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Center For Sustainable Agricultural Systems Newsletter, January/February 1997

Center for Sustainable Agricultural Systems: Newsletter (1993–2000)

Contents:

Economic, Environmental and Sociological Effects of Whole-farm Production Systems in Eastern Nebraska: Classifying Producers/Production Systems

SARE Producer Grants Due May 1

RR Soybeans: Delaying the Inevitable?

New Sustainable Agriculture Information Retrieval Service on the Internet

Integrated Farm Update: Windbreaks Increase Pepper Yields

Southern Region Meets to Discuss Sustainable Agriculture Education

Study Associates Nitrate in Drinking Water with Greater Cancer Risk

Vegetation Dynamics At The Gerald Gentleman Station Mitigation Site, Lincoln County, Nebraska, Michael P. Gutzmer

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Gerald Gentleman Station (GGS), located in southwestern Nebraska near Sutherland, is the newest and largest electric generating facility in the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) system. In August 1994, NPPD constructed a 9.2-mile long railspur between GGS and the Union Pacific Railroad to create competition in the coal-hauling market. A multi-objective criteria analysis was used to identify a railspur route with the optimal combination of low environmental impact, favorable engineering characteristics and economic feasibility. Based on jurisdictional delineations, the GGS railspur impacted 1.95 acres of wetlands. Construction ofthe wetlands to mitigate for those impacted acres was initiated during winter 1993-94 …

Transactions Of The Nebraska Academy Of Sciences Table Of Contents: Volume 24 (1997)

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Editorial Contents

Nebraska Academy of Sciences Officers, Policy Committee ................. ii

Editorial Board ................. iv

Membership Objectives and Friends of the Academy ................. v

Nebraska Association of Teachers of Science ................. vi

Preparation of manuscripts ................. inside back cover

Papers

Creativity in science: historical illustrations and the academic paradigm (Kaddie J. Bicak) ................. 1

Keys and distributional maps for Nebraska Cyperaceae, Part 2: Carex and Scleria (Steven B. Rolfsmeier and Barbara Wilson) ................. 5

Vegetation dynamics at the Gerald Gentleman Station mitigation site, Lincoln County, Nebraska (Michael P. Gutzmer) ................. 27

The unionid mollusks of the Upper Kansas Basin of …

Small Group Techniques: Selecting And Developing Activities Based On Stages Of Group Development, Sandra A. Harris, Kathryn J. Watson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Research shows that active and cooperative learning activities can be effective teaching methods; however, developing and carrying out these practices is often challenging, perhaps even confusing and frustrating, to educators who have not been trained in group processes. This article reviews basic principles for using group techniques in college classrooms, describes the developmental stages of groups, and provides examples of activities and assignments as well as processes for reflection and evaluation.

Review Of Planting The Future: Developing An Agriculture That Sustains Land And Community Edited By Elizabeth A. R. Bird, Gordon L. Bultena, And John C. Gardner, Charles A. Francis

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

Why should you care about agriculture? Planting the Future provides an eloquent description of the current state of this' most basic human endeavor so critical to survival. Based on a series of surveys and on-farm studies in the North Central and Western states, the book recognizes the bounty of our conventional agricultural industry. More importantly for the future, it details a series of critical problems in the environment, the distribution of economic benefits, and the social dislocation resulting from the consolidation of lands and heavy reliance on fossil fuels. Today's productivity and cheap food in the market have hidden expenses …

Self-Study Report: 09 Outreach

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Materials and History

Extension outreach activities have been an integral part of the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication since its inception in 1992. At the time the department was founded, two faculty members had extension appointments: Bill brown with a .25 FTE extension appointment, primarily associated with the Center for Leadership Development, and Ozzie Gilbertson with a .15 FTE extension appointment, primarily associated with Agricultural Literacy programs. In 1993 Leverne Barrett was assigned a .25 FTE extension appointment, primarily to allow him to work with the Center for Leadership Development and to do staff development for extension personnel and other client …

