Multiple attribute evaluation of landscape management

Economic approaches to the valuation of ecological services have several limitations. Some of these limitations can be overcome using the multiple attribute decision-making model developed in this paper. The model postulates that a private or public decision-maker selects a site/landscape management plan based on the biophysical and economic attributes of alternative management plans, the decision-maker’s preferences for attributes, and constraints on the selection of a management plan.Two cases are examined. Case A is a watershed consisting of publicly owned land that is managed at the site, management unit and landscape scales. Management is based on the philosophy of ecosystem management. Case B is a watershed composed of several privately owned units that are managed at the site scale by decision-makers whose primary motivation is economic profit. The preferred management plan in both cases is determined using a two-stage procedure. The first stage uses a stochastic programming model to identify the most efficient management plans for a site/landscape. The second stage determines which efficient management plan for a site/landscape is preferred by maximizing an expected utility function that is additive in the attributes and assumes that the decision-maker is risk neutral.Whether a land-management plan results in strongly or weakly sustainable resource conditions is evaluated. Strong sustainability requires the probability of exceeding the minimum acceptable value of an attribute to be greater than or equal to a pre-determined reliability level for each attribute. Weak sustainability requires the same condition except that it applies to a composite index of the attributes rather than each attribute. Bayes theorem is used to evaluate uncertainty about whether the state of a landscape is sustainable.     

Public–Private Partnerships for Solid Waste Management Services

The increasing cost of municipal solid waste (MSW) management has led local governments in numerous countries to examine if this service is best provided by the public sector or can better be provided by the private sector. Public–private partnerships have emerged as a promising alternative to improve MSW management performance with privately owned enterprises often outperforming publicly owned ones. In Lebanon, several municipalities are transforming waste management services from a public service publicly provided into a public service privately contracted. In this context, a regulated private market for MSW management services is essential. The present study examines a recent experience of the private sector participation in MSW management in the Greater Beirut Area. The results of a field survey concerning public perception of solid waste management are presented. Analysis of alternatives for private sector involvement in waste management is considered and management approaches are outlined.     

Simulating secondary succession of elk forage values in a managed forest landscape,western Washington

Modern timber management practices often influence forage production for elk (Cervus elaphus) on broad temporal and spatial scales in forested landscapes. We incorporated site-specific information on postharvesting forest succession and forage characteristics in a simulation model to evaluate past and future influences of forest management practices on forage values for elk in a commercially managed Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii, PSME)-western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla, TSHE) forest in western Washington. We evaluated future effects of: (1) clear-cut logging 0, 20, and 40% of harvestable stands every five years; (2) thinning 20-year-old Douglas fir forests; and (3) reducing the harvesting cycle from 60 to 45 years. Reconstruction of historical patterns of vegetation succession indicated that forage values peaked in the 1960s and declined from the 1970s to the present, but recent values still were higher than may have existed in the unmanaged landscape in 1945. Increased forest harvesting rates had little short-term influence on forage trends because harvestable stands were scarce. Simulations of forest thinning also produced negligible benefits because thinning did not improve forage productivity appreciably at the stand level. Simulations of reduced harvesting cycles shortened the duration of declining forage values from approximately 30 to 15 years. We concluded that simulation models are useful tools for examining landscape responses of forage production to forest management strategies, but the options examined provided little potential for improving elk forages in the immediate future.     

Landscape-Scale Factors Affecting Feral Horse Habitat Use During Summer Within The Rocky Mountain Foothills

Public lands occupied by feral horses in North America are frequently managed for multiple uses with land use conflict occurring among feral horses, livestock, wildlife, and native grassland conservation. The factors affecting habitat use by horses is critical to understand where conflict may be greatest. We related horse presence and abundance to landscape attributes in a GIS to examine habitat preferences using 98 field plots sampled within a portion of the Rocky Mountain Forest Reserve of SW Alberta, Canada. Horse abundance was greatest in grassland and cut block habitats, and lowest in conifer and mixedwood forest. Resource selection probability functions and count models of faecal abundance indicated that horses preferred areas closer to water, with reduced topographic ruggedness, situated farther from forests, and located farther away from primary roads and trails frequented by recreationalists, but closer to small linear features (i.e. cut lines) that may be used as beneficial travel corridors. Horse presence and abundance were closely related to cattle presence during summer, suggesting that both herbivores utilise the same habitats. Estimates of forage biomass removal (44 %) by mid-July were near maximum acceptable levels. In contrast to horse-cattle associations, horses were negatively associated with wild ungulate abundance, although the mechanism behind this remains unclear and warrants further investigation. Our results indicate that feral horses in SW Alberta exhibit complex habitat selection patterns during spring and summer, including overlap in use with livestock. This finding highlights the need to assess and manage herbivore populations consistent with rangeland carrying capacity and the maintenance of range health.     

