Transcript A Sand county Almanac

Land and Water Use
Topics
Rangeland
 Urban Land Development
 Public and Federal Lands
 Mining
 Fishing
 Global Economics

Rangeland
Rangeland


Vast natural
landscapes with
different vegetation
including tall and
short grasslands,
chaparral, scrubland,
woodlands, and
wetlands
Covered in natural
vegetation and often
used as grazing lands
Rangelands

Rangelands are about 40% of the land in the US


Nearly 80% of the land in the west
Only 7% on the east coast
Value of Rangelands

Source of grazing for livestock and wildlife

Low input, fully renewable food production
Source of high quality water, clean air, and
open space
 Setting for recreation


Fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, nature
experiences
Used for agriculture, mining, and living
communities
 Habitat for many game and non-game
animals
 Habitat for diverse array of natural plants

Overgrazing
Occurs when plants are exposed for too
long without sufficient recovery periods.
 Plants that are overgrazed lose their
stored energy and die



Root dieback can add nutrients to the soil and
improve water retention
Plants are over grazed when it is regrazed
before the roots recover

Overgrazing slows root growth by 90%
Consequence of overgrazing
Pastures are less productive
 Soils have less organic matter and are less
fertile
 Soil porosity is decreased
 Infiltration and moisture holding capacity
of the soil drops
 Desired plants become stressed and
weedier species thrive
 Biodiversity decreases by reducing native
vegetation

Consequence of overgrazing
Erosion can occur
 Riparian (river banks, stream beds) can
be destroyed and increase silting
 Eutrophication due to cattle waste
 Balance of ecosystem is threatened
through predator control programs
 Diseases can thrive
 Sustainability of the land is threatened

Desertification
Conversion of marginal rangeland or
cropland to more desert type land
 Caused by:





Overgrazing
Soil erosion
Prolonged drought
Climate change
Steps of desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Overgrazing results in animals eating all
available plant life
Rain washes away trampled soil
Wells, springs, and other water sources dry up
Remaining vegetation dies or is taken for
firewood
Weeds unsuitable to grazing take over
Ground becomes unsuitable for seed
germination
Winds and dry heat blow away the topsoil
Federal Rangeland Management
Jurisdiction through Forest Service and
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
 Before 1995: policies determined by
rancher advisory boards
 After 1995: resource advisory council was
formed by member of many groups with
many interests
 40% of federal grazing permits are owned
by 3% (~2000) of all livestock operators


True cost =~$10 - $20 per animal per day
Methods of rangeland management
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Controlling the number and distribution
of livestock so that the carrying capacity
is not exceeded
Restoring degraded rangeland
Moving livestock from one area to
another to allow the rangeland to recover
Fencing off riparian areas to reduce
damage to these sensitive areas
Suppressing the growth of invasive plant
species
Methods of rangeland management
6.
7.
8.
Replanting barren rangeland with native
grass seed to reduce soil erosion
Providing supplemental feed at selected
sites
Locating water holes, water tanks, and
salt blocks at strategic points that do not
degrade the environment
Conservation concerns

Land administered by the BLM is inhabited
by 219 species of wildlife

Livestock grazing is the fifth rated threat
to endangered plant species, fourth
leading threat to endangered wildlife, and
number one threat to endangered species
in arid regions
Urban Land Development
Planned Development

In US



Use:



76 million residential buildings
5 million commercial buildings
1/3 of the energy
2/3 of the electricity
Energy needs



½ of sulfur dioxide
1/4 of nitrous oxide
1/3 of carbon dioxide
Green buildings and cities
Focus on systems approach
 Include:






Energy conservation through government and
private rebates, tax incentives, and other lesspolluting forms of energy
Resource-efficient building techniques and
materials
Indoor air quality
Water conservation through use of xeriscaping
Designs that minimize waste while utilizing
recycled materials
Green buildings and cities

Include:



Placing buildings whenever possible near public
transportation hubs that use a multitude of
venues such as light rail, subways, and park
and rides
Creating environments that are pedestrian
friendly by incorporating parks, green-belts,
and shopping areas in accessible areas
Preserving historical and cultural aspects of the
community while at the same time blending
into natural feeling and aesthetics of a
community
Suburban sprawl and urbanization



