Browsing by Author "Davis, Emily Jane"

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    Advancing rural conservation-based economic development : framing our community in Elk City, ID
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2016) Ellison, Autumn; Davis, Emily Jane
    Across the U.S. West, many rural communities adjacent to publicly owned federal lands have been greatly affected by changes to federal land management policies and by economic restructuring of the wood products industry. In the late 1980s through the early 2000s, federal forest policy changes led to reductions in both federal timber harvests and timber industry employment. At the same time, a combination of industry competition, automation, and relocation created additional uncertainty in communities traditionally dependent upon wood products employment. Elk City, Idaho, like many other communities surrounded by large tracts of federal land across the West, was profoundly affected by these changes. In 1999, local leaders and citizens founded a community-based organization called Framing Our Community to help the community navigate this transition while maintaining ties to natural resource activities and employment. Like other community-based organizations, Framing Our Community works with multiple public, private, and non-profit entities at multiple scales to facilitate sustainable natural resource-based economic development at the local community level. This Fact Sheet documents the origins of Framing Our Community and illustrates how the organization has helped to foster conservation-based economic development in Elk City and beyond.
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    Appendices for: Ecosystem Workforce Program Working Paper #91: Monitoring investments in Oregon's Federal Forest Restoration Program, FY 2014-2019
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2019) Santo, Anna; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Davis, Emily Jane; University of Idaho. College of Natural Resources. Policy Analysis Group
    The following appendices provide supporting detail about information that was included in Ecosystem Workforce Program Working Paper #91, Monitoring Investments in Oregon’s Federal Forest Restoration Program, FY2014-FY2019. Appendix A: Stakeholder Interview Questions. Appendix B: Additional supplemental economic analyses. Appendix C: State-Federal Implementation Partnership (SFIP) agreement amounts and awardees FY14-19. Appendix D: Technical Assistance and Science Support (TASS) agreement amounts and awardees FY14-19. Appendix E: Collaborative Capacity Grant Amounts and Awardees, FY14-19. Appendix F: Project Management Investments Amounts and Awardees, FY14-19.
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    Assessing collaborative opportunities on the Willamette National Forest
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2012) Davis, Emily Jane; Moseley, Cassandra
    Leaders on the Willamette National Forest (WNF) in western Oregon and adjacent communities are interested in using collaborative approaches to steward public lands and create community benefits. WNF leadership asked the Ecosystem Workforce Program and the University of Oregon to conduct an assessment of collaborative capacity and opportunities. This assessment is based on information gathered between May 2011 and February 2012. As such, it is a “snapshot” of collaborative activity and capacity at that time, and may not fully capture the dynamic, evolving nature of what is happening on the WNF.
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    An assessment of federal restoration contracting and contractor capacity in northeastern Oregon
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2015) Ellison, Autumn; Bennett, Drew E.; Knapp, Melanie; White, Eric M.; Davis, Emily Jane; Moseley, Cassandra
    An accelerated pace and scale of forest restoration on Oregon’s eastside national forests will rely heavily on the ability of contractors to both implement forest treatments and contribute to environmental planning activities. Private businesses commonly are contracted to implement already-planned restoration work on Forest Service land. . . . Recently, within Oregon, private businesses, state agencies, and non-governmental partners have also begun playing a role in pre-implementation restoration activities. . . . For this report, we used past Forest Service restoration contracting data, records of grants and agreements to Forest Service partners for activities related to restoration, and contractor interviews to better understand how the Forest Service works with local businesses and partners in all aspects of forest restoration efforts. We also used these data to understand the capacity of the local restoration contractor workforce to carryout accelerated restoration work.
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    The benefits of USDA Forest Service agreements with community-based organizations
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2012) Davis, Emily Jane; Moseley, Cassandra
    The federal government is the largest landowner in many western communities. It can contribute to local socioeconomic vitality by providing opportunities for businesses and partners to perform land management activities and process natural resources. However, little is known about how the Forest Service engages nonprofit partners to accomplish this work and produce community benefits. We examined how formal agreements between the Forest Service and community based-organizations under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in 2009-2010 created social and livelihood benefits. We found that different kinds of agreement structures can make these benefits possible.
