Environmental Health and Protection Commons^™

Urban And Rural-Residential Land Uses: Their Role In Watershed Health And The Rehabilitation Of Oregon’S Wild Salmonids, Michael Harte, Victor W. Kaczynski, Clinton C. Shock, J. Alan Yeakley, Robert M. Hughes, Nancy Molina, Carl B. Schreck

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This technical report by the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) is a comprehensive review of how human activities in urban and rural-residential areas can alter aquatic ecosystems and resulting implications for salmonid recovery, with a geographic focus on the state of Oregon. The following topics are considered in the form of science questions, and comprise the major components of this report:

1. The effects of urban and rural-residential development on Oregon’s watersheds and native wild salmonids.
2. Actions that can be used to avoid or mitigate undesirable changes to aquatic ecosystems near developing urban and rural-residential areas.
3. The benefits and pitfalls of …

Invasive Species And Climate Change, Invasive Species Advisory Committee

National Invasive Species Council

ISSUE

Climate change interacts with and can often amplify the negative impacts of invasive species. These interactions are not fully appreciated or understood. They can result in threats to critical ecosystem functions on which our food system and other essential provisions and services depend as well as increase threats to human health. The Invasive Species Advisory Committee to the National Invasive Species Council recognizes the Administration’s commitment to dealing proactively with global climate change. However, unless we recognize and act on the impact of climate change and its interaction with ecosystems and invasive species, we will fall further behind in …

The Green, Blue And Grey Water Footprint Of Farm Animals And Animal Products. Volume 1: Main Report, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The projected increase in the production and consumption of animal products is likely to put further pressure on the globe’s freshwater resources. The size and characteristics of the water footprint vary across animal types and production systems. The current study provides a comprehensive account of the global green, blue and grey water footprints of different sorts of farm animals and animal products, distinguishing between different production systems and considering the conditions in all countries of the world separately. The following animal categories were considered: beef cattle, dairy cattle, pig, sheep, goat, broiler chicken, layer chicken and horses. The study shows …

The Green, Blue And Grey Water Footprint Of Farm Animals And Animal Products. Volume 2: Appendices, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Contents

Appendix I: Feed conversion efficiencies – in kg of feed (dry mass) per kg of output – per animal category and region

Appendix II: Estimated consumption of feed per animal category and world region (10³ ton dry mass/yr)

Appendix III. Estimated consumption of feed per production system and world region (10³ ton dry mass/yr)

Appendix IV. Drinking and service water footprint per animal

Appendix V. Water footprint of animals and animal products (m³/ton). Period 1996-2005

Policy And Science Of Geothermal Heat Use At Mcmurdo Station, Antarcrtica, Joe Alvine

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

My thesis research project deals with the use of geothermal heat in Antarctica. Currently it is not allowed due to article 7 of the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection that placed a 50 moratorium on the exploitation of mineral resources. The US main base in Antarctica, McMurdo Station is currently powered by diesel generators that are inefficient, cause environmental damage, and is expensive to run. By exploring alternative energy options, McMurdo Station can reduce its dependence on non-renewable energy sources. By determining the geothermal potential of McMurdo Station, this project explores the possibilities and benefits that would occur with the …

Slides: Development Of Shale: Water Resource Concerns And Policy Considerations, Katy Dunlap

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Katy Dunlap, Eastern Water Project Director, Trout Unlimited, Inc., Burdett, NY

24 slides

Slides: Water And Development Of Unconventional Oil And Gas Resources, Judy Jordan

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Judy Jordan, Oil & Gas Liaison, Garfield County, Rifle, CO

21 slides

Slides: Shale Drilling And Completions, William Fleckenstein

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: William Fleckenstein, BP Adjunct Professor in the Petroleum Department and Director of PERFORM Research, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, and Managing Partner of Fleckenstein, Eustes & Associates

20 slides

Slides: U.S. Shale Gas: Resources, Reserves And $$$, John B. Curtis

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: John B. Curtis, Professor of Geology and Geological Engineering and Director of the Potential Gas Agency, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO

17 slides

Slides: The Here And Now Of U.S. Nat Gas, Michelle Michot Foss

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Michelle Michot Foss, Chief Energy Economist, Center for Energy Economics, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas, Austin, TX

12 slides

Pooling For Horizontal Wells: Can They Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?, Bruce M. Kramer

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

74 pages.

This paper was originally published as:

Bruce M. Kramer, “Pooling for Horizontal Wells: Can They Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?,” 55 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Inst. 8-1, § 8.05 (2009).

