Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Adaptive Capacity In Creating Fire-Adapted Human Communities, Pamela J. Jakes, Matthew S. Carroll, Travis B. Paveglio, Soren Newman

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

In this research we sought answers to the question: What are the social characteristics and conditions of human communities that promote adaptive capacity for wildfire? The Quadrennial Fire Review (USDA and USDI 2009) promotes a goal of “achieving fire-adapted communities” in the wildland urban interface (WUI), and identifies metrics for determining whether a community is fire-adapted. While these metrics address some of the biophysical conditions necessary for fire-adapted human communities, they offer little insight into the social elements that promote or sustain adaptive capacity. Adaptive capacity refers to the individual and collective resources, capabilities, and actions that alleviate the risk …

Ranching And State School Land In Cimarron County, Oklahoma, Jacqueline Vadjunec, Rebecca Sheehan

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Ranchers in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, have turned to leasing school trust land to sustain and sometimes expand their operations. Changes in the land tenure process have undergone profound transformations in the last 20 years, greatly impacting land use in the region. Coupled with an almost decade-long drought, land managers pursuing seemingly “traditional” agricultural practices call upon increasingly complicated, mixed private and public tenure options in order to make ends meet. Using a political ecology framework, we examine conflicting relationships between school land, the state, and local land managers as well as the sustainability of cattle ranching on school trust land …

Water Current, Volume 42, No. 1, Winter 2010

Water Current Newsletter

Meet the Faculty (Tala Awada and Cody Knutson)
Above Average Precipitation Causes Groundwater Level Rises
$3.1 million NSF Grant Funds Innovative Grad Education Program
From the Interim Director: Getting a Feel for the Job With Lots Ahead for the Water Center
Free Water and Resources Lectures Continue
Planning Continues for Platte Basin Tour
October River Basins Symposium and Law Conference
Feds Mull Regulating Drugs in Water
Sediments and Emerging Contaminants: On the Menu and in the Air
Watching Water Consumption
Improved Site Adds New Features
Featured Partner: Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership
Wastewater Treatment Education Helps Protect Nebraska’s Water Resources …

Applications And Potentials For Biogenic Methane Recovery Operations In Nebraska Agriculture, Industry, And Economic Development, David Micheal Dingman

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

ABSTRACT: This thesis report illustrates the applications and potentials of biogenic methane recovery in Nebraska’s agricultural and industrial sectors and as a means for increasing sustainable economic development in the state’s rural communities. As the nation moves toward a new green economy, biogenic methane recovery as a waste management strategy and renewable energy resource presents significant opportunities for Nebraska to be a national and world leader in agricultural and industrial innovation, advanced research and development of renewable energy technology, and generation of new product markets. Nebraska’s agricultural economy provides a distinct advantage to the state for supporting methane recovery operations …

Evaluating The Role Of Epa Policy Levers: An Examination Of A Voluntary Program And Regulatory Threat In The Metal-Finishing Industry, Keith Brouhle, Charles Griffiths, Ann Wolverton

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

In this paper, we evaluate the influence of two environmental policy levers on emissions in the metal-finishing industry: a voluntary program- the Strategic Goals Program (SGP)- and the threat of formal regulation. While voluntary approaches are increasingly utilized as policy tools, the effectiveness of such programs is often questioned, and the impact of a voluntary program in tandem with a regulatory threat is not well understood. We examine the decision to participate in the SGP and regulatory threat had on facility emission behavior. Participation in the program appears related to several forms of external pressure: the regulatory threat, industry trade …

Northwest Area Water Supply Project Final Environmental Impact Statement On Water Treatment

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

For many years, residents of northwestern North Dakota have experienced water supply problems. Existing ground water sources are of poor quality and the Souris River is a marginal source from both a quality and quantity standpoint. To resolve these problems, the Northwest Area Water Supply project (Project) is being constructed. This Project is a bulk water supply system that will serve the municipal and rural water needs of the Project area (Figure 1). The planning, design and construction of the Project is a cooperative effort between the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the State of North Dakota. Reclamation provides technical …

Ken Saro-Wiwa’S Africana Womanist Vision Of Environmental Justice, Julie Iromuanya

James A. Rawley Graduate Conference in the Humanities

My paper examines the feminist poetics of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s methodology of protest. Utilizing a gendered pathos, Saro-Wiwa evoked the female body as a metaphor, signaling a connection between the colonization of the land, indigenous peoples, and women in his speech. In the organization of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), he also utilized traditional West African systems that valued a complementary Africana womanist vision of community. In addition, the demonstration he is most remembered for is distinctly patterned after traditional West African female methods of protest. During the 1990’s, already as an established writer, Saro-Wiwa honed his …

23. Archeology And Civic Engagement, Barbara J. Little, Nathaniel Amdur-Clark

United States National Park Service: Publications

In the United States and elsewhere, efforts to strengthen communities and democratic processes, as well as promote public dialogue, rely upon active citizen engagement in community and civic life through the creation of social capital. Archeology can play a role in these efforts, particularly as archeological projects increasingly involve the communities in which they occur and as archeologists recognize their ethical responsibilities to involve multiple stakeholders. This technical brief provides explanations of civic engagement and social capital as well as case studies and suggestions for ways that archeologists can participate and contribute to the creation of social capital.

