Papers by Harmony Burright
Water Resources Management, Jan 1, 2007
Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) has
been touted as an innovative solution to water
... more Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) has
been touted as an innovative solution to water
management problems, and yet it lacks a clear definition
or executable framework. IWRM is best understood by
examining how it has been conceptualized and
successfully implemented in watersheds throughout the
world. Case studies provide tangible models that can
inform the efforts of water managers as they seek to
coordinate diverse conservation efforts and balance
competing demands placed on depleted water supplies.
This paper presents a case study of a water management
initiative in the Walla Walla watershed that seeks to
integrate the interests and resources of the state with the
needs of local entities to better manage water resources.
Traditional approaches to water resource management
under Washington water law have divided citizens and
created an adversarial relationship between water users
and the government agencies that regulate them. This
paper outlines the problems posed by Washington water
law as it currently exists, explains the problems that have
emerged in the Walla Walla watershed under this system,
and discusses state and local initiatives that have the
potential to resolve these problems and revise water law
and water management in the state consistent with IWRM
principles.
Twenty three thinkers, activists, writers, and artists convened at the HJ Andrews Experimental Fo... more Twenty three thinkers, activists, writers, and artists convened at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest beside the Blue River to develop and document a new environmental ethic. This group was dubbed the Blue River Quorum. Members of the Quorum and signers of the Blue River Declaration are: J. Baird Callicott, Madeline Cantwell, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Kristie Dotson, Charles Goodrich, Patricia Hasbach, Mark Hixon, Jennifer Michael Hecht, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Katie McShane, Kathleen Dean Moore, Nalini Nadkarni, Michael P. Nelson, Harmony Paulsen, Devon G. Pena, Libby Roderick, Kim Stanley Robinson, Fred Swanson, Bron Taylor, Allen Thompson, Kyle Powys Whyte, Priscilla Solis Ybarra, Gretel Van Wieren, and Jan Zwicky.
Graduate Thesis by Harmony Burright
approved: Hannah Gosnell Irrigated agriculture accounts for 90 percent of consumptive use of fres... more approved: Hannah Gosnell Irrigated agriculture accounts for 90 percent of consumptive use of freshwater in the western US and is considered the largest contributor to nonpoint source water pollution. The diffuse nature of most water quality and quantity challenges necessitates institutions that can more effectively engage agricultural producers in strategic, integrated, watershed-scale approaches to water management such as those associated with Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). With approximately 9,400 professionals working in nearly every one of the nation's 3,071
Books by Harmony Burright
Understanding the impacts of socioeconomic status on first-generation students: a case study
This collective volume fills an important gap in first-generation college student research by sim... more This collective volume fills an important gap in first-generation college student research by simultaneously achieving several important goals. Collectively, the essays represent a balance of personal narrative, qualitative, and quantitative approaches that extend our understanding of the first-generation college student (FGS) experience. The essays review the existing literature on FGS; outline the barriers to college success faced by FGS; update the existing literature by introducing new and cutting-edge first-generation research; and recommend solutions to those in the trenches, who include support staff who design programs to support FGS. The book's contributing authors bring important personal and scholarly expertise to the project. The authors include faculty, administrators, support services personnel, and former students at private liberal arts colleges, major research universities, community colleges, and comprehensive universities in urban and rural settings. The diverse perspectives represented in the essays will benefit administrators and staff working at diverse types of institutions with FGS. In addition, many of the authors were first-generation college students. Socio-economic background profoundly shapes a person's cultural transition into college and heavily determines what barriers to academic success he or she will face. This collection's authors have a keen understanding of the FGS experience having made the transition into a foreign academic culture themselves. The book's essays address the following topics of concern of staff who interact with FGS: - Understanding classism in the academy and class segregation on campus -Race, ethnicity, class, and immigration as they impact FGS' campus experiences -Insight for developing successful first-generation support service programs -FGS' emotional, academic, and cultural adjustment to campus life -The role of support groups in shaping the first-semester FGS college experience -The importance of mentoring in aiding FGS' cultural transition to college - The impact of a FGS' living situation (such as in a campus living-learning center) on academic and cultural transition.
