Acreage Living, August-September 2003

Monthly newsletter for people in Iowa that live on Acreages, produced by Iowa State University Copperative Extension.

The varieties of regional change

Many metropolitan areas have experienced extreme boom-bust cycles over the past century. Some places, like Detroit, grew enormously as industrial powerhouses and then declined, while other older cities, like Boston, seem quite resilient. Education does a reasonable job of explaining urban resilience. In this paper, we present a simple model where education increases the level of entrepreneurship. In this model, human capital spillovers occur at the city level because skilled workers produce more product varieties and thereby increase labor demand. We decompose empirically the causes of the connection between skills and urban success and find that skills are associated with growth in productivity or entrepreneurship, not with growth in quality of life, at least outside of the West. We also find that skills seem to have depressed housing supply growth in the West, but not in other regions, which supports the view that educated residents in that region have fought for tougher land-use controls. We also present evidence that skills have had a disproportionately large impact on unemployment during the current recession.

Volume of Traffic on the Primary Road System, 2002

The Office of Transportation Data, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, prepares this biennial traffic report. This report is used by federal, state, and local governmental agencies in determining highway needs, construction priorities, route location and environmental impact studies, and the application of appropriate design standards. The general public uses this information in determining the amount of traffic that passes a given area as they make their development plans and propose land use changes. The above reflects only a few of the many technical uses for this data.

The Recent International and Regulatory Decisions about Geographical Indications, 2007

As worldwide consumer demand for high-quality products and for information about these products increases, labels and geographical indications (GIs) can serve to signal quality traits to consumers. However, GI systems among countries are not homogeneous and can be used as trade barriers against competition. Philosophical differences between the European Union and the United States about how GIs should be registered and protected led to the formation of a WTO dispute settlement panel. In this paper we discuss the issues behind the dispute, the World Trade Organization (WTO) panel decision, and the EU response to the panel decision leading to the new Regulation 510/2006. Given the potential for GI labels to supply consumer information, context is provided for the discussion using recent literature on product labeling. Implications are drawn regarding the importance of the panel decision and the EU response relative to GI issues yet to be negotiated under the Doha Round.

State Planning Commission Annual Report, 2006

This is the annual report of the State Planning Commission. It tells about the program that the state has finished work on and is still working on. Plus plans for progress of the capital areas and surrounding buildings.

��rosion des sols au Cap Vert : ��tude des processus et quantification �� l�����chelle de trois bassins versants de l�����le de Santiago

