EWP Other Publications (formerly: Miscellaneous EWP Publications)
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Item Open Access Advancing Oregon’s sustainability agenda: the role of the ecosystem management industry in achieving sustainability--ecological, social and economic, April 26-27, 2001, Pendleton Oregon(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2001) University of Oregon. Ecosystem Workforce Program. ForumThe 2001 Ecosystem Workforce Program’s Annual Forum was held in Pendleton OR April 26th and 27th. The focus of this year’s forum was to share knowledge and examples of the ongoing efforts of the ecosystem management industry’s crucial role in advancing Oregon’s sustainability agenda. Over 70 practitioners and natural resource agency representatives took part in the two-day meeting. The following summaries offer a brief outline of those presentations and discussions which captured the forum’s focus. The concluding section is a report of suggestions forum participants offered as the next steps for the Ecosystem Workforce Taskforce to consider. The Task Force is a group convened by the Oregon Community and Economic Development Department to explore opportunities for linking sustainable natural resource goals and sustainable community objectives. Contact information for forum presenters is listed in this last section.Item Open Access An analysis of forest service and BLM contracting and contractor capacity in Lake County, Oregon: 1994-1999(Sustainable Northwest, 2001-07) Kauffman, Marcus; Sustainable Northwest (Organization)This document examines the federal contracting sector in Lake County, considering both the federal land management agencies’ demand for services and the capacity of local contracting firms to carry out the work. It is hoped that this information will aid the development of a highskill high-wage contracting sector in the county. This report analyzes contracts awarded by the Fremont National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Lakeview District between 1994 and 1999. It also examines the capacity of 17 contracting firms in Lake County. This assessment seeks to: 1) quantify the Forest Service and BLM demand for contracted services in Lake County; 2) determine how much and what types of work were awarded to contracting firms located within Lake County and Bly from 1994-1999; 3) gauge the capacity of the local contractors to provide the services sought by the federal agencies; 4) offer recommendations to help increase the competitiveness of local firms and make federal contracts more attractive to local firms.Item Open Access Communication Audit: Oakridge Air(Center for Science Communication Research, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, 2023-05) Smith, Hollie; Shafer, AutumnOakridge Air serves the communities of Oakridge and Westfir and promotes healthy air quality through individual and community resources. Oakridge Air, which is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, has five program areas: home heating upgrades, community firewood, school education, cleaner indoor air, and code enforcement. Oakridge Air uses several communication strategies to engage community members in these programs. This audit provides an overview of Oakridge Air’s communication engagement and messaging strategy, focusing on messaging from 2021-2022, to provide strategic communication recommendations for future work. This audit focuses primarily on the Oakridge Air Communication Plan and messaging templates, community newsletters, text messaging service, Oakridge Air’s Facebook page, and Oakridge Air’s website. The newsletters and text messaging service have been essential and valued communication tools with substantial engagement growth spurred by major wildfire smoke events in 2022. The Facebook page and website are likely one of the first channels community members use to begin engaging with Oakridge Air. The communication plan and messaging templates provide internal guidance for message design and delivery. Given the increased engagement with Oakridge Air, there is an opportunity to leverage the positive experience and community-supported impact of these communication efforts to motivate more understanding of air quality and wildfire smoke effects along with short and long-term actions to mitigate risk and impacts.Item Open Access A community-based assessment of the developing ecosystem management industry in Coos and Curry Counties, Oregon(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon ; Labor Economic Action Project, 1999-07) Hedgepeth, Naida; Spencer, CharlesWatershed councils, resource managers and community economic development practitioners have a stake in exploring ways to link needed watershed restoration and on going stewardship with social and economic objectives. The Coos and Coquille Watershed Associations include social and economic health as part of their mission. The Labor Economic Action Project (LEAP) saw a local industry assessment project as a concrete way to help the watershed councils in the area while raising awareness of the opportunities and challenges for workers, contractors and resource managers. LEAP was formed in 1995 to bring labor and community advocates together to advocate for economic development strategies that focus on quality jobs for the