Honors Theses (Planning, Public Policy and Management)

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  • ItemOpen Access
    Visitor-limiting permit programs in national forests and parks: an exploration of their design and implementation
    (University of Oregon, 2022-06) Darby, Morgan
    With visitation to public lands on the rise, visitor-limiting permit programs are becoming an increasingly necessary management strategy to mitigate biophysical and social visitor impacts. While these types of programs have been implemented by public land managers since the 1960s, little holistic research has been conducted regarding how such programs can be designed and implemented to best meet the needs of the land unit. This study specifically looks at land-based visitor-limiting permit programs within national parks and forests to explore the ways in which these programs are being designed and the resulting implications of their implementation. This exploratory process began with gathering data regarding the design of the 64 relevant permit programs identified; as a result of this research, nine key program characteristics, or components universal to all visitor-limiting permit programs, were defined. Interviews were then conducted with managers of 15 of these programs. The data produced focuses on managers’ experiences with implementation as it relates to the design of their program. The product of this project is a functional guide for designing and implementing visitor-limiting permit programs. This study is a foundational step toward supporting further research in this area of visitor use management.
  • ItemOpen Access
    THE EFFICACY OF DIVERSITY TRAINING IN NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
    (University of Oregon, 2022-05) Queisser, Isabel
    This study explores the outcomes of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training in nonprofit organizations. This study aims to determine which aspects of diversity training lead to increased awareness about DEI or tangible improvements, and which factors are more detrimental to the goals of DEI. Open ended interviews were conducted with 18 nonprofits in the Pacific Northwest, where participants were asked about their experiences with DEI trainings and workshops. Data were then coded for several key themes related to DEI. This research suggests that diversity training can be a successful tool to increase DEI engagement if intentionally designed with longevity and opportunities for dialogue, actionable steps, with an organization-specific focus in mind, and if facilitated by an expert.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Examining Oregon's Intergovernmental Structures for Natural Disaster Planning: Their Influence on Tsunami Response and Recovery
    (2006-06) Lenzser, Kate Thompson
    Natural disaster events have the potential to cause damage to people, property, and resources in communities around the world, and in the State of Oregon. The ways that people and communities can plan for natural disasters can be described by the four-phase disaster cycle as: preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. In the United States, most of the resources, such as technical expertise and funding, for natural disaster planning are held by governments. These resources, however, are held by different levels of government including federal, state, county, and city levels of government. State laws and statutes create an intergovernmental structure for how levels of government interact for natural disaster planning. However, overlapping jurisdictional boundaries, responsibilities, and resources for natural disaster planning often create issues of â shared governanceâ which also influence how governments interact. How the relationships within the intergovernmental structure work affects how natural disaster planning occurs. This thesis describes the intergovernmental structure within the State of Oregon for natural disaster response and recovery, and describes the roles of local jurisdictions in responding to, and recovering from a large-scale catastrophic event, such as a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and resulting tsunami. To describe the intergovernmental structure itself, a document review was conducted of applicable state laws and administrative rules, and local plans and policies that shape how the intergovernmental structure is formed and operates. To describe the roles from the perspective of local jurisdictions for large-scale natural disaster response and recovery, interviews were conducted. Telephone interviews were conducted with two counties, and a city within each county, that are representative of the county and city jurisdictions that must plan for tsunami response and recovery along the Oregon coast.