What is …

Evaluating California Local Land Use Plan’S Environmental Impact Reports, Zhenghong Tang, Elise Bright, Samuel Brody

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Local land use planning has profound impacts on environmental quality; however, few empirical studies have been conducted to systematically measure local land use plans’ environmental assessment quality and to identify the factors influencing it. This paper analyzes the quality of 40 Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) of local jurisdictions’ land use plans in California. A plan evaluation protocol defined by five core components and sixty-three indicators is developed to measure the quality of local land use plans’ EIRs. The descriptive results indicate that the local jurisdictions produce relatively good quality on its EIRs, but there is still much room for improvement. …

Linkage Of The Us National Health Interview Survey To Air Monitoring Data: An Evaluation Of Different Strategies, Jennifer D. Parker, Tracey Woodruff, Lara J. Akinbami, Natalyia Kravets

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

The goal of this study is to describe linkages between the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air monitoring data, specifically how the linkage method affects characteristics and exposure estimates of study samples and estimated associations between exposure and health. In the USA, nationally representative health data are collected in the NHIS and annual air quality data are collected by the EPA. The linkage of these data for research is not straightforward and the choices made may introduce bias into results. The 2000–2003 NHIS and air quality data for six air pollutants were linked by residential …

Catfish Consumption As A Contributor To Elevated Pcb Levels In A Non-Hispanic Black Subpopulation, Max Weintraub, Linda S. Birnbaum

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

The human body burden of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) sharply declined after production was banned in the US in 1979. For the 10% of the US population that remains most exposed to PCBs, fish consumption is the primary source. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data indicates that the highest remaining PCB levels exist in a non-Hispanic black subpopulation. Our review suggests that catfish consumption may be a significant PCB source for the one million non-Hispanic black anglers who fish for catfish. In comparison to non-Hispanic white anglers, non-Hispanic black anglers consume more catfish, are more likely to eat the …

Review Of Half-Lives & Half-Truths: Confronting The Radioactive Legacies Of The Cold War By Barbara Rose Johnson, Amber Huff

Ecological and Environmental Anthropology (University of Georgia)

Conventional wisdom holds that the twentieth century nuclear arms race effectively avoided global nuclear war and its consequences through the doctrine of mutual assured destruction. In reality, the cold war was not “cold” at all, but characterized by a series conflicts and crises with political, economic and sociocultural legacies that continue to structure world politics into the 21st century. Possibly the most profound but often overlooked consequences of this period are the long-term effects of nuclear militarism on human and environmental health. In Half-Lives & Half-Truths: Confronting the Radioactive Legacies of the Cold War, edited by Barbara Rose Johnson, …

Linking Planning Theories With Factors Influencing Local Environmental-Plan Quality, Zhenghong Tang

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

The major planning theories provide a theoretical foundation for environmental planning. This study extends the major planning theories and develops a robust conceptual framework to measure the key factors influencing local environmental-plan quality. A random sample of forty Californian local comprehensive land-use plans and associated planning processes is analyzed to identify the critical factors influencing environmental-plan quality. Results from multiple regression analysis indicate that regular updating, environmental-information management and sharing, and planners contribute significantly to local environmental-plan quality. The findings expand established planning theories and practice by suggesting ways to improve local environmental-plan quality.

Final Environmental Impact Statement: Light Goose Management, James R. Kelley Jr., Robert Blohm

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The term “light geese” refers collectively to three taxa of geese that have light coloration: greater snow geese, Ross’s geese, and lesser snow geese. Various light goose populations in North America have experienced rapid population growth, and have reached levels such that they are damaging habitats on their arctic and subarctic breeding areas. Habitat degradation in arctic and subarctic areas may be irreversible, and has negatively impacted light goose populations and other bird populations dependent on such. Natural marsh habitats on some migration and wintering areas also have been impacted by light geese. In addition, goose damage to …

Interpreting And Managing Blood Lead Levels Of Less Than 10 Μg/Dl In Children And Reducing Childhood Exposure To Lead: Recommendations Of The Centers For Disease Control And Prevention Advisory Committee On Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention, Helen J. Binns, Carla Campbell, Mary Jean Brown