Conference Presentations by Harmony Burright
There are growing opportunities for agricultural landowners in rural communities to prosper from ... more There are growing opportunities for agricultural landowners in rural communities to prosper from payment for ecosystem services (PES) opportunities, but it is unclear whether landowners will be able to access these opportunities due to a number of challenges, including lack of knowledge and technical support. This paper presents preliminary findings from the first phase of a three-year study, funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, aimed at identifying and analyzing the effects of emerging institutional structures related to PES on agricultural landowners' overall awareness of and willingness to adopt PES schemes in the Interior Northwest. Our findings include:
• Regional profiles aimed at characterizing physical geography and socioeconomic trends, especially as they relate to family forestry and ranching in four case study areas.
• The results of semi-structured interviews with intermediaries that work with rural landowners, including University Extension faculty at each of the land grant universities in ID, MT, OR, and WA.
• Analysis of existing web-based tools that can map and valuate ecosystem services and connect landowners to PES opportunities at multiple spatial scales.
This presentation focuses on identifying the barriers to implementing PES schemes as well as the organizations, social trends, policies and tools that currently support PES programs. The results of this study will ultimately be used to 1) connect landowners to PES opportunities by improving the transfer of knowledge between the institutions administering PES programs and their beneficiaries, and 2) guide development of improved PES policies at the local, state and national levels.
Farmers constitute one of the largest groups of natural resources managers in the world and their... more Farmers constitute one of the largest groups of natural resources managers in the world and their land and water management practices have a significant impact on ecosystem health. Farmers, however, have limited incentives to enhance ecosystem services if it does not directly result in an increased yield, especially as profitability in the agricultural sector declines. Ecosystem services are direct or indirect goods and services that humans receive from functioning ecosystems. There are growing opportunities for agricultural landowners to prosper from payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs while still maintaining working landscapes, but it is unclear whether landowners will be able to access these opportunities due to a number of challenges, including lack of familiarity with PES programs and limited access to technical support. PES are payments that provide financial incentives for individuals or organizations to preserve or enhance ecosystems services. While PES can take many forms, this study looks specifically at government mediated programs, regulated or compliant markets, voluntary markets and certification programs that improve watershed services, including water quality, quantity and flow regulation. Healthy forests, rangelands and cropland provide a host of watershed services, including water purification, ground water and surface flow regulation, erosion control, and stream bank stabilization. Additional cultural ecosystem services derived from healthy watersheds include recreational opportunities, existence values, and aesthetics. The importance of these watershed services will only increase as more demands are placed on already limited water supplies. Using diffusion of innovations as a theoretical framework, this study assesses how intermediary organizations, specifically irrigation districts, influence the adoption or rejection of PES programs and opportunities. Furthermore, this research examines how the social and institutional context within an irrigation district influences participation in PES programs. The results of this research are based on qualitative interviews with irrigation district members and representatives in multiple case study areas in the Inland Northwest. This presentation details how the structure and arrangement of irrigation districts facilitates or hinders landowner participation in PES programs and recommends strategies for improving diffusion and adoption of these opportunities amongst landowners within established land and water management institutions.
With an office in nearly every county in the United States, strong local ties and access to finan... more With an office in nearly every county in the United States, strong local ties and access to financial and technical assistance, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is well poised to have a significant impact on water management across working landscapes. NRCS has been criticized in the past for implementing “random acts of conservation” rather than more
strategic, landscape-scale, outcome-based projects. This is due in part because of NRCS’s need to ensure equitable distribution of financial and technical resources and to balance the objectives
of enhancing landowner viability while achieving conservation outcomes where demand oftentimes exceeds capacity. In the 2008 Farm Bill, the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) was created to take a larger scale approach to important water resource issues by capitalizing upon local partnerships. While local partners envisioned a separate federal program with greater flexibility, the program ultimately was located within the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which poses its own challenges.
