Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Antipodean Inscapes: Reflection Of The Land As A Young Man, Michael Kantor

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The following paper contains a stand-alone piece of creative travel writing. ‘Cloud Juice’ is based on my interpretation of the experiences of the Fall 2006 Australia: Sustainability and the Environment semester. As it is my own personal interpretation it should not be placed in the category of non-fiction. Instead I have tried to write a story that presents the tone of my experience as honestly as possible, rather than simply telling the unbiased facts of the semester. My reason for writing this is to experiment with alternative methods of communicating the growth of an ecological ethic. By focusing on the …

Ley Y Desorden: La Participación, La Política, Y La Planificación En El Archipiélago De Bocas Del Toro, Sage E. Trombulak

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Bocas del Toro Archipelago is quickly becoming one of Panama’s most popular destinations, both for tourists pursuing temporary fun-in-the-sun type activities and for wealthy Panamanians, Americans, and Europeans seeking a more permanent location for their vacation homes, luxury resorts, and retirement communities. These dual phenomena have become a subject of escalating concern for the political leadership in Bocas del Toro and for a plethora of local, regional, and international NGOs, as unprecedented levels of development are leading to the degradation of one of Panama’s most beautiful and biologically diverse landscapes, stresses on urban infrastructure, and rapid economic growth that …

Cooperative Conservation: Increasing Capacity Through Community Partnerships - Interagency Volunteer Program: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending September 30, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• Volunteer database increased 9.5% over last quarter. Database now contains 2,698 records.
• Website activity decreased, recording an average of 42,488 hits per month, with an average of 4,435 pages viewed per month (3.6% decrease in pages viewed).
• Volunteer recognition ceremony scheduled for November 4 at the Renaissance Hotel, Las Vegas.
• Fall 2006 volunteer training schedule finalized.
• National Public Lands Day volunteer projects successfully executed at Red Rock Canyon NCA and Lake Mead NRA, with a total of 232 community volunteers contributing more than 1,000 hours toward clean-up and restoration of Southern Nevada’s public lands.
• Team charter presented to the federal …

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending September 30, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• Team members have been meeting regularly with other interagency teams to plan for the upcoming messaging campaign roll-out event, set for October 12, 2006.

• The Interagency Anti-Litter Team recycled over a ton of paper this quarter.

• A task order modification request was completed, submitted, and approved this quarter. The request will make more funds available for the messaging campaign.

• A multi-pronged media buy for the messaging campaign has been planned this quarter and will be initiated in October.

• The Anti-Litter Team worked with the Nevada Division of Forestry to complete Phase Two of a clean-up …

Planning For Robust Reserve Networks Using Uncertainty Analysis, Atte Moilanen, Michael C. Runge, Jane Elith, Andrew Tyre, Yohay Carmel, Eric Fegraus, Brendan A. Wintle, Mark Burgman, Yakov Ben-Haim

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Planning land-use for biodiversity conservation frequently involves computer-assisted reserve selection algorithms. Typically such algorithms operate on matrices of species presence–absence in sites, or on species-specific distributions ofmodel predicted probabilities of occurrence in grid cells. There are practically always errors in input data—erroneous species presence–absence data, structural and parametric uncertainty in predictive habitat models, and lack of correspondence between temporal presence and long-run persistence. Despite these uncertainties, typical reserve selection methods proceed as if there is no uncertainty in the data or models. Having two conservation options of apparently equal biological value, one would prefer the option whose value is relatively …

Price Elasticity Reconsidered: Panel Estimation Of An Agricultural Water Demand Function, Karina Schoengold, David L. Sunding, Georgina Moreno

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Using panel data from a period of water rate reform, this paper estimates the price elasticity of irrigation water demand. Price elasticity is decomposed into the direct effect of water management and the indirect effect of water price on choice of output and irrigation technology. The model is estimated using an instrumental variables strategy to account for the endogeneity of technology and output choices in the water demand equation. Estimation results indicate that the price elasticity of agricultural water demand is -0.79, which is greater than that found in previous studies.

Ecophysiology Of Two Native Invasive Woody Species And Two Dominant Warm-Season Grasses In The Semiarid Grasslands Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Kathleen D. Eggemeyer, Tala Awada, David A. Wedin, F. Edwin Harvey, Xinhua Zhou

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Populations of Pinus ponderosa and Juniperus virginiana are expanding into semiarid Sandhills grasslands in Nebraska. To evaluate the physiological basis of their success, we measured the seasonal course of leaf gas exchange, plant water status, and carbon isotope discrimination in these two native trees and two native C₄ grasses (Schizachyrium scoparium and Panicum virgatum). Compared to the trees, grasses had higher net photosynthetic rates (A_net) and water use efficiency (WUE) and more negative predawn and midday water potentials (Ψ) in June and July. While leaf Ψ and rates of leaf gas exchange declined for all …

Community Engagement, Education & Research, Public Lands Institute

Presentations (PLI)

The Public Lands Institute is dedicated to strengthening the national fabric that is essential for the protection, conservation, and management of public lands.

