Oral Abstract Details

Author(s):
Colleen C. Hiner

Affiliation:
University of California, Davis

Presentation Type:
Oral

Topic Area:
Monitoring and predicting human influences on landscapes and ecosystems

Abstract Text:
Calaveras County is situated in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, in the midst of the Sierra Nevada mountain region, but within close proximity to two large metropolitan centers. Given its proximity to urban centers and amenity-rich character, Calaveras County, like other Sierra Nevada foothill counties, is experiencing population growth and attendant land use change. Calaveras is a place poised on the edge of rurality, a county directly facing the onward march of urban encroachment. In other words, Calaveras County defines the rural edge of the rural-urban interface. As a nexus of land use debates and decision-making, the study of the rural-urban interface provides insights into the social, ecological, economic and other processes occurring across the real or perceived boundaries between rural and non-rural. In a place like Calaveras County, where there are numerous quality of life migrants living side by side with long-term resource-based land users, negotiations of meaning and value must occur – and they are not without conflict. This study takes a political ecological view, investigating how ecological systems are impacted by, and also conversely impact, human systems. The study examines how different actors view the land use changes that are occurring in Calaveras County, exploring the different roles actors play in the process and discovering which factors figure into the land use decisions being made. The three case studies selected for the project and the preliminary findings of the study will be presented.