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\"Point Reyes National Seashore has a long history as a working landscape, with dairy and beef ranching, fishing, and oyster farming; yet, since 1962 it has also been managed as a National Seashore. The Paradox of Preservation chronicles how national ideals about what a park 'ought to be' have developed over time and what happens when these ideals are implemented by the National Park Service (NPS) in its efforts to preserve places that are also lived-in landscapes. Using the conflict surrounding the closure of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company, Laura Alice Watt examines how NPS management policies and processes for land use and protection do not always reflect the needs and values of local residents. Instead, the resulting landscapes produced by the NPS represent a series of compromises between use and protection--and between the area's historic pastoral character and a newer vision of wilderness. A fascinating and deeply researched book, The Paradox of Preservation will appeal to those studying environmental history, conservation, public lands, and cultural landscape management, or to those looking to learn more about the history of this dynamic California coastal region\"--Provided by publisher.

Rapid urban growth processes give rise to impervious surfaces and are regarded as the primary cause of urban flooding or waterlogging in urban areas. The high rate of urbanization has caused waterlogging and urban flooding in many parts of Dhaka city. Therefore, the study is undertaken to quantify the changes in land use/land cover (LULC) and urban runoff extent based on the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Curve Number (CN) during 1978–2018. The five-decadal LULC has been analyzed using three-generation Landsat time-series data considering six different classes, namely agriculture, built-up, wetland, open land, green spaces, and water bodies for the years 1978, 1988, 1998, 2007, and 2018. Significant changes in LULC for the study area from 1978–2018 are observed as 13.1%, 4.8%, and 7.8% reduction in agricultural land, green spaces, and water bodies, respectively, and a 22.1% increase in the built-up area is estimated. Within Dhaka city, 14.6%, 16.0%, and 12.3% reduction in agricultural land, green spaces, and water bodies, respectively, and a radical increase of 41.9% in built-up area are reckoned. The decadal runoff assessment has been carried out using the NRCS-CN method, considering an extreme rainfall event of 341 mm/day (13 September 2004). The catchment area under very high runoff category is observed as 159.5 km2 (1978) and 318.3 km2 (2018), whereas, for Dhaka city, the setting is dynamic as the area under the very high runoff category has increased from 74.24 km2 (24.44%) to 174.23 km2 (57.36%) in years 1978 and 2018, respectively, and, mostly, the very high runoff potential areas correspond to the dense built-up surfaces.

Environmental conservation actions conducted by private landowners are critically important for conservation efforts worldwide. Incentive programs are used to engage landowners in voluntary conservation, but outcomes after landowners exit these programs are poorly understood. Previous research identified several pathways, including landowner motivations, cognitions, and resources, which could sustain or undermine continued conservation management behavior after incentive program participation. We tested the utility of these pathways for explaining management intentions of participants in U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) young forest habitat conservation programs in the eastern United States. We conducted a telephone survey of enrolled landowners in the programs from January to May 2017 (n = 102). We compared candidate multiple regression models to determine variables explaining landowner intentions to re-enroll in young forest programs or to persist with management without further cost-share. We found intentions to re-enroll in NRCS young forest programs were highest among landowners with high agency trust, and for whom cost-share, environmental concerns, and hunting were important motivations. Management persistence intentions were highest for group landowners (e.g., hunting clubs and nonprofits), landowners motivated by environmental concerns, and those less motivated by cost-share. Our results suggest that fostering trust through positive program experiences and recruiting landowners with supportive motivations and resources may encourage sustained young forest management. Differences in variables explaining program re-enrollment and management persistence in this study highlight the importance of considering these outcomes separately for conservation programs widely.

The Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) method, also known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service curve number (NRCS-CN) method, is popular for computing the volume of direct surface runoff for a given rainfall event. The performance of the SCS-CN method, based on large rainfall ( P ) and runoff ( Q ) datasets of United States watersheds, is evaluated using a large dataset of natural storm events from 27 agricultural plots in India. On the whole, the CN estimates from the National Engineering Handbook (chapter 4) tables do not match those derived from the observed P and Q datasets. As a result, the runoff prediction using former CNs was poor for the data of 22 (out of 24) plots. However, the match was little better for higher CN values, consistent with the general notion that the existing SCS-CN method performs better for high rainfall–runoff (high CN) events. Infiltration capacity (fc) was the main explanatory variable for runoff (or CN) production in study plots as it exhibited the expected inverse relationship between CN and fc. The plot-data optimization yielded initial abstraction coefficient ( λ ) values from 0 to 0.659 for the ordered dataset and 0 to 0.208 for the natural dataset (with 0 as the most frequent value). Mean and median λ values were, respectively, 0.030 and 0 for the natural rainfall–runoff dataset and 0.108 and 0 for the ordered rainfall–runoff dataset. Runoff estimation was very sensitive to λ and it improved consistently as λ changed from 0.2 to 0.03.

Surface soil moisture plays an important role in the dynamics of land–atmosphere interactions and many current and upcoming models and satellite sensors. In situ data will be required to provide calibration and validation datasets. Therefore, there is a need for sensor networks at a variety of scales that provide near-real-time soil moisture and temperature data combined with other climate information for use in natural resource planning, drought assessment, water resource management, and resource inventory. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)–Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)–National Water and Climate Center has established a continental-scale network to address this need, called the Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN). This ever-growing network has more than 116 stations located in 39 states, most of which have been installed since 1999. The stations are remotely located and collect hourly atmospheric, soil moisture, and soil temperature data that are available to the public online in near–real time. New stations are located on benchmark soils when possible. Future plans for the network include increasing the number of stations, improving on user-friendly data summaries, increasing data quality, and scaling the stations to the surrounding region.

The Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) was created in response to a request from the Office of Management and Budget that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) document the societal benefits anticipated to accrue from a major increase in conservation funding authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill. A comprehensive evaluation of the efficacy of rangeland conservation practices cost-shared with private landowners was unable to evaluate conservation benefits because outcomes were seldom documented. Four interrelated suppositions are presented to examine the causes underlying minimal documentation of conservations outcomes. These suppositions are (1) the benefits of conservation practices are considered a certainty so that documentation in not required, (2) there is minimal knowledge exchange between the USDA-NRCS and research organizations, (3) and a paucity of conservation-relevant science, as well as (4) inadequate technical support for land owners following implementation of conservation practices. We then follow with recommendations to overcome potential barriers to documentation of conservation outcomes identified for each supposition. Collectively, this assessment indicates that the existing conservation practice standards are insufficient to effectively administer large conservation investments on rangelands and that modification of these standards alone will not achieve the goals explicitly stated by CEAP. We recommend that USDA-NRCS modify its conservation programs around a more comprehensive and integrative platform that is capable of implementing evidence-based conservation. Collaborative monitoring organized around landowner-agency-scientist partnerships would represent the focal point of a Conservation Program Assessment Network (CPAN). The primary network objective would be to establish missing information feedback loops between conservation practices and their agricultural and environmental outcomes to promote learning, adaptive management, and innovation. Network information would be archived and made available to guide other, related conservation programs in relevant ecoregions. Restructuring conservation programs as we recommend would (1) provide site specific information, learning, and accountability that has been requested by CEAP and (2) further advance balanced delivery of agricultural production and environmental quality goals.

