Published Library Resources

This virtual library holds a wide range of urban forestry resources including: research abstracts and full text journal articles, trade magazine articles, CDs, other technology transfer resources, books (or chapters of books), patents, ordinances, theses and dissertations, and conference proceedings.

Stream channel enlargement due to urbanization

Stream channel enlargement occurs in response to the change in streamflow regimen accompanying urbanization. This empirical study relates the imputed increase in channel cross-sectional area to detailed land use data and other information for 78 small watersheds near Philadelphia. Important ...

Staying ahead of stormwater and sediment problems

The main purpose of the Stormwater Management and Sediment Control law is preventative to keep problems to a minimum. We must have adequate stormwater management. The runoff pattern in a subdivisions is a big problem so all construction plans must designate the flow route.” Planning ahead ...

Management of urbanizing watersheds

 

Loss of White cedar in New Jersey pinelands linked to stormwater runoff

The study shows that protecting the integrity of white cedar wetlands requires careful planning to reduce suburban influences. Runoff must be diverted away from the cedar swamp and a buffer area maintained. The health of the Sphagnum in a particular swamp can potentially be used as an indicator of ...

Watershed urbanization and managing stream habitat for fish

Rivers have been for many years used as sources of hydraulic power, irrigation, convenient conduits for waste water and human effluent, and transportation. Modification and deterioration of the aquatic environment, habitat and fish communities is not simply the result of development along a river ...

Watershed protection: A Cape Cod perspective on national efforts

Carol Browner, EPA Administrator, has listed watershed protection as the primary guiding principle for the reauthorization of the Clean Water Act. EPA, the states, and many nonprofit organizations are rushing to prioritize and establish protection strategies for the watersheds in their areas of ...

Watershed planning for urbanization to avoid undesirable stream outcomes

Watershed planning is presented as an advanced approach to development. It is imperative that the impacts of urban development on water resources be set in the context of integrating human activity into landscape form and ecological function. Preliminary results from the Urbanization Issues group ...

Using a watershed-based approach to manage and protect water resources in the Bear Canyon watershed, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Depending upon how people use land in a watershed, whether it be farming, livestock grazing, timber harvesting, mining, urbanization, or even recreation, all have significant impacts on the water moving through that watershed. This paper will focus on the urban watershed and how stormwater runoff ...

Urbanization of aquatic systems: Degradation thresholds, storm water detection, and the limits of mitigation

Urbanization of a watershed degrades both the form and function of the downstream aquatic system, causing changes that can occur rapidly and are very difficult to avoid or correct. A variety of physical data from lowland streams in western Washington displays the onset of readily observable ...

Urbanization, flood frequency and salmon abundance in Puget lowland streams

Urbanization history and flood frequencies were determined in six low-order streams in the Puget Lowlands, Washington, for the period between the 1940/50s and the 1980190s. Using discharge records from USGS gauging stations, each basin was separated into periods prior to and after urban expansion. ...

Agricultural pollution control: Trends and innovations in the Lake Simcoe watershed

Agriculture represents 31 percent of the land use within the Lake Simcoe basin and contributes approximately 45 metric tons of phosphorus to the lake annually. Agricultural sources of phosphorus include livestock operations and soil erosion from cultivated land, fallow land and pasture. Rapid ...

River rehabilitation in an urban environment: Examples from the Mersey Basin, North West England

The River Mersey is one of the most polluted and heavily engineered watercourses in Europe. Improvements in water quality have led to the re-establishment of fish populations in parts of the catchment. Further improvements in the water quality of the Mersey Basin are planned. The Environment Agency ...

The impact of suburbanization on fluvial geomorphology

Analysis of aerial photography for the period 1950-1971 and field data collected from 1970 to 1974 indicate that in the Denver area suburban development has caused significant changes in fluvial systems. By first introducing large quantities of sediment and later by increasing surface runoff, ...

The impact of residential urban areas on groundwater quality: Swan coastal plain, Western Australia

The effect of urbanization on a wide range of parameters for groundwater quality was investigated along a north-south transect on Bassendean Sands in Perth, Western Australia. Groundwater was sampled from both recently developed and well established sewered and unsewered urban residential areas. ...

The impact of erosion control measures on runoff processes

Water supplies in Serbia are based primarily on reservoir storage in protected areas. The reservoir catchments are located in hilly mountainous regions in order to avoid the water quality problems associated with urbanization and agricultural production. One of the most important conditions for the ...