This research project traces the development and implementation of AWEP from the federal level down to the state and local levels, including the individual landowner level, on three projects in Oregon. Looking at these multiple levels allows for a more nuanced understanding of what factors impact project outcomes. The research results are based on a content analysis of relevant documents and interviews with over 30 key individuals who have influenced AWEP program design, worked to implement the projects or enrolled in the AWEP program. This research project evaluates AWEP with the intent of informing the next iteration of Farm Bill negotiations and emphasizes the importance of partnerships in building local capacity and delivering measurable environmental outcomes that also support long-term viability of working landscapes.
Human adaptation to change is an essential determinant in the resilience of complex social-ecolog... more Human adaptation to change is an essential determinant in the resilience of complex social-ecological systems. In the field of water policy and management it has become increasingly clear that traditional government actors cannot fully address emerging water problems at every scale given a demonstrated lack of resources, increasing variability in available water supplies, and dependence on the actions of individual users. Theories of democratic network governance recognize that traditional mechanisms of governmental control, generally represented through top-down policy and bureaucratic oversight, do not fully realize the interests, resources and expertise offered by individuals and evolving social networks. Adaptive water management necessitates strong networks within and between local, state and regional organizations that have the institutional capacity to measure and respond to changing ecological and social conditions.
There are myriad local, state and federal agencies, in addition to private organizations in the state of Oregon that are responsible for managing the services performed by ecosystems in urban and rural landscapes. In 2009 the Oregon State Legislature recognized, however, that “these efforts are generally fragmented, uncoordinated and often work at cross-purposes.” In the Oregon Senate Bill (SB) 513 the legislature calls for “new or improved regulatory schemes” that will result in greater coordination between existing public and private natural resource management organizations, though SB 513 does not explicitly define a new institutional arrangement. SB 513 advocates for an ecosystem-based approach to natural resource management that includes diverse stakeholders in policy development and implementation. Consequently, SB 513 has the potential to foster a complex network of public and private natural resource managers and professionals who rely on public, private and civil resources to implement large-scale conservation and restoration efforts. Any governance networks that emerge from SB 513 will have a significant impact on the future of water resources management in Oregon.
Human adaption to change is an essential factor in fostering the resilience of complex social-eco... more Human adaption to change is an essential factor in fostering the resilience of complex social-ecological systems. In the field of water policy and management it has become increasingly clear that traditional government actors cannot fully address emerging water problems at every scale given a demonstrated lack of resources, increasing variability in available water supplies, and dependence on the actions of individual water users. Theories of democratic network governance recognize that traditional mechanisms of governmental control, generally represented through top-down policy and bureaucratic oversight, do not fully realize the special interests, resources and expertise offered by individuals and evolving social networks. Adaptive water management necessitates strong networks within and between local, state and regional organizations that have the institutional capacity to measure and respond to changing ecological and social conditions.
In 1998, the Washington Watershed Planning Act (WPA) provided a voluntary framework for local citizens, in collaboration with local, state and tribal governments, to develop water management plans that address the future water management needs of their respective watersheds. While the watershed planning units were originally envisioned to serve in an advisory capacity, the WPA allowed local actors to redefine their relationship with the state and assume greater responsibility in water policy and management. The Walla Walla watershed planning unit is recognized as one of the most successful examples of watershed planning in Washington State and can be used as a model for examining how local water governance that fosters social networks can improve resilience in highly linked social and ecological systems.
The Walla Walla watershed is historically characterized by seasonal low-flow conditions resulting from over-allocation of available water. Summer peak demands, accompanied by groundwater withdrawals from the shallow aquifers and declining winter storage have resulted in degraded aquatic habitat. Sustained water scarcity in the Walla Walla basin led to Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings of two fish species and its designation as one of the sixteen most “fish critical” basins in Washington State. Declining ecological conditions, impending ESA litigation, passage of the WPA and the emergence of strong local leadership laid the stage for transformative water policy and management decisions to occur in the basin.