The geography of conflict between elk and agricultural values in the Cypress Hills, Canada

Complex ecological issues like depredation and its management are determined by multiple factors acting at more than one scale and are interlinked with complex human social and economic behaviour. Depredation by wild herbivores can be a major obstacle to agricultural community support for wildlife conservation. For three decades, crop and fence damage, competition with livestock for native rangeland and tame pasture, and depredation of stored feed by elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis) have been the cause of conflict with agricultural producers in the Cypress Hills, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Tolerance of elk presence on private lands is low because few benefits accrue to private landowners; rather they largely perceive elk as a public resource produced at their expense. Government management actions have focused on abatement inputs (e.g., population reduction; fencing) and compensation, but incentives to alter land use patterns (crop choice and location) in response to damages have not been considered. Nor has there been information on spatial structure of the elk population that would allow targeted management actions instead of attempting to manage the entire population. In this study we analysed the spatial structure of the Cypress Hills elk population, the distribution of the elk harvest in relation to agricultural conflicts, developed models of the spatial patterns of conflict fields, and evaluated compensation patterns for damage by wild herbivores. We propose modifications to current abatement and compensation programs and discuss alternative approaches involving changes to agricultural land use patterns that may reduce the intensity of conflicts with elk, and increase the acceptance capacity of landowners.     

Model-Based Assessment of Aspen Responses to Elk Herbivory in Rocky Mountain National Park,USA

In Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) has been observed to be declining on elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) winter range for many decades. To support elk management decisions, the SAVANNA ecosystem model was adapted to explore interactions between elk herbivory and aspen dynamics. The simulated probability of successful vegetative regeneration for senescent aspen stands declines sharply when elk densities reach levels of 3–5 elk/km², depending on model assumptions for the seasonal duration of elk foraging activities. For aspen stands with a substantial component of younger trees, the simulated regeneration probability declines more continuously with increasing elk density, dropping below 50% from densities at 8–14 elk/km².At the landscape scale, simulated aspen regeneration probability under a scenario of extensive seasonal use was little affected by elk population level, when this level was above 300–600 elk (25%–50% current population) over the ca. 107 km² winter range. This was because elk distribution was highly aggregated, so that a high density of elk occupied certain areas, even at low population levels overall. At approximately current elk population levels (1000–1200 elk), only 35%–45% of senescent aspen stands are simulated as having at least a 90% probability of regeneration, nearly all of them located on the periphery of the winter range. Successful management for aspen persistence on core winter range will likely require some combination of elk population reduction, management of elk distribution, and fencing to protect aspen suckers from elk browsing.     

Prescribed burning effects on summer elk forage availability in the subalpine zone, Banff National Park, Canada

The effects of prescribed burning on forage abundance and suitability for elk (Cervus elaphus) during the snow-free season was evaluated in east-central Banff National Park, Canada. Six coniferous forest and mixed shrub-herb plant communities (n=144 plots), and 5223ha of burned (n=131) vegetation <12 years old were sampled using a stratified semi-random design. Sampling units represented various combinations of vegetation, terrain conditions, and stand ages that were derived from digital biophysical data, with plant communities the basic unit of analysis. Burning coniferous forest stands reduced woody biomass, and increased herbaceous forage from 146 to 790 kg/ha. Increases commonly occurred in the percent cover of hairy wild rye (Leymus innovatus (Beal) Pigler) and fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium (L.) Holub.). The herbaceous components of mixed shrub-herb communities increased from 336-747 kg/ha to 517-1104 kg/ha in response to burning (P<0.025, Mann-Whitney U-test). Browse biomass (mostly Salix spp. and Betula nana L.) increased >or=220% (P相似文献   

Paleozoological Data Suggest Euroamerican Settlement Did Not Displace Ursids and North American Elk from Lowlands to Highlands

