Social and Policy Dimensions of Land-Use Change in Idaho and Other Regions of the Western United States
Grant
Overview
abstract
The Rural Urban Interface (RUI)/Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) context remains the most important analytical dimension to understand growth and change for current and future human populations and environmental systems in the increasingly popular western region of the country. More specifically, RUI/WUI issues threaten many areas considered working landscapes, a concept to critique the contemporary shift toward ecological health through the leave-it-alone philosophy. Despite this reasoning, many conflicts over land-use policy and resource management will continue to occur in the interface zone as functions of social perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors related to concerns associated with (in)equity, cultural values, ethics, and public health. Thus, uncertainties related to impacts from significant change in the RUI/WUI provide an important
setting for social science research, especially in relation to biophysical changes within the landscape. Based on the general contexts and previous literature reviewed, the primary purpose of this project is to study the patterns of emerging factors affecting land-use change in the RUI/WUI of the western U.S.
