Robert Kuhlken, Geographer

Robert Kuhlken, Ph.D.
Professor of Geography

Department of Geography
Central Washington University
400 East University Way
Ellensburg, WA 98926-7420

Phone: (509) 963-2795

E-mail: kuhlkenr@cwu.edu

Teaching

Courses Offered Regularly

GEOG 101   World Regional Geography

GEOG 108   Introduction to Human Geography

GEOG 305   Introduction to Land-Use Planning

GEOG 308   Cultural Geography

GEOG 355   Geography of the Pacific Northwest

GEOG 405   Advanced Topics in Land-Use Planning

GEOG 415   Geography of Oceania

ENST 455    Environmental Literature

Other Courses Taught

GEOG 203   Map Reading and Interpretation

GEOG 304   Economic Geography

GEOG 408   Advanced Topics in Human Geography

GEOG 440   Ecology & Culture

GEOG 450   Geography of Arid Lands

GEOG 481   Urban Geography

REM 501     Systems of Resource Management

Research

    I am interested in numerous aspects of cultural ecology, along with many topics within cultural and historical geography, including music geography, urban and regional planning, resource management, environmental literature and nature writing, and the regional landscapes of Oceania, the Pacific Northwest, and the South.
    I also wrote a book recently that investigates changing land use patterns in the so-called New West, co-authored with friend and mentor from Oregon State University, Dr. Philip Jackson.

    Some of my past fieldwork has focused on the ways that humans have shaped their landscapes, especially for subsistence production. I have become fascinated with agricultural terraces, and believe that most terraced landscapes in the world are places of enduring utility and incredible beauty. I always like to visit these places, for I feel they harbor valuable lessons in conservation and aesthetics and how to live in harmony with the environment. During 1987, for example, I traveled through the Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia looking at terrace systems there. But a number of those areas were already being documented by geographers, anthropologists, agronomists, and others keen on preserving the traditional ecological knowledge it took to build and operate these often sophisticated agrosystems. I thought about a previous year of travel in another favorite portion of the planet, through the South Seas during 1984-85, and wondered if there were terrace systems somewhere in that wondrous region that might be studied in greater depth. A fortuitous conversation with Professor Harold Brookfield during the AAG meetings in Toronto in 1990 led me to pursue a broad study of agricultural terracing in the Fiji Islands. There were once many operating terrace systems in Fiji, which were developed for the irrigated cultivation of taro (Colocasia esculenta). Most of these have been abandoned, yet I have tried to document their areal extent and morphology. I was fortunate, however, to find several irrigated terrace systems still being used, on the remote southern island of Kadavu.

a. b.

Studying irrigated terrace agriculture in Fiji: a) excavating the stone terrace wall in an abandoned system in the Nakauvadra Mountains of northernViti Levu; b) mapping an operative system on the island of Kadavu.

Publications (this link provides a more or less complete list)

Academic training

B.A. English, 1977, Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia, Wise, Virginia
Senior Thesis: The Life and/or Art of Sidney Lanier
Advisor: Richard Peake

M.S. Geography, 1983, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon
Research Paper: Selected Factors Affecting Rangeland Use on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation
Committee: Philip Jackson (chair), James Pease, Richard Highsmith

Ph.D. Geography, 1994, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Dissertation: Agricultural Terracing in the Fiji Islands
Committee: Kent Mathewson (chair), Anthony Lewis, Philip Wagner, Carville Earle, Miles Richardson

With my committee - photo taken on Carville's lawn after passing my orals:
(l to r): A. Lewis, P. Wagner, rk, C. Earle, K. Mathewson, M. Richardson

Mentors (links coming soon)

Graduate Students (masters theses supervised)

Rollefson, Frank Desmond. 2003. The development of a Northern Cheyenne Reservation riparian and wetlands conservation plan.

George, Geraldine Eva. 2002. Investigating the implications of federal reserved water rights on Alaska Native allotments.

Kline, Randall K. 2001. Addressing rural commercial land use under the Growth Management Act: A case study of Jefferson County, Washington.

Matthews, Amy Kurant. 2001. Species distribution of coexisting populations of westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)within the Little Naches watershed of eastern Washington.

Larned, Kimberly Ann. 1999. Changes in natural resource perception and use in Roslyn, Washington, 1880-1999.

Mattson, Lauris C. 1997. Habitat or housing?: Planning for long-term change at Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park.