Scholars' Bank :: Browsing by Author "Moseley, Cassandra"

Browsing by Author "Moseley, Cassandra"

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Open Access
Administrative and judicial review of NEPA decisions : risk factors and risk minimizing strategies for the Forest Service
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2016) Bixler, Audrey; Bixler, R. Patrick (Richard Patrick); Ellison, Autumn; Moseley, Cassandra
In this synthesis and annotated bibliography, we seek to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence NEPA challenge risks and successes in order to inform and guide resource managers within the Forest Service and other land management agencies, collaborators, practitioners, and contractors as they participate in the NEPA process.
Open Access
Adopting stewardship contracting : lessons from four national forests
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2011) Moseley, Cassandra; Donoghue, Ellen M. (Ellen Mary); Charnley, Susan; MacFarland, Kate
Congress granted broad stewardship contracting authority to the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management in the FY 2003 appropriations act to help these agencies accomplish restoration and hazardous fuels reduction and increase community benefit from these activities. During the first several years of the authority, the use of stewardship contracting was uneven, with some national forests making significant use of the authorities while others hardly used stewardship contracting at all. Although the stewardship contracting has become more wide spread in recent years, it is not clear why some national forests were early adopters and others were more hesitant to use the authorities. This study provides insight into the question of why the use of stewardship contracting was initially so variable.
Open Access
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.
Open Access
Assessing policy impacts on natural resource businesses : a review of research methods
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2016) Fenster, Emily; Abrams, Jesse; Moseley, Cassandra; Becker, Dennis R.
The purpose of this working paper is to review research methods used to assess the influence of public policies on natural resource business decision-making. We describe a suite of research methods that have been used to assess policy impacts on businesses, highlighting their analytical advantages and disadvantages. We emphasize natural resource policies and businesses in our review, but also present literature from other fields as relevant. With this review we attempt to contribute to a greater ability to conduct evaluation for policies and programs targeting natural resource firms.
Open Access
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.
Open Access
Barriers and opportunities for increasing landowner participation in conservation programs in the interior Northwest
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2014) Bennett, Drew E.; Nielsen-Pincus, Max; Ellison, Autumn; Pomeroy, Alaina; Burright, Harmony S. J.; Gosnell, Hannah; Moseley, Cassandra; Gwin, Lauren
Working forest and range lands are rapidly changing as exurban growth, economic trends, and environmental impacts associated with climate change challenge traditional livelihoods derived from the production of farm, ranch, and forest products. Sustaining viable small and medium-sized forest and ranch operations while also supporting conservation-oriented management practices is essential to ensure that these properties continue to contribute to the working landscape and maintain ecological values in the American West.
Open Access
Barriers and preferences for landowner participation in conservation programs in the interior Northwest
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2013) Gosnell, Hannah; Burright, Harmony S. J.; Nielsen-Pincus, Max; Ellison, Autumn; Moseley, Cassandra
Small and medium-sized forest and range landowners have a significant impact on ecosystem health. Conservation programs such as those offered by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and environmentally-oriented markets offer incentives to conserve ecological functions while helping improve landowner prosperity. However, only a minority of forest and rangeland owners participate in conservation programs. To better understand the influences on landowner participation conservation programs and opportunities to improve participation, we examined landowner concerns and preferences in the interior Pacific Northwest.
Open Access
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.
Open Access
The business and employment effects of the National Fire Plan in Oregon and Washington in 2001
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2002-12) Moseley, Cassandra; Toth, Nancy; Cambier, Abe
The National Fire Plan (NFP) seeks to increase fire suppression capabilities, reduce fire hazards, restore fire-adapted ecosystems, and create economic benefit for rural communities and businesses. In Title IV of the 2001 Department of Interior Appropriations Bill, Congress also authorized the Departments of Interior and Agriculture (Forest Service) to consider benefit to rural communities when awarding contracts to reduce fire hazard. This report examines how the direction to consider local benefit in the National Fire Plan appropriation language may be affecting rural communities and other entities that provide services to the federal land management agencies as contractors and federal employees.
Open Access
The Business of Restoration: A Profile of Restoration Contractors in Oregon
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2010) Ellison, Autumn; Moseley, Cassandra; Nielsen-Pincus, Max; MacDonald, Fraser
Open Access
"Call when needed" : private contracting for wildfire suppression in an unpredictable work environment
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2015) Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Bixler, R. Patrick (Richard Patrick); Ellison, Autumn; Moseley, Cassandra
The U.S. Forest Service is facing unprecedented challenges in wildfire suppression, and increasingly depends on resources outside the agency to maintain adequate wildfire response capacity. Reliance on private wildfire suppression contractors has increased over time, especially in bolstering capacity for direct attack resources, such as aerial resources, firefighter hand crews and other equipment. However, little is known about private contracting businesses, in particular how they navigate the same fundamental challenge: to maintain and grow their businesses that directly depend on unpredictable fire seasons and agency needs. This briefing paper reports findings from a case study in southern Oregon, as part of a larger project investigating the role of private wildfire suppression contracting on national forests.
