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Droughtscape, Spring 2011, Kelly Smith

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

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Forecasters Say Dryness in TX and SW to Continue

Drought Planning, The Game: Coming Soon

Ding Takes New Post

South and Southwest Lose Crops, Fight Fires

Drought Monitor Authors Review Enhanced GIS Tools and New Processes

Review Of The River Returns: An Environmental History Of The Bow. By Christopher Armstrong, Matthew Evenden, And H.V. Nelles., Ted Binnema, David Vogt

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This book should be read more as a collection of essays on a wide variety of topics related to the Bow River than as a monograph. Each of its thirteen chapters examines an aspect of the history of human interactions with the river, ranging from ranching, forestry, hydroelectricity, and irrigation to urban sanitation, recreational fishing, flooding, and park building. The Bow River is amenable to a discussion of such diverse themes. Its headwaters are among the glaciers of the Rocky Mountains in Banff National Park, but it also flows through the ranching country of the foothills, the major urban center …

Review Of The Tallgrass Prairie Center Guide To Prairie Restoration In The Upper Midwest. By Daryl Smith, Dave Williams, Greg Houseal, And Kirk Henderson., Gerry Steinauer

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Tallgrass prairie restoration in the Upper Midwest is the focus of this guide. Its geographic area of coverage includes the eastern fifth of South Dakota and Nebraska and northeast Kansas, a region some ascribe to the eastern Great Plains. Two types of prairie restoration are dealt with: prairie reconstruction, which the authors define as creating prairie from scratch on sites where prairie plants no longer exist; and prairie remnant restoration, defined as upgrading degraded existing prairies. The book comprises five sections: "Reconstruction Planning," "Implementing Reconstruction," "Prairie Restoration and Management," "Special Cases," and "Native Seed Production." There are 16 chapters, each …

Vegetation Classification And Mapping Of Homestead National Monument Of America, Project Report, Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Homestead National Monument (HOME) was created at the to celebrate the significance of the Homestead Act of 1862 which granted 160 acres of free land to claimants and was one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States. The National Monument encompasses 184 acres in Gage County, west of Beatrice, Nebraska. This unique site also hosts the oldest prairie restoration in the National Park system, and the second-oldest tallgrass prairie restoration known. This park unit also has a small remnant of native tallgrass prairie and remnants of bur-oak forest.

A three-year …

A Habitat And Abundance Study Of Octopus Cyanea In Southwest Madagascar, Michael Belazis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The increased demand for marine products has fueled a worldwide overexpansion of the fishing industry. Furthermore, the shift of lower-income countries, like Madagascar, from subsistence to market-based cash economies has led to increased fishing pressures on marine resources. Recent commercialization of fisheries in Southwest Madagascar has caused an over-exploitation of octopus in the Toliara region. In an effort to create sustainable octopus fisheries, Blue Ventures, a UK-based NGO, created the world’s first community run Marine Protected Area (MPA) for octopus near Andavadoaka called Velondriake.

Here, the results of an Octopus cyanea habitat study performed near Beheloke, a fishing village on …

Vegetation Classification And Mapping Of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Project Report, Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TAPR) encompasses 10,894 acres in eastern Kansas, just north of Strong City. This park unit was created on November 12, 1996 and is the first to protect a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Of the 400,000 square miles of tallgrass prairie that once covered the North American continent, less than four percent remains, primarily in the Flint Hills. The park unit is primarily rocky upland prairies and deep-soiled prairies in the lowlands. It also contains some wet prairie ravines, riparian forests and some former cropland and restored prairie. …

Evaluation Of The Sensitivity Of Inventory And Monitoring National Parks To Acidification Effects From Atmospheric Sulfur And Nitrogen Deposition, Northern Great Plains Network (Ngpn), T. J. Sullivan, T. C. Mcdonnell, G. T. Mcpherson, S. D. Mackey, D. Moore

United States National Park Service: Publications

Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN)

National maps of atmospheric sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) emissions and deposition are provided in Maps A through D as context for subsequent network data presentations. Maps A and B show county level emissions of total S and total N for the year 2002. Maps C and D show total S and total N deposition, again for the year 2002.

There are three parks in the Northern Great Plains Network that are larger than 100 square miles: Badlands (BADL), Missouri (MNRR), and Theodore Roosevelt (THRO). In addition, there are 10 smaller parks.

