It’s All in the Numbers: Acreage Tallies and Environmental Program Evaluation

Increasingly, performance measurement is being used to hold federal agencies accountable, represent environmental progress, and evaluate the effectiveness of environmental programs. The need to track measurable outputs has created a tendency to present programmatic progress solely by quantifiable data, despite the inherent complexity of natural resource management. Wetlands and fire management programs are two specific environmental arenas that have come to overemphasize the tracking of acreage numbers to validate existing policy direction. In both of these arenas, we find the definition and categorization of "countable" acres to be inconsistent and unreliable. We explore this systemic flaw for both wetlands and fire programs and describe its implications for environmental policy and natural resource management more broadly. We conclude with recommendations for improved performance measurement in these arenas.     

An Interpretive Study of Yosemite National Park Visitors’ Perspectives Toward Alternative Transportation in Yosemite Valley

The National Park Service (NPS) is increasingly focusing on alternative transportation systems in national parks to address environmental and social problems arising from a historical reliance on personal automobiles as the primary means of visitor access. Despite the potential advantages, alternative transportation may require a reorientation in the way that Americans have experienced national parks since the advent of auto-tourism in the early twentieth century. Little research exists, however, on visitor perspectives towards alternative transportation or the rationale underlying their perspectives. It remains unclear how transportation systems affect visitors’ experiences of the park landscape or the factors influencing their travel behavior in the parks. This report presents an interpretive study of visitor perspectives toward transportation management in the Yosemite Valley area of Yosemite National Park, California. Qualitative analysis of 160 semi-structured interviews identified individual psychological factors as well as situational influences that affect visitors’ behavior and perspectives. Individual psychological factors include perceived freedom, environmental values and beliefs, prior experience with Yosemite National Park and other national parks, prior experience with alternative transportation in national parks, and sensitivity to subjective perceptions of crowding. Situational factors included convenience, access, and flexibility of travel modes, as well as type of visit, type of group, and park use level. Interpretive communication designed to encourage voluntary visitor use of alternative transportation should focus on these psychological and situational factors. Although challenges remain, the results of this study suggest approaches for shaping the way Americans visit and experience their national parks to encourage environmental sustainability.     

Implementation of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive in Finland: Evaluation of the collection network and challenges of the effective WEEE management

Further to the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, setting up efficient collection schemes is necessary to ensure the recovery targets set. Following the subsidiary principle, the WEEE Directive defines only the general requirements for mandatory collection and recycling objectives. The modalities of the logistics and the organisation of the take-back schemes are left to the choice of Member States. In this paper, the implementation of the WEEE Directive and the development of the WEEE recovery infrastructure in Finland are described and the challenges to the effective management of the WEEE recovery system in Finland are expressed. It can be said that the implementation of the WEEE Directive has succeeded in Finland and, at the same time, the legislative basis has been enacted. In addition, a functional WEEE recovery infrastructure has been built and, the collection requirements of the WEEE Directive have been exceeded in a relatively short time. However, the paper outlines that some inefficient practices still exist, particularly in the registration and WEEE collection stages. It is concluded that raising awareness would lead to a more environmentally sound behaviour and would, ultimately, improve WEEE recovery efficiency.     

Forecasting the outbreak of moorland wildfires in the English Peak District

Warmer, drier summers brought by climate change increase the potential risk of wildfires on the moorland of the Peak District of northern England. Fires are costly to fight, damage the ecosystem, harm water catchments, cause erosion scars and disrupt transport. Fires release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Accurate forecasts of the timing of fires help deployment of fire fighting resources.     

Combining mapped and statistical data in forest ecological inventory and monitoring – supplementing an existing system

A forest ecological inventory and monitoring system combining information derived from maps and samples is proposed based on ecosystem regions (Bailey, 1994). The system extends the design of the USDA Forest Service Region 6 Inventory and Monitoring System (R6IMS) in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The key uses of the information are briefly discussed and expected results are illustrated with examples. The system is flexible, allowing regions based on ecological considerations to be modified. Sampling intensities that are affordable are likely to be insufficient to provide meaningful estimates for key parameters relating to rare and endangered species, watersheds, and other ecological units. Methods are proposed for collecting additional information in follow-up surveys and combining it with relevant information obtained in R6IMS. Near-continuous information on weather and possible pollution variables recorded by instruments at sampling sites is needed to develop meaningful models to understand what is happening in the ecoregions. R6IMS and the proposed additions constitute a dynamic system which will be modified further as data are analyzed.     

