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The Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative (TCSI) Blueprint for Resilience (hereafter TCSI Blueprint) is a set of strategy maps that identify opportunities for forest protection and adaptation across a 978 381-ha (2.4 million-ac) region of the central Sierra Nevada. The TCSI partners, along with scientists and forest managers versed in the concept of resilience, defined resilience based on 10 ecological and social pillars. The TCSI Blueprint includes evaluations of 30 unique metrics, such as large tree density and probability of high-severity fire, that describe conditions across five of the pillars of resilience: forest resilience, fire-adapted communities, fire dynamics, biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration. The TCSI Blueprint uses a novel application of the Ecosystem Management Decision Support tool and fuzzy logic modeling to evaluate the degree to which current conditions are indicative of resilient landscapes. The TCSI Blueprint integrates assessments of both current (2019) and future (2020-2060) conditions under climate change (based on dynamic forest modeling) to reflect where management can likely make the most impact toward achieving functions on the landscape now and into the future. The model outputs spatial maps of condition scores ranging from -1 (out of target conditions) to +1 (within target conditions) for current and future conditions separately. These metric scores are then mapped onto a two-dimensional space, with current conditions on the x-axis and the potential to achieve target conditions in the future on the y-axis. Within that space, scores for each of four climate-informed management strategies are calculated and mapped: monitor, protect, adapt, and transform. The full suite of data used to generate the TCSI Blueprint offers a robust foundation for large landscape management and project planning, from strategic to tactical to operational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information about the management of the National Forest System (NFS), including its mission, multiple uses, and concerns about ecological conditions. It discusses the various uses of NFS lands, such as fish and wildlife purposes, outdoor recreation, and timber production. The article also addresses issues related to hazardous fuels and the need for forest restoration projects.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) require a decisive change in people's relationship with nature and decisive action across sectors and governing bodies to release their full potential. This report discusses the need to implement nature-based solutions to combat biodiversity loss as well as climate change and to fulfill the UN's development goals, and on what the relevant global governing bodies are undertaking to promote these solutions. Nature-based solutions fit well with the approach to holistic management of ecosystems as established by the UN's Convention on Biodiversity from 1992. In recent years, it is increasingly recognized that this approach is also necessary to achieve the Paris Agreement's goal of keeping the global temperature as a result of global warming below 2 degrees. NbS are necessary to improve people's living conditions because the impoverishment of nature leads to soil depletion, drought, floods, food insecurity, infectious diseases, and refugee flows, among other things. NbS have been given the blue stamp by the global scientific bodies for biodiversity and climate, IPBES and IPCC, and by the UN environmental assembly UNEA, but still not by the Biodiversity and Climate Convention. The concept also still lacks effective methods to measure its effect. Upcoming and highly profiled meetings of the conferences of the parties in the two conventions provide golden opportunities to give full political recognition to the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) is an ecosystem management plan for federal lands in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. To evaluate the NWFP's effectiveness at conserving the marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus), we estimated murrelet abundance at sea annually from 2000 to 2018 in inshore marine waters associated with the NWFP area. We divided this area of coastal waters into five geographic subareas corresponding with conservation zones established in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recovery plan for the marbled murrelet. We used line transect distance estimation methods to account for detectability. Our abundance estimate for the planwide area in 2017 was about 23,000 murrelets. We did not find evidence for a linear trend for the overall NWFP area (0.3 percent per year). At the state scale, we found strong evidence for a declining linear trend in Washington (-3.9 percent per year). For Oregon, we found strong evidence for an increasing linear trend (2.0 percent per year). In California, we found strong evidence for an increasing linear trend (4.5 percent per year). At the individual conservation zone scale, we found strong evidence for a linear decline in Conservation Zone 1 (-4.9 percent per year), some evidence for a negative trend in Conservation Zone 2 (-3.0 percent per year, some evidence for positive linear trend in Conservation Zone 3 (1.4 percent per year), and strong evidence for a linear increase in Conservation Zone 4 (3.7 percent per year). Because of the extreme variability associated with the trend in Conservation Zone 5 (7.3 percent annual rate of change; 95 percent confidence interval: -4.4 to 20.3 percent, years 2000 to 2017), we concluded that there was no evidence for a trend in that conservation zone. These results indicate a pattern of decreasing at-sea abundance in the northern part of the plan area and increasing abundance to the south. We have no definitive explanation for this north-south pattern; however, one potential explanation might be the emigration of birds from other areas of the species' range. A large-scale "marine heatwave" influenced the California Current during 2014-2016, which may have influenced distribution of murrelets, though the mechanism for this change in distribution is not yet clear. These at-sea population monitoring results indicate that the NWFP goal to stabilize and increase marbled murrelet population sizes has not yet been achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an overview of Streamgaging Network of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) which record water levels or streamflow for at least a portion of the year. It mentions USGS also deploys temporary rapid deployment gages to measure water levels during storm events, and select streamgages measure water quality. It also mentions streamgages inform real-time decision making and long-term planning on issues such as water management, ecosystem management and flood mapping.