Eros��o dos solos em Cabo Verde: estudo dos processos e quantifica����o �� escala de tr��s bacias hidrogr��ficas O arquip��lago de Cabo Verde �� constitu��do por 10 ilhas vulc��nicas pertence �� zona do Sahel que se estende do Atl��ntico ao Mar Vermelho. Desde ent��o, v��rias d��cadas, Cabo Verde �� afectado pela desertifica����o causada principalmente pela recess��o climatica e a eros��o do solo. Esses fatores, aliados �� alta press��o humana sobre os recursos, a topografia acidentada e chuvas tropicais por vezes torrenciais, causam s��rios danos aos solos. No entanto, desde sua independ��ncia em 1975, o Governo realizou um amplo programa de arboriza����o, recupera����o de ��reas degradadas e a correc����o dos leitos das ribeiras. No entanto, a investiga����o, muito pouco foi realizada para avaliar as ac����es de protec����o e conserva����o do solo e da ��gua. Portanto, n��o h�� dados sobre o problema da degrada����o das terras nem balan��os. Como parte deste trabalho, foram estudados v��rios factores que controlam a eros��o do solo pela ��gua. Especificamente, buscou-se diferenciar os efeitos das actividades humanas, incluindo a agricultura, os factores clim��ticos, como chuva e gera����o de escoamento. Tamb��m estabeleceu os primeiros balan��os das exporta����es de mat��rias em suspens��o e em solu����o no contexto do arquip��lago de Cabo Verde. O estudo foi realizado em tr��s bacias hidrogr��ficas da ilha de Santiago, Cabo Verde. Estas tr��s bacias hidrogr��ficas (Longueira, Grande e Godim) est��o localizadas na parte central da ilha de Santiago e representam os diversos tipos de uso da terra e as diferentes zonas bioclimaticas da ilha. Existe um gradiente clim��tico entre as tr��s bacias hidrogr��ficas. Na verdade, Longueira que abrange uma ��rea de 4,18 km2, tem um declive m��dio de 47 %, uma zona florestada de 69% e uma ��rea agr��cola de 17 %. Grande com uma ��rea de 1,87 km2, �� localizada numa zona sub humida com um declive m��dio de 50%, �� essencialmente agr��cola. Godim, com uma ��rea de 2,0 km2, �� localizado numa zona semi-��rida com um declive m��dio de 32%, �� particularmente uma zona agricola. Para estes tr��s bacias hidrogr��ficas, as cheias foram medidas e amostradas de 2004 a 2009. A bacia de Longueira teve um maior acompanhamento, nomeadamente em termos de amostragem e monitoramento dos escoamentos. Em cada amostra foram feitas a determina����o da concentra����o de mat��rias em suspens��o e a an��lise dos principais elementos quimicos. Os resultados mostram que a eros��o mec��nica nas tr��s bacias hidrogr��ficas �� caracterizada por uma forte variabilidade espacial e temporal. Durante o per��odo de 2005-2009, o balan��o anual m��dia para as bacias hidrogr��ficas de Longueira, Grande e Godim ��: 4266, 157 e 10,1 t.km2.an-1, respectivamente. A esta����o das chuvas de 2006 foi a mais erosiva para as tr��s bacias, particularmente em Longueira, com 2 cheias excepcionais, que t��m gerado uma concentra����o m��dia de s��lidos em suspens��o superior a 100 g / l. Por��m, as esta����es do ano de 2005 e 2008 foram de uma forma geral menos erosivas porque as concentra����es m��dias n��o inferiores a 20 g / l. Al��m disso, n��o houve cheias para as temporadas 2005 e 2007 para a bacia do Godim. Na bacia de Longueira, o estudo dos fen��menos de histerese na caracteriza����o das cheias mostrou que a evolu����o temporal das exporta����es de s��lidos em suspens��o durante a temporada �� fortemente influenciada pelas atividades agr��colas. Na verdade, a primeira cheia causou uma exporta����o maci��a de sedimento dispon��vel e localizado no leito da ribeira. Assim, a segunda cheia exportou menos sedimentos. Um m��s ap��s as primeiras chuvas, a pr��tica da monda que reduz a densidade da cobertura vegetal e destructura a camada superficial do solo, gerou uma grande quantidade de sedimento que novamente permitiu uma exporta����o muito forte de sedimentos durante a terceira forte cheia. Os resultados da eros��o qu��mica na bacia de Longueira indicam que a taxa de eros��o �� de 45 t.km2.an-1 com uma forte variabilidade temporal. Na verdade, as temporadas de 2006 e 2007 s��o as mais erosivas, enquanto 2005 teve uma exporta����o de mat��rias disolvidas baixa. A utiliza����o do modelo EMMA (End- Members Mixing Analysis) mostra que os escoamentos hipodermico e profundo, alimentandos os fluxos de elementos dissolvidos s��o os principais factores da eros��o qu��mica. �� mostrado que esses fluxos causam mais de 90% dos fluxos de eros��o qu��mica. O escoamento superficial, que contribui com cerca de 70% na forma����o das cheias, �� o maior factor da eros��o mec��nica do solo.

Guayule and Russian dandelion as alternative sources of natural rubber.

Natural rubber, obtained almost exclusively from the Para rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), is a unique biopolymer of strategic importance that, in many of its most significant applications, cannot be replaced by synthetic rubber alternatives. Several pressing motives lead to the search for alternative sources of natural rubber. These include increased evidence of allergenic reactions to Hevea rubber, the danger that the fungal pathogen Microcyclus ulei, causative agent of South American Leaf Blight (SALB), might spread to Southeast Asia, which would severely disrupt rubber production, potential shortages of supply due to increasing demand and changes in land use, and a general trend towards the replacement of petroleum-derived chemicals with renewables. Two plant species have received considerable attention as potential alternative sources of natural rubber: the Mexican shrub Guayule (Parthenium argentatum Gray) and the Russian dandelion (Taraxacum koksaghyz). This review will summarize the current production methods and applications of natural rubber (dry rubber and latex), the threats to the production of natural rubber from the rubber tree, and describe the current knowledge of the production of natural rubber from guayule and Russian dandelion.

Watching Corn Grow: A Hedonic Study of the Iowa Landscape, april 2007

Landscape amenities can be scarce in places with large areas of open space. Intensely farmed areas with high levels of monocropping and livestock production are akin to developed open space areas and do not provide many services in terms of landscape amenities. Open space in the form of farmland is plentiful, but parks and their services are in short supply. This issue is of particular importance for public policy because it is closely linked to the impact of externalities caused by agricultural activities and to the indirect effects of land use dynamics. This study looks at the impact of landscape amenities on rural residential property values in five counties in North Central Iowa using a hedonic pricing model based on geographic information systems. The effect of cropland, pasture, forest, and developed land as land uses surrounding the property is considered, as well as the impact of proximity to recreational areas. The study also includes the effect of other disamenities, such as livestock facilities and quarries, which can be considered part of the developed open space and are a common feature of the Iowa landscape.