The Hydrological effects of urban land use: A case study of the Little Miami River basin

This paper examines the impacts of urbanization on the Little Miami River Basin. Flood frequencies of an urbanizing town (Milford) and a rural area (Perintown) were analyzed based on the historical discharge data. Water samples were collected for chemical analyses and bioassays were conducted to ...

Responses of forested wetland vegetation to perturbations of water chemistry and hydrology

Nineteen mature Atlantic white-cedar swamps, located in four categories of undeveloped and suburban watersheds of the New Jersey Pinelands, were studied to determine the relationship between perturbations of water quality and hydrology and changes in species composition and community structure. ...

Research needs in urban storm-water pollution

This paper presents the results of an analysis of research needs in urban storm-water pollution control. This assessment of needs is based on evaluation of the state of the art in four areas: urban runoff characterization, water quality effects, control effectiveness, and decision-making models. ...

Urbanization and agricultural intensification in the Lower Fraser River valley: Impacts on water use and quality

The Fraser River drains a quarter of the province of British Columbia and is renown as one of the greatest salmon rivers in the world. The Fraser watershed is under threat from rapid urbanization in its lower reaches as pollutants generated from domestic and industrial wastes, and storm water ...

Urban influences on the amount and structure of agriculture in the Northeastern United States

I examine the oft-stated belief that urbanization causes a decline in agricultural activity. Quantitative and structural changes in the agricultural sector between 1969 and 1982 were analyzed for 190 counties in the densely-populated north-eastern region of the United States. Population density, ...

The urbanization of agricultural land: A review of the national agricultural lands study

 

Reflections on Alabama's current-use property tax

To examine the initial impact of Alabama's current use assessment law, the 1982 tax records of program participants were sampled. Estimates of the level of program participation, tax bills under fair market value and current-use appraisals, and forgone county revenues were calculated. Participation ...

Reduction of fire hazard through thinning/residue disposal in the urban interface

Alternative fire hazard reduction techniques are needed for managing fuel profiles in forest ecosystems located within the so-called wildland-urban interface. The present study includes experimental fuel manipulations initiated along the Rocky Mountain National Park interface with residential areas ...

Productivity taxation- the West Virginia method

This paper discusses the political and legal development of the productivity method to the valuation of West Virginia timberland. Following adoption of the Timberland Appraisal Manual, differences of opinion related to the productivity method arose within the forestry community. The components of ...

Fire!

Wildfire frequency is on the rise. So is the damage caused by wildfires, both in acres burned and value of property destroyed. Almost 90,000 wildfires had burned throughout the United States by mid-September, 1996, with half the fire season remaining. That's a 47% increase over the previous five ...

Fighting fire with fire: A new computer tool for predicting wildfire

Even with years of experience in fighting wildfire, no one can predict with total confidence how a wildfire will burn. Unpredictable is the nature of the beast, leaving firefighters at a disadvantage as they mobilize crews and apparatus to corral and extinguish this destructive force. That may ...

Farmland values at the urban fringe: An analysis of sale prices

Several researchers have statistically explored the importance of various factors in determining urban land values or agricultural land values (e.g., Downing 1973; Richardson, Vipond, and Furbey 1974; Reiss and Kensil 1979; Jennings and Kletke 1977). Few empirical analyses, however, have ...

Experience with the timber yield tax in California

In 1976, California replaced a modified property tax on timber with a yield tax. All timber in timberland preserve zones (TPZ) is exempt from the general property tax. Trees on non-TPZ land may be taxed only on the basis of aesthetic or amenity value. Timberland identified as a TPZ is subject to a ...

Changes at the urban-rural interface: The contribution of off-farm work by farmers

A characteristic of rural change in most countries has been the net flow of human resources from the farm to the nonfarm sector. Off-farm work by farm family members has been identified as an important factor influencing this flow (Baumgartner; Hathaway, 1960 and 1967; Hathaway and Perkins, 1968a ...

Blazing a trail in the wildlands

It has become an all-too-familiar sight; lives and property under siege from colossal wildfires. This tragedy has been played out time and time again; throughout Florida, California, Colorado, and many other states. Anywhere that the boundaries between man and nature are unwittingly and dangerously ...

Applying GIS and landscape ecological principles to evaluate land conservation alternatives

Nowhere in the eastern United States is the conflict between the conservation of the rich biological diversity of existing forested landscapes vs. a continued expansion of suburban/exurban development more evident than in the case of Sterling Forest, a 7245 ha tract of land on the New York-New ...

