Regional economic impacts of water management alternatives: the case of Devils Lake,North Dakota,USA

Devils Lake, located in a closed basin in northeastern North Dakota has over a century-long history of highly fluctuating water levels. The lake has risen nearly 25 feet (7.7 m) since 1993, more than doubling its surface area. Rising water levels have affected rural lands, transportation routes, and communities near the lake. In response to rising lake levels, Federal, state and local agencies have adopted a three-part approach to flood damage reduction, consisting of (1) upper basin water management to reduce the amount of water reaching the lake, (2) protection for structures and infrastructure if the lake continues to rise, and (3) developing an emergency outlet to release some lake water. The purpose of this study was to provide information about the net regional economic effects of a proposed emergency outlet for Devils Lake. An input-output model was used to estimate the regional economic effects of the outlet, under two scenarios: (1) the most likely future situation (MLS) and (2) a best case situation (BCS) (i.e., where the benefits from the outlet would be greatest), albeit an unlikely one. Regional economic effects of the outlet include effects on transportation (road and railroad construction), agriculture (land kept in production, returned to production sooner, or kept in production longer), residential relocations, and outlet construction expenditures. Effects are measured as changes in gross business volume (gross receipts) for various sectors, secondary employment, and local tax collections. The net regional economic effects of the proposed outlet would be relatively small, and consideration of these economic impacts would not strengthen the case for an outlet.     

Acidification and recreational fisheries in Finland: A mail survey of potential impacts

In Finland, small forest lakes and rivers in the northern part of the country are more sensitive to acidic deposition than other Finnish waters. In some lakes, acid-sensitive fish populations have declined. A nationwide survey of fishers showed that, at present, the number of fishers whose primary fishing waters are affected by airborne acidification is negligible compared to the estimated total number of adult fishers (1.1 million). The proportion of the fishers who mainly fish in water types sensitive to airborne acidification is considerable, 3% for the rivers in northern Finland and 21% for small forest lakes. There is general concern among fishers about the effects of acidification. Changes in the fishing waters are attributed to acidification by 5–10% of the fishers, although in most cases other information about the fishing waters rules out acidification as an explanation for the changes. Among those who fish in sensitive types of waters, a willingness to mitigate potential damages was reported by approximately one third of all fishers. Clear differences in the willingness to rehabilitate the fishery were observed in relation to the importance of fishing as a spare time activity and the distance between the fishing waters and a home or summer cottage.     

Regulation of the environmental impacts of coal mining in the USA

Decades of environmentally unregulated coal mining in the USA have resulted in thousands of polluted streams, contaminated groundwater aquifers, subsidence effects, scarred hill sides and massive waste dumps. Similar environmental damage due to coal mining has occurred in Eastern Europe. In the USA, to correct the environmental damage due to coal mining, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act was passed in 1977. This paper examines the provisions of the Act in detail and ends with a warning to the Eastern European countries. 'The lessons to he learned from the US experience may be reduced to one essential observation: unregulated coal mining in a free market economy can cause extremely serious environmental harm with attendant adverse social and economic impacts which cannot be effectively resolved without comprehensive and strict governmental regulation' .     

Explaining human settlement patterns in a recreational lake district: Vilas County,Wisconsin, USA

Lakeshore development in Vilas County, northern Wisconsin (USA) is heterogeneous, ranging from lakes that are surrounded by homes and commercial establishments to lakes that have no buildings on their shorelines. Development in this recreational area has increased, and since the 1960s over half of new homes have been built on the lakeshore. We examined building density around lakes in relationship to 11 variables, including in-lake, shoreline, and social characteristics. Buildings in many parts of northern Wisconsin tend to be concentrated around shorelines; in Vilas County 61% of all medium-sized buildings (our proxy for residential development) on private land were ≤100 m of a lake. The probability of development on a lake was largely related to lake surface area, with larger, more accessible lakes showing a higher probability of development. Building density along shorelines varied with travel cost, lake surface area, presence of wetlands, and extent of public land ownership. Building density was greater on larger, more accessible lakes that were surrounded by forest (as opposed to wetlands) and public lands. Gaining a more precise understanding of human settlement patterns can help direct planning and resource protection efforts to lakes most likely to experience future development.     