The Demonstration of Ecosystem Management Options (DEMO) Study is an operational-scale experiment in variable-retention harvests with six installations in western Washington and Oregon. Initiated in 1994, the experiment was designed to test key assumptions underlying standards and guidelines in the Northwest Forest Plan for regeneration harvests on matrix lands. The orthogonal portion of the six-treatment design (15 and 40 percent retention in both aggregated and dispersed patterns) is unique among large-scale variable-retention experiments, allowing for independent tests of responses to retention level and pattern and to their interaction. The DEMO Study is a multidisciplinary experiment designed to evaluate the dynamics of a diverse array of forest organisms (understory and overstory vegetation, wildlife, arthropods, and fungi), including their short-term responses to disturbance and longer term responses to changes in forest structure. However, maintaining financial support for the study over several decades has been challenging. Consequently, most studies were limited to the short term, although assessments of overstory structure and conifer regeneration extend to 18 to 19 years after treatment. This comprehensive reference document is designed to facilitate future research on the DEMO sites by providing information needed to relocate or reestablish the sampling grids, and to access existing data for comparative analyses or syntheses. It contains details on the study design, treatment histories, experimental sites, sampling infrastructure, response variables, methods and histories of sampling, and data and metadata archives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of OECD Environment Working Papers is the property of Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The federal government's management of wild horses is doomed to fail without fundamental changes in policy and the law, according to a new paper led by researchers at the University of Wyoming and Oklahoma State University. "Each label (wild, livestock, pet) has validity, and management plans can be implemented to optimize equid populations with other land uses. [Extracted from the article]

The success or failure of fish populations in rivers is intimately linked to a complex and interconnected series of ecological interactions. This complexity can make it difficult to predict how organisms within river ecosystems will respond to management actions and other environmental changes. To aid in solving this dilemma, we constructed a food web simulation model termed the Aquatic Trophic Productivity (ATP) model. The ATP model mechanistically links the success of fish populations to the dynamics of river food webs and the abiotic conditions that influence these webs. This report serves as a user manual for version 3.3 of the ATP model, which was designed to explore how river food webs and fish species, particularly Pacific salmon and trout, respond to management actions and other environmental changes. The report includes a discussion of the model's origins, assumptions, structure, and application. Our primary goal is to provide users the background information needed to apply the model to research and management questions. Specifically, we describe how to parameterize the model and conduct simulations from the model's user interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the Draft Drought Contingency Plans (DCPs) for the Colorado River Watershed in Mexico. The topics addressed include details on the agreements relevant to the DCPs comprising Quantification Settlement Agreement, Pilot System Conservation Program, and Minute 323 Agreement with Mexico along with information on studies projecting a long-term imbalance in basin supply and demand of Colorado river.

The article reports that the natural resource managers must make decisions that affect broad-scale ecosystem processes involving large spatial areas, complex biophysical interactions, numerous competing stakeholder interests and highly uncertain outcomes. Topics include examines natural and social science information and analyses are widely recognized as important for informing effective management.