United States Public Health Resources

Lead is a common environmental contaminant. Lead exposure is a preventable

risk that exists in all areas of the United States. In children, lead is associated with

impaired cognitive, motor, behavioral, and physical abilities. In 1991, the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention defined the blood lead level that should

prompt public health actions as 10 µg/dL. Concurrently, the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention also recognized that a blood lead level of 10 µg/dL did not

define a threshold for the harmful effects of lead. Research conducted since 1991

has strengthened the evidence that children’s physical and mental development …

Affirmative Action In Higher Education: Insults, Preferences, And The Dworkin Defense, Matthew Debell

Nebraska Law Review

This Essay analyzes a particular kind of justification for affirmative action in higher education. Ronald Dworkin, in Taking Rights Seriously, advances the position that the insult felt by victims of discrimination has a pivotal effect on the meaning of the act of discrimination, thus rendering the targets of such discrimination victims, and making the discriminatory act unethical and illegal. Conversely, the absence of such insult to those merely denied benefits by policies of affirmative action renders their objections impotent and makes affirmative action an ethical and lawful policy. In this Essay, I assess the confluence of ethical, legal, and psychological …

Fish & Wildlife News: Fall 2004

Fish and Wildlife News

Contents:

2004 Federal Duck Stamp Contest: And the Winner Is...
Ducks Unlimited Signs on to License Duck Stamp
United States Reauthorizes North American Waterfowl Management Plan
Fish Passage Program Booms
Prescribed Fire Cuts Insurance Premiums
A Raven’s Story Echoes in Cyberspace
Reining In the “Horsemen”
Hurricanes Slash the Southeast
Congress to Help Cover Storm Damage
Partnerships x 7: Federal Land Management Agency Head Roundtable
Piper Honored At Bozeman Fish Technology Center Dedication
First Habitat Conservation Plan Gets Checkup
Refuge Hunting and Fishing Poised For Increase
Keeping Historic Waterways Invasive-Free
Partner’s Ranch Becomes Torstenson Family Wildlife Center
Environmental Justice for All …

What's A Judge To Do? Remedying The Remedy In Institutional Reform Litigation, A Review Of Democracy By Decree: What Happens When Courts Run Government By Ross Sandler And David Schoenbrod; Yale University Press (2003), Susan Poser

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

A review of Democracy by Decree: What Happens When Courts Run Government by Ross Sandler and David Schoenbrod; Yale University Press (2003), in which it is questioned whether judges have the legitimacy and the capacity to oversee the remedial phase of institutional reform litigation.

Final Environment Impact Statement: Double-Crested Cormorant Management In The United States, Shauna Hanisch, Brian Millsap

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Populations of Double-crested Cormorants have been increasing rapidly in many parts of the U.S. since the mid-1970s. This abundance has led to increased conflicts, both real and perceived, with various biological and socioeconomic resources, including recreational fisheries, other birds, vegetation, and hatchery and commercial aquaculture production. This document describes and evaluates six alternatives (including the proposed action) for the purposes of reducing conflicts associated with cormorants, enhancing the flexibility of natural resource agencies to deal with cormorant conflicts, and ensuring the long-term conservation of cormorant populations. There are four chapters that make up the critical components of an Environmental Impact …

Toward A Symbiosis Of Ecology And Justice: Water And Land Conflicts In Frank Waters, Johns Nichols, And Jimmy Santiago Baca, Thomas Lynch

Department of English: Faculty Publications

The literary form that dominates writing, and thinking, in the American West is what has become known, definitively, as "the Western." The all-too-familiar narrative describes the advance of Anglo-Saxon pioneers into a primitive and untamed West, spreading the forces of civilization in their wake. A countertradition, however, is prevalent in the Southwest. What we might suitably call "the Southwestern" describes the incursion of an aggressive foreign culture into an already settled region. In this narrative, the conflict is not over how to impose culture and tame and settle the land, but how to protect the culture that already exists and …

Nebraska Transcript (University Of Nebraska College Of Law), Volume 36, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2002–2003

Nebraska Transcript

Alumni Council Awards Honor Distinguished Achievements

Graduation 2002

Honor Class Reunion

Family Tradition Ceremony

American Indian Initiative Seeks to Increase Native Lawyers

Clinic's Federal Civil Rights Case Teaches Students Many Lessons

Law College Pauses to Reflect at September 11 Open Forum

Montenegrin Diary

Frederick Beutel: An Appreciation

Larry Berger: A Candid Interview with the Recently Retired Professor

Bilingual Moot Court, Husker Cap Mark Lenich's Lithuanian Class

Four Visiting Professors Join Faculty for 2002·03

Johnson, '52, World War II Ace, Featured in Famous Photograph

German, NLS Executive Director, Passionate Defender of Needy

Proposal Of Critical Habitat For The Northern Great Plains Breeding Population Of Piping Plovers (Charadrius Melodus)

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

The purpose of the proposed action is to designate critical habitat for the northern Great Plains breeding population of piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) by utilizing provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The purpose of the Act is to conserve the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend. Critical habitat designation identifies areas essential to the survival and recovery of the piping plover, and describes physical and biological features within critical habitat that require special management considerations to achieve conservation of the species.

