. Brooks, Iain Davidson-Hunt, Penny Davies, S. C. Dinsi, L. B. Fontana, T. Gumucio, C. Kumar, K. Kumar, P. Meyfroidt, D. Moran, T. H. Mwampamba, Robert Nasi, Margareta Nilsson, Miguel A. Pinedo-Vasquez, Jeanine M. Rhemtulla, William J. Sutherland, C. Watkins, Sarah Jane Wilson

Forest Collaborative Research

Presentation about the FLARE network. The mission of the FLARE network is to establish a Community of Practice that advances the state of knowledge of the intersection of forests and livelihoods. In bringing together stakeholders – researchers, practitioners, donors, and decision makers – FLARE will leverage efforts that enrich the understanding of forest livelihood interactions.

The researchers focus on the most pressing conceptual, political, and practical issues concerning forests and livelihoods.

Asset, Property Rights And Forest Dependency: Evidence From Machine Learning Analysis - June 2019, Dambala Gelo, Daniela Lamparelli

Forest Collaborative Research

In many poor regions, the poor heavily depend on the income derived from the natural resource base. This presentation tests the forest-dependency-asset poverty hypotheses; looks at the impacts of credit constraint on forest dependency; and using machine learning approach resolves the problems of model selection uncertainty and structural parameters identification.

The Nepal Community Forestry Program And Member Mental Health - June 2019, Randall Bluffstone

Forest Collaborative Research

This presentation asks - Do Community Forestry's (CFs) and better forest quality yield mental health benefits?

Connecting Forests And Human Health Using The Demographic And Health Surveys (Dhs), Ranaivo Rasolofoson

Forest Collaborative Research

Presentation focuses on the relationships between ecosystem alteration and human health.

Indonesia, Forest Fires, Haze, Height: Case For Planetary Health Economics - June 2019, Subhrendu K. Pattanayak

Forest Collaborative Research

Presentation focuses on environmental health economics in low and middle income countries.

Impact Of Climate Change On Wildfire Across China, Based On Plot-Level Data From National Forest Inventory - June 2019, Shilei Liu, Jintao Xu

Forest Collaborative Research

Presentation focus on the impact of climate change on wildfires across China.

Economics Of Modern Plantation Forests In China - June 2019, Jintao Xu, Miaoying Shi

Forest Collaborative Research

Presentation focuses on eucalyptus forest development in Guangxi, China

Preventing Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis In Salmonid Fish Along The Columbia River Basin, Whitney L. Wright

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Annual Conference

Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) is a member of the Rhabdoviridae family and causes infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN) disease in many salmonid species during the juvenile or “fry” stage of life. IHNV is endemic to Western North America and occurs in the Columbia River Basin, where Steelhead and Chinook salmon are the most abundant IHNV-vulnerable species. IHNV can cause an epidemic in wild or farmed stocks, killing 90-95 percent of the fish it infects. Transmission is currently understood to occur by direct exposure through the gills, and the virus is shed typically from asymptomatic or clinically ill carrier adults at …

When Pets Become Pests: The Role Of The Exotic Pet Trade In Producing Invasive Vertebrate Animals, Julie I. Lockwood, Dustin J. Welbourne, Christina M. Romagosa, Phillip Cassey, Nicholas E. Mandrak, Angela L. Strecker, Brian Leung, Oliver C. Stringham, Bradley Udell, Diane J. Episcopio-Sturgeon, Michael F. Tlusty, James Sinclair, Michael R. Springborn, Elizabeth F. Plenaar, Andrew L. Rhyne, Reuben Keller

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The annual trade in exotic vertebrates as pets is a multi-billion- dollar global business. Thousands of species, and tens of millions of individual animals, are shipped both internationally and within countries to satisfy this demand. Most research on the exotic pet trade has focused on its contribution to native biodiversity loss and disease spread. Here, we synthesize information across taxa and research disciplines to document the exotic pet trade’s contribution to vertebrate biological invasions. We show recent and substantial worldwide growth in the number of non-native animal populations introduced via this invasion pathway, which demonstrates a strong potential to increase …

A Comparison Of Neighborhood-Scale Interventions To Alleviate Urban Heat In Doha, Qatar, Salim Ferwati, Cynthia Skelhorn, Vivek Shandas, Yasuyo Makido