Land cover mapping in a rugged terrain area using Landsat MSS data

Since the advent of the first Landsat series of Earth resources satellites, many researchers have successfully mapped land cover types, especially in areas of low relief. However, in areas of rugged terrain these are complicated and only limited success has been reported. In this paper topographic ...

Issues in the use of transferable development rights for land use control and environmental preservation

In recent years-many land use professionals and public officials have increasingly explored the public and private acquisition of less-than-fee simple interests in property as a means of controlling growth. Typically referred to as "development rights," these interests would be conveyed in two ...

Is your home in danger?

 

Off-farm employment and the rural-urban interface in Japanese economic development

Japanese agriculture has undergone extensive changes in the period since 1945, especially with regard to part-time farming. Off-farm jobs for the farming population per se are not a recent phenomenon in rural Japan. It was common for rural people to work as craftsmen or local merchants even before ...

Nonpoint source runoff modeling a comparison of a forested watershed and an urban watershed on the South Carolina coast

Storm water runoff volumes, flow rates and sediment loads from a forested watershed and an urbanized watershed draining into adjacent estuaries were compared using the distributed parameter (grid cell) agricultural nonpoint source runoff (AGNPS) model. The comparisons were based on 10 simulated ...

New York's experience with the optional yield tax approach

Eight out of ten New Yorkers are urban dwellers. Their votes and concerns significantly impact rural New York as they escape their cities in search of tranquility. As they buy second homes or demand new shopping centers, forest ownership is fragmented. Land prices skyrocket, raising assessments and ...

New life for metro farming

 

Greed, need or creed? Farmland ethics in the rural-urban fringe

This paper classifies and describes farmland ethics in the urban fringe using the case of Edmonton, Canada. A conceptual framework distinguishes ethical views on farmland conversion into three categories: econocentric, biocentric and theocentric. The Edmonton case examines ethical dimensions of ...

Florida's solution to liability issues

Prescribed fire is used to treat roughly 5 percent (1.500.000 acres) of Florida's wildland each year. Superimposed on this fire maintained landscape is one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. Much of this population increase is a result of immigration from northern states where ...

Fire risk and residential development: A GIS analysis

Population growth is rapid in rural areas in California. This growth into the wildland-urban interface makes fire protection and suppression more difficult. Fire managers have opportunities to reduce fire danger by improving housing development patterns; however, the overall density and placement ...

A GIS based decision system for forest management

The Map Analysis Package was used to construct maps of maximum potential stumpage (MPS) for an 3,800 acre forest in central New York. NIPS is the maximum difference between the mill delivered price of forest products and the cost to harvest them and can be used as a guide in the establishment of ...

Impact fees for conversion of agricultural land: A resource- based development policy for California's cities and counties

In early 1991, the United States Census Bureau revealed a fact, the full implications of which we do not yet know-most Americans now live in the suburbs. 163 However, it suggests that the suburbs and the urban fringe will continue to be the focus of urban development. Suburban communities such as ...

The effects of California's forest taxation reform act on private forestry investment

California's Forest Taxation Reform Act (FTRA) of 1976 replaced an ad valorem with a yield tax on timber, removing tax pressures for financially premature or excessive harvest. The FTRA also created the Timberland Preserve Zone CM), where land was to be taxed solely for its value in timber ...

The conservation reserve program: Status, future, and policy options

 

Subdivisions versus agriculture

 

Strategies for retaining land in agriculture: An analysis of Virginia

As the competition between agricultural and non-agricultural uses of prime land intensifies, land-use policies designed to retain land in agricultural use are gaining wider acceptance at the state and local level. This paper presents an analysis of one farmland retention policy currently in use in ...

Lots or crops: The land supply dilemma

Although builders and preservationists disagree over many issues, most would probably affirm that the United States has a "land supply problem." But the two groups define very differently the meaning of that phrase. Most apparent to builders and homebuyers is the high price of building lots. And, ...

Landscape context of rural residential development in southeastern Wisconsin (USA)

Private on-site sewage systems serve residential development in rural landscapes throughout the United States. In the State of Wisconsin, three major types of private sewage systems facilitate residential development on sites that span gradients in slope, soil permeability, depth to bedrock, and ...

Wildfire at the wildland/urban interface

 

Washington's experience with the yield tax

This paper discusses Washington's 1971 yield tax law in the context of the overall tax structure in the state. Recent efforts by the governor and the legislature to correct some of the inequities in the state's tax structure are also reviewed. The political history of the yield tax is discussed to ...

