Alana Rader

As a trained geographer I approach environmental questions through theories of space and scale. My research focuses on patterns of landscape regeneration in integrated social-environment systems and from a Critical Physical Geography perspective. This means that I consider how physical landscape, ecology, policy, and socio-cultural practices all relate, feedback, and have a role in defining landscape regeneration. The patterns of landscape regeneration that I’ve explored provide me with hope and purpose in our current era of diverse and compounding global environmental changes.

To date, I have documented regeneration in a wide range of landscapes, from coastal beach-dune systems of western North America to tropical forests in a remote region of Mexico. I have two current ongoing research projects at Lewis & Clark. The first examines patterns of oak woodland regeneration following wildfires in the highly urban context of Los Angeles. The second, examines how community activism and environmental organizing is helping individuals recover following climate change driven hazards (hurricanes, extreme heat, wildfire). Common across all these projects is the use of multiple and diverse methodologies, including geospatial analysis, biophysical data collection and analysis, and engagement with local communities who have created, defined, and understood landscapes long before our questions were formed.

For more about my research, publications, and current reading list, please visit my research website!