INTEGRATING SERVICE‐LEARNING INTO WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES1

ABSTRACT: The objective of this article is to open a dialogue on integrating service‐learning into community based watershed management programs and to discuss opportunities and challenges that a service‐learning program presents to universities and communities. The article presents the concept and definition of service‐learning, and arguments concerning why institutions of higher education and university faculty and students should be involved with community based watershed management programs. The article describes a case study for developing a service‐learning program for watershed management at Virginia Tech and discusses lessons learned from the case study. The paper concluded that to make a service‐learning program sustainable, there should be a long term plan, regular and effective communication with the stakeholders, and some incentives for faculty and students for long term commitment to the community based watershed management programs.     

COALBED METHANE PRODUCT WATER CHEMISTRY IN THREE WYOMING WATERSHEDS1

ABSTRACT: The Powder River Basin in Wyoming has become one of the most active areas of coalbed methane (CBM) development in the western United States. Extraction of methane from coalbeds requires pumping of aquifer water, which is called product water. Two to ten extraction wells are manifolded into one discharge point and product water is released into nearby unlined holding ponds. The objective of this study was to evaluate the chemistry, salinity, and sodicity of CBM product water at discharge points and associated holding ponds as a function of watershed. The product water samples from the discharge points and associated holding ponds were collected from the Cheyenne River (CHR), Belle Fourche River (BFR), and Little Powder River (LPR) watersheds during the summers of 1999 and 2000. These samples were analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), alkalinity, sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), sulfate (SO₄^2‐), and chloride (C^1‐). From the chemical data, practical sodium adsorption ratio (SARp) and true sodium adsorption ratio (SARt) were calculated for the CBM discharge water and pond water. The pH, EC, TDS, alkalinity, Na, Ca, Mg, K, SARp, and SARt of CBM discharge water increased significantly moving north from the CHR watershed to the LPR watershed. CBM discharge water in associated holding ponds showed significant increases in EC, TDS, alkalinity, Na, K, SARp, and SARt moving north from the CHR to the LPR watershed. Within watersheds, the only significant change was an increase in pH from 7.21 to 8.26 between discharge points and holding ponds in the LPR watershed. However, the LPR and BFR exhibited larger changes in mean chemistry values in pH, salinity (EC, TDS), and sodicity (SAR) between CBM product water discharges and associated holding ponds than the CHR watershed. For instance, the mean EC and TDS of CBM product water in LPR increased from 1.93 to 2.09 dS/m, and froml,232 to 1,336 mg/L, respectively, between discharge and pond waters. The CHR exhibited no change in EC, TDS, Na, or SAR between discharge water and pond water. Also, while not statistically significant, mean alkalinity of CBM product water in BFR and LPR watersheds decreased from 9.81 to 8.01 meq/L and from 19.87 to 18.14 meq/L, respectively, between discharge and pond waters. The results of this study suggest that release of CBM product water onto the rangelands of BFR and LPR watersheds may precipitate calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) in soils, which in turn may decrease infiltration and increase runoff and erosion. Thus, use of CBM product water for irrigation in LPR and BFR watersheds may require careful planning based on water pH, EC, alkalinity, Na, and SAR, as well as local soil physical and chemical properties.     

INTEGRATING HUMANS IN ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT USING MULTI‐CRITERIA DECISION MAKING1

ABSTRACT: The Ecosystem Management (EM) process belongs to the category of Multi‐Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problems. It requires appropriate decision support systems (DSS) where “all interested people” would be involved in the decision making process. Environmental values critical to EM, such as the biological diversity, health, productivity and sustainability, have to be studied, and play an important role in modeling the ecosystem functions; human values and preferences also influence decision making. Public participation in decision and policy making is one of the elements that differentiate EM from the traditional methods of management. Here, a methodology is presented on how to quantify human preferences in EM decision making. The case study of the National Park of River Nestos Delta and Lakes Vistonida and Ismarida in Greece, presented as an application of this methodology, shows that the direct involvement of the public, the quantification of its preferences and the decision maker's attitude provide a strong tool to the EM decision making process. Public preferences have been given certain weights and three MCDM methods, namely, the Expected Utility Method, Compromise Programming and the Analytic Hierarchy Process, have been used to select alternative management solutions that lead to the best configuration of the ecosystem and are also socially acceptable.     