The establishment of the Compte Personnel de Formation (Personal Training Account -- CPF) is a major milestone in the French continuing training system: it introduces a individualised scheme for financing training that is open to all economically active persons, and is fully transferable throughout the individual's working life, from the time they enter the labour market until they retire. The CPF is currently the only example at international level of an individual learning account where individuals build up training entitlements over time. The CPF was introduced in January 2015 as part of a thorough overhaul of the system for funding continuing training, and was reformed in 2018 in order to correct issues that had come to light, and more generally to strengthen the individual's place in the system and to boost competition and the market. The aims of the CPF are (i) to reduce recorded inequalities in access to training to the detriment of those who are least qualified and in most precarious employment; (ii) to encourage personal autonomy in the take-up and choice of training; and (iii) to improve skills (and training provision). Thus the CPF funds only certificated courses for individuals who are likely to have to change their job -- or employment status -- several times during their working lives. The data available for the period 2015-2018 show that, despite a rapid gain in momentum, utilisation of the CPF by the economically active has remained low and tends to replicate the unequal access to training seen under traditional training access schemes. In addition, the bulk of certifications obtained do not attest to the attainment of a specific level of skill (language tests, IT proficiency, personal skills assessments, driving licences and other accreditations). The CPF is funded by a compulsory contribution from businesses with more than 10 employees; self-employed workers pay a flat-rate contribution to their training fund. Between 2014 and 2018, the CPF was credited in hours (24 hours per year for a full-time employee subject to a ceiling of 150 hours), with an increased entitlement since 2017 for the least skilled workers (48 hours/year and ceiling of 400 hours). The funding of training under the CPF therefore required a third party to take action to pay the training body: for employees this was a joint sectoral training fund, and for jobseekers it was Pôle Emploi (the French public employment service). The relevant third party was also required to supplement the basic amount credited in hours with additional funds. Since the Law of September 2018, the CPF has been credited in euros (EUR 500/year for a full-time employee, EUR 800/year for a low-skilled employee subject to ceilings of EUR 5 000 and EUR 8 000 respectively). The chief aim of the shift to euros was to provide individuals with greater clarity to help them understand the capital available to them, and to allow their demand to guide investment in training so as to to establish true competition in the training market. While only certifications on the lists drawn up by the social partners were initially eligible for CPF funding -- a complex system that was difficult for individuals to navigate -- the "Future" Law of 2018 made all certifications eligible. It also finalises the digital applicationthat enables individuals to mobilise their CPF to purchase training online in a fully autonomous manner, i.e. without having to go through a third party -- an application that suffered from lack of ergonomy --until 2018. Until 2018, governance of the CPF, including the profusion of stakeholders, made utilising it a fairly complex matter. The Law centralises funding and regulation of training by establishing a state-wide body with many competences: France Compétences. Thus it reduces the role of collective stakeholders and, in particular, of sectors of industry by relieving the joint sectoral training funds of their historic role as the collector-cum-funder of contributions for continuing training for employees. In order to implement personal autonomy in the take-up of training, a new free and optional careers guidance service was introduced and made available in parallel to the CPF: the Conseil en Évolution Professionnelle (Career Development Counselling -- CEP). This role was initially allotted, with no extra funding, to public employment service operators for the unemployed and to joint training funds for persons in work, before it was allocated funding and entrusted to the private sector under the Law of September 2018 for the latter. In practice, the roll-out of the CEP nationwide has been limited. In 2020, the budget allocated to the CEP for economically active persons in work should cater for a growing number of workers (+20%/year). However, it will still be necessary to reach those people, otherwise unequal participation in training is likely to grow. The establishment of the CPF was also an opportunity to regulate the training market. As a result, the Law of March 2014 made significant progress in quality processes for the funders of training -- these were particularly necessary because individuals are in a weaker negotiating position than the traditional purchasers of training. The recent shift to a single, compulsory certification for training providers who make claims on public funds has helped to remedy the issues that arose during the first phase of implementation of the CPF in terms of the profusion of certificates, labels and the mixed assurances they provided. In combination with the abolition of the lists, this should simplify the system for individuals. However, that is not enough to guarantee the quality of the training provided, which also depends on content and teaching methods. Since these factors are difficult to measure, especially for an individual, evaluations by public funders of training actions and their outcomes, and the manner in which those outcomes are communicated to the public, will remain crucial. Moreover, the shift to a single, compulsory certification is likely to undermine small training providers and thus deplete diversity in training provision. Training undertaken between 2015 and 2018 was often short in duration. Genuine enhancement of skills requires either funding for lengthy training or a series of training episodes that allow the acquisition of modules which, when combined, lead to the award of a certificate or a diploma. The removal of the middlemen in mobilising the CPF is likely to make it more difficult to find co-funding for lengthy training. This makes it even more important to make the hitherto underused skills modules effective. The CPF is an innovative scheme, but it is not the only channel for funding training for workers, and is part of a training eco-system in which it is yet to find its place. The Plan d'Investissement dans les Compétences (Skills Investment Plan -- PIC) was launched at end-2017 and aims to raise the skills of one million young people and as many jobseekers again over five years. For employees, the Law of 5 September 2018 restates the employer's duty to ensure that employees are provided with the skills appropriate for their job, maintain their ability to perform a job notably in view of technological developments, and are redeployed in the event of job cuts. It also expands the definition of "training action" by including actions that can be conducted remotely or in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the overarching water resources issues which are faced by the 114th U.S. Congress. The Congress is expected to address drought and flood preparedness and response and consider other ways of reducing flood risk. The restoration of aquatic ecosystems which are altered or impaired by federal water resource projects can also be considered.

