Soil-Landscape relationships at the lower reaches of a watershed at Bear Creek near Oak Ridge, Tennessee

The watersheds at Bear Creek, Oak Ridge, TN, have similar soil–landscape relationships. The lower reaches of many of these watersheds consist of headwater riparian wetlands situated between sloping non-wetland upland zones. The objectives of this study are to examine the effects of (i) slope and geomorphic processes, (ii) human impacts, and (iii) particular characteristics of soils and saprolite that may effect drainage and water movement in the wetlands and adjacent landscapes in one of these watersheds. A transect was run from west to east in a hydrological monitored area at the lower reaches of a watershed on Bear Creek. This transect extended from a steep side slope position across a floodplain, a terrace, and a shoulder slope. On the upland positions of the Nolichucky Shale, mass wasting, overland flow and soil creep currently inhibit soil formation on the steep side slope position where a Typic Dystrudept is present, while soil stability on the shoulder slope has resulted in the formation of a well-developed Typic Hapludult. In these soils, argillic horizons occur above C horizons on less sloping gradients in comparison to steeper slopes, which have Bw horizons over Cr (saprolite) material. A riparian wetland area occupies the floodplain section, where a Typic Endoaquept is characterized by poorly drained conditions that led to the development of redoximorphic features (mottling), gleying, organic matter accumulation, and minimal development of subsurface horizons. A thin colluvial deposit overlies a thick well developed Aquic Hapludalf that formed in alluvial sediments on the terrace position. The colluvial deposit from the adjacent shoulder slope is thought to result from soil creep and anthropogenic erosion caused by past cultivation practices. Runoff from the adjacent sloping landscape and groundwater from the adjacent wetland area perhaps contribute to the somewhat poorly drained conditions of this profile. Perched watertables occur in upland positions due to dense saprolite and clay plugging in the shallow zones of the saprolite. However, no redoximorphic features are observed in the soil on the side slope due to high runoff. Remnants of the underlying shale saprolite, which occur as small discolored zones resembling mottles, are also present. The soils in the study have a CEC of

Sustainability and the Multifunctional Landscape: An Assessment of the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s Approach to Planning and Management in Upland Scotland.

Upland Scotland contains some of Britain’s most prized areas of natural heritage value. However, although such areas may appear both ‘wild’ and ‘remote’, these are typically working landscapes which symbolise the interdependence of nature and society. The complexity of this relationship means that management responses will need to address a multitude of potentially conflicting priorities whilst at the same time ensuring that sufficient social and institutional capital exists to allow for the promotion of landscape integrity. The introduction of national parks to Scotland in the form of the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 allows for a high-level of protection for designated areas in upland Scotland. Yet, whilst the recent Act outlines the statutory purpose and direction national parks should take, it allows a significant degree of flexibility in theway in which the Actmay be implemented. This level of discretion allows for significant local distinctiveness within the model but also raises questions about the potential effectiveness of chosen responses. In order to assess the potential implications of a model rooted in self-determination,we provide a case study review of the institutional basis of the Cairngorms National Park along with an assessment of the strategic character of the first National Park Plan. It is argued that whilst the Cairngorms National Park Authority has developed a significant level of stakeholder engagement, the authority may struggle to bridge the policy-implementation gap. Although a number of shortcomings are identified, particular concerns relate to the potential mismatch between strategic ambition and local level capacity.

Central Park, Sterling, Illinois

Written on front: "Central Park, Sterling, Illinois, 24729." Written on back: "My playground 1911-13 and 1916-19."

Landscape and forest structure at moose mortality sites on Isle Royale National Park. A LiDAR based assessment

