Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

Status And Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Chesapeake Bay: Rappahannock River (1985-2004), Daniel M. Dauer, Harold G. Marshall, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane, Peter L. Morton, Suzanne C. Doughten, Frederick A. Hoffman

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

A marked decline in the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay has occurred over the past several decades. 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 have been related to the deteriorating water quality. The results of concentrated research efforts in the late 1970s and early 1980s stimulated the establishment of Federal and state directives to better manage the Chesapeake Bay watershed. By way of the …

Status And Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Chesapeake Bay: York River (1985-2004), Daniel M. Dauer, Harold G. Marshall, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane, Suzanne C. Doughten, Frederick A. Hoffman

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

A marked decline in the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay has occurred over the past several decades. 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 have been related to the deteriorating water quality. The results of concentrated research efforts in the late 1970s and early 1980s stimulated the establishment of Federal and state directives to better manage the Chesapeake Bay watershed. By way of the …

Site Assessments, Martyn Keen

Natural resources published reports

The processes of collecting and recording site data as part of the preliminary tasks leading to a landscape or project design.

This standard applies to landscape and project designs for catchments of any size. Designs include: the installation of conservation earthworks; revegetation; land use planning; or implementation of erosion and sediment control practices. The design may also include any combination of the above

Roaded Catchments, Martyn Keen

Natural resources published reports

A roaded catchment is one of the water harvesting structures known collectively as improved catchments. It has a broad 'V' shaped cross section and a surface cover of clay. It is used to increase run-off yield and divert water to farm dams.

Summary Of Nutrient Enrichment Studies Of Natural Phytoplankton Populations In The Lower Hillsborough River And The Palm River Conducted On February 1 - 4, 2005, The City Of Tampa Wastewater Department

Reports

The Bay Study Group (BSG) conducted nutrient enrichment studies (bioassays) on natural phytoplankton population samples collected in the lower Hillsborough River and the Palm River on February 1, 2005. The Hillsborough River test site was located approximately 200m upriver of the Nebraska Avenue bridge (Lat: 28o 01.171’N; Lon: 82o 27.025’W) and the Palm River test site was located approximately 300m downstream from the barrier at Structure-160 (Lat: 27o 57.308’N; Lon: 82o 22.200’W).

Ecological Functions And Values Of Fringing Salt Marshes Susceptible To Oil Spills In Casco Bay, Maine, Pamela A. Morgan, Michele Dionne, Richard Mackenzie, Lucas Curci

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Casco Bay is the largest oil port in Maine and northern New England, handling over 20 million tons of crude oil and oil products annually. The susceptibility of the Bay’s estuarine habitats, especially its fringing salt marshes, to potential spill events was the impetus for this study. Although much has been learned to date about the effects of oil spills on estuarine habitats around the world, there is a real need for site-specific knowledge of the structures and functions of local habitats so that resource managers can be prepared in the event of a spill. Our study focused specifically on …

Summary Of Nutrient Enrichment Studies Of Natural Phytoplankton Populations In The Lower Hillsborough River, The Palm River, And The Alafia River Conducted On October 18 - 22, 2004, The City Of Tampa Wastewater Department

Reports

The Bay Study Group (BSG) conducted nutrient enrichment studies (bioassays) on natural phytoplankton population samples collected in the Lower Hillsborough River, the Palm River, and the Alafia River on October 18, 2004. The Lower Hillsborough River test site was located approximately 200m upriver of the Nebraska Avenue bridge (Lat: 28o 01.171’N; Lon: 82o 27.025’W), the Palm River test site was located approximately 300m downstream from the barrier at Structure-160 (Lat: 27o 57.308’N; Lon: 82o 22.200’W), and the Alafia River test site was located at the Hillsborough County boat ramp at Center Avenue (Lat: 27o 52.842’N; Lon: 82o 18.011’W).

Information For U.S. Scientists About Participation In The Inaugural Projects Of The International Andrill Program Including An Overview Of The Andrill U.S. Science Support Program, Andrill-U.S. Steering Committee, Andrill Science Management Office

ANDRILL Project Information

This document provides guidance for potential U.S. participants in the two inaugural projects of the ANDRILL Program. It includes information on eligibility, application procedures, proposal review criteria, expected numbers and positions of on-ice and off-ice personnel, staffing decisions, science support levels, participant responsibilities, and project timelines. Information provided in this document (Version 3_23_05) may be modified after the U.S. ANDRILL Workshop (April 1-2, 2005). The final version will be posted no later than 4-15-05.