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 28, No. 2. June 1996

The Prairie Naturalist

RAPTOR NESTING CHRONOLOGY IN NORTHWESTERN NORTH DAKOTA ▪ R. K. Murphy, and J. T. Ensign

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNTS FOR NORTH DAKOTA -1995 ▪ R. N. Randall

YELLOW PERCH SPAWNING HABITATS IN PICKEREL LAKE, SOUTH DAKOTA ▪ S. J. Fisher, K. L Pope, L. J. Templeton, and D. W. Willis

ECOLOGY OF BOTRYCHIUM CAMPESTRE ON NORTHEASTERN lOWA GLADES ▪ J. C. Nekola, and D. W. Schlicht

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF PURPLE CONEFLOWER IN SOUTHWESTERN NORTH DAKOTA ▪ H. K. Leuszler, V J. Tepedino, and D. G. Alston

BOOK REVIEWS

A Unique Group of Birds ▪ J. H. Schulz

Forest Ecology ▪ S. …

Raptor Nesting Chronology In Northwestern North Dakota, Robert K. Murphy, John T. Ensign

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Nesting chronology of raptors is sparsely documented in North Dakota. During 1981-94, we determined hatching dates at 298 nest attempts by eight species of raptors on and within 10 km of Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, northwestern North Dakota. Mean hatching dates for most common species were 17 April for great horned owl (Bubo virginianus)(SD = 8.4 days, n = 70 nests), 1 June for red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)(7.3, 99), 19 June for northern harrier (Circus cyaneus)(11.1, 37), 24 June for Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii)(4.6, 19), and 27 June for Swainson's hawk ( …

Busy Corporations: The Effects Of Corporations On The Environment And The Public, Markus Craig

Nebraska Anthropologist

This paper is the result of one semester's research into the external costs of corporate structure, detailing some of the corporate business practices, their inherent implications, and effects on the environment and on people. This paper helps unravel the adversarial relationship between modem corporations and the environmental and labor movements in the US, concentrating on a survey of the literature of the last two decades and isolates some major themes fundamental to an understanding of this important debate.

Overgrazing: Is A Solution Available?, Brian Osborn

Nebraska Anthropologist

Overgrazing is a growing problem which results in land degradation and a loss of habitat for local wildlife. This paper reviews overgrazing and reviews the degradation it causes, comparing the Sahel region in Africa to the Great Plains of the United States. Both areas have an enormous problem with overgrazing, a problem unlikely to be solved by technology. The only solution lies in a change of attitude and practice by the human population.

Annual Review Of The World Pheasant Association 1995/1996, World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Reports and Other Materials

Pheasant Specialist Group, Peter J. Garson

Partridge, Quail and Francolin Specialist Group, Simon D. Dowell

Grouse Specialist Group, Matt Ridley

The Seventh International Grouse Symposium, Fort Collins, USA, Anne Westerberg

Megapode Specialist Group, René W. R. J. Dekker

Captive Breeding Advisory Committee, Han Assink

WPA-South Asia Regional Office and captive crested argus, Rahul Kaul

Brown eared-pheasant project report. Zhang Zheng-wang

Saving the Blyth's tragopan. Ron Sumner

Why are Lophura pheasants so variable? Geoffrey Davison

Recent rare pheasant observations in Chin State, West Myanmar (Burma), Ben King, Dave Farrow, Craig Robson, Hugh Buck. Tim Fishe

Transactions Of The Nebraska Academy Of Sciences Table Of Contents: Volume 23 (1996)

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Editorial Contents

Nebraska Academy of Sciences Officers, Policy Committee .................... ii

Editorial Board .................... iv

Membership Objectives and Friends of the Academy .................... v

Nebraska Association of Teachers of Science .................... vi

Preparation of manuscripts .................... inside back cover

Papers

Environmental impacts in the vicinity of Spencer Hydropower Dam during sluicing activities in the Niobrara River, Nebraska (Michael P. Gutzmer, Justin W. King, and David P. Overhue) .................... 1

Inventory and floristics of Sandhills fens in Cherry county, Nebraska (Gerald Steinauer, Steven Rolfsmeier, and Joyce Phillips Hardy) .................... 9

