Surface coal mining is a major form of land change and environmental degradation in Central Appalachia. Traditional mine reclamation iresults in unmanaged, unproductive grasslands that fail to mitigate many of the environmental costs of coal mining and are of minimal use to communities. Forestry reclamation is an alternative reclamation tactic that has the potential to address both environmental and socioeconomic concerns in Central Appalachia. A case study of Laurel Fork Mine in Eastern Kentucky is included.

As California contends with climate change and more extreme cycles of drought and deluge, water management agencies and conservation groups are looking towards solutions to the decreasing reliability of imported water supplies. Stormwater has historically been perceived as a threat to development but when captured properly, it presents a resource that can augment local water supplies. Solutions to water supply issues in California have traditionally employed technical and centrally controlled methods for importing water, but there is a growing understanding that parcel-level capture through vegetated swales presents an opportunity for reducing the impact that development has on California’s hydrology. Vegetated swales mimic nature’s effectiveness in reducing runoff speeds, removing pollutants and increasing groundwater supplies. No less a piece of California’s water infrastructure than canals and dams, these swales bring water infrastructure into the context of the California landscape. My report for the Chino Basin Water Conservation District analyzes the feasibility of installing vegetated swales in the Chino Basin region.

This thesis looks into the land use and natural resource management systems of Basarwa communities in Ngamiland in the northwest of Botswana. The study specifically focuses on Basarwa communities living in and on the edges of the Okavango Delta. The link between these communities and their natural resources is explored using the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Framework and the Adaptive Renewal Cycle. The core assumption in this thesis is that livelihood strategies are constantly renewed and adapted to promote resilience in ecological and social systems. Fieldwork data collected between May 2000 and July 2001 and secondary data is used to deliberate on this point. The thesis confirms that the Basarwa’s livelihood strategies were adaptive only in as far as traditional livelihoods are concerned. The thesis traces the changes that the Basarwa have experienced as a result of policy restrictions through the different phases of the adaptive renewal cycle. The period following Independence in Botswana saw a policy shift which resulted in the Basarwa becoming landless. With mainly land-based livelihood strategies, the Basarwa were faced with new forms of crises and vulnerability which their traditional adaptive strategies were not designed for. It comes to the conclusion that the Basarwa are currently stuck in a reorganisation phase; however, the CBNRM Draft Policy of Botswana offers a glimpse of hope as it provides an opportunity for the Basarwa to progress through the full cycle of reorganisation, renewal, conservation and release.

xii, 97 p. / Electricity generated from woody biomass material is generally considered renewable energy and has been considered carbon neutral. However, recent criticism from scientists argues that the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission profile of bioenergy is nuanced and the carbon neutral label is inappropriate. An initial carbon debt is created when a forest is harvested and combusted for bioenergy. Because forests re-grow over a period of years, life cycle analyses show that bioenergy generated from whole trees from forests may not reduce GHG emissions in the short term, as required to combat climate change. State renewable portfolio standards and federal laws and proposed legislation designed to incentivize renewable energy typically define eligible forms of biomass that qualify for these incentives. Most of these definitions are very broad and do not account for GHG emissions from bioenergy. Federal and state laws should incorporate life cycle analyses into definitions of eligible biomass so that these laws incentivize biomass electricity that reduces GHG emissions in the next several decades. / Committee in charge: Roberta Mann, Chairperson; Scott Bridgham, Member

xiii, 236 p. : ill. (some col.) / Over the past two decades, contemporary state-level watershed management burgeoned in the Pacific Northwest. This research offers a comparative analysis of contemporary state-level watershed management frameworks in the Pacific Northwest. The four case study areas consist of Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. This study begins with a historical analysis of the greater watershed movement in natural resource management. Next, document analysis and key informant interviews are utilized to detail the watershed management framework of each state. Finally, this study explores a comparative analysis of each state framework. Results indicate that while the case study areas share many characteristics endemic to the bioregion, the watershed management framework of each state differs substantially. Key informant interviews indicate that these differences often reflect the unique sociopolitical climate of each state. Results additionally indicate the vital importance of stable state-derived funding for the establishment and resilience of watershed management organizations. / Committee in charge: Dr. Michael Hibbard, Chairperson; Dr. Richard Margerum, Member; Dr. Max Nielsen-Pincus, Member