The hypothesis that Euroamerican settlement displaced some populations of large mammal taxa from lowland plains habitats to previously unoccupied highland mountain habitats was commonly believed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By the middle twentieth century biologists had come to favor the hypothesis that Euroamerican colonization resulted in the extirpation of populations of large mammal in lowland habitats and those taxa survived in pre-existing relict populations in the highlands. Why modern biologists changed their minds is unclear. There is no historical evidence that unequivocally favors one hypothesis over the other. The low-elevation Columbia Basin of eastern Washington state in the northwestern United States is surrounded by forested mountains. The majority of historical records (1850 AD or younger) of black bear (Ursus americanus), brown bear (Ursus arctos), and North American elk (Cervus elaphus) occur in mountainous, coniferous forest habitats. Paleozoological records of these taxa ≤ 10,000 year old and >160 year old in both highland and lowland habitats suggest the displacement hypothesis does not apply to ursids and elk in this area. These taxa seem to have been more or less ubiquitous in the area prior to Euroamerican colonization (ca. 1850 AD), and were extirpated from lowland habitats after colonization. Recent colonization of lowland shrub-steppe habitats by elk in particular, although historically unprecedented, must be categorized as recolonization rather than an invasion. Whether a species is classified as indigenous or nonindigenous may influence management activities focused on that species. The paleozoological record indicates ursids and elk are indigenous to the highland forest habitats of eastern Washington.     

Response of Soil Inorganic Nitrogen to Land Use and Topographic Position in the Cofre de Perote Volcano (Mexico)

This study addressed the effects of land use and slope position on soil inorganic nitrogen and was conducted in small watersheds. The study covered three land use types: tropical cloud forest, grassland, and coffee crop. To conduct this research, typical slope small watersheds were chosen in each land use type. Slopes were divided into three positions: shoulder, backslope, and footslope. At the center of each slope position, soil sampling was carried out. Soil inorganic nitrogen was measured monthly during a period of 14 months (July 2005–August 2006) with 11 observations. Significant differences in soil NH₄ ⁺–N and NO₃ ⁻–N content were detected for both land use and sampling date effects, as well as for interactions. A significant slope position-by-sampling date interaction was found only in coffee crop for NO₃ ⁻–N content. In tropical cloud forest and grassland, high soil NH₄ ⁺–N and low NO₃ ⁻–N content were recorded, while soil NO₃ ⁻–N content was high in coffee crop. Low NO₃ ⁻–N contents could mean a substantial microbial assimilation of NO₃ ⁻–N, constituting an important mechanism for nitrogen retention. Across the entire land use set, the relationship between soil temperature and soil inorganic N concentration was described by an exponential decay function (N = 33 + 2459exp^−0.23T, R ² = 0.44, P < 0.0001). This study also showed that together, soil temperature and gravimetric soil water content explained more variation in soil inorganic N concentration than gravimetric soil water content alone.     

The costs to farmers and estate owners of public access to the countryside

This paper considers the external costs of public access on privately‐owned farm and estate land in Scotland. The increased costs and reductions in income associated with public access are found to be highly variable and site‐specific, with the main effects on land in areas of high population density or high scenic quality, or with recreational attributes. Although costs were on average higher for estates, reflecting their larger area and recreational potential, on a per‐hectare basis the costs of access were greater for the farm sector. Whilst much of the public access exists through de facto rights on open‐access land, there was evidence for an increasing commercialization of open‐air recreation, particularly with respect to more specialized activities. The discussion considers the extent to which the costs of access for land managers are reflected in policies determining the public provision of countryside access.     

Planning for green cities: some emerging principles

There are a number of reasons why planners should take a more positive approach towards the natural economy of the city, and this paper rehearses the arguments in favour. The author takes the view that much publicly owned land is manicured and excessively stocked with exotic species so that they are relatively poor in wildlife. An alternative to the generally held view that dormant land in urban areas is unsightly and encourages vandalism, is that such sites offer opportunities for visual interest, education and recreation. The paper concludes by outlining a number of courses of action which, it is suggested, may come to dominate environmental planning.     

Resolving conflicting priorities in Ontario agriculture

Changes in global patterns of grain production have affected the profitability of commercial, cash-crop agriculture in North America. The current financial crisis has highlighted a perceived conflict between the priorities of (1) strengthening net farm profit, (2) maintaining the productive potential of the land base, (3) enhancing the health and cohesiveness of the agricultural community, and (4) addressing societal demands for safe foodstuffs. Reducing input costs by reducing the need for privately owned machinery can minimize the scale-dependence of agricultural practices, as illustrated with examples involving silage and intensively managed pasture in Ontario. This approach could improve farming opportunities for nontraditional, part-time farmers, and at the same time, create a niche for professional custom operators and managers. Enhancing the viability of nontraditional farm operations, a historically neglected component of the farming community, as well as commercial farms is viewed as one approach to sustaining and improving both the agricultural land base and the agricultural community. Applying resource-extensive rather than resource-intensive approaches to forage management reveals that these apparently divergent priorities are, in fact, interlocking pieces of the same puzzle.     

