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.

City critters: A cast of millions

 

A strategy for simulating brown trout population dynamics and habitat quality in an urbanizing watershed

A mathematical model was developed to simulate the population dynamics of an allopatric brown trout Salmo trutta population in the Paint Branch of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, Maryland. The model relates land disturbing activities and imperviousness in the watershed to trout habitat ...

Identifying NIPF management motivations with qualitative methods

Most studies of nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) owners are constrained by the intrinsic limitations of survey research. This paper contrasts survey methodology with qualitative methodology, demonstrates the utility of the latter with an example from research on management motivations of NIPF ...

The economic valuation of saltwater marsh supporting marine recreational fishing in the southeastern United States

This paper is concerned with placing an economic value on the contribution of wetlands in supporting recreational fishing in the southeastern United States. A production function first links the recreational catch to angler fishing effort and wetlands. The parameters of the recreational fisheries ...

Stake holder perspectives on appropriate forest management in the Pacific Northwest

One potential source of the controversy over forest management in the Pacific Northwest is differences in stakeholders' conceptualizations, or perspectives, on appropriate forest management. This study explores the nature of stakeholders' perspectives and identifies some of the differences and ...

Species composition along a gradient of urbanization in the lower Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA

Urban expansion into wildlands has reduced and fragmented formerly contiguous habitats. Embedded within the urban matrix are newly formed habitat islands in a fragmented riparian ecosystem. Although these islands are riparian in floristic and physiognomic character, their function as habitat is not ...

Local regulation of private forestry in the eastern United States

A survey conducted during the latter half of 1990 indicates that currently 359 local ordinances regulate forestry in the eastern United States, with three-quarters of these ordinances in effect in the Northeast. The laws are of five types, which, in decreasing order of prevalence, are: (1) general ...

Landowner behavior at the rural-urban fringe in response to preferential property taxation

The major conclusion of our study agrees with those of most other researchers-that use-value assessment programs can be expected to have only a limited effect on land use. However, both our present study and earlier theoretical findings differ from other studies in suggesting that higher numbers of ...

We caused sprawl ourselves

The addition of more than 100,000 Californians played only a secondary role in the suburban explosion of the 1990s that prompted Colorado residents to rank growth as the state's No. 1 problem. The main cause of Colorado's suburban sprawl, a Denver Post computer analysis found, ahs been Coloradoans.

Vermont's use value appraisal property tax program: A forest inventory and analysis

Vermont's Use Value Appraisal (UVA) property tax program was designed to slow the rate of development of rural land, encourage production from agricultural and forest lands, and conserve and preserve a working rural landscape by making taxation of undeveloped land more equitable (32 V.S.A. Chapter ...

Using public sighting information to investigate coyote use of urban habitat

Conventional approaches to studying large mammal habitat selection using radio telemetry may not be feasible in urban environments because of public opposition to trapping, risk of catching nontarget species, restrictions of observer movements, and limited spatial scales. Therefore, I evaluated use ...

Use of winter bird feeders by black capped chickadees

Bird feeding is widespread and a frequent component of urban wildlife management; however, no data on how individuals use the resource or what it contributes to their energy needs are available. Consequently, we studied the foraging behavior of 348 color-banded black-capped chickadees (Pares ...

An assessment of the urban wildlife problem

Basic urban wildlife problems include: proper identification of species, shift from agrarian to urban society, different interpretations of humaneness, compassion for individual rather than a population as a whole, and public ignorance of urban pest management. Positive values are esthetics and ...

Toward a methodology for the measurement of knowledge structures of ordinary people: The conceptual content cognitive map (3CM)

Mental models guide people's perceptions, decisions, and behavior regarding environmental problems and other issues. Hence, understanding these models would aid in understanding how people perceive problems, in determining how information may be most effectively shared, and in designing strategies ...

Timber severance taxes: current status and changing role

At present, 12 states have a total of 13 timber severance tax programs. These programs differ greatly regarding entities subject to taxation, methods and rates of taxation, reporting and payment intervals, authorized exemptions, and guidelines for revenue usage. The historical rationale for ...