After over a decade of planning and implementation under the WPA, Walla Walla is in the process of designing a local governance mechanism that disperses water management responsibilities traditionally held by the state to local stakeholders. This basin-wide initiative has improved communication and integration between networks of water users who would have otherwise acted autonomously. Furthermore, it necessitates the evolution of different levels of governance ranging from individual water users on a specific tributary to governmental agencies in both Washington and Oregon. Local water governance promotes the social infrastructure necessary to address spatial and temporal problems generally associated with water management, namely its location-specific nature and its increasing variability resulting from changing climatic and land use conditions. Building individual capacity and investing in social infrastructure will enable water users and managers to adapt more quickly to ever-changing social and ecological problems resulting from competing demands on limited water supplies.
Undergraduate Thesis by Harmony Burright
Dynamic Watershed Management: Deliberation Among State and Local Stakeholders in a State Initiated Watershed Planning Approach
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Papers by Harmony Burright
been touted as an innovative solution to water
management problems, and yet it lacks a clear definition
or executable framework. IWRM is best understood by
examining how it has been conceptualized and
successfully implemented in watersheds throughout the
world. Case studies provide tangible models that can
inform the efforts of water managers as they seek to
coordinate diverse conservation efforts and balance
competing demands placed on depleted water supplies.
This paper presents a case study of a water management
initiative in the Walla Walla watershed that seeks to
integrate the interests and resources of the state with the
needs of local entities to better manage water resources.
Traditional approaches to water resource management
under Washington water law have divided citizens and
created an adversarial relationship between water users
and the government agencies that regulate them. This
paper outlines the problems posed by Washington water
law as it currently exists, explains the problems that have
emerged in the Walla Walla watershed under this system,
and discusses state and local initiatives that have the
potential to resolve these problems and revise water law
and water management in the state consistent with IWRM
principles.
Graduate Thesis by Harmony Burright
Books by Harmony Burright
Conference Presentations by Harmony Burright
• Regional profiles aimed at characterizing physical geography and socioeconomic trends, especially as they relate to family forestry and ranching in four case study areas.
• The results of semi-structured interviews with intermediaries that work with rural landowners, including University Extension faculty at each of the land grant universities in ID, MT, OR, and WA.
• Analysis of existing web-based tools that can map and valuate ecosystem services and connect landowners to PES opportunities at multiple spatial scales.
This presentation focuses on identifying the barriers to implementing PES schemes as well as the organizations, social trends, policies and tools that currently support PES programs. The results of this study will ultimately be used to 1) connect landowners to PES opportunities by improving the transfer of knowledge between the institutions administering PES programs and their beneficiaries, and 2) guide development of improved PES policies at the local, state and national levels.
strategic, landscape-scale, outcome-based projects. This is due in part because of NRCS’s need to ensure equitable distribution of financial and technical resources and to balance the objectives
of enhancing landowner viability while achieving conservation outcomes where demand oftentimes exceeds capacity. In the 2008 Farm Bill, the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) was created to take a larger scale approach to important water resource issues by capitalizing upon local partnerships. While local partners envisioned a separate federal program with greater flexibility, the program ultimately was located within the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which poses its own challenges.
This research project traces the development and implementation of AWEP from the federal level down to the state and local levels, including the individual landowner level, on three projects in Oregon. Looking at these multiple levels allows for a more nuanced understanding of what factors impact project outcomes. The research results are based on a content analysis of relevant documents and interviews with over 30 key individuals who have influenced AWEP program design, worked to implement the projects or enrolled in the AWEP program. This research project evaluates AWEP with the intent of informing the next iteration of Farm Bill negotiations and emphasizes the importance of partnerships in building local capacity and delivering measurable environmental outcomes that also support long-term viability of working landscapes.