Chapter 4 of the 10th edition of "Living Planet Report" is presented. It presents the One Planet Perspective which outlines better choices for the management, use and sharing of natural resources within the planet's capacity that requires people to preserve natural capital, produce better and consume more wisely. It further suggests 2 important enabling conditions including a redirect of financial flows and the equitable resource governance.

Chapter 3 of the 10th edition of "Living Planet Report" is presented. It discusses the need for an all-inclusive effort to protect the health of the environment and welfare of society. Topics discussed include the dependence of ecosystem services like pollination, nutrient cycling and erosion control on the planet's natural capital provided freely and the importance of evaluating the economic value of ecosystems and biodiversity to improve planning, resolve conflicts and explore trade-offs.

The company named in a recent Gartner report titled '10 Must-Have Capabilities for CSP Partner Ecosystems for Composable Products' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban environmental stewardship activities are on the rise in cities throughout the Northeast. Groups participating in stewardship activities range in age, size, and geography and represent an increasingly complex and dynamic arrangement of civil society, government and business sectors. To better understand the structure, function and network of these community-based urban land managers, an assessment was conducted in 2004 by the research subcommittee of the Urban Ecology Collaborative. The goal of the assessment was to better understand the role of stewardship organizations engaged in urban ecology initiatives in selected major cities in the Northeastern U.S.: Boston, New Haven, New York City, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. A total of 135 active organizations participated in this assessment. Findings include the discovery of a dynamic social network operating within cities, and a reserve of social capital and expertise that could be better utilized. Although often not the primary land owner, stewardship groups take an increasingly significant responsibility for a wide range of land use types including street and riparian corridors, vacant lots, public parks and gardens, green roofs, etc. Responsibilities include the delivery of public programs as well as daily maintenance and fundraising support. While most of the environmental stewardship organizations operate on staffs of zero or fewer than ten, with small cohorts of community volunteers, there is a significant difference in the total amount of program funding. Nearly all respondents agree that committed resources are scarce and insufficient with stewards relying upon and potentially competing for individual donations, local foundations, and municipal support. This makes it a challenge for the groups to grow beyond their current capacity and to develop long-term programs critical to resource management and education. It also fragments groups, making it difficult for planners and property owners to work in partnership with them. The organizational networks are self-contained and do not include business or even legal groups, which may point to a gap between stewardship and environmental justice organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the U.S. we increasingly restrict wood production in the name of sustainability while going abroad for a growing share of the wood we consume, even though our own forest resources per capita are far greater than the global average. The unintended consequence is that we transfer impacts (positive and negative) of our timber harvesting and wood consumption to other places. This is not sustainable in the broad sense of the word. Seven key concepts help define limits on sustainable forestry in the U.S.: (1) we must ensure sustained timber yield; (2) most people find harvesting unaesthetic and prefer not to see it; (3) in the U.S. we annually consume the equivalent of about 20 billion cubic feet of wood products; (4) the U.S. is a net importer of wood and has been for at least 90 years; (5) as we import wood and wood products we also export to other nations the environmental, economic, and other social consequences (both the positive and negative) associated with wood production, manufacturing, and consumption; (6) as a natural resource, wood is generally preferable to alternative commodities; and (7) all the wood consumed on Earth must be produced from the 9.6 billion acres of forestland on the planet. About 30 percent of the land mass of the earth is forested, about one-third of North America is forested, and about one-third of the United States is forested. Despite having a proportionate share of the world's forests, our national imbalance between domestic wood production and consumption annually sends billions of cubic feet of environmental consequences (positive and negative) to other nations. National Forests, for example, contain 19 percent of U.S. timberland and now produce less than 2 percent of the wood consumed in the U.S. The USDA Forest Service is rightly concerned about sustainability for National Forests, private forests, and global forests. In fact, we have separate divisions dealing with each constituency. We should think carefully about how the quest for sustainable management in any one sector affects forests elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the progress of European Union (EU) programs in stopping the loss of biodiversity in the region while tackling main issues including environment, climate change and health, quality of life and natural resources and waste. Assessments were made on the seas and coasts, farmland and freshwater ecosystems, the impact of diversity on productivity and the European Commission Biodiversity Conservation Strategy (ECBS). It also notes failures and successes in ECBS implemetation.