化工园区接警处警与应急值守系统的研究

本文分析了目前常用的接警处警系统，针对化工园区安全管理的工作需要，研究化工园区综合接警中心接警处警工作的特点和要求，分析化工园区接警中心工作体系和功能要求，设计开发了化工园区接警处警与应急值守系统。文中对系统体系架构、系统建设关键问题和所需的支持系统进行了详细介绍。该系统集成了地理信息系统的功能，提供化工园区事故接警、通知和处置功能，应用重大危险源监管信息系统、应急预案综合管理系统、综合监控系统等业务系统作为数据支持，为化工园区接警中心管理园区突发事件、实现事故快速反应和及时应对提供技术支持。     

Managing the Three-Rivers Headwater Region, China: From Ecological Engineering to Social Engineering

The three-rivers headwater region (THRHR) of Qinghai province, China plays a key role as source of fresh water and ecosystem services for central and eastern China. Global warming and human activities in the THRHR have threatened the ecosystem since the 1980s. Therefore, the Chinese government has included managing of the THRHR in the national strategy since 2003. The State Integrated Test and Demonstration Region of the THRHR highlights the connection with social engineering (focus on improving people’s livelihood and well-being) in managing nature reserves. Based on this program, this perspective attempts a holistic analysis of the strategic role of the THRHR, requirements for change, indices of change, and approaches to change. Long-term success of managing nature reserves requires effective combination of ecological conservation, economic development, and social progress. Thus, the philosophy of social engineering should be employed as a strategy to manage the THRHR.     

生态工业园评价方法研究:以北京市为例

建立科学有效的评价方法将有助于稳步推进我国的生态工业园建设．而园区所处区域的特点对于评价指标的选择和评价体系的建立具有重要影响。本研究在借鉴国内外最新研究成果的基础上．针对北京工业开发区的发展现状和特点．考虑相关性、可操作等原则，初步提出了一套生态工业园评价指标体系框架及其计算评价方法。评价指标共分为6大类准则，共计25个具体指标．划分为“控制性”指标和“指导性”指标。前者包括：信息基建共事类指标、管理与发展类指标、减量消耗类指标、园区环保类指标。后者包括：循环利用类指标和产业共生类指标。该指标体系蕴涵的思想和理论方法已成为推进北京生态工业园建设的重要借鉴，也可作为国家生态工业园评价方法研究的有益补充。     

Environmental Damage,Abandoned Treaties,and Fossil-Fuel Dependence: The Coming Costs of Oil-and-Gas Exploration in the “1002 Area” of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Contrary to claims from American politicians, lobbyists, and oil and gas executives, allowing energy development in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) will harm the environment, compromise international law, erode the social significance of wilderness protection, and ultimately fail to␣increase the energy security of the United States. After exploring a brief history of the ANWR controversy, this piece argues that the operation of oil and gas refineries in ANWR will release discharged solids, drilling waste, and dirty diesel fuel into the ecosystem’s food-chain, as they have from oil operations in Prudhoe Bay. Less obvious but equally important, oil and gas exploration in ANWR will violate a number of international treaties on biodiversity protection. In the end, development in ANWR will threaten the concept of wilderness protection, and will do little to end US dependence on foreign sources of energy. About the Author: Benjamin K. Sovacool is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. He works as a research analyst for the Consortium on Energy Restructuring and is a Senior Research Fellow for the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research. He also just completed a Graduate Fellowship in Energy Policy at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

New metallothionein assay in Scrobicularia plana: heating effect and correlation with other biomarkers

Metallothionein (MT) and other biomarker levels were measured in Scrobicularia plana clams to assess pollution of the Guadalquivir Estuary possibly affected by metals released from Aznalcóllar pyrite mine in 1998. After optimizing reagent concentrations for monobromobimane derivatization, MT levels were quantified by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to fluorescence detection (RP-HPLC-FD) in heated or unheated digestive gland extracts and compared to those obtained by differential pulse polarography (DPP). MT content assayed by RP-HPLC-FD in unheated samples was higher than that obtained by DPP and correlated better with metals and anti-oxidant activities. MT assay by RP-HPLC-FD in unheated extracts would be preferable for assessing metal pollution, due to its greater sensitivity and specificity. In addition to MT induction, glyoxalase II inhibition was well correlated with metal contents. Our results suggest that metals at the estuary do not originate from Aznalcóllar spill, but from those carried along by the river and deposited at its concave bank.