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    Boots on the ground, boots around the table : managing rangeland wildfire risk in Oregon and Idaho
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2019) Davis, Emily Jane
    The rangelands of southeastern Oregon and southern Idaho have experienced increasingly large wildfires that threaten multiple values and can exceed Bureau of Land Management (BLM) response capacity. There has been interest in expanding suppression capabilities through the creation of rangeland fire protection associations (RFPAs), volunteer groups of landowners trained and authorized to respond to wildfires. Another key strategy has been the collaborative development of proactive mitigation measures to reduce the risk of large wildfires. This fact sheet examines how the multiple entities involved in rangeland wildfire mitigation and suppression are coordinating their actions and addressing shared risks through case studies of Harney County, Oregon and Owyhee County, Idaho.
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    Challenges to developing new socioeconomic performance measures
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2012) Moseley, Cassandra; Davis, Emily Jane; Medley-Daniel, Michelle
    The USDA Forest Service needs performance measures to track the social and economic outcomes of its investments. But there are inherent challenges to developing, adapting, and using new measures in the Forest Service’s accountability system. Measuring socioeconomic outcomes can also be complex. We describe these barriers and suggest possible solutions for developing and integrating new socioeconomic performance measures.
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    Co-managing wildfire suppression in southwestern Utah
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2020) Davis, Emily Jane; McAvoy, Darren J.
    In a given area, there are commonly multiple agencies that manage wildfire suppression on different jurisdictions. These agencies can face divergent or even competing missions and mandates, yet must also address the cross-boundary nature of managing wildfire risk. Therefore, how can they more effectively co-manage fire suppression? Co-management in this context refers to communication, coordination, and collaboration between entities for meaningful collective action that shares the resources, costs, and burdens of managing fire risk. We examine factors that facilitated and limited co-management in a case study in southwestern Utah.
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    Code Descriptions and data for “Comparing social constructions of wildfire risk across media, government, and participatory discourse in a Colorado fireshed
    (University of Oregon, 2021-08-11) Jacobson, Meredith; Smith, Hollie; Huber-Stearns, Heidi R.; Davis, Emily Jane; Cheng, Antony S.; Deak, Alison
    This study examined how wildfire risk is framed by different entities and actors within a common region, during and after experiencing several large wildfire events. Using a social constructionist lens, we viewed wildfire risk as a fluid and variable concept that is socially constructed and framed through public discourse. Inconsistent social constructions of wildfire risk may pose challenges for effective wildfire risk governance and management, which requires the coordination of diverse entities including government, land managers, homeowners, and community groups. We sought to understand differing social constructions of wildfire risk within one region, the Northern Colorado Front Range, across four domains of social discourse: mainstream media coverage, governmental planning documents, a community collaborative group’s meeting notes, and Community Wildfire Protection Plans. Through multiple rounds of qualitative coding, we compared how values at risk, causes of risk, and solutions to mitigate risk are framed across discourse domains. We also identified which agencies, organizations, or other actors’ voices were most prominent within each domain. Our results show inconsistent framings of wildfire risk definition across the data, building upon past literature that has identified divides between fire suppression and mitigation work, as well as disconnects between media representations of fire and perspectives of resource managers and scientists. Lastly, we highlight two examples of cross-cutting discourses - public drinking water and smoke – as concepts that span boundaries and may have the power to generate broader coordination and support for wildfire policy solutions and action.
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    Code Descriptions for “Managed wildfire: A strategy limited by terminology, risk perception, and ownership boundaries.”
    (University of Oregon, 2021) Davis, Emily Jane; Huber-Stearns, Heidi R.; Cheng, Antony S.; Deak, Alison; Evans, Alexander; Caggiano, Michael; McAvoy, Darren J.
    Federal land managers in the United States are permitted to manage wildfires with strategies other than full suppression under appropriate conditions to achieve natural resource objectives. However, policy and scientific support for “managed wildfire” appear insufficient to support its broad use. We conducted case studies in northern New Mexico and southwestern Utah to examine how managers and stakeholders navigated shifting barriers and opportunities to use managed wildfire from 2018-2021. Use of managed wildfire was fostered through an active network of civil society partnerships in one case, and strong interagency cooperation and existing policies and plans in the other. In both, the COVID-19 pandemic, drought, and agency direction curtailed recent use. Local context shapes wildfire response strategies, yet centralized decision making and policy also can enable or constrain them. Future research could refine understanding of social factors in incident decision making, and evaluation of risks and tradeoffs in wildfire response.