Total annual S …

Why Do Some Nations Have More Renewable Energy Policies?, Melissa Dahl

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Some nations have considerably more renewable energy policies than others and this research is attempting to discover why. Renewable energy use is quickly growing in our world and has become a major topic in today’s politics. Existing literature suggests various theories as to why some nations have more renewable energy policies than others. I test these theories with data from two major data sources; REN21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, and the International Energy Agency. I anticipate that nations with a larger number of effective political parties, higher GDPs, and larger population would have more renewable …

Are Western Australian Waters The Least Productive Waters For Finfish Across Two Oceans? A Review With A Focus On Finfish Resources In The Kimberley Region And North Coast Bioregion, B. W. Molony, S. J. Newman, L. Loll, R C J Lenanton, B. Wise

Fisheries Research Articles

The marine ecosystems of Western Australia, including those in the Kimberley, are classified as being of moderate to low productivity. This is primarily a consequence of the influence of the Leeuwin Current, the eastern boundary current that flows poleward delivering warm, low nutrient waters, and only sporadic short-term upwelling events to shelf habitats off the Western Australian coast. This, coupled with little riverine inflow from old weathered terrestrial systems, results in low levels of primary and secondary production in habitats along most of the coast. The consequence is that finfish fisheries in the Kimberley and throughout the State typically land …

Macroinvertebrate Community Analysis On Lower Hood River Before And During The Removal Of Powerdale Dam: A Baseline Study, Howard Jay Patterson

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Powerdale Dam was an 87-year-old hydroelectric complex on lower Hood River in northern Oregon which was decommissioned in 2010. Macroinvertebrate samples were collected in 2009, before the removal process began, and in 2010, near the end of the demolition project, at one site upstream and three sites downstream of the dam. Macroinvertebrate communities were analyzed using both multi-metric (Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity [B-IBI]) and multivariate (Predictive Assessment Tool for Oregon [PREDATOR]) approaches, as well as EPT and Functional Feeding Group (FFG) analysis. All analytical approaches indicated declines in habitat quality in 2010 relative to 2009, and showed increasing impairment …

Rural Futures: How Can Agricultural Development Lead To A High Quality Of Life?, Jessie Ebersole

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Study Objectives:

Uganda, with its wealth of arable land and water resources, has unrealized agricultural development potential. How food is produced and distributed will impact United Nations Millennium Development Goal targets, including the eradication of extreme hunger, reductions in child mortality, and improvements in maternal health and environmental sustainability, yet advances towards the MDG’s have been limited. This study explores how Uganda’s agricultural sector can be developed in a way that improves the quality of life of smallholder farmers in Katente and Namuyenje parishes in Mukono district, Uganda. Ugandan agricultural production is starved of new sources of knowledge and technology, …

The Use And Misuse Of Wetlands In Kampala, Emily Gumm

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research examines the complex and inter related relationship between conservation and development of wetlands in Kampala. Development and conservation are two concepts that are often at odds with one another. However, in a natural resource rich country such as Uganda development is benefited by carefully considering the role of conservation. As a student of Sociology at Illinois Wesleyan University, the researcher is especially interested in the use and miss use of wetlands as well as the decision making process in building on wetlands.

This paper examines specifically Uganda's wetland policy and how it is currently being implemented, specifically in …

Buscando El Agua El Papel Del Agua En La Histora, Las Vidas Cotidianas, Y La Educación De La Gente De Lomas De San Jacinto, Sabrina Faubert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Tree Plantation Expansion: Impacts On Rural Communities In The Central North Of Tasmania, Kyla Flaten

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The goal of my study was to understand the impacts of tree plantation expansion on rural communities in the Central North of Tasmania. This study is particularly relevant with the recent surge of plantation development in the last ten years and the current uncertainty over future plantation expansion because of the supposed shift in the woodchip industry from native forest to plantation-based as well as the proposed Gunns' pulp mill. By understanding the current impacts as well as problems within the system, it is my hope that these results can be used for better planning and change in the future …

Las Negociaciones Entre Las Comunidades Nativas Machiguengas Y La Industria Extractiva Dentro Del Proyecto Camisea: Asesorando Los Roles De Y Las Interacciones Entre Los Actores, Julia Kim

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En esta investigación, estudié cuales eran los roles de actores diferentes en las negociaciones entre las comunidades nativas amazónicas (CC.NN.) y las empresas extractivas dentro del contexto del Proyecto Gas de Camisea (PGC), uno de los proyectos de extracción más importantes en todo America del Sur. Mis objetivos principales eran conocer el rol de cada actor – las CC.NN., las empresas extractivas, el estado, las ONGs, y la misión católica – en las negociaciones y entender como se interactúan y se relacionan. Completé estos objetivos por la siguiente metodología: entrevistas abiertas en Quillabamba, Koribeni, Monte Carmelo, y Kiteni en la …