The reader should refer to the Appendices of this document for more detailed information on U.S. and international management of the ANDRILL Program, and for a …

Monitoring Temporal Change In Riparian Vegetation Of Great Basin National Park, E. A. Beever, D. A. Pyke, J. C. Chambers, F. Landau, S. D. Smith, K. Murray

Life Sciences Faculty Research

Disturbance in riparian areas of semiarid ecosystems involves complex interactions of pulsed hydrologic flows, herbivory, fire, climatic effects, and anthropogenic influences. We resampled riparian vegetation within ten 10-m × 100-m plots that were initially sampled in 1992 in 4 watersheds of the Snake Range, east central Nevada. Our finding of significantly lower coverage of grasses, forbs, and shrubs within plots in 2001 compared with 1992 was not consistent with the management decision to remove livestock grazing from the watersheds in 1999. Change over time in cover of life-forms or bare ground was not predicted by scat counts within plots in …

Economic Significance Of Recreational Uses Of National Parks And Other Public Lands, Dr. Daniel J. Stynes, National Park Service, U.S. Department Of The Interior

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

This paper reviews concepts and methods for estimating the economic significance of recreational uses of public lands and reports estimates of recreation values and economic impacts from recent studies. Aimed primarily at non-economists, the review clarifies the distinction between valuation and impact studies, defines key concepts, summarizes the most accessible approaches, and discusses conceptual and practical issues related to choosing among available methods and interpreting and applying the results. Terms that may be unfamiliar to the reader are highlighted in bold face and defined in a glossary at the end of the paper.

Copies Of Unique Comment Letters, Mark Belles, Bureau Of Reclamation

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

Unique letters and messages regarding the "Notice to solicit comments and hold public meetings on the development of management strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, including Lower Basin shortage guidelines, under low reservoir conditions."

Drought Preparedness Planning: Building Institutional Capacity, Donald A. Wilhite, Michael Hayes, Cody L. Knutson

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Past attempts to manage drought and its impacts through a reactive, crisis management approach have been ineffective, poorly coordinated, and untimely, as illustrated by the hydro- illogical cycle in Figure 1. The crisis management approach has been followed in both developed and developing countries. Because of the ineffectiveness of this approach, greater interest has evolved in recent years in the adoption of a more proactive risk-based management approach in some countries (see Chapter 6). Other countries are striving to obtain a higher level of preparedness through development of national action programs that are part of the United Nations Convention to …

A New Approach For Predicting Drought-Related Vegetation Stress: Integrating Satellite, Climate, And Biophysical Data Over The U.S. Central Plains, Tsegaue Tadesse, Jesslyn F. Brown, Michael Hayes

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Droughts are normal climate episodes, yet they are among the most expensive natural disasters in the world. Knowledge about the timing, severity, and pattern of droughts on the landscape can be incorporated into effective planning and decisionmaking. In this study, we present a data mining approach to modeling vegetation stress due to drought and mapping its spatial extent during the growing season. Rule-based regression tree models were generated that identify relationships between satellite-derived vegetation conditions, climatic drought indices, and biophysical data, including land-cover type, available soil water capacity, percent of irrigated farm land, and ecological type. The data mining method …

New Developments In The Remote Estimation Of The Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation In Crops, Andrés Viña, Anatoly A. Gitelson

Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies: Publications

The fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, fAPAR, is an important biophysical characteristic in models of gas exchange between the terrestrial boundary layer and the atmosphere, as well as in the analysis of vegetation productivity. Synoptic estimation of fAPAR has been performed by using NDVI as a linear proxy of fAPAR, despite the saturation of NDVI at fAPAR beyond 0.7. This paper analyzes the NDVI/fAPAR relationship in row crops (i.e. maize and soybean), and evaluates alternative vegetation indices to overcome the loss of sensitivity of NDVI at moderate-to-high vegetation biomass. Red-edge NDVI, which uses NIR and a band around 700 …

Five-Year Review Of Executive Order 13112 On Invasive Species

National Invasive Species Council

Invasive species inhabit all regions of the United States and every nation. The price society pays for invasives is reflected not only in significant economic damage but also in high level of environmental degradation, loss of recreational opportunities, and harm to animal, plant, and human health. Executive Order 13112 (EO) was issued in 1999 to enhance federal coordination and response to the complex and accelerating problem of invasive species. As directed by the EO, the National Invasive Species Council has approved this report for the Office of Management and Budget to assess the effectiveness of the EO and evaluate whether …

An Inventory Of Rangelands In Part Of The Broome Shire, Western Australia, W E. Cotching

Technical Bulletins

The inventory of rangelands in part of the Broome Shire in Western Australia was undertaken by DAFWA between 1989 and 1990. It describes and maps the natural resources of the region’s pastoral leasehold land. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the natural area’s resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The survey of part of the Broome Shire …