Urbanization = the movement of people form
rural areas to cities and the changes that
accompany it
Greatest urbanization in Asia and Africa
Reasons for the move:





Access to jobs
Easier access to health care
Mechanization of agriculture
Access to education
Nations with most rapid increase in urbanization
are those with the most rapid economic growth
Pros of urbanization





Uses less land – less
impact on the
environment
Better education
delivery system
Mass transit systems
reduce reliance on
fossil fuels – shorter
commute
Better sanitation
Recycling systems are
more efficient



Large numbers of
people generate
higher tax revenues
Urban areas attract
industry due to
availability of raw
materials, distribution
networks, customers,
and labor pool
Much pollution comes
from point sources –
enables focused
remediation
techniques
Cons of urbanization





More concentrated
impact on the land
Overcrowded schools
Commuting times are
longer because
infrastructure cannot
keep up with growth
Sanitiation systems
have greater volumes
of waste to deal with
Solid-waste build up is
more pronounced –
landfill space is scarce
and costly




Large number of poor
strain social services –
wealthier people move
to suburbs and
decreases the tax
base
High population
densities lead to
higher crime rates
Population increase
may be greater than
job growth rate
Pollution levels are
high
Transportation and Infrastructure

Transportation can be via roadways or
water channels

Areas without transportation infrastructure
suffer ecosystem impacts


Degraded environment due to off-roading
People take multiple paths through the
environment instead of just one
Federal Highway System
~160,000 miles of roadway important to
nations economy, defense, and mobility
 Receive federal funding but are owned,
built, and operated by the states
 Taxes




18 cents/ gallon of gas
25 cents/ gallon of diesel
Tax on heavy vehicles
Federal Highway System Continued
Serves all major US cities
 Interstates go through downtown areas
and facilitate urban sprawl
 Virtually all goods and services go involve
the highways system at some point in
time

Impact of an efficient and well
maintained highways system



Less pollution: less stop and go traffic = less
pollution
Reduced green house gasses: reduced congestion
= less greenhouse gas emissions
Improve fuel economy and reduce dependence
on foreign oil: fueled economy (mpg) is reduced
in traffic



Modest improvements would save 1 billion gallons of
fuel each year
Improve the economy: interstates return $6 for
every $1 invested
Improve the quality of life: allow products to be
distributed more efficiently
Canals and Channels

Channel (straight) –
narrow body of water
that connect two
larger bodies of water

Can be natural or
constructed

Need dredging because
of silting
Channels

Channels frequented by ships are
maintained by the Department of the
Interior

Monitored and policed by the Coast Guard

Smaller channels are maintained by state
and local governments
Suez Canal



163 mile canal
connect the Red
Sea and the
Mediterranean
Allows water
transport between
Europe and Asia
without going
around Africa
8% of the world’s
shipping goes
through the Suez
Canal
Panama Canal


48 mile canal
connecting the Pacific
Ocean with the
Atlantic
Allows water transport
without going around
South America
Lake Gatun
An artificial lake created to help traffic on
the Panama Canal
 Deforestation has lead to rapid run off of
rain and erosion of the slopes



The lake needs to be dredged to maintain its
depth
Shortfall in the dry season threatens the lake’s
capacity
Roadless Areas and Ecosystem Impact
Roadless areas are a haven for fish and
wildlife interior species that have suffered
habitat loss in other areas
 Provide habitat to 1600+ threatened or
endangered species
 Protects watersheds
 Roadless rule protects 60 million acres or
31% of National Forest systems – 2% of
total land area

Public and Federal Lands
Management – BLM

Manages:



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
1/8 of the United States (262 million acres)
300 million acres of subsurface mining
resources
Wildlife management and preservation on 400
million acres
Mostly in western US and Alaska
Grasslands, forests, high mountains, arctic
tundra, deserts
Resources: energy, mineral, timber, forage,
wild horse and burro populations, fish and
wildlife habitats, wilderness, areas,
archeological, paleontological, and historical
sites
National Parks

World wide: over 1,100

Most do not receive protection from poachers, loggers,
miners, and farmers due to cost involved
U.S. National Parks
84 million acres (4 million in private
ownership)
 Threatened by:


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large numbers of visitors
Congestion
eroded trails
noise pollution
pollution from autos and visitors
introduction of invasive species
off road vehicles
commercial activities
Solution to national park issues

