The Rural Review

An online journal produced in conjunction with the Rural Reconciliation Project.

Rural Reconciliation 10/6/26 Rural Reconciliation 10/6/26

Dorkenoo & Res: Climate-related Land Loss

In On the Production of Climate-related Loss: Land Dispossession, Indebtedness, and Climate Change in Northeastern Cambodia, Kelly Dorkenoo (Centre for Sustainability Studies, Lund University, Sweden) and Phasy Res (Development Studies, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University) explore how development policies reinforce social and economic inequalities that shape climate-related land loss in rural and Indigenous farming communities.

Rural Reconciliation 9/18/26 Rural Reconciliation 9/18/26

Cookies, Conservation, and a Conversation with Larkin Powell

Event announcement. Professor Powell is Director of the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His latest book, The Best of Intentions: A Story of Landscape Change in the Heart of the Great Plains, draws on historical records, personal narratives, and ecological research to reveal the centuries-long transformation of Nebraska’s landscapes.

As part of the Project’s ongoing Land & Water program series, this in-person conversation will explore Professor Powell’s recent book, conservation, and the ecological changes shaping Nebraska’s past, present, and future.

Rural Reconciliation 9/17/26 Rural Reconciliation 9/17/26

Book Review: Farmers and Climate Change

Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern shares this review of Climate Change: Agricultural Adaptation in an Age of Rural Polarization (Yale UP, 2026) by Margiana Petersen-Rockney, assistant professor in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Montana.

In this timely new book, Petersen-Rockney shares the stories of farmers contending with climate change in Siskiyou County, California, providing new perspectives that will be of interest to scholars, advocates, and policymakers working at the intersection of rural livelihoods and modern day environmental precarity.

Rural Reconciliation 6/9/26 Rural Reconciliation 6/9/26

Munis & Nemerever: Rural Residency, Rural Resentment, and Attitudes Towards Public Land Management

In Rural Residency, Rural Resentment, and Attitudes Towards Public Land Management in the United States, authors B. Kal Munis and Zoe Nemerever (both Political Science, Auburn) explore attitudes regarding federal public land management along the urban-rural divide. The authors find that while both rural and non-rural Americans are broadly supportive of federal public lands, a subset of “resentful ruralities” are markedly unsupportive of public lands due to their opposition to the federal government.

Rural Reconciliation 5/19/26 Rural Reconciliation 5/19/26

Hisey & Olsen: Collaborative Management on the Eastern Slopes

In Collaborative Management on the Eastern Slopes: The Waldron Ranch Grazing Cooperative and Conservation Easement Motivations, Forrest Hisey (Geography, Geomatics, and Environment, University of Toronto Mississauga) and Jonah Olsen (Geography and Planning, University of Toronto) investigate the use of conservation easements (CEs) in Canada as a tool for private land conservation. The authors explore the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for such easements, including deeply rooted cultural identities among landowners and traditional economic benefits.

Rural Reconciliation 4/21/26 Rural Reconciliation 4/21/26

Villavicencio-Pinto: The Geography of Property Rights

In The Geography of Property Rights: Land Concentration, Irrigation Access and Rural Poverty Under Climate Change in Chile, Eduardo Villavicencio-Pinto (Law, University of Kent, England) examines the relationship between land concentration and rural poverty in Chile. The article argues that land concentration increases the likelihood of poverty primarily in communities with limited water access.

Rural Reconciliation 4/14/26 Rural Reconciliation 4/14/26

Tidler: The Importance of Decommissioning Plans in Relocation Projects

In Feed it to the Ocean: The Federal Approach to Decommissioning in Alaska Native Climate Adaptation Project, Sophia Tidler (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Law) highlights the importance of decommissioning existing infrastructure when planning relocation, managed retreat, and protect-in-place (RMP) projects for environmentally threatened Native communities in rural Alaska.

Rural Reconciliation 4/7/26 Rural Reconciliation 4/7/26

Rosenbloom: Catching Nutrients in a Net

In Catching Nutrients in a Net: Collective Action, Institutional Impediments, and the Mississippi River Watershed, Jonathan Rosenbloom (Albany Law School) investigates the role of local governments in the regulation of pollution in the Mississippi River Watershed. In his analysis, Rosenbloom goes beyond the traditional “tragedy of the commons” explanation for local government action and instead looks to the dynamics of federal and state regulations that preempt local governments.

Rural Reconciliation 2/24/26 Rural Reconciliation 2/24/26

Callahan & Himes: Natural Resource Policy and Collaborative Processes

In Natural Resource Policy and Collaborative Processes, Crystal M. Callahan and Katherine M. Himes (both Public Policy Research, University of Idaho) advocate for introducing collaborative governance to the natural resource policy process. The authors explore several successful Idaho case studies in which collective governance was utilized to address “wicked problems” plaguing Idaho’s natural resource policy.

Rural Reconciliation 1/27/26 Rural Reconciliation 1/27/26

Hisey: Conservation Easement Policy in Canada

In Provincial Diffusion, National Acceptance: The Transfer of Conservation Easement Policy in Canada, author Forrest Hisey (Geography, Geomatics, and Environment, University of Toronto) surveys the development of conservation easement (CE) legislation development in Canada to understand the state of CE policy as well as policy diffusion methods leading to this development.

Rural Reconciliation 10/7/25 Rural Reconciliation 10/7/25

Schneider et al.: Financial Incentives and Landowner Interest in Reforestation

In Financial Incentives and Landowner Interest in Reforesting Open Lands in the Southeastern United States, authors Chloe Schnieder and Nina Randazzo (Environmental Defense Fund), Ram Kumar Adhikari (Forestry, Mississippi State University), and Neelam Chandra Poudyal (Natural Resources, University of Tennessee) examine the factors influencing landowners’ willingness to participate in reforestation programs.

Rural Reconciliation 8/26/25 Rural Reconciliation 8/26/25

Wolters et al.: Sustainability Initiatives in Rural Cascadia

In Small and Rural Local Government Environmental Sustainability Plans, Programs and Policies in Cascadia: A Comparative Analysis, Erika Allen Wolters, Brent S. Steel, and Sadaf Farooq (all Public Policy, Oregon State), and Tamara Krawchenko (Public Administration, University of Victoria) examine the environmental sustainability efforts of small and local governments within the “Cascadia” region which spans British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington.