AWG 2010 Spring Meeting
Western Washington University
May 15, 2010
Paper Presentations
10:00 Preliminary Investigation of Micro Level Cross Border Regional Activity, John Belec1, Patrick Buckley2, Ryan Gadwa2, Henrik Helstrom3, 1University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, BC, 2Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 3 Umea University, Umea, Sweden. Contact:
10:30 Geographic and Demographic Constraints to Marine Protected Areas in the Indo-Pacific: A Meta-Analysis, Tyler Blake Davis, PhD Student, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington
10:45 Questioning the Montana Meth Project: Quantitative Policy Analysis of an Intensive Anti-Drug Abuse Information Campaign, Tim Scharks and Yuta Masuda, Ph.D. students, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington
11:00 Historical hydroclimatic trends in the Bella Coola River basin, Central British Columbia Coast Mountains, Colette Starheim, Terry Prowse, and Dan J. Smith, University of Victoria
11: 15 Lichenometric and dendrochronologic dating of the Little Ice Age moraines at Asulkan Glacier, Glacier National Park, British Columbia, Kara Pitman, Cali Bingham, Martin Demidow, Derek Heathfield, Ahmefd Mumeni, Blair Underhill, Sam Ward, and Dan Smith. University of Victoria
11:30 Recent dendroglaciological investigations in the Mt Waddington area, central British Columbia Coast Mountains, Harvey, J.; Coulthard, B.; Johnson, K.; Patterson, K.; Pitman, K.; and Smith, D.J. University of Victoria
______Presentation Abstracts
AWG Spring Meeting 2010
at Western Washington University
Mikail Blyth, Faculty Mentor: Dr. Matthew Sparke, undergraduate Department of Geography, University of Washington
Geoeconomic discourses surrounding the development of the Kaesong Industrial Complex
This paper examines the geoeconomic discourses surrounding the development of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a free economic zone six miles north of the Demilitarized Zone that separates the Koreas. In particular, I examine the way academic literature, media and governmental reports frame Kaesong as a modality where the two Koreas can meet in preparation for eventual reunification. These discourses promote a performative, imaginary geography envisioned through an mutually beneficial economic flatness. Instead, as the longevity of the North Korean regime and the varied costs of what Korean reunification would entail are recognized, discourses surrounding North Korean border zones have begun to serve as guises for the continual rearticulation of the North’s borders, thereby allowing its neighbors to use territorially bounded, North Korean space as a spatial fix. Understanding North Korean territorial space as within a spatial fix belies the rhetoric of unification discourses as well as upends the dominant discussion surrounding the ‘irrationality’ of the North. Most importantly, however, it serves to augment the literature by complicating the contemporaneous transformation of the two Koreas into self-motivated geoeconomic actors that utilize the legacies of imperial geographies and geopolitics to negotiate the terms of their own development logics within neoliberal governance strategies.
Keywords: Geopolitics, Neoliberalism, Discourse Analysis
Tyler Blake Davis, PhD Student, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington
Geographic and Demographic Constraints to Marine Protected Areas in the Indo-Pacific: A Meta-Analysis
Research Question: What geographic and demographic constraints to the success of marine protected areas in the Indonesian-Australian Archipelago may be identified through existing literature of comparative case studies? Location: My work is limited to marine protected areas (MPAs) in less developed countries. I narrow the field of inquiry to the world epicenter of marine biodiversity- the “coral triangle” of the Indonesian-Australian Archipelago. Theory: Academic work to identify institutional predictors of success has been done on collaborative management of common property resources (Ostrom 1990; Pralle 2006; Thomas 2003; Koontz et al 2006). Additionally case studies have documented success and failures of MPAS in practice (Christie et al. 2005; Crawford, Kasmidi, Korompis and Pollnac 2006; Cinner 2005; Cinner, Sutton and Bond 2007). I recognize the strengths of broad analysis done by Ostrom, and the importance of case studies of the collaborative governance processes done. However, I believe location of MPAs should be dictated by geographic and demographic constraints before the collaborative management process begins. Methods and Measures: I conduct a systematic review of existing quantitative case studies within the coral triangle. From these I identify a subset that quantify and geographic and demographic characteristics. I review and summarize these findings. Findings: I find six geographic and demographic characteristics of communities that predict the success of MPAs: locations in smaller, homogenous, remote, less wealthy communities, with higher levels of marine resource conflicts. My findings complement procedural analysis of Koonz and Thomas, and the empirical studies of Christie, Crawford, Pollnac and Pomeroy. My findings are based on existing case studies and show how demographic and geographic constraints can be used to identify locations for MPAs that will increase the likelihood of MPA success.
Key terms: Marine Protected Areas, Institutional Constraints, Geographic and Demographic Constraints
John Belec1, Patrick Buckley2, Ryan Gadwa2, Henrik Helstrom3, 1University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, BC, 2Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 3 Umea University, Umea, Sweden. Contact:
Preliminary Investigation of Micro Level Cross Border Regional Activity
As federal governments continue to retreat from addressing local problems due to a lack of funding, interest, and/or institutional resources cross border regions (CBR) have come to the fore as mechanism to create solutions to local problems locally involving cross border governance and paradiplomacy. With accelerating globalization examples of CBR activity have been described from around the world, yet researchers caution that there is not a single design or strategy for actualizing a CBR. Further, few studies have focused on the micro scale to demonstrate critical factors in successful maintenance of such activity. This study develops a lens for investigating such activity in North America by drawing upon four key characteristics from the literature as potentially critical to CBR development at the micro scale – parallelism, adhocratic and episodic activity, synaptic networks, and the need for an independent secretariat. Using this lens the International Mobility and Trade Corridor (IMTC) Project is investigated in Cascadian Gateway region of the US-Canada border. Examples are provided demonstrating how the IMTC functions as a forum of CBR activity under each of these points enabling local actors to create local solutions and further study based on a modified Delphi Study is outlined.