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

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
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Reducing amount of private land within national
parks
Providing education programs to the public
Setting quotas on attendance through advanced
reservation
Adopting a fee that covers costs
Banning off-road vehicles
Banning autos and providing buses to control traffic
Providing tax incentives to property owners near
parks to use land grants
Conducting periodic and detailed wildlife and plant
inventories
Laws relevant to national parks
Wilderness act (1964)
 Wild and scenic rivers act (1968)
 Food Security Act (1985): a.k.a
“Swampbuster” contains provisions to
discourage the conversion of wetlands into
non-wetland areas. Also created system
for farmers to regain lost federal benefits
if they restore converted wetlands.

Wildlife Refuges
1st: Pelican Island, 4-acres off the coast of
Florida in 1903 to protect breeding birds
 First created to protect wildlife that was
over hunted

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Bison, birds
System developed piecemeal in response
to wildlife crisis
National Wildlife Refuge

Consists of:
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547 refuges
93+ million acres
Managed by Fish and Wildlife Service
Wetlands

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Areas that are covered
by water and support
plants that can grow
in water-saturated soil
High plant productivity
Support rich diversity
of animal life
Countries with most:



Canada
Russian Federation
Brazil
Value of wetlands
Natural water purification systems
 Stabilize shorelines and reduce damage by
storm surges
 Reduce the risk of flooding
 Reduce salt water intrusion
 Habitat for many species during all or part
of their life cycle

Types of Wetlands

Fen
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


Has a continuous source of ground water rich
in magnesium and calcium (alkaline or basic)
Water is from glacial deposits
Ground is impermeable to water so water sits
on the surface
Bog




Accumulates acidic peat
In cold and temperate climates
Low in nutrients and highly acidic
Carnivorous plants adapted
Habitat Loss

In US, wetlands used to cover 10% of the
land; now they only cover 5%

Most in Louisiana and Florida
90% of habitat loss is due to conversion to
agriculture or urban development
 1/3 of all endangered species in US spend
part of their life in a wetland

Wilderness areas
Wild or primitive portions of national
forests, parks, and wildlife refuges where
little to no human activity occurs
 Wilderness Act created National
Wilderness Preservation System
 Encompasses a wide variety of
ecosystems throughout the country

Land Conservation Options
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Protect functioning of public land ecosystems
through monitoring and enforcement
Adopt a user pay to extract resources on public
lands
Institute fair compensation for resources
Require responsibility for any user who damages
or alters public lands
Adopt uneven aged forestry management
Include ecological services of trees in estimating
value
Reduce road building into uncut lands and require
restoration plans for areas currently used
Land Conservation Options
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Coordinate with forest service to leave fallen trees
to promote nutrient cycling
Grow timber in longer rotations
Reduce or eliminate clear-cutting, sheltered wood
cutting, or seed tree cutting on sloped land
Rely on more sustainable tree cutting methods
Reduce fragmentation of remaining large forests
Require certification of lumber that is cut
according to sustainable practices
Use sustainable techniques in tropical forests
Create solutions to urban land use problems
including zoning.
Conservation vocab

Preservation or sustainable: to keep or maintain
intact


Remediation: to act or process of correcting a fault
or deficiency


Ex: cleaning up from Exxon Valdez or Deep Water horizon
oil spills
Mitigation: to moderate or alleviate in force and
intensity


Ex. Land trusts
Ex: Road reflectors to make deer freeze before entering a
road
Restoration: to restore to its former good condition

Ex: removing a dam
Mining
Over view of mining
Steps
Descriptions
Environmental Issues
Mining
Removing a mineral resource
from the ground. Can involve
underground, open pit, strip
mining, etc.
Mine wastes – acid and
toxins
Displacement of native
species
Reclamation of land and
recycling
Processing
Removing ore from gangue
(non-ore material). Involves
transportation, processing,
smelting, and manufacturing
Pollution (air, water, soil, and
noise)
Use
Involves distribution to end
user
Human health concerns,
risks, and hazards
Steps of mining
1.
2.
3.
4.
Exploration: looking for areas that
contain desired resources
Site Development: take samples to
determine quality and quantity of
material; construct roads and bring in
equipment
Extraction: Removing the material from
the ground
Processing: Valuable material is
extracted from the ore
Types of mining
1.
Surface mining: soil and rock over resource is
removed to gain access to material underneath