Adaptive Management of Flows in the Lower Roanoke River, North Carolina, USA

The lower Roanoke River in North Carolina, USA, has been regulated by a series of dams since the 1950s. This river and its floodplain have been identified by The Nature Conservancy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the State of North Carolina as critical resources for the conservation of bottomland hardwoods and other riparian and in-stream biota and communities. Upstream dams are causing extended floods in the growing season for bottomland hardwood forests, threatening their survival. A coalition of stakeholders including public agencies and private organizations is cooperating with the dam managers to establish an active adaptive management program to reduce the negative impacts of flow regulation, especially extended growing season inundation, on these conservation targets. We introduce the lower Roanoke River, describe the regulatory context for negotiating towards an active adaptive management program, present our conservation objective for bottomland hardwoods, and describe investigations in which we successfully employed a series of models to develop testable management hypotheses. We propose adaptive management strategies that we believe will enable the bottomland hardwoods to regenerate and support their associated biota and that are reasonable, flexible, and economically sustainable.     

Recreational impacts on backcountry campsites in Grand Canyon National Park,Arizona, USA

Backcountry campsites were studied in three desert vegetation types (pinyon-juniper, catclaw, and desert scrub) in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Relationships between amount of use and amount of impact were examined within each vegetation type. The area disturbed was small, but impacts were generally severe. Important impacts were increased soil compaction and associated decreases in infiltration rates and soil moisture content; these were substantially more pronounced on high than low use sites. The only impact parameter that differed significantly between vegetation types was core area. The types of impact identified are similar to those found in the coniferous forests studied elsewhere, as is the logarithmic relationship between amount of use and amount of impact. However, Grand Canyon sites can support more visitor use before reaching near-maximum levels of impact for important impact parameters.     

Perceptions and attitudes of land managers in multi-tenure reserve networks and the implications for conservation

Multi-tenure reserve networks aim to connect areas managed for biodiversity conservation across public and private land and address the impacts of fragmentation on both biotic and social systems. The operation and function of Australian multi-tenure reserve networks as perceived by their land managers was investigated. Overall, the conservation of natural assets was the most frequently reported primary reason for involvement in a network. The perceived aims of the respective networks largely reflected the response identified for involvement and management. Over 88% of managers considered their involvement in multi-tenure reserve networks to be a positive or very positive experience. A lack of resources and time for management were considered major limitations of these networks. The majority (80%) of private land managers within networks were willing to be included in a national reserve system of conservation lands. As the Australian National Reserve System currently incorporates mostly public land, these findings have important and potentially positive implications for a greater role for protected private land.     

Modeling rural landowners' hunter access policies in East Texas,USA

Private landowners in East Texas, USA, were aggregated into one of four policy categories according to the degree of access allowed to their lands for hunting. Based on these categories, a logistic regression model of possible determinants of access policy was developed and probabilities of policy adoption were calculated. Overwhelmingly, attitudes toward hunting as a sport, incentives, and control over the actions of hunters were most predictive of landowners' policies. Additionally, the availability of deer was found to be negatively correlated with access, thereby suggesting management efforts to increase deer populations may be counter to increasing access. Further, probabilities derived from the model indicated that there was almost a 7 in 10 chance (0.66) that landowners would adopt policies commensurate with allowing family and personal acquaintances to hunt on their property. However, the probability of increasing access beyond this level, where access was provided for the general public, dropped off drastically to less than 5% (0.04).     

Land use change in California,USA: Nonpoint source water quality impacts

California’s population increased 25% between 1980 and 1990, resulting in rapid and extensive urbanization. Of a total 123,000 ha urbanized in 42 of the state’s 58 counties between 1984 and 1990, an estimated 13% occurred on irrigated prime farmland, and 48% on wildlands or fallow marginal farmlands. Sixty-six percent of all new irrigated farmland put into production between 1984 and 1990 was of lesser quality than the prime farmland taken out of production by urbanization. Factors dictating the agricultural development of marginal farmlands include the availability and price of water and land, agricultural commodity prices, and technical innovations such as drip irrigation systems that impact the feasibility and costs of production. The increasing amount of marginal farmland being put into production could have significant water quality consequences because marginal lands are generally steeper, have more erodible soils, poorer drainage, and require more fertilizer than prime farmlands. Although no data exist to test our hypothesis, and numerous variables preclude definitive predictions, the evidence suggests that new irrigated marginal lands can increase nonpoint source (NPS) pollution for a given size area by an order of magnitude in some cases.     