Survey information was combined with natural resource information at NRI sample points to provide preliminary estimates of reductions in soil loss, nutrient loss, pesticide loss, and enhancement of soil quality that are attributable to conservation practices. * CEAP Wetlands initiated studies in five regions to quantify wetland ecosystem services affected by conservation practices. Preliminary findings have been produced for the Prairie Pothole and Mississippi Alluvial Valley regions. * CEAP Wildlife initiated regional assessment studies focused on documenting important wildlife species habitat associations with conservation activities. * CEAP Grazing Lands developed a plan for assessing the effects of conservation practices for rangelands, pastureland, and grazed forest land. * The NAL provided researchers and the public with extensive bibliographies of research findings on the effects of conservation practices. * ARS and the SWCS completed a syndesis of the scientific literature on the effects of conservation practices on cropland. * The Wildlife Society completed two literature reviews of the effects of conservation practices and programs on wildlife. * NRCS engaged SWCS to review CEAP and recommend enhancements to the program, and followed the recommendations of the SWCS Blue Ribbon Panel to expand the scope of CEAP to include program enhancements. * An international workshop was held\"Managing Agricultural Landscapes for Environmental Quality\"-to enhance the understanding of how individual efforts on farms and ranches add up to real and meaningful results at the watershed or landscape scale.

Many states have invested significant resources to identify components of their Phosphorus (P) Index that reliably estimate the relative risk of P loss and incentivize conservation management. However, differences in management recommendations and manure application guidelines for similar field conditions among state P Indices, coupled with minimal reductions in the extent of P‐impaired surface waters and soil test P (STP) levels, led the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to revise the 590 Nutrient Management Standard. In preparation for this revision, NRCS requested that a review of the scientific underpinnings and accuracy of current P Indices be undertaken. They also sought to standardize the interpretation and management implications of P Indices, including establishment of ratings above which P applications should be curtailed. Although some states have initiated STP thresholds above which no application of P is allowed, STP alone cannot define a site's risk of P loss. Phosphorus Indices are intended to account for all of the major factors leading to P loss. A rigorous evaluation of P Indices is needed to determine if they are directionally and magnitudinally correct. Although use of observed P loss data under various management scenarios is ideal, such data are spatially and temporally limited. Alternatively, the use of a locally validated water quality model that has been shown to provide accurate estimates of P loss may be the most expedient option to conduct Index assessments in the short time required by the newly revised 590 Standard.

Public lands alone are insufficient to address the needs of most at-risk wildlife species in the U.S. As a result, a variety of voluntary incentive programs have emerged to recruit private landowners into conservation efforts that restore and manage the habitats needed by specific species. We review the role of one such effort, Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW), initiated by the Natural Resources Conservation Service in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Using two at-risk species in the eastern U.S. (where private lands dominate), we show the substantial potential that WLFW has for restoring and maintaining needed habitats. Monitoring how effective these efforts are on populations of the target species has been challenging, and both monitoring and implementation are being modified in response to new information. Identifying landowner motivations is essential for developing long-term relationships and conservation success. As WLFW projects develop, they are moving toward a more holistic ecosystem approach, within which the conservation goals of at-risk species are embedded.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest terrestrial carbon (C) sink on Earth; this pool plays a critical role in ecosystem processes and climate change. Given the cost and time required to measure SOC, and particularly changes in SOC, many signatory nations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change report estimates of SOC stocks and stock changes using default values from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or country-specific models. In the United States, SOC in forests is monitored by the national forest inventory (NFI) conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. The FIA program has been consistently measuring soil attributes as part of the NFI since 2001 and has amassed an extensive inventory of SOC in forest land in the conterminous United States and southeast and southcentral coastal Alaska. That said, the FIA program has been using country-specific predictions of SOC based, in part, upon a model using SOC estimates from the State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) database compiled by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Estimates obtained from the STATSGO database are averages over large map units and are not expected to provide accurate estimates for specific locations, e.g., NFI plots. To improve the accuracy of SOC estimates in U.S. forests, NFI SOC observations were used for the first time to predict SOC density to a depth of 100 cm for all forested NFI plots. Incorporating soil-forming factors along with observations of SOC into a new estimation framework resulted in a 75% (48 ± 0.78 Mg/ha) increase in SOC densities nationally. This substantially increases the contribution of the SOC pool, from approximately 44% (17 Pg) of the total forest ecosystem C stocks to 56% (28 Pg), in the forest C budget of the United States.