long term. LEAP approached Oregon Economic Initiative, Inc. and Oregon Economic Development Department for assistance in mobilizing resources to conduct a survey of land managers, contractors and workers. The objective was to provide watershed councils, resource managers and community economic development practitioners in the Coos and Coquille watersheds with a snapshot of the current state of the developing ecosystem management industry, while building and/or strengthening local relationships needed to monitor social and economic parameters of forest and watershed assessment, treatment and monitoring. To do this assessment planners needed a basic roadmap of the market so as to know where to look. The initial work of the assessment project determined that the markets driving resource management employment results is a three-part system. Land managers determine work needed on the land base, contractors are secured to provide those services, and workers are hired to perform the work. LEAP gathered information on all three parts.Item Open Access Economic development and sustainable forest stewardship in the Dry Forest Zone : a mid-term report(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2012) Davis, Emily JaneThe Dry Forest Zone (DFZ) project is a fiveyear collaborative effort to foster an integrated approach to forest stewardship and economic development in eastern Oregon and northern California. The DFZ project invests in enhancing a range of capacities for community-based natural resource management at multiple scales. By working simultaneously at different geographic, social and institutional levels, the DFZ project creates and connects enabling conditions for transformative change. At the mid-point of this project, the DFZ team and partners have achieved important gains and learned valuable lessons.Item Open Access Forest Service procurement and timber sale contracting and the Stewardship End Results Demonstration Project: some basic definitions(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2002-03-27) Moseley, CassandraThis document provides some basic definitions of timber sale and procurement authorities. It includes both existing authorities and authorities permitted for Stewardship End Results Demonstration Project [commonly known as the Stewardship Contracting Pilot Program]. These definitions are drawn from interviews and written interpretation and not from laws, court cases, or the Code of Federal Regulations, etc. unless cited. The details of many of these terms are interpreted differently and continue to evolve. Readers concerned with the legal specifics of each form should consult federal code, public laws, the Office of General Council, case law, and the Forest Service Manual. This document is divided into two major parts—the first focuses on existing authorities and the second on how the National Stewardship Pilot Projects modifies those authorities for pilot projects. Although these authorities are defined separately, many contracting innovations have involved combining various contracting mechanisms and structures.Item Open Access Grande Ronde Model Watershed Program economic assessment(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon ; Grande Ronde Model Watershed Program, 2001-08) Johnson, MichelleThe Grande Ronde Model Watershed Program (GRMWP), founded in 1992, was one of the first watershed councils in Oregon. It encompasses the Grande Ronde Basin, which is located in the northeast corner of Oregon. Since its formation, the GRMWP has focused most of its effort on watershed restoration projects, through funds from the Bonneville Power Administration. The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board also funds watershed projects in the Grande Ronde Basin. Many of these projects are coordinated through the GRMWP and have been approved by the GRMWP. The Grande Ronde Model Watershed Program is also interested in promoting economic stability. One of the goals in the Program’s charter states: “Protect the customs, culture, and economic stability of the citizens of the Basin, the Nez Perce and Umatilla Tribes, and the citizens of the United States of America.” Thus, the GRMWP has a vested interest in assessing how restoration projects in the Basin affect the local economy. This document details an economic assessment conducted on BPA and OWEB funded projects in the Grande Ronde Basin. The economic assessment examined the amount of income generated from these projects for local and non-local contractors and assessed whether materials were bought locally or outside of Union and Wallowa counties. It also characterized watershed restoration work by specific work types.Item Open Access The high-skill approach to ecosystem management: combining economic, ecological, and social objectives(Public Knowledge, Inc. ; Labor Education and Research Center, University of Oregon, 1998-05) Brodsky, Gerry; Hallock, MargaretThe Northwest Forest Plan and the accompanying Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative (NEAI) spawned many experiments in rural communities of the Pacific Northwest, experiments designed to benefit the residents and communities as well as achieve the ecological objectives of ecosystem management. This study examines five projects in California, Washington, and Oregon. Although created