Natural landscapes, amenities, and resources are at the heart of American identity
and its economy. But intense competition for the use of land and water pits farmers,
ranchers, corporations, environmentalists, communities, and governments against
each other. These conflicts raise a host of issues, including the use of public
lands, the impact of mining and drilling on communities and the landscape, the allocation
of water rights among cities and farmers, urban expansion, and the protection of
wilderness and fragile habitats.
These concerns clearly intersect with the other interests of the Rural Futures Lab,
namely food, energy, and ecosystems services. In our work going forward, two screens are important: a look
towards a 20-year time horizon, and the perspectives that the Lab hopes to bring
around regional resilience, entrepreneurship, social equity, and the next generation.
The Rural Futures Lab is concerned with how rural communities might use these perspectives
to both protect and benefit from their natural resource assets.
These intersections give rise to some intriguing questions:
- Where are there opportunities for aligning competing interests within a regional
framework that crosses sectors and jurisdictions?
- How can the stewardship of natural resources bring about opportunities for long-term
jobs and business creation in rural communities?
- What are the ways in which local people and communities can have a real stake in
the way resources are used so as to avoid exploitation and wealth extraction?
- Where are the opportunities for engaging young people both in terms of employment
opportunities and in decision-making?
OUR WORK
This Rural Futures Lab Foundation Paper examines the concept of "The New Natural Resource Economy" 
.
Authors Michael Hibbard (University of Oregon), Susan Lurie (Oregon State University), and Tiffany
H. Morrison (University of Queensland) explore the challenges faced by natural resource producing rural
regions, focusing on Australia and the U.S. They report on an NNRE scoping survey and case studies,
which provide the basis for a provisional definition of NNRE in practice.