- Salish Sea References
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This platform uses a five-level system to describe the scale of a Place within Bioregions like the Salish Sea. A hierarchy of Jurisdictions are used to describe how social institutions operate at different scales, related to the subdivisions of nation-state governments. A wide range of ecosystem-based strategies consider assessment and action at different geographic scales. There is not single model for describing scale in either social systems or ecological systems.
- Regional Scale - (100s to 1000s of square miles) Regions describe land masses or oceanic subbasins in ways that are commonly discussed, studied or managed by workgroups. There is no perfect division of regions, and the boundaries of regions may be ambiguous.
- Catchment Scale - (10s-100s of square miles) Catchments encompasses whole hydrologic systems. A large river watershed, or a collection of watersheds around a marine inlet might define a catchment. Peninsulas and islands may also describe a distinct hydrologic place centered on the terrestrial rather than the aquatic. Large catchments may be subdivided (for example the Category:Skykomish within the).
- Landform Scale - (1s-10s of square miles) Landforms are pieces of a landscape defined by physiographic processes, such as a River Delta, Beach, or a Floodplain reach, or at higher elevation Headwater Tributaries storing snow, in confined valleys.
- Site Scale - (10s - 100s of acres) Sites describe places people do efforts, and may be defined by ownership rather than ecology, although the two may coincide. You can use the wiki to document assessments, designs, or stewardship efforts on your sites.
- Patch Scale - (1s - 10s of acres) Our smallest scale describes patches under management within sites. You can use the wiki to document treatment and monitoring units.
Notes[edit]
- Feibleman 1954 describes the relationships among scales as being important for the integration of scientific knowledge, writing from a time when scientific knowledge was becoming increasingly specialized and narrow.
- Yeomans 1958 encourages the consideration of "scales of permanence" which describes how design drivers and elements like climate, landform, hydrology, soils, vegetation, access, and should be considered at different spatial scales, because of their relative temporal permanence.
