Coast Range Association
Providing resources to understand your community and the regional economy.
An Ecological Economics Approach to
Understanding Oregon’s Coastal Economy and Environment
Paula Swedeen, Ph.D. and Dave Batker, Earth Economics
Hans Radtke, Ph.D., The Research Group
Roul Boumans, Ph.D., Gund Institute for Ecological Economics
Chuck Willer, The Coast Range Association
There have been no studies to date that address the broad economic relationship between Oregon’s estuary and marine ecosystems and the economic health of Oregon’s coastal communities. This paper reports on the first phase of an economic analysis linking marine and marine influenced ecological conditions to the general coastal economy by exploring those ecosystem services that connect economy and ecology. We present the general concept of ecosystem services and discuss qualitatively their contribution to the coastal economy of Oregon. Specifically, we provide the background ecological economics framework in which the role of ecosystem services is assessed in its support of the coastal economy. This includes describing the relationship between the long-term sustainable management of coastal resources (natural capital) and the resilience of the Oregon coastal economy. The paper incorporates concrete data, examples, and discussions of coastal Oregon conditions including thecoastal economy and marine environment, and past and current fisheries. The report lays the foundation for a further and more in-depth analysis which will explore a thorough ecosystem service valuation for the Oregon coast.
The full report is available as a pdf file downloadable from the link below:
CRA Director, Chuck Willer, has built a presentation on the economic downturn. With Oregon's unemployment still over 10%, the presentation is timely and informative. The presentation outlines why the crisis began in the financial system and explains how debt creation used for asset speculation lies at the heart of the problem.
Economic Profile System (EPS):
The CRA provides detailed reports on county and city economic measures and trends using the Headwaters Economics Economic Profile System (EPS) system. The EPSprovides over twenty years of detailed economic data on employment, income, and population trends for each county in Oregon.
Go to coastal counties economic profiles
Community Socioeconomic Information System
Using the USDA Forest Service's Community Socioeconomic Information System (CSI) , CRA staff can provide a detailed socioeconomic view of the rural landscape of western Oregon and Washington. What is useful in the CSI System is that all rural community areas are defined. Many Coast Range communities do not show up in the standard incorporated city profiles.
Also, city boundaries do not capture the actual community space that a population embraces as an identity or relates to as their commercial and civic center. For example, if one wished to understand the occupational data for the community of Yachats in Lincoln County, it would be necessary to incorporate census tracts to the north and south of town as well as data from the Yachats River valley. The coastal areas north and south of Yachats as well as the Yachats Rivervalley make up the town's postal zip code area (97498) and local telephone exchange (547).
The above map is unique because it allocates all rural space to community areas based on Census data. The map was created by social scientists at the research branch of the Forest Service as part of the Community Socioeconomic Information System (CSIS) . Detailed socioeconomic comparisons between 1990 and 2000 census data are available for each community identified in the CSI System. We look forward to the 2010 Census data to further explore socioeconomic trends
in our region.