xii, 127 p. ： ill. (some col.) / I developed software to incorporate the FlamMap fire model into an agent-based model, Envision, to enable the exploration of relationships between wildfire, land use, climate change, and vegetation dynamics in the Willamette Valley. A dynamic-link library plug-in utilizing row-ordered compressed array lookup tables converts parameters between polygon-based Envision data and grid-based FlamMap data. Modeled fires are determined through Monte-Carlo draws against a set of possible fires by linking historic fire data to future climate projections. I used classification and regression tree (CART) and logistic regression to relate ignitions to human and land use factors in the Willamette Valley above the valley floor from 2000-2009. Both methods showed decreasing distance to major and minor roads as key factors that increase ignition probability for human ignitions but not for lightning ignitions. The resulting statistical model is implemented in the FlamMap plug-in to provide a dynamic ignition probability map over time. / Committee in charge: Dr. Bart Johnson， Co-Chair； Dr. Scott Bridgham ，Co-Chair； Dr. John Bolte； Member

The mining of bituminous sandstone rock for the purpose of extracting bitumen has created a need for reclamation. One such mine is located in northern Logan County. Their mining operation involves removing large sections of sandstone, which is impregnated with bitumen, and crushing it to sand-sized material. The sand-sized material is then mixed with organic solvents which extract the bitumen. Once separated, the bitumen is stored for future refinement and the spent sand is stockpiled for later disposal. The spent sands or waste material are referred to as tar sand tailings. These tailings have particular properties which make reclamation efforts difficult. One restrictive property is the 30 percent swell factor, which prevents replacement of the tailings into their respective mined area. Another property is the tailings’ hydrophobicity. This water repellence prevents merely spreading the tailings onto the surface. Experiments were conducted at Western Kentucky University during 1984 and 1985 to determine methods to lessen the hydrophobic tendencies and allow for reclamation. These experiments included mixing the tailings with the existing soil and adding surfactants to the tailings. Water holding capacities, infiltration rates, and the ability to sustain plant life were determined and evaluated. It appears that the residual bitumen not removed by the extraction process causes the hydrophobic tendencies of the tailings. This conclusion was based on a comparison of pure tailings and tailings which were subjected to 500°C temperatures for 24 hours which could destroy all organic material, specifically the residual bitumen. The pure tar sand tailing held 0.44 percent moisture and the tailings with the organic material removed held 27.48 percent moisture. Mixtures of tailings and Zanesville soil were also evaluated and compared to the tailings with and without organic material. The percent moisture of the soil was not significantly different from the tailings without organic material. All mixtures were significantly lower than the soil or the tailings without organic material and significantly higher than the pure tar and tailings. However, the mixtures apparently can hold sufficient moisture for plant growth. Water infiltration rates through various mixtures of tailings and soil with and without surfactants were also evaluated. It was concluded that a tailings/soil mixture of 75/25 percent with and without surfactant and 90/10 percent mixture with surfactant allowed the fastest water infiltration. The rate of infiltration is important since the Logan County topography is favorable for runoff erosion. Rye (secale cereale) was grown in various mixtures of tailings and soil with and without surfactants to determine phytotoxic effects. Visual observations of the growing plants indicated no phytotoxic effects due to the bitumen or surfactants. However, dry matter yields of the plants differed significantly. The lower yield of some plants could be attributed to a lack of moisture since the lowest yields were in the pure tailings with and without surfactant. In conclusion, the results of this study revealed that tar sand tailings do have hydrophobic tendencies apparently due to residual bitumen. These tendencies can be buffered by mixing the waste material with an existing soil or by complete combustion of the residual organic material. Also it was concluded that vegetation could be established on the mixtures of tailings and soil and thus, the land reclaimed.

