Construction of a Sustainable City Park in Ruddle, WV: A Model for Sustainable Park Design in Humid Climates

Three sustainable projects were studied under a sustainable park model for humid climates to determine where their costs lie in terms of installation, maintenance or both. These projects included the use of solar lighting to replace every configuration of conventional lighting, inclusion of a water garden/bog filter and Riparian Buffer System for the purposes of filtering sediments and nutrients out of runoff to prevent contaminated runoff from reaching the river that was adjacent to the park model location and construction of a LEED-inspired building to serve as the concession stand/restrooms building. The aggregate cost savings of instituting all three projects over ten years was $74,120 and the entire project paid itself off in approximately four years.

Surface and Groundwater Environmental Policy Compliance at the Adams County Regional Park and Fairgrounds

The Adams County Regional Park and Fairgrounds must comply with environmental policies related to surface water and groundwater protection. This paper assesses various methods which have proven to be effective in the reduction of nutrients and other contaminants found in surface and groundwater at comparable livestock-based venues. Data was gathered from other facilities in order to identify specific compliance alternatives and evaluate management options. Empirical research, coupled with GIS mapping technology yielded explicit water quality management recommendations for the Adams County Regional Park and Fairgrounds. The outcome of this research and mapping exercise include twelve management recommendations and two site-specific locations for structural BMPs designed to better control water pollution at the Adams County Regional Park and Fairgrounds.

Traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in the Serra de Mariola Natural Park, South-eastern Spain

The present study aims to inventory and analyse the ethnobotanical knowledge about medicinal plants in the Serra de Mariola Natural Park. In respect to traditional uses, 93 species reported by local informants were therapeutic, 27 food, 4 natural dyes and 13 handcrafts. We developed a methodology that allowed the location of individuals or vegetation communities with a specific popular use. We prepared a geographic information system (GIS) that included gender, family, scientific nomenclature and common names in Spanish and Catalan for each species. We also made a classification of 39 medicinal uses from ATC (Anatomical, Therapeutic, Chemical classification system). Labiatae (n=19), Compositae (n=9) and Leguminosae (n=6) were the families most represented among the plants used to different purposes in humans. Species with the most elevated cultural importance index (CI) values were Thymus vulgaris (CI=1.431), Rosmarinus officinalis (CI=1.415), Eryngium campestre (CI=1.325), Verbascum sinuatum (CI=1.106) and Sideritis angustifolia (CI=1.041). Thus, the collected plants with more therapeutic uses were: Lippia triphylla (12), Thymus vulgaris and Allium roseum (9) and Erygium campestre (8). The most repeated ATC uses were: G04 (urological use), D03 (treatment of wounds and ulcers) and R02 (throat diseases). These results were in a geographic map where each point represented an individual of any species. A database was created with the corresponding therapeutic uses. This application is useful for the identification of individuals and the selection of species for specific medicinal properties. In the end, knowledge of these useful plants may be interesting to revive the local economy and in some cases promote their cultivation.

Charles River Basin park (proposed), Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1880 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Proposed Charles River park, engraved for C. Davenport. It was published ca. 1880. Scale [ca. 1:21,100]. Covers the Charles River Basin and surrounding portions of Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Massachusetts State Plane Coordinate System, Mainland Zone (in Feet) (Fipszone 2001). All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as roads, railroads, drainage, selected public buildings, parks, and more. Includes table of areas and insets: View from the foot of Mt. Vernon St. -- [Map of Boston and vicinity]. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps of Massachusetts from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates (1755-1922), scales, and purposes. The digitized selection includes maps of: the state, Massachusetts counties, town surveys, coastal features, real property, parks, cemeteries, railroads, roads, public works projects, etc.

Franklin Park, Boston, Massachusetts, 1885 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: General plan of Franklin Park, [by] City of Boston, Park Dept. ; Fredk. Law Olmsted, landscape architect ; William Jackson, city engineer ; Wm. M. Coombs, del. It was published in 1885. Scale [ca. 1:2,700]. Shows park paths and drives, and park features and areas (fields, hills, gardens, grounds, woods, etc.) Relief is shown by spot heights. The map includes a descriptive text, an index map with key, and tables: distances from park, areas, and lengths of ways. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Massachusetts State Plane Coordinate System, Mainland Zone (in Feet) (Fipszone 2001). All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, or other information associated with the principal map. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps of Massachusetts from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates (1755-1922), scales, and purposes. The digitized selection includes maps of: the state, Massachusetts counties, town surveys, coastal features, real property, parks, cemeteries, railroads, roads, public works projects, etc.

(Table 3) Pollen analytical and carpological record of the outcrop Hölle below Dwadieden Park, Rügen Island

Pollen analyses and 14C-datings were carried out on two late glacial profiles from Ruegen Island, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at the southwestern Baltic coast. The palaeoclimatic and palaeoecologic interpretations were supported by carpological investigations. The organogenic deposits of the 'Hoelle' outcrop near Dwasieden Park were chosen because of their unique stratigraphic position, which according to PANZIG (1989), lay under a m3m-Glacial Till of the Mecklenburg Advance (W3). The results indicated that the initial phase of the late glacial sedimentation in a relatively small and asymmetrical lake basin (in comparison with the larger Nieder- and Credner lake to the southwest), probably had its origin in the older Alleroed (II a) after FIRBAS (1949). The basal clastic sediments were rapidly followed by peat deposits and later, due to a rising water table, by muds rich in organic matter. The area was covered with sparse Betula-(Pinus) forests having heliophilous late-glacial elements typical of the surrounding areas during the younger Alleroed (II b). With the climatic change to colder and drier conditions at the beginning of the Younger Dryas (III), the vegetation decreased and enhanced erosional processes led to the fill up of the depression with fine clastic sediments. The intense relief differences of the surroundings coupled with high water saturation in the sediments led to solifluction in the m3m-Glacial Till and its placement discordantly over the organogenic sequence.