Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Assessing The Impacts Of Surface Water Removal For Use In Natural Gas Extraction On A Watershed Level, Carrie Ann Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Test (SWAT) was used as a tool to predict whether diffuse water removal from the Cadron Creek watershed for use with natural gas development would have an impact on downstream flow within the watershed. Cadron Creek watershed expands across four counties within Arkansas and is located in the Fayetteville Shale Gas region. This region is experiencing significant growth in natural gas development. Successful development of shale gas depends on the identification of what water supplies are available for production without interfering with community and environmental needs. The SWAT model used to evaluate …

Livestock Production And Wildlife-Based Tourism: Articulating Land-Use And Policy Conflicts In The Okavango Delta Ramsar Site In Botswana, Nelson Kgamanyane Sello

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The management of common pool resources and policy conflicts between livestock and wildlife, two land-use types that take place in the same geo-spatial area has been a subject of debate among scholars for decades. This conflict in policies has engendered in communities which are beneficiaries attitudes that are either negative towards wildlife or favorable depending on the benefits they derive from them. This research therefore set out to understand the conflicts in the management of the Okavango Delta Ramsar Site (ODRS) where the OD is situated. The study used the grounded theory to collect and analyze the data in the …

Energy Consumption And Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Commercial And Manufacturing Sectors Specific Studies On Hvac Equipment And Dairy Processing, Aik Jong Tan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Commercial and manufacturing sectors in United States consumed approximately 50% of the total End use energy in 2010. In 2009, 81.5% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted in the United States was energy related. From the broad aspects of commercial and manufacturing sectors; two relatively narrow and specific topics, commercial building's HVAC equipment and dairy processing were chosen to increase the understanding of the energy use and GHG emission in these two sectors. Few published studies related to these two specific areas are available. The first study in this thesis discussed the energy use and GHG emissions by HVAC equipment …

Integrating Human Variables In Cross-Boundary Monitoring Of Aberdare Preserves In Kenya, Peter K. Njuguna

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research critically examines extant data systems and their linkage of scientific research to policy and public education in east African highland forest conservation preserves. The research indicates that the current state of data and monitoring systems in the region imposes substantial limitations on the ability to manage these preserves. Major outcomes of those constraints manifest in unprecedented cross-boundary pressure such as encroachment and conversion of forest to agriculture, increased human-wildlife conflicts, and constrained relations among primary stakeholders. Current monitoring is biodiversity focused within preserves and fails to capture human dimensions in adjoining areas across preserve boundaries. This study proposes …

Mathematical Modeling Of Fluid Spills In Hydraulically Fractured Well Sites, Oluwafemi Michael Taiwo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Improved drilling technology and favorable energy prices have contributed to the rapid pace at which the exploitation of unconventional natural gas is taking place across the United States. As a natural gas well is being drilled, reserve pits are constructed to hold the drilling fluids and other materials returned from the drilling process. These reserve pits can fail, and when they do, plant and animal life of the surrounding area may be adversely affected. This project develops a screening tool for a suitable location for a reserve pit. This work will be a critical piece of the Infrastructure Placement Analysis …

Geospatial Tools And Techniques For Watershed Management Using Swat 2009, Naresh Pai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, geospatial tools and techniques were developed to support specific aspects of watershed pollution management, such as quantifying land-use change (LUC) impacts, prioritizing subwatersheds, and communicating field-scale impacts, using the soil and water assessment tool 2009 (SWAT 2009) model.

