SCALes

The SCALes (Sustainability of Communities and Agricultural Landscapes) lab at Kansas State University examines the joint influences of environmental hazards, land use, and socioeconomic conditions in socioenvironmental systems. Our goal is to identify policy and practice solutions that promote social equity and the preservation of natural resources and ecosystems for future generations.

SCALes

Latest News

Last updated on Aug 25, 2023 1 min read
Two new datasets published in Summer 2023

The community assets and relative rurality index (CARR) block group data is now published and publicly available! You can access the data at Zenodo. In addition, a dataset of multiscalar social vulnerability indices for the US is now published and publicly available at Zenodo.

Last updated on Jul 26, 2023 1 min read
Landscape Complexity Metric Data Published

The county-level landscape complexity data built for our USDA Diversity of Agricultural Landscape project is now published and publicly available! You can access the data at AgDataCommons. The suggested citation for those using the data is: Burchfield, Emily K.

Last updated on Jul 26, 2023 1 min read
Sustainable Adaptations to the Future Environment of Kansas

Learn more about our work on project SAFE KAW in this video. The full series of SAFE KAW updates on all aspects of the project can be found at the Kansas Geological Survey’s YouTube channel.

Last updated on Jul 26, 2023 1 min read
Diversification as Landscape Change in NC

Check out this pod-cast by our amazing Diversity of Agricultural Landscapes project post-doc (and now assistant professor at Arizona State University!) Andrea Rissing!

Last updated on Jul 26, 2023 1 min read
Denise to attend I-GUIDE Convergence Science in Action 2023 Workshop

Denise will attend the Institute for Geospatial Understanding through an Integrated Discovery Environment (I-GUIDE) Summer School in August 2023 on Convergence Science in Action. At the week-long workshop in Denver, CO about 35 graduate students and early career scholars will collaborate with project members of I-GUIDE to develop novel solutions to complex problems that rely on computation- or data-intensive geospatial data science.

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Research Areas

Here are some projects we are currently working on.

BioWRAP - Bioplastics with Regenerative Agricultural Properties
The BioWRAP project’s primary aim is to reduce the use of plastics, herbicides and associated environmental impacts in agricultural production by creating an all-in-one bioplastic system that can better manage weeds, nutrients, soils, and water resources.
Sustainable Adaptations to the Future Environment of Kansas’s Agriculture and Water
In this project, led by Dr. Sam Zipper at the University of Kansas Geological Survey and conducted in collaboration with Dr. Erin Seybold (KGS) and Dr. Vaishali Sharda (KSU BioAg Engineering), we aim to identify ways to protect water resources while maintaining rural livelihoods in the face of a changing climate with strong impacts on agriculture.
Mitigating Flood Risk
Paxico, Kansas is a rural small town with just over 200 residents. The majority of the town lies in a high flood risk zone, which has experienced limited economic development for over a generation.
Evaluating Sustainability
Examining how we conceptualize and measure complex latent constructs like sustainability and related ideas of vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity. Ongoing work includes: A sensitivity analysis of a social vulnerability index for the US across resolutions and extents.
Relevant publications
Rural Sustainability
Critically examining how we define what is “rural” and the factors that are uniquely associated with sustainability in rural areas. Ongoing work includes: Construction, sensitivity analysis, and validation of a measure of agricultural community adaptive capacity.
Relevant publications
Nurture Wildcat Creek
The Nurture Wildcat Creek initiative aims to promote community-engaged research and education in the Wildcat Creek Watershed in Riley County, Kansas. Our goals are to: Promote responsible and sustainable management of our local watershed resources.
Nurture Wildcat Creek
Diversity of Agricultural Landscapes
Agriculture is undeniably the anthropogenic process that has had the greatest impact on what covers the earth’s surface. Advances in agricultural technology have revolutionized how we farm and have led to major increases in our ability to produce food and fibers to meet the needs of a growing the human population.
Relevant publications
Diversity of Agricultural Landscapes
Strategic Retreat
Recognizing the importance of strategic retreat policies and programs in building a sustainable future we examine the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of voluntary buyout programs in the United States.
Relevant publications
Strategic Retreat