Aplica����o de SIG no Processamento do Invent��rio Florestal Nacional ��� Cabo Verde

Cabo Verde desde do s��culo passado tem envidado esfor��o na floresta����o, sobretudo depois de 1975 para atenuar os efeitos da seca e da desertifica����o criando deste modo grandes ��reas arborizadas. Entretanto, �� medida que os recursos florestais foram sendo criados, a problem��tica da sua avalia����o e da sua gest��o sustent��vel, passaram a merecer maior aten����o das autoridades nacionais. A lei florestal, promulgada em 1998 define como uma das atribui����es e ac����es do Estado, atrav��s dos servi��os florestais, a elabora����o dos planos de gest��o das zonas florestais. Este plano de gest��o implica a an��lise e a aprecia����o de dados concretos e actualizados sobre a situa����o real das zonas florestais, sendo poss��vel apenas atrav��s do invent��rio florestal nacional (IFN). Neste trabalho �� proposta uma metodologia de processamento do IFN em que se utilizam as potencialidades dos Sistemas de Informa����o Geogr��fica (SIG). Foram utilizados para este trabalho os programas: ArcGis 9.1, para produ����o cartogr��fica, geoprocessamento e an��lise espacial e o Field-Map 8.1 para a classifica����o de ortofotos num esquema de classifica����o hier��rquica, em cinco n��veis, adaptado a Cabo Verde (classes de uso do solo adoptado ao esquema de classifica����o do territ��rio europeu ��� CORINE Land Cover e da Organiza����o das Na����es Unidas para a Agricultura e Alimenta����o (FAO). Os dados utilizados foram compilados no ��mbito do projecto do invent��rio florestal. Os resultados obtidos, para a Ilha de Santiago, constituem uma base cartogr��fica para o IFN com diversos temas cartogr��ficos, nomeadamente, mapas das zonas florestadas, mapas de ocupa����o do solo e mapas de amostras inventari��veis cuja metodologia de elabora����o poder�� ser facilmente replicada para as restantes ilhas do arquip��lago.

Conserving biodiversity in production landscapes.

Alternative land uses make different contributions to the conservation of biodiversity and have different implementation and management costs. Conservation planning analyses to date have generally assumed that land is either protected or unprotected, and that the unprotected portion does not contribute to conservation goals. We develop and apply a new planning approach that explicitly accounts for the contribution of a diverse range of land uses to achieving conservation goals. Using East Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) as a case study, we prioritize investments in alternative conservation strategies and account for the relative contribution of land uses ranging from production forest to well-managed protected areas. We employ data on the distribution of mammals and assign species-specific conservation targets to achieve equitable protection by accounting for life history characteristics and home range sizes. The relative sensitivity of each species to forest degradation determines the contribution of each land use to achieving targets. We compare the cost effectiveness of our approach to a plan that considers only the contribution of protected areas to biodiversity conservation, and to a plan that assumes that the cost of conservation is represented by only the opportunity costs of conservation to the timber industry. Our preliminary results will require further development and substantial stakeholder engagement prior to implementation; nonetheless we reveal that, by accounting for the contribution of unprotected land, we can obtain more refined estimates of the costs of conservation. Using traditional planning approaches would overestimate the cost of achieving the conservation targets by an order of magnitude. Our approach reveals not only where to invest, but which strategies to invest in, in order to effectively and efficiently conserve biodiversity.

BIOMOD - a platform for ensemble forecasting of species distributions

BIOMOD is a computer platform for ensemble forecasting of species distributions, enabling the treatment of a range of methodological uncertainties in models and the examination of species-environment relationships. BIOMOD includes the ability to model species distributions with several techniques, test models with a wide range of approaches, project species distributions into different environmental conditions (e.g. climate or land use change scenarios) and dispersal functions. It allows assessing species temporal turnover, plot species response curves, and test the strength of species interactions with predictor variables. BIOMOD is implemented in R and is a freeware, open source, package

Analysis of past and future dam formation and failure in the Santa Cruz River (San Juan province, Argentina)

