 |
||||
|
|
|
||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
Louise joined Berkeley’s forestry faculty in 1984. Since that time she has helped build Berkeley’s reputation as a leading institution in natural resource sociology. She now holds the rank of Professor, is chair of the Department of ESPM’s Division of Society and the Environment, and is the Rudy Grah Professor of Forestry and Sustainable Development. I was interested in finding out her current interests in the interface between society and natural resources—after all, we know that current forestry is more about people than trees. Louise and her students are focusing on the social and ecological effects of management of trees and forests by both individuals and communities. She does this by studying communities in Northern California and Southern Africa. There are four main issues common to both: 1) How do women and men differ in having access to, controlling, and managing natural resources and their products? 2) How are property rights and claims to natural resources structured and distributed and how do these affect individuals, communities and the ecosystem? 3) What are the causes, extent, nature, and distribution of poverty among natural resource-dependent households and communities? And 4) what factors facilitate or impede community control and management of natural resources? In Northern California, Louise is focusing on three projects. One deals with poverty in eleven forest counties. This is a long-standing problem and is similar in extent to poverty in inner cities. She is collaborating with economists in analyzing monthly time-series data to assess the effects of changes in timber industry employment on welfare rates (in the form of aid to families with dependent children). The data show that increased timber employment does not decrease welfare rates. An article reporting this has study has been accepted by the Journal of Forestry. A second study addresses the critical issue of forest fragmentation and absentee ownership. Here, Louise and collaborators are comparing data from properties in three counties between 1975 and the present to evaluate trends in social and ecological effects of changes in land holding and land use. Preliminary findings show that tree cover has increased, there is a change in species composition, and that conversion to residential development has occurred mainly at the expense of agricultural rather than forest land. And a third interdisciplinary study with other Department faculty is evaluating the effects of changes in timber markets and] migration in rural communities and landscapes. A major question is how local institutions mediate the effects of macro-level changes. In Southern Africa, Louise has had long-term and continuing interest in interrelationships between natural resources and sociological issues. These focus on the role of women who commonly have responsibility for planting, tending, and harvesting tree products for food, fuel, poles and medicine, but commonly do not have ownership of the trees. This leads to disincentives for tending trees, which have consequences on the health and welfare of communities as well as on the environment. Current issues include exploring the effects of HIV/AIDS on the extent, health, and use of forest resources. Louise obviously loves teaching, and I’m sure this shows in the quality of course content and in her interactions with students. Her undergraduate course in interrelationships between natural resources and society is taken by students from different majors across campus, including engineers. Louise said that students commonly find that these interrelationships are much more complex and interesting than they previously recognized. At the graduate level she focuses on the student’s own interests and enhances their abilities to think critically, evaluate the quality of information, and to “never let your rhetoric outrun your data”. I asked Louise about her title as Rudy Grah Professor of Forestry and Sustainable Development. [Rudy was a long-time member of the Berkeley faculty and Chairman of the School of Forestry and Conservation from 1974 until his untimely death in 1978.] Louise said, “It is a real privilege to be the holder of a Professorship named after Rudy.” This enables Louise to enhance her program in innovative ways such as supporting student projects and attendance at conferences; conducting twice a year a Rudy Grah Lecture in Sustainable Forestry; and facilitating meetings and panel discussions in California and elsewhere on social issues, community forestry, and conflict mediation. Louise emphasized that these kinds of special activities would not be possible without resources made available through the Rudy Grah Professorship. In answering the question what was special about being a professor of
natural resource sociology at Berkeley, Louise was quick to point out
that key factors were the benefits derived from integration of her field
within an interdisciplinary department. This integration, says Louise,
“brings together an exciting mix of highly talented students and
faculty which enables one to ask better questions that lead to a greater
capacity to develop better solutions to social and environmental problems.”
|
|
||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
