Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have been steadily increasing from anthropogenic energy production, development and use. Carbon cycling in the terrestrial biosphere, particularly forest ecosystems, has an important role in regulating atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. US West coast forest management policies are being developed to implement forest bioenergy production while reducing risk of catastrophic wildfire. Modeling and understanding the response of terrestrial ecosystems to changing environmental conditions associated with energy production and use are primary goals of global change science. Coupled carbon-nitrogen ecosystem process models identify and predict important factors that govern long term changes in terrestrial carbon stores or net ecosystem production (NEP). By quantifying and reducing uncertainty in model estimates using existing datasets, this research provides a solid scientific foundation for evaluating carbon dynamics under conditions of future climate change and land management practices at local and regional scales. Through the combined use of field observations, remote sensing data products, and the NCAR CESM/CLM4-CN coupled carbon-climate model, the objectives of this project were to 1) determine the interactive effects of changing environmental factors (i.e. increased CO���, nitrogen deposition, warming) on net carbon uptake in temperate forest ecosystems and 2) predict the net carbon emissions of West Coast forests under future climate scenarios and implementation of bioenergy programs. West Coast forests were found to be a current strong carbon sink after accounting for removals from harvest and fire. Net biome production (NBP) was 26 �� 3 Tg C yr�����, an amount equal to 18% of Washington, Oregon, and California fossil fuel emissions combined. Modeling of future conditions showed increased net primary production (NPP) because of climate and CO��� fertilization, but was eventually limited by nitrogen availability, while heterotrophic respiration (R[subscript h]) continued to increase, leading to little change in net ecosystem production (NEP). After accounting for harvest removals, management strategies which increased harvest compared to business-as-usual (BAU) resulted in decreased NBP. Increased harvest activity for bioenergy did not reduce short- or long-term emissions to the atmosphere regardless of the treatment intensity or product use. By the end of the 21st century, the carbon accumulated in forest regrowth and wood product sinks combined with avoided emissions from fossil fuels and fire were insufficient to offset the carbon lost from harvest removals, decomposition of wood products, associated harvest/transport/manufacturing emissions, and bioenergy combustion emissions. The only scenario that reduced carbon emissions compared to BAU over the 90 year period was a 'No Harvest' scenario where NBP was significantly higher than BAU for most of the simulation period. Current and future changes to baseline conditions that weaken the forest carbon sink may result in no change to emissions in some forest types. / Graduation date: 2013

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experience of white principals in understanding their white identity, privilege, and power as they worked to implement socially-just and culturally proficient schools. The findings offer insights into the following questions: 1) How do white school leaders view white identity and the impact, if any, it has on their leadership? 2) How do white school leaders relate to students of color, their parents, and the community? 3) In what ways do white school leaders engage in race talk and address issues of white identity, privilege, and power? 4) What challenges do white school leaders experience as they attempt to end racism in their schools? The study was set in a mostly white suburban school district in the Pacific Northwest. It involved three male and two female white principals who were previously engaged in equity training. Primary data sources included two individual interviews and two focus group sessions which were audiotaped and transcribed. Data analysis involved several coding cycles to identify themes related to the research questions. The analyses indicated the white principals engaged in a number of actions which demonstrated leadership focused on becoming culturally proficient. The knowledge and understanding principals gained in the equity training contributed to their understanding of white privilege and white identity. Their ability to name this understanding while interacting with parents and students of color helped to build relationships and created allies in their work. Due to their perceived lack of skill and knowledge related to implementing equity efforts around cultural competence, principals shared a hesitancy to lead staff into meaningful race talk and other work around white identity, privilege, and power. Challenges also arose as principals worked to manage competing district initiatives, limited staff training time, and the need for support. / Graduation date: 2013

This research examines the discourses that impact the teachers of ELL teachers within their instructional practices, their school environment, and a wider educational system. Interviews, observations, and focus groups of twelve teachers at two elementary schools in the Pacific Northwest provide the data for this grounded theory approach that uncovers eleven themes using the tools of situational analysis and discourse analysis. The discourses of congruency, collaboration, trust and awareness are a few that emerged from this study. Although presented as separate, the nature of discourse is that they are interconnected and dependent on each other, highlighting the complexity of teachersʼ worlds. The impact of these discourses impacted both teacher agency and school collaboration for teachers, administrators, and teacher educators. / Graduation date: 2012

This essay offers a study of old growth forest policy in British Columbia and the American Pacific Northwest and, in so doing, attempts to contribute to the sparse comparative environmental literature that uses Canada as a case study. Specifically, the essay addresses the question of why old growth forest preservation policy divergences so dramatically between British Columbia and the American Pacific Northwest. After establishing that American Pacific Northwest and British Columbia old growth forest preservation policy diverges, the author employs a chronological methodology to reconstruct the current old growth preservation policy outcomes in both jurisdictions. The author then identifies a series of variables that affect old growth forest preservation policy in both jurisdictions, and examines each as a force of divergence. The essay discusses the different influences of two non-institutional variables-science and economics-and two institutional variables-federalism and legalism-on American Pacific Northwest and British Columbia old growth policy. The essay concludes by discussing the question of how each variable works with one another to produce this instance of policy divergence. The author finds that all four variables collaborate with one another and contribute to the divergence. However, the essay concludes that the major determining factor in this case of policy divergence is the interplay of the two institutional variables.

