Coast Range Association
Providing resources to understand
your community and the regional economy.
Now Available:
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:
Help the CRA continue advancing pathbreaking reports such as the coastal ecological economics assessment. Make a secure on-lione donation today.
Economic Profile System (EPS):
The CRA provides detailed reports on county and city economic measures and
trends using the Sonoran Institute's Economic Profile System (EPS) system. The EPS
provides 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, CRA staff can
provide a detailed socioeconomic view of the rural landscape of western Oregon and Washington.
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 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 CSIS.
As part of a CRA project supporting ecological restoration in the Upper Willamette watershed, we used GIS to determine the socioeconomic communities for western Oregon watershed councils. This allows us to provide a detailed socioeconomic picture of each council's watershed area.
CRA maps and socioeconomic data sets are available for all watershed council areas
of western Oregon.
