Wildfire effects on hiking and biking demand in New Mexico: a travel cost study

We use a travel cost model to test the effects of wild and prescribed fire on visitation by hikers and mountain bikers in New Mexico. Our results indicate that net benefits for mountain bikers is $150 per trip and that they take an average of 6.2 trips per year. Hikers take 2.8 trips per year with individual net benefits per trip of $130. Both hikers' and mountain bikers' demand functions react adversely to prescribed burning. Net benefits for both groups fall as areas recover from prescribed burns. Because both visitation and annual recreation benefits decrease to these two types of visitors, this gives rise to multiple use costs associated with prescribed burning. With respect to wildfire, hikers and mountain bikers both exhibit decreased visitation as areas recover from wildfires, however, only hikers indicate an increase in per trip net benefits. Bikers' demand effectively drops to zero. These results differ from previous findings in the literature and have implications for efficient implementation of the National Fire Plan and whether prescribed burning is a cost effective tool for multiple use management of National Forests. Specifically, that fire and recreation managers cannot expect recreation users to react similarly to fire across recreation activities, or different geographic regions. What is cost effective in one region may not be so in another.     

The multi-disciplinary evaluation of a national agri-environment scheme

With an increasing amount of public funds being spent on agri-environmental schemes effective methods have to be developed to evaluate them. As many schemes have multiple objectives there is a need for a multi-disciplinary approach to any evaluation. A method was developed to assess the degree to which ecological, landscape, historical and access objectives for the Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) in England have been met. The method used a sample of 484 agreements for which data were collected from surveys, a desk study and an interview with the agreement holder. These data were then evaluated by an expert team of an ecologist, landscape architect, landscape historian, and a social scientist specializing in rural affairs. The team were subsequently brought together with a Chair to discuss their findings for each agreement, allocating scores for each of five criteria: agreement negotiation; appropriateness, environmental effectiveness, compliance and side effects. The additionality that each agreement was likely to provide was also assessed. The results of this process suggest that in the majority of cases the CSS agreements should maintain or enhance the environment in terms of ecology, landscape, and landscape history and increase public enjoyment of the countryside. Thirty-six percent of agreements showed high additionality and 38% medium additionality which demonstrates that the CSS is likely to provide a benefit to society. Agreement negotiation, predicted environmental effectiveness and predicted compliance all improved significantly over the period 1996-98. Recommendations made from this project have been implemented by the Government department to improve the CSS. The multi-disciplinary method was successful and, with further development, could be used for assessment of any agri-environment scheme, or potentially any conservation project or broader 'rural development' scheme encompassing environmental, economic and social objectives. A key to success is the need for the criteria to be tailored for the project concerned and clearly established at the beginning.     

Evaluating factors influencing groundwater vulnerability to nitrate pollution: developing the potential of GIS

The 1991 EU Nitrate Directive was designed to reduce water pollution from agriculturally derived nitrates. England and Wales implemented this Directive by controlling agricultural activities within their most vulnerable areas termed Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. These were designated by identifying drinking water catchments (surface and groundwater), at risk from nitrate pollution. However, this method contravened the Nitrate Directive because it only protected drinking water and not all waters. In this paper, a GIS was used to identify all areas of groundwater vulnerable to nitrate pollution. This was achieved by constructing a model containing data on four characteristics: the quality of the water leaving the root zone of a piece of land; soil information; presence of low permeability superficial (drift) material; and aquifer properties. These were combined in a GIS and the various combinations converted into a measure of vulnerability using expert knowledge. Several model variants were produced using different estimates of the quality of the water leaving the root zone and contrasting methods of weighting the input data. When the final models were assessed all produced similar spatial patterns and, when verified by comparison with trend data derived from monitored nitrate concentrations, all the models were statistically significant predictors of groundwater nitrate concentrations. The best predictive model contained a model of nitrate leaching but no land use information, implying that changes in land use will not affect designations based upon this model. The relationship between nitrate levels and borehole intake depths was investigated since there was concern that the observed contrasts in nitrate levels between vulnerability categories might be reflecting differences in borehole intake depths and not actual vulnerability. However, this was not found to be statistically important. Our preferred model provides the basis for developing a new set of groundwater Nitrate Vulnerable Zones that should help England and Wales to comply with the EU Nitrate Directive.     

Landform Classification for Land Use Planning in Developed Areas: An Example in Segovia Province (Central Spain)

Landform-based physiographic maps, also called land systems inventories, have been widely and successfully used in undeveloped/rural areas in several locations, such as Australia, the western United States, Canada, and the British ex-colonies. This paper presents a case study of their application in a developed semi-urban/suburban area (Segovia, Spain) for land use planning purposes. The paper focuses in the information transfer process, showing how land use decision-makers, such as governments, planners, town managers, etc., can use the information developed from these maps to assist them. The paper also addresses several issues important to the development and use of this information, such as the goals of modern physiography, the types of landform-based mapping products, the problem of data management in developed areas, and the distinctions among data, interpretations, and decisions.     

