Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Droughtscape, Fall 2007, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Fall 2007 Outlook

Diverse Impacts Reported in Summer of 2007

Decadal Climate Cycles Hold Predictive Potential

Drought Experts Take Roadmap to Congress

NDMC Research Updates

Ground Water Dependence Of Endangered Ecosystems: Nebraska’S Eastern Saline Wetlands, F. Edwin Harvey, Jerry F. Ayers, David C. Gosselin

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Many endangered or threatened ecosystems depend on ground water for their survival. Nebraska’s saline wetlands, home to a number of endangered species, are ecosystems whose development, sustenance, and survival depend on saline ground water discharge at the surface. This study demonstrates that the saline conditions present within the eastern Nebraska saline wetlands result from the upwelling of saline ground water from within the underlying Dakota Aquifer and deeper underlying formations of Pennsylvanian age. Over thousands to tens of thousands of years, saline ground water has migrated over regional scale flowpaths from recharge zones in the west to the present-day discharge …

Implementing Uganda’S National Wetlands Policy: A Case Study Of Kabale District, Sophie Glass

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Uganda’s “National Policy for the Conservation and Management of Wetland Resources” was launched in 1995 to promote the protection of Uganda’s wetlands in order to sustain their ecological and socioeconomic functions. Despite the formal policy, wetlands continue to be drained and converted. This report examines factors that account for the divide between the National Wetlands Policy and reality. Six weeks were spent researching the challenges associated with implementing the National Wetlands Policy. Kabale District was used as a case-study to better understand the issues that institutions and stakeholders face when trying to abide by the precepts of the policy. Rapid …

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering July 1 - September 30, 2007, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• The number of records in the volunteer database increased 11% over last quarter. The database now contains 4,343 records.
• Website activity increased, recording an average of 121,313 hits per month, an increase of 31% from last quarter, with an average of 11,475 pages viewed per month.
• Volunteer fall training has been scheduled, developed and publicized.
• Three National Public Land Day Events are planned.
• Volunteer recognition banquet event is being planned and developed.
• Transition in the program manager position took place. The position is currently filled with an interim volunteer program associate.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Vegetation Monitoring And Analysis: Year-End Progress Report, October 1, 2006 To September 30, 2007, Margaret N. Rees

Vegetation Monitoring

Executive Summary

• The Weed Sentry program surveyed more than 750 miles of federal lands in Clark County for invasive, exotic plant species.
• Weed Sentry also removed more than 600,000 individual invasive plants from federal
  lands. These removals represent pro-active efforts that may have forestalled large
  infestations difficult and costly to eradicate.
• In response to a request by the manager of the Fish and Wildlife Service Desert National
  Wildlife Refuge, a major effort of surveying springs for plant community composition
  and invasive plants provided unique knowledge services by the Weed Sentry program.
  No such baseline information existed for the Sheep Range. …

Soil Carbon And Tree Litter Dynamics In A Red Cedar–Scotch Pine Shelterbelt, Thomas J. Sauer, Cynthia A. Cambardella, James R. Brandle

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Carbon sequestration in the woody biomass of shelterbelts has been investigated but there have been no measurements of the C stocks in soil and tree litter under this agroforestry practice. The objective of this study was to quantify C stored in surface soil layers and tree litter within and adjacent to a 35-year-old shelterbelt in eastern Nebraska, USA. The 2-row shelterbelt was composed of eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris). A sampling grid was established across a section of the shelterbelt on Tomek silt loam (fine, smectitic, mesic Pachic Argiudolls). Four soil …

Strategies For The Future Of Conservation, Bradford Gentry, Rebecca Sanborn, Gordon Clark

Yale School of the Environment Publications Series

2006 Berkley Workshop Summary and Background Materials

Potantico Conference Center, Tarrytown, New York, June 8-10, 2006 Hosted by The Land Trust Alliance and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

Taunton River Watershed Day Announcement - September 15, 2007

Public Meetings

No abstract provided.

Taunton River Watershed Day Agenda - September 15, 2007, Horsley Witten Group, Inc.

Public Meetings

No abstract provided.

Fisheries Research Report No. 163 - Spatial Scales Of Exploitation Among Populations Of Demersal Scalefish: Implications For Management. Part 1: Stock Status Of The Key Indicator Species For The Demersal Scalefish Fishery In The West Coast Bioregion., Department Of Fisheries, Western Australia

Fisheries Research Reports

Final FRDC report - Project 2003/052

The levels of exploitation on dhufish and pink snapper across the West Coast Bioregion and for baldchin groper at the Abrolhos Islands are above international benchmark standards. This indicates that these stocks are currently being overfished and are therefore likely to be being depleted to levels below those necessary to ensure their long-term sustainability. The current reliance of the dhufish catch on a single recruitment pulse together with the extremely truncated age distribution of pink snapper indicates that both these stocks are particularly vulnerable.