Simulating the impacts of fire: A computer program

Recurrent fire has played a dominant role in the ecology of southwestern ponderosa pine forests. To assess the benefits or losses of fire in these forests, a computer simulation model, called BURN, considers vegetation (mortality, regeneration, and production of herbaceous vegetation), wildlife (populations and habitats), and hydrology (streamflow and water quality). In the formulation of the model, graphical representations (time-trend response curves) of increases or losses (compared to an unburned control) after the occurrence of fire are converted to fixedterm annual ratios, and then annuities for the simulation components. Annuity values higher than 1.0 indicate benefits, while annuity values lower than 1.0 indicate losses. Studies in southwestern ponderosa pine forests utilized in the development of BURN are described briefly.     

Wetland loss and substitution by the Section 404 permit program in southern California,USA

To test the effectiveness of the 404 permit program in preventing a net loss of wetland resources, 75 Section 404 projects permitted in the years 1987–1989 and located in a portion of southern California were evaluated. From this group of projects, 80.47 ha of wetlands were affected by Section 404 permits and the Army Corps of Engineers required 111.62 ha of wetland mitigation. To verify the successful completion of each mitigation project, all 75 project sites were visited and evaluated based on the amount of dead vegetation, growth and coverage, and the number of invasive species. Based on the field verification results, the actual amount of completed mitigation area was 77.33 ha, resulting in a net loss of 3.14 ha of wetland resources in the years 1987–1989. By comparing the types of wetlands lost to the types of wetlands mitigated, it is apparent that, in particular, freshwater wetlands are experiencing a disproportionately greater loss of area and that riparian woodland wetlands are most often used in mitigation efforts. The net result of these accumulated actions is an overall substitution of wetland types throughout the region. Results also indicate that, typically, large-scale mitigation projects are more successful compared to smaller projects and that successful compliance efforts are not evenly distributed throughout the region. We recommend that better monitoring, mitigation in-kind, mitigation banking, and planning on a regional or watershed scale could greatly improve the effectiveness of the Section 404 permitting program.     

Livelihood impacts of the conversion of cropland to forest and grassland program

Land use changes induced by the Conversion of Cropland to Forest and Grassland Program are found to provide farm households sampled in four counties from Shaanxi and Qinghai Provinces with increased net profits. This result is found to be robust for a range of discount rates and output price projections. The net present value of the difference in farm profits with and without the Program is found to be positive even when payments made under the Program are subtracted from with Program profits. Variations in the impact of the Program on farm household net profits were observed across the county samples. These results suggest that reversion to pre-Program land uses is unlikely as long as farmer's rights over converted land are well defined and defended.     

Demographic shifts around drinking water supply reservoirs in North Carolina,USA

Infrastructure intended to serve the public good frequently has implications for environmental justice and social sustainability. Drinking water supplies for sub/urban areas in North Carolina, USA, have regularly been secured by constructing dams to impound reservoirs. We used high-resolution, publicly available US Census data to explore whether 66 such reservoirs in North Carolina have induced demographic shifts in the communities that find themselves adjacent to the newly created lakeshores. Our principal findings include: (1) The ratio of white people to non-white people was significantly higher in communities within 0.5 miles of reservoir shorelines than in more distant communities; (2) even as North Carolina overall became less white from 1990 to 2010, the ratio of white people to non-white people within the 0.5 miles of the shoreline increased relative to the overall ratio in the State; and (3) similar, but less distinct, shifts in per capita income occurred during the period. Our results are consistent with the proposition that reservoirs have induced demographic shifts in communities adjacent to newly created lakeshores similar to the shifts associated with environmental gentrification and amenity migration, and may now be associated with perpetuating those shifts. These findings raise concerns about environmental justice and social sustainability that should be considered when planning and building infrastructure that creates environmental amenities. Where reservoirs are being planned, social costs, including the costs of demographic shifts associated with environmental gentrification or amenity migration, and disproportionate regulatory burdens, should be mitigated through innovative policy if possible.     

