Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

The Impact Of The "Profitable Perennials" Project On Adoption : An Evaluation, Jamie Bowyer, Rebecca Heath

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Wilson Inlet Catchment Appraisal 2007, Ron Master

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Marchagee Oil Mallee Study : Drill Completion And Preliminary Hydrogeological Report, D L. Bennett, Adrian Goodreid

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Barriers And Drivers Influencing Adoption Of Perennial Pastures On The South Coast Of Wa, Jamie Bowyer, Rebecca Heath

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Farming For The Future : Industry Practice Baselines, Danielle England, Susan Murphy-White, John Noonan, Marie Shanks, Jon Warren

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

State Of The River Report For The Lower St. Johns River Basin, Florida: Water Quality, Fisheries, Aquatic Life, And Contaminants 2009, Environmental Protection Board, City Of Jacksonville, University Of North Florida, Jacksonville University

State of the River Report

No abstract provided.

Setting Targets For Resource Condition In Yilliminning Catchment, Leon Van Wyk, Gregory Paul Raper

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Progress In Strategic Research Areas, Scott R. Abella

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Three years ago through conversations with resource managers, assessing the status of knowledge of the scientific literature, and our own interests, we set forth several strategic research areas that we believed would be timely for advancing Mojave Desert conservation and management.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

Project 1. Relict Leopard Frog Monitoring, Management, and Research

• All milestones and deliverables associated with the MSHCP project are on schedule
• Completion of 2008 monitoring survey efforts
• Coordination is ongoing to identify potential translocation sites, including assisting efforts to identify a potential site in the western Grand Canyon
• RLFCT meeting hosted and minutes of meeting drafted
• Annual report provided to RLFCT, final draft in review
• Sampling for the amphibian chytrid fungus conducted at many sites

Project 2. Bald Eagle Winter Monitoring and Evaluation

• All MSHCP milestones and deliverables are on schedule
• Planning and coordination of the 2009 Eagle Count conducted …

Early Post-Fire Recovery On A Heavily Visited Mojave Desert Burn: Red Rock Canyon Near Las Vegas, Nevada, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel, Christina L. Lund, Jessica E. Spencer

Fire Science Presentations

Wildfire has become widespread in southwestern USA deserts. In a record 2005 fire season in the Mojave Desert, for example, more than 385,000 hectares burned (Brooks and Matchett 2006). This burned area is approximately 3% of the entire Mojave Desert. Fueled in large part by exotic annual grasses, these fires burned desert ecosystems thought to have only burned infrequently historically. Burns now occupy significant portions of desert landscapes, posing prominent management challenges. Improving our understanding of plant recovery on desert burns is important for evaluating future fire hazard, whether natural revegetation will meet management objectives, and for planning active revegetation …

Post-Fire Plant Recovery In The Mojave And Sonoran Deserts Of Western North America, Scott R. Abella, Public Lands Institute, Department Of Environmental Studies, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fire Science Presentations

Fire is thought to have been generally rare historically in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. However, invasion by exotic grasses (e.g., Schismus spp.) has increased fuel continuity, promoting fire in these deserts. Succession and recovery are not well understood processes in deserts, nonetheless for a novel disturbance like fire. In addition to helping build theories of desert succession and recovery, information on post-fire recovery has numerous practical implications (e.g., determining whether active revegetation is needed). Systematic reviews provide a means for obtaining literature using reproducible search criteria. This approach facilitates a balanced appraisal of available information, synthesizes scattered literature, and …

On The Movement Of Beluga Whales In Cook Inlet, Alaska: Simulations Of Tidal And Environmental Impacts Using A Hydrodynamic Inundation Model, Tal Ezer, Roderick Hobbs, Lie-Yauw Oey

CCPO Publications

The population of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, Alaska, is in decline, and since 2000 these whales have been under consideration for designation as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act (and were placed on the list in October 2008, just before this article went to press). In order to study environmental and hydrodynamic impacts on the belugas' movements and survival in the unique habitat of the inlet, a three-dimensional ocean circulation and inundation model is combined with satellite-tracked beluga whale data. Model-wale data comparisons from two whale paths during a five-day period (september 17-21, 2000) covering 10 tidal cycles suggest …

Current Status And Long-Term Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Tributaries And Chesapeake Bay Mainstem From 1985 Through 2007, Daniel M. Dauer, Harold G. Marshal, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane, Suzanne C. Doughten, Frederick A. Hoffman

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

The period prior to the implementation of the Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program was characterized by a marked decline in the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay. The disappearance of submerged aquatic vegetation in certain regions of the Bay, declines in the abundance of some commercially and recreationally important species, increases in the incidence of low dissolved oxygen events, changes in the Bay's food web, and other ecological problems were related to deteriorating water quality (e.g. USEPA, 1982,1983;Officer et al.,1984; Orth and Moore, 1984). The results of concentrated research efforts in the late 1970s and early 1980s stimulated the establishment of …

Fisheries Occasional Publication No.72 - Western Rock Lobster Ecological Effects Of Fishing Research Plan., Rhys Brown

