WATER DEMAND AT WESTERN U.S. RECREATION DEVELOPMENTS1

Although the volume of potable water used at recreation developments is minor relative to total regional water use, very high quality is required and the source is often of limited capacity, such as a mountain spring or small local aquifer. Frequent confrontations between developers and regulatory agencies result from claims by developers that water demand will be very small while regulators tend to treat such developments the same as municipal residence. Almost no published data base exists for resolving such conflicts. Included here are: 1) Water use measurements of various peak period durations (seasonal, monthly, daily, and instantaneous) at several types of recreational developments in Utah and Wyoming (mountain cabins, both ski- and water-based condominiums, and recreation vehicle campgrounds), 2) statistical (frequency) analysis of the data and a comparison with municipal demands in the same region, and 3) analysis of occupancy rates at the various categories of developments.     

FLOODPLAIN DELINEATION: AN ECONOMIC APPROACH1

ABSTRACT: Errors inherent in the conputation of water surface profiles are magnified by the shallow lateral slopes typical of most flood-plains, producing significant floodplain mapping errors. An economic optimization procedure which weighs the cost of overstating the location of a floodplain boundary against the cost of understanding the location provides a means for establishing the boundary location. In most cases the cost of overstating the boundary location exceeds the cost of understating the location by several magnitudes so that the boundary location should coincide with the minimum water surface elevation which would be expected to result from a flood of specified recurrence interval.     

Economic rent : Incidence in selected metals and minerals

The magnitude of the ‘economic rent’ and its distribution among producing countries, mineral exploitation companies and consumers has become a dominant issue in national and international policy formulation, but the difficulties in measuring the rent add to the problems of determining its equitable distribution. This paper examines the nature of the rent and estimates its incidence in bauxite, copper, iron ore, phosphate rock, tin and petroleum. Rents were found to be low for bauxite and iron ore. Bauxite, phosphates and petroleum producers have increased their share of the rent, though this trend now seems to be reversing for bauxite and phosphates. Only in tin, and to a lesser extent petroleum, have the exporting countries captured significant shares in total rent. Otherwise, the rent is largely concentrated at the processing stage, which suggests that processing plant would have to shift to the producing countries if they are to claim a larger share.     

Generating sustainable towns from Chinese villages: a system modeling approach

The great majority of China's developing towns will be extensions of already existing villages. With the prospect of hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers projected to leave their villages to become industrial workers in new and expanded towns within the next few years, new challenges will be faced. As expansion and modernization progress, this development moves from the traditional village model that operates not far from resource sustainability to increasingly unsustainable patterns of commerce, urban development, and modern life. With such an unprecedented mass migration and transformation, how can Chinese culture survive? What is to become of the existing million plus agricultural villages? How can these massively unsustainable new industrial towns survive? In the European Commission sponsored research program SUCCESS, researchers worked from the scale of the Chinese village to find viable answers to these questions.     

Characteristics of winter backcountry use in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Numerous backcountry and wilderness use studies have been conducted over the last decade, but nearly all of them have concentrated on peak season and summer use. This study investigates use patterns and user characteristics of winter campers, and implications for the management of winter backcountry overnight use. Use pattern data were collected from 580 backcountry use permits for both winter and summer campers of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). A two-page questionnaire was also mailed to 300 of the winter users to survey their characteristics, past backpacking experience, and reasons for winter camping. Backcountry permit data indicate that use patterns differ significantly between winter and summer campers, with winter campers taking shorter, weekend, destination-type trips. Winter campers engage in backcountry camping nearly twice as often during winter as other seasons of the year, both in and outside GSMNP. They are also experienced hikers that tend to avoid camping in Great Smoky Mountains National Park during the summer because of heavy visitor use. This suggests that winter backcountry campers are different enough from peak season campers that management of these two user groups may require different styles.