Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Assessing Effort Shifts And Familial Succession In Oregon’S Nearshore Fisheries, Bryn Ellen Hudson

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Since the industrial revolution, natural resource systems have rapidly modernized and globalized. Commercial fishing industries have expanded and optimized resource extraction but have often times exceeded sustainable levels of harvest. In the Pacific Northwestern United States, the commercial fishing industry is one of particular economic and cultural importance. Due to reduced yield of many native fish stocks, marine reserves have been implemented in Oregon’s nearshore waters in an effort to conserve biodiversity. While spatial closures of marine reserves seek to preserve and stabilize Oregon’s ocean ecosystems, adverse socioeconomic implications are inevitably created when profitable waters are set aside. A main …

Gateways-Nd: Advancing Learner-Focused Instruction To Catalyze Stem Student Success, J.M.D. Motschenbacher, R. Reichenbach, M. Hanson, E. A. Berg, J. Ladbury, P. Kelter, L. Montplaisir, J. Nachwaya

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Long-Term Trends In Vegetation And Management Intensity, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve 1995–2014, Sherry A. Leis, Lloyd W. Morrison

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

Inventory and Monitoring Networks of the National Park Service are charged with collecting and reporting data related to the status and trends of key natural resources. We have analyzed a suite of grazing data from 1995- 2016, fire history data from 1998-2015, and vegetation community data from 2002-2014 to better understand trends as they relate to management strategies at the preserve over time. We found that cattle stocking rates declined and fires became less frequent over the latter half of the record. Similarly, bare ground declined, woody species increased slightly, and the floristic quality index was relatively stable with …

2018 Nebraska Groundwater Quality Monitoring Report

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The 2001 Nebraska Legislature passed LB329 (Neb. Rev. Stat. §46-1304) which, in part, directed the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) to report on groundwater quality monitoring in Nebraska. Reports have been issued annually since December 2001. The text of the statute applicable to this report follows: “The Department of Environmental Quality shall prepare a report outlining the extent of ground water quality monitoring conducted by natural resources districts during the preceding calendar year. The department shall analyze the data collected for the purpose of determining whether or not ground water quality is degrading or improving and shall present the …

The Trade-Security Nexus And U.S. Policy Making In Critical Minerals, Yujia He

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

The United States increasingly relies on import to meet its demand for critical minerals. Using the case of rare earth elements (REEs), this paper analyzes the conditions and the strategies for the U.S. government to address import dependence. The paper finds that market factors, including the lack of comparable and sufficient substitutes and recycling, the high ratio of import relative to consumption, the high concentration of import supply by country, and regulations from the major supplier country, were insufficient to prompt intervention. Significant policy action only occurs when changing circumstances turn import dependence into perceived national security threats to the …

Aspects Of White-Tailed Deer Ecology And Management: Effects Of Imidacloprid And An Evaluation Of Management At Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Elise Hughes Berheim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

White-tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are an economically and recreationally important species throughout their range, and understanding their ecology to implement beneficial management techniques is invaluable. This thesis focused on two studies 1) the effect of Imidacloprid on adult female and fawn physiology and 2) an evaluation of techniques to monitor white-tailed deer at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (GSNWR). Imidacloprid, a widely-used pesticide, has been linked to lethal and sub-lethal effects in insects and small vertebrates, however, no research has been conducted on white-tailed deer. Twenty captive pregnant adult female and subsequent fawns housed at the South Dakota …

Evaluation Of Methods Used To Improve Grasslands As Ring-Necked Pheasant (Phasianus Colchicus) Brood Habitat, Mandy Orth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Management practices designed for upland game species often focus on nest survival and hen winter survival due to the importance of these life history stages on population vital rates. However, chick survival is an important component of gallinaceous bird population dynamics, but it is poorly understood and often tends to be overlooked. Ideal brood habitat not only provides open understory for easy movement and canopy cover for protection, but also provides an abundance of arthropod foods for chicks. It has been hypothesized that restricted movement of chicks through thick vegetation in unmanaged grasslands results in lower brood survival rates. Research …

Quantifying Potential Long-Term Changes In Erosion, Discharge, And Total Suspended Solids Resulting From Agricultural Land Use Change In South Dakota, Hector Manuel Menendez Iii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

South Dakota is a mosaic of grasslands, wetlands, and cropland. A continuing shift from grassland to cropland has occurred over the past decade and is expected for the next 50 years. Rate of future conversion may vary greatly in response to regulatory, economic, and social factors. Concern has risen over environmental consequences associated with land conversion, which include but are not limited to changes in rill and sheet erosion rates from cultivated soils, stream and river discharge, and water quality. Quantifying future changes for these three externalities is important to understand the possible long-term consequences of complex grassland conversion decisions …