Guidelines For Ranking Invasive Species Control Projects

National Invasive Species Council

Invasive species issues challenge all of us everyday. Whether you are formally tasked with land management or simply active in exploring and protecting ecosystems, dealing with the threats presented by the multitude of terrestrial, aquatic, or microbial invasive species is a complicated matter. The National Invasive Species Council (NISC) has been tasked, since the signing of Executive Order 13112 in 1999, with assisting in the coordination of efforts to combat invasive species. The NISC developed the National Invasive Species Management Plan (Plan) and Action Item #32 of the Plan states: By January 2003, NISC will develop and issue guidance for …

Canada Thistle

National Invasive Species Council

Alternate Names

Synonyms

Description

Similar Species

Family: Asteraceae

Ecological Impact

Biology and Invasive Potential

Distribution and Abundance

Management

Notes

Discovering Associations Between Climatic And Oceanic Parameters To Monitor Drought In Nebraska Using Data-Mining Techniques, Tsegaye Tadesse, Donald A. Wilhite, Michael J. Hayes, Steve Goddard

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought is a complex natural hazard that is best characterized by multiple climatological and hydrological parameters. Improving our understanding of the relationships between these parameters is necessary to reduce the impacts of drought. Data mining is a recently developed technique that can be used to interact with large databases and assist in the discovery of associations between drought and oceanic data by extracting information from massive and multiple data archives. In this study, a new data-mining algorithm [i.e., Minimal Occurrences With Constraints and Time Lags (MOWCATL)] has been used to identify the relationships between oceanic parameters and drought indices. Rather …

Natürliche Und Nutzungsbedingte Land- Und Bodendegradationsprozesse, Untersucht Am Unteren Orchon (Nord-Mongolei) = Naturally And Land Use Caused Land And Soil Degradation Processes, Studied At The Lower Orchon (Northern Mongolia), Christian Opp

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Landscape-ecological investigations were carried-out within the forest steppe of Northern Mongolia. The site conditions of the partly by agriculture used area of Cagaan Tolgoj at the Lower Orchon (Aimag Selenge) were analysed in seven test areas. Results of soil analysis are given. The evaluation of soil cover and partly vegetation cover was carried-out with special regard, to degradation phaenomena. It is based on field analysis, measurements during the soil survey and the detection of soil degradation parameter with the help of laboratory analysis. Among naturally and land use caused factors of soil status and of the changing conditions within forest …

The Effect Of Sample Size On Rapid Bioassessment Scores And Management Efficiency, Uttam Kumar Rai

Theses and Dissertations

The rapid bioassessment method for stream bio monitoring generally uses a fixed count of 200 macro invertebrates as the standard subsample size. This number has been argued to be too small to provide accurate estimates on the richness of macro invertebrate communities and is believed to give misleading information pertaining to stream health. In this study, I used data collected from multiple habitats from 29 streams located in several subecoregions of Georgia to examine how the rapid bioassessment scores perform across subsample sizes of 100, 200, and 300 organisms. Subsample sizes of 100 and 200 organisms were found to underestimate …

Preliminary Study Comparing Precipitation Quality Between Nominal Land Uses In Portland, Oregon, Lacey Sullivan

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The purpose of this study is to analyze the precipitation quality in various land use categories throughout Portland. Because of its significance in the removal of atmospheric pollutants, wet deposition is an important component to study. In addition to its significant role in cleansing the atmosphere, wet deposition can have a direct impact on the ecosystem due to its potential pollutant load. Various land uses may provide different emission sources, each uniquely affecting the composition of the atmosphere. A literature review found few studies comparing precipitation quality between local land uses within an urban area. Wet deposition studies seem to …

St. Croix National Scenic Riverway Aquatic Invasive Species Interagency Task Force: 2005 Action Plan For The Lower St. Croix River

National Invasive Species Council

This plan outlines strategies and actions proposed by the participating agencies for the 2005 season to help accomplish the Task Force purpose and implement actions from the St. Croix Scenic Riverway Comprehensive Interstate Management Plan.

Implementing this action plan will help attain the following goals of the comprehensive interstate management plan:

Goal I: Prevent or slow the spread of aquatic invasive species into and within the St. Croix River.

Goal II: Abate harmful ecological, economic, social and public health impacts resulting from infestation of aquatic invasive species.

