Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

The Case For A Mandatory Renewable Portfolio Standard In Virginia: A Case Study Examining Virginia’S Potential For A Mandatory Renewable Portfolio Standard By Comparing Virginia To Maryland And North Carolina, Rebecca Wescott

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Since the early 1980s, states have utilized Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards (“RPSs”) as policy mechanisms to “promote broader investment in renewable energy without requiring passage of a comprehensive energy policy measure that includes a pricing mechanism for carbon.” RPS policies can be drafted in one of two ways: (1) as a mandatory RPS, a legal mandate on what percentage of a state’s power portfolio must come from specific eligible renewable energy sources by a specific date in the future, or (2) as a non-binding or voluntary RPS, a policy goal that recommends that a certain percentage of a state’s power …

Redescription Of Anaschisma (Temnospondyli: Metoposauridae) From The Late Triassic Of Wyoming And The Phylogeny Of The Metoposauridae, Bryan M. Gee, William G. Parker, Adam D. Marsh

United States National Park Service: Publications

Metoposaurids are non-marine temnospondyls that are among the most common constituents of Late Triassic deposits, but despite their abundance, the evolutionary relationships of the group are poorly resolved and have not been fully addressed with modern phylogenetic methods. The genus Anaschisma is one of a number of poorly resolved metoposaurid taxa and was erected to describe two species from the Popo Agie Formation (Carnian) in Wyoming: Anaschisma browni and Anaschisma brachygnatha. Since being named, the genus has been repeatedly synonymized and separated with other taxa in the context of broader revisions of the Metoposauridae. At present, Anaschisma is considered …

Competition And Burn Severity Determine Post-Fire Sapling Recovery In A Nationally Protected Boreal Forest Of China: An Analysis From Very High-Resolution Satellite Imagery, Lei Fang, Ellen V. Crocker, Jian Yang, Yan Yan, Yuanzheng Yang, Zhihua Liu

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Anticipating how boreal forest landscapes will change in response to changing fire regime requires disentangling the effects of various spatial controls on the recovery process of tree saplings. Spatially explicit monitoring of post-fire vegetation recovery through moderate resolution Landsat imagery is a popular technique but is filled with ambiguous information due to mixed pixel effects. On the other hand, very-high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery accurately measures crown size of tree saplings but has gained little attention and its utility for estimating leaf area index (LAI, m²/m²) and tree sapling abundance (TSA, seedlings/ha) in post-fire landscape remains …

Long Reach Lane At Long Marsh, Harpswell, 2018 Post-Project Monitoring Report; Year 5 Of 5, Matthew Craig

Publications

No abstract provided.

Improving Risk Assessment Of The Emergence Of Novel Influenza A Viruses By Incorporating Environmental Surveillance, Kim M. Pepin, Matthew W. Hopken, Susan A. Shriner, Erica Spackman, Zaid Abdo, Colin Parrish, Steven Steven, James O. Lloyd-Smith, Antoinette J. Piaggio

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Reassortment is an evolutionary mechanism by which influenza A viruses (IAV) generate genetic novelty. Reassortment is an important driver of host jumps and is widespread according to retrospective surveillance studies.However, predicting the epidemiological risk of reassortant emergence in novel hosts from surveillance data remains challenging. IAV strains persist and cooccur in the environment, promoting co-infection during environmental transmission. These conditions offer opportunity to understand reassortant emergence in reservoir and spillover hosts. Specifically, environmental RNA could provide rich information for understanding the evolutionary ecology of segmented viruses, and transform our ability to quantify epidemiological risk to spillover hosts. However, significant challenges …

Reflecting On Efforts To Design An Inclusive Citizen Science Project In West Baltimore, Amanda E. Sorensen, Rebecca C. Jordan, Shannon L. Ladeau, Dawn Biehler, Sacoby Wilson, John-Henry Pitas, Paul T. Leisnham

