Responding to a policy mandate to collaborate: structuring collaboration in the collaborative forest landscape restoration program

The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) aims to expand the pace and scale of forest restoration on national forests in the United States. The program requires candidate projects to develop landscape-scale forest restoration proposals through a collaborative process and continue to collaborate throughout planning, implementation, and monitoring. Our comparative case analysis of the initial selected projects examines how existing collaborative groups draw on past experience of collaboration and the requirements of a new mandate to shape collaborative structures as they undertake CFLRP work. While mandating collaboration appears contrary to what is often defined as an informal and emergent process, mandates can encourage stakeholder engagement and renew commitment to overcome past conflict. Our findings also suggest that a collaborative mandate can lead to increased attention and scrutiny, prompting adjustments to collaborative process and structure. As such, mandating collaboration creates dynamic tensions between past experience and new requirements for collaborative practice.     

Benchmarking Optical/Thermal Satellite Imagery for Estimating Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture in Decision Support Tools

Generally, one expects evapotranspiration (ET) maps derived from optical/thermal Landsat and MODIS satellite imagery to improve decision support tools and lead to superior decisions regarding water resources management. However, there is lack of supportive evidence to accept or reject this expectation. We “benchmark” three existing hydrologic decision support tools with the following benchmarks: annual ET for the ET Toolbox developed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, predicted rainfall‐runoff hydrographs for the Gridded Surface/Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis model developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the average annual groundwater recharge for the Distributed Parameter Watershed Model used by Daniel B. Stephens & Associates. The conclusion of this benchmark study is that the use of NASA/USGS optical/thermal satellite imagery can considerably improve hydrologic decision support tools compared to their traditional implementations. The benefits of improved decision making, resulting from more accurate results of hydrologic support systems using optical/thermal satellite imagery, should substantially exceed the costs for acquiring such imagery and implementing the remote sensing algorithms. In fact, the value of reduced error in estimating average annual groundwater recharge in the San Gabriel Mountains, California alone, in terms of value of water, may be as large as $1 billion, more than sufficient to pay for one new Landsat satellite.     

Microwave-Assisted Solvent Extraction of Air Particulates for the Determination of PAHs

A method for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in air particulates using microwave-assisted solvent extraction (MASE) coupled to a microwave extraction system (MES) is proposed. During the period of August to October, 1994, Singapore was enveloped by haze caused by forest fires in Sumatra, Indonesia. Air sampling were carried out during September and October; the determination of ambient air PAH levels in Singapore was undertaken. PAH analysis by GC-MS provided excellent sensitivity, linearity of quantitation, peak identification. This technique was evaluated using certified reference materials (CRMs) HS-4 and HS-6. Good recoveries of PAHs (>73.3%) were obtained for both CRMs. The MASE technique using MES is suitable for the determination of PAH levels in ambient air with no clean-up step required.     

The Influence of pH on Mobility of Heavy Metals from Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator Fly Ash

Incineration has become one of the principal methods for municipal solid waste disposal particularly in all large cities throughout the world. Currently, the municipal solid waste incinerator fly ashes (MSWIF) are disposed of by landfill. The metal speciation of cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) in MSWIF after been extracted with water at different pH values were examined using a sequential extraction procedure. The extraction sequence was as follows: (1) Exchangeable (NaOAc, pH 8.2), (2) Bound to Carbonates (NaOAc, pH 5.0), (3) Bound to metal oxides (HONH3Cl), (4) Bound to organic matters (HNO3, H2O2), and (5) Residual (HNO3, HCl, H2O2, HF, 1:3:1:3). The heavy metal contents in the extraction solutions were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The heavy metal concentrations in the different fractions obtained by sequential extraction show distinct distribution trends. The extractable fraction ranges from 25.5 to 88% of the total element content. With the pH of the extractant fall below the neutral and acidic ranges, the concentrations of heavy metals rise substantially due to the released of metals bound to carbonate fraction.     

