Digital Commons Network^™

Final Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Unreclaimed (Ur) Sites New And Mahoney (Ur-23) Construction Completion Report (Ccr), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center News, June 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. Iowa Waste Reduction Center.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter

Contents:

--- Thank you, Leslie
--- Zane joins the IWRC
--- DNR Air Fee changes
--- What does MSEI assistance look like?
--- P2 Green Brewery Certification webinars
--- Energy Efficiency resources
--- Industry News

Flood Risk Assessment And Water Diversion Scenarios For Terre Haute, Indiana Based On Time-Series Remote Sensing And In-Situ Measurements, Hung Q. Ha

2026 Spring Reports (Terre Haute)

The City of Terre Haute has faced growing concerns over the increasing frequency and intensity of riverine flooding along the Wabash River, alongside risks associated with urban inundation. To create more safely floodable areas – specifically by locating wetland areas using GIS and researching government ordinances on development in those areas – the City of Terre Haute sought to better understand flood patterns and identify viable floodwater diversion strategies. The project was formally titled as “Pattern of Flooding along the Wabash River in Vigo County and Scenarios for Floodwater Diversion”. Faculty and students from Geospatial Intelligence Lab, Department of Earth …

Utah Growing Water Smart: The Water-Land Use Integration Guidebook For Central Utah, Kelly Kopp, Joanna Endter-Wada

Utah Growing Water Smart

The Utah Growing Water Smart workshop brings together key staff and water and land use planning decision makers to help communities build a more resilient and sustainable water future. The workshop uses a range of public engagement, planning, communication, and policy implementation tools to help community teams realize their water efficiency, smart growth, watershed health, and water resiliency goals.

Incipient: Contemporary Wildfire Management In The American West, Carlyn A. Mcaleer

Environmental Studies Senior Theses

The frequency, severity, and total area burned by wildfires has escalated dramatically alongside a similar increase in federal suppression spending. However, contemporary management remains rooted in a suppression‑centric framework that originated in the early‑20th‑century. Our current wildfire management practices are unsustainable in the face of this growing threat. Using an approach that blends historical analysis and spatial analysis, this thesis asks how current spatial patterns of burn probability (BP) overlap with existing fire-response infrastructure and population in eight states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming) in the American West and which barriers inhibit the adoption of proactive …

Not Everyone Gets A Tree: Housing Values, Street Trees, And Equity In Portland, Matthew Moller

University Honors Theses

Street trees are positively associated with Portland home sale prices, but exposure and capitalization are uneven by race/ethnic neighborhood context. Urban trees are ecological assets, but their economic and equity implications remain uneven. This thesis examines street-tree exposure and 2023 residential sale prices in Portland, Oregon (n = 6,414) using a mixed-methodology hedonic design. Ordinary least squares models measure inventoried street-tree counts within 20m, 50m, and 100m buffers together with structural controls and census-block racial and ethnic context. Trees are positively and significantly associated with logged prices at all radii, with scale-sensitive magnitudes and modestly better fit as wider buffers. …

Multimodal Machine Learning For Soil Burn Severity Mapping Across California Wildfires, Sanjana Checker

Master's Theses

Accurate mapping of soil burn severity (SBS) is critical for post-fire watershed management, erosion risk assessment, and ecological recovery planning, yet traditional field-based approaches remain costly, time-intensive, and spatially limited. This thesis presents a machine learning pipeline for wall-to-wall SBS classification across California wildfires using multi-sensor satellite imagery, terrain derivatives, and bioclimatic covariates. Field-collected SBS observations (n = 2,180) from 52 wildfires occur- ring between 2013 and 2025, sourced from the U.S. Forest Service and CAL FIRE, were used to train and evaluate multiple classification architectures within a Google Earth Engine and Google Cloud-based prediction framework. After upsampling the unburned …

Gobbling Activity And Use Of Structural Habitat At Nest Sites By Wild Turkeys (Meleagris Gallopavo) In Western Nebraska, Robyn M. Dausener

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) populations in Nebraska have declined substantially in recent years. Understanding gobbling chronology and its environmental drivers may inform spring hunting season structure and management actions. I used autonomous recording units (ARUs) in two ecologically distinct regions of Nebraska, the northwestern (NW) Pine Ridge landscape, and the southwestern (SW) agricultural landscape, to quantify gobbling activity from 2023-2025. I paired gobbling data with nesting chronology, cumulative daily hunting pressure, weather conditions, and moon phase using Bayesian generalized additive mixed models. Gobbling peaked during mid-to-late April in both regions, preceding peak nest initiation and incubation, with no …

