Environmental Science: Sustainability (Salem, Or)

Map and GIS resources

• Map and Aerial Photography Collection
• Aerial Photography
• Salem GIS Data - Public Access
• Historical maps

City of Salem Urban Renewal Areas

This site outlines the areas of focus for urban renew in the Salem Area.  This includes a map of current areas currently in need of urban renewal, and the Central Salem Mobility Study. 

Under the Transportation Services section is an entire page filled with documents related to the Salem River Crossing Project (Note: the Salem River Crossing Project has a separate website with additional information at www.salemrivercrossing.org/).  

Historical Resources

In addition to the catalogs, article databases, and newspapers described above, the following sources can be useful for researching the history of Salem.  For further assistance, contact the History Librarian, John Russell, at johnruss@uoregon.edu. 

• Index to the Oregon Historical Quarterly (REF KNIGHT F871 .O43)
  Three volumes covering the Oregon Historical Quarterly from the 1900 through 1980. The fourth volume, covering 1981-2000, is available online.
• Sanborn fire insurance maps.
  Historic large scale maps with building detail for Oregon cities. Salem coverage includes 1884, 1888, 1890, 1895, and 1926-1950.
• GLO maps and survey notes.
  General Land Office township plat maps for the Salem area were produced between 1852 and 1937.  The Salem site lies in three townships and three ranges: T6S R2W - T6S R3W, T7S R2W - T7S R3W, and T8S R2W T8 R4W. 
• Salem Online History. Links to Heritage Institutions and the Salem Historic District.
• Salem Historic Landmarks Commission. Links to Historic Preservation Projects.
• Oregon Parks and Recreation: Heritage Programs: National Register.  Site includes information on parks, state hospital district, State St. and Commercial St. District, and more on the National Register for Marion county.
• Heritage in Salem. Site includes a map of historic districts and current news pertaining to historic districts and historic plans for Salem.      
• Oregon Historic Sites Database.
  Beta version of a database of historic sites, which may be searched by city, building style or function.
• Census reports.  Census data published earlier than 1990 must be found in printed reports, which are maintained in the Document Center. 

This resource, based off of the University of Oregon's guide for the 2010-11 Sustainable Cities Initiative for Salem, lists resources dealing with economic, social, and environmental sustainability within Salem, Oregon, and the Pacific Northwest.

The Urban Development Department manages Airport, Housing & Social Service, Urban Renewal, Parking Services and Real Property projects for the City of Salem.  This link is the City of Salem's Sustainability page which includes a bunch of useful resources.

Natural Setting

• Soil survey. Web Soil Survey (US Natural Resources Conservation Service) You may search for your area of interest via an interactive map, then display the soil map and soil type characteristics. A paper copy of the Soil Survey for Marion County (OR) is available in the UO Libraries’ Special Collections     (S599.O7 W54 1972).
• Watershed.
  Surf Your Watershed (EPA): data for the Lower Willamette Watershed
• Geologic maps for Salem area.
  “Salem East (OR)”  contains most of Salem
  “Willamette Basin (OR)”  Willamette Valley Lowland Aquifers
  Pacific Northwest Urban Corridor geologic maps provides other regional geologic maps
• Agriculture. Census of Agriculture 2012 and 2007 (500+ pages)
  2012 County level data for Oregon. 2007 County level data for Oregon. For specific crops or agricultural product, click by table title for specific crops from 2012, look for Marion County.

News and opinion

Use these resources to find coverage of the City of Salem by news media and policy groups.

• Salem Statesman Journal. This is the main newspapers for the Salem-Keizer area.
• Oregonian. Online access to full text articles in the Portland Oregonian, 1987-present. (WU only)
• Portland Business Journal. Brief news articles may be searched by key words or phrases, such as "downtown Salem" or '"Salem".
• Oregon Policy Directory Links to websites for 400 organizations that analyze or influence public policy in Oregon.  The full set of websites may be searched simultaneously, using terms such as "Salem".