independently, these projects shared certain characteristics: they were designed to provide quality jobs for local residents, provide training for the workers, and explore new relationships and procurement arrangements with federal land management agencies. This report is a preliminary assessment of the impacts of these projects—-collectively dubbed the “high-skill” approach to ecosystem management—-on agencies, communities and the workforce.Item Open Access Iconic places of the USDA Forest Service(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2019)The purpose of this document is to introduce 46 of the Forest Service’s iconic places and to provide basic information about the values they protect and their histories. These places are found in over 40 different national forests in all nine Forest Service regions, ranging in size from less than 5,000acres to over 2 million acres. Designation of these iconic places began in the early 1960s to as recently as 2016. As such, these places represent over five decades of transitions in public land values, political administrations, and agency direction, as well as and other social, cultural, economic and ecological change. Through these transitions, the iconic places of the Forest Service have continued to expand in number, with their unique qualities and resources meriting special management or protection. The special areas included in this project are diverse in their type, size, designated values, and history. Each type of designation comprises distinct guidelines, intents, policies, and place-specific management objectives. This document provides a baseline understanding of these iconic places for agency personnel as well as the interested public, and can serve as a resource for future research or exploration into these areas.Item Open Access Improving jobs, community, and the environment: lessons from the Ecosystem Workforce Project(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 1998-09) University of Oregon. Labor Education and Research CenterIn the Pacific Northwest, the Jobs in the Woods (JITW) program launched several experiments and projects in communities to provide quality jobs for local residents as part of the restoration efforts. This study examines a small sample of JITW projects that followed a “high-skill” approach to the restoration work. The underlying assumptions of this approach are that well-trained workers are a critical component of the emerging work necessary to restore watershed and steward our ecosystems, and that quality jobs are necessary for healthy communities. Ecosystem management, as defined here, is a collaborative process that strives to achieve economic and social as well as ecological objectives. The central focus of this research is to document the impacts of the high-skill approach, specifically to assess the benefits and impacts on agencies, communities, and the ecosystem itself. The intent is to glean lessons from these projects that can help inform the ongoing policy debate on how we manage our ecosystems, the role of community organizations, and the practice of designing and procuring ecosystem work. The research was based on interviews with participants in the five projects. In the absence of hard data, we sought consensus, within and across projects, on the fundamental issues of training and impacts on agencies. Our results concentrate on savings and other impacts on the agencies, costs of providing training, and, to a lesser extent, impacts on the watershed itself. Because of the small scale of the experiments, we were unable to test the presumed benefits of a stable and trained workforce to the community.Item Open Access Lakeview Stewardship Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project : ecological, social, and economic monitoring report : 2012-2019(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2021) Olszewski, Julia; Ellison, AutumnThis report represents an analysis of ecological, social, and economic monitoring data for restoration activities conducted by the Lakeview Stewardship Group (LSG) from 2012 to 2019. The treatments analyzed here include commercial thinning, pre-commercial thinning, aspen release, stream enhancements, and prescribed/wildland fire. The socioeconomic monitoring questions analyze the impact that restoration treatments have for the local economy and beyond while considering the socioeconomic context and trends of the area. The results, recommendations, and lessons learned are presented here for the benefit of all collaborative members, and will be used to inform subsequent restoration activities and monitoring efforts.Item Open Access Long-term disaster recovery : recommendations for the public sector(Institute for Policy Research & Engagement, School of Planning, Public Policy, and Management, University of Oregon, 2024-10) Adamczyk, Brendan; Bryant, Jennna; Burke, Suzannah; Gardner, Evan; University of Oregon. Institute for Policy Research and EngagementThis report highlights the challenges in wildfire recovery and offers policy recommendations for local, state, and federal agencies. The 2020 Labor Day Fires in Oregon had an unprecedented impact, burning over 1 million acres of forest and woodland and forcing more than 40,000 Oregonians to evacuate. The recovery process has been challenging, and this report is informed by insights from government staff directly involved in the recovery efforts. Our goal is to improve the recovery timeline for future disasters by addressing the barriers that hinder successful disaster recovery. . . . While these recommendations are based on the impacts of the 2020 Labor Day fires on private landowners in Lane and Marion counties, we believe they apply to jurisdictions throughout Oregon and can be adapted to recovery for other disasters, not just wildfires.Item Open Access Methods and data appendices for socioeconomic monitoring of nonmetropolitan communities following 25 years of the Northwest Forest Plan (1994–2018).