Enlarged until deposit is exhausted or costs become to
high
Types of surface mining
1.
Strip mining: area stripped is fairly flat; take from
a large area
Ex: tar sands
2.
Open pit mining: removal of materials from an
open air pit
Ex: diamonds
3.
Mountaintop removal mining: all rock and soil
above seam is removed and placed in valleys
Ex: Coal
4.
5.
Dredging: collecting soil from bottom of the sea
Highwall mining: uses continuous mining machine
under remote control to remove material
Ex: coal
Types of mining
2.
Underground mining: large shafts dug
into earth to remove material


3.
Less surface damage
Can lead to acidification of ground water after
mine is abandoned
in situ leaching: small holes drilled into
site and water based chemical solvents
are used to extract minerals
Processing


Removes usable materials from ore
Involves heat and/or chemicals
Global Reserves
2 billion tons of minerals are extracted
and used each year in the US
 US imports 50% of the most needed
minerals
 US, Germany, and Russia are 8% of the
population but use 75% of most widely
used metals

Relevant Laws



General Mining Law (1872): grants free access
to individuals and corporations to prospect for
minerals in public domain and allows them,
upon making a discovery, to stake a claim on
that deposit
Mineral Leasing Act (1920): authorizes and
governs leasing of public lands form developing
deposits of coal, petroleum, natural gas and
other hydrocarbons, phosphates, and sodium
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
(1977): Established a program for regulating
surface coal mining and reclamation activities
Fishing
Fishing Techniques
Bottom trawling
 Drift Net
 Long Line
 Purse Seine


Terms:

Target/ commercial
species: the species
that are being
sought in the
fishing

Bycatch: animals
caught that are not
the target species
Bottom trawling

Use a funnelshaped net to drag
the ocean bottom

Target Species:



Cod
Flounder
Scallops
Drift Net
Long Expanses of
nets that hang
down in the water
 Traps: turtles, sea
birds, marine
mammals
 1992 UN voluntary
ban on drift nets
longer than 1.5 mi
 Ghost fishing

Longline
Place very long
lines with
thousands of
baited hooks
 Target species:
swordfish, tuna,
sharks, halibut,
cod
 Bycatch: sea
turtles, pilot
whales, dolphins

Purse Seine
Surrounds school
of fish spotted with
aircraft with a
large net which is
drawn tight
 Target species:
tuna, mackerel,
anchovies, herring
 Bycatch: dolphins,
sea turtles

Overfishing



Oceans supply 1% of
all human food and
10% of world’s protein
source
China responsible for
1/3 of all fishing
1/3 are used for nonconsumption
 Fish oil
 Fish meal
 Animal feed

1/3 of global catches
are bycatch


discarded
Maximum sustained
yield = largest
amount of marine
organisms that can
be harvested without
causing a population
crash
Overfishing
Techniques to Sustainably Managing
Fisheries
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Regulate locations and numbers of fish farms
and monitor their pollution output
Encourage the production of herbivorous fish
species
Require and enforce labeling of fish products
that were raised of caught according to
sustainable methods
Set catch limits far below maximum
sustainable yields
Eliminate government subsidies for
commercial fishing
Techniques to Sustainably Managing
Fisheries
6.
7.
8.
9.
Prevent importation of fish from foreign
countries that do not adhere to sustainableharvesting methods.
Place trading sanctions on foreign countries
that do not adhere to sustainable-harvesting
methods
Assess fees for harvesting fish and shellfish
from public waters
Increase the number of marine sanctuaries
and no-fishing areas
Techniques to Sustainably Managing
Fisheries
10. Increase
penalties for fishing techniques that
do not allow escape of bycatch, including
unwanted fish species, marine mammals,
sea birds, and sea turtles
11. Ban the throwing back of bycatch
12. Monitor and destroy invasive species
transported through ship ballast
How to restore freshwater fish
habitat
Planting native
 Restoring fish passages
vegetation on
around human madestream banks
impediments
 Rehabilitating in Monitoring, regulating,
stream habitats
and enforcing
recreational and
 Controlling erosion
commercial fishing
 Controlling
 Protecting costal
invasive species
estuaries and wetlands