Impact of busy roads on breeding success in pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca

The impact of dense traffic on the breeding success in pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) was studied using roadside nest-boxes. Nest site selection and breeding success of flycatchers were observed in relation to the distance from the road. The number of occupied territories was no higher closer to the road than it was deeper inside the forest. The distance to the road had no effect on the laying date, clutch size, or brood size. However, nests closer to the road were more likely to fail at the chick stage. The number of broods that were closer to roads and were lost completely was significantly higher than those further away. As a consequence, the number of fledglings per breeding attempt decreased closer to roads. The nestlings typically died as older chicks when the parent birds were providing them with maximum quantities of food. A possible reason for the declining reproductive success was the traffic-related mortality of parent birds, as weather conditions were not especially adverse for raising healthy offspring.     

Alteration in rhizosphere soil properties of afforested Rhamnus lycioides seedlings in short-term response to mycorrhizal inoculation with Glomus intraradices and organic amendment

The reestablishment of autochthonous plant species is an essential strategy for recovering degraded areas under semiarid conditions. A field experiment was carried out to assess the short-term effect of two reafforestation methods involving mycorrhizal inoculation and compost addition on soil quality parameters and Rhamnus lycioides seedling growth. The nutrient content (NPK) and enzymatic activities (dehydrogenase, urease, protease-BAA, acid phosphatase and beta-glucosidase) increased and bulk density decreased in the rhizosphere soil with the organic amendment. Biomass C of rhizosphere soil increased by at least 240% with respect to the control soil after mycorrhizal inoculation and the combination of compost addition + mycorrhizal inoculation. Both mycorrhizal inoculation and composted organic residue addition increased R. lycioides seedling growth in the same proportion. In the short term, we conclude that the application of both reafforestation methods not only enhances the establishment of R. lycioides seedlings, but also improves soil quality.     

Wax perception in honeybees: contact is not necessary

In social insects, much progress has been made in identifying variations in the cuticular signatures of sexes, castes, kin and reproductive status. In contrast to this, we still do not know how the receivers perceive these recognition cues. This study was designed to investigate whether honeybees use contact-chemosensory or olfactory sensilla to perceive wax components. To answer this question in a behavioral assay, we combined classical conditioning of the proboscis extension reaction and a recently established method using zinc sulfate to selectively block antennal contact-chemosensory sensilla. Comparison of the responses to sucrose, wax and geraniol before and after antennal zinc sulfate treatment revealed that the sucrose response is lost after treatment but the responses to wax and geraniol are maintained. As sucrose is perceived by the contact-chemosensory sensilla, the retention of the wax response indicates that contact-chemosensory sensilla are not necessary for wax perception.     

Inertization of pyrite cinders and co-inertization with electric arc furnace flue dusts by pyroconsolidation at solid state

The viability of a pyroconsolidation process to render pyrite cinders inert and to co-inert pyrite cinders with a hazardous polymetallic residue such as electric arc furnace flue dusts (EAF) containing Pb, Cu, Zn, As, Cr, Ni and Mo were investigated. The effects of pyroconsolidation temperature (800-1200 degrees C), milling pyrite cinders and additions of both CaO and EAF on the resulting microstructure of the pellets were determined. The microstructural changes were then compared with the results of the standard leaching tests. Full inertization of pyrite cinders was achieved after milling to < 100 micron followed by a pelletization and pyroconsolidation process at a temperature of 1200 degrees C. This process also allows co-inertization of pyrite cinders with controlled additions of EAF (up to approximately to 10%). Following pyroconsolidation at 1200 degrees C, the metallic elements were inert components in the four main phases: traces of Cr in hematite; Cr, Cu, Zn and Ni in spinel-phase; traces of Cr and Zn in calcium ferrites; and Pb and traces of Cu, Zn and Ba in K-Ca-Al-Fe glassy silicate.     

Waste ecocompatibility in storage and reuse scenarios: global methodology and detailed presentation of the impact study on the recipient environments

In 1995, the ADEME launched a research program called "Waste Ecocompatibility" in order to define a reliable methodology for measuring the impact of waste in storage or reuse scenarios. The French concept of "Ecocompatibility" is defined as the situation where the pollutant flux from waste disposed of or used in specified conditions is compatible with the environmental acceptance of the receiving environments. The chief feature of this definition is to integrate the evaluation of the three following terms: pollutants emission from the waste, transport of the pollutants from the waste to the receptor cells and the environmental acceptance of the receiving environments. The "Waste Ecocompatibility" program consisted of a literature survey and an experimental part. The literature study aimed to determine factors and waste characteristics to be considered for a reliable ecocompatility assessment, to provide an overview of the available tools for measuring those factors and characteristics and to propose a first approach of the methodology. In the framework of the experimental program, this approach was then applied to three theoretical scenarios to validate the laboratory tools (comparative study of laboratory and field results) and to calibrate the global methodology. This paper deals with the results of the experimental program concerning the impact study on receiving environments: impact on plants and microorganisms living in soil, impacts on soil fauna and aquatic fauna. In other papers we intend to present the operational methodology for the assessment of waste ecocompatibility. It includes bio-assays at laboratory scale (microcosms), pilot scale (mesocosms) and in situ experiments (experimental prairie). To limit the use of in situ experiments other research works are necessary to validate bio-assays at laboratory or pilot scale.