Nature and Society Relations Commons^™

The Effects Of Surf-Driven Development On The Local Population Of Playa Gigante, Nicaragua, Nicholas Harrison William Earhart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In many of the world's developing countries, tourism is starting to play a more important role in the improvements of the local and national economies. One of these countries that have started to view tourism as a way to alleviate poverty throughout the country is Nicaragua. With miles of beaches, large swaths of pristine rainforests and beautiful volcanoes, Nicaragua has plenty to offer to travelers from all over the world. One of the sectors of tourism that has rapidly expanded in recent years is that which caters specifically to North American and European surfing tourists, who travel to Nicaragua for …

Having It Both Ways?: Land Use Change In A U.S. Midwestern Agricultural Ecoregion, Roger Auch, Chris Laingen

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

Urbanization has been directly linked to decreases in area of agricultural lands and, as such, has been considered a threat to food security. Although the area of land used to produce food has diminished, often overlooked have been changes in agricultural output. The Eastern Corn Belt Plains (ECBP) is an important agricultural region in the U.S. Midwest. It has both gained a significant amount of urban land, primarily from the conversion of agricultural land between 1973 and 2000, and at the same time continued to produce ever-increasing quantities of agricultural products. By 2002, more corn, soybeans, and hogs were produced …

Let's Learn: All About Geography (Pre K - 3rd Grade) Teacher Guide, Center For Spatial Analysis And Research. Portland State University, Teresa L. Bulman, Morgan Josef, Gwyneth Genevieve Mckee Manser

Instructional Materials

Teacher activity book. Inside you will find fun activities to help you learn about maps and geography. Keep an eye out for Sandy, the Chinook Salmon, for fun facts and helpful hints along the way!

The student guide can be found here: https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27719

Geography Standard Posters: Environment And Society, Center For Spatial Analysis And Research. Portland State University

Instructional Materials

The poster looks at how human actions modify the environment, resources use and distribution, and the environmental effects on human systems.

Geography Standard Posters: Physical Systems, Center For Spatial Analysis And Research. Portland State University

Instructional Materials

The poster looks at shaping the earth's surface and the ecosystems of the world.

Let's Learn: All About Maps - Student Guide, Center For Spatial Analysis And Research. Portland State University, Teresa L. Bulman, Morgan Josef, Gwyneth Genevieve Mckee Manser

Instructional Materials

Student activity book. Inside you will find fun activities to help you learn about maps and how they are used in everyday life.

The teacher guide can be found here: https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27718

Let's Explore: History Using Maps - Teacher Guide, Center For Spatial Analysis And Research. Portland State University, Teresa L. Bulman, Morgan Josef, Gwyneth Genevieve Mckee Manser

Instructional Materials

Teacher activity book. Inside, you will find interactive activities that will help you explore Oregon’s history using maps!

The student guide can be found here: https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27714

Let's Learn: All About Geography (Pre K - 3rd Grade) Student Copy, Center For Spatial Analysis And Research. Portland State University, Teresa L. Bulman, Morgan Josef, Gwyneth Genevieve Mckee Manser

Instructional Materials

Student activity book. Inside you will find fun activities to help you learn about maps and geography. Keep an eye out for Sandy, the Chinook Salmon, for fun facts and helpful hints along the way!

The teacher copy can be found here: https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27716

A Research Framework For The Geographic Study Of Exotic Pet Mammals In The Usa, Gabrielle C. Tegeder

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Exotic animals are not well-represented in geographic studies, even in the emerging sub-field of animal geography. With the dearth of exotic animal studies, and the relevance of exotic pets in the public consciousness and in the news, a basic, introductory study such as this is necessary to begin examining the myriad ways in which exotic pets intersect with, and have influence in, both the site and situation of modern human-oriented environments.

Exotic pet attack incidents and both state and federal laws regarding the private ownership of exotic mammals as pets were examined in detail within the scope of this research. …

(Re)Localizing Finland’S Foodshed: Grassroots Movements In Food Distribution And Urban Agriculture, Sophia E. Albov

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Finland’s agricultural landscape and food production systems have deep societal roots and intimate connections to the Finnish cultural identity. The thesis explores this cultural heritage through an examination of grassroots food distribution networks rapidly diffusing across Finland and an examination of urban agricultural practices in the capital city of Helsinki. This thesis aims to address the following questions: (1) What is the role of grassroots food distribution networks in Finland, and to what extent are they creating alternative farmer-consumer linkages that support eating local? (2) How is urban agriculture structured and organized in Helsinki and within the broader context of …

Transformando La Educación Superior Para Una Amazonía Cambiante, David S. Salisbury, Elizabeth Anderson, Richard Bilsborrow, Connie Campbell, Javier Maldonado-Ocampo, Stephen Perz, Edgar Díaz-Zúñiga