Fisheries Occasional Publications

The commercial West Coast Rock Lobster Fishery (WCRLF) targets the western rock lobster (WRL), Panulirus cygnus, averaging approximately 10,000 tonnes of lobsters each year. Currently approximately 450 to 500 boats operate in the Fishery in waters ranging from 5 m to 200 m depth adjacent to the Western Australian coast and stretching from Cape Leeuwin in the south to Shark Bay in the north. The Fishery is managed by the Department of Fisheries (DoF) in Western Australia, using an input control system designed to constrain exploitation/fishing effort and deliver sustainable catches. The annual value of the catch is estimated at …

Consequences Of More Extreme Precipitation Regimes For Terrestrial Ecosystems, S. D. Smith, C. Beier, Aimee T. Classen, Melinda D. Smith, Jana L. Heisler, S. W. Leavitt, Alan K. Knapp, D. Briske, Y. Luo, M. Reichstein, J. E. Bell, Philip A. Fay, R. Sherry, Benjamin Smith

Life Sciences Faculty Research

Amplification of the hydrological cycle as a consequence of global warming is forecast to lead to more extreme intra-annual precipitation regimes characterized by larger rainfall events and longer intervals between events. We present a conceptual framework, based on past investigations and ecological theory, for predicting the consequences of this underappreciated aspect of climate change. We consider a broad range of terrestrial ecosystems that vary in their overall water balance. More extreme rainfall regimes are expected to increase the duration and severity of soil water stress in mesic ecosystems as intervals between rainfall events increase. In contrast, xeric ecosystems may exhibit …

New Book Chapter Reviewing Mojave Desert Revegetation Practices Is Forthcoming, Scott R. Abella

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

I was invited to write a chapter for a forthcoming book on Arid Environments to be published by Nova Science Publishers. This book is anticipated to appear in late 2008 or early 2009, and we will be able to provide additional details about the entire book at that time. I co-authored our chapter on revegetation with Alice Newton, Vegetation Manager at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. We systematically reviewed 23 published studies of planting or seeding native species in the Mojave Desert.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending September 30, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

Project 1. Relict Leopard Frog Monitoring, Management, and Research

• Completion of translocation and augmentation efforts for 2008
• Summer egg mass surveys completed
• Coordination is ongoing to identify potential translocation sites near Moapa
• Habitat improvements coordinated for Bighorn Sheep Spring
• Annual Project Review Presentation provided to Clark County
• All milestones and deliverables associated with the MSHCP project are on schedule

Project 2. Bald Eagle Winter Monitoring and Evaluation

• Initial habitat suitability models and maps developed
• Annual Project Review and Presentation given to Clark County
• All MSHCP milestones and deliverables associated with this project are on schedule

Project 3. Peregrine Falcon Monitoring …

Aquatic Ecosystem Response To Storm Water Abatement Measures In The Ravines Of The Gvsu Allendale Campus: Establishment Of Base-Line Biological Condition, Eric Snyder, Jason Nelson, Jason Drogowski, Michelle Harju

Technical Reports

The ravine tributary streams surrounding Grand Valley State Universities Allendale campus represent unique and understudied ecosystems, worthy of significant restoration efforts and of long-lasting protection. They are variously affected by storm water runoff, representing a spectrum from severely impacted to relatively pristine. Quantitative macroinvertebrate samples taken from six streams in late June 2007, indicated that insect diversity was positively correlated to ammonium (p=0.057), while total abundance was negatively correlated to phosphate and chlorophyll-a concentration (n.s.). In addition, phosphate, nitrate, sulfate and iron concentrations were elevated in streams that experience significant storm-water runoff and these streams also tended to have …

Estimating Soil Seed Bank Characteristics In Ponderosa Pine Forests Using Vegetation And Forest-Floor Data, Scott R. Abella, Judith D. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Soil seed banks are important for vegetation management because they contain propagules of species that may be considered desirable or undesirable for site colonization after management and disturbance events. Knowledge of seed bank size and composition before planning management activities facilitates proactive management by providing early alerts of exotic species presence and of abilities of seed banks to promote colonization by desirable species. We developed models in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in northern Arizona to estimate the size and richness of mineral soil seed banks using readily observable vegetation and forestfloor characteristics. Regression models using three or fewer predictors …

Benthic Biological Monitoring Program Of The Elizabeth River Watershed (2007), Daniel M. Dauer

Elizabeth River Reports

Executive Summary

Macrobenthic communities of the Elizabeth River watershed have been quantitatively sampled since summer 1999. This report presents the data from the ninth year of sampling in 2007. The three objectives of the Benthic Biological Monitoring Program of the Elizabeth River watershed are: (1) To characterize the health of the tidal waters of the Elizabeth River watershed as indicated by the structure of the benthic communities. (2) To conduct trend analyses on long-term data at 14 fixed-point stations to relate temporal trends in the benthic communities to changes in water and/or sediment quality. Trend analyses will be updated annually …

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending June 30, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