There are myriad local, state and federal agencies, in addition to private organizations in the state of Oregon that are responsible for managing the services performed by ecosystems in urban and rural landscapes. In 2009 the Oregon State Legislature recognized, however, that “these efforts are generally fragmented, uncoordinated and often work at cross-purposes.” In the Oregon Senate Bill (SB) 513 the legislature calls for “new or improved regulatory schemes” that will result in greater coordination between existing public and private natural resource management organizations, though SB 513 does not explicitly define a new institutional arrangement. SB 513 advocates for an ecosystem-based approach to natural resource management that includes diverse stakeholders in policy development and implementation. Consequently, SB 513 has the potential to foster a complex network of public and private natural resource managers and professionals who rely on public, private and civil resources to implement large-scale conservation and restoration efforts. Any governance networks that emerge from SB 513 will have a significant impact on the future of water resources management in Oregon.
In 1998, the Washington Watershed Planning Act (WPA) provided a voluntary framework for local citizens, in collaboration with local, state and tribal governments, to develop water management plans that address the future water management needs of their respective watersheds. While the watershed planning units were originally envisioned to serve in an advisory capacity, the WPA allowed local actors to redefine their relationship with the state and assume greater responsibility in water policy and management. The Walla Walla watershed planning unit is recognized as one of the most successful examples of watershed planning in Washington State and can be used as a model for examining how local water governance that fosters social networks can improve resilience in highly linked social and ecological systems.
The Walla Walla watershed is historically characterized by seasonal low-flow conditions resulting from over-allocation of available water. Summer peak demands, accompanied by groundwater withdrawals from the shallow aquifers and declining winter storage have resulted in degraded aquatic habitat. Sustained water scarcity in the Walla Walla basin led to Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings of two fish species and its designation as one of the sixteen most “fish critical” basins in Washington State. Declining ecological conditions, impending ESA litigation, passage of the WPA and the emergence of strong local leadership laid the stage for transformative water policy and management decisions to occur in the basin.
After over a decade of planning and implementation under the WPA, Walla Walla is in the process of designing a local governance mechanism that disperses water management responsibilities traditionally held by the state to local stakeholders. This basin-wide initiative has improved communication and integration between networks of water users who would have otherwise acted autonomously. Furthermore, it necessitates the evolution of different levels of governance ranging from individual water users on a specific tributary to governmental agencies in both Washington and Oregon. Local water governance promotes the social infrastructure necessary to address spatial and temporal problems generally associated with water management, namely its location-specific nature and its increasing variability resulting from changing climatic and land use conditions. Building individual capacity and investing in social infrastructure will enable water users and managers to adapt more quickly to ever-changing social and ecological problems resulting from competing demands on limited water supplies.
Undergraduate Thesis by Harmony Burright
been touted as an innovative solution to water
management problems, and yet it lacks a clear definition
or executable framework. IWRM is best understood by
examining how it has been conceptualized and
successfully implemented in watersheds throughout the
world. Case studies provide tangible models that can
inform the efforts of water managers as they seek to
coordinate diverse conservation efforts and balance
competing demands placed on depleted water supplies.
This paper presents a case study of a water management
initiative in the Walla Walla watershed that seeks to
integrate the interests and resources of the state with the
needs of local entities to better manage water resources.
Traditional approaches to water resource management
under Washington water law have divided citizens and
created an adversarial relationship between water users
and the government agencies that regulate them. This
paper outlines the problems posed by Washington water
law as it currently exists, explains the problems that have
emerged in the Walla Walla watershed under this system,
and discusses state and local initiatives that have the
potential to resolve these problems and revise water law
and water management in the state consistent with IWRM
principles.
• Regional profiles aimed at characterizing physical geography and socioeconomic trends, especially as they relate to family forestry and ranching in four case study areas.
• The results of semi-structured interviews with intermediaries that work with rural landowners, including University Extension faculty at each of the land grant universities in ID, MT, OR, and WA.
• Analysis of existing web-based tools that can map and valuate ecosystem services and connect landowners to PES opportunities at multiple spatial scales.
