Comparing forest fragmentation and its drivers in China and the USA with Globcover v2.2

Forest loss and fragmentation are of major concern to the international community, in large part because they impact so many important environmental processes. The main objective of this study was to assess the differences in forest fragmentation patterns and drivers between China and the conterminous United States (USA). Using the latest 300-m resolution global land cover product, Globcover v2.2, a comparative analysis of forest fragmentation patterns and drivers was made. The fragmentation patterns were characterized by using a forest fragmentation model built on the sliding window analysis technique in association with landscape indices. Results showed that China’s forests were substantially more fragmented than those of the USA. This was evidenced by a large difference in the amount of interior forest area share, with China having 48% interior forest versus the 66% for the USA. China’s forest fragmentation was primarily attributed to anthropogenic disturbances, driven particularly by agricultural expansion from an increasing and large population, as well as poor forest management practices. In contrast, USA forests were principally fragmented by natural land cover types. However, USA urban sprawl contributed more to forest fragmentation than in China. This is closely tied to the USA’s economy, lifestyle and institutional processes. Fragmentation maps were generated from this study, which provide valuable insights and implications regarding habitat planning for rare and endangered species. Such maps enable development of strategic plans for sustainable forest management by identifying areas with high amounts of human-induced fragmentation, which improve risk assessments and enable better targeting for protection and remediation efforts. Because forest fragmentation is a long-term, complex process that is highly related to political, institutional, economic and philosophical arenas, both nations need to take effective and comprehensive measures to mitigate the negative effects of forest loss and fragmentation on the existing forest ecosystems.     

Estimating the benefits of recreation under conditions of congestion

The public provisions of free or below cost outdoor recreation sites has resulted in the use of various methods to evaluate the demand. One method is to use travel cost as a price proxy. However, this mechanism does not take into account problems raised by congestion. This paper shows that the use of the travel cost method will always underestimate the true benefits provided by recreation at a site because of the role of congestion. The results are important because they identify a source of bias in measuring benefits of outdoor recreation and suggest how it may be corrected.     

OCCURRENCE OF PESTICIDES IN GROUND WATER OF THE OZARK PLATEAUS PROVINCE1

ABSTRACT: Pesticides were detected in ground-water samples collected from 20 springs and nine wells in the Ozark Plateaus Province of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. From April through September 1993, water samples were collected from 50 shallow domestic wells and 50 springs in the Springfield Plateau and Ozark aquifers and analyzed for 47 pesticides and metabolites. Pesticides were detected in 17 water samples from the Springfield Plateau aquifer and 12 water samples from the Ozark aquifer. Fourteen pesticides were detected, with a maximum of four pesticides detected in any one sample. The most commonly detected pesticides were atrazine (14 detections), prometon (11 detections), and tebuthiuron (seven detections). P, P' DDE, a metabolite of DDT, was detected in water samples from three wells and one spring. The remaining pesticides were detected in three or less samples. The occurrence and distribution of pesticides probably are related to the local land use near a sampling site. Pesticide detections were significantly related to aquifer, site type, and discharge of springs.     

QUALITY OF 1995 SPRING TOTAL DISSOLVED GAS DATA: COLUMBIA AND SNAKE RWERS1

ABSTRACT: The quality of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) total dissolved gas (TDG) data base for the 1995 spring spill season was reviewed to determine the value of this information in real-time management decisions regarding river operations. We concluded that problems in transmitting, archiving, correcting and interpreting the records constitute significant sources of data anomalies that affect the accuracy and reliability of information necessary to manage spill and TDG in the Columbia and Snake rivers. The data base that was reviewed covers 25 selected Columbia and Snake river stations, and includes real-time TDG data needed to regulate spill operations to maintain gas levels within state water quality standards and to monitor effects on fish and aquatic life during the salmon migration season. A wide range of anomalies (daily averages missing or in error or based on incomplete records) was detected in more than one-third (37 percent) of the Corps' gas data base. Extreme anomalies (daily averages including errors and discontinuities for more than eight hours in a day) were found in 16 percent of the data base. The Fish Passage Center, also reviewed the Corps' data and reported an overall 33 percent incidence of anomalous days. Despite arriving at similar findings about the Corps' data base, we detected a 28 percent discrepancy in the type of data anomalies between our analyses. Real. time improvements in the quality of the dissolved gas data base are necessary to provide managers with a reliable product from this monitoring effort.     

Petroleum-contaminated soil in Minnesota

Petroleum-contaminated soil remediation in Minnesota will continue to include land treatment, composting, and thermal treatment alternatives. Contaminate levels, soil volume, disposal costs, and public opinion are ultimately the deciding factors in selecting any soils treatment technology appropriate for mitigating and remediating petroleum releases that, pursuant to the Minnesota Rules… “will protect the waters of the State”.     

ALTERNATIVE FUTURES USING THE WOLLMAN-BONEM MODELS1

Alternative futures are defined to be mutually consistent alternative combinations of assumed sets of future conditions. Alternative futures are employed in conjunction with the Wollman-Bonem model to project future water use. The model solutions under different alternative futures provide an indication of the direction and relative magnitude of changes in water use, both in quantity and quality, that may result from changes in policy-influenced variables, technology, and other data. The Wollman-Bonem model is employed in this paper as a tool to illustrate the alternative futures concept. The model can best be cast as an economic model. The model solutions are not given as a set of formal projections, but as various possible water-use-over-time curves. This should aid in disspelling the erroneous idea that it is possible to make distant projections of water use as a single curve. Multiple curves suggest that water use is really a function of many variables.     

Fenton's in-situ reagent chemical oxidation of hydrocarbon contamination in soil and groundwater

Industry and regulatory demands for rapid and cost-effective clean up of hydrocarbon and other contamination in soil and groundwater has prompted development and improvement of in-situ remediation technologies. In-situ technologies offer many advantages over ex-situ treatment alternatives, including lower initial capital and long-term operation and maintenance costs, less site disruption, no Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) liability, and shorter treatment time necessary to achieve cleanup objectives. Fenton's reagent, a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and ferrous iron that generates a hydroxyl free radical as an oxidizing agent, is widely accepted for chemical oxidation of organic contaminants in the wastewater industry. In-situ implementation of Fenton's reagent for chemical oxidation of organic contaminants in soil and groundwater continues to grow in acceptance and application to a wide variety of environmental contaminants and hydrogeologic conditions (EPA, 1998).     

Stress and the union steward's role

This paper develops and tests hypotheses concerning some psychological correlates of role ambiguity and role conflict in a population that has not been extensively studied in relation to stress, union stewards. Survey data on role ambiguity and role conflict, the indicators of stress, were collected from 285 stewards at the local union steward meeting, with the stewards perceiving a moderate amount of role ambiguity and perceiving a lesser amount of role conflict. The stewards were also asked about their role expectations, their motivations for remaining a steward, their grievance handling strategies, and their affective commitment toward the union and employer. Each of those four sets of variables was hypothesized to be related to role ambiguity and role conflict and each was influential in explaining variance. As predicted, those stewards who were more motivated to remain stewards for personal reasons had both higher role ambiguity and higher role conflict. Further, the conditions of being more motivated to remain a steward to help the union and employees and having higher union commitment were associated with lower role conflict, but, opposite to the hypotheses, higher role ambiguity.     

Corporate performance standards at Kodak

Creating an effective and consistent corporate health, safety, and environment program for a decentralized, international company poses unique challenges. This article describes how, with global company input, Kodak has established a set of twenty-eight corporate HSE performance standards. Worldwide facility compliance with these standards is monitored through Kodak's Corporate HSE Assessment Program and through the Corporate Self-Appraisal Program.