Wildlife management by metropolitan residents in the United States: Practices, perceptions, costs, and values

I examined wildlife management practices and opinions of metropolitan residents in the United States concerning urban wildlife by: (1) mailing questionnaires to a random sample of residents from 10 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, (2) telephoning a random sample of ...

San Francisco Bay- an urban/wildlife shuffle

Today, we fish and wildlife managers are expected to sustain all of our natural resources despite continued loss of habitat quantity and quality to development. We manage the remaining natural habitats and wild fauna intensively in an effort to accommodate as much of the area's original ...

The purchase of development rights: Preserving agricultural land and open space

The use of public money to purchase development rights to privately held land has become increasingly popular in recent years as a way to preserve agricultural land and open space. Several states and counties have devoted substantial dollars toward the purchase of development rights (PDR). The ...

The impact of federal and state income taxes on timber income in the west following the 1986 tax reform act

Nineteen eighty-eight federal and state income tax liabilities for a hypothetical nonindustrial private forest landowner case were calculated for 13 western states. The state portion of the total income tax liability for the passive case (without timber sale revenue) ranged from 15% in Arizona, ...

The impact of federal and state income taxes on timber income in the South following the 1986 Tax Reform Act

The 1988 federal and state income tax liabilities for hypothetical forest landowners in two federal income tax brackets, each with and without timber sale revenue, were calculated for the 14 southern states. At the medium income level, the state portion of total income tax liability (without timber ...

The impact of federal and state income taxes on timber income in the Northeast and Midwest following the 1986 tax reform act

The structure and provisions of state income taxes are detailed for timber owners in 19 states of the Northeast and Midwest. Using 1994 federal and state income tax rules, the tax liability for a hypothetical married couple with timber sale income was calculated for two federal income tax rate ...

Urban wildlife and human well-being

This paper reviews our knowledge of the role that wildlife plays in human well-being in the urban ecosystem. Numerous benefits of wildlife in close association with humans relate to ecological, economic, psychological and social contributions by the native and exotic fauna and their habitats. ...

Urban wildlife: Reclaiming their birthright

 

Urban neighbors' wildlife-related attitudes and behaviors near federally protected areas in Tucson, Arizona, USA

Urban development adjacent to protected natural areas may result in reduced scenic beauty, recreational opportunities, and tourism associated with the natural amenities of these areas. Conservation of the biological, recreational, and scenic resources in parks and preserves requires an ...

The uses and management of urban woodlands

Within urban landscapes there typically exist woodlands that provide ecological and environmental benefits to neighboring areas. However, because of the proximity to human activities, the structure and function of these forests are being altered. The mast efficient course of management is to ...

Public knowledge and preferences for wildlife habitats in urban open spaces

This study was based on the premise that knowing preference will provide some understanding of how people may react in certain landscape decision situations. Our results indicated that preference does change as the landscape comes in closer proximity to one's home territory. The presence of open ...

Property tax laws as an incentive to forest management: National overview

Virtually all states have elected not to apply the unmodified ad valorem property tax to forested properties. Historically, the rationale centered on five criticisms. These were that the tax was not equitable, not neutral regarding the allocation of resources, not convenient in the time and manner ...

Promoting forest management: Wisconsin's managed forest law

Wisconsin has 65 years' of experience with an optional yield tax for forestland, and participation is high relative to that in other states. The program has evolved over time. The major policy changes introduced in the 1986 Managed Forest Law include an option for landowners to close some land to ...

Preserving rural lands: Legislative strategies to curb excessive conversions

To curb excessive rural-land conversions, a number of state, county, and municipal governments are intervening in local real estate markets. Most of these initiatives encourage retention of prime farmlands, but forests and other open-space lands are often included. In New Jersey, actions are being ...

Preliminary impact of local government forestry-related ordinances affecting harvesting in the Eastern United States

In three northeastern and three southern states 748 loggers and consultants were surveyed. In the Northeast, the importance of regulation is limited by low levels of forest activity and small forested acreage. But in the South, large timber acreage and active markers magnified the importance of ...

Population growth beyond the urban fringe: Implications for rural land use policy

Population growth and redistribution generate urban development in both metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties throughout the USA. This paper presents an analysis of population growth and urban development within a non-metropolitan county in southeastern New York State. Land use data for a 30 ...

