Outdoor Recreation and Participative Democracy in England and Wales

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 places a duty on highways and national park authorities to establish local access forums (LAFs), to advise on the improvement of public access to land for the purposes of open air recreation and enjoyment. This paper examines these proposals in the context of recent academic and political debates about deliberative democracy, and empirical research on the nature and practice of existing access liaison groups and forums. While demonstrating that the proposed LAFs are consistent with contemporary constructs of participative, if not deliberative democracy, the paper argues that most existing groups and forums fall short of this ideal, in a number of significant respects. The paper proceeds to discuss the extent to which the draft regulations for LAFs in England and Wales address these issues, and concludes by questioning the extent to which such consultative arrangements can contribute to new forms of local governance.     

Co-ordination for disasters

This paper was prepared in 1978 on the basis of a review of sociological and anthropological fieldwork conducted up to that time. Although theoretical in presentation its conclusions are formulated in accordance with the author's own extensive observations of organizational response to natural disasters in developing countries, especially those having sudden onset. Practical implications for co-ordination agencies and pre-disaster training are drawn.     

A pattern of disasters and victims

Two three-dimensional conceptual models are presented that should help those concerned with disasters and disaster victims to integrate the numerous studies on the topic. The first, concerning disasters, involves matters ecological, technological and social scientific. It covers the elements earth, air, fire, water/liquid, and people. It includes the time dimensions of preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation. The second introduces a six-fold classification of victims, together with dimensions to cover the methods and kinds of delivery of different interventions that might be made available to help them. The suggestion is that, were the appropriately noted victim model placed within the larger disaster model according to the types of disaster study being examined, there might be useful academic, political, and professional implications.     

Sulphate, Nitrogen and Base Cation Budgets at 21 Forested Catchments in Canada, the United States and Europe

To assess the concern over declining base cation levels in forest soils caused by acid deposition, input-output budgets (1990s average) for sulphate (SO₄), inorganic nitrogen (NO₃-N; NH₄-N), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and potassium (K) were synthesised for 21 forested catchments from 17 regions in Canada, the United States and Europe. Trend analysis was conducted on monthly ion concentrations in deposition and runoff when more than 9 years of data were available (14 regions, 17 sites). Annual average SO₄ deposition during the 1990s ranged between 7.3 and 28.4 kg ha⁻¹ per year, and inorganic nitrogen (N) deposition was between 2.8 and 13.8 kg ha⁻¹ per year, of which 41–67% was nitrate (NO₃-N). Over the period of record, SO₄ concentration in deposition decreased in 13/14 (13 out of 14 total) regions and SO₄ in runoff decreased at 14/17 catchments. In contrast, NO₃-N concentrations in deposition decreased in only 1/14 regions, while NH₄-N concentration patterns varied; increasing at 3/14 regions and decreasing at 2/14 regions. Nitrate concentrations in runoff decreased at 4/17 catchments and increased at only 1 site, whereas runoff levels of NH₄-N increased at 5/17 catchments. Decreasing trends in deposition were also recorded for Ca, Mg, and K at many of the catchments and on an equivalent basis, accounted for up to 131% (median 22%) of the decrease in acid anion deposition. Base cation concentrations in streams generally declined over time, with significant decreases in Ca, Mg and K occurring at 8, 9 and 7 of 17 sites respectively, which accounted for up to 133% (median 48%) of the decrease in acid anion concentration. Sulphate export exceeded input at 18/21 catchments, likely due to dry deposition and/or internal sources. The majority of N in deposition (31–100%; median 94%) was retained in the catchments, although there was a tendency for greater NO₃-N leaching at sites receiving higher (<7 kg ha^-1 per year) bulk inorganic N deposition. Mass balance calculations show that export of Ca and Mg in runoff exceeds input at all 21 catchments, but K export only exceeds input at 16/21 sites. Estimates of base cation weathering were available for 18 sites. When included in the mass balance calculation, Ca, Mg and K exports exceeded inputs at 14, 10 and 2 sites respectively. Annual Ca and Mg losses represent appreciable proportions of the current exchangeable soil Ca and Mg pools, although losses at some of the sites likely occur from weathering reactions beneath the rooting zone and there is considerable uncertainty associated with mineral weathering estimates. Critical loads for sulphur (S) and N, using a critical base cation to aluminium ratio of 10 in soil solution, are currently exceeded at 7 of the 18 sites with base cation weathering estimates. Despite reductions in SO₄ and H⁺ deposition, mass balance estimates indicate that acid deposition continues to acidify soils in many regions with losses of Ca and Mg of primary concern. The U.S. Government's right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty free licence in and to any copyright is acknowledged. The Canadian Crown reserves the right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty free licence in and to any copyright.     