Bear River Resource Conservation And Development Council Area Plan, United States Department Of Agriculture, Natural Conservation Service, Bear River Resource Conservation And Development Council

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

This five-year Area Plan is the guiding document for the Bear River RC&D Council, Inc. It identifies needs and opportunities and goals and objectives which lead the RC&D Council in its work.

Five-Year Watershed Action Plan For The Taunton River Watershed, Geosyntec Consultants

Reference Documents

No abstract provided.

The Growing Together Guide: A Companion Resource To The New England Environmental Finance Center/Melissa Paly Film, New England Environmental Finance Center

Smart Growth

What local leader or public official wants to be faced with an SOS the “same old story” of public discord and confrontation over growth and development in one’s community? That situation has become a problem for efforts to promote smart growth. Investments are needed in the walkable, compact, traditional‐streetscape and mixed use neighborhoods and developments that are more sustainable and healthy than sprawl, for both people and the landscape. Yet attempts at such change all too often end up mired in costly public controversy and stalemate.

Fisheries Research Report No. 158 - An Assessment Of The Blue Swimmer Crab Fishery In Geographe Bay, Lynda M. Bellchambers, K. D. Smith, D. Harris

Fisheries Research Reports

The study was undertaken to provide detailed information on blue swimmer crabs in Geographe Bay so that the recreational and commercial fishery issues could be addressed using more accurate data than was previously available. A ministerial decision that banned commercial fishing for blue swimmer crabs in Geographe Bay was made in January 2005 while this study was underway. The intention of this report was to provide a summary of information on crab stocks in the region, not to alter the current management arrangements. This report describes experimental sampling, commercial catch statistics, commercial catch monitoring and surveys of recreational fishers to …

Habitat Characteristics Of Spring Blackbird Roosts In East-Central South Dakota, H. Jeffrey Homan, Richard S. Sawin, George M. Linz, William J. Bleier

The Prairie Naturalist

In the northern Great Plains, blackbirds (Icteridae) roost almost exclusively in emergent-dominated wetlands. The physical characteristics of wetland roosts are not well understood. From March 20 to April 20, 1999, we studied 16 wetlands used as blackbird roosts in east-central South Dakota. Six wetlands had major roosts (range: 102,000-298,000 blackbirds); whereas, 10 wetlands had minor roosts (range: 2,010-34,000 blackbirds). Maximum roost size was correlated directly with emergent vegetation area (P = 0.05) and possibly with wetland basin area (P ≤ 0.10). Water depths were greater at used sites within wetlands of major roosts (median = 44 cm) than …

The Prairie Naturalist, Volume 38, Number 3, September 2006, Elmer J. Finck, Hilary Gillock

The Prairie Naturalist

The Prairie Naturalist (September 2006) 38(3)

Editor: Elmer J. Finck

Assistant editor: Hilary Gillock

Great Plains Natural Science Society

Artificial Burrows and the Deer Mouse: Do Number of Entrances Influence Use? GLENNIS A. KAUFMAN1 and DONALD W. KAUFMAN, pages 145-154

Evaluating Genetic Viability of Pronghorn in Wind Cave National Park JONATHAN A. JENKSi , CHRISTOPHER N. JACQUES, JARET D. SIEVERS, ROBERT W. KLAVER, R. TERRY BOWYER, and DANIEL E. RODDY, pages 155-165

Age Structure and Reproductive Activity of the Blue Sucker in the Milk River, Missouri River Drainage, Montana JULIE BEDNARSKl1 and DENNIS L. SCARNECCHIA, pages 167-182

Habitat Characteristics of …

Reviews: Natural History Of Javelinas; And Three Dvds On Bats, Louis A. Harveson, Jean Legge

The Prairie Naturalist

Reviews of Javelinas: Collared Peccaries of the Southwest (2006) by Jane Manaster, Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock, Texas, 85 pages (review by Louis A. Harveson) and of The Secret World of Bats (DVD), Building Homes for Bats (DVD), and Kids Discover Bats (DVD) (2005) published by Bat Conservation International (review by Jean Legge).

First Record Of The Least Shrew In Wyoming; And Clostridium Perfingens Type A Enterotoxemia In A Captive Adult White-Tailed Deer, Shauna R. Marquardt, Brian C. Bartels, Cheryl A. Schmidt, Joshua A. Delger, Kevin L. Monteith, Jonathan A. Jenks

The Prairie Naturalist

First Record of the Leaast Shrew in Wyoming by Shauna R. Marquardt, Brian C. Bartels, and Cheryl A. Schmidt; and Clostridium perfingens Type A Enterotoxemia in a Captive Adult White-tailed Deer by Joshua A. Delger , Kevin L. Monteith, and Jonathan A. Jenks.