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent evidence suggests that many densely populated areas of the world will be uninhabitable in the coming century due to the depletion of resources, climate change, and increasing urbanization. This poses serious questions regarding the actions that require immediate attention, and opportunities to stave off massive losses of infrastructure, populations, and financial investments. The present study utilizes microclimate modeling to examine the role of landscape features as they affect ambient temperatures in one of the fastest growing regions of the world: Doha, Qatar. By modeling three study sites around Doha—one highly urbanized, one newly urbanizing, and one coastal low-density urbanized—the …

Floodplains Provide Important Amphibian Habitat Despite Multiple Ecological Threats, Meredith Holgerson, Adam Duarte, Marc P. Hayes, Michael J. Adams, Julie A. Tyson, Keith A. Douville, Angela L. Strecker

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Floodplain ponds and wetlands are productive and biodiverse ecosystems, yet they face multiple threats including altered hydrology, land use change, and non-native species. Protecting and restoring important floodplain ecosystems requires understanding how organisms use these habitats and respond to altered environmental conditions. We developed Bayesian models to evaluate occupancy of six amphibian species across 103 off-channel aquatic habitats in the Chehalis River floodplain, Washington State, USA. The basin has been altered by changes in land use, reduced river–wetland connections, and the establishment of non-native American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana = Lithobates catesbeianus) and centrarchid fishes, all of which we hypothesized could …

Exploring The Cultural And Infrastructural Impacts Of Consumerism On The New Cuba, Grace Stainback

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

This paper seeks to explore how a shifting economic model and an increasing influx of U.S. tourism, customs, and products will impact consumerism and waste in Cuba. The paper begins by charting the rise of an unwitting conservationist culture among Cubans, built out of necessity as a response to Castro-era economic hardships. This is followed by a discussion of recent Cuban economic reforms and the rise of tourism, private enterprise and material luxury in Cuba. For the emerging autonomous economic class who have shouldered decades of scarcity, the social and economic values of consumerism far outweigh any perceived environmental cost. …

Asymmetric Relationship Of Urbanization And Co2 Emissions In Less Developed Countries, Julius Mcgee, Richard York

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and the urbanization of national populations has been a key concern for environmental scholars for several decades. Although sophisticated modeling techniques have been developed to explore the connection between increases in urban populations and CO₂ emissions, none has attempted to assess whether declines in urbanization have an effect on emissions that is not symmetrical with that of growth in urbanization. The present study uses panel data on CO₂ emissions and the percentage of individuals living in urban areas, as well as a variety of other structural factors, for …

Pedestrian Pedagogy Of Place: Nurturing An Ecological Consciousness Through Slow Explorations Of The Public Realm, Kevin M. Pozzi

Leadership for Sustainability Education Comprehensive Papers

As increasing institutional paralysis and polarization demonstrate, citizens are not engaged or motivated by ecological challenges because they struggle to identify with our catastrophic relationship to nature in this urban, anthropocentric, and climactically-fraught modern era. Rather than focus solely on natural areas as a pathway to ecological consciousness and action, educators can inspire citizens through a “Pedestrian Pedagogy of Place” that brings wonder and enchantment into our urban public realm. Using the principles of sustainability education and place-based education as a framework, this pedagogy recognizes the sidewalk and pedestrian experience as a shared classroom through sensory, awareness-based learning modalities.

Are Government Incentives Effective For Avoided Deforestation In The Tropical Andean Forest?, Pablo Cuenca, Juan Robalino, Rodrigo A. Arriagada, Cristian M. Echeverria

Forest Collaborative Research

In order to ensure the provision of goods and services from forests, many governments have promoted less-traditional conservation initiatives such as programs of payments for ecosystem services called, more broadly, direct payments for conservation. The Socio Bosque Program (SBP) is a governmental program in Ecuador that directly provides economic incentives to rural families and local and indigenous communities who have voluntarily agreed to comply with some conservation activities. An impact evaluation method (matching) was used to assess the impact of the SBP between 2008 and 2014. This study revealed that on average, the SBP reduced deforestation by 1.5% in those …

Removing Dams, Constructing Science: Watershed Restoration Through A Socio-Eco-Technical Systems Lens, Zbigniew Jakub Grabowski

Dissertations and Theses

Ecological conservation and restoration in the anthropocene must struggle with overlapping drivers of biodiversity and cultural loss; ruptures of the ecological environment mirror ruptures of human relationships with nature. And yet technology cannot remove humans from nature; technological and infrastructural reconfigurations of nature create new vulnerabilities and risks for humans and ecosystems alike. How can conservation and restoration science productively grapple with complex infrastructure systems and decision-making processes as biophysical and social drivers of ecosystem change?