Vulnerability of riparian vegetation to catastrophic flooding: Implications for riparian restoration

In this study, we examined the site-specific effects of a large episodic flood on the riparian vegetation within the floodplain of the San Luis Rey River in southern California. Using multispectral airborne videography, we quantified percent cover of riparian vegetation, cultivated agricultural ...

Using image-capture technology to assess scenic value at the urban/forest interface: A case study

Urban expansion to the edge of managed forest lands is creating new problems for resource managers as home owners protest at the effects of timber management. Strategies to resolve urban/forest interface conflicts require that all participants are equally informed about the impacts of silvicultural ...

Use of geographic information systems for interpreting land-use policy and modeling effects of land-use change

The framework for evaluation and assessment of direct and indirect impact of policy using GIS and models allows a wide variety of questions to be asked and reveals a range of possible impacts for consideration. This permits a systematic evaluation of policies and plans and, within the limits of ...

Use of constructed wetlands for urban stream restoration: A critical analysis

Investigation of a delta marsh restoration project proposed for the Don River in Toronto, Ontario, underlines several concerns about constructed wetland projects designed for water quality improvement and aquatic habitat enhancement. The Don is a highly urbanized river that has undergone ...

An assessment of satellite remotely-sensed land cover parameters in quantitatively describing the climatic effect of urbanization

The regional-scale climatic impact of urbanization is examined using two land cover parameters, fractional vegetation cover (Fr) and surface moisture availability (Mo). The parameters are hypothesized to decrease as surface radiant temperature (To) increases, forced by vegetation removal and the ...

Agricultural productivity in densely populated areas

The impact of population density on agricultural productivity in the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas is assessed using an aggregate production function. The concept of agglomeration economies is used to explain the relationships among population density, proximity to metropolitan areas ...

Agricultural land markets in U.S. urban-fringe counties

A multivariate interaction detection model was used to assign urban-influenced counties into statistically-optimal groups. The groups delineated 3 types of farmland markets within the predefined set of counties. From a set of county-level variables representing farm and non farm factors, the ...

Agricultural land as a real estate commodity: Implications for farmland preservation in the North American urban fringe

Land speculation and investment in the North American urban fringe has resulted in the persistent ownership of large tracts of agricultural land by non-agricultural and largely absentee interests. A study of the Toronto urban fringe indicates widespread alienation of landownership from farmers. ...

Urban agriculture in the United States

The policy discussion over farmland in the United States includes concerns about the effect that urbanization has on availability of land for agriculture. That discussion developed after World War II when much population growth spilled aver the boundaries of established urban centers to the urban ...

U.S. cropland urbanization, and landownership patterns

Most U.S. farmland is in no danger of being overrun by urban sprawl. Less than 24 percent of U.S. cropland is in metropolitan counties. Cropland in the Northeast is under more urban pressure than elsewhere because more than three-fourths of it is within or adjacent to urban counties. Ownership ...

Trial and error: Assessing the effectiveness of riparian revegitation in Arizona

Improvement of degraded riparian ecosystems by revegetation is most effectively used in areas where artificially planted vegetation survives to fulfill project objectives without being obscured by natural regeneration of the same species that were planted. In this study, only 10 of the 27 projects ...

Wisconsin's experience with the optional yield tax

In 1985, Wisconsin's original optional yield tax law, the Forest Crop Law, was repealed and replaced by the closely related Managed Forest Law. This paper reviews the rationale for and provisions of the Forest Crop Law and evaluates its performance over the past 60 years. Reasons for enactment of ...

South Carolina's property tax agricultural use values- an update

A 1979 South Carolina Current Use Value system of assessing farm and forest land for property taxes was threatened when a 1986 reassessment yielded negative values for three of five cropland productivity classes. The cropland valuation process was based on projected yields, projected crop prices, ...

Social Equity in Agricultural Land Protection

It is asserted that public policy alternatives for agricultural land protection have been assessed largely on the basis of their efficiency. A social equity frame work for assessing such policies is developed which stresses intergenerational, tenure and process equity concerns. This framework is ...

Secondary effects on Midwestern agriculture of metropolitan development and decreases in farmland

The expansion of metropolitan areas into the countryside, a trend that became particularly pronounced after World War II, has caused considerable concern because of its potentially deleterious effects on farming (Raup1975; Plaut 1980). These effects can be of two kinds. First metropolitan expansion ...

SAR applications in human settlement detection, population estimation and urban land use pattern analysis: A status report

Over 70 percent of the population of the world's developed countries live in urbanized areas. In developing countries migration to urban areas is continuing at an increasing rate. Detection and analysis of settlement patterns, estimating population, and monitoring population migration in a timely ...