South Kingstown Ri: New Zoning For An Historic Mill, Maggie Jones, Richard Barringer

Planning

The village of Peace Dale in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, developed around several mills that commenced operations in the 1800s. One mill, known as the Palisades, is still partially active and in excellent condition, but much of its square footage is unutilized. A citizens’ group of artists and business people joined with the mill owners and the town of South Kingstown to develop new zoning regulations to make more flexible the permitted uses for the mill site. The proposed zoning will allow the mill complex to feature a mix of retail, residential, and manufacturing uses, while preserving …

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 2006, The John Muir Center For Environmental Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

The John Muir pr/- FEB UNlVfeHSnY 0F THE PACIFIC, STOCKTON, CA VOLUME 16, NC1MBKX 4 Fall 2006 John Muir's World Tour (part IV) Introduction by W. R. Swagerty Director, John Muir Center Edited by John Hurley and W.R. Swagerty In Part IV of John Muir's unpublished World Tour, we follow Muir from Egypt to Ceylon (Sri Lanke) to Australia. Notebook "# 51" begins with a description of Suez as a "queer old town" followed by praise for the oasis-environment that produces so many palms and bananas. Much of the notebook focuses on Muir's touring of the Pyramids, those "stupendous monuments …

Climate Variability Has A Stabilizing Effect On The Coexistence Of Prairie Grasses, Peter B. Adler, Janneke Hille Ris Lambers, Phaedon C. Kyriakidis, Qingfeng Guan, Jonathan M. Levine

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

How expected increases in climate variability will affect species diversity depends on the role of such variability in regulating the coexistence of competing species. Despite theory linking temporal environmental fluctuations with the maintenance of diversity, the importance of climate variability for stabilizing coexistence remains unknown because of a lack of appropriate long-term observations. Here, we analyze three decades of demographic data from a Kansas prairie to demonstrate that interannual climate variability promotes the coexistence of three common grass species. Specifically, we show that (i) the dynamics of the three species satisfy all requirements of ‘‘storage effect’’ theory based on recruitment …

Sustainability With Globalization: An Unsustainable Proposition, Daniel B. Reader

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Globalization is recognized as a world-encompassing phenomenon, even as its benefits are debated. Sustainability, the capacity to maintain high standards of living through generations, is at stake. This paper examines the problems of sustainability with globalization from several perspectives. High statistical correlation between indices of globalization and environmental degradation (r2 = 0.977, p < .001) is found using multi-dimensional scaling software. The socially destabilizing, culture flattening effects of globalization are examined, and the terms ‘nationalism’ and ‘terrorism’ are defined. On the basis of its medial position among the indices of both globalization and environmental degradation, Chile is explored in a case study of the interaction. Conclusions regarding Chile’s vulnerabilities are reached, and the country’s environmental, social, and economic ‘weak spots’ are identified. The ethical positions of globalization and sustainability are considered, and the conclusion that there is very little that can be done to alter the nature of the interaction is drawn. It is suggested that globalization minimizes the prospects of success in efforts toward sustainability by maximizing vulnerabilities among sustainability’s components.

Major Land Resource Areas Of Montana, Natural Resources Conservation Service

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Major Land Resource Areas 32, Northern Intermountain Desertic Basins 43A, Northern Rocky Mountains 43B, Central Rocky Mountains 44A, Northern Rocky Mountain Valleys 44B, Central Rocky Mountain Valleys 46, Northern Rocky Mountain Foothills 52, Brown Glaciated Plains 53A, Northern Dark Brown Glaciated Plains 54, Soft Shale Plains 58A, Northern Rolling Plains, Northern Part 58B, Northern Rolling Plains, Southern Part 58C, Northern Rolling Plains, Northeastern Part 58D, Northern Rolling Plains, Eastern Part 60A, Pierre Shale Plains and Badlands 60B, Pierre Shale Plains and Badlands, Northern Part

Blanding’S Turtle (Emydoidea Blandingii): A Technical Conservation Assessment, Justin D. Congdon, Douglas A. Keinath

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Blanding’s turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) are secure in Nebraska, and they range from being vulnerable to threatened, or endangered throughout most of the rest of their distribution. In Region 2, they have not been reported from Kansas, they are extremely rare in South Dakota, and they occupy wetlands in the northern half of Nebraska. The largest population known within the range of Blanding’s turtles is at Valentine National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska.