Keywords: Cross Border Region, synaptic networks, paradiplomacy
Harvey, J.; Coulthard, B.; Johnson, K.; Patterson, K.; Pitman, K.; and Smith, D.J.
University of Victoria Tree-Ring Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3R4
Recent dendroglaciological investigations in the Mt Waddington area, central British Columbia Coast Mountains
The application of dendroglaciological research techniques in the Mt. Waddington area of the central British Columbia Coast Mountains has contributed to our understanding of the late-Holocene glacial history of Pacific North America. The Tiedemann Advance was originally proposed to represent a glacial advance between ca. 3000 to 1900 14C years BP. Continuing investigations, including recent dendroglaciological investigations conducted at Jambeau and Confederation glaciers, have improved our understanding of the temporal and spatial resolution of Tiedemann-aged glacial expansion in this region. At Jambeau Glacier a subfossil wood mat resting on an extensively weathered pedogenic surface was discovered in the eastern and western lateral moraines. Radiocarbon dating shows that this deposit records the early Tiedemann phase of glacial expansion ca. 3000 years before present. Radiocarbon dates assigned to samples extracted from detrital boles and a rooted stump in growth position at nearby Confederation Glacier forefield illustrate this widespread character of ice expansion ca. 3500 years before present.
Kara Pitman, Cali Bingham, Martin Demidow, Derek Heathfield, Ahmefd Mumeni, Blair Underhill, Sam Ward, and Dan Smith. University of Victoria Tree-Ring Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3R4
Lichenometric and dendrochronologic dating of the Little Ice Age moraines at Asulkan Glacier, Glacier National Park, British Columbia
Geobotanical evidence was used to date the Little Ice Age (LIA) activity of the spillover tongue of the Asulkan Glacier in Glacier National Park, British Columbia. Rhizocarpon geographicum and trees found colonizing moraine surfaces were dated using a combination of lichenometic and dendrochronologic methodologies. A local ecesis interval was established from terminus positions shown on historical photographs and compared to those determined in a previous study. Increment core sampling and annual growth ring counts of the oldest trees found growing on the crest provide a minimum moraine age. Where the trees were too small to be cored, the number of stem whorls were counted to provide an estimate of tree age. The diameter of the largest lichen thallus found growing on boulders in the moraines were measured with digital calipers and aged using a lichen curve calibrated at nearby Illecillewaet Glacier. Three intervals of glacier expansion were recorded: a maximum LIA advance in ca. 1738 AD, a second readvance in ca. 1855 AD, and a minor readvance or standstill in ca. 1906. The results of our investigations are comparable those reported from other sites in Glacier National Park and provide a perspective on glacier dynamics in the Columbia Mountains in the late-LIA.
Tim Scharks and Yuta Masuda, Ph.D. students, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington
Questioning the Montana Meth Project: Quantitative Policy Analysis of an Intensive Anti-Drug Abuse Information Campaign.
The Montana Meth Project (MMP) is a statewide public information campaign launched in 2005 to address the high prevalence of crystal methamphetamine (meth) use, especially among teens. The campaign was the state's largest advertiser from September 2005 to September 2007. We examine the MMP in the context of fear appeals theories in risk communication. Our study represents an empirical test of one of the most dramatic public information campaigns relying on fear appeals.Initially funded by a private foundation, Montana and several other states have continued the campaign with public funds based on its claimed success yet there has never been an empirical test of the campaign. Thus, we ask: did the MMP have a significant effect on teen meth use in Montana? We use the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, a representative survey of high school students conducted a few months before implementation of the MMP and again in 2007. We use a difference-in-differences approach to find the decrease in teen meth use in Montana was significantly larger than for the rest of the country and meth precursor laws do not explain the difference.However, when compared to more similar groups of states by 2005 teen meth use, the MMP effect becomes smaller and not significant. In particular the two highest-use states in 2005 saw absolute declines nearly identical to Montana despite an absence of the MMP. Furthermore, the dramatic declines in meth use seen in Montana are largely explained as a decline in use by nonwhites and these declines are similar to declines among nonwhites in comparable states. Given this evidence, we propose that factors other than the MMP must explain the decline in teen meth use in Montana. In discussion we consider the strength of our data and methods, alternative hypotheses, and implications for effective policy.
Colette Starheim, Terry Prowse, and Dan J. Smith, University of Victoria Tree-Ring Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3R4
Historical hydroclimatic trends in the Bella Coola River basin, Central British Columbia Coast Mountains
Mountain watersheds throughout British Columbia are an important source and store of freshwater. Although the Central British Columbia Coast Mountains are located in an important hydroclimatologic transitional zone between higher and lower latitude locations in western North America, there is little understanding of the response of rivers and streams in this region to historical climate changes. Trend analysis of temperature, precipitation and stream discharge in the Bella Coola area reveals several statistically significant trends. Local meteorological records show significant increases in mean winter temperature and total annual precipitation. However, records from three stream gauges in the Bella Coola area show substantial decreases in melt-season discharge. Possible connections between streamflow, climate fluctuations and basin glacier cover are considered. Temporal limitations presented by the short length of hydrometric records in this area reveal a need to extend hydroclimatic records. Archived tree-ring chronologies in the Bella Coola area are correlated to hydroclimatic records in an effort to identify potential proxy datasets for the reconstruction of these hydroclimatic variables. Significant relationships between historical tree-ring widths and temperature, as well as precipitation and streamflow are recognized. Potential teleconnections to large-scale climate forcings are investigated
Keywords: Coast Mountain hydroclimate, trend analysis, dendrochronology