Revising forest property taxes- recent trends and policy questions

After outlining recent changes in local government taxes on forests, this paper reviews forest taxation goals, several of which are conflicting. Two major alternatives to the forest property tax are the productivity tax and the yield tax. Descriptions, advantages, and disadvantages of each are ...

The farmer's response to urbanization: A study of the middle Atlantic states

Besides the actual conversion of land from rural to urban uses, urbanization indirecly affects agricultural activity. Regulations on farming activity to suit new urban neighbors, increased property taxes, and so on spill over from urban areas into the countryside. These effects coupled with ...

Resources versus structures: Fire suppression priorities in the wildland/urban interface

This article explores the issue of fire suppression priorities in the wildland-urban interface. Two situations in which tradeoffs between resources and structures can be made are discussed. The first instance is a single fire incident where the presence of structures may influence decisions about ...

Urban wildlife habitat inventory: The Willamette River greenway, Portland , Oregon

Cooperation between public agencies and private interest groups has resulted in the most comprehensive wildlife habitat inventory completed to date for a City of Portland planning document. The ongoing Goal 5 inventory promises to be an improvement over the Greenway work. A methodology acceptable ...

Urban wildlife damage: A complex problem

Wildlife can create problems when they conflict with man's health or economic interests, or when their presence is a nuisance. Animals have had to adapt to a variety of environmental alterations thrust upon them by land development and urbanization. This has caused a closer association of some ...

Urban wildlife and the Fish and Wildlife Service: Meeting a growing challenge

Wildlife, thus, continues to be an integral part of the cities, towns, and villages in America. Is the Fish and Wildlife Service concerned and involved with these "metropolitan" critters? You bet we are. The Service has a mission: “ . . . to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and ...

The use of zoning ordinances in the protection and development of wildlife habitat

Because of the variable nature of local government in the United States, local land use planning has tended to be highly variable. Until the early part of this century, there were few uniform rules and methodologies. However, since then the use of zoning has become a major tool of local ...

Public regulation of private forestry: Proactive policy responses

Most foresters are noted for opposing regulation in general and state forest practice acts in particular. Yet the amount of oversight is increasing. Depending on the state and locality, land management may be affected by Best Management Practice guidelines, county logging rules, state highway ...

Public opinion: Obstacle or aid to sound deer management

Public involvement is necessary in natural resource management, and early input from interested parties is the most effective way to resolve conflicts (McMullin and Nielsen 1991a). The case of Chincoteague demonstrates how public opinion can serve to support rather than obstruct sound deer ...

Public Involvement in urban wildlife planning and action programs

Wildlife management professionals must expand their traditional concerns to give increased attention to urban wildlife planning for several reasons: a) to meet the increasing needs of urban residents for non-consumptive uses of wildlife; b) to counteract the ill effects of urbanization on wildlife ...

Preferences of suburban landowners for deer management techniques: A step towards better communication

We assessed (1) relationships between preferences for deer population size and management techniques, and the underlying attitudes associated with these techniques; and (2) opinion changes of suburban landowners about deer and deer management after implementing a communication plan that relied on a ...

Farmers plant seeds of revolt over sprawl

For more than 20 years, counties from New York to Washington State have tried to save agricultural land from development. But so far, most programs have met with limited success. According to one survey, some 15 percent of American farmland was lost between 1982 and 1992. Now, many areas are ...

Estimating the cumulative effects of development on wildlife habitat

The cumulative effects problem in natural resource management and land use planning stems from the difficulty of demonstrating that while each single land use change results in a negligible impact, the accumulation of these individual changes over time and within a landscape or region may ...

Effects of Urbanization on brown trout Salmo trutta, other fishes and macroinvertebrates in Valley Creek, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

We determined the effects of urbanization on fish and benthic macroinvertebrate communities of Valley Creek and its tributary, Little Valley Creek, in southeastern Pennsylvania. Brown trout (Salmo trutta) were a major component of the fish community except in the urbanized upstream portions of the ...

Effect of development on bird species composition of two urban forested wetlands in Staten Island, New York

Urban development often results in removal, fragmentation and degradation of woodland habitat. A 2-yr breeding bird census was conducted at two urban, forested wetlands in Staten Island, Richmond County, New York, to evaluate the influence of development on bird species composition. Bird species ...