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    Code Descriptions for “Spanning boundaries for managing wildfire risk in forest and range landscapes: Lessons from case studies in the western United States.”
    (University of Oregon, 2021) Davis, Emily Jane; Huber-Stearns, Heidi R.; Cheng, Antony S.; Deak, Alison
    Managing wildfire risk across boundaries and scales is critical in fire-prone landscapes around the world, as a variety of actors undertake mitigation and response activities according to jurisdictional and administrative boundaries; and available human, organizational, technical, and financial resources. There is a need to catalyze their coordination more effectively to collectively manage wildfire risk. We interviewed 102 people across five large landscape case studies in the western US to categorize how boundary spanning people, organizations, settings, concepts, and objects were deployed in range and forestlands to collectively address wildfire risk. Across all cases, actors spanned jurisdictional, conceptual, and administrative boundaries to create: 1) conductive settings for boundary work to occur; 2) concepts to communicate across boundaries; and 3) concrete objects as joint reference points, and to navigate challenges to implementing work on the ground. This work highlights context-specific ways to advance cross-boundary wildfire risk reduction efforts, and uses a boundary spanning lens to provide insight into how collective action in wildfire management evolves in different settings. This research also shows prescribed fire as a gateway for future collective action in wildfire risk, including managing naturally ignited wildfires for resource benefits or improved coordination and communication during wildfire suppression efforts.
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    Collaboration and stewardship authority : the Ashland Forest Resiliency project
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2015) Davis, Emily Jane; White, Eric M.
    Forest collaborative groups in Oregon integrate ecological, economic, and social objectives in their missions. While they spend much of their time on vegetation, aquatic, and other natural resource issues, they have less direct experience with dialogue and data about social and economic issues. This fact sheet and its companion (Fact Sheet 8: Collaboration and the Malheur 10-year Stewardship Contract) illustrate how collaboratives and stakeholders have engaged in innovative contracting to increase outcomes such as local jobs, business health, and community wildfire risk reduction.
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    Collaboration and the Malheur ten-year stewardship contract
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2015) Davis, Emily Jane; White, Eric M.; Bennett, Drew E.
    Forest collaborative groups in Oregon integrate ecological, economic, and social objectives in their missions. However, those groups often focus, in practice, on biophysical natural resource issues and have less direct experience with dialogue and data about social and economic issues. This fact sheet illustrates how collaboratives and stakeholders have engaged in innovative contracting to increase social and economic outcomes such as local jobs, business health, and community wildfire risk reduction.
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    Collaborative capacity and outcomes from Oregon's Federal Forest Restoration Program
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2019) Davis, Emily Jane; Santo, Anna; White, Eric M.
    Over the past two decades, numerous federal forest collaboratives have emerged in the state of Oregon. These groups function on the basis of dialogue among diverse stakeholders regarding their interests and values for forest management priorities on a given area of public forest land, and may offer input before and during the environmental analysis required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA process) by making recommendations for the use of retained receipts from stewardship contracting, and/or by providing zones of agreement, restoration principles, or other statements about management issues beyond the project scale. Although they generally do not possess any formal decision-making authority, their efforts are considered to be important in building social agreement for programs of work on federal forestlands. This study analyzed the use and outcomes of the State of Oregon’s investments in these forest collaborative groups through Collaborative Capacity Grants made by the Federal Forest Restoration Program from state fiscal years 2014-2019.
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    Collaborative capacity and outcomes from Oregon's Federal Forest Restoration Program
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2019) Davis, Emily Jane; Santo, Anna; White, Eric M.
    Over the past two decades, numerous federal forest collaboratives have emerged in the state of Oregon. Although they generally do not possess any formal decision-making authority, their efforts are considered important in building social agreement for programs of work on federal forestlands. This study analyzed the use and outcomes of the State of Oregon’s investments in these forest collaborative groups through Collaborative Capacity Grants made by the Federal Forest Restoration Program from state fiscal years 2014-2019. Investments were made with the expectation that collaborative groups would increase the pace, scale, and quality of federal forest restoration; and there is a need to understand results from supporting these groups. We examined several types of outcomes from these grants, including collaborative capacity to foster accelerated restoration, acreages and types of activities planned and implemented with collaborative input, economic impacts, and effects of grants on organizational capacity.