Examining Trends In Taste Preferences, Market Demand, And Annual Catch In An Indigenous Marine Turtle Fishery In Southwest Madagascar, Kristin Jones

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The worldwide exploitation of marine turtles has been common throughout human history, turtle products including carapaces for decoration and use, skin for leather, and eggs and meat for consumption. The hunting of marine turtles has long established economic importance among Madagascar's coastal inhabitants and is an activity traditionally associated with integral cultural and spiritual values. Due to overexploitation and a combination of relatively newer threats such as pollution, habitat loss, and incidental fisheries take, however, all marine turtle species in the Indian Ocean are considered to be endangered or critically endangered. Although Madagascar's marine turtles have been legally protected from …

Stochastic Hybrid Embodied Co2-Eq Analysis: An Application To The Irish Apartment Building Sector, Adolf Acquaye, Aidan Duffy, Biswajit Basu

Articles

Although embodiedCO2-eq analysis has seen recent developments as evident in the establishment of the ISO14040 and 14044 LCA standards, it is recognized that due to weaknesses in gathering data on product-related emissions,embodiedCO2-eq values are probabilistic. This paper presents a stochastic analysis of hybrid embodied CO2-eq in buildings to account for this weakness in traditional methods and, by way of example, applies it to an Irish construction-sector case study. Using seven apartment buildings, 70,000 results are simulated with Monte Carlo analysis and used to derive probabilistic and cumulative embodied CO2-eq intensity distributions for apartment buildings in Ireland. A Wakeby distribution with …

Identification Of ‘Carbon Hot-Spots’ And Quantification 1 Of Ghg Intensities In The Biodiesel Supply Chain Using Hybrid Lca And Structural Path Analysis, Adolf Acquaye, Thomas Wiedmann, Kuishang Feng, Robert Crawford, John Barrett, Johan Kuylenstierna, Aidan Duffy, Lenny Koh, Simon Mcqueen-Mason

Articles

It is expected that biodiesel production in the EU will remain the dominant contributor as part of a 10% minimum binding target for biofuel in transportation fuel by 2020 within the 20% renewable energy target in the overall EU energy mix. Life cycle assessments (LCA) of biodiesel to evaluate its environmental impacts have, however, remained questionable, mainly because of the adoption of a traditional process analysis approach resulting in system boundary truncation and because of issues regarding the impacts of land use change and N2O emissions from fertiliser application. In this study, a hybrid LCA methodology is used to evaluate …

Review Of Paradise Found: Nature In America At The Time Of Discovery. By Steve Nicholls, John Herron

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Covering 500 years in 500 pages, Paradise Found details the amazing abundance of the natural world that greeted the first European arrivals to North America. Such a perspective is not wholly original; pre-Columbian biodiversity has been a popular topic of investigation for two generations of scholars. But as filmmaker, entomologist, and author Steve Nicholls explains, past catalogs of plenty have, if anything, underestimated the bounty of the precontact physical world. Explaining in full detail the transition from ecological complexity to fragile instability makes the narrative of loss all the more powerful. Paradise Found is short on silver linings. This account …

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Final Project Report, Margaret N. Rees, Jef R. Jaeger Ph.D.

Wildlife Monitoring

This task agreement was originally awarded by the National Park Service (NPS), Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA) to the Public Lands Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on September 30, 2006, and was amended to run through March 31, 2011. This agreement covered several project elements focused on:

• Monitoring and conservation actions for the relict leopard frog
• Coordinating and conducting annual bald eagle counts on Lakes Mead and Mohave
• Development and assessment of a habitat map for wintering bald eagles based on observations data collected during winter counts

• Monitoring of breeding peregrine falcons and assessment of reproductive …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending March 30, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 13 juvenile/adult samples and analyses of the remaining samples are underway.
• Both research projects are well underway with 14 sample sets collected for Veliger abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead and 12 samples collected for Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay.

Project 2

• Annual summary sheets are under development for the topics listed within the Limnological and Aquatic Resource Monitoring and Research Plan for Lakes Mead …

Approaches To Alternative Energy Policy: A Comparison Of The United States And Germany, Martina Dzuna

Environment and Sustainability Honors Papers

This paper will examine the types of alternative energies that are available at this point, focus on the formation of markets for alternative energy and discuss how new energy technology enters and then diffuses into the markets. Along with energy technology diffusion, this paper will examine how policy structures make technology diffusion possible and which types of policy are most effective. To answer this question, the report uses Germany and the United States as case studies. From the case studies, we will be able to draw some conclusions about what makes some policies more successful than others, and make recommendations …

Interview With Jim Labbe, Portland Audubon Society, 2011, Jim Labbe

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Jim Labbe by Tony Smith on March 11th, 2011.