Xylem pressure potential of two perennial grasses, Bromus inermis and Andropogon …

Review Of The Way To The West: Essays On The Central Plains By Elliott West, A. Yvette Huginnie

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In one delightful volume, Elliott West offers four engaging, far-ranging essays on the Central Plains. Originally presented in 1993 as the ninth annual Calvin Horn Lectures on Western History and Culture at the University of New Mexico, these expanded essays are now available to a wider audience. The Horn lectures enabled West, a distinguished social historian, to explore some new aspects of western American history, specifically environmental and Native American studies. Interweaving secondary materials from a multiplicity of disciplines-anthropology, ecology and environmental studies, history, literature, sociology-with ample primary materials, West 'presents engrossing essays from which we can all benefit. He …

Gonadal Maturation In The Cobia Rachycentron Canadum From The Northcentral Gulf Of Mexico, Jeffrey M. Lotz, Robin M. Overstreet, James S, Franks

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Gonadal maturation of cobia, Rachycentron canadum, was evaluated by examining 508 specimens from its recreational fishery. Specimens were collected off southeast Louisiana to northwest Florida by hook-and-line during February through October 1987-1991. Fork lengths (FL) of these fish ranged from 580-1,530 mm, with corresponding weights of 2.0-43.5 kg. The female:male ratio was 1:0.37. Using a combination of oocyte size frequency and histological assessment of many of the fish, we determined that females were ripe from May through September, with atretic oocytes occurring in some fish from July through October. Degenerating hydrated oocytes in July and October and the presence …

Drought Monitoring And Information Centre Established For Arid Zone Of South Africa, Louis G. Du Pisani, Reep Verloren Van Themaat, Francis Roux

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Drought policy in the Republic of South Africa has been extensively reviewed in Drought Network News (Bruwer, 1989; Bruwer, 1990a; Bruwer, 1990b). The protection of natural resources against deterioration (natural vegetation = veld) and the protection of rural communities and infrastructure against disruption of agricultural and socioeconomic development have always been major thrusts behind drought relief subsidies.

Since 1980, two important provisos for drought relief payments to stock farmers have been implemented: (1) a drought must assume disaster proportions (Bruwer, 1990b) and (2) stock numbers must not exceed the official carrying capacity (Department of Agricultural Development, 1992).

The pressure on …

In-Water Electroshock Techniques To Repel Aquatic Mammals And Birds, A. Lawrence Kolz, Richard E. Johnson

National Wildlife Research Center Repellents Conference 1995

Nonlethal electroshocking devices have been developed at the Denver Wildlife Research Center for repelling aquatic mammals and birds from selected areas. These devices are augmented with infrared motion sensors to turn on the apparatus only when warm-blooded animals are present, thereby conserving electrical energy and allowing battery operation. Electronic safety controls are incorporated to prevent animals from being over-exposed or repeatedly exposed to the electrical fields. The technical basis for this equipment is based upon research originally reported in the electrofishing literature. Obviously, any animal immersed in water is highly susceptible to electrical shock, but permanent injury can be avoided …

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 27, No.2. June 1995

The Prairie Naturalist

WILDLIFE MORTALITY ASSOCIATED WITH OIL PITS IN WYOMING ▪ B.J. Esmoil and S.H. Anderson

DRAMATIC INCREASE OF LE CONTE'S SPARROW IN CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM FIELDS IN THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS ▪ LD. Igl and D.H. Johnson

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNTS FOR NORTH DAKOTA - 1994 ▪ R.N. Randall

DESCRIPTIONS OF WALLEYE STOCKS IN HIGH-ELEVATION RESERVOIRS, WYOMING ▪ T.D. Marwitz and W A. Hubert

NEW VASCULAR PLANT RECORDS FOR THE BLACK HILLS OF SOUTH DAKOTA AND WYOMING • G.E. Larson and J.R. Johnson

NOTES

A New Population of Small White Lady's-Slipper (Cypripedium candidum) in South Dakota ▪ S.E. Boettcher

