Land use research projects examine the
social and ecological implications of land ownership change
and land conversion and ways in which communities can cultivate
and capitalize on potential synergies emerging from alliances
between old and new while simultaneously mitigating the
conflicts that can arise with increasing rural heterogeneity:
• How Does Oregon’s State Land Use
Planning System Affect Rural Sustainability? Collaborative,
Multidisciplinary Learning in the Klamath Basin,
(led by Hannah Gosnell, Department of Geosciences) funded
by the Rural Studies Program’s Innovative Project
Fund. This project engaged Klamath Basin citizens and decision-makers
in an analysis of how Oregon’s current land use planning
system affects agricultural landowners’ ability to
manage their land and water sustainability. The original
project will expand during the 2007-2008 school year with
additional funding from the IWW-USGS minigrant program.
• Evaluating Forest and Rangeland Development
in the Western U.S., (led by Roger
Hammer, Department of Sociology), funded by the U.S. Forest
Service, analyzes patterns of housing development and wildland-urban-interface
changes in Washington, Oregon and California.
• Growth in the Wildland Urban Interface
and its Implications for Wildland Fire Use,
(led by Roger Hammer, Department of Sociology) funded by
the U.S. Forest Service, explores the implications of rural
residential growth for land management in rural Oregon communities.
• The Co-Production of Land Use and Livelihood
Change in Rural Malawi, (Monica Fisher in
the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics) funded
by the National Science Foundation Human and Social Dynamics
Program, is an interdisciplinary research project that integrates
household surveys, economic household models, geographic
information systems, and historical analysis to analyze
the concept of co-production as a feature of livelihood
and land use systems in southern Malawi.
Migration and rural youth research projects
explore the effects of education and local economic conditions
on migration and poverty, the impact of community characteristics
on physical activity of rural youth, and on community strategies
to better serve homeless youth in rural communities.
• Education, Migration and Poverty
(Bruce Weber and Monica Fisher, Department of Agricultural
and Resource Economics) funded by the Economic Research
Service, explores the role of education and labor markets
in outmigration of rural adults to urban areas and how education
and migration affect eventual poverty status.
• Physical Activity and Rural Environments:
Perspectives of Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Rural Youth
(Kate MacTavish Department of Human Development and Family
Sciences) funded by the College of Health and Human Sciences,
examines how social and physical characteristics shape physical
activity among low-income and Latino youth in a rural Oregon
community.
• Homeless Youth Services in Douglas County:
From Two Perspectives (Mark Edwards, Department
of Sociology) funded by Douglas County, identified particular
elements of rural social settings that make the provision
of homeless youth services uniquely challenging and assisted
local services providers and agencies in choosing strategic
service improvements to assist homeless youth.
Rural Studies Program faculty and students explore
both global and local food and agricultural systems
(including local connections of production, processing and
consumption in rural communities and their surrounding regions)
and factors affecting food insecurity in rural and urban
places.
• Faculty and graduate students (led by Nancy Rosenberger
and Joan Gross, Department of Anthropology) studied rural-city
integration between specialized farmers/ ranchers and niche
markets, farmers’ markets, and food banks.
This study will be enriched by a four-week community-based
summer course on qualitative methods that focuses on the
food system in a remote rural community in Summer 2007.
• State Agency and NGO Impacts on Well
Being of Vulnerable Populations in West Coast States: The
Case of Food Insecurity and Hunger (led by
Mark Edwards, Department of Sociology) funded by the West
Coast Poverty Center at the University of Washington, explores
how coordinated efforts by agencies and NGOs, differing
economic conditions, and state population and geographic
characteristics, influence measured rates of hunger and
food insecurity.