Financial impact of current-use assessment of forest land in Virginia

Virginia has two laws under which owners of agricultural, horticultural, forest, and other open space lands may obtain current-use assessment for property tax purposes. The first is a local-option use-value statute passed in 1971. The second is an agricultural and forestal districting act passed in ...

Factors influencing the distribution and abundance of burrowing owls in Cape Coral, Florida

Birds have often been used to assess the impact of human activity on the environment (e.g., Carson 1962). The dangers of pesticide misuse discussed in Carson's essay were, at least in part, identified by the decline of many songbird populations in the United States. Moreover birds, because of their ...

Environmental policy: The quest for sustainable development

Environmental policy, touching as it does on almost every aspect of social life, raises an almost impossibly wide agenda for investigation and action. In this review, I shall take as my theme the quest for sustainable development, a speculative focus suitable for the last decade of the second ...

Emerging patterns of forest property and yield taxes

Over the years, the application of the property tax to forested properties has been especially controversal. Most studies aimed at evaluating the tax in terms of the generally accepted attributes of a \"good tax system\" concluded that it suffered from five major deficiencies. In view of this ...

Effects of current-use valuation on forestry investment returns in selected Virginia counties

Results from three Virginia counties indicate that if forest properties are taxed on the basis of their value for continued timber growing as opposed to their fair market value, forestry investment returns will be increased. Where development pressures were insignificant, real returns rose by less ...

Economic impacts of current use assessment of rural land in the East Texas pineywoods region

Texas established a program of current-use property tax assessment in 1966 when voters approved a constitutional amendment providing that selected agricultural land could be taxed on this basis. In 1978 the program was expanded to include certain timberland. These current-use initiatives were ...

Development of a natural resources planning and managemnt process

The Montgomery County, Maryland, Department of Park's natural resource planning and management process is a valuable tool for the park system. It exemplifies Montgomery County Park's (MCP's) commitment to natural resources protection and conservation for present and future generations. As the ...

Deer-human interactions and research in the Chicago metropolitan area

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) possess adaptive characteristics that enable effective utilization of habitats near human population centers-an increasingly common occurrence in North America (Shoesmith and Koonz 1977, Ashley 1982, Iker 1983, Moen 1984). In such areas, the resultant ...

Case Study of the Effectiveness of Coastal Growth Management in a Growth Management State

Many states in the United States are attempting to manage growth in coastal areas so that development is directed to urban areas equipped to accommodate development, and coastal lands are preserved for resource and other nonurban uses. This article evaluates the effectiveness of state urban growth ...

Baughman, Melvin J., eds. US forest property taxation systems and their effects

Under the federal, system of government in this country, individual states retain the power to set up their own property tax system. As a result, the forest property tax systems vary considerably among states. Before it ceased publication in 1984, the Timber Tax Journal annually published an update ...

Attitudes of urban residents toward avian species and species' attributes

Wildlife management agencies are, from the point of view of urban residents, dealing with animals in increasingly remote natural environments and basing their programs on principles of ecology that are not understood by this growing majority of the U. S. population. These changes are likely to ...

Analysis of small mammal community data and applications to management of urban greenspaces

As wildlife biologists concerned with the management of greenspaces for a number of wildlife species, we wondered if it were possible to use species abundance data to develop a simple system for grouping greenspaces into categories with similar management needs. To be useful as a management tool, ...

Land values and applied economics

Environmental regulation, controls, litigation, and concerns have been an increasingly important dimension of the social and business climate in the U.S. Historically, these concerns have been focused on urban areas and industrial sources of pollution or environmental degradation. But increasing ...

Land use planning and wildlife maintenance: Guidelines for conserving wildlife in an urban landscape

The study of plants and animals on islands, both natural and artificial, has produced a body of generalizations immediately useful to land use planners concerned with minimizing the impacts of habitat destruction on the environment. A case study of 37 isolated chaparral fragments in San Diego, ...

Incentive property taxation: A potential tool for urban growth management

In their efforts to find more effective policies and mechanisms for urban growth management, planners have yet to step off the regulatory plateau and discover new approaches elsewhere. The subject of this study undertaken in Vancouver, WA and Seattle is "incentive" property taxation linked to ...

