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For many resource-based communities throughout Oregon the timber industry plays an important role. In many of these areas, federal land holdings comprise a large proportion of the area's land holdings. Management decisions regarding resource use on the National Forest lands can have a major influence on the stability of local timber industries and on the communities of which they are a part. Input-output analysis has been used extensively to evaluate the importance of the timber industry to relatively small resource-dependent communities. In the past, the conventional input-output demand model has been used to assess the local impacts of changes in the availability of public timber resources. However, an analysis which interprets a change in primary resource supply as a change in final demand for the processing industry's output may incorrectly evaluate the impacts of shifts in primary resource supply on the local economy. The regional economic impacts resulting from a change in available primary inputs can be estimated more accurately using a modified approach to the conventional method of demand-pull analysis. Because of the network of forward linkages present within the regional economy, a change in primary inputs available to one sector may have a direct or indirect affect on all other sectors of the local economy. These supply-induced impacts on total sales can be calculated using an input-output supply model. The resulting change in total sales can be factored into two components--sales to local industries and sales to final demand. Regional impacts resulting from the first component can be calculated directly from the supply model. A modified version of the input-output demand model can be used to estimate the regional impacts associated with the supply-induced change in the value of local industry exports. This study identifies and evaluates the forward linkage structure present in small resource-based economies. The conventional input-output demand model is modified so that the local impacts of changes in primary resource supply can be evaluated vis-a-vis these structural relationships. A comparative economic impact analysis of three eastern Oregon counties is conducted using the modified input-output methodology. The results obtained using this procedure are compared to results obtained using the conventional method of analysis where changes in primary resource supply are extrapolated to reflect changes in final demand. In each county, estimates of regional impacts obtained using the modified input-output methodology differed from those calculated using the traditional form of analysis. The difference between the estimates was most significant in Morrow County where a relatively larger percentage of output in the wood products industry is sold locally. The demand-induced impacts in each county were considerably larger than the supply-induced changes. Although the initial shock to the system is supply-induced, the backward linkage structure plays a significant role in determining the overall impact of the stimulus on regional and sectoral output. The supply model is able to account for the direct and indirect impacts on regional sales transactions caused by a change in available primary inputs. The input-output demand model, by itself, is unable to account for these transactions. Because the modified input-output methodology provides a means by which changes in scarce primary factor supply can be apportioned into supply and demand related components, a better understanding of the regional economic impacts associated with changes in the availability of public timber can be obtained. / Graduation date: 1982

Since the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act and the National Forest Management Act, the Forest Service has been required to give individuals and organizations access to the decision-making process. However, the Forest Service has been confronted with a greater than anticipated level of dissatisfaction with the Land Management Plans. Because the appeals of the plans are an expense to the Forest Service, both in monetary terms and the frustration which has been generated, the relationship between the participation process and the number of appeals has. come under question. This study proposes that, because public participation and the resolution of appeals are expenses to the Forest Service, the relationship between the two should be analyzed in a cost-benefit analysis framework. However, before an optimal level of public participation can be determined, the relationship between public participation and conflict must be analyzed. Through survey and econometric techniques, the public participation process which occurred during round one of planning and the significance of a number of variables to the probability for conflict were observed. The study described the public participation process which occurred on the National Forests. The results suggest a positive relationship between public participation and the number of existing appeals. Further research is needed, however, to determine the number of appeals which were either avoided or generated due to the public participation process. / Master of Science

The conflict in the Pacific Northwest between competing visions of how federal forests should be managed resulted in a political stalemate in the early 1990s. The Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) was initiated to resolve the demands for maintaining ecosystem processes and biological diversity with the social and economic needs for timber harvest. The foundation for the plan rested with the development of ecosystem management. The intent of this research is to explore the events which led up to the adoption of the NWFP, how it was implemented by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management and the subsequent reactions to and consequences of the plan. The primary research consisted of thirty-eight semi-structured interviews with individuals responsible for the development of the initial plan, those tasked with implementing the plan and current federal agency personnel from the land management agencies and regulatory agencies. With the use of thematic analysis, key meanings were captured as expressed by the interviewees. The data was analyzed using institutional theory, capturing the organizational relations within the organizational field of the land management agencies. Research findings suggest that the NWFP was unsuccessful in meeting the goal of addressing the social and economic issues as well as the goals for ecosystem management. This dissertation explores the organizational practices and cultural meanings that led to the final instantiation of the plan. It seeks to shed light on the reasons why these goals were not met and how future forest plans can move beyond the current stalemate between conservation and preservation.