Landscape structure and heterogeneity play a potentially important, but little understood role in predator-prey interactions and behaviourally-mediated habitat selection. For example, habitat complexity may either reduce or enhance the efficiency of a predator's efforts to search, track, capture, kill and consume prey. For prey, structural heterogeneity may affect predator detection, avoidance and defense, escape tactics, and the ability to exploit refuges. This study, investigates whether and how vegetation and topographic structure influence the spatial patterns and distribution of moose (Alces alces) mortality due to predation and malnutrition at the local and landscape levels on Isle Royale National Park. 230 locations where wolves (Canis lupus) killed moose during the winters between 2002 and 2010, and 182 moose starvation death sites for the period 1996-2010, were selected from the extensive Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project carcass database. A variety of LiDAR-derived metrics were generated and used in an algorithm model (Random Forest) to identify, characterize, and classify three-dimensional variables significant to each of the mortality classes. Furthermore, spatial models to predict and assess the likelihood at the landscape scale of moose mortality were developed. This research found that the patterns of moose mortality by predation and malnutrition across the landscape are non-random, have a high degree of spatial variability, and that both mechanisms operate in contexts of comparable physiographic and vegetation structure. Wolf winter hunting locations on Isle Royale are more likely to be a result of its prey habitat selection, although they seem to prioritize the overall areas with higher moose density in the winter. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the distribution of moose mortality by predation is habitat-specific to moose, and not to wolves. In addition, moose sex, age, and health condition also affect mortality site selection, as revealed by subtle differences between sites in vegetation heights, vegetation density, and topography. Vegetation density in particular appears to differentiate mortality locations for distinct classes of moose. The results also emphasize the significance of fine-scale landscape and habitat features when addressing predator-prey interactions. These finer scale findings would be easily missed if analyses were limited to the broader landscape scale alone.

Keweenaw National Historical Park: Heritage Partnerships in an Industrial Landscape

This dissertation examines the genesis and development of Keweenaw National Historical Park in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. After the decline of a once-thriving copper mining industry, local residents pursued the creation of a national park as a way to encourage economic development, revitalize their community, and preserve their historic resources. Although they were ultimately successful in creating a national park, the park that was established was not the park that they envisioned. Over the next twenty years, the National Park Service, the park's federal Advisory Commission, and the communities on the Keweenaw Peninsula struggled to align unrealistic expectations with the actual capabilities and limitations of the park. The first chapter of this dissertation includes a short history of the decline of the copper industry in and around the village of Calumet, Michigan. This chapter also includes a discussion about the techniques and challenges of preserving and interpreting industrial heritage. Chapters 2 and 3 cover the events from the initial park proposal, to the expansion of the original idea, to the establishment of the park. Chapter 4 includes an examination of the enabling legislation and a discussion about the opportunities and challenges it provided. Chapters 5 through 8 cover the tenure of each of the four NPS superintendents as they navigated the complexities presented by a park model that was part partnership park and part traditional national park. Chapter 9 includes some key lessons, an assessment of the park's success, and some considerations for the future. In particular, Chapter 9 argues for an increased focus on the partnership aspects of the park, a reduction in the perceived scope of responsibilities, and a renewed effort to rally the existing partners in pursuing additional philanthropic support for the overall park.

Understanding landscape and the values of traditional architecture and construction

Ponencia presentada en el congreso internacional organizado por el Comité Internacional de Arquitectura Vernácula de ICOMOS - UNESCO.

Recent landscape evolution at the "Barranco del Río Dulce Natural Park" (Spain). Landscape units and mapping

Landscape units based on the visual features of the relief have been distinguished in the “Barranco del Río Dulce Natural Park” (Spain). These units are geomorphic entities composed of several elementary landforms and characterized by a visual internal homogeneity, and contrast with other landscape units in their location, height, profile and gradients, reflecting their different evolution and genesis. Landscape units bear some subjectivity in their definition and in their boundary location due to the overlapping of geomorphic processes along time. Visual, compositional and conventional boundaries have been used for mapping. Neogene landscape evolution mainly occurred through thrust faulting at the Iberian Ranges-Tagus Basin boundary, driving tectonic uplift and erosion of the Ranges and correlative sedimentation in the Basin. Erosion of the Ranges occurred with the development of planation surfaces, leaving minor isolated reliefs in the upland plains landscape. The lowering of the base level, caused by the endorheic–exorheic transition of the Tagus Basin in the Pliocene, originates fluvial entrenchment and water table lowering with development of the first fluvial valleys and the capture of karstic depressions. Two subsequent phases of renewed fluvial incision (Pleistocene) lead to abandonment of some Pliocene valleys, fluvial captures, and development and reincision of tributaries

The Foundations of the Artists’ Community of Estes Park

"Estes Park lies in a beautiful location amongst the Rocky Mountains, sixty-five miles from Denver. Settlers came to the region in the second half of the nineteenth century. Among them in 1898 was artist R.H. Tallant who became a prominent landscape painter of the Rocky Mountains. Settling shortly after him was well-known painter Charles Partridge Adams. While Tallant and Adams founded the artists’ community, renowned artist Birger Sandzén and soon to be popular Dave Stirling were the mainstays pushing the artists’ community to new heights through the 1920s and 1930s. The establishment of a thriving artists’ community by Tallant, Adams, Sandzén and Stirling made Estes Park a recognizable place for attracting numerous artists throughout its history"