Around 11.5 * 106 m3 of rock detached from the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz valley (San Juan province, Argentina) in the first fortnight of January 2005. The rockslide?debris avalanche blocked the course, resulting in the development of a lake with maximum length of around 3.5 km. The increase in the inflow rate from 47,000?74,000 m3/d between April and October to 304,000 m3/d between late October and the first fortnight of November, accelerated the growing rate of the lake. On 12 November 2005 the dam failed, releasing 24.6 * 106 m3 of water. The resulting outburst flood caused damages mainly on infrastructure, and affected the facilities of a hydropower dam which was under construction 250 km downstream from the source area. In this work we describe causes and consequences of the natural dam formation and failure, and we dynamically model the 2005 rockslide?debris avalanche with DAN3D. Additionally, as a volume ~ 24 * 106 m3of rocks still remain unstable in the slope, we use the results of the back analysis to forecast the formation of a future natural dam. We analyzed two potential scenarios: a partial slope failure of 6.5 * 106 m3 and a worst case where all the unstable volume remaining in the slope fails. The spreading of those potential events shows that a new blockage of the Santa Cruz River is likely to occur. According to their modeled morphometry and the contributing watershed upstream the blockage area, as the one of 2005, the dams would also be unstable. This study shows the importance of back and forward analysis that can be carried out to obtain critical information for land use planning, hazards mitigation, and emergency management.

The housing boom and forest fires

This paper provides evidence that the combination of land-use restrictions and anincreasing demand for housing can create incentives to induce forest fires as a means tocircumvent regulation and increase the supply of land available for residential construction.I estimate the effect of the price of housing on the incidence of forest fires using Spanishdata by region for 1991-2005. The results suggest that higher house prices led to asignificant increase in the incidence of forest fires in a region. I also find that the increasedincidence of forest fires led to a subsequent reduction in forest area and an increase in urbanland area. This evidence supports the claims often found in the media that propertyspeculators trying to build in forest land may be behind the recent increases in the incidenceof forest fires in Mediterranean countries.

Concep����o de uma Estrat��gia de Geoconserva����o para Cabo Verde e sua Aplica����o �� Ilha de Santiago

A singularidade de certos registos geol��gicos impressos em rochas, as peculiaridades estruturais e din��micas dos diversos elementos dos geossistemas, a an��lise dos seus valores intr��nsecos, bem como da sua vulnerabilidade e dos perigos de degrada����o que os podem afectar, entre outros par��metros, s��o factores que concorrem para a necessidade de assegurar a conserva����o do patrim��nio geol��gico. �� neste contexto que surge a geoconserva����o que preconiza a gest��o do patrim��nio geol��gico com base num conjunto de medidas e ac����es para a identifica����o, manuten����o ou recupera����o do valor natural dos elementos da geodiversidade numa perspectiva de sustentabilidade dos recursos geol��gicos que integram a componente abi��tica do sistema natural. A geoconserva����o, �� escala internacional, tem um desenvolvimento irregular. Enquanto algumas regi��es est��o bastante avan��adas, como na Europa, outras revelam ainda alguma in��rcia relativamente �� implementa����o de iniciativas que se devem enquadrar no ��mbito da conserva����o da Natureza e do ordenamento do territ��rio. Em ��frica, s��o ainda pontuais os exemplos de geoconserva����o pelo que, este trabalho, pretende ser promotor de uma pol��tica de geoconserva����o neste continente. No presente trabalho, concebemos uma estrat��gia de geoconserva����o para Cabo Verde e aplicamo-la, a t��tulo de exemplo, �� ilha de Santiago. A metodologia utilizada, baseada em crit��rios internacionalmente reconhecidos e aceites para o invent��rio do patrim��nio geol��gico de valor cient��fico, consiste no estabelecimento de ���categorias tem��ticas��� que representam as caracter��sticas e evolu����o geol��gica do arquip��lago. Foram propostas nove categorias para Cabo Verde e, para cada uma delas, foram inventariados diversos locais de interesse, dos quais 40 foram propostos como geoss��tios na ilha de Santiago. Com base nestes geoss��tios, propuseram-se linhas metodol��gicas para as etapas subsequentes que integram uma estrat��gia de geoconserva����o, nomeadamente, a quantifica����o, classifica����o, conserva����o, valoriza����o, divulga����o e monitoriza����o de geoss��tios. Embora a conserva����o da geodiversidade esteja prevista, embora de forma pouco clara, na actual legisla����o ambiental cabo-verdiana, a execu����o desta estrat��gia de geoconserva����o poder�� representar um dos primeiros passos para a defini����o, caracteriza����o e valoriza����o, sistem��ticas, do patrim��nio geol��gico nacional e contribuir para a implementa����o de uma pol��tica de sustentabilidade ambiental para o pa��s.