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Citizen science (CS) has been an increasingly utilized means by which scientists leverage members of the public to increase the amount of data collected and analyzed. However, the underrepresentation of individuals from certain socio-cultural groups can have consequences that can manifest in the scientific outcomes of those CS projects such as biases in the data. Additionally, this underrepresentation can potentially affect long-term viability and support of CS as a community of practice. CS programs that promote greater inclusivity would likely provide opportunities for communities to define, investigate, and address pressing issues in collaboration with professional scientists. In this paper we …

Umphlett Qci March 2019, Natalie Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature Anomalies

Plains Snowpack

Agriculture

Energy

Transportation

Temperature

Precipitation

A Green-Ish New Deal?, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring At Scotts Bluff National Monument, 2018 Data Report, Isabel W. Ashton

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2018 at Scotts Bluff National Monument (SCBL) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and Fire Ecology Program (NGPFire). This was the eighth year of combined monitoring efforts.

Crew members from NGPN visited eight long-term monitoring plots to collect data on the plant communities at SCBL. This work is part of a long-term monitoring effort designed to provide a better understanding of the condition of the vegetation community and how it changes over time. NGPN staff measured species richness, herb-layer height, native and non-native species abundance, …

Multivariate Analysis Of Hydrochemical Data For Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, And Surrounding Areas, Andrew J. Long, James B. Paces, William G. Eldridge

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

Jewel Cave National Monument and Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota contain two of the six longest caves worldwide. These caves contain subterranean lakes that are important points of intersection between the water table of the Madison aquifer and the caves. During 2015 to 2017, several subterranean lakes were discovered in Jewel Cave, which previously was thought to be above the regional water table. The objectives of this study were to better understand the hydrology of the recently discovered subterranean lakes in Jewel Cave and to evaluate their relation or possible connection to similar lakes in Wind Cave. …

Soil And Land- Use Change Sustainability In The Northern Great Plains Of The Usa, Deepak Raj Joshi, David E. Clay, Alexander Smart, Sharon A. Clay, Tulsi P. Kharel, Umakanta Mishra

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

In the Northern Great Plains (NGP), the combined impacts of land-use and climate variability have the potential to place many soils on the tipping point of sustainability. The objectives of this study were to assess if the conversion of grassland to croplands occurred on fragile landscapes in the North America Northern Great Plains. South Dakota and Nebraska were selected for this study because they are located in a climate transition zone. We visually classified 43,200 and 38,400 points in South Dakota and Nebraska, respectively, from high-resolution imagery in 2006, 2012, and 2014 into five different categories (cropland, grassland, habitat, NonAg, …

Overcoming Impediments To Shellfish Aquaculture Through Legal Research And Outreach: Case Studies, National Sea Grant College Program, Catherine Janasie, Amanda Nichols, Read Porter, Mitchell Ramic, Jordan Viana, Joseph Bingaman, Elizabeth Andrews, Angela King, Danielle Goshen, Shana Jones, Lisa Schiavinato, Catherine Courtier, Danielle Goshen

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

More than half of the population of the continental United States resides in coastal communities, which are increasingly home to commercial shellfish aquaculture operations. Consequently, a variety of user conflicts can arise as states seek to encourage the development or expansion of shellfish aquaculture. Each of these conflicts creates the potential for opposition and legal challenges to the industry.

An understanding of the legal and regulatory context governing shellfish aquaculture can assist in managing conflicts related to the industry. Laws and regulations in some cases create or can be perceived as impediments to the growth or success of the aquaculture …

A New Direction For Salinity Management In Western Australia: A Consultative Review, Ghd

Natural resources commissioned reports

In May 2018, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) published an audit into the management of salinity and recommended that the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), in consultation with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER), set a strategic direction for salinity management for WA and improve monitoring, cooperation, coordination, promotion of soil conservation, and compliance of salinity impacts and its management.

