Evaluating the acceptability of recreation rationing policies used on rivers

Research shows that users and managers have different perceptions of acceptable policies that ration or limit recreational use on rivers. The acceptability of seven rationing policies was evaluated using Thurstone's method of paired comparisons, which provided a rank ordering of advance reservation, lottery, first-come/first-served, merit, priority for first time users, zoning, and price. Chi-squared tests were used to determine if users and managers have significantly different levels of acceptability for the policies. River users and managers were found to be significantly different according to their evaluation of advance reservation, zoning, and merit. The results also indicated that river users collectively divide the policies into three categories corresponding to high, moderate, and low levels of acceptability, while river managers divide the policies into two levels corresponding to acceptable and unacceptable.     

SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES IN RESERVOIR VISITS1

ABSTRACT: Previous research provides evidence of a socioeconomic bias in outdoor recreational participation. One explanation of this bias is that socioeconomic groups have differential opportunities to participate, with the “costs” of this participation especially serving to restrict the recreational access of lower class persons living in urban areas. Using driving distance as a measure of cost, this study assessed the effects of travel costs on the attendance of three social class groups from an urban population at rural reservoir facilities. Findings support the contention that, while increased driving distance has a dampening effect on recreational participation, this effect is most pronounced for the lower class person. These findings point to the importance of equity considerations in the planning of outdoor recreational facilities.     

Review of studies on environmental impacts of recreation and tourism in Australia

The paper provides a review of available information on the impact of recreation and tourism on environments, particularly on vegetation and soil, in Australia, with an emphasis on forests. Efforts have been made to compare the current research and development situation in Australia with some overseas countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. While many documents reveal that Australia has been experiencing an increasingly high level of recreation and tourism use in its environments, only limited studies of environmental impacts of recreation and tourism have been published. Compared with other developed countries, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, Australia lags behind in undertaking research in this area. The results of these limited studies and some observations indicate that the most common recreational and tourist activities (such as bush walking, camping, horse-riding) can, if not well managed, adversely affect the values of Australian natural and semi-natural resources. Overall, they can affect the vegetation and other recreational sites physically and biologically. Physical effects include track formation, soil loss and/or compaction and an increase in fire frequency. Littering and water pollution are also seen as impacts associated with bush walking and camping. Biological effects include causing damage to vegetation, increasing risk of myrtle wilt disease and the spread of the soil pathogen,Phytophthora cinnamomi, as well as assisting weed dispersal. Based on the information reviewed, the authors suggest the following areas as priorities for future research into the environmental impact of recreation and tourism in Australia: determine the type of natural features that attract recreation use; determine the quantitative relationship between the impact and the level of recreation and tourism use for different activities within major vegetation habitats; ascertain site carrying capacity or environment thresholds for major vegetation habitats and recreation activities; and determine the impacts of recreation and tourism for major regions and major vegetation habitats where there have been considerable nature-based recreation and tourism activities.1998 Academic Press     

Regional crop yield, water consumption and water use efficiency and their responses to climate change in the North China Plain

The North China Plain (NCP) is one of the most important regions for food production in China, with its agricultural system being significantly affected by the undergoing climate change and vulnerable with water stress. In this study, the Vegetation Interface Processes (VIP) model is used to evaluate crop yield, water consumption (ET), and water use efficiency (WUE) of a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–summer maize (Zea mays L.) double cropping system in the NCP from 1951 to 2006. Their responses to future climate scenarios of 21st century projected by the GCM (HadCM3) with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emission Scenario (IPCC SRES) A2 and B1 emissions are investigated. The results show a rapid enhancement of crop yield in the past 56 years, accompanying with slight increment of ET and noticeable improvement of WUE. There exist spatial patterns of crop yield stemmed mainly from soil quality and irrigation facilities. For climate change impacts, it is found that winter wheat yield will significantly increase with the maximum increment in A2 occurring in 2070s with a value of 19%, whereas the maximum in B1 being 13% in 2060s. Its ET is slightly intensified, which is less than 6%, under both A2 and B1 scenarios, giving rise to the improvement of WUE by 10% and 7% under A2 and B1 scenarios, respectively. Comparatively, summer maize yield will gently decline by 15% for A2 and 12% for B1 scenario, respectively. Its ET is obviously increasing since 2050s with over 10% relative change, leading to a lower WUE with more than 25% relative change under both scenarios in 2090s. Therefore, possible adaptation countermeasures should be developed to mitigate the negative effects of climate change for the sustainable development of agro-ecosystems in the NCP.     

Is this trail too crowded? A choice experiment to evaluate tradeoffs and preferences of park visitors in Garibaldi Park,British Columbia

Large crowds in parks can be a problem for park managers and visitors. However, perceptions of crowding are difficult to measure due to coping mechanisms deployed by park visitors. Furthermore, perceptions of crowding should not be measured in isolation, but rather as part of a suite of conditions that comprise the visitors’ outdoor experience. We used a dichotomous choice experiment with visual images and eight attributes to estimate park users’ utilities associated with their visitor experience in Garibaldi Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. Our visual method allowed us to control for background view and compare user preferences on hiking trails with preferences at final destinations. We find that utilities are more sensitive to crowding at viewpoints than to other aspects of the outdoor experience. Thus, visitor satisfaction and crowding perceptions are more likely to be defined by where visitors have these encounters rather than the total number of encounters.     