Sandhill …

Water Current, Volume 27, No. 2, April 1995

Water Current Newsletter

Conference Brings Water Officials, Splash of Expertise to Debate
From the Director: Funding for Water Resources Research Institutes Threatened
New Lake Manual Readable, Practical
Platte Watershed Program
Research Review: Sprinkler Irrigatin: A Volatile Organic Compound Remediation Alternative
Nebraska Water News
Pesticide Applicator Manuals on the Web
Nebaskan Named NACD Director
Faculty Receive Extension Grants
Awards Honor Group, Individuals for Service
Mathiason Appointed

Collaborative Multimedia, Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond, Beth Schenker, Debra Meier, Dana Twersky

Alan Bond Publications

Six natural history institutions contributed video and other images to produce a single multimedia exhibit about famous paleontology sites throughout the United States. In Mesozoic Monsters. Mammals and Magnolias users can view videos of the original excavation of each of the sites and also play computer games relating to each location. This project provides a model for how collaboration among museums can reduce the cost of multimedia exhibits while improving quality and making them available to wider audiences.

Aboriginal Adaptations On The Colorado Plateau: A View From The Island-In-The-Sky, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, Alan J. Osborn, Jesslyn Brown, Galen Burgett, Linda Scott Cummings, Ralph J. Hartley, Susan Vetter, Jennifer Waters, Tony Zalucha

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

This final report documents the results of archaeological inventory, excavation, and analysis of prehistoric cultural resources within a 45-kilometer (28-mile) long corridor in the Island-in-the-Sky District of Canyonlands National Park, Utah. During three field seasons of survey, mapping, and excavation in 1983-1985, the research team recorded 32 artifact scatters, plotted 90,000 prehistoric artifacts and 250 historic items, completed 600 one-square-meter test pits, and conducted 10 block excavations. Block excavations at two locations in Gray's Pasture revealed a plant processing/hunting field camp (42SA16858) and a disturbed pithouse (42SA8506). Associated features and materials included a puddled clay-lined hearth, a slab-lined pit, a …

Transactions Of The Nebraska Academy Of Sciences Table Of Contents: Volume 22 (1995)

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Editorial Contents

Nebraska Academy of Sciences Officers, Policy Committee .............. iv

Editorial Board .............. vi

Membership Objectives and Friends of the Academy .............. vii

Nebraska Association of Teachers of Science .............. viii

Preparation of manuscripts .............. inside back cover

Papers

Velocity microhabitats in the edges of the channelized Missouri River (Larry W. Hesse) .............. 1

A preliminary catalog of the lichen-forming fungi of Nebraska (Robert S. Egan, Richard C. Witt, Yolanda E. Peck, John P. Goeden, and Teresa L. Cherney) .............. 13

Keys and distributional maps for Nebraska Cyperaceae, Part 1: Bulbostylis, Cyperus, Dulichium, Eleocharis, Eriphorum, Fimbristylis, Fuirena, Lipocarpha, and …

The Effects Of A Long-Term Drought On The Economic Roles Of Hacendado And Ejidatario Women In A Mexican Ejido, Jodi L. Biskup, Darcy L. Boellstorff

Nebraska Anthropologist

Data is drawn from the 1995 summer field school in applied anthropology and appropriate technology held in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon. University of Nebraska-Lincoln students worked as a field team studying the impact of economic development and social initiatives on a rural former ejido. This paper focuses on how a severe regional drought has transformed the economic roles of ejido women of the hacendado and ejidatario classes. Data was gathered using ethnographic field techniques such as participant-observation and interviews. Preliminary analysis shows that women react to the drought by seeking alternative means of generating income. These include the …

A Noteworthy Record And The Breeding Distribution Of The Blue Grosbeak In North Dakota, Lawrence D. Igl

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

The northern limit of the blue grosbeak's (Guiraca caerulea) breeding distribution occurs in southern North Dakota. Records of the blue grosbeak in North Dakota are uncommon. Here, I report my observation of a blue grosbeak at a site where the species was recorded 25 years earlier. A summary of the species' distribution and records in North Dakota are provided.