(U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 2020) Coughlan, Michael R.; Rhodeland, Amelia; Huber-Stearns, HeidiItem Open Access Qualitative Interview Guide for the Research Project “Community-Based Organizations, Social Networks, and Conservation: Strategies for Rural Economic Development in the West”(University of Oregon, 2012-05) Moseley, CassandraThis file contains the semi-structured interview protocols used to guide qualitative interviews associated with the research project “Community-based organizations, social networks, and conservation: strategies for rural economic development in the West.” The project was designed to understand the contributions to economic development made by a particular class of rural non-governmental associations referred to as community-based organizations (CBOs).Item Open Access Rural youth futures : survey results(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2020)As rural communities face changes in local economies, populations, and workforce needs, what does the next generation of residents and workers value and want? That question was the motivation for the Rural Youth Futures project. Researchers and extension agents from several universities joined forces with local non-profits to find out what middle and high schoolers think in two forest-dependent regions: Coos County in Oregon and Piscataquis/Northern Somerset Counties in Maine. This is one in a series of fact sheets designed to present summary information to each participating school and county about the perceptions and aspirations of local youth.Item Open Access The social geography of southern Wyoming : important places, development, and natural resource management(Nature Conservancy (U.S.). Wyoming Chapter, 2010) Pocewicz, Amy Lynne; Schnitzer, Russell; Nielsen-Pincus, MaxIn Wyoming, we know where to find natural resources. We can follow pronghorns, elk and deer on their seasonal migrations. But we have not had the same information about which places people care about and why. We created social maps for 3 counties and describe that process in this report. People agreed on important places and where development should occur. . . . We surveyed residents of Albany, Carbon, and Sweetwater counties in 2010. Most participants reported that fish and wildlife habitat, availability of water, and open spaces and scenic views are extremely or very important to them.Item Open Access Socioeconomic assessment of Forest Service American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects : eight case studies(U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 2011-05) Charnley, Susan; Jakes, Pamela J.; Schelhas, John; Burns, Samuel Alexander; Dietrich, James E.; Davis, Emily Jane; Moseley, Cassandra; Kershner, Jessica M.; Mattor, Katherine; Morse, Wayde; Sturtevant, Victoria Elmore, 1950-; Wilson, Thurman; Pacific Northwest Research Station (Portland, Or.)The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 aimed to create jobs and jumpstart the economy while addressing the Nation’s social and environmental needs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, received $1.15 billion in recovery funding to support projects in wildland fire management, capital improvement and maintenance, and biomass utilization. This volume contains eight individual case-study reports that describe how Forest Service economic recovery projects from around the United States are contributing to socioeconomic well-being in rural communities and investigates how forest restoration, conservation, and rural community development goals can be linked to promote healthy forests and healthy communities. Research findings demonstrate that these projects met several goals of the act: (1) preserve and create jobs and stimulate economic recovery; (2) assist those most impacted by the recession; and (3) invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure for long-term economic benefits. A companion synthesis report contains key findings and lessons learned by comparing the eight case studies presented here.Item Open Access Who gets the work?: national forest contracting in the Pacific Northwest(Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, 2001-07-25) Moseley, Cassandra; Shankle, StaceyThis study asks, who gets the work? It answers this question by measuring how far contractors travel to work on national forest lands and by considering what causes variation in travel distance. The study uses data from contract registers from all the national forests in the Pacific Northwest Region except the Okanogan National Forest and analyzes restoration and reforestation contracts let during fiscal years 1998 and 1999.