Introduction To Endangered Peoples Of Africa And The Middle East : Struggles To Survive And Thrive, Robert K. Hitchcock, Alan J. Osborn

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Endangered Peoples of Africa and the Middle East: Struggles to Survive and Thrive is about human populations residing in Africa and the Middle East, a diverse region that is connected geographically, culturally, and historically. The African continent is vast and covers 11.7 million square miles, or an area slightly larger than the combined area of the United States and South America (Table 1). Today, the African continent is home to some 771 million people distributed within fifty-four separate countries. Of the world's continents, Africa is by far the most diverse culturally. In Sudan, for example, there are over 200 ethnic …

Sustaining Geographies Of Hope: Cultural Resources On Public Lands, Sandi Zellmer

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

This Article integrates constitutional principles, statutory requirements, and federal policy governing the use and preservation of cultural resources to sketch out a decision-making framework for public land managers. Specific examples of cases where American Indian interests have been pitted against competing demands at Devils Tower National Monument, the Indian Pass area of the California Desert, and the Medicine Wheel are examined to illustrate optimal solutionssolutions allowing the greatest possible accommodation of cultural, even spiritual, interests, while protecting the resources from degradation. The conflicts at these sites, and the opportunities presented by these conflicts, show that federal agencies can adopt reasonable …

The Ogoni Of Nigeria, A. Olu Oyinlade, Jeffery M. Vincent

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The Ogoni are a minority ethnic people who live in the Western Niger Delta Region of southern Nigeria. During the 1970s, Ogoniland, or the Ogoni Nation, became part of the Rivers State of Nigeria. There are approximately 500,000 Ogoni who represent less than 0.05 percent of Nigeria's 100 to 120 million people. The population density of this region equals 1,233 people per square mile, making it one of the most densely populated areas of Nigeria. Reliable information about the origin of the Ogoni is limited. Archaeological and oral historical evidence suggests that the Ogoni have inhabited the area for over …

Review Of Environmental Management On North America's Borders Edited By Richard Kiy And John D. Wirth, J. Gordon Nelson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This timely book is produced by the North American Institute, which is devoted to dealing with issues in North America through tri-national collaboration. Originating at a meeting of some of its contributors in New Mexico in 1995 and completed in a year or so, this fairly current volume is most useful in addressing environmental challenges across North America's borders since NAFTA's adoption, including water and air pollution which interact on a continental and indeed a global scale.

Ecology (Re)Defined, Mary Rowland

United States Bureau of Land Management: Staff Publications

This slender, well-written volume is a compendium of terms, 60 altogether, purportedly intended to introduce the layperson to the discipline of ecology. With encyclopedic listings from "Air" to "Zoos," we learn that potential effects of global warming include the spread of malaria and other tropical diseases to previously uninfected areas, and that the world's six billion humans consume 40% of the planet's photosynthetic output. It is clear from the first entry that the book is as much an environmental primer as a science-based one. For example, we read under the topic "Air" that "We should not continue human activities that …

Ard News April 1998

Agricultural Research Division: News and Annual Reports

CONTENTS:

Comments from the Dean
FY 1999 USDA-CSREES Budget
Grant and Contract Income Obtained by ARD Units During the Last Four Calendar Years
Average Unit Outputs Exceed ARD Goals Again in FY 1997
Grants and Contracts Received February and March, 1998
Proposals Submitted for Federal Grants
1997 Graduate Student Survey
New or Revised Projects
1997 Cash Receipts from Craps and Livestock
Training Required for All Persons Working with Lab Animals
Publication of Scientific Articles in World Journals
Licensing Income and Patents in FY 1996

Integrating Agroforestry Into Usda Programs: A Task Force Report To The Usda Interagency Working Group On Agroforestry, W. J. Rietveld, James P. Lassoie, Charles A. Francis, William Farris, Catalino Blanche, Bruce Wight

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The task force collected and synthesized infonnation and recommended actions to develop the potential of agroforestry to help attain USDA sustainable development goals.

Future Horizons: Recent Literature In Sustainable Agriculture, Gabriel Hegyes, Charles A. Francis

CARI Extension and Education Materials for Sustainable Agriculture

Here is one building block in the foundation for a future agriculture. Increasing trainer literacy in sustainable agriculture can be defined on several levels. At its most literal, it is an anthology of reviews familiarizing the reader with some of the authors, topics, and titles that have composed the sustainable agriculture literature over the last decade or more. It also serves as an annotated bibliography where the dry abstracts of many such works are replaced with insightful essays. Most importantly, this primer is a language text, exposing the user to the semantics, symbols, and syntax of sustainable agriculture. This collection …