Laura A. Watt

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Planning
Ph.D. Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 2001
M.E.M. Natural Resources Economics and Policy, Duke University, 1992
Email: laura.watt@sonoma.edu
Voicemail: 707.664.2722
Fax: 707.664.4202
Office: Rachel Carson 24

Research Interests:

My long-term research agenda is to explore the history of protected landscapes to bolster their long-term sustainability in terms of both natural and cultural systems.  In contrast to most land policy research, I use landscape as a tool for understanding the complex interactions between people and their environments, tracking historical changes in protected areas as indicators of shifting social dynamics and structures.  A firm grounding in property theory contributes to my interest in the interplay between public and private ownership in protecting rural landscapes.  Much of my research work has been done at Point Reyes National Seashore, examining the impacts of National Park Service management on the local ranching landscape.  Prior to coming to SSU, I worked as an environmental consultant in San Francisco for four years with EDAW, Inc., specializing in writing resource management plans for the Bureau of Land Management, as well as historic landscape analyses for a variety of government agencies. Outside of school I am an avid photographer and sailor.

Courses Offerings:

Selected Publications:

 

Laura A. Watt.  “Regardening an Industrial Landscape: Conflicting goals in the South Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project.”  In Marcus Hall, ed., Restoria: The Presence of the Past in Environmental Restoration.  Routledge Publishers, currently under review.

Sally K. Fairfax, Lauren Gwin, Mary Ann King, Leigh Raymond, and Laura A. Watt.  Buying Nature: The Limits of Land Acquisition as a Conservation Strategy, 1780-2003.  The MIT Press, August 2005.

Laura A. Watt et al.  King Range National Conservation Area Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement. Prepared by EDAW, Inc. for the Bureau of Land Management, November 2004.

Laura A. Watt, Leigh Raymond, and Meryl L. Eschen.  “On Preserving Ecological and Cultural Landscapes.”  Environmental History, Volume 9:620-647, October 2004.

Laura A. Watt.  “The Trouble With Preservation, or, Getting Back to the Wrong Term for Wilderness Protection: A Case Study at Point Reyes National Seashore.”  The Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, Volume 64:55-72, 2002.