Dams and Flows: Immersing in Western Meaning Systems in Search of Ecocultural Reflexivity

In this unprecedented era of anthropogenic ecological destruction, this study illustrates inadequacies in conceptual language available in Western settings to think deeply and holistically about “nature.” At the same time, the study illustrates transformative potential of moments of ecocultural reflexivity. Using free write methodology, we examine ways participants in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia articulate what they mean when they say “nature.” We interpret participant streams of consciousness as representative of a wider Western river-way, a channel of dominant, multiple, and contradictory meanings in continuous movement. We identify conceptual obstructions that provide glimpses into ways Western ecological relations are bounded and dammed by binary, fragmented, and unconsidered meanings. Yet reflexivity in the face of such obstructions, and in potent ecocultural side streams of childhood remembering and ecocentric cosmology, provides some participants a lucid flow of regenerative narratives at a time such shared stories are urgently needed.     

Application of Ecological Classification and Predictive Vegetation Modeling to Broad-Level Assessments of Ecosystem Health

The Little Missouri National Grasslands (LMNG) of western North Dakota support the largest permitted cattle grazing use within all lands administered by the USDA, Forest Service, as well as critical habitat for many wildlife species. This fact, coupled with the need to revise current planning direction for range allotments of the LMNG, necessitated that a broad-level characterization of ecosystem integrity and resource conditions be conducted across all lands within the study area (approximately 800,000 hectares) in a rapid and cost-effective manner. The approach taken in this study was based on ecological classifications, which effectively utilized existing field plot data collected for a variety of previous inventory objectives, and their continuous spatial projection across the LMNG by maps of both existing and potential vegetation. These two map themes represent current and reference conditions (existing vs. potential vegetation); their intersection allowed us to assign various ecological status ratings (i.e., ecosystem integrity and resource condition) based on the degree of departure between current and reference conditions. In this paper, we present a brief review of methodologies used in the development of ecological classifications, and also illustrate their application to assessments of rangeland health through selected maps of ecological status ratings for the LMNG.     

Valuing the benefits of the urban forest: a spatial hedonic approach

This paper measures the benefits of the urban forest by examining its effect on housing prices. A Geographic Information System is used to develop a measure of the urban forest, the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, from satellite imagery and to construct other variables from a variety of sources. Spatial hedonic housing price models for the Indianapolis/Marion County area are estimated. The models indicate that greener vegetation around a property has a positive, significant effect on housing price, holding everything else constant. This effect is dominated by measures at the neighborhood level. These findings indicate that property owners value the urban forest, at least in part, by the premium they pay to live in neighborhoods with greener, denser vegetation. These findings also indicate that public action to maintain and enhance the urban forest may be warranted. Planners and urban foresters can use these findings to inform public and policy debates over urban forestry programs and proposals.     

Forecasting relative impacts of land use on anadromous fish habitat to guide conservation planning.

Land use change can adversely affect water quality and freshwater ecosystems, yet our ability to predict how systems will respond to different land uses, particularly rural-residential development, is limited by data availability and our understanding of biophysical thresholds. In this study, we use spatially explicit parcel-level data to examine the influence of land use (including urban, rural-residential, and vineyard) on salmon spawning substrate quality in tributaries of the Russian River in California. We develop a land use change model to forecast the probability of losses in high-quality spawning habitat and recommend priority areas for incentive-based land conservation efforts. Ordinal logistic regression results indicate that all three land use types were negatively associated with spawning substrate quality, with urban development having the largest marginal impact. For two reasons, however, forecasted rural-residential and vineyard development have much larger influences on decreasing spawning substrate quality relative to urban development. First, the land use change model estimates 10 times greater land use conversion to both rural-residential and vineyard compared to urban. Second, forecasted urban development is concentrated in the most developed watersheds, which already have poor spawning substrate quality, such that the marginal response to future urban development is less significant. To meet the goals of protecting salmonid spawning habitat and optimizing investments in salmon recovery, we suggest investing in watersheds where future rural-residential development and vineyards threaten high-quality fish habitat, rather than the most developed watersheds, where land values are higher.