Wildlife habitat and agricultural commodities: organizing a common property resource in northern Colorado's Phantom Canyon

Wildlife habitat and agricultural commodities: organizing a common property resource in northern Colorado's Phantom Canyon Epperson, Annie Water resources development -- Colorado Natural resources, Commercial -- Colorado Cooperation -- Colorado North Poudre Irrigation Company Colorado Nature Conservancy viii, 114 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-107) Colorado surface water, an intensively-managed common property resource, has been allocated to serve primarily agricultural and municipal needs rather than ecological needs. This thesis inductively explores a case study in which two organizations, a mutual irrigation company (North Poudre Irrigation Company) which distributes common property irrigation water, and an environmental organization (The Nature Conservancy) protecting habitat for fish and wildlife, a collective good, forged a relationship. This organizational arrangement produces instream flows for habitat during fall, winter, and spring months, transcending individual rationality and creating organizational rationality as an agent of social and environmental change. Organizational variables, synthesized from the work of Elinor Ostrom (1990) and David Freeman (1989), are proposed as necessary for the successful creation of social capital in the form of an agreement between the two organizations. Qualitative methods, using in-depth interviews and document review, showed that the expected organizational variables were indeed present. Clear boundaries, equitable rules, and local control, were shown to contribute to the social construction of the agreement which resulted in the provision of a new good, with properties of both a collective good and a common property resource. Colorado State University. Libraries 2001 Text; Still Image application/pdf 2001_summer_Epperson.pdf ETDF2001100001SOLO eng English Colorado Copyright of original work is retained by the author.

Wildlife habitat and agricultural commodities: organizing a common property resource in northern Colorado's Phantom Canyon

Epperson, Annie

Water resources development -- Colorado

Natural resources, Commercial -- Colorado

Cooperation -- Colorado

North Poudre Irrigation Company

Colorado Nature Conservancy

viii, 114 p.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-107)

Colorado surface water, an intensively-managed common property resource, has been allocated to serve primarily agricultural and municipal needs rather than ecological needs. This thesis inductively explores a case study in which two organizations, a mutual irrigation company (North Poudre Irrigation Company) which distributes common property irrigation water, and an environmental organization (The Nature Conservancy) protecting habitat for fish and wildlife, a collective good, forged a relationship. This organizational arrangement produces instream flows for habitat during fall, winter, and spring months, transcending individual rationality and creating organizational rationality as an agent of social and environmental change. Organizational variables, synthesized from the work of Elinor Ostrom (1990) and David Freeman (1989), are proposed as necessary for the successful creation of social capital in the form of an agreement between the two organizations. Qualitative methods, using in-depth interviews and document review, showed that the expected organizational variables were indeed present. Clear boundaries, equitable rules, and local control, were shown to contribute to the social construction of the agreement which resulted in the provision of a new good, with properties of both a collective good and a common property resource.

Colorado State University. Libraries

2001

Text; Still Image

application/pdf

2001_summer_Epperson.pdf

ETDF2001100001SOLO

eng

English

Colorado

Copyright of original work is retained by the author.