The West Coast Demersal Scalefish Fishery is a multi-species fishery …

Land Cover Types Of The Las Vegas Wash, Nevada, Seth A. Shanahan, Dave Silverman, Art Ehrenberg

Publications (WR)

Vegetation type, extent, continuity, and structure are some of the most important factors that determine wildlife diversity and distribution. Other contributing factors that shape wildlife communities include disturbance, competition, climate, and water availability. Because vegetation communities in the southwestern U.S. gradate sharply along zones of soil moisture, wildlife are often restricted to specific vegetation types. Along the Las Vegas Wash (Wash), Nevada, more than 250 wildlife species have been documented to occur in distinct wetland, riparian, and upland vegetation types. Recent studies have investigated the diversity and distribution of amphibians, birds, fishes, mammals, and reptiles (Shanahan 2005, 2005a, Van Dooremolen …

Departures From Gibrat’S Law, Discontinuities And City Size Distributions, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, Colin M. Gallagher, John Mittelstaedt

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Cities are complex, self-organizing, evolving systems and the emergent patterns they manifest provide insight into the dynamic processes in urban systems. This article analyses city size distributions, by decade, from the south-eastern region of the US for the years 1860–1990. It determines if the distributions are clustered into size classes and documents changes in the pattern of size classes over time. A statistical hypothesis test was also performed to detect dependence between city size and growth using discrete probability calculations under the assumption of Gibrat’s law. The city size distributions for the south-eastern region of the US were discontinuous, with …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 83, No. 2, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

Estimating Business And Residential Water Supply Interruption Losses From Catastrophic Events, Nicholas Brozovic, David L. Sunding, David Zilberman

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Following man-made or natural catastrophes, widespread and long-lasting disruption of lifelines can lead to economic impacts for both business and residential lifeline users. As a result, the total economic losses caused by infrastructure damage may be much higher than the value of damage to infrastructure itself. In this paper, we consider the estimation of economic impacts on businesses and residential consumers resulting from water supply disruption. The methodology we present for estimating business interruption losses assumes that marginal losses are increasing in the severity of disruption and that there may be a critical water availability cutoff below which business activity …

Parasite Findings In Archeological Remains: Diagnosis And Interpretation, Adauto Arajuo, Karl J. Reinhard, Luiz Fernando Ferreira

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Paleoparasitology has contributed to resolving the debate about the peopling of the Americas and determining the antiquity of human parasite infection. Hookworm (Ancylostomidae) and whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) and other exclusive human intestinal parasites have been recorded in pre-Columbian America. These parasite species originated in pre-hominids and have accompanied humans across continents when people went out of Africa. However, for those human populations that crossed the Bering Land Bridge from Siberia to Alaska, cold climate conditions hampered parasite transmission. Alternative migration routes have been proposed to explain the presence of these parasites in pre-Columbian populations in the Americas. Other …

Energy Conservation Opportunities In The Hotel And Casino Sector, Eric Dominguez

UNLV Renewable Energy Symposium

This inaugural event is dedicated to showcasing the renewable/sustainable energy projects of UNLV faculty, staff, students, and collaborators, as well as other external projects underway statewide and nationally. The development and utilization of new technologies to protect the environment, achieve energy independence, and strengthen the economy will be explored. Speakers and poster-session presenters will provide further insight to many ongoing projects and innovative research ideas.

Organized by UNLV’s Office of Strategic Energy Programs, the event offers participants the opportunity to learn about energy projects and will encourage networking and collaboration. This symposium is intended for researchers, educators, students, policy makers, …

Increase In Near-Surface Atmospheric Moisture Content Due To Land Use Changes: Evidence From The Observed Dewpoint Temperature Data, Rezaul Mamood, Kenneth G. Hubbard, Ronnie D. Leeper, Stuart A. Foster

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Land use change can significantly affect root zone soil moisture, surface energy balance, and near-surface atmospheric temperature and moisture content. During the second half of the twentieth century, portions of the North American Great Plains have experienced extensive introduction of irrigated agriculture. It is expected that land use change from natural grass to irrigated land use would significantly increase nearsurface atmospheric moisture content. Modeling studies have already shown an enhanced rate of evapotranspiration from the irrigated areas. The present study analyzes observed dewpoint temperature (Td) to assess the affect of irrigated land use on near-surface atmospheric moisture content. This investigation …

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 2007, The John Muir Center For Environmental Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