Dramatic Increase Of Le Conte's Sparrow In Conservation Reserve Program Fields In The Northern Great Plains, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

During a continuing investigation in the northern Great Plains, we documented substantial increases of the Le Conte's Sparrow (Ammodramus Leconteii) in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields in 1994 compared with 1990-93. The most dramatic increases occurred in Eddy County, North Dakota, and Sheridan County, Montana. The changes in habitat associated with the drought from 1989 to early 1993 and above-normal precipitation from mid-1993 through mid-1994 likely produced favorable breeding conditions for this species in CRP fields in 1994.

Effects Of Offshore Oil And Gas Development: A Current Awareness Bibliography, Sue Ann Gardner, D. Landry, J. Riley

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

This bibliography is a compilation of current publications (citations with abstracts) from a wide variety of electronic and print information sources relating to offshore oil and gas development.

Subject categories covered include:
Biology: Ecological, anatomical, and physiological effects of oil and/or gas, Species as biomarkers, PAH uptake and bioaccumulation, etc.
Chemistry/Geochemistry/Geology: Biochemistry, Biodegradation, Bioremediation, Hydrocarbon degradation, Environmental sampling, Soil contamination, etc.
Engineering/Physics: Technological advancements in facility/equipment design and use, Spill response and recovery equipment, Physical properties of oil and gas, etc.
Environment/Ecosystem Management/Spills: Environmental assessment and management, Oil and/or gas spill description and analysis, etc.
Socioeconomic/Regulation/General: Social and economic ramifications, …

The Sower, Fall 1994

The Sower (CASNR Alumni Newsletter)

Contents:

Arnold, Gingery receive 1994 Alumni Awards
From Your Association President
ASAP Program kickoff held October 20
From the Dean’s Desk
College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Student Ambassadors
Career Services Center available to alumni
Girl Scout Tech-Holiday
Red Letter Days
CASNR Career Day
High School Scholars Research Program
Placement Library moves
Ag Career Day in York
CASNR Alumni Update Day - March 17,1995
What have you been up to since graduation?
1994-95 CASNRAA Board of Directors

Megapodes: New Approaches To Old Threats, International Ornithological Congress

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Conference Proceedings

Proceedings of the 21st International Ornithological Congress, Round Table Discussion and Second International Megapode Symposium held in Hofberg, Vienna, Austria, August 20-25, 1994.

The Probe, Issue # 145 -- July 1994

The Probe: Newsletter of the National Animal Damage Control Association

Wildlife Damage Management: Announcing a new resource for wildlife damage managers, by Robert H. Schmidt, Editor The PROBE
Publication Available: Hunting Symposium Proceedings
Berryman Institute Announces the Winners of the 1994 Berryman Fellowships

The Sower, Summer 1994

The Sower (CASNR Alumni Newsletter)

Content:

Ellington receives national awards
Alumni Award nominations now being accepted!
Welcome, new alumni!
Dean Edwards receives the 1994 Massey-Ferguson Educational Gold Medal
1994 Alumni Membership Awards
From your association President
From the Dean’s Desk
Alumni Notes
Obituaries
From Sandhills shanty to (nearly) century's end
Annual Football Reunion to be a "howling" good time!

Ordination And Description Of Prairie Plant Communities From The Southern Missouri Coteau In South Dakota, Robert Tatina

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

The species composition and soil-site characteristics of three prairies from the Missouri Coteau of southeastern South Dakota were used 1) to determine the major environmental variables responsible for vegetational patterning and 2) to describe the plant communities on these prairies. Vascular plant species composition was significantly correlated (p < 0.01) with a suite of variables that strongly influence available soil moisture, and with soil pH and conductivity. Cluster analysis yielded five groups at the 38% similarity level. From the lowest (in elevation) and most mesic to the highest and most xeric, the five groups (communities) are: wet meadows with prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata Link) and sedge (Carex praegracilis W Boott.) as the most important species; meadows with prairie cordgrass and switch grass (Panicum virgatum L.); swales with Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman); slopes with Kentucky bluegrass, sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula [Michx.j Torr.), …