1976年香港秀茂坪人工填土边坡滑坡灾害评析

简要介绍了1976年香港秀茂坪人工填土工程在强降雨后所发生的滑坡灾害,香港土木工程署当时根据滑坡 后的调查和试验研究,探讨了滑坡的起因,并提出了整治措施,为香港地区其它人工填土边坡的设计和施工提供了 有益的启示,也为类似滑坡的治理提供了参考依据。     

祁连山—河西走廊地区5级以上地震前水氡短临异常特征

在充分整理单台水氡资料的基础上,对发生在祁连山—河西走廊活动断裂系的5级以上地震进行了短临阶段水氡异常的分析研究。内容主要包括:异常出现的频次、持续时间、异常结束到发震的时间、异常的范围等。进而对该地区5级以上地震水氡短临前兆异常的特征作了归纳。     

GIS在重庆市地质灾害信息管理系统中的应用

重庆市是我国地质灾害非常严重的省市之一。长期以来，地质灾害的发生严重地影响着其城市建设与发展。为了加强对地质灾害规律的研究以及科学地管理地质灾害信息，本文探讨了GIS技术在重庆市地质灾害信息管理系统(CQGHMIS)中的应用。该系统以MapGis和MapInfo、Mapx作为后台支持，利用Visual basic5．0中文企业版作为开发语言，具有数据采集与更新、空间检索与查询、信息时空分析与可视和信息输出以及系统说明与帮助等五大功能。     

基于多媒体技术的<中国自然灾害>教育软件开发

根据社会公众对中国自然灾害信息的需求，开发了《中国自然灾害》多媒体教育软件。软件以区域灾害系统理论为指导，设计了内容框架、基本体系。通过声音、影像、动画和文本等媒体形式可向社会深层次、多角度地介绍中国自然灾害信息，普及减灾知识，增强社会防灾减灾意识。     

灾害旅游资源探讨

灾害经济学中的害利互变原理表明，灾害也有“利”的一面。它在给人类造成巨大损失的同时，也塑造了奇异独特的灾害旅游资源，其开发利用效用是其他旅游资源无法代替的。本文系统阐述了灾害旅游资源的基本属性、特性、类型及可持续开发利用的设想，以便使灾害旅游资源可以发挥更大的社会和经济效益。     

中国灾害的军事救援及其机制研究

中国是一个灾害频繁的国家。灾害造成了巨大的直接、间接经济损失和人员伤亡，对社会经济发展产生了严重的影响。中国的具体国情和人民解放军的特殊性质，决定了军事救援历来在中国的灾害救援中具有不可替代的地位，发挥着突击队和生力军的作用。由于客观上存在着一些制约因素，使得军事救援的实施效率受到了一定程度的影响，未能得到最大限度的发挥。因此，必须尽快建立适应新时期军队执行抢险救灾任务需要的军事救援机制。     

四川省泥石流灾害保险的风险分析与区划

泥石流灾害保险的风险评估和区划，是分区分类防灾和损失评估的重要依据，也是泥石流灾害保险费率厘定的基础。采用综合评判的数学方法，选取对泥石流灾害保险起主导作用的灾害损失、孕灾环境和风险区价值为评判因子，对泥石流灾害保险的风险进行了评估。以四川省为例，介绍了进行风险区划的方法和步骤，将四川全省按地、市、州级行政区划分为19个风险评判区，对各区进行泥石流灾害保险风险评估，在此基础上完成了四川省泥石流灾害保险风险评估区划图。