Simulating Land-Cover Change in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia

We used the conversion of land use and its effects (CLUE-s) model to simulate scenarios of land-cover change in Montane mainland southeast Asia (MMSEA), a region in the midst of transformation due to rapid intensification of agriculture and expansion of regional trade markets. Simulated changes affected approximately 10 % of the MMSEA landscape between 2001 and 2025 and 16 % between 2001 and 2050. Roughly 9 % of the current vegetation, which consists of native species of trees, shrubs, and grasses, is projected to be replaced by tree plantations, tea, and other evergreen shrubs during the 50 years period. Importantly, 4 % of this transition is expected to be due to the expansion of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), a tree plantation crop that may have important implications for local-to-regional scale hydrology because of its potentially high water consumption in the dry season.     

Carbon Stocks and Projections on Public Forestlands in the United States, 1952–2040

Approximately 37% of forestlands in the conterminous United States are publicly owned; they represent a substantial area of potential carbon sequestration in US forests and in forest products. However, large areas of public forestlands traditionally have been less intensively inventoried than privately owned forests. Thus, less information is available about their role as carbon sinks. We present estimates of carbon budgets on public forestlands of the 48 conterminous states, along with a discussion of the assumptions necessary to make such estimates. The forest carbon budget simulation model, FORCARB2, makes estimates for US forests primarily based on inventory data. We discuss methods to develop consistent carbon budget estimates from inventory data at varying levels of detail. Total carbon stored on public forestlands in the conterminous US increased from 16.3 Gt in 1953 to the present total of 19.5 Gt, while area increased from 87.1 million hactares to 92.1 million hactares. At the same time the proportion of carbon on public forestlands relative to all forests increased from 35% to 37%. Projections for the next 40 years depend on scenarios of management influences on growth and harvest.This article was written and prepared by US Government employees on official time, and it is therefore in the public domain and not subject to copyright.     

Vegetation structure, niche width, niche overlap and types of competition in temperate grazingland of Garhwal Himalaya, India

Temperate grazing lands in Garhwal Himalaya are rich in herbaceous vegetation and extensively used for grazing by locally owned livestock. Capillipedium parviflorum is a frequently occurring and dominant grass species under Pine canopy in associate with several herbs. Beside, grazing and extensive fire, interactions among associated species is a determining factor of community structure. In this article the dominant diversity pattern of vegetation in temperate grazing land along two different altitudes and having different slope aspects is described. Interaction between dominant and co-dominant species with their niche appearance and niche overlap measurement was also observed and presented here. South and west facing slopes had maximum species and diversity values while east north facing slopes had higher species dominant. Capillipedium parviflorum and other grasses had maximum niche values and were dominant and co dominant species. Three types of interspecific interaction were observed between species and grasses were observed as succeeding species in all sites of different topographic conditions. Dominant diversity pattern along with resource partitioning and interspecific competition is discussed and presented here.     

Household willingness to pay for stream restoration on private and public land: Evidence from the Baltimore metropolitan region

Stream restoration is one of the most widely used interventions to mitigate urban stormwater impacts and improve water quality. Government agencies have typically focused urban stream restoration efforts on public lands that they already own, even though a substantial portion of stream miles in highly urbanized areas occur on privately owned land. Yet, limited research exists to distinguish household willingness to pay (WTP) for stream restoration occurring on private versus public land. In this study, we use a choice experiment to analyze how household WTP for stream restoration attributes vary by land ownership and distance to the restoration project. Our empirical results indicate that streambank stabilization approaches have positive WTP estimates that are substantially larger in magnitude than those related to riparian vegetation management for clearing or planting trees. In general, estimated total household WTP for each of the four restoration design scenarios on public land is higher than when the same restoration design is located on private land. Nonetheless, estimated household WTP for each restoration design scenario on private land is substantial, retaining the majority of the value found on public land in all cases.     