Draft Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report: Butte Treatment Lagoon System – First Quarter 2026, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Invasion Patterns And Niche Dynamics Of The Pollinivorous Florida Calligrapher, Toxomerus Floralis (Diptera: Syrphidae) In The Afrotropical Region, Burgert Muller, John Midgley, Georg Goergen, Ali Al Jahdhami, Michelson Azo'o Ela, Terence Bellingan, Simon Cavaillès, Robert Copeland, Marc De Meyer, Martin Hauser, Allen Holmes, Ximo Mengual, Gabriel Nève, Menno Reemer, Jeff Skevington, Gunilla Ståhls, Eugène Sinzinkayo, John Smit, Axel Ssymank, Genevieve Theron, Kurt Jordaens

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The rapid spread of Toxomerus floralis (Fabricius, 1798) (Diptera: Syrphidae) within the Afrotropical region is described. We characterise and compare the climatic niches of T. floralis in its native (Southern North America, Central America and South America) and invaded (Afrotropical Region) range to assess the potential for further expansion across Africa and beyond, and included future global climate models and socioeconomic pathways as projections. Occurrence data for native and invaded ranges were obtained from field sampling by authors, major collections of Afrotropical Syrphidae, collections records and occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), including iNaturalist data. Single and …

Draft Final Silver Bow Creek Conservation Area (Sbcca) Butte Reduction Works (Brw) Air Monitoring For Interim Demolition Activities – Phase Ii Data Summary Report (Dsr), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Draft Final 2023 Unreclaimed Sites Sampling: Ur-31 Site Evaluation Summary Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Comparing Allometric Models To Machine Learning Models For Aboveground Biomass Estimation In Agroforestry Systems In Kenya, Samuel Irungu Kigotho, Kennedy Senagi, John Olukuru, David Masereti Makori, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman, Evans Omondi

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

This study compared traditional allometric models with machine learning (ML) techniques for accurately estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) in six Acacia species within Kenyan agroforestry systems. Using tree diameter at breast height (DBH) and total height as inputs, the research evaluated allometric models (Chave’s, Brown’s, and Henry’s) against ML models, including Gradient Boosting (GB), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Random Forest (RF), and Support Vector Regression (SVR). This research advances the field by benchmarking machine learning and classical allometric models at the species level within Kenyan agroforestry systems and employing SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) for interpretability analysis. Model performance was validated using …

Draft Final 2022 Unreclaimed Sites Sampling: Ur-07 Site Evaluation Summary Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Draft Final 2023 Unreclaimed Sites Sampling: Ur-31 Site Evaluation Summary Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Draft Final 2024 Unreclaimed Sites Sampling: Ur-46 Site Evaluation Summary Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Draft Final 2022 Unreclaimed Sites Sampling: Ur-27 Site Evaluation Summary Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report: Butte Treatment Lagoon System – Fourth Quarter 2025, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Draft Final Bpsou Unreclaimed Sites: Ur-46 Remedial Action Work Plan (Rawp), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Reduces Pollination Services And Sunflower Yields Across Europe And Northern Africa, Stella Gachoki, Clémence Riva, Danilo Bevk, Yamina Haider, Noureddine Adjlane, Ioannis Manthos, Bojan Stipešević, Zlatko Puškadija, Marin Kovačić, Leonidas Charistos, Fani Hatjina, Fabrice Requier

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) productivity is highly dependent on pollinators, yet the effects of climate on pollination services and crop yield remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigate how temperature gradients influence flower-visiting communities, pollination services, and sunflower productivity across Europe and Northern Africa. We conducted standardized two-year (2022 and 2023) pollination exclusion experiments across 36 sunflower fields spanning a broad climatic gradient, from temperate regions in Slovenia to arid conditions in Algeria. We found that sunflower production (seed set, seed number, and oil content) relied heavily on insect pollination. However, this benefit declined with rising temperatures, likely due to …

Climate-Driven Stochastic Modelling Of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever Transmission In Uganda, P. G. Kpatchana, J. Aduda, K. M. Agboka

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a climate-sensitive tick-borne zoonosis that remains a significant public health concern in Uganda, where temperature and vapour pressure deficit influence tick ecology and consequently disease transmission. This study aimed to develop and analyse a climate-driven stochastic model for CCHF transmission among ticks, livestock, and humans under environmental variability in Uganda. A compartmental transmission model was formulated and extended into a stochastic differential equation framework by incorporating multiplicative environmental noise. Climate-dependent tick recruitment, development, and mortality were parameterized using district-level temperature and vapour pressure deficit data to capture spatial heterogeneity in transmission risk. Theoretical analyses based …

Mapping Public Engagement With Environmental Finance In The U.S: Spatiotemporal Insights From Google Trends On Public Engagement And Policy Equity In The U.S, Hilda Afeku-Amenyo, Charles Knoble, Pankaj Lal