Using dam removals in the USA and in the Mid Columbia River region of the Pacific Northwest, this dissertation develops a conceptual framework for …

Tools And Methods In Participatory Modeling: Selecting The Right Tool For The Job, Alexey Voinov, Karen Jenni, Steven Gray, Nagesh Kolagani, Pierre D. Glynn, Pierre Bommel, Christina Prell, Moira Zellner, Michael Paolisso, Rebecca Jordan, Eleanor J. Sterling, Laura Schmitt Olabisi, Philippe J. Giabbanelli, Zhanli Sun, Christophe Le Page, Sondoss Elsawah, Todd K. Bendor, Klaus Hubacek, Bethany Laursen, Antoine J. Jetter, Laura Basco-Carrera, Alison Singer, Laura Young, Jessica Brunacini, Alex Smajgl

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Various tools and methods are used in participatory modelling, at different stages of the process and for different purposes. The diversity of tools and methods can create challenges for stakeholders and modelers when selecting the ones most appropriate for their projects. We offer a systematic overview, assessment, and categorization of methods to assist modelers and stakeholders with their choices and decisions. Most available literature provides little justification or information on the reasons for the use of particular methods or tools in a given study. In most of the cases, it seems that the prior experience and skills of the modelers …

Waste Stream And Green Purchasing Analysis At Bonneville Lock And Dam, Alexander Bienko

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Portland District, has jurisdiction on three locks and four dams in the Columbia River basin. These sites "contribute to a water resource management system that provides flood risk management, power generation, water quality improvement, fish and wildlife habitat and recreation on the Columbia River and some of its tributaries". The Bonneville Lock and Dam (Bonneville Project) site lies on the Columbia River approximately 40 miles east from Portland, Oregon. Portions of the site have been declared a National Historic Landmark, from its origins in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program from …

The Effects Of The Nepal Community Forestry Program On Biodiversity Conservation And Carbon Storage, Harisharan Luintel, Randall Bluffstone, Robert M. Scheller

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Approximately 15.5% of global forest is controlled by ~1 billion local people and the area under community control is increasing. However, there is limited empirical evidence as to whether community control is effective in providing critical global ecosystem services, such as biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. We assess the effectiveness of one example of community-controlled forest, Nepal’s Community Forestry Program (CFP), at providing biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. Using data from 620 randomly selected CFP and non-CFP forest plots, we apply a robust matching method based on covariates to estimate whether CFPs are associated with greater biodiversity conservation or carbon …

Impact Of Protected Areas On The Incidence Of Infectious Diseases - June 2019, Rodrigo A. Arriagada

Forest Collaborative Research

Research objective: To estimate the impact of the Chilean National System of Protected Areas on the incidence of infectious diseases, considering socioeconomic, demographic, biophysical and land use factors.

Garden Pollinators And The Potential For Ecosystem Service Flow To Urban And Peri-Urban Agriculture, Gail A. Langellotto, Andony Melathopoulos, Isabella Messer, Aaron Anderson, Nathan Mcclintock, Lucas Costner

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hedgerows, flowering strips, and natural areas that are adjacent to agricultural land have been shown to benefit crop production, via the provision of insect pollinators that pollinate crops. However, we do not yet know the extent to which bee habitat in the form of urban gardens might contribute to pollination services in surrounding crops. We explored whether gardens might provision pollinators to adjacent agricultural areas by sampling bees from gardens in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, and estimating typical foraging distances in the context of commercialand residential-scale pollination-dependent crops up to 1000 m from garden study sites. We estimate that …

What Is It Like To Become A Bat? Heterogeneities In An Age Of Extinction, Stephanie Erev

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In his celebrated 1974 essay “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?,” Thomas Nagel stages a human-bat encounter to illustrate and support his claim that “subjective experience” is irreducible to “objective fact”: because Nagel cannot experience the world as a bat does, he will never know what it is like to be one. In Nagel’s account, heterogeneity is figured negatively— as a failure or lack of resemblance—and functions to constrain his knowledge of bats. Today, as white-nose syndrome threatens bat populations across North America, might figuring heterogeneity positively, as a condition of creativity, open up new modes of receptivity …