Reconsidering Barriers To Wind Power Projects: Community Engagement, Developer Transparency And Place, Jeremy Firestone, Ben Hoen, Joseph Rand, Debi Elliot, Gundula Hübner, Johannes Pohl

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

In 2016, we undertook a nationally representative wind power perceptions survey of individuals living within 8?km of over 600 projects in the United States, generating 1705 telephone, web, and mail responses. We sought information on a variety of topics, including procedural fairness and its relationship to project attitude, the foci of the present analysis. We present a series of descriptive statistics and regression results, emphasizing those residents who were aware of their local project prior to construction. Sample weighting is employed to account for stratification and non-response. We find that a developer being open and transparent, a community being able …

Soil Organic Carbon And Mineralization Rates At The Woolsey Wet Prairie Mitigation Site In Fayetteville, Arkansas, Zachary Tipton, Lisa S. Wood, Mary Savin, Benjamin R. Runkle

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels are rapidly increasing, surpassing 400 ppm in 2013 from a pre-industrial revolution level of around 280 ppm. Researchers have been looking at methods to reduce CO₂ levels in the atmosphere, including promoting carbon sequestration in soils. Carbon sequestration is the process where CO₂ is naturally or artificially transferred out of the atmosphere and stored in the ocean, plant biomass, soils, and geologic formations. Seemingly contradictory to the notion of carbon sequestration is the use of fire as a management treatment for the restoration of native prairie grass ecosystems. Fire combusts plant …

Abandoned Mine Land Impacts On Tributaries In The Upper Yakima River Watershed, Eastern Cascades, Washington, Scott Kugel

All Master's Theses

Effluent from abandoned mine lands (AMLs) in several drainages in Washington’s Eastern Cascades flows into the Yakima River. Similar sites in Idaho and Colorado are known producers of heavy metals and acid mine drainage. I determined the effects of nine AMLs on water quality in four tributaries to the Yakima River. Archival work was conducted to determine sites that were mined and contained a mill. Each site was characterized by physical features. Water and sediment samples were collected above, at, and below each AML. Samples were analyzed for pH and heavy metal content, and evaluated to determine if the AMLs …

Two Post-Glacial Sagebrush Steppe Fire Records At The Wildland-Urban Interface, Eastern Cascades, Washington, Dusty Pilkington

All Master's Theses

Recent increases in large fires in the rapidly developing wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas of central Washington, where development intermixes with wildland fuels, contribute to federal firefighting costs exceeding of $1 billion annually. In addition, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion and anthropogenic-caused warming shorten fire return intervals while lengthening fire seasons. These climatic, ecological, economic, and social factors combine with fuel accumulation resulting from historic fire suppression to threaten lives and property in the WUI. To plan for safe growth in WUI areas, long-term fire histories are needed to expand understanding of past fire regimes in an understudied ecosystem, sagebrush …

Production And Economic Analyses Of Woody Biomass Utilization For Energy, John Edward Vance

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A mechanized harvest system combined with whole-tree chipper producing mixed hardwood chips was investigated on two harvesting sites in the central Appalachian region, USA. Production and machine rate data of the operations were collected through time-motion study, with chipping time elements categorized into feeding, chipping, and loading. Chipping cycles averaged 21.5 minutes to produce 23.54 green tons per truckload, providing an hourly rate of 65.82 green tons/PMH (41.1 dry tons) by the whole-tree chipper. Total cycle time including truck delivery averaged 183 minutes, giving an hourly rate of 7.7 green tons/PMH (4.8 dry tons/PMH). The hourly cost of the harvesting …

Wintering American Black Duck Ecology Of Central Appalachia, Sara E. Yannuzzi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The American black duck (Anas rubripes) is a species of dabbling duck found only in the northeastern part of North America, and widely hunted until its decline. Since the 1950s, the total population has decreased by 53%. Habitat degradation and decline of wintering and breeding wetlands, historic overharvest, and interactions with the mallard (A. platyrhynchos) are attributed as some of the main causes of the black duck population’s decrease. Many policies and taxa- and habitat-specific joint ventures have since been created to aid in studying and improving North American wetlands and black duck populations throughout both their breeding and wintering …