Deer dilemma: Accommodating a love-hate relationship

Whatever the approach, it is clear that wildlife professionals must be proactive in addressing deer abundance problems. If we fail to respond to the growing public concern and demand for assistance, then others will fill that role. If citizens do not receive adequate response from wildlife ...

Database for the New York state urban wildlife habitat inventory

This paper describes the development, implementation and products of the New York Urban Wildlife Habitat Inventory. Detailed information is presented on the types of information generated from the computer database. Tables included in the text demonstrate the capabilities and manipulative power of ...

Current status of timber yield and severance taxes in the United States

A study of existing timber harvest tax laws was made in 1984. Data collected include the statutory provisions of both yield and severance tax laws and the acreage classified under optional yield tax legislation. At the time of the study, 21 yield tax statutes existed in 16 states. The primary ...

Current status and trends in timber severance tax legislation in the South

Severance tax programs currently exist in eight States in the South. These laws have been enacted primarily to encourage better forest management and to provide revenues for a variety of forestry initiatives. In most States, either the severer or the primary processor of forest products is ...

Bobcats in residential areas: Distribution and homeowner attitudes

Despite the rapid expansion of urban areas in the United States, use of developed areas by native wildlife has not been studied for many species. I used a mail survey to examine characteristics of sightings of bobcats (Lynx rufus) and attitudes of homeowners toward bobcats in three residential ...

Blackbirds in roosts: Urban wildlife damage control

 

Birds and butterflies along an urban gradient: Surrogate taxa for assessing biodiversity

This study examines whether birds and butterflies may be used as surrogates for one another in assessing biodiversity at the community level. To do this, I compared the distribution and abundance of bird and butterfly species across an urban gradient by surveying six sites near Palo Alto, ...

Birds: Urban wildlife damage control

 

Bird abundance and diversity along an urban-rural gradient: A comparative study between two cities on different continents

We compared the avifauna in two cities, Quebec (Canada) and Rennes (France), in order to define general responses of wildlife in an urban ecosystem. These cities have a similar urban structure that permits investigation along an urbanization gradient from downtown to rural residential areas. ...

Land use regulation in the Lake George basin: An ecological economic perspective

This paper examines land use policy in Lake George, New York. In spite of a multitude of federal, state, and local regulations the environmental quality of Lake George has deteriorated significantly in recent years. We attribute this to a planning approach based implicitly on conventional ...

Inconsistent forest property tax policies within selected southern states

All Southern States except Georgia appraise forest holdings for property tax purposes on the basis of their current use as opposed to fair market value. While procedures vary, every State but North Carolina estimates forest use values in such a way that a combined value for land and timber is ...

Income tax considerations for forest landowners in the South

Federal and state income taxes are calculated for hypothetical owners of nonindustrial private forests (NIPF) across 14 southern states to illustrate the effects of differential state tax treatment. The income tax liability is calculated in a year in which the timber owners harvest $200,000 worth ...

In the mainstream: Environmental attitudes of mid-south forest owners

A 1992 telephone survey of households in seven mid-South states provided data for comparing the opinions of NIPF owners with those of the general public. Topics explored included traditional forest management practices, governmental regulation of tree cutting to protect environmental values, and ...

Perceptions of the rural-urban fringe: Citizen preferences for natural and developed settings

The most dramatic changes in the American landscape today are occurring at the rural-urban fringe. There is a tremendous increase in development at the fringe, yet there has been little work to identify physical characteristics of the fringe that individuals prefer. The cost of this oversight is ...

Patterns of fish spawning in Hudson River tributaries: Response to an urban gradient

Two features of many large river watersheds, their large geographic extent and their occupation and use by humans, should render them good candidates for the manifestation of anthropogenic, ecological gradients. Many urban centers are located along major rivers, a fact that can be confirmed by ...

Forestry community or granfalloon?: do forest owners share the public's views?

Nonindustrial private forest owners are especially important to American forestry, given their influence as stewards of 57% of the nation's commercial forestland. As members of the forestry community we might expect them to know more about and feel differently toward forestry than the rest of the ...

Foraging of gray squirrels on an urban-rural gradient: Use of the GUD to assess anthropogenic impact

Responses of organisms to urbanization may involve adjustments in behavior. To qualify such behavioral plasticity we measured the degree to which gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) exploited sunflower seeds in pans distributed over an urban-rural gradient of 78 sites in Virginia. Our objective ...

Conservation easements: An analysis of donated development rights

Donated conservation easements protect over one million acres in the United States from development. Planners, however, are poorly informed about the characteristics and applications of this tool. This article defines conservation easements, traces their history, and explains the easement ...