Mass Spectrometric Detection and Identification of Polar Pesticides and their Degradation Products - A Comparison of Different Ionization Methods

Due to increasing use of polar pesticides, they are found together with their degradation products in ground- and surface waters serving for drinking water treatment. The triazine derivatives acetamido-atrazine, ametryne, atrazine, cyanazine, deethylatrazine, deethyldeisopropyl-hydroxyatrazine, deethyl-hydroxyatrazine, deisopropyl-atrazin, deisopropyl-hydroxyatrazine, desmetryn, hydroxyatrazine, prometryne, propazine, simazine, terbumeton, terbutryne and terbutylazine, and the pesticides 2,4-D, dichlorprop, isoproturon, diuron, metolachlor, glyphosate, metsulfuronmethyl and dalapon, all of them belonging to this type of pesticides, have been studied. For determination of triazine derivatives UV detection by means of diode array detector (DAD) as well as mass spectrometric (MS) detection coupled by thermospray interface (TSP) have been used successfully after liquid chromatoraphic (LC) separation. Interfaces like thermospray (TSP), electrospray (ESP) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) were examined with regard to their suitability for substance-specific detection of polar pesticides by flow injection analysis (FIA) with MS- and tandem mass spectroscopic detection (MS/MS) without preceding LC separation. Optimised detection conditions for these pesticides using FIA are presented, and solutions for occurring problems are offered.     

Investigating phosphorus limitation in a fixed bed filter with phosphorus and nitrogen profile measurements

In 2000, the European Union adopted the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) (European Commission, 2000). The WFD focuses on increasingly stringent nutrient standards including ultra low nitrogen (< 2.2 mg N-total/L) and phosphorus concentrations (< 0.15 mg total phosphorus/L) in receiving surface waters and in relevant point sources like wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent. Expansion of WWTPs with advanced post-treatment processes, like effluent filtration, is widely proposed to meet possible future effluent discharge standards. When combining biological nitrate-nitrogen and chemical phosphorus removal in one filter, phosphorus limitation in the denitrifying process may occur. This study investigated where in the filter bed and under which conditions phosphorus limitation occurs. Profile measurements for nitrate, nitrite, and orthophosphorus (PO4-P) combined with chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 02 were conducted. Results showed that the required PO4-P/NOx-N ratio is approximately 0.006 mg/mg after phosphorous precipitation and flocculation. Profile measurements have proven to be an applicable and useful tool. It showed how nitrate and orthophosphorus are removed through the filter bed based on the PO4-P/NOx-N ratio. When orthophosphorus is removed more rapidly and efficiently compared to nitrate, the PO4-P/NOx-N ratio decreases. When PO4-P/NOx-N ratio thresholds are approximately 0.006 mg/mg for a certain period of time and water temperatures varied significantly, orthophosphorus limitation may occur. Changing the filter-bed configuration or decreasing the coagulant dosage can prevent limitation of the denitrifying process because of a phosphorous shortage.     

Efficacy of recent state implementation plans for 8-hour ozone

The development of state implementation plans (SIPs) for attainment of criteria pollutant standards is an integral component of air quality management in the United States. However, the content and efficacy of SIPs have rarely been examined systematically. Here, 20 SIPs developed in response to the 1997 8-hr ozone standard are reviewed as case studies of attainment efforts at the state level. Comparison of observed and model predicted ozone concentrations shows the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended modeled attainment test to be a somewhat conservative predictor of attainment. Among 12 SIPs for regions that sought attainment by 2009, the test correctly predicted attainment and nonattainment in four and five regions, respectively; in the other three regions, attainment was observed despite predictions of nonattainment. However weight-of-evidence determinations and deviations from the recommended modeled attainment test methodology led five of these SIPs to predict attainment that was not in fact observed by 2009; three of those regions achieved attainment in 2010. Ozone and NO2 concentrations declined across much of the United States during the period covered by the SIPs, with rates of improvement strongly correlated with the initial pollution levels and hence greatest in nonattainment regions. However at monitors with mid-range levels of ozone initially, rates of reduction were largely independent of the initial attainment status of the region. This is consistent with thefact that apart from California, the majority of ozone precursor reductions documented by SIPs resulted from federal measures rather than from state or local controls specific to the nonattainment regions.