Improving simulations of sulfate aerosols during winter haze over Northern China: the impacts of heterogeneous oxidation by NO2

Incorporating the missing heterogeneous oxidation of S(IV) by NO₂ into the WRF-Chem model. Sulfate production is not sensitive to increase in SO₂ emission. The newly added reaction reproduces sulfate concentrations well during winter haze. We implemented the online coupled WRF-Chem model to reproduce the 2013 January haze event in North China, and evaluated simulated meteorological and chemical fields using multiple observations. The comparisons suggest that temperature and relative humidity (RH) were simulated well (mean biases are -0.2K and 2.7%, respectively), but wind speeds were overestimated (mean bias is 0.5 m?s⁻¹). At the Beijing station, sulfur dioxide (SO₂) concentrations were overpredicted and sulfate concentrations were largely underpredicted, which may result from uncertainties in SO₂ emissions and missing heterogeneous oxidation in current model. We conducted three parallel experiments to examine the impacts of doubling SO₂ emissions and incorporating heterogeneous oxidation of dissolved SO₂ by nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) on sulfate formation during winter haze. The results suggest that doubling SO₂ emissions do not significantly affect sulfate concentrations, but adding heterogeneous oxidation of dissolved SO₂ by NO₂ substantially improve simulations of sulfate and other inorganic aerosols. Although the enhanced SO₂ to sulfate conversion in the HetS (heterogeneous oxidation by NO₂) case reduces SO₂ concentrations, it is still largely overestimated by the model, indicating the overestimations of SO₂ concentrations in the North China Plain (NCP) are mostly due to errors in SO₂ emission inventory.     

城市扩展过程对湿地影响的情景模拟研究——以河北怀来为例

在复杂多变的环境下,情景模拟法因其能考虑突发干扰的影响并能聚焦长期规划而表现出突出的优势。怀来是北京重要的水源地和环境保护屏障,2022年北京-张家口冬奥会的筹办将可能加快怀来的经济发展和城市扩展,进而对湿地的空间压力产生重要影响。因此,论文利用情景模拟法,结合城市扩展模型（land use scenario dynamics-urban,LUSD-urban）和湿地空间压力模型,模拟了趋势外推、城市规划和冬奥会3种情景下怀来未来城市扩展对湿地的空间压力。结果显示城市扩展导致怀来湿地空间压力增大,湿地平均压力从2000年的0.399增加到2013年的0.439,增长了10.03%。同时,湿地空间压力高于0.5的像元比例从6.73%增加到17.42%。3种情景下,2013—2030年怀来的湿地空间压力将增长0.002~0.005。冬奥会的举办将为怀来湿地带来更大的空间压力,冬奥会情景下湿地压力的热点区面积最大,为83.74 km²,是3种情景下共有热点区面积的1.44倍,新保安镇、土木镇和沙城镇的非城市用地面临的空间压力较大。因此,怀来县在未来制定城市规划时应充分考虑县内湿地生态系统,在保护湿地资源的基础上有效促进经济的发展。     

KTV、慢摇吧等娱乐场所噪声治理方法研究

近年来,随着KTV,慢摇吧等娱乐场所的增加,娱乐场所带来的噪声扰民问题也日益突出。由于业主、施工单位等缺乏隔声降噪的专业知识,使得这一问题没有很好解决。本文通过对这类噪声的特性分析,根据其具有低频为主、穿透力强、不易衰减等特点,结合工程实例,从提高顶棚、侧墙的隔声量,结构上多采用弹性连接及增加阻尼等角度提出几点治理方法。以隔声、隔振为主,控制这类噪声通过空气传声与固体传声等途径向周围居民区传播。     

冬奥会期间京津冀及周边区域空气质量时空特征、气象影响和减排效果评估

对比分析2015～2022年冬奥会期间(1月31日至2月20日)京津冀及周边区域44城市空气质量时空演变特征,量化同期气象、协同减排和跨区域传输对PM_2.5浓度及组分变化贡献,为不利气象条件下区域空气质量联防联控提供科学参考.结果表明,2022年44城市PM_2.5浓度为近8年农历同期最低(46μg·m^-3),优良天占比最高(83.3%),不存在重污染天.PM_2.5污染南重北轻,高值区主要集中在太行山沿线及燕山传输通道城市.2016年在春节中期未管控烟花爆竹燃放等源排放强度下,优良天占比93.5%,大气强扩散能力对空气质量改善至关重要.2022年静稳天气指数(SWI)同比增加2.1,大气扩散能力转差,44城市ρ(PM_2.5)均值和峰值同比下降14μg·m^-3和76μg·m^-3,北京减排对PM_2.5浓度降幅较未采取前增大96%,晋鲁豫地区在气象造成PM_2.5浓度上升的不利背景下,峰值下降87μg...