Open Access
Capacity of community-based organizations for natural resource management
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2011) Moseley, Cassandra; MacFarland, Kate; Nielsen-Pincus, Max; Grimm, Kerry; Pomeroy, Alaina; Enzer, Maia J.
Reliance on community-based natural resource management in the western US has been growing since the 1990s. Collaboration is increasingly essential, and community-based organizations are often relied upon to facilitate this collaboration. This is particularly true in the face of decreasing resources within federal land management agencies and the growing complexity of natural resource issues. The proposed Forest Service Planning Rule, the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, and other programs rely heavily on collaboration to achieve their goals. Community-based organizations, including nonprofits and informal collaborative groups, work to build public agreement around the management of federal lands; develop local business and workforce capacity for forest and watershed restoration; and ensure that the benefits of restoration activity flow to rural communities. The resources, structure, relationships, and other characteristics of these organizations are less well understood than their strategies, approaches, and activities. This paper seeks to provide insight into the organizational capacity of community-based organizations in the American West and to give recommendations to enhance and grow their impact.
Open Access
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.
Open Access
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.
Open Access
Collaborative landscape restoration on forests without CFLRP or Joint Chiefs' investments
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2018) Ellison, Autumn; Kooistra, Chad; Schultz, Courtney A.; Moseley, Cassandra
In 2017, we studied two restoration initiatives: the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) and the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership (JCLRP). Both programs competitively award multi-year funding for collaborative, landscape-scale restoration work on high-priority landscapes. To understand how other forests and landscapes viewed these programs and accomplish high-priority restoration work, we interviewed forest-level leadership and collaborative partners on national forests that had never participated in either program. Through interviews with 38 people on 20 national forests, we investigated how forests are conducting large-scale collaborative restoration in the absence of these targeted funding initiatives.
Open Access
Community diversity and wildfire risk : an archetype approach to understanding local capacity to plan for, respond to, and recover from wildfires
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2014) Carroll, Matthew S. (Matthew Stephen); Paveglio, Travis; Ellison, Autumn; Abrams, Jesse; Moseley, Cassandra
The wildfire dilemma in the United States (and particularly in the U.S. West) has been well documented and its broad parameters are well understood. A very small fraction of wildfire igniting in wildland settings each year turn into major conflagrations that burn homes and infrastructure, pose significant threat to human life, and upend the budgets of federal land management agencies. Although the mandates of federal land management agencies also dictate a focus on protecting public land and associated natural resources such as habitat, the reality is that much of the effort and expense at federal, state, and local levels is directed toward protecting human infrastructure and other societal “values at risk.”
Open Access
Community experiences with wildfire : actions, effectiveness, impacts, and trends : results from two surveys in counties and communities affected by wildfire
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2015) Ellison, Autumn; Knapp, Melanie; Abrams, Jesse; Nielsen-Pincus, Max; Paveglio, Travis; Moseley, Cassandra
Wildfire has become a growing threat for communities across the American West and a complex concern for agencies tasked with community protection. This task has grown more difficult due to the increasing incidence of large fires and the continued expansion of the wildland-urban interface (WUI), the area where human habitations and wildland fuels abut or intermix. These trends have motivated both federal policies and community-level responses to protect communities, lives, and infrastructure.
Open Access
Community wildfire protection plans in the American West
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2014) Abrams, Jesse; Ellison, Autumn; Knapp, Melanie; Moseley, Cassandra; Paveglio, Travis; Nielsen-Pincus, Max
Large wildfires are increasingly common in the American West. The federal government is responsible for the majority of suppression costs, and has a significant interest in policies that can improve resilience at the community level. The Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) of 2003 encourages communities to complete Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs). While not mandatory, CWPPs give communities access to federal and state funding for activities highlighted in plans. HFRA allows flexibility to adapt plans to local contexts; however, little is known about whether communities have capitalized on the opportunity to develop site-specific plans that meet the needs of individual communities. This research analyzed CWPP structure and content to better understand variability between plans.
Open Access
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.
Open Access
Community-Based Natural Resource Management in the Western United States: A Pilot Study of Capacity
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2011) Moseley, Cassandra; MacFarland, Kate; Nielsen-Pincus, Max; Grimm, Kerry; Pomeroy, Alaina; Enzer, Maia J.