Asian Carps Of The Genus Hypophthalmichthys (Pisces, Cyprinidae) ― A Biological Synopsis And Environmental Risk Assessment, Cindy S. Kolar, Duane C. Chapman, Walter R. Courtenay Jr., Christine M. Housel, James D. Williams, Dawn P. Jennings

National Invasive Species Council

Carps of the family Cyprinidae, the largest family of freshwater fishes in the world (Nelson 1994), have long been introduced beyond their native ranges, a practice that continues today. Although carps have been introduced for several centuries, the widespread introduction of the genus Hypophthalmichthys, the bigheaded carps, is a relatively recent phenomenon. All three recognized species of Hypophthalmichthys—H. nobilis, in North America referred to as Bighead Carp; H. molitrix; Silver Carp; and H. harmandi, Largescale Silver Carp—are native to fresh waters of eastern Asia. Largescale Silver Carp have been introduced elsewhere in west-central Asia as a …

Focus Group Conference Report And Pathways Ranking Guide: June- August 2005

National Invasive Species Council

This document represents the second version of a guide and process for pathway definition, analysis and prioritization. It is expected that this document will undergo another trial test and revision prior to full implementation, though we strongly believed this is a ‘workable’ product that only requires refinement.

Throughout this systems development process, the Pathways Work Team struggled with several issues relevant to scientific data and public policy. While this report in no way attempts to resolve such intricate issues, it is essential that these considerations be brought to the forefront for future decision-making efforts and as such are enumerated below: …

The Use Of Discontinuities And Functional Groups To Assess Relative Resilience In Complex Systems, Craig R. Allen, L. Gunderson, A. R. Johnson

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

It is evident when the resilience of a system has been exceeded and the system qualitatively changed. However, it is not clear how to measure resilience in a system prior to the demonstration that the capacity for resilient response has been exceeded. We argue that self-organizing human and natural systems are structured by a relatively small set of processes operating across scales in time and space. These structuring processes should generate a discontinuous distribution of structures and frequencies, where discontinuities mark the transition from one scale to another. Resilience is not driven by the identity of elements of a system, …

Factors Affecting Regional Variation In Growth Of Channel Catfish, Bart W. Durham, Kevin L. Pope, Gene R. Wilde

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

We related the length at age of channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus, an indirect measure of growth, to three climatic and five morphoedaphic variables in 144 Texas reservoirs. Growth of channel catfish ages 3 through 6 was negatively related to longitude, a factor that explained as much as 34% of the variation in length at age. Channel catfish length at age was not significantly related to latitude, conductivity, morphoedaphic index, mean depth, and maximum depth in all age-classes. Among age-7 channel catfish, length at age was positively related to reservoir area, which explained 35% of the variation in growth. A …

Status And Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Chesapeake Bay: York River (1985-2003), Daniel M. Dauer

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

The Virginia Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries continue to show some environmental trends indicating progress toward restoration of a more balanced and healthy ecosystem. However, the Bay system remains degraded and some areas and indicators show continuing degradation. Progress in reducing nutrient inputs has made demonstrable improvements and we expect that continued progress toward nutrient reduction goals, along with appropriate fisheries management and chemical contaminant controls, will result in additional improvements to the Bay. Findings from the last 18 years of the monitoring programs are highlighted below. In 1995, the Virginia DEQ instituted changes to its analytical techniques for …

Status And Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Chesapeake Bay: Rappahannock River (1985-2003), Daniel M. Dauer, Harold G. Marshall, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane, Suzanne C. Doughten, Frederick A. Hoffman

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

The Virginia Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries continue to show some environmental trends indicating progress toward restoration of a more balanced and healthy ecosystem. However, the Bay system remains degraded and some areas and indicators show continuing degradation. Progress in reducing nutrient inputs has made demonstrable improvements and we expect that continued progress toward nutrient reduction goals, along with appropriate fisheries management and chemical contaminant controls, will result in additional improvements to the Bay. Findings from the last 18 years of the monitoring programs are highlighted below. In 1995, the Virginia DEQ instituted changes to its analytical techniques for …

Status And Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Chesapeake Bay: James River (1985-2003), Daniel M. Dauer, Harold G. Marshall, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane, Suzanne C. Doughten, Frederick A. Hoffman

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

The Virginia Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries continue to show some environmental trends indicating progress toward restoration of a more balanced and healthy ecosystem. However, the Bay system remains degraded and some areas and indicators show continuing degradation. Progress in reducing nutrient inputs has made demonstrable improvements and we expect that continued progress toward nutrient reduction goals, along with appropriate fisheries management and chemical contaminant controls, will result in additional improvements to the Bay. Findings from the last 18 years of the monitoring programs are highlighted below.

In 1995, the Virginia DEQ instituted changes to its analytical techniques for …