A Decade Of Governing The Blackfoot Community Conservation Area (Bcca): Community Involvement And Landscape Connectivity Through Public Private Partnerships, Alexander A. Barton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In recent decades, non-governmental organizations have acquired and established community forests and conservation areas in the U.S. However, there have been few empirical studies on their governance. This study focuses on the Blackfoot Community Conservation Area (BCCA) in the Blackfoot watershed of Montana, created in 2005. The BCCA is a 41,000 acre mosaic of private, state, and federal lands, including 5,600 acres known as the “Core” located near Ovando mountain and owned by the Blackfoot Challenge, a local watershed organization and leader in grassroots conservation. This research examined the definitions, activities and lessons learned over the past decade with regard …

Post-Fire Regeneration And Fuel Succession Patterns In Hesperocyparis Bakeri Forests, Bret Anthony Mcnamara

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Climate change is predicted to cause widespread redistribution of suitable tree habitats, as well as increase the size and frequency of wildfires in the western United States during the forthcoming century. Rare serotinous conifers may have heightened sensitivity to the impacts of both fire regime and climate shifts for multiple reasons. First, the rapid spatial rearrangement of suitable habitat will disproportionately affect trees with constrained seed dispersal capabilities, and limited dispersal is a trait associated with some genera of serotinous trees. Second, a number of serotinous conifers depend on fire disturbances for regeneration, though with the expected increase in annual …

Geomorphic Consequences Of Hydroelectricity And Transportation Development Near Celilo Falls, Lower Mid-Columbia River, Washington, Noah I. Oliver

All Master's Theses

Along the Columbia River, hundreds of miles of transportation infrastructure and over sixty hydroelectric dams have been constructed. This altered a rich cultural landscape with evidence of 10,000 years of continuous occupation. Researchers have attempted to understand the impacts of anthropogenic factors on the Columbia River, focusing on the riverine environment. However, the effect of transportation and hydroelectricity developments to eolian landforms on the floodplains and adjoining slopes have not been studied. Focusing on 2,800 acres near Celilo Falls, this study 1) establishes a baseline condition of eolian landforms from 1805 to 1900; 2) conducts an air photo increment analysis …

Postglacial Fire, Vegetation, And Environmental Change In The Sinlahekin Wildlife Area, Okanogan County, Washington (Usa), Kevin Haydon

All Master's Theses

Historically fire has played a key disturbance role in many ecosystems of the western United States. One of the most affected landscapes is the dry ponderosa pine-dominated forests of eastern Washington. Over the past decade, these forests have experienced a dramatic increase in large, high-severity wildfires, resulting in significant damage to natural resources, property, and habitat. Public land managers are now faced with the increasing challenge of maintaining these fire-dependent ecosystems in tandem with the projected impacts of future climate change. To do this, land managers need to make informed, adaptive decisions based on what it known in terms of …

River Report. State Of The Lower St. Johns River Basin, Florida: Water Quality, Fisheries, Aquatic Life, Contaminants, 2018, Environmental Protection Board, City Of Jacksonville, University Of North Florida, Jacksonville University, Gerry Pinto, Gretchen Bielmyer-Fraser, Nisse Goldberg, Anthony Ouellette, An-Phong Le, Radha Pyati, Charles Closmann, Brian P. Zoellner

State of the River Report

No abstract provided.

The Infrastructure-Extractives-Resource Governance Complex In The Pan-Amazon: Roll Backs And Contestations, Denise Bebbington, Ricardo Verdum, Cesar Gamboa, Anthony J. Bebbington

Geography

Large-scale access and energy infrastructure projects, together with expanding investments in natural resource extraction, pose significant challenges to biodiversity conservation, forest cover, and the defence of forest peoples' rights and livelihoods across the wider Amazon region. Following a period in which safeguards and forest dwellers' territorial rights were strengthened under more permissive political opportunity structures, the current period has been characterized by efforts to weaken these protections and to facilitate large-scale private investment in previously protected lands. We describe these investment-based threats to forests and rights, and the nature of regulatory rollbacks in the region. We then discuss some of …

A Model To Predict Concentrations And Uncertainty For Mercury Species In Lakes, Ashley Hendricks

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

To increase understanding of mercury cycling, a seasonal mass balance model was developed to predict mercury concentrations in lakes and fish. Results indicate that seasonality in mercury cycling is significant and is important for a northern latitude lake. Models, when validated, have the potential to be used as an alternative to measurements; models are relatively inexpensive and are not as time intensive. Previously published mercury models have neglected to perform a thorough validation. Model validation allows for regulators to be able to make more informed, confident decisions when using models in water quality management. It is critical to quantify uncertainty; …

Incorporating Multi-Spectral Imaging Into Long-Term Upland Breeding Bird Monitoring, Kyle William Schumacher