The interview index is available for download.

Native Grassland Management Guidelines For Nebraska's Wildlife Management Areas, Gerry Steinauer, Kent Pfeiffer, Jarren Kuipers

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

This document is one of a four part series produced by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to provide direction to managers of Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in Nebraska. Other documents in the series cover management of woodlands, wetlands, and converted habitats.

Prior to EuroAmerican settlement grasslands covered 98% of the Nebraska landscape and supported the majority of the state’s biodiversity. Since settlement, Nebraska’s native grasslands have suffered serious decline. For example, approximately 98% of eastern Nebraska’s tallgrass prairie has been lost to development. In central and western Nebraska grassland losses have been less dramatic though still substantial. Remnant grasslands …

Isolation By Distance Explains Genetic Structure Of Buggy Creek Virus, A Bird-Associated Arbovirus, Abinash Padhi, Amy T. Moore, Mary Bomberger Brown, Jerome E. Foster, Martin Pfeffer, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Many of the arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) show extensive genetic variability and are widely distributed over large geographic areas. Understanding how virus genetic structure varies in space may yield insight into how these pathogens are adapted to and dispersed by different hosts or vectors, the relative importance of mutation, drift, or selection in generating genetic variability, and where and when epidemics or epizootics are most likely to occur. However, because most arboviruses tend to be sampled opportunistically and often cannot be isolated in large numbers at a given locale, surprisingly little is known about their spatial genetic structure on the local …

Hydrological Impacts Of Integrated Oil Mallee Farming Systems, D L. Bennett, John Andrew Simons, Russell Speed

Resource management technical reports

This study reports on the results from investigations at four sites into the effect of commercial-scale oil mallee systems on localised groundwater systems over seven years. It also reports the results of the use of a numerical model to forecast potential longer term impacts.

Wheat Yield Potential And Land Management Constraints In The South West Of Western Australia, Dennis Van Gool

Resource management technical reports

This report provides the underpinning information to help improve the long term profitability of wheat cropping. It documents the realistic potential yield of the 18 million hectares of agricultural land in the South West of Western Australia and the gap between this potential and the actual yields, based on shire averages. This report also summarises major land management constraints that limit the yield potential. This information can be used to aid strategic planning at different levels, for example state, shire and, with care, as a starting point for farm planning.

Factors Of Environmental Sustainability For Africa, Asia, And Latin America, Jacob Converse

Political Science Theses and Capstones

This study incorporates and analyzes several theories in regards to what causes countries to perform in an environmentally sustainable manner. This has been and is becoming an increasingly important and debated topic due to the ever increasing interest and concern about global environmental challenges. This issue has been examined through a variety of different lenses including economic, socio-political, and geographical perspectives and they have an assortment of results. One such existing finding suggests that the best way to improve a country’s environmental sustainability is to first focus on improving the gross domestic product which will eventually allow changes to take …

The Silver Spark For Nevada, Walt Borland, James A. Croce, Richard Seline

Publications (E)

The SILVER Spark for Nevada: Sustainable Innovation Leading a Vital Economic Renaissance

Nevada. A State of stark contrasts, with historic booms and devastating busts experienced throughout its modern history. A State frequently forced to reinvent itself as ever-evolving circumstances have demanded. A State that has been driven to the edge time after time and, yet again and again, has managed to discover another way to prosper. A State that now finds itself in a precarious position as the “Great Recession” hit it harder than any other and has left it struggling to recover.

As you will conclude by reading The …

Factors Affecting Space Use Overlap By White-Tailed Deer In An Urban Landscape, W. David Walter, Jeff Beringer, Lonnie P. Hansen, Justin W. Fischer, Joshua J. Millspaugh, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Variation in the size and overlap of space use by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has broad implications for managing deer–human conflicts and disease spread and transmission in urban landscapes. Understanding which factors affect overlap of home range by various segments (i.e., age, sex) of an urban deer population has implications to direct contact between deer on disease epidemiology. We assessed size of home range and overlap of space use using the volume of intersection index (VI) for deer in an urban landscape by sex, age, season, and time of day. We found mean space use was larger for …