Project 1. Relict Leopard Frog Monitoring, Management, and Research

• Translocation program completed this quarter at current active translocation sites.
• Egg mass surveys at Blue Point Spring conducted approximately weekly; two additional egg massed collected from site for head-starting.
• Frogs released at Blue Point and Rogers from egg masses collected at Blue Point in March and April, further augmentations planned.
• Spring nocturnal surveys completed.
• Coordination for potential translocation sites on BLM lands ongoing.
• Habitat improvements coordinated and conducted at one new translocation site on BLM lands in the Gold Butte; site received frogs in April.
• All milestones and deliverables associated with …

Western Australian Rangeland Monitoring System For Grasslands: Field Manual, Andrew Craig, Philip Thomas

Bulletins 4000 -

Western Australian Rangeland Monitoring System (WARMS) sites are designed to provide defined areas for repeated photography and collection of vegetation composition, shrub/tree cover and landscape function (soil surface assessment) data. This manual defines the procedures for installing and monitoring WARMS sites in the grasslands of northern Western Australia. It provides a documented reference of site stratification at regional scale, and site allocation at station (property) scale. Different procedures apply for sites in the shrublands of the southern pastoral zone. WARMS is designed to be interpreted at the vegetation type or regional scale, rather than lease (station) scale. Information gathered is …

Limnological Assistance For The Lake Mead National Recreation Area In Meeting The Challenge Of The Water 2025 Initiative: Annual Report, Period Ending May 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Hiring: Limnologist Dr. Wai Hing (David) Wong was hired and officially reported to work on 5/15/2008.

Project 1 and Project 2: Dr. Wong has commenced work on Projects 1 and 2.

Project 3: Dr. Wong has commenced work on Project 3. A comprehensive zebra/quagga mussel bibliography has been completed and published to the 100th Meridian Web site. Six interagency, multi-disciplinary quagga mussel meetings have been held. A quagga mussel substrate project has been initiated and, through the coordination efforts of this project, two other studies have been selected and refined to help determine the ecological impacts of quagga mussel infestation …

The Guacamole Fund Presents...

Native American Forum on Nuclear Issues

Special Bonnie Raitt Benefit Tickets

An Overview Of The Vegetation Research Program: Knowledge Services For Land Management, Scott R. Abella

Fire Science Presentations

• Provide knowledge services about the ecology and management of southwestern dryland ecosystems
• Specialize in working with resource managers to conduct applied research
• Conduct and provide research, monitoring, scientific literature synthesis, and technical assistance

Nrc’S Decision Process: Judging The Safety Of A Proposed Repository, Janet Kotra

Native American Forum on Nuclear Issues

Abstract:

-Provide an overview of the role of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at Yucca Mountain

-Describe the process NRC will use to decide whether or not to authorize construction of a repository at Yucca Mountain

-Explain options and highlight important milestones that apply to Tribes as potential participants in NRC’s process

Fighting Nuclear Waste At Skull Valley, Margene Bullcreek

Native American Forum on Nuclear Issues

Abstract:

-Reasons We Oppose Nuclear Waste

-Sovereignty

-Traditional values must be protected

-Protect sacredness of our culture, plants,

animals, air, and water

-Affects on community health

-Protect reservation and homeland

-To protect the air and water

-To protect future generations

-Environmental Justice

A Comparison Of Agricultural And Urban Influences On Water Quality In South West Wa, Nardia Keipert, David Weaver, Robert Summers, Christian Zammit, Artemis Kitsios, Simon Neville, Martin Clarke

Conference papers and presentations

In Western Australia, a number of coastal rivers and estuaries have suffered from eutrophication since the 1960’s. Often the focus of the threat to water quality in these areas has been agriculture because of its extensive nature and widespread use of highly soluble fertilisers. Over recent years a focus on nutrient inputs, outputs and nutrient balance in a number of projects provides an opportunity to compare the relative nutrient threats from the agricultural and urban sectors, placed in the context of increasing urbanisation and development. These disparate data sets also allow a comparison of nutrient inputs in each sector in …

Limnological Assistance For The Lake Mead National Recreation Area In Meeting The Challenge Of The Water 2025 Initiative: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending: April 1, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Hiring: A decision is anticipated in the upcoming weeks regarding the hiring of a limnologist. Two candidates were selected from among three qualified applicants for telephone interviews; they were subsequently interviewed in-person.

Project 1: Review of the draft Boulder Basin Adaptive Management Plan is on-going. Meetings of the Systems Conveyance and Operations Program (SCOP) Technical Advisory Teams were attended.

Project 2: Development of a white paper expressing the joint needs of the entities involved in Water 2025 projects is on-going; scientific review of data and reports related to bacteria in high-use areas of Lake Mead is underway.

Project 3: Discussions …

Fire Effects On Gambel Oak In Southwestern Ponderosa Pine-Oak Forests, Scott R. Abella, Peter Z. Fule

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) is ecologically and aesthetically valuable in southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests. Fire effects on Gambel oak are important because fire may be used in pine-oak forests to manage oak directly or to accomplish other management objectives. We used published literature to: (1) ascertain historical fire regimes in pine-oak forests, (2) discern prescribed burning effects on Gambel oak survival and diameter growth, and (3) provide suggestions for using fire to manage oak. Frequent fire is part of Gambel oak’s historical environment, as historical fire return intervals often averaged less than 10 years in pine-oak forests. More …