The OAG’s audit focused on two questions:

1. Do agencies know the extent and impact of dryland salinity in the South West agricultural regions?
2. Are …

Limits To The World’S Green Water Resources For Food, Feed, Fiber, Timber, And Bioenergy, Joep F. Schyns, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Martijn J. Booij, Rick J. Hogeboom, Mesfin Mekonnen

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Green water––rainfall over land that eventually flows back to the atmosphere as evapotranspiration––is the main source of water to produce food, feed, fiber, timber, and bioenergy. To understand how freshwater scarcity constrains production of these goods, we need to consider limits to the green water footprint (WFg), the green water flow allocated to human society. However, research traditionally focuses on scarcity of blue water––groundwater and surface water. Here we expand the debate on water scarcity by considering green water scarcity (WSg). At 5 × 5 arc-minute spatial resolution, we quantify WFg and the maximum sustainable level to this footprint (WFg,m), …

Potential Economic Impacts Of Allocating More Land For Bioenergy Biomass Production In Virginia, Thomas O. Ochuodho, Janaki R. R. Alavalapati, Pankaj Lal, Domena A. Agyeman, Bernabas Wolde, Pralhad Burli

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

The growing attention to renewable energy and rural development has created greater demand for production of biomass feedstock for bioenergy. However, forest growth rates and the amount of land in most existing forests may not be sufficient to sustainably supply the forest biomass required to support existing forest products industries and the expanding bioenergy industry. Additionally, concerns about agricultural land use competition have dampened expansion of biomass production on agricultural land base. One of the ways to meet the growing forest biomass feedstock demand for bioenergy production is by allocating currently marginal non-forested land for growing bioenergy feedstocks. In Virginia, …

Bird Monitoring At Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa, Status Report 2009–2017, David G. Peitz, Lloyd W. Morrison, Kristen L. Mecke

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

In 2009, the Heartland Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Network) initiated breeding bird surveys on Effigy Mounds National Monument (NM), Iowa, to address two objectives: (1) to monitor changes in bird community composition and abundance, and (2) to improve our understanding of relationships between breeding birds and habitat and the effects of management actions on such relationships. This report evaluates trends in the park’s breeding bird populations in the context of trends observed within the North American Bird Conservation Initiative’s (NABCI) Prairie Hardwood Transition Bird Conservation Region, the bird conservation region in which the park is located. By doing …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring At Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 2018 Data Report, Ryan M. Manuel

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2018 at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and the Northern Great Plains Fire Effects Program (NGPFire). This was the eighth year of field work conducted by NGPN at AGFO.

In 2018, crew members from NGPN visited six long-term plant community monitoring (PCM) plots, four legacy plant community monitoring (LPCM) plots, and NGPFire visited one additional PCM plot to collect data on plant communities at AGFO. This collaborative effort is part of a long-term monitoring program established to better …

Hunter And Angler Motivations, Preferences, And Barriers To Waterfowl Hunting In The Central United States, Matthew P. Hinrichs

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

Since the mid-1980s, there has been a decrease in individuals participating in waterfowl hunting in the United States. The decline in participation has over-arching consequences for state and federal wildlife agencies in their ability to fund and manage habitat and waterfowl populations. There is a fundamental need to understand why individuals participate in waterfowl hunting and what barriers there are to participating in waterfowl hunting. An online survey was conducted in the summer and fall of 2018 asking waterfowl hunters, anglers, big game hunters, combination users (i.e., hunters that have multiple hunting and fishing permits), and small game hunters about …

Soil And Vegetation Survey Of Antelope Pasture, Curlew Grazing Allotment, Oneida County, Id, Merran Owen, Kari E. Veblen, Thomas A. Monaco, Janis Boettinger

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Antelope Pasture, located in the Black Pine Valley of Oneida County, Idaho, is a 1500-acre portion of the Curlew Grazing Allotment, managed by the Pocatello Field Office of the BLM (Figure 1). The pasture is heavily invaded with exotic annuals such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), halogeton (Halogeton glomeratus), and clasping pepperweed (Lepidium perfoliatum), and grazing is temporarily discontinued. Land-use history of the pasture includes livestock grazing, possible homesteading and cultivation of Agropyron cristatum (crested wheatgrass).

