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.

In Towards a right to the rural?, Levi Van Sant (Integrative Studies, George Mason University) and Madeleine Fairbairn (Environmental Studies, University of California – Santa Cruz) explore the conceptual framework of ‘a right to the rural’ to clarify struggles to access rural spaces.

In Ethnographic Research: Immersing Oneself in the Rural Environment, Michele Statz (Minnesota Medical School/Law) and William Garriott (Law, Politics, and Society, Drake University) present ethnography as an effective method for the study of rural criminal justice. They argue that through its expectation of extended engagement in everyday life among a population, ethnography offers a means of assessing the thick social ties and thin institutional infrastructures that define the criminal justice system in rural communities. By exploring relationships, ethnographical studies contextualize structural and cultural conditions and reveal unique insights about life and crime in rural spaces.

In Critical Rural Theory: A Decade of Influence on Rural Education Research author Wendy Pfrenger (Dept. of Higher Education, University of Mississippi Division of Outreach) examines both the key elements and influences of Critical Rural Theory in rural education and research.

In Navigating Legal Geographies, Ann M. Eisenberg (West Virginia University Law) summarizes the aims and objectives of law and rurality scholarship as opposed to legal geography scholarship to identify the underlying themes of each and build an understanding of how these two frameworks might interact with each other.

In Law in Place: Reflections on Rural and Urban Legal Paradigms, Nestor M. Davidson (Urban Law Center, Fordham) and Alan R. Romero (Rural Law Center, University of Wyoming) reflect on the ways in which rural and urban settings shape the law and its application. The authors draw from their own experiences, approaching legal research as scholars and directors of their respective centers.

In Geographies of Land Ownership Change in the Rural United States: Challenges, Methods, and Possibilities, Lindsay Shade (Community and Leadership Development, University of Kentucky) and Levi Van Sant (Integrative Studies, George Mason University) outline the challenges and potential solutions to researching geographies of land ownership in rural United States. Their research draws on their experiences with a participatory action research project, the Appalachian Land Study.

In A Guide to the American Community Survey (ACS) for the Rural Researcher: Unpacking the Conceptual and Technical Aspects of Using Secondary Data for Rural Research, author Kristie LeBeau demonstrates and identifies how authors can use the ACS to conduct rural research.