Editorial Notes

Abstract

Editorial Notes Craig S. Revels It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this, the eighty-third volume of the Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers. Last year's volume was published in a time of great uncertainty as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world, and this year's unfortunately arrives under similar conditions, slowly improving though they may be. The tragedies, disruptions, and general state of societal affairs during the pandemic will not soon be forgotten. The pandemic also generated uniquely historic circumstances for the Association. The most immediate of these was the cancellation of the 2020 annual meeting, one of only four such years (the other three being 1943–45, during WWII) that APCG had failed to hold a meeting since its founding in 1935. Additionally, the annual meeting is essential to the official workings of the Association, including leadership transitions. With the cancellation, the Executive Council made the decision to extend official council positions for an additional year and forgo the awards and accolades that are a key part of our meetings. One of the traditional functions of the Yearbook is to serve as an official record of the annual meetings held by the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers. With no 2020 meeting, these elements are of course missing from this year's volume, though they will reappear next year. Instead, volume eighty-three is comprised solely of original research and reviews that collectively suggest a theme of vibrancy and relevance for geographic inquiry in the wider world. Our first article takes us to the Pacific Northwest, where the delicate balance between rural livelihoods and the ecosystems upon which they rely is a recurring topic of debate. Lisa Butler Harrington and John Harrington consider the oyster industry of Willapa Bay, placing the evolution of local livelihoods in the context of broader questions concerning invasive species, ecosystem health, and external policy decisions that have historically influenced resource management and will continue to do so in the future. Many residents of the Pacific Northwest take for granted the hydro-electric landscapes that form the foundation of the region's economy and contemporary character. Katherine Heslop delves deeply into the broad societal currents and local impulses that led to the development of those landscapes. Thus, we see them as facets of early twentieth-century progressive [End Page 9] movements and the advent of federally based regional planning in Roosevelt's New Deal, juxtaposed with deeper regional processes that in many ways are still at work today. Geographers have been at the forefront of research into the spread of COVID-19 since the earliest days of the pandemic, and Steve Graves and Petra Nichols contribute an analytical perspective on infection rates in Los Angeles County. In particular, they statistically identify a causal relationship between infection and a range of key socioeconomic and demographic variables, a relationship influencing the location and rate of spread for the disease. They leave us to consider how those factors must be addressed in any preparations for future public health crises. Race and racism have once again returned to the national discourse, with a great deal of emphasis on its structural and institutional forms in areas such as housing policy, gentrification, and urban inequality. As Mallory Stermon and Chris Lukinbeal remind us, the legacy of redlining—essentially housing segregation arising from governmental lending policy—remains pervasive in the urban landscape. The authors analyze the persistence of redlining through the use of historical GIS and spatial analysis of neighborhood demographics through time. Examining the changing demographics of minority populations in Boston, Detroit, and Los Angeles, they demonstrate the potential of spatial analysis to help address one of the most challenging urban issues of the twenty-first century. The next articles illustrate two different ways in which students can be trained in the techniques of analysis and observation, contributing not only to our own research agendas but also developing valuable skills for their own future endeavors. Understanding local fire history is increasingly important in the western United States, and macroscopic charcoal analysis is the leading method for reconstructing them. However, several key methodological questions remain unanswered. Here, lead author Megan Walsh discusses...