John Muir Hanna: A Biography Bill Hanna, Napa, California FAMILY John Muir Hanna was born on March 15, 1909 in Oakland to Wanda Muir and Thomas Rae Hanna. He was the second child of six. His older brother was Strent (Strentzel) who was born in 1907. His younger siblings were Richard, Robert, Jean, and Ross. His grandfather was the naturalist and preservationist John Muir and his grandmother was Louie Strentzel Muir whose parents had settled in Martinez in 1853. John's mother, Annie Wanda Muir, was the elder daughter of John Muir and Louie Strentzel. She and her sister, Helen, were …

Hunter-Gatherer Use Of Small Animal Food Resources: Coprolite Evidence, Karl J. Reinhard, J. R. Ambler, C. R. Szuter

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Faunal remains are commonly found in coprolites and provide direct evidence of animal consumption. An evaluation of hunter-gatherer coprolites from the Southwest United States shows that animal bone in coprolites can be used to assess patterns of hunting, food preparation, and general importance of small animals in diet. This is demonstrated by a comparison of faunal assemblages between two hunter-gatherer sites with respect to small animal hunting strategies. The sites are Dust Devil Cave on the Colorado Plateau, an Archaic winter habitation, and Hinds Cave, a warm season Archaic habitation in the lower Pecos of Texas. The results indicate that …

Evolution Of The American Ecological Paideia, Mary Snow, Richard K. Snow

Publications

No abstract provided.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending July 05, 2007, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• Don’t Trash Nevada website traffic remains strong despite no separate marketing.

• Project Manager Douglas Joslin attended a by-invitation-only presentation for environmental groups on May 17, 2007 to discuss marketing opportunities with BTDT Enterprises, Inc.

• Mr. Joslin is working with the Clark County School District on elementary educational programs.

• The Anti-Litter Team has started work on a GIS database for littering and dumping data with the GIS Team. The two Teams met twice this quarter to discuss strategy.

• Republic Services’ sponsored Don’t Trash Nevada advertisements, which have begun to run in local newspapers.

• More than …

Droughtscape, Summer 2007, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Summer 07 Outlook

Hayes Named Director of NDMC

NDMC & UN Plan for Drought

Book Review: The Worst Hard Time

Drought Tools Workshops Underway

U.S. Drought Monitor Forum October 10-11, 2007 Portland, Oregon

Botanical Survey Of Fuel Reduction Areas On The Pine Ridge Ranger District Of The Nebraska National Forest, Steven B. Rolfsmeier, Leslie Stewart-Phelps

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

Between May and September 2006, surveys of selected areas on the Pine Ridge Unit of the Pine Ridge Ranger District in the Nebraska National Forest were carried out to document the presence of vascular plant species of known or potential conservation concern. The surveys were done in response to a request for botanical information to include in hazardous fuel projects in the East Ash and West Ash drainages. These 2006 surveys concentrated primarily on these drainages, though small forested areas were also examined in the Deadhorse Creek and Indian Creek drainages. (Data from these sites are included in the following …

Patterns Of Fish Diversity In A Mainstem Missouri River Reservoir And Associated Delta In South Dakota And Nebraska, Usa, Mark A. Kaemingk, Brian D.S. Graeb, Christopher W. Hoagstrom, David W. Willis

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

There is an expansive and expanding delta at the confluence of the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers in the Lewis and Clark Reservoir. The delta provides diverse aquatic habitat that is somewhat similar to the historic Missouri River and to remnant river habitats. As such, the delta may have relatively high fish species diversity compared to lentic reservoir habitats. To compare patterns of fish diversity between the delta and reservoir habitats, we collected fish in several nursery habitats in both areas using four gear types (seine, gill net, electrofisher and fyke net) on three occasions (July, August and September) in 2005. …

Taunton River Watershed - Town Map

Maps

No abstract provided.

Summary Meeting Minutes - June 13, 2007

Public Meetings

No abstract provided.

Taunton River Watershed Study Presentation - Part 1 (June 13, 2007 Public Meeting), Horsley Witten Group, Inc.

Public Meetings

No abstract provided.

Taunton River Watershed Study Presentation - Part 2: Progress Report/Data Collection/Analysis (June 13, 2007 Public Meeting), Horsley Witten Group, Inc.

Public Meetings

No abstract provided.

Slides: Forest And Rangeland Planning, Nepa Analysis And Decisions, Glenn Casamassa

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Glenn Casamassa, Forest Supervisor, Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forest

17 slides

Slides: Forests And Grasslands, Federico Cheever

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Professor Federico Cheever, University of Denver Sturm College of Law

30 slides