Slides: Shale And Air Quality: The View From The Other Side, Jeremy Nichols

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Jeremy Nichols, Climate & Energy Program Director, WildEarth Guardians, Denver, CO

18 slides

Slides: Transforming And Disrupting: Shale Gas And Oil In U.S. Energy Supply, Richard Nehring

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Richard Nehring, Nehring Associates, Colorado Springs, CO

15 slides

Slides: Evolving Policy On Shale Plays, John Martin

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: John Martin, Crowell & Moring, LLP, Washington, DC

17 slides

Agenda: Shale Plays In The Intermountain West: Legal And Policy Issues, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

This one-day symposium to be held at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Denver will address the technology, economics, environmental impacts, and regulatory issues associated with shale gas development in the Rocky Mountain region. The purpose of this event is to facilitate productive dialogue among a wide range of stakeholders and interested parties to guide policy decisions.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering October 5, 2010 – January 4, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• The Hector’s Helpers program with the Clark County School District continued curriculum development.
• The team was selected to serve on the litter and recycling work group for Keep Las Vegas Beautiful.
• The team continued to develop the GIS database.
• A total of 12 clean-up events were conducted this quarter.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering July 5, 2010 – October 4, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• The street team portion of the media campaign was completed.
• The Hector’s Helpers program with the Clark County School District continued curriculum development.
• The team was selected to serve on the litter and recycling work group for Keep Las Vegas Beautiful.
• The team continued to develop the GIS database.
• A total of five clean-up events were conducted this quarter.

Renewable Energy In Rural Amazônia: A Case Study Of Its Advantages And Limitations In Santo Antônio, Amy Plovnick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Isolated renewable energy projects are a promising alternative to diesel power for providing electricity in rural communities not connected to the conventional electricity transmission grid. However, there have been a limited number of such projects in rural Amazônia, and they often face obstacles that limit their sustainability. The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental, social and economic impact of isolated renewable energy projects through a case study of a small-scale biomass and solar energy electrification project in the community of Santo Antônio, Pará. It will also evaluate the limitations to implementing and sustaining isolated renewable energy projects …

Unlv Magazine, Tony Allen, Shane Bevell, Donna Mcaleer, Ched Whitney, Cate Weeks

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

Effects Of 2000-2050 Global Climate Change On Ozone And Particulate Matter Air Quality In The United States Using Models-3/Cmaq System, Yun-Fat Lam

Doctoral Dissertations

The Models-3/Community Multi-scale Air Quality modeling system (CMAQ), coupled with Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) atmospheric General Circulation Model (GCM), fifth Generation Mesoscale Model system (MM5), and Goddard Earth Observing System-CHEMistry (GEOS-Chem), was used to simulate atmospheric concentration of ozone and particulate matter over the continental United States 12-km and 36-km (CONUS) domains at year 2000 and year 2050. In the study, GISS GCM model outputs interfaced with MM5 were utilized to supply the current and future meteorological conditions for CMAQ. The conventional CMAQ profile initial and boundary conditions were replaced by time-varied and layer-varied GEOS-Chem outputs. The future …

Climate Change And Globalization In The Americas: Case Studies Of Mitigation And Adaptation, Mary Finley-Brook, Melissa Haeffner, Charmaine Heslop-Thomas, Elma Montaña, Leah Sprain

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Robin Leichenko and Karen O‘Brien have proposed ―double exposure‖ as a conceptual framework to demonstrate how processes of globalization and global environmental change (GEC) redefine risk and encourage new, interrelated responses to social and ecological transitions (O‘Brien and Leichenko, 2000; Leichenko and O'Brien, 2008). In particular, the concept encourages researchers and policy makers to consider interplay between global climate change and globalization and how this is expressed unevenly across space. After reviewing the ways double exposure has been used in the literature, we consider four case studies to investigate the utility of the framework for analyzing and understanding climate change …

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering April 5, 2010 – July 4, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• With Board approval, the next phase of the Don’t Trash Nevada marketing campaign began.
• The Hector’s Helpers program with the Clark County School District began curriculum development.
• The team participated in the strategic planning process for Keep Las Vegas Beautiful.
• The team met with the Education Director of Keep America Beautiful to begin the process of developing a statewide program.
• The team continued to develop the GIS database.
• A total of 15 clean-up events were conducted this quarter.