After sixty-two years of U.S. military testing, the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques and its residents continue to fight against ongoing environmental and social effects of U.S. hegemony. Starting with the arrival of the Spanish, then with U.S. occupation and use of Vieques as a military stopover, Viequense residents are used to U.S. governmental presence on their land. Despite the military’s removal from Vieques in 2003, many local residents have a fundamental lack of trust for the U.S. government. Because of this lack of trust and transparency with U.S. governmental actions in the post- World War II period, residents of Vieques do not see any difference between the USFWS, the EPA, CH2M Hill, and the U.S. Navy. However, many acknowledge that the U.S. government’s involvement may be good for the island, so there is some ambivalence about the U.S. government’s continued presence on the island, its role in developing Vieques, and bettering its current economic situation. While the majority of local activists claim that naval activities negatively affected island life through contamination of land and surrounding waters, also resulting in a range of human health problems, others argue that the U.S. Navy should not be demonized, and the island’s role in conservation should be paramount. These differing views reflect two opposing frameworks: one fighting against a colonizer and U.S. hegemony, and the other promoting a primarily conservation-based framework meant to protect non-human residents.

Over the last few decades coral reefs have faced unprecedented declines in health due to natural and anthropogenic sources. Until recently few studies have examined genotypic variation of growth and thermal stress resistance in Acropora cervicornis. This study aims to assess the potential for energy trade-offs between growth and thermal stress resistance by following 120 coral fragments from 12 genotypes of Acropora cervicornis over the course of 15 months to determine average growth rates for each genotype. Following the completion of the growth observation a bleaching event occurred in the lower Florida Keys providing the opportunity for examining thermal stress resistance. We found that the coral genotype had a significant effect on growth and survival; however no significant correlation was observed between growth under normal conditions and thermal stress resistance. This result shows that there is not a trade-off between growth and thermal stress resistance and that a genotype’s ability to resist thermal stress cannot be predicted from growth under normal conditions. The lack of a trade-off facilitates intraspecific competition. For genotypes with similar thermal stress tolerances but different growth characteristics, the increase in frequency of disturbances could result in the increased abundance of faster growing genotypes relative to the slow growing genotypes. These results emphasize the importance of maintaining coral nurseries as gene banks to protect the genetic diversity of the reef area in which it is located. Through protecting a wide variety of genotypes, the likelihood of preserving those that have a high thermal tolerance, disease resistance, or faster growth rates is increased.

Disturbance events affect forest composition and structure across a range of spatial and temporal scales, and forest development may differ after natural, anthropogenic, or compound disturbances. Following large, natural disturbances, salvage logging is a common yet controversial management practice around the globe. While the short-term impacts of salvage logging have been studied in many systems, the long-term effects remain unclear. Further, while natural disturbances create many persistent and unique microsite conditions, little is known about the long-term influence of microsites on forest development. We capitalized on over eighty years of data on stand development following the 1938 hurricane in New England to provide the longest known evaluation of salvage logging impacts, as well as to highlight developmental trajectories for eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)-white pine (Pinus strobus) forests under a variety of disturbance histories. Eight decades following disturbance, there were no differences in current overstory composition between areas that were logged, hurricane disturbed, or hurricane disturbed and salvage logged, but white pine declined across most sites. In contrast, structural characteristics remain distinct between the three management histories. In the unsalvaged area, the diversity of microsites and the coverage of uprootings and pits influenced overstory tree composition, diversity, and structural characteristics. These findings underscore the long-term influence of salvage logging on forest development and the importance of natural disturbance-mediated microsite conditions on tree species growth and survival. Future salvage logging efforts should consider these impacts and provide a greater range of unsalvaged areas across the landscape to maintain these important structural legacies over the long term.