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

El tesista tiene un desafío. ¿Cómo puede construir una metodología para que su trabajo de tesis ayude a una comunidad indígena a enfrentarse a una Amazonía cambiante? Afortunadamente, él es uno de los 21 estudiantes universitarios peruanos que participan en un proyecto que combina la ciencia de vanguardia y la formación tecnológica con la investigación participativa en comunidades indígenas biodiversas. Este Proyecto de Cooperación es un Consorcio entre la Universidad Nacional de Ucayali, Pucallpa, Perú, y la University of Richmond, EE.UU, apoyado por el Programa de Educación Superior para el Desarrollo (HED) del Consejo Americano de Educación (ACE). Esta asociación, …

Environmental Governance In The Carbon Economy: Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions In California's Cap-And-Trade Program, Patrick M. Bigger

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Since 2006 California has been pursuing the most ambitious climate change policy in the United States, implementing a suite of greenhouse gas reduction measures ranging from automobile refrigerant disposal rules to clean energy standards for electric power utilities. The most significant of these measures is the creation of a cap‐and‐trade program. Through this program, regulators seek to create a knowable price‐signal to incentivize emissions reductions among polluters. Using a suite of ethnographic methods, this dissertation looks at the people, ideas, and institutions that have been mobilized in the creation of California’s cap‐and‐ trade program.

Substantively, the dissertation engages with three …

Remaking Nature In Montana: Topophilic Considerations Of Wolves And Wolf Trapping, Andrew Myers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2011, after nearly forty years of federal protection, the gray wolf was removed from the Endangered Species List in Montana and its management entrusted to the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The implementation of public trapping seasons in 2012 as a method to control wolf populations has further inflamed an already embroiled debate. The purpose of this research was to investigate how the presence of wolves and wolf trapping impacts human attachments to landscapes of “nature” in Montana by focusing on the following questions: What are the public’s social constructions of wolves? What are the public’s social constructions of …

Geography Standard Posters: The Use Of Geography, Center For Spatial Analysis And Research. Portland State University

Instructional Materials

The poster looks at applying geography to interpret the past and applying geography to interpret the present and plan for the future.

Geography Standard Posters: Human Systems, Center For Spatial Analysis And Research. Portland State University

Instructional Materials

The poster looks at characteristics of human populations, the complexity of earth's cultural mosaics, patterns of economic independence, patterns of human settlement, how do urban and rural areas differ, and the division and control of Earth's surface.

Let's Learn: All About Maps - Teacher Guide, Center For Spatial Analysis And Research. Portland State University, Teresa L. Bulman, Morgan Josef, Gwyneth Genevieve Mckee Manser

Instructional Materials

Teacher activity book. Inside you will find fun activities to help you learn about maps and how they are used in everyday life.

The student guide can be found here: https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27717

Changing States: Using State-And-Transition Models To Evaluate Channel Evolution Following Dam Removal Along The Clark Fork River, Montana, Christopher Van Dyke

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Located just east of Missoula, Montana, Milltown Dam stood from 1908 to 2008 immediately downstream of the Clark Fork River’s confluence with the Blackfoot River. After the discovery of arsenic-contaminated groundwater in the nearby community of Milltown, as well as extensive deposits of contaminated sediment in the dam’s upstream reservoir, in 1981, the area was designated a Superfund site – along with much of the Upper Clark Fork Watershed. This motivated the eventual decision to remove the dam, perform environmental remediation, and reconstruct approximately five kilometers of the Clark Fork River and its floodplain. This study is part conceptual and …

The Use Of Improved Technology And Market-Based Incentives To Increase Forest Resource And Biodiversity Conservation In Rwanda, Kelly M. Rayens

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

This study evaluated the effectiveness of two distinct approaches to ecosystem conservation in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park: cookstove technology adoption and market-based policy instruments. A June 2014 survey of 250 households revealed that use of improved cookstove technology dramatically decreased fuelwood consumption for households in rural Rwanda, but that design, engineering and conflicting policy issues can hamper the widespread use of energy-efficient cooking technology. The second component of this research used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) within a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) framework to explore the options for designing and implementing market-based instruments around the country’s conservation targets, particularly the highly …

Grassroots Planning: An Actor-Network Study Of Surfing Waves In Missoula, Montana, Alexander S. Pichacz Jr.

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Brennan’s Wave, in downtown Missoula, has become an iconic feature of the town. Through the diligent work of a group of community advocates a dangerous and unsightly irrigation diversion structure was repurposed to include a recreation feature in the middle of the river that improved safety while simultaneously maintaining the integrity of the structure. The success of Brennan’s Wave has led to its replication through the planning of another memorial wave, the Max Wave, to be built downstream at the site of a similar irrigation structure. This study investigates how these structures are planned for and built by utilizing an …

Raising Grain In Next Year Country: Dryland Farming, Drought, And Adaptation In The Golden Triangle, Montana, Caroline M. Stephens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change has already and will likely continue to impact agriculture in the Western United States, threatening water supplies for both irrigated and rainfed agriculture (Calzadilla et al. 2010; Chambers and Pellant 2008; MacDonald et al. 2010; Pedersen et al. 2009). In the Golden Triangle, a region in north central Montana, known for its dryland grain production, the same is true. There is a need for in-depth, fine-grained, place-based, and qualitative research about the process of climate change adaptation in agriculture (Miller et al. 2013). Drought challenges farmers in the Triangle, which is semiarid and receives 10-15 inches of annual …