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas, United States partnered with Fort Hays State University Hays, KS in 2014 to begin a collaborative research project that aimed to develop a long-term monitoring protocol guided by the Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the refuge published in 2013. This plan identified specific wildlife taxa underrepresented in management impact assessments throughout the property. As a result of this plan, surveys were established to monitor interactions between upland breeding birds and the vegetation community. I conducted point count surveys in 2016, 2017, and 2018 for 122 observation points across four transects. I measured seventeen vegetation variables …

Integrating Fire And Forest Planning: A Review Of National Forest Plan Revisions, Hailey Graf

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

A Dynamic Ocean Management Tool To Reduce Bycatch And Support Sustainable Fisheries, Elliot L. Hazen, Kylie L. Scales, Sara M. Maxwell, Dana K. Briscoe, Heather Welch, Steven J. Bograd, Helen Bailey, Scott R. Benson, Tomo Eguchi, Heidi Dewar

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Seafood is anessential sourceofprotein formore than3billionpeopleworldwide, yet bycatchof threatened species in capture fisheries remains a major impediment to fisheries sustainability. Management measures designed to reduce bycatch often result in significant economic losses and even fisheries closures. Static spatial management approaches can also be rendered ineffective by environmental variability and climate change, as productive habitats shift and introduce new interactions between human activities and protected species. We introduce a new multispecies and dynamic approach that uses daily satellite data to track ocean features and aligns scales of management, species movement, and fisheries. To accomplish this, we create species distribution models for …

Motivations, Specializations, Identities, And Constraints Associated With Hunting In Nebraska, Alisha Grams

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

No abstract provided.

Colonialism And Its Aftermaths In Vieques, Puerto Rico: How U.S. Hegemony Led To Contamination, A Superfund Site, And Local Mistrust, Kaya Mark

Scripps Senior Theses

After sixty-two years of U.S. military testing, the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques and its residents continue to fight against ongoing environmental and social effects of U.S. hegemony. Starting with the arrival of the Spanish, then with U.S. occupation and use of Vieques as a military stopover, Viequense residents are used to U.S. governmental presence on their land. Despite the military’s removal from Vieques in 2003, many local residents have a fundamental lack of trust for the U.S. government. Because of this lack of trust and transparency with U.S. governmental actions in the post- World War II period, residents …

Walls And Wilderness: Analyzing The Impacts Of Border Barriers On U.S. Government Lands Of The United States - Mexico Border, Bryce Garrett Fugate

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This paper seeks to describe the impacts of physical structures (fences, walls, barricades, etc.) on five selected areas of federally-protected U.S. lands along the U.S.-Mexico border that fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The five selected areas are: Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Big Bend National Park, Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument, the Tohono O'odham Nation Reservation, and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The research looks into the historical development of structures put in place on the U.S. - Mexico border, how they have become ever more ubiquitous in the region, and what …

Impacts Of Strategic Grazing And Fire On Soil Seed Bank Heterogeneity In Mixed-Grass Prairie, Kassidy Weathers, Lan Xu, Patricia Johnson

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Native plant communities in the Northern Great Plains evolved under periodic fire and substantial grazing pressure from native herbivores, two main drivers maintaining the heterogeneity of grassland ecosystems. However, contemporary management practices focus on maximizing livestock production through fire suppression and uniform grazing strategies, resulting in decreased vegetation heterogeneity, species richness, wildlife habitat, and biodiversity. Objectives of this study were to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of patch-burn grazing (PBG) and winter-patch grazing (WPG) managements on soil seed bank heterogeneity in terms of species 1) richness, 2) composition, 3) abundance, and 4) diversity. Two soil cores (10-cm dia × 10-cm …

Anticoagulant Rodenticide Residues In Game Animals In California, Stella C. Mcmillin, Robert H. Poppenga, Shannon C. Chandler, Deana L. Clifford

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are used to control rodents around homes, buildings, and in agriculture. They have been found widely in predatory and scavenging wildlife as a result of secondary exposure and less commonly in herbivores and omnivores from primary exposure. While predators and scavengers have been monitored for AR exposure, very little information is available about AR residues in edible muscle tissue of game animals. Game animals may be exposed to ARs through direct consumption of bait, ingestion of contaminated food or vegetation, or consumption of contaminated prey items. Carcasses of three species of game animals (black bear, wild pigs, …

Environmental Risk, Resource And Production, Nancye Gannaway

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

Plan Prepare Prosper - workshop

Aims

• To identify and plan for projected changes in weather patterns and in the physical resources that underpin the productivity of the farm enterprise.
• To develop initiatives to manage observed and likely threats from the environment to farm enterprises.
• To support the achievement of long-term economic viability of land under production

Today's content will help develop risk management strategies for agricultural production systems.