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    Collaborative capacity for accelerated restoration
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2015) Davis, Emily Jane; Moseley, Cassandra
    Forest collaborative groups that seek ecological, economic, and social outcomes have become common in eastern and southern Oregon. These multi-stakeholder groups work together to develop agreement on local public forest management, often in association with the federal environmental planning process. In 2014-2015, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) provided grants to nine of the region’s collaboratives through the Federal Forest Health Collaborative Capacity Assistance Program.
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    Collaborative processes and connections to community wellbeing
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2021) Davis, Emily Jane
    Many communities in the rural western United States seek ecological, economic, and social wellbeing and resilience of their people and landscapes through collaborative groups. Increasingly, these groups have recognized a need to engage with social science to inform the connections between their work and community wellbeing. This requires understanding of collaborative processes, their connection to community wellbeing, and applicable social science approaches. This fact sheet and its companion were created to assist collaborative groups supported by the High Desert Partnership in Harney County, Oregon.
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    Community-based natural resource management in Oregon : a profile of organizational capacity
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2012) Davis, Emily Jane; Moseley, Cassandra; Evers, Cody; MacFarland, Kate; Nielsen-Pincus, Max; Pomeroy, Alaina; Enzer, Maia J.
    Community-based organizations (CBOs) in Oregon are fostering natural resource management and economic development, particularly in public lands communities where the capacity of federal agencies, businesses, and others has dwindled. They have also become integral in reducing social conflict over land management and seeking community economic well-being. CBOs include non-governmental organizations and collaborative groups. These groups have broad missions that are grounded in local needs and integrate a number of priorities, but tend to have smaller staff and budgets than other groups such as environmental advocacy organizations. Little is known about how CBOs accomplish a range of goals with limited resources. This study examined the organizational capacity of Oregon’s CBOs to build understanding of their financial and human resources, and their external relationships. It is part of a larger study of CBOs across the US West.
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    Community-based organizations in the U.S. West : status, structure, and activities
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2016) Abrams, Jesse; Davis, Emily Jane; Ellison, Autumn; Moseley, Cassandra; Nowell, Branda
    Many rural communities across the U.S. West were profoundly affected by economic and policy changes in the 1990s and early 2000s. Sudden shifts in federal land policies, restructuring of forestry and agriculture industries, and demographic changes led to social conflict and the decline of economic activities that had provided jobs and community identities for decades. In the wake of these changes, rural community members experimented with a variety of grassroots approaches to healing social divisions, creating new economic opportunities, and reinventing their relationships to nearby lands and waters. The best-known outcome of these grassroots experiments is the widespread adoption of collaborative decision-making processes for the governance of public lands. Through such processes, historically conflictive interests build trust and relationships while pursuing land management projects that meet social, ecological, and economic objectives. Collaboration is now considered an indispensable component of decision-making on public lands and is used in other contexts including mixed-ownership landscapes and in decision-making regarding watershed protection and restoration.
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    Connecting collaboration to wellbeing in Harney County : an introductory guide to using social science in collaborative processes
    (Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2021) Davis, Emily Jane
    Many communities in the rural western United States seek the ecological, economic, and social wellbeing and resilience of their people and landscapes. In Harney County, Oregon, several community collaborative groups work towards this goal with backbone support from the High Desert Partnership (HDP), a local nonprofit organization. Increasingly, these collaborative participants have recognized that although they have social and economic goals in the pursuit of community wellbeing, their collaborative processes, particularly in the natural resource groups, have not regularly included social science to the same extent as biophysical science. This guide is intended to support these practitioners by increasing their capacity to utilize social science in their collaborative processes to help them achieve their community wellbeing goals. In the spirit of community-led collaboration, it is not prescriptive about how collaboration should work, nor exactly how social science must be used. It introduces concepts, examples, and ideas that practitioners may bring into their work as they see fit. This guide provides starting points for understanding the realm of social science as it relates to collaboration, and offers resources for future learning, rather than attempting to be a comprehensive course on the topic.