This essay offers a study of old growth forest policy in British Columbia and the American Pacific Northwest and, in so doing, attempts to contribute to the sparse comparative environmental literature that uses Canada as a case study. Specifically, the essay addresses the question of why old growth forest preservation policy divergences so dramatically between British Columbia and the American Pacific Northwest. After establishing that American Pacific Northwest and British Columbia old growth forest preservation policy diverges, the author employs a chronological methodology to reconstruct the current old growth preservation policy outcomes in both jurisdictions. The author then identifies a series of variables that affect old growth forest preservation policy in both jurisdictions, and examines each as a force of divergence. The essay discusses the different influences of two non-institutional variables-science and economics-and two institutional variables-federalism and legalism-on American Pacific Northwest and British Columbia old growth policy. The essay concludes by discussing the question of how each variable works with one another to produce this instance of policy divergence. The author finds that all four variables collaborate with one another and contribute to the divergence. However, the essay concludes that the major determining factor in this case of policy divergence is the interplay of the two institutional variables. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Environment, safety and health (ESH) research has a strong tradition of conducting research in manufacturing to improve workplace ESH conditions and has tied its management strategy and technical practices to many significant priorities: illness and injury prevention, environmental sustainability, corporate social responsibility, compliance with regulatory and insurance requirements, and dealing with NGO (non-governmental organization) pressures. ESH research rarely examines ESH management strategy in the broader context of business/operations. This oversight makes it difficult to make accurate recommendations for practice and regulation because ESH researchers and business/operations researchers tend to function as if the other does not exist with the very great possibility that key relationships remain undiscovered. In this study, case study methods were used with five manufacturing facilities in the Pacific Northwest to evaluate the usefulness of the Development Levels Rating System (DLRS). Data were collected using interviews, site tours, and publicly available records. Within case and cross-case analysis were used to analyze the data. Consistent patterns were found in how the facilities structured, organized, and financed the ESH function. Moreover, important insights were found regarding the facilities' levels of ESH management strategy and their levels of risk. The results support the DLRS model as being useful in assessing ESH management strategy in relation to a facility's level of risk. Moreover, several new pathways were uncovered including: the significance of multi-stakeholder approaches in EHS and operations research; the importance of joint management strategies; and the faulty nature of compliance-based ESH management strategies. Future research should be considered to test the DLRS tool using focus groups and quantitative methods. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). / Graduation date: 2012

Many sediments, including the fine-grained pelagic deposits, possess polymodal grain size distributions. Resolution of individual modes show them to be related either to compositional fractions or to depositional processes or both, and sometimes permits the tracing of dispersal patterns. The Cahn sedimentation balance provides a means of obtaining continuous cumulative size distribution curves of fine-grained sediments. The resultant cumulative curve is processed by computer to yield a size frequency curve which is often found to be polymodal. This frequency curve is resolved into its individual components by means of an analog computer. The method is discussed in detail and illustrated by means of a test study of pelagic sediments from the Northwest Pacific. Samples collected nearest land have the most components and the best sorted components. Fifteen modes were decanted from five samples and X-rayed. Similar components from different samples were found to have similar compositions when plotted on a feldspar-kaolinite-mica ternary diagram. Based on like composition and nearly identical mean size values, it is possible to trace the sedimentary components from sample to sample. / Graduation date: 1972

A social issue of great importance in contemporary society is the involvement of youth in gangs. Youth involvement in gang activity has dominated the national media and the minds of public policy makers in contemporary society. In this thesis I examine how Latino and Chicano youth sub-culture, language, dress, and style, has been first, misinterpreted and secondarily reconstructed, as a criminal subculture by public policy makers, local law enforcement officials, public school administrators, and the general public. The construction of Latino and Chicano youth subculture as criminal has occurred through the process of labeling. In this process culture and crime have become intertwined where specific cultures and their members are perceived and then reclassified as criminal subcultures. This thesis provides a case study of the process of labeling in a community located in the Pacific Northwest. The community where this research project was conducted has undergone tremendous fluctuations in its population demographics. These changes have led to underlying tensions and conflicts between the various ethnic and linguistic groups represented in the community. It is within this context that the issue of youth gangs must be analyzed. The specific purposes of thesis are to: provide the theoretical framework to view the social discourse of youth gangs; document and analyze the community context which has contributed to the emergence of the social discourse of youth gangs; to document how culture, style, and crime have become intertwined to inaccurately characterize Latino and Chicano youth sub-culture as gang culture; to document and analyze how the social discourse of youth gangs has been constructed as a moral panic; and to provide possible solutions from applied anthropology. / Graduation date: 2002

This paper models the supply curve of carbon sequestration on Pacific Northwest rangelands. Rangeland managers have the ability to sequester carbon in agricultural soils by implementing alternative management practices on their farms. Their low adoption rate in practice suggests a high opportunity cost associated with their implementation. To increase their adoption, a payment for ecosystem services plan is proposed, where the public compensates farms for lost profits. The TOA-MD model is used to estimate the resulting sequestration incentivized by payments for soil carbon sequestration. Methodological questions of geographical stratification and estimating variation from available data are tested. Sensitivity analysis is also run on key assumptions in the study. Results show that while the economic potential of both systems is much lower than the technical potential, at reasonable CO��� payment levels rangeland sequestration could be a significant mitigation strategy for Pacific Northwest states. / Graduation date: 2012

Today's power systems are undergoing dynamic changes in their operation. The high cost of capital improvements that include new generation and transmission projects has prompted power system planners to look for other alternatives in dealing with increased loads and overall system growth. A dynamic braking resistor is a device that allows for an increased rating of a transmission system's transient stability limit. This allows increased power flows over existing transmission lines without the need to build additional transmission facilities. This thesis investigates the application of dynamically controlled resistive braking in the Pacific Northwest power system. Specifically, possible control alternatives, to replace the present dynamic brake control system at Chief Joseph station, are examined. This examination includes determination of appropriate locations for control system input, development of control algorithms, development of computer and laboratory power system models, and testing and recommendations based upon the developed control algorithms. / Graduation date: 1995