Performance of newly implemented Environmental Management Systems in primary schools in South Africa

Quantitative results from Environmental Management Systems (EMS) at primary schools have rarely been examined in literature. This paper presents the monitoring results of environmental care in 39 primary schools in Northern South Africa. During 2 years, after the EMS was implemented in the curriculum and in the school's management, the progress of environmental performances of the participating schools has been measured, by means of detailed questionnaires, related to four environmental aspects: water, waste, energy and greening. At the beginning of the project, 50% of the schools performed well on water-related environmental actions. Two years later it was 76%. For waste-related activities the improvement was even stronger: from 50% to 100%. The environmental performances of the schools improved also for greening-related actions, from 50% at the start of the project to 64% two years later. Only energy-related activities did not improve significantly with only 24% of all schools performing well at the end of the survey period.In general, the introduction of an EMS succeeded in an improvement of the overall environmental performances of the schools, but cost-intensive activities were less successful than others.     

Effects of Flow Augmentations in the Snake River Basin on Farms Profitability1

Abstract: For over 10 years, several species of salmon have been identified as either threatened or endangered in the Snake River Basin of Idaho. The United States Bureau of Reclamation, in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service, has proposed a variety of plans to increase stream flows in the Snake River Basin to facilitate movement by juvenile salmon smolts to the ocean. This research examines two of the flow augmentation plans proposed by the Bureau of Reclamation as well as two alternative plans, one founded purely on existing priority‐based water rights and another geared toward minimizing the effects of flow augmentations on farms profitability. Results from a basin‐wide model of agricultural production in the Snake River Basin, the Snake River Agricultural Model, present evidence that (1) older water rights are used towards production of less valuable crops, (2) flow augmentation scenarios have unequal effects on farms profitability across agricultural regions within the basin, and (3) irrigation water is valued from US$4 to US$59 an acre‐foot.     

Ripping Improves Tree Survival and Growth on Unused Reclaimed Mined Lands

There is renewed interest in re-establishing trees on 0.6 million ha of mining-disturbed lands in the Appalachian mountains of Eastern United States. Many coal-mined lands reclaimed to meet requirements of US federal law have thick herbaceous vegetation and compacted soils which impede tree establishment. Mitigation practices were applied on three mine sites and evaluated for success in enabling planted trees to become established. Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), hybrid poplar (Populus deltoids × Populus trichocarpa), and mixed Appalachian hardwoods were established using weed control only and weed control with subsoil ripping. Trees were measured in October of 2008 after 5 years of growth. Subsoil ripping increased mixed hardwood survival from 43 to 71 %, hybrid poplar biomass index from 1.51 to 8.97 Mg ha^?1, and Eastern white pine biomass index from 0.10 to 0.32 Mg ha^?1. When restoring trees to unused mined sites, subsoil ripping can aid survival and growth to an extent that will result in a valuable forest.     

NATURAL EROSION RATES AND THEIR PREDICTION IN THE IDAHO BATHOLITH1

ABSTRACT: Natural rates of surface erosion on forested granitic soils in central Idaho were measured in 40 m² bordered erosion plots over a period of four years. In addition, we measured a variety of site variables, soil properties, and summer rainstorm intensities in order to relate erosion rates to site attributes. Median winter erosion rates are approximately twice summer period rates, however mean summer rates are nearly twice winter rates because of infrequent high erosion caused by summer rainstorms. Regression equation models and regression tree models were constructed to explore relationships between erosion and factors that control erosion rates. Ground cover is the single factor that has the greatest influence on erosion rates during both summer and winter periods. Rainstorm intensity (erosivity index) strongly influences summer erosion rates, even on soils with high ground cover percentages. Few summer storms were of sufficient duration and intensity to cause rilling on the plots, and the data set was too small to elucidate differences in rill vs. interrill erosion. The regression tree models are relatively less biased than the regression equations developed, and explained 70 and 84 percent of the variability in summer and winter erosion rates, respectively.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of air quality management within the class I area of great smoky mountains national park

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 designated national parks and wilderness areas larger than 1894 ha to be class I areas for air quality management, setting more restrictive criteria than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Class I areas are afforded the greatest degree of air quality protection under the Clear Air Act of 1970. In recent years, several studies have documented air pollution effects in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), the second-largest class I area in the eastern United States. Air pollution problems of greatest concern in the GSMNP are effects of acid deposition, visibility impairment, and tropospheric ozone. Several recent events have increased concerns about air quality management in the class I area of the GSMNP. A forum, sponsored by the Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere Cooperative (SAMAB), was held in March 1992, which involved representative. parties-at-interest and began to address strategies for better management of air resources in the Southern Appalachians. This paper summarizes those discussions and recommendations and reports actions occurring as a result of the forum. Another objective of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for more effective management of the class I area of the GSMNP.