Natural Resources Endowment and Economic Growth in the Southeastern United States

Using forest concentration data from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, this paper test whether or not the low-level of economic growth is related to forest resource intensity and Dutch Disease. Specifically, cross sectional data from 815 counties are used to evaluate how changes personal income growth is affected by concentration of forestry resources, government and business investment, educational investment and consumption. We find evidence that the county economies in the South may suffer from Dutch Disease.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Stunted Growth: Natural Resource Concentration, Economic Growth, and Dutch Disease in the Southeastern United States

We study the link between economic growth and resource endowment in the southeastern United States and find signs of Dutch Disease. Using data for 815 counties in this region, we focus attention on the connection between economic growth and forest resources. Our data support the Dutch Disease theory that economic reliance on natural resources contributes to low economic growth.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Assessing Barriers to Health Care Services for Hispanic Residents in Rural Georgia

Since the 1990s, many Hispanics have been relocating to the rural South and their permanency (although beneficial to the economy) poses new challenges at the institutional level. One area of major concern is the adequate provision of health care. Our article evaluates the socioeconomic, cultural, and geographic/transportation barriers that Hispanic residents face when seeking primary health care services in Toombs County, Georgia. Data were acquired through personal interviews with Hispanic residents, local health professionals, and key community informants by using a combination of opportunity sampling and a snowball approach. Results indicate that the local health system and the county as a whole have not yet fully adapted to the health needs of Hispanic migrants. There was a consensus among all respondents that language and communication issues were the primary barriers to accessing health care

The Potential Impact of Heir Property on Timber Management in the Southeastern United States

Abstract Active timberland management maintains forest health and productivity, which in turn contributes to the sustainability of the resource and wealth of the landowner. However, when land is held as heir property, options for timberland management are often limited. Heir property is owned as an undivided interest among many heirs of an original owner, or multiple generations of owners, who died intestate. This is common among African American landowners in the South. As a result the title is considered “clouded,” limiting access to capital and resources that are beneficial to timberland management. In this paper, the authors hope to improve awareness of this issue by documenting potential obstacles that heir property owners may encounter including the inability to plan land management activities such as forest inventories, harvesting, and replanting. As a result, the health of the forest may suffer posing a threat to forest productivity and landowner wealth generation. Keywords: Forestry, Timber Management, Heir Propert

Identifying Heirs’ Property: Extent and Value Across the South and Appalachia

A database of property tax records was used to locate and quantify the extent of heirs\u27 property across 11 states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia). Based on previously published work, an index of four variables was then developed to estimate the likelihood that a given parcel was heirs’ property. The authors conservatively estimate that there are at least 496,994 parcels of heirs’ properties with a combined total area of 5.3 million acres and a market value of $41.9 billion in these states

CAFOs, Culture, and Conflict on Sand Mountain: Framing Rights and Responsibilities in Appalachian Alabama

This paper presents a case study of controversy associated with large confined animal feed operations (CAFOs) on Sand Mountain in the northeast corner of Alabama, the tail-end of the Appalachian Mountains. We examine competing cultural frames developed by supporters and opponents of CAFOs that produce hogs. Both sides of the CAFO controversy utilize locally-specific cultural understandings of private property. Those opposed have framed their concerns both in terms of formal environmental standards of regulatory agencies and the responsibility of landowners not to engage in activities that adversely affect neighboring land owners. CAFO operators have framed the issue by drawing upon local traditions of individual rights over how one uses land, while calling upon reciprocal social relationships that stretch across multiple generations to win support or mute opposition. The controversy has spilled over into the legislative and regulatory arenas, where tradition-based cultural frames are repeated but in different forms

Trajectory mapping: A tool for validation of trace gas observations

We investigate the effectiveness of trajectory mapping(TM) as a data validation tool. TM combines a dynamical model of the atmosphere with trace gas observations to provide more statistically robust estimates of instrument performance over much broader geographic areas than traditional techniques are able to provide. We present four detailed case studies selected so that the traditional techniques are expected to work well. In each case the TM results are equivalent to or improve upon the measurement comparisons performed with traditional approaches. The TM results are statistically more robust than those achieved using traditional approaches since the TM comparisons occur over a much larger range of geophysical variability. In the first case study we compare ozone data from the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) with Microwave Limb Sounder(MLS). TM comparisons appear to introduce little to no error as compared to the traditional approach. In the second case study we compare ozone data from HALOE with that from the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment TT(SAGE TT). TM results in differences of less than 5% as compared to the traditional approach at altitudes between 18 and 25 km and less than 10% at altitudes between 25 and 40 km.In the third case study we show that ozone profiles generated from HALOE data using TM compare well with profiles from five European ozonesondes. In the fourth case study we evaluate the precision of MLS H20 using TM and find typical precision uncertainties of 3-7% at most latitudes and altitudes. The TM results agree well with previous estimates but are the result of a global analysis of the data rather than an analysis in the limited latitude bands in which traditional approaches work. Finally, sensitivity studies using the MLS H20 data show the following: (1) a combination of forward and backward trajectory calculations minimize uncertainties in isentropic TM; (2) although the uncertainty of the technique increases with trajectory duration,TM calculations of up to 14 days can provide reliable information for use in data validation studies; (3) a correlation coincidence criterion of 400 km produces the best TM results under most circumstances; (4) TM performs well compared to (and sometimes better than) traditional approaches at all latitudes and in most seasons and; (5) TM introduces no statistically significant biases at altitudes between 22 and 40 km

Rural America in a Globalizing World

This fourth Rural Sociological Society decennial volume provides advanced policy scholarship on rural North America during the 2010’s, closely reflecting upon the increasingly global nature of social, cultural, and economic forces and the impact of neoliberal ideology upon policy, politics, and power in rural areas. The chapters in this volume represent the expertise of an influential group of scholars in rural sociology and related social sciences. Its five sections address the changing structure of North American agriculture, natural resources and the environment, demographics, diversity, and quality of life in rural communities.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1103/thumbnail.jp

County-Level Extension Programming: Continuity and Change in the Alabama Cooperative Extension System

Production agriculture is no longer a dominant feature of Alabama\u27s rural life. Forestry and natural resource issues have emerged as significant concerns expressed by County Advisory Boards designed to help shape county-level Extension programming in Alabama. Our findings indicate that county-level Extension programming continues to put greater emphasis on traditional agricultural programs than on forestry and natural resources even though County Advisory Boards considered the latter issues to have greater priority. We examine the potential causes for the continued dominance of traditional programs in Alabama and conclude that initiatives to change program priorities are unlikely to begin at the county level