Farmland damage and its impact on the overlapped areas of cropland and coal resources in the eastern plains of China

The subsidence caused by coal mining in areas where cropland and coal resources overlap in the eastern plains of China with high ground water levels has caused large amounts of water to collect in cropland, significant damage to cropland, and a sharp contradiction between people and land distribution within this region. Systematic analysis and calculation were conducted on these areas by using GIS spatial overlay analysis technology, subsidence and occupied cropland estimation models, and crop yield reduction prediction model to reveal the overlapped characteristics and extent of farmland damage, as well as to evaluate the effects of farmland damage to grain yield, farmland landscape, agricultural population, and dynamical equilibrium of the total cultivated land. Results showed that the overlapped areas of cropland and coal resources on the eastern plains of China occupied an area covering 1.33 × 10⁵ km², which accounted for 31.93% of the total cropland area. In 2020, the accumulative total area of destroyed cropland reached 3.83 × 10³ km², thus reducing grain yield by 9.63 × 10⁸ kg, and increasing the number of landless farmers to 1.91 × 10⁶. Furthermore, the quality and production capacity of cultivated land decreased, farmland landscape patterns changed, land patterns and structures were adjusted, the dynamical equilibrium of the total cultivated land was difficult to guarantee, and social instability increased in coal mining subsidence areas. These findings provided a scientific basis for relevant government departments to enact countermeasures for the coordinative production of coal and grain.     

Landscape and Agricultural Patterns in Rural Areas: a Case Study in the Brionne Basin, Normandy, France

Landscape changes over a period of 25 years were assessed for a catchment basin in Normandy, France. Landscape attributes, i.e. land use, land cover and natural habitat, were obtained from aerial photographs (1964, 1989) and soil maps, to define a landscape typology. Data were aggregated on a 500 m×500 m grid system and treated by multivariate analysis. Results of these analysis show that this rural landscape has undergone changes in landcover (mainly grassland receding to crop) as well as changes in spatial structure (mainly increase of plot size and uniformisation). These changes were related to a typology of farms (realised by multivariate analysis of a field survey on the 38 registered farms of the site). Results suggest that (i) farms with a narrow range of production, i.e. specialised farms, are located on a narrow range of environmental conditions and are associated with stable landscapes, while (ii) farms with a broader range of production (i.e. polyculture) are distributed more widely throughout the landscape, and are mostly associated with the landscape changes.     

Effects of Increasing Urbanization on the Ecological Integrity of Open Space Preserves

This article analyzes the effects of increasing urbanization on open space preserves within the metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Time series analysis is used in 10-year increments over 40 years to study urban landscape change. Three landscape metrics—(1) matrix utility (measures intensity of adjacent land uses), (2) isolation (measures distances to other open space patches), and (3) connectivity (measures physical links to other open space patches and corridors)—are used to assess changes in landscape patterns and serve as indicators of urban ecological integrity of the open space preserves. Results show that in the case of both open space preserves, general decline in indicators of urban ecological integrity was evident. The matrix utility analysis demonstrated that increasing intensity of land uses adjacent to preserve is likely to increase edge effects, reducing the habitat value of interior or core habitat areas. Isolation analysis showed that both preserves have experienced increasing isolation from other open space elements over time. Also, connectivity analysis indicated that terrestrial connections to other open space elements have also deteriorated. Conclusions of this research demonstrate that while preservation of natural areas as open space is important in an urban context, intense development of surrounding areas reduces the urban ecological integrity significantly.     

Analysis of arable land loss and its impact on rural sustainability in Southern Jiangsu Province of China

Rapid urbanization and industrialization in southern Jiangsu Province have consumed a huge amount of arable land. Through comparative analysis of land cover maps derived from TM images in 1990, 2000 and 2006, we identified the trend of arable land loss. It is found that most arable land is lost to urbanization and rural settlements development. Urban settlements, rural settlements, and industrial park-mine-transport land increased, respectively, by 87 997 ha (174.65%), 81 041 ha (104.52%), and 12 692 ha (397.99%) from 1990 to 2006. Most of the source (e.g., change from) land covers are rice paddy fields and dryland. These two covers contributed to newly urbanized areas by 37.12% and 73.52% during 1990–2000, and 46.39% and 38.86% during 2000–2006. However, the loss of arable land is weakly correlated with ecological service value, per capita net income of farmers, but positively with grain yield for some counties. Most areas in the study site have a low arable land depletion rate and a high potential for sustainable development. More attention should be directed at those counties that have a high depletion rate but a low potential for sustainable development. Rural settlements should be controlled and rationalized through legislative measures to achieve harmonious development between urban and rural areas, and sustainable development for rural areas with a minimal impact on the ecoenvironment.