People and fire at the wildland/urban interface: A sourcebook

On April 6, 7, and 8, 1987 a group of sociologists, psychologists, economists and others met in Asheville, North Carolina. They represented state and federal agencies, universities, and special public and private interests. The meeting was sponsored by the USDA Forest Service and the National Fire ...

Open space zoning: What it is and why it works

Local officials in most rural and suburbanizing areas have a long-term choice about which many are not fully aware. That is whether to continue implementing "conventional zoning," or whether to refine their existing land-use regulations to ensure the preservation of open space through creative ...

Governors push smart growth

 

Forestland transfers in Vermont

The sale and subdivision of private woodlands for development cause the fragmentation of forest resources in the rapidly urbanizing Northeast. The objective of this study was to determine how active Vermont's forestland market was for parcel transfers of 100 ac and larger. Following 20 yr of ...

Florida rekindled

 

Florida on fire

 

Florida gripped by wildfires

 

Fire regimes and biodiversity: The effects of fragmentation of southeastern Australian eucalypt forests by urbanization, agriculture and pine plantations

Fragmentation of eucalypt forests has been common in southeastern Australia. Urbanization, agriculture and the establishment of plantations of the exotic tree Pinus radiata are major agencies of fragmentation. The study of the effects of these agencies on adjacent forested land has lacked a ...

Changing people, changing values, changing forests

The Urban/Wildland Interface promises to continue to challenge resource managers. New residents with different value priorities and a different image of forests are changing the social environment of resource management. Resource managers need to join in building institutions giving residents, ...

A general approach to landscape design for wildlife habitat

In recent years, a great deal of effort has gone into establishing a global system of wildlife reserves. The generally accepted goal is to maintain representative samples of the world's major plant and animal communities in a protective status. The work of the biosphere reserves program carried on ...

Impacts of habitat fragmentation on pairing success of male ovenbirds, Seiurus Aurocapillus, in southern New Brunswick

Populations of some species of neoarctic-neotropical migrant birds have been declining in recent years, and much attention has focused on fragmentation of North American forests by agriculture, urbanization, and forest harvesting as one of the causes for the declines. This study evaluated the ...

The economic case for sustainable development

 

Taxing the rural landscape: Improving state and federal policies for prime farmland

Tax reform holds significant promise for prime farmland protection. Appropriate adjustments in state and federal revenue codes would help preserve the irreplaceable economic and environmental values associated with this nation's most basic agricultural resource. However, needed improvements in tax ...

Taxes and the southern forest

In examining forest management from a business point of view, the practical significance of taxation is probably greater than that of any other economic institution. This is particularly true in the South, where most of the commercial forests are privately owned. In speaking of taxes in general, ...

State tax systems and their effects on nonindustrial private forest owners

The Forest Law and Economics Research Unit is initiating a study of the effect of state to systems on returns to forest management. A tax system is defined as all the taxes a forestland owner regularly pays: property tax, harvest taxes, and income tax. For this paper, a computer spreadsheet of a ...

State property and related taxes affecting forest farmers in the south

The traditional ad valorem property tax, which subjects all taxable property to an annual tax based on fair market value in highest and best use, is the most important source of revenue for most local units of government. When this type of tax is applied to timbered properties, however, certain ...

Sprawling, sprawling

 

Monitoring urban forest health

Renewed interest in urban forestry has resulted in significant public investment in trees during the past few years, yet comprehensive urban forest monitoring programs are uncommon. Monitoring is an integral component of a program to sustain healthy community forests and long term flows of net ...

Livability agenda may be unable to encourage smart growth

 

Legal limitations on governmental regulation of private forestry in the United States.

Private forest owners in the United States (U.S.) are subject to a variety of governmental regulations that restrict their land use and management options. These include measures intended to keep forest lands in forest use, insure continued forest productivity, and minimize the impacts of forest ...

When the forest becomes a community: A forester's handbook for the wildland/urban interface

State forestry agencies are responsible for providing many forestry related services in forest/urban interface areas. Services include fire management, urban forestry assistance, forest management, insect and disease advice, and assistance with the aftermath of natural disasters. This handbook was ...