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused widespread damage and destruction to wetlands along the central Gulf Coast. Prior to these hurricanes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been seeking approval from the 109th Congress for a $1.1 billion multiyear program to construct five projects that would help to restore portions of the coastal Louisiana ecosystem by slowing the rate of wetland loss and restoring some wetlands. This funding would also be used to continue planning several other related projects. The state of Louisiana and several federal agencies have participated in the development of this program. This report introduces this program, discusses whether it might have muted the impacts of a hurricane of the magnitude and paths of Katrina or Rita, and whether the devastation caused by both hurricanes might cause the Corps and other restoration supporters to propose either altering aspects of this proposed program, or expanding it. This report will be updated as more information becomes available about either the storms' effects on coastal Louisiana and its wetlands, or about any changes in the proposed program in response to these natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Everglades, a unique network of subtropical wetlands, is now half its original size. Many factors have contributed to its decline, including flood control projects and agricultural and urban development. As part of a larger restoration program for South Florida, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and other federal, state, tribal, and local agencies collaborated to develop a Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP or the plan). CERP focuses on increasing storage of wet season waters to provide more water during the dry season for both the natural system and urban and agricultural users. The plan consists of 68 projects estimated to take more than 30 years and $7.8 billion to complete. The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2000 (P.L.106-541) authorizes $1.4 billion for initial construction projects and their operation and maintenance. The federal government will pay half the plan's costs and an array of state, tribal, and local agencies the other half. Major issues associated with the plan include project priorities, timely completion of restoration, phosphorous mitigation, effectiveness of restoration efforts, uncertainties in technologies and costs, and effect on the Corps budget. This report outlines the history and current conditions of the Everglades, CERP legislation, and associated issues. It will be updated as events warrant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several complex water resource systems are receiving increasing intergovernmental and private sector efforts to balance human and broader ecosystem values. Examples include the Florida Everglades, San Francisco Bay-Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta, and the Chesapeake Bay, among others. The Florida Everglades is especially prominent because of its inclusion of Everglades National Park and because human impacts in and around the Park have caused a substantial erosion of the balance and diversity of the original ecosystem. Government and private sector efforts to mitigate the effects of large-scale human change in the broader Everglades ecosystem are complex and sometimes contradictory undertakings. Complexities and conflicts arise because of definitions and goals; because of uncertainty about achieving desirable goals; because of costs; and because of likely tradeoffs with established economic and business activities. The restoration initiative in the South Florida ecosystem (which includes the Everglades) is a recent intergovernmental effort that attempts to address the ecological and socio-economic factors involved with ecosystem restoration. An examination of what has been effective and what has been less effective in ecosystem restoration efforts in the Florida Everglades may give insights on how to proceed in the implementation of other restoration projects. After being reduced to half its original size by flood control projects, agriculture, and urban development, the Florida Everglades is now targeted for a large restoration effort by an unusual partnership among federal, state, tribal and local stakeholders. A major step in this restoration effort was the authorization of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) in the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-541). The objective of CERP is to restore the quantity, quality, distribution and timing of water supplies to natural areas without disrupting existing sources of water for agricultural and human needs. There are several policy components within CERP that may be applicable to other ecosystem restoration efforts. They include multi-agency committees for coordination, programmatic regulations for project implementation, adaptive assessment and monitoring, assurances for water allocation, and funding. This report provides a description of each policy component as well as an analysis of its potential benefits and disadvantages in the restoration process. A proposed version of programmatic regulations is cited throughout this report. Programmatic regulations are expected to provide guidelines for project implementation, monitoring, adaptive management, and water allocation for restoration activities provided by CERP. A proposed version of the programmatic regulations was published in the Federal Register in August 2002; the final version is expected in December 2002. This report will be updated as warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This will allow CSPs to accelerate their digital services portfolio expansion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This will allow CSPs to accelerate their digital services portfolio expansion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the process on how water is being cycled by the Earth to support the wildlife and population demands. It informs that although 70% of the Earth's surface is water, less than 3% of it are fresh and only about 1% is accessible for human use. It discusses on the hydrological cycle, the Earth's method of recycling the water supply, transferring freshwater from the oceans to the land and back again. Moreover, the article also discusses the value of freshwater ecosystems.

The article discusses role of Bureau of Reclamation, part of Dept. of the Interior for water and related resources development. Topics including mission of Reclamation involve to develop water supplies, management, and protection of water and related resources; Reclamation's focus to operations and maintenance of existing projects; and Reclamation's water and related resources account funds agency's activities like construction, dam safety, and ecosystem restoration.