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study analyzes U.S. public engagement with environmental finance from 2015–2023 using Google Trends data for four key terms: “green bonds,” “sustainable finance,” “climate finance,” and “ESG.” Our analysis reveals a notable rise in engagement with environmental finance topics, with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing generating the highest levels of interest. Geographically, the District of Columbia exhibited disproportionate search activity relative to other regions. While public awareness of environmental finance has grown, we highlight disparities in knowledge and accessibility of information. These findings carry significant policy implications, particularly in ensuring equitable access to sustainable financial instruments. We underscore the …

Potential Recyclable Materials In Buildings: A Framework For Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment Of Residential Buildings In Singapore, Pradeep Alva, Riccardo Talami, Wanyu Pei, Goran Sibenik, Martin Mosteiro-Romero, Clayton Miller, Rudi Stouffs

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

As countries aim to reduce resource consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Whole Life Carbon Assessment (WLCA) has become a vital method for quantifying embodied and operational GHG emissions. However, few studies have conducted WLCA on an urban scale, often addressing operational or embodied GHG emissions in isolation without considering their cumulative impact. This study introduces a city-wide WLCA framework to assess the potential recyclable materials of urban building stock, using Singapore as a case study with 5915 public residential buildings. Upfront GHG emissions are calculated from material intensity and building information, while operational emissions are based on energy use …

The Can Challenge: Understanding The Best Ways To Incentivise Recycling Through A Diffusion Approach, Michael Brock, Lucia M. Murgia, Stefania Sitzia, Jiwei Zheng

All Works

Understanding the best ways to incentivise recycling and improve the efficiency of waste practices is a key environmental, social, and economic management problem that needs addressing.We search for solutions to this issue by testing the effectiveness of two incentive mechanisms (a piece-rate and a lottery-based systems). We run a similar field experiment in three different locations, namely a student, residential and workplace environment, to verify the robustness of our findings and thus increase confidence in the external validity of our intervention. By interpreting recycling activity as marketable service, we employ a diffusion model to analyse the potential adoption of the …

Thermal Transformation Of Organic Matter And Impacts On Water Quality In Fire-Affected Jarrah Forest, Kuenzang Tshering, David Blake, Andrea Bravo Escobar, Konrad Miotlinski, Andrew Bath, Mary C. Boyce, Pauline Grierson, Pierre Horwitz

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Fire in forested catchments significantly alters organic matter fluxes by generating dissolved organic matter (DOM) different from that generated under non-fire conditions. Elucidating the composition of DOM is key to understanding its persistence in the post-fire environment. This laboratory study aimed to establish a relationship between DOM quantity and quality with aspects of fire regime. Soil and litter samples were collected from areas with different burn histories (described as Time Since Last Fire – TSLF). Each sample was subjected to burn temperature treatments simulating different burn severity regimes in a muffle furnace (at 250°C – low severity, 350°C – moderate …

Municipality Of Bayamón V. Exxon Mobil Corp. (2025): Bringing Racketeering Charges For Climate Justice, Ilinca C. Johnson

Pace Environmental Law Review

Environmental justice communities should have their climate change damages heard in the courtroom. One means to increase environmental justice claims is through claims under the federal Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Using Municipality of Bayamón v. Exxon Mobil Corp. (2025) as a model, this Article suggests a novel RICO case strategy to pursue climate damages for marginalized communities. Fundamentally, environmental justice RICO claims involve careful case design based on the climate-related damages a marginalized community has faced because of the long-term deception by fossil fuel actors upon those communities. Pursuing such claims forwards the intersectional issues faced by …

Re: Approval Letter For The Draft Final 2026 Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Type B Borrow Material Submittal #3 (Dated May 6, 2026), Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Role Of Technical Assistance In Pollution Prevention In Massachusetts Craft Breweries, Shubhechchhya Regmi

Graduate Masters Theses

This study aims to examine pollution from Massachusetts craft breweries, and if it can be lessened through a pollution prevention program. This study analyzed data from two assessments with the aim of analyzing the role of technical assistance in pollution prevention across eight impact categories. The first assessment was conducted on 29 MA breweries between 2022 and 2024, and 23 were assessed a second time (in summer 2024 and summer 2025). Craft breweries face several constraints in adopting pollution prevention practices the pollution prevention program known as BetterBev helps to bridge this gap by providing technical assistance, identifying inefficiency practices …

Re: Conditional Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) 2026 Revised Draft Final Backfill And Cover Soil Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp) (Dated May 13, 2026), Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Diggings East Final 100% Remedial Design Package Submittal, Josh Bryson

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.