Pindan Soils In The La Grange Area, West Kimberley: Land Capability Assessment For Irrigated Agriculture, 2nd Edition, Henry Smolinski, Paul Galloway, Justin Laycock

Resource management technical reports

This report identifies areas of Pindan country along the Great Northern Highway, south of Broome from Roebuck to Mandora, which have high potential for irrigated agriculture. The area contains significant reserves of potable groundwater defined by the La Grange groundwater allocation area, which is based on the surficial Broome Sandstone aquifer.

Over the past 30 years, several small- to medium-scale irrigation developments have been successfully established in the region. The water opportunities project aims to identify and quantify the land and water resources of the region to ensure any future expansion of irrigated agriculture is sustainable and will not have …

Sampling Related Individuals Within Ponds Biases Estimates Of Population Structure In A Pond‐Breeding Amphibian, Kyle A. O'Connell, Kevin P. Mulder, Jose Maldonado, Kathleen L. Currie, Dennis M. Ferraro

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Effective conservation and management of pond‐breeding amphibians depends on the accurate estimation of population structure, demographic parameters, and the influence of landscape features on breeding‐site connectivity. Population‐level studies of pond‐breeding amphibians typically sample larval life stages because they are easily captured and can be sampled nondestructively. These studies often identify high levels of relatedness between individuals from the same pond, which can be exacerbated by sampling the larval stage. Yet, the effect of these related individuals on population genetic studies using genomic data is not yet fully understood. Here, we assess the effect of within‐pond relatedness on population and landscape …

Wildfire Alters Spatial Patterns Of Available Soil Nitrogen And Understory Environments In A Valley Boreal Larch Forest, Jianjian Kong, Jian Yang, Bo Liu, Lin Qi

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Wildfire, a primary natural disturbance in many forests, affects soil nutrient availability and spatial distributions of forest plants. However, post-fire changes in soil nutrients and spatial patterns of understory environments at fine scales are poorly understood. Here, we characterized spatial patterns of soil nitrogen availability and site characteristics at a 3-year-post-fire and an unburned site in a valley boreal larch forest. We also examined the relationship between soil nitrogen availability and site characteristics. The results showed that the burned site had higher NO₃⁻ and lower NH₄⁺ than the control. The herb, litter and coarse wood debris …

Assessing Landscape Scale Heterogeneity In Irrigation Water Use With Remote Sensing And In Situ Monitoring, T. Foster, I. Z. Goncalves, I. Campos, C. M.U. Neale, N. Brozovic

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Understanding how irrigation is used across agricultural landscapes is essential to support efforts to grow more food while reducing pressures on limited freshwater resources. However, to date, few studies have analyzed the underlying spatial and temporal variability in farmers’ individual water use decisions at a landscape scale.Wecompare estimates of irrigation water requirements derived using state-of-the-art remote sensing models with metered abstraction records for 1400 fields over a 13 year period in the US state of Nebraska, one of the world’s most intensively irrigated agricultural regions. Weshow that farmers’ observed water use decisions often diverge significantly from biophysical estimates of crop …

Photosynthesis, Yield And Raw Material Quality Of Sugarcane Injured By Multiple Pests, José A.S. Rossato Jr, Leonardo L. Madaleno, Márcia J.R. Mutton, Leon Higley, Odair A. Fernandes

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Understanding sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) response to multiple pest injury, sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis) and spittlebug (Mahanarva fimbriolata), is essential to make better management decisions. Moreover, the consequences of both pests on the sugarcane raw material quality have not yet been studied. A field experiment was performed in São Paulo State, Brazil, where sugarcane plants were exposed to pests individually or in combination. Plots consisted of a 2-m long row of caged sugarcane plants. Photosynthesis was measured once every 3 months (seasonal measurement). Yield and sugar production were assessed. The measured photosynthesis rate was negatively affected by both borer and spittlebug …

