Mission
The Border Policy Research Institute (BPRI) is a multi-disciplinary research institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. The BPRI focuses on research that informs policy-makers on matters related to the Canada - U.S. border. Priority focus areas are trade and transportation, economics, environment, immigration, and border security. The University established the BPRI to further a mission of promoting research, academic programs, and public programming on critical policy issues affecting the Pacific Northwest. The BPRI works closely with cognate programs at the University and collaborates with many public and private entities within the Pacific Northwest.
Announcements
Upcoming Seminar - The "Beyond the Border" Dialogue at Age One: Policy and Political Implications for the Pacific Northwest
One year ago President Obama and Prime Minister Harper issued the “Beyond the Border” Declaration, launching an initiative to enhance security and trade flow between the US and Canada. On December 7, 2011 a jointly crafted Action Plan was released, identifying specific programs and processes designed to bring the "Beyond the Border" vision to life in the coming years. On February 10, 2012 the Border Policy Research Institute in partnership with the Consulate General of Canada - Seattle, will host a seminar inviting prominent scholars and policy professionals to discuss and assess the plan's implications and impact on Canada-US border management in the Pacific Northwest. This event is by invitation only. Anyone interested in attending should contact Don Alper at Donald.Alper@wwu.edu.
Research Report No. 15 - Troy Abel, Jenni Pelc, Lauren Miller, Jacqueline Quarre and Kathryn Mork Western Washington University
Titled "Borders, Barriers, and Breakthroughs in the Cascadia Corridor" Environmental Policy professor Troy Abel and a team of students from Huxley College of the Environment demonstrate the difficulties of political biogeography in a transboundary region. This report presents a case study of wildlife conservation and management efforts in the Cascadia wildlife corridor where uneven management and fragmentation on both sides of the US-Canada border has resulted in a lapse of civic ecosystem management. This research highlights the critical need for clearly defined resource boundaries, participatory collective choice arrangements and the networking of multiple levels of organization involvement in transboundary governance of the Cascadia wildlife corridor. Download Research Report No. 15.
Fall 2011 Border Policy Brief Now Available
Titled "Advancing Program Symmetry for U.S.-Canada Investment in Cross-border Transportation" this Brief is based on a recently completed paper for the BPRI, listed as Research Report No. 13: "Advancing U.S.-Canada Border Transportation Planning & Programming" by the same author, Hugh Conroy. This article summarizes the full research report, which provides an analysis of strategies for creating a symmetrical U.S.- Canada border transportation investment program, which Conroy suggests could be enhanced by broadened engagement between the Transportation Border Working Group (TBWG) and the Beyond the Border Working Group (BBWG), and by the intentions set out by the most recent binational initiative, the February 2011 Beyond the Border Vision Declaration signed by President Obama and Prime Minister Harper. Download Policy Brief.
Research Report No. 14 - David Davidson, Susannah Edwards, and Yijun Zhang, Western Washington University
Titled "Field Observations of Northbound Truck Traffic at Pacific Highway" this report pertains to a field project that took place during July-August 2011 in which BPRI researchers collected data applicable to the development of a simulation model of northbound commercial vehicle operations (CVO) at the Pacific Highway border crossing in Blaine, Washington. This project complements a field project published in June 2011 titled "2011 Pacific Highway Southbound FAST Lane Study", which focused on trucks moving in the southbound direction at Pacific Highway and is accessible on the BPRI Publications page. This pair of 2011 projects is the most recent iteration of regional CVO research efforts completed over the last nine years. Download Research Report No. 14.
Research Report No. 13 - Hugh Conroy, Project Manager, Whatcom Council of Governments and BPRI Visiting Research Fellow
Titled "Advancing U.S.- Canada Border Transportation Planning and Programming" Conroy's research examines each country’s border-oriented transportation programs since NAFTA as well as current bilateral border-transportation forums. The structure of each country’s programs are reviewed and synthesized in order to identify reasons why a more forward-looking bilateral planning program is elusive. Possible changes that would better support a systematic binationally coordinated approach to joint U.S.-Canada border planning are identified. Download Research Report No. 13.
BPRI Summer 2011 Immigration Research Report Now Available
Titled "Comparing a Year of Legal Inbound Travel: The United States and Canada-2009," this report summarizes a study conducted by a team of BPRI research assistants that set out to compare the cross-border flow of people into the U.S. and Canada over the course of the year 2009. The research team collected and analyzed quantitative data from immigration agencies within the U.S. and Canada and furthermore came across some interesting research complications reflecting border and immigration policies and the fundamental social values of each nation. Download Report.