Collection and Analysis of Socioeconomic Data in the Bear River Basin Watershed Study Area
2004 Research Initiation Award Report
Investigators
Douglas Jackson-Smith—Department of of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology,
College of Humanties, Arts, and Social Sciences, Utah State University<
Summary
Most contentious water issues in the Bear River Basin are rooted in complex human land use
behaviors. For example, the growing demands for water by new residential and
recreational users have placed increasing pressure on traditional irrigated
agricultural operations in the watershed. Similarly, changes within traditional
land use categories can have dramatic impacts on water quality and water
quantity throughout this region. These include apparent shifts from intensive
irrigated cropland into less intensive irrigated pasture or unirrigated crop or
conservation reserve program land uses, increases or decreases in animal
stocking rates on public and private rangeland, and concentration of dairy and
hog livestock numbers on larger operations.
As researchers at Utah State University initiate multidisciplinary studies in the Bear River
basin, it is imperative to have accurate and detailed information about the
underlying demographic and land use changes taking place. In coming years,
these changes can be spatially referenced to documented changes in hydrologic
flows and water quality in the basin. The goal of this project is to develop a
scientifically valid database that can be used to analyze regional and local
demographic and land use trends that have important implications for water
resources in the proposed Bear River Laboratory Watershed. This database will
serve as the foundation for a socioeconomic profile report describing recent
changes and current conditions. It will also generate future research questions
regarding links between socioeconomic trends and water supply and quality
issues in the basin. Ideally, these questions will be addressed with natural
science colleagues in future multidisciplinary grant proposals.
This research begins with a careful inventory of existing databases regarding human
activities in the watershed. We then developed new aggregate datasets to
document county-level and basin-wide changes in the structure and performance
of the agricultural sector, overall patterns of land cover, and the size and
composition of population and housing stock. Geospatially-explicit data was
also collected regarding the location and type of: a) existing housing and new
residential construction activities; b) key agricultural and recreational
infrastructure; and c) key agricultural and rural land cover changes that
reflect spatial shifts in the underlying human behaviors.
See the Bear River Watershed Information System for more information.
This project collected the initial socioeconomic data that the contributed towards the
following grant:
-
USDA Conservation Effects Assessment Program Grant $650,000 (Horsburgh,
Stevens, Mesner, Jackson-Smith, Sorensen).
Contact Information
Douglas Jackson-Smith
douglasj‹at›hass.usu.edu