Voluntary contributions to state nongame wildlife programs

This paper presents an empirical analysis of voluntary contributions to a state nongame wildlife program. Using data from Minnesota's 1982 income tax check off program Tobit estimates are developed that suggest nongame wildlife contributions are price elastic, characterized as a normal good for ...

An assessment of residential development in a rural community

To determine if residential development in a rural area occurred on sites suitable for construction, we compared a derived suitability map with actual residential patterns using pcARC/INFO1. A land use map was developed for the study area, Jackson, New Hampshire, to delineate residential sites. ...

Through the flames: An assessment of Florida's wildfires of 1998

The severity of the 1998 wildfires prompted Governor Chiles to appoint a special committee of government officials, technical experts, members of the public and other stakeholders to asses the situation and to formulate a series of recommendations on how Florida could better manage its wildfire ...

The wildland-urban interface: Introduction and overview

Most chemical reactions take place at the interface between two substances. This interface also occurs in the recreational environment. More specifically, where wildland and urbanized environments meet a broad spectrum of recreational behaviors, user expectations and management challenges occur. ...

The wildland-urban interface: Future forest management near large cities

There are three underlying tenets of this paper. First, wildland areas in close proximity to large urban centers constitute a unique natural resource with specific sets of attributes and characteristics not a normally available in more remote sites. Second, these wildlands serve important ...

Woodscaping your woodlands

Many timberland owners value their land for more than just timber. They realize that the land can provide many benefits and that management plans can be designed to achieve these benefits. A North Carolina survey shows that aesthetics is the primary reason many people own timberland. Other ...

Wildlife conservation in rapidly expanding metropolitan areas: Informational, institutional, and economic constraints and solutions

This paper reviews the evolution of Arizona Game and Fish Department's (AGFD) urban wildlife program. It compares wildlife conservation in rural settings with wildlife management in metropolitan environments and identifies a number of constraints and problems that may limit the success of urban ...

Some research perspectives on the urban-forest interface

The types of problems occurring in the urban-forest interface zone vary according to the pattern of settlement and forest. Analysts agree on the causes of these problems, and it does not appear that development pressure on the interface will let up for another 2-3 decades. Many forest managers have ...

Role of extension specialists as educators in urban areas

Traditionally, Extension Specialists have dealt with agriculture and related problems at the county level through the vast Cooperative Extension Service network. This network has prided itself on responding in a timely and practical manner to special needs identified by one-to-one interaction with ...

The initial impact of current-use assessment in Alabama

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 ...

Response of rodents to habitat fragmentation in coastal southern California

We employed an island biogeographic approach to determine whether small fragments of the shrub habitats coastal sage scrub and chaparral, isolated by urbanization, are capable of supporting viable populations of native rodent species. The distribution of native rodents in 25 urban habitat fragments ...

Urban/wildland intermix influence on drinking water quality

This chapter specifically examines drinking water issues related to administrative facilities and in-holdings. Forest Service facilities are grouped with residential and commercial development because, structurally, facilities are similar to other developed sites. Forest Service facilities, ...

Urban-rural ecological gradients: A new perspective for urban forestry

Ecological studies of the structure and function of forests along a 20 x 140 km transect from New York City to rural Northwestern Connecticut have revealed the existence of an urban-to-rural environmental gradient. Field measurements coupled with experiments indicate variations in litter depth and ...

The urban-rural gradient: An opportunity to better understand human impacts on forest-soils

The continued growth of human populations and the uncontrolled spread of urban worldwide makes our understanding of human influences on soils increasingly important. Processes of soil formation that are altered by human activity are considered to be deviations from the no and as a consequence, ...

The status and impact of state and local regulations on private timber supply

State and local regulatory enactments that affect private forest management are identified and summarized. The results of a Delphi technique survey of the current and long-term effects of such regulation on private timber harvests, and TAMM projections of their impact on U.S. timber supply and ...

Regulations grown in New York

 

Regulating private forestry in the West and South: Two policy models

During the 1980s, public policies related to forest practices on private lands changed considerably. Local ordinances proliferated in the Northeast; some local governments in the South began to regulate forest practices; and state forest practice laws enacted in the West during the 1970s were ...