Aquaculture

(or mariculture) =
fish farming


Growing
commercial species
for food
Involves:




Stocking
Feeding
Protection from
predators
Harvesting
Aquaculture
Industry growing
by 6% annually
 Provides 5% of
world’s total food
production
 Most in lessdeveloped
countries


Products:

Seaweeds

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Mollusks = 80%


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Kelp = 75%
Mussels
Oysters
Shrimp = 40%
Salmon
Trout
Catfish
Advantages

Cold blooded animals convert more feed
to useable protein


Requires less feed than livestock systems
For every hectare of ocean oyster farming can
produce 58,000 kg of protein

Harvesting oysters = 10kg
Requirements
Species must be marketable
 Inexpensive to raise
 Trophically efficient
 Marketable to size at 1 – 2 years
 Disease resistant

Disadvantages
Industrial aquaculture posses a threat to
marine and coastal biological diversity
 Creates wide-scale destruction and
degradation of natural habitats
 Leaves nutrients and antibiotics as
aquaculture waste
 Accidental release of alien or modified
species into native waters
 Transmission of disease to wild stocks
 Displacement of local indigenous human
communities

Case Study – Salmon Farming
22% of all retail seafood
 Farmed salmon have more PCBs than any
other protein source



Fattened with fish meal and fish oils high in
PCBs
PCB = polychlorinated biphenyls



Banned in US in 1970’s – persistent pollutants
Cause cancer and fetal development effects
Farmed salmon contains 52% more fat
that wild caught salmon
Relevant Laws

Anadromous Fish Conservation Act
(1965): authorizes Sectary of the Interior
to enter into agreements to conserve,
develop, and enhance anadromous fish
resources in the US.


Anadromous = fish that migrate from the sea
to fresh water to spawn
Example: Salmon
Relevant Laws

Magnuson Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (1976):






Governs marine fisheries in US federal waters
Aside in development of domestic fishing
industry by phasing out foreign fishing
Manage fisheries
Promote conservation
Created eight regional fishery management
councils
1996 amendments focused on rebuilding
overfished fisheries, protecting essential fish
habitat, reducing bycatch
Relevant Laws

United Nations Treaty on the Law of the
Sea (1982):


Defines rights and responsibilities of nations in
their use of the world’s oceans
Establishes guidelines for businesses, the
environment, and management of marine
resources
Global Economics
Global Economy and the environment
The environment contains resources that
can be used in the economy
 Use of resources contains new
environmental issues
 Increased economic activity improves
standards of living
 Until recently development of economies
and local environments were seperate

World Bank
Source of financial and technical
assistance to the developing world
 Owned by 184 member countries
 Provides low interest loans, interest-free
credit, and grants to developing countries
to improve education, health,
infrastructure, communications, and
environmental issues
 In 2001 endorsed a strategy to focus on
environmental issues

World bank environmental projects
$13.8 billion in areas of biodiversity,
conservation, climate change, and
international waters
 $740 million to phase out ozone-depleting
substances
 $1.6 billion into projects that reduce green
house gas emisions

“Tragedy of the Commons”

Overuse of common/public land leads to:


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Uncontrolled human population growth
Air pollution
Over extraction of ground water and wasting
water due to excessive irrigation
Frontier logging of old growth forests and slash
and burn
Habitat destruction
Poaching
overfishing
Limits to “Tragedy of the Commons”






Economic decisions are short term while
environmental consequences are long term
Land that is privately owned is subject to market
pressure
Some commons are easier to control than others
Incorporating discount rates into the valuation of
resources would be an incentive for investors to
bear a short-term cost for a long-term gain
Breaking commons into smaller, privately owned
parcels fragments government policies
Different standards and practices may affect one
parcel differently than others
Names to know





Rachel Carson: Wrote Silent Spring lead to ban on
DDT
Aldo Leopold: book A Sand county Almanac.
Developed environmental ethics
John Muir: Founded Sierra Club and helped save
many wilderness areas
Theodore Roosevelt: 26 president setting aside land
for national forests, wildlife refuges, developing
farmlands, and advocating for protecting wild spaces
Henry David Thoreau: book Walden discussed
materialism and need for conservation