Sandra Lee Pinel, PhD, AICP Exper se: Community, indigenous, and regional planning, applied anthropology, comprehensive local and regional planning, conflict management, case studies, strategic and par"cipatory methods, and program development for Western US and Andean La"n America Leadership and Service: Academic planning program, APA divisions, diversity commi#ees, interdisciplinary and engaged collabora"ve research teams and development of financed studio partnerships Professional Prac ce: Local physical and regional planning and intergovernmental program administra"on with Na"ve American tribal governments, metropolitan agencies, State of New Mexico, and na"onal programs
Interests How can we teach planners and administrators to understand diverse contexts, cultures, and impacts when designing community development and conserva on plans? How can we develop ins tu o ns to address indigenous rights and confl i c ng interests across complex cultural, poli cal, and natural boundaries while suppor ng local community iden e s? How do we engage actors in research design to make knowledge useful for decision making? Metropolitan map and river Metropolitan Council www.metrocouncil.org Courtesy National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/petr/index.htm Courtesy of Clearwater Basin Collaborative www.clearwaterbasincollaborative.org
Scholarship Applied and published case studies on how and why diverse actors apply different cultural rules, policies, and laws to achieve public and private goals for cultural and natural landscapes that cross mul"ple cultural and poli"cal boundaries. Studying the fine grained governance prac"ces for inclusive, just, and sustainable places (Patsy Healey 2006)
Community & Regional Planning Education Pedagogy: I support and deeply challenge students to create processes and plans that engage communi"es in reflec"on and strategic ac"on. This means cul"vating their ability to link theory with prac"ce in the context of global and local dynamics, cultures, values, possibili"es, sources of disciplinary and community knowledge, capaci"es, law, and resources. Induc"ve and integra"ve Reflec"ve and cri"cal Experien"al and imagina"ve Rigorous and transforma"ve
Applied Research Partnerships Planning theory and prac"ce provide the missing link in interdisciplinary research projects. Planning scholarship can demonstrate how to engage local, indigenous, and agency actors and decision makers in research design, in knowledge co-produc"on, and in applica"ons to sustainability threats and opportuni"es. Friedmann 1987 Complex Mountain Landscapes RCN-SEES: Advancing Our Social and Environmental Understanding of Complex Mountain Landscapes and their Vulnerability to Environmental Change* Jim Gosz1, Robert Crabtree2, Todd Norton3, Sandra Pinel1, Jack Stanford4 Mountain-valley environments are complex landscapes characterized by steep biophysical gradients with many areas experiencing profound socioeconomic transitions such as rapid population growth and land-use change. Human-environment relationships in these landscapes vary from emerging amenity-orientated communities associated with demographic changes to communities with continuing legacies in extractive natural resources. Sustainability and resilience of these landscapes remains uncertain and is a function of the ability of the natural and human systems to respond to change under shifting social, ecological, and economic forces. The Complex Mountain Landscapes RCN will address the overarching issue: How can we reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems in complex mountain landscapes through research and education partnerships? This project will stress collaboration and integration of socio-economic and biophysical sciences, building upon and expanding existing partnerships to improve social and ecological resilience and sustainability. The photos below show some examples of this gradient of land use. Research Questions: The initial research questions are: What landscape elements or conditions are most sensitive to climate- and land-use changes? In what ways do changing social conditions such as community and public perceptions, economic and governance structures impact the ecological resiliency of these areas? What are the effects of a changing precipitation regime on natural (wilderness) and managed terrestrial and aquatic systems in complex mountain landscapes? What opportunities exist for better application of natural science and resource management for mitigating adverse conditions with a goal of sustainability of resources and ecosystem services? What are the most relevant data sources and information systems to analyze and visualize coupled natural and human changes? How do we share information internationally? How should models be structured that merge social, economic, and ecological processes to create learning institutions to improve the governance and Figure 2. Looking east across the floodplain of the stewardship of complex mountain landscapes? North Fork Flathead River into the northeastern How can we create more sustainable, adaptive, and interconnected land-use and corner of Glacier National Park, Bowman Lake is prominent to right of center. Habitats change with water resource systems to improve the effective response to climate and land-use elevation from floodplain mosaics to montane forests changes that interact with disturbances (fire, insect/disease outbreak, etc.) across to subalpine mosaics to alpine zones. mountain landscapes and human-environmental well-being? How will climate- and land-use changes interact with disturbances (fire, insect/disease outbreak, etc.) to alter connectivity across mountain landscapes? The planning meetings for this RCN have elicited a great deal of interest. At submission, around 100 scientists from 20 universities (3 Canadian, 6 other foreign), 7 agencies (3 foreign), and 3 NGOs had participated in its development as well as about 15 natural resource managers from 4 tribes and 3 federal agencies. Figure 1. The initial focus region of the Complex Mountain Landscapes RCN contains replicates of the urban-to-wilderness gradient, which include roadless areas, private, state and federal managed forests, agricultural dominated cropland and rangeland, and urban-wildland transitions surrounding cities and towns. Field research sites shown (#s) provide the initial information to be used in the RCN. This RCN will develop effective ways to organize and coordinate the research that will improve the science base and the education needed to inform policy and management decisions. This will be accomplished by the initiation of multidisciplinary, integrated efforts among academic, governmental, and tribal institutions and entities. Existing information systems will be coupled with new tools and technologies to address questions of strategic regional, national and international importance. The initial effort will capitalize on a well-studied region in the Northern Rockies of the US and Canada, which includes a rich mix of landscape conditions along gradients of land use from wilderness to rapidly developing urban areas. These regional studies will serve as models as we expand the research to other complex mountain landscapes. Large amounts of data already exist but better integration is needed across various disciplines, including modeling and synthesis efforts which deal efficiently with the complexity of coupled natural and human systems and effectively inform policy and decision makers. Figure 3. Looking south up the Bitterroot Valley showing typical intermontane valleys in the northern Rockies with agricultural lands mixed with riparian mosaics and rangelands on the lower mountain slopes. Figure 3. Aerial oblique of Spokane, WA and Coeur d Alene, ID showing urban development spreading east along the Spokane River and Coeur d Alene Lake**. This RCN is open to all interested parties. We encourage scientists and natural resource managers who want to participate to contact any of the Co-PIs. This is an open program that especially welcomes entry-level participants, encourages collaborations between scientists and resource managers. *This project is funded by National Science Foundation (NSF); Award No. DEB-1231233 1. University of Idaho 2. Yellowstone Ecological Research Center and The University of Montana 3. Washington State University; 4. Flathead Lake Biological Station, The University of Montana **Photo Courtesy: Dr. William A. Bowen, California Geographical Survey