The core habitat of Blanding’s turtles has an aquatic component that consists of a permanent wetland and a suite of other, usually smaller and more temporary, wetlands such …

Planning For Robust Reserve Networks Using Uncertainty Analysis, Atte Moilanen, Michael Runge, Jane Elith, Andrew J. Tyre, Yohay Carmel, Eric Fegraus, Brendan A. Wintle, Mark A. Burgman, Yakov Ben-Haim

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Planning land-use for biodiversity conservation frequently involves computer-assisted reserve selection algorithms. Typically such algorithms operate on matrices of species presence–absence in sites, or on species-specific distributions of model predicted probabilities of occurrence in grid cells. There are practically always errors in input data—erroneous species presence–absence data, structural and parametric uncertainty in predictive habitat models, and lack of correspondence between temporal presence and long-run persistence. Despite these uncertainties, typical reserve selection methods proceed as if there is no uncertainty in the data or models. Having two conservation options of apparently equal biological value, one would prefer the option whose value is …

Monitoring Sustainability In Tropical Forests: How Changes In Canopy Spatial Pattern Can Indicate Forest Stands For Biodiversity Surveys, Naikoa Aguilar, Geoffrey Henobry

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Sustainable management of tropical forests has been identified as one of the main objectives for global conservation and management of carbon stocks. Toward this goal, managers need tools to determine whether current management practices are sustainable. Several international initiatives have been undertaken for the development of criteria and indicators to aid managers in moving toward sustainable practices. Despite these efforts, the question of how to apply and assess indicators remains to be answered from an operational, field-based perspective. Field surveys are expensive and time-consuming when management areas are large and in the face of logistical constraints. Thus, there is a …

Cooperative Conservation: Increasing Capacity Through Community Partnerships - Interagency Volunteer Program: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending June 30, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• Volunteer database increased 12% over last quarter. Database now contains 2,471 records.
• Website activity increased, recording an average of 52,987 hits per month, with an average of 4,596 pages viewed per month (28% increase in pages viewed).
• Spring training sessions were delivered to 180 community volunteers.
• 1,400 public lands volunteers were recognized during National Volunteer Week.
• Volunteer events were successfully executed in Red Rock Canyon NCA and the Spring Mountains NRA, with 189 community volunteers contributing more than 1,000 hours.

Protection Of Endangered Species: Sturgeon: Struggle For Survival Has Become Critical, Natalia M. Restivo

Cornell Law School J.D. Student Research Papers

This research is dedicated to the current situation and problems of sturgeon species in Russia, mainly in the Caspian Sea region. In particular, the paper elaborates on the endangered beluga sturgeon. The work describes characteristic features of sturgeon, points out the current problems and proposes some suggestions on preservation efforts in order to improve the critical situation. The research carried out by the author includes a brief consumer survey which exhibits the level of awareness and indicates willingness of the society to maintain the stability and provide sustainable development of the sturgeon species. The author favors and encourages intrinsic value …

Slides: Climate Change & The Ecological Resources Of The West, Chris Field

Climate Change and the Future of the American West: Exploring the Legal and Policy Dimensions (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

Presenter: Chris Field, Director, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC.

39 slides.

Contains references.

Agenda: Climate Change And The Future Of The American West: Exploring The Legal And Policy Dimensions, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Climate Change and the Future of the American West: Exploring the Legal and Policy Dimensions (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

Sponsors: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; BP America; Holland & Hart; Patrick, Miller & Krope, P.C.; The Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, Rocky Mountain Natural Resource Center of the National Wildlife Federation, Western Water Assessment.

Exploring the legal and political dimensions that climate change will bring to the American West will be the focus of the CU-Boulder Natural Resources Law Center's 27th Annual Summer Conference.

Titled "Climate Change and the Future of the American West: Exploring the Legal and Policy Dimensions," the conference will be held June 7-9 at the Fleming Law Building on the University of Colorado at …

The Earth, Energy, And Agriculture, Tad W. Patzek

Climate Change and the Future of the American West: Exploring the Legal and Policy Dimensions (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

Presenter: Tad W. Patzek, Professor of Petroleum Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.

13 pages (includes some color illustrations).

Contains references.

Book Reviews: Raptors In Your Pocket: A Guide To Great Plains Birds Of Prey; Dakota Flora: A Seasonal Sampler; The National Grasslands, Paul M. Konrad, Bonnie Heidel, F. L. Knopf

The Prairie Naturalist

Reviews of:

Raptors in Your Pocket: A Guide to Great Plains Birds of Prey, Dana Gardner, 2006, University of Iowa Press, 16 pages (laminated).

Dakota Flora: A Seasonal Sampler, David J. Ode, 2006, South Dakota State Historical Society Press, Pierre, South Dakota, 260 pages.

The National Grasslands, Francis Moul, 2006, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 153 pages.