For the land-use change objective, a geospatial tool titled SWAT2009_LUC was developed that enables SWAT modelers to prepare specific input files for simulating concurrent land-use changes during the SWAT 2009 model simulations. Testing of the tool for the Illinois River Drainage Area in Arkansas (IRDAA) watershed showed that the tool accurately represented temporal land-uses within the model. Model simulations …

Recommendations For The Chamlidere Petrified Forest Management Plan, Fatma Ertem

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anything inherited from our ancestors or from nature can be considered as our heritage. Heritage can be classified as cultural and natural heritage. Turkey has been the cradle of many civilizations, religions, and ethnic groups because of the unprecedented natural heritage and critical geopolitical location of Anatolia. Given all the treasure of cultural and natural heritage in Turkey, heritage management practices have not been emphasized as they deserve. A petrified forest was found in Chamlidere, Ankara (Turkey) in 2004. Chamlidere petrified forest preserves information related to the biodiversity of forests in the Galatian Volcanic Province during the Early-Middle Miocene. When …

Evaluation Of Best Management Practices To Reduce Nutrients Runoff In Watersheds In Arkansas, Hector German Rodriguez Diaz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are many non point sources (NPS) of pollution issues across the state of Arkansas. Each region of the state has different concerns. Many watersheds have been included in the Arkansas's 2008 303(d) list for NPS impairments with sediment and nutrients being the primary causes of concern. This research hypothesized that there are no cost or net returns risks when adopting best management practices (BMPs) to control nutrients runoff and that selection, timing, placement and cost have no impact on the implementation of BMPs. Using two priority watersheds, the L'Anguille River and the Lincoln Lake, as examples, the environmental benefits …

Comparison Of Environmental Assessments Of Two Proposed Harbor Expansions On The Mississippi River, Richard S. Grippo, Bobby Bennett, Randel T. Cox

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 requires federally funded projects to be evaluated for environmental impact to determine if a complete environmental impact statement must be prepared. Such an environmental assessment must also be included in any feasibility study for harbor enlargement and bank stabilization measures under the Water Resources Development Act. Population increases, coupled with economic growth from increased agricultural and industrial productivity, have resulted in increased Mississippi River barge transportation needs for Arkansas and Missouri. We report here two such environmental assessments of planned harbor expansions of the New Madrid County and Pemiscot County ports in the …

Microlevel Climate Change Due To Changes In Surface Features In The Ganges Delta, M. M. Adel

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The Ganges had been the world's 8th largest river in terms of the volume of water discharge of 490 km3/yr to the ocean 4 prior to 1975. Since that time, over a period of two decades, India has reduced the Ganges discharge through Bangladesh to 40% from its original annual average discharge of 1,932+7-223 m3 /s by diverting water for irrigation in her upper states. The , resulting consequences have been disastrous due to the depletion of the surface water resources. One of the devastating consequences has been the generation of extreme climate. The summertime maximum temperature has risen to …

Watershed Land Uses And Phosphorus Export Coefficient Relationships: A Planning Tool For Lake Resources Management, Carl R. Stapleton

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Relationships between nonpoint source pollutant loadings and water quality degradation in lakes have been established. However, practical methodologies necessary to identify and manage nonpoint sources in accordance with lake water quality indices have been lacking. Objectives of the current study were as follows: (1) to compare predicted model values for in-lake total phosphorus (TP) concentrations with actual values; and (2) to determine the applicability of areal phosphorus loading models for lake resources management. The research site was located 19 km west of the City of Little Rock in the Lake Maumelle basin. Areal total phosphorus (TP) loadings in g m^-2yr^-1 …

An Evaluation Of The Effects Of Dredging Within The Arkansas River Navigation System: Volume I - Introduction, Summary And Conclusions, And Recommendations, Myra Mcnutt, T. M. Buchanan, L. R. Kraemer, R. L. Meyer, E. H. Schmitz

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

The Arkansas River originates in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains near Leadville, Colorado, and extends through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, where it flows into the Mississippi River. The Arkansas River is approximately 1,450 miles in length and drains a total area of 160,500 square miles. The river and its tributaries have been developed for navigation, flood control, and hydro-electric power, as well as recreational purposes under the River and Harbor Act of July 24, 1946. The development of the Arkansas River for recreational use will be completed in the near future. The McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System was …