SI-traceable certification of Cu, Cr, Cd and Pb in sediment and fly ash candidate reference materials

Many fields in environmental analytical chemistry deal with very low limits and thresholds as set by governmental legislations or transnational regulations. The need for the accuracy, comparability and traceability of analytical measurements in environmental analytical chemistry has significantly increased and total uncertainties are even asked for by accreditation bodies of environmental laboratories. This paper addresses achieving these goals to guarantee accuracy, quality control, quality assurance or validation of a method by means of certified reference materials. The assessment of analytical results in certified reference materials must be as accurate as possible and every single step has to be fully evaluated. This paper presents the SI-traceable certification of Cu, Cr, Cd and Pb contents in geological and environmentally relevant matrices (three sediments and one fly ash sample). Certification was achieved using isotope dilution (ID) ICPMS as a primary method of measurement. In order to reduce significantly the number of analytical steps and intermediate samples a multiple spiking approach was developed. The full methodology is documented and total uncertainty budgets are calculated for all certified values. A non-element specific sample digestion process was optimised. All wet chemical digestion methods examined resulted in a more or less pronounced amount of precipitate. It is demonstrated that these precipitates originate mainly from secondary formation of fluorides (essentially CaF2) and that their formation takes place after isotopic equilibration. The contribution to the total uncertainty of the final values resulting from the formation of such precipitates was in general < 0.1% for all investigated elements. Other sources of uncertainty scrutinised included the moisture content determination, procedural blank determination, cross-contamination from the different spike materials, correction for spectral interferences, instrumental background and deadtime effects, as well as the use of either certified values or IUPAC data in the IDMS equation. The average elemental content in the sediment samples was 30-130 micrograms g-1 for Pb, 0.5-3 micrograms g-1 for Cd and 50-70 micrograms g-1 for Cu. Cr was measured in one sample and was about 60 micrograms g-1. The concentrations in the fly ash sample were up to 2 orders of magnitude higher. Expanded uncertainty for the investigated elements was about 3% (coverae factor k = 2) except for Cr, (measured by high resolution ICPMS), for which the expanded uncertainty was about 7% (k = 2).     

Spatial contaminant heterogeneity: quantification with scale of measurement at contrasting sites

Material within the terrestrial environment is rarely homogeneously distributed, either spatially or temporally. One consequence of heterogeneity is that uncertainty is usually generated in measurements that are taken with the aim of characterising the environment. For example, a measurement of analyte concentration within soil taken from one sampling location on contaminated land can vary substantially when compared against another sample taken at effectively the same nominal location. The measurement uncertainty arising from the heterogeneity can substantially limit the reliability of the interpretations made upon environmental investigations. The sampling uncertainty usually outweighs the analytical uncertainty from the laboratory, often by a factor of 20 or more. One approach to reducing the uncertainty is to design a more suitable sampling strategy. This might be achieved by predicting the degree of heterogeneity prior to the investigation, but this is often difficult to achieve accurately. Another approach, which was investigated here, is to actually characterise the heterogeneity prior to the main investigation using rapid and inexpensive technology, such as in situ measurement techniques. In situ portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) and X-ray microprobe (XMP) techniques were employed to test the feasibility of this approach. Two contrasting contaminated land sites were chosen to characterise the two-dimensional spatial heterogeneity of heavy metal contamination in topsoil at a range of scales (50 m to 0.001 m). The spatial heterogeneity of contaminants, expressed as relative standard deviations, was found to differ between the two sites by a factor of two, largely due to the mode of deposition of pollution. The study also indicated that the heterogeneity did not change systematically with the scale of measurement between sampling locations at either site.     

Relationship between abundance of rodents and damage to agricultural crops

Developing a relationship between pest abundance and damage to crops is essential for the calculation of economic injury levels (EIL) leading to informed management decisions. The crop modelling framework, APSIM, was used to simulate the impact of mouse damage on yield loss on wheat where a long-term dataset on the density of mice was available (1983–2003). The model was calibrated using results from field trials where wheat plants were hand clipped to imitate mouse damage. The grazing effect of mice was estimated using the population density, daily intake per mouse and the proportion of wheat grain and plant tissue in the diet to determine yield loss. The mean yield loss caused by mice was 12.4% (±5.4S.E.; range −0.5 to 96%). There were 7/21 years when yield loss was >5%. A damage/abundance relationship was constructed and a sigmoidal curve explained 97% of variation when accounting for different trajectories of mouse densities from sowing to harvest. The majority of damage occurred around emergence of the crop when mouse densities were >100 mice ha⁻¹. This is the first time that field data on mouse density and a crop simulation model have been combined to estimate yield loss. The model examines the efficacy of baiting and how to estimate EILs. Because the broadscale application of zinc phosphide is cheap and effective, the EIL is very low (<1% yield loss). The APSIM model is highly flexible and could be used for other vertebrate pests in a range of crops or pastures to develop density/damage relationships and to assist with management.