EWP Past Projects

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Rural Youth Futures

USDA NIFA AFRI

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 tow forest-dependent regions: Coos County in Oregon and Piscataquis/Northern Somerset Counties in Maine.

Learn more about Rural Youth Futures.

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Prescribed Fire Policy

Joint Fire Science Program

This research investigates policies that limit managers' ability to conduct prescribed fire on US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in the 11 Western states.

Learn more about the Joint Fire Science Program.

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Resilience in National Forest Planning

Joint Forest Science Program

This research investigates how the concept of resilience has been operationalized within the US Forest Service, what obstacles to achieving resilience have been identified, and what solutions appear to hold promise for overcoming the complexities of managing for resilience.

Learn more about Resilience in National Forest Planning.

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The Forest Service and Communities

US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region

This project aims to help the Forest Service and its partners better understand and communicate the social and economic contexts in which the Forest Service operates and document Forest Service impacts in advancing sustainable natural resources-based economies.

Learn more about The Forest Service and Communities.

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Tongass National Forest Social and Economic Monitoring

State of Alaska

The Tongass Advisory Committee recommended to develop a plan to track social and economic conditions in Southeast Alaska as part of the Tongass National Forest (NF) transition to predominately youth-growth timber harvest. The objectives for this project were to: 1) collect, analyze, and present a baseline analysis of social and economic conditions; and 2) develop and present a social and economic monitoring plan that can track social and economic change in affected communities around the Tongass NF and that reflects stakeholder interests.

Learn more about Tongass National Forest Social and Economic Monitoring.

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Mountain Pine Beetle Response

National Science Foundation

This National Science Foundation-funded research project studied drivers, governance responses, and social-ecological feedbacks associated with Mountain Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks on national forestlands in the Western US.

Learn more about Mountain Pine Beetle Response.

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Forest Service Restoration Strategies

US Forest Service Washington Office

This project independently investigated two of these Forest Service's recent initiatives designed to accelerate cross-boundary, collaborative, and integrated restoration: the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) and the Joint Chiefs' Landscape Restoration Partnership (JCLRP).

Learn more about Forest Service Restoration Strategies.

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Wildfire Resilience

USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture

This project explored how federal policies interact with social conditions at the community level to reduce wildfire impacts. The goals of this project were to: 1) explain interactions among socioeconomic vulnerability, community adaptive capacity, and wildfire planning and mitigation; and 2) identify how these dimensions influence resilience in rural, fire-prone communities.

Learn more about Wildfire Resilience.

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Iconic Places of the US Forest Service

US Forest Service Washington Office

This project takes a closer look at Forest Service areas that have been protected either through congressional designation or by the President via proclamation under the authority of the Antiquities Act.

Learn more about Iconic Places of the US Forest Service.

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Managing the Market: How Procurement Practices Impact Private Sector Wildfire Response Capacity

Joint Fire Science Program

This project explored the effects of administration of Forest Service fire suppression contracting on the contracting markets and business capacity, including; (1) how administrative practices influence the contracting market structure, and (2) what business models suppression contractors use to develop and maintain their business and meet wildfire suppression needs.

Learn more about Managing the Market.

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Community-Based Organizations, Social Networks, and Conservation: Strategies for Rural Economic Development in the West

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

The purpose of EWP's research on community-based organizations is to understand how they accomplish both local economic development and broader institutional change and the challenges they face in their efforts to reinvent the social and economic relationships between communities and nearby lands and waters.

Learn more about Community-Based Organizations, Social Networks, and Conservation.

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Dry Forest Investment Zone

Sustainable Northwest/US Endowment for Forests and Communities/USDA Rural Development/Wallowa Resources/The Watershed Research and Training Center

To foster rural economic development through multiple strategies for sustainable forest stewardship. Strategies include broadening value streams for landowners, fostering woody biomass utilization, increasing community collaborative capacity, engaging with policy makers, and monitoring impacts. Our role is primarily in policy and monitoring. Collaborators: Sustainable Northwest, Wallowa Resources, Watershed Research and Training Center

Learn more about Dry Forest Investment Zone.

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The Socioeconomic Outcomes of Restoration

USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station

Learn more about the Socioeconomic Outcomes of Restoration.

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