Irrigation Impacts On Minimum And Maximum Surface Moist Enthalpy In The Central Great Plains Of The Usa, Tianyi Zhang, Rezaul Mahmood, Xiaomao Lin, Roger A. Pielke Sr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Agricultural activities notably alter weather and climate including near-surface heat content. However, past research primarily focused on dry bulb temperature without considering the role of water vapor (dew point temperature) on surface air heat content. When using dry bulb temperature trends to assess these changes, for example, not including concurrent trends in absolute humidity can lead to errors in the actual rate of warming or cooling. Here we examined minimum and maximum surface moist enthalpy, which can be expressed as “equivalent temperature.” Using hourly climate data in the Central Great Plains (Nebraska and Kansas) from 1990 to 2014, the averages …

Individual-Level Antibody Dynamics Reveal Potential Drivers Of Influenza A Seasonality In Wild Pig Populations, Kim M. Pepin, Kerri Pedersen, Xiu-Feng Wan, Fred L. Cunningham, Colleen T. Webb, Mark Q. Wilber

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Swine are important in the ecology of influenza A virus (IAV) globally. Understanding the ecological role of wild pigs in IAV ecology has been limited because surveillance in wild pigs is often for antibodies (serosurveillance) rather than IAVs, as in humans and domestic swine. As IAV antibodies can persist long after an infection, serosurveillance data are not necessarily indicative of current infection risk. However, antibody responses to IAV infections cause a predictable antibody response, thus time of infection can be inferred from antibody levels in serological samples, enabling identification of risk factors of infection at estimated times of infection. Recent …

Experimental Assessment Of Predation Risk For Juvenile Green Sturgeon, Acipenser Medirostris, By Two Predatory Fishes, S. Baird, A. E. Steel, D. E. Cocherell, Jamilynn B. Poletto, R. Follenfant, N. A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Pesticide Application Practices And Knowledge Among Small-Scale Local Rice Growers And Communities In Rwanda: A Cross-Sectional Study, Benjamin Ndayambaje, Hellen Amuguni, Jeanne Coffin-Schmitt, Nancy Sibo, Martin Ntawubizi, Elizabeth Vanwormer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Background: Agriculture contributes a third of Rwanda’s GDP and is the main source of income for rural households, with 80% of the total population involved in crop and/or livestock production. The Government of Rwanda established the Muvumba rice project in 2011 amidst a policy shift towards rice as a national staple crop. However, the indiscriminate use of pesticides by local, low-income rice growers has raised concerns about potential human, animal and ecosystem health impacts as pesticide distribution and application are not strictly regulated. Although pesticide use can directly influence farmer health and ecosystems, little is known about small-scale farmers’ pesticide …

A Pilot Qualitative Case Study Of Agricultural And Natural Resources Scientists’ Twitter Usage For Engaging Public Audiences, Jaime Loizzo, Catherine Jones, Abby Steffen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Scientists are frequently asked to broadly share their expertise and research with a variety of audiences, beyond typical academic circles in their home disciplines. That could include developing community engagement programs, school outreach, leveraging online social networks, and other activities. The purpose of this study was to examine U.S. agricultural and natural resources (ANR) scientists’ typical science communication channels, their experiences utilizing Twitter for sharing their knowledge, research, and engaging in online public science discussion. Diffusion of Innovations theory and the model of science in-reach versus outreach guided this study. Researchers used a qualitative case study design. Data collection included …

A Methodology For Flash Drought Identification: Application Of Flash Drought Frequency Across The United Statesjordan, Jordan I. Christian, Jeffrey B. Basara, Jason A. Otkin, Eric D. Hunt, Ryann A. Wakefield, Paul Flanagan, Xiangming Xiao

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

With the increasing use of the term ‘‘flash drought’’ within the scientific community, Otkin et al. provide a general definition that identifies flash droughts based on their unusually rapid rate of intensi- fication. This study presents an objective percentile-based methodology that builds upon that work by identifying flash droughts using standardized evaporative stress ratio (SESR) values and changes in SESR over some period of time. Four criteria are specified to identify flash droughts: two that emphasize the vegetative impacts of flash drought and two that focus on the rapid rate of intensification. The method- ology was applied to the North …