Wetland development trends in coastal North Carolina,USA, from 1970 to 1984

Coastal wetlands are a valuable resource to North Carolina, USA, representing important habitat for marine organisms and providing flood control areas and buffer zones from marine storms. An analysis of wetland development trends in coastal North Carolina from 1970 to 1984 was conducted using over 3000 files containing 15 years of permitting records. The total amount of coastal wetland area altered due to authorized development under the Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA), the Dredge and Fill Law, and Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act is 1740 ha. This represents nearly 2% of the salt marsh wetlands along the coast of North Carolina. The number of permits issued steadily increased during the 1980s; however, the total amount of wetland loss decreased each year. A few large projects in the early 1970s accounted for nearly 70% of all wetland area developed during the 15-year period. Nearly two-thirds of all projects involving wetland destruction involved impacts on high marsh ecosystems. Bulkheads, canals, and filling activities made up 80% of the projects requiring permits; 62% of the permits were issued to private landowners, but this group accounted for only 16% of the losses of wetland area. Utility companies, which accounted for less than 1% of the permits issued, were responsible for 46% of the permitted wetland loss during the 15-year study period. Future studies should address agriculture and forestry practices which are exempt under CAMA laws and therefore their effects on wetland alteration have not been quantified.     

The impacts of recreation and tourism in the remote North Kimberly region of Western Australia

The environmental impacts created by recreational visitors to the wet-dry tropics of Western Australia raise questions about the type of visitor and the capacity of remote areas to 'carry increasing numbers of visitors. This paper looks at those questions in regard to some of the more remote natural attractions in the tropical North Kimberley region. Three locations—Cape Domett at the mouth of the Ord River, the Admiralty Gulf and the Mitchell Plateau—illustrate the differences between attractions, visitors, patterns of visitor behavior and their impacts on the local environment. As the highly variable nature of the Australian wet-tropics renders the use of conventional site indicators of carrying capacity difficult, an ecological alternative is proposed for research. The dominance of local and other Australian four-wheel drivers to the Kimberley and the impacts they create are shown to challenge the government's promotion of the region to overseas visitors and its notion of tourism as a sustainable industry.     

Effects of agricultural runoff on vegetation composition of a priority conservation wetland, Vermont, USA

This study examined the effects of agricultural runoff on the vegetation structure of Franklin Bog, a priority conservation area located in a rapidly developing region of northwestern Vermont. Forested and agricultural runoff from the mixed land use watershed created differential vegetation patterns in the wetland, including weedy species introductions. Concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus were measured in the stream runoff from four forested subwatersheds and two agricultural subwatersheds. Nutrient concentrations were significantly higher for agricultural vs. forested runoff for all measured parameters. Nitrate and total phosphorus concentrations in agricultural runoff ranged from 0.62 to 1.35 mg L(-1) and 0.07 to 0.37 mg L(-1), respectively. Forested runoff values were less than 0.37 mg L(-1) nitrate and 0.09 mg L(-1) total phosphorus. Significantly higher proportions of weedy species occurred at impacted vs. reference sites (46 +/- 5% vs. 23 +/- 4%). Furthermore, significantly higher total percent vegetated cover occurred at impacted vs. reference sites (116 +/- 11% vs. 77 +/- 9%) suggesting nutrient induced plant growth. Of the nine frequently occurring species categorized as bog species, only one was found within impacted sites while all nine were found at the reference sites. This suggests that the wetland's distinctive native flora is being replaced by widespread, vigorous species enhanced by agricultural nonpoint pollution in the watershed of Franklin Bog. Protection of wetlands requires attention to conservation measures throughout the entire watershed.     

Regional priorities for wetlands conservation in West Asia and North Africa

Though characterized by a scarcity of water, West Asia and North Africa region has a large number of wetlands of various types supporting a rich biodiversity. However, the government efforts to reverse the trend of wetlands degradation fall short of the policy goals due to various reasons. The paper outlines the priorities for wetlands conservation in the region.