Public attitudes toward local farmland protection programs

Using telephone survey data, this study analyzes citizen attitudes toward a locally based farmland protection program for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The study findings indicate widespread public support for farmland protection, in general, and strong support for zoning and purchase of ...

Preserving forests in urbanizing landscapes: Is it possible?

Urbanization modifies the physical, chemical, and biotic environment of ecosystems. This paper discusses the ecological consequences of these environmental changes on remnant forest stands. This paper also examines the management and planning implications of these changes and specifically makes ...

Farmland preservation policy and programs

The publication of the National Agricultural Lands Study (NALS) in 1981 was followed by journal articles and newspaper reports that posed the question: "Where have the farmlands gone?" Some of these articles expressed concern about the decrease in the amount of farmland and the adverse effects upon ...

Farming in an urbanizing environment: Agricultural land use conflicts and right to farm

This paper examines one of the lesser known components of current constraints on American farmers, namely, the dynamics of land use conflicts under conditions of increasing urbanization. Throughout U.S. history, the main direction for migration was from rural to urban areas. However, starting in ...

Environmental effects of forest soil-invertebrate and fungal densities in oak stands along an urban-rural land use gradient

Urban-rural land use gradients are environmental gradients determined largely by human activity. Although gradients of land use are readily measurable, little is known about the effects of urbanization on forest soil properties and soil fauna and microflora. The purpose of this research was to ...

Emerging region of opportunity

 

Effects of wildland development on forest bird communities

The rapid urbanization of rural landscapes for primary and secondary homes can significantly affect bird populations as wildlands are developed. To study this effect, we conducted bird counts within the Lake of the Ozarks region of central Missouri in three different landscape types: wildlands, ...

Effects of urbanization on natural resource management

Parcelization is a process that divides a single ownership into two or more ownerships. Fragmentation, on the other hand, is a deforestation process that divides a large contiguous forest parcel into two or more discontinuous parcels. Each of these processes may result from development activities ...

Ecosystem processes along an urban-to-rural gradient

In order to understand the effect of urban development on the functioning of forest ecosystems, during the past decade we have been studying red oak stands located on similar soil along an urban-rural gradient running from New York City to rural Litchfield County, Connecticut. This paper summarizes ...

Earthworm abundance and nitrogen mineralization rates along an urban-rural land use gradient

Preliminary observations of glaciated regions in North America suggest that forest stands associated with urban areas may support high populations of non-native species of earthworms relative to forests in rural areas. Moreover, the presence of these non-native species of worms may be moderating ...

Demography: a tool for understanding the wildland-urban interface fire problem

Fire managers across the nation are confronting the rapidly developing problem created by movement of people into wildland areas, increasing what has been termed the wildland-urban interface. The problem is very complex from the standpoint of fire planning and management. To plan and manage more ...

Deforestation patterns and their effects on forest patches

Five identifiable patterns of deforestation are recognized - internal, indentation, cropping, fragmentation, and removal - and each has a distinct effect on habitat quality of forest patches in the eastern United States. By overlaying land use maps from 1973 and 1981 for three counties in the State ...

CH4 uptake and N availability in forest soils along an urban to rural gradient

Concern about increases in atmospheric CH4 concentrations has resulted in investigations of the magnitude of and the factors that control aerobic soils as a sink for CH4. N additions decrease CH4 consumption in temperate forest, prairie and agricultural soils, suggesting that low rates of CH4 ...

Benefits and costs of forestry best management practices in Virginia

Benefits and costs of Virginia's forestry best management practices (BMPs) were estimated for the Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain regions using three actual nonregulatory phases and one theoretical regulatory phase of forest water quality protection. The four phases ranged from passive, ...

Attitudes in the Tennessee Valley region toward forest practices and policies

Telephone interviews conducted in Fall, 1992 with 987 households throughout the Tennessee Valley region provide data on public knowledge and opinions regarding forestry practices, forest-based economic development, and forest policy. The idea of managing forest resources to produce consumer ...

Analysis of population growth and forest loss

The Highlands is a physiographic province that stretches from western Connecticut to eastern Pennsylvania. The area is well known for its scenic beauty, historic landscapes, and biological diversity. In the past, because of its topography and distance from neighboring metropolitan areas, the ...