This presentation focuses on identifying the barriers to implementing PES schemes as well as the organizations, social trends, policies and tools that currently support PES programs. The results of this study will ultimately be used to 1) connect landowners to PES opportunities by improving the transfer of knowledge between the institutions administering PES programs and their beneficiaries, and 2) guide development of improved PES policies at the local, state and national levels.
strategic, landscape-scale, outcome-based projects. This is due in part because of NRCS’s need to ensure equitable distribution of financial and technical resources and to balance the objectives
of enhancing landowner viability while achieving conservation outcomes where demand oftentimes exceeds capacity. In the 2008 Farm Bill, the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) was created to take a larger scale approach to important water resource issues by capitalizing upon local partnerships. While local partners envisioned a separate federal program with greater flexibility, the program ultimately was located within the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which poses its own challenges.
This research project traces the development and implementation of AWEP from the federal level down to the state and local levels, including the individual landowner level, on three projects in Oregon. Looking at these multiple levels allows for a more nuanced understanding of what factors impact project outcomes. The research results are based on a content analysis of relevant documents and interviews with over 30 key individuals who have influenced AWEP program design, worked to implement the projects or enrolled in the AWEP program. This research project evaluates AWEP with the intent of informing the next iteration of Farm Bill negotiations and emphasizes the importance of partnerships in building local capacity and delivering measurable environmental outcomes that also support long-term viability of working landscapes.
There are myriad local, state and federal agencies, in addition to private organizations in the state of Oregon that are responsible for managing the services performed by ecosystems in urban and rural landscapes. In 2009 the Oregon State Legislature recognized, however, that “these efforts are generally fragmented, uncoordinated and often work at cross-purposes.” In the Oregon Senate Bill (SB) 513 the legislature calls for “new or improved regulatory schemes” that will result in greater coordination between existing public and private natural resource management organizations, though SB 513 does not explicitly define a new institutional arrangement. SB 513 advocates for an ecosystem-based approach to natural resource management that includes diverse stakeholders in policy development and implementation. Consequently, SB 513 has the potential to foster a complex network of public and private natural resource managers and professionals who rely on public, private and civil resources to implement large-scale conservation and restoration efforts. Any governance networks that emerge from SB 513 will have a significant impact on the future of water resources management in Oregon.
In 1998, the Washington Watershed Planning Act (WPA) provided a voluntary framework for local citizens, in collaboration with local, state and tribal governments, to develop water management plans that address the future water management needs of their respective watersheds. While the watershed planning units were originally envisioned to serve in an advisory capacity, the WPA allowed local actors to redefine their relationship with the state and assume greater responsibility in water policy and management. The Walla Walla watershed planning unit is recognized as one of the most successful examples of watershed planning in Washington State and can be used as a model for examining how local water governance that fosters social networks can improve resilience in highly linked social and ecological systems.
The Walla Walla watershed is historically characterized by seasonal low-flow conditions resulting from over-allocation of available water. Summer peak demands, accompanied by groundwater withdrawals from the shallow aquifers and declining winter storage have resulted in degraded aquatic habitat. Sustained water scarcity in the Walla Walla basin led to Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings of two fish species and its designation as one of the sixteen most “fish critical” basins in Washington State. Declining ecological conditions, impending ESA litigation, passage of the WPA and the emergence of strong local leadership laid the stage for transformative water policy and management decisions to occur in the basin.
After over a decade of planning and implementation under the WPA, Walla Walla is in the process of designing a local governance mechanism that disperses water management responsibilities traditionally held by the state to local stakeholders. This basin-wide initiative has improved communication and integration between networks of water users who would have otherwise acted autonomously. Furthermore, it necessitates the evolution of different levels of governance ranging from individual water users on a specific tributary to governmental agencies in both Washington and Oregon. Local water governance promotes the social infrastructure necessary to address spatial and temporal problems generally associated with water management, namely its location-specific nature and its increasing variability resulting from changing climatic and land use conditions. Building individual capacity and investing in social infrastructure will enable water users and managers to adapt more quickly to ever-changing social and ecological problems resulting from competing demands on limited water supplies.