Invasive Species And Public Investment In The Green Economy, Invasive Species Advisory Committee

National Invasive Species Council

Invasive Species and Public Investment in the Green Economy, approved by ISAC on June 24, 2010

ISSUE

Invasive species are intricately linked to the economy. Trade, travel, and transport facilitate their spread. Invasive species management requires extensive human and financial resources. The impacts of invasive species can substantially undermine economic growth and sustainable development. United States Executive Order (EO) 13112 defines invasive species as “alien [non-native] species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health” and states that Federal agencies should …“not authorize, fund, or carry out actions that are likely …

Marine Bioinvasions And Climate Change, James T. Carlton, Sandra C. Lindstrom, Celia M. Smith, Jennifer E. Smith

National Invasive Species Council

BACKGROUND

Invasive species are second only to habitat destruction as the greatest cause of species endangerment and global biodiversity loss. Invasive species can cause severe and permanent damage to the ecosystems they invade. Consequences of invasion include competition with or predation upon native species, hybridization, carrying or supporting harmful pathogens and parasites that may affect wildlife and human health, disturbing ecosystem function through alteration of food webs and nutrient recycling rates, acting as ecosystem engineers and altering habitat structure, and degradation of the aesthetic quality of our natural resources. In many cases we may not fully know the native animals …

Aquatic Habitat Mapping Within The Obed Wild And Scenic River For Threatened And Endangered Species Habitat Delineation, Joseph Ross Candlish

Masters Theses

There is a need to define a more efficient and accurate approach to aquatic habitat mapping. Traditional approaches have focused on intense biological/non-biological sampling and observation analysis within specific and restrained scales. Therefore, an underwater video mapping system (UVMS) has been developed in efforts to identify federally protected aquatic species’ habitats within the Obed Wild and Scenic River (OBRI). The UVMS kayak apparatus provides georeferenced video footage correlated with GPS (global positioning systems) for GIS (geographic information systems) mapping applications. Based on its fluvial and geomorphological trends, OBRI was dissected quantitatively and integrated into databases for species-specific GIS habitat queries. …

Youth Initiative Hector’S Helpers: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering February 11, 2010 – April 15, 2011, Hector's Helpers

Anti-littering Programs

The third quarter has progressed with the Hector’s Helpers program. We took action with hands-on classroom activities and lead three clean-up field trips. Students learned how to protect public lands in Southern Nevada through our anti-litter and desert dumping initiative. West Career Technical Academy students completed various GIS projects and finished the Adopt-A-Block Handbook. The Hector’s Helpers staff also submitted a formal proposal to study pre- and post-program surveys of students participating in the Hector's Helpers program.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering January 5, 2010 - April 4, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• The team presented the strategic plan to the Board for review and feedback.
• The team presented their revised Charter to the Board and received approval.
• the team met with AAEQ Manufacturing, a company interested in assisting with recycling and messaging efforts.
• The team began planning a unified recycling messaging for SNAP.
• The team met with the marketing firm B&P and discussed ideas for the messaging campaign.
• The team began collaborating with the Clark County School District on a "Hector's Helpers" program using Youth Initiative funding the BLM received.
• The team assisted the City of Las Vegas Keep America Beautiful task …

Comparative Anylysis Of Recyling Programs: A Case Study Of Three Universities, Jenny Jones

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract

The goal of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of three university recycling programs. This study looked at several aspects of the programs that included the diversion rates, per capita ratios of materials recycled and disposed, and the average net costs of waste disposal and waste diversion. The universities included in this study were the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Oregon.

To gather the information necessary for this analysis, I contacted each of the university’s recycling coordinators. To determine the average net costs of waste disposal and waste diversion …

Distribution Of Rain Gardens In Lincoln Nebraska: Are Rain Gardens More Likely To Be Built Near Bodies Of Water, Eric Voecks

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract Rain gardens are an important tool in reducing the amount of stormwater runoff and accompanying pollutants from entering the city’s streams and lakes, and reducing their water quality. This thesis project analyzed the number of rain gardens installed through the City of Lincoln Nebraska Watershed Management’s Rain Garden Water Quality Project in distance intervals of one-eighth mile from streams and lakes. This data shows the distribution of these rain gardens in relation to streams and lakes and attempts to determine if proximity to streams and lakes is a factor in homeowners installing rain gardens. ArcGIS was used to create …

Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey 2010 Highlights, Robert Futrell, Christie D. Batson, Barbara G. Brents, Andrea Dassopoulos, Chrissy Nicholas, Mark J. Salvaggio, Candace Griffith

Reports (USI)

UNLV sociologists conducted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey (LVMASS) to identify the socio-spatial distribution of attitudes and attributes relevant to urban sustainability in the Las Vegas Valley. The project goal is to understand how Las Vegas residents think about urban sustainability issues across three dimensions: 1) natural environment; 2) community and quality of life; 3) economy.