Seasonal food use by white-tailed deer at Valley Forge National Historical Park,Pennsylvania, USA

Food habits of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were examined from January to November 1984 via fecal-pellet analysis at Valley Forge National Historical Park (VFNHP), which represents an island habitat for deer surrounded by extensive urbanization, in southeastern Pennsylvania. In addition, use of fields by deer was compared to food habits. Herbaceous vegetation (forbs, leaves of woody plants, and conifer needles) was the predominant food type in all seasons except fall. Acorns and graminoids (grasses and sedges) were important food resources in fall and spring, respectively. Use of woody browse (twigs) was similar among seasons. Field use was relatively high during fall, winter without snow cover (<20 cm), and spring when food resources in fields were readily available. In contrast, use of fields was lowest in summer when preferred woodland foods were available and in winter with snow cover when food in fields was not readily accessible. Patterns of food-type use by deer at VFNHP indicate the year-round importance of nonwoody foods and field habitats to deer populations on public lands such as national parks in the northeastern United States.     

Theory in practice: the anatomy of a borough plan

This paper focuses on the development plan activities of the London Boroughs and simply seeks to explain the relatively limited progress that has been made in the preparation and adoption of statutory local plans, by showing how production was constrained as local planners were caught up in the shifting ground of contemporary planning theory. The author suggests that uncertainty about the acceptable scope and content of local plans, at a time when planners were being encouraged to extend the emphasis of their work beyond the purely physical, led to serious problems as planners began to experiment with new approaches to local planning but failed to appreciate the operational implications of each approach.     

New Zealand environmental standards and energy policies

This paper describes the primary energy resources of New Zealand and their relative importance. It describes the principal legislation that provides environmental protection and public participation with which State and private agencies are bound to comply. The paper then discusses air pollution in further detail and cites three examples where there is cause for concern. By international standards, air pollution is not a serious problem in New Zealand and so the economic consequences have received little attention Two simple examples are cited. A map showing the main centers and the location of facilities referred to in the text is included     

Total organic carbon analysis as a precursor to disinfection byproducts in potable water: oxidation technique considerations

In recent years, an increasing number of regulations and methodologies have begun to utilize total organic carbon (TOC) analysis for monitoring microbial contamination and/or disinfectant byproduct (DBP) precursors. This paper highlights some analytical differences and similarities between the two widely used TOC oxidation techniques: UV persulfate and high temperature combustion (HTC). Previous papers have come to different and sometimes contradictory conclusions on this subject. However, these studies either compared instruments with significantly different flow paths or TOC systems from different eras. Unlike previous studies, this paper compares two modern TOC analyzers with nearly identical flow paths for sample recovery, detection limits, and analysis of real world samples. On average, both persulfate and HTC oxidation yielded good recoveries for 10 hard to oxidize compounds and potable water samples from 5 different locations across the USA. In general, persulfate yielded more precise results because of its lower background response relative to sample response while HTC gave slightly higher results (roughly 2% to 3%) for surface water samples.     

Environmental Management and the New Politics of Western Water: The Animas-La Plata Project and Implementation of the Endangered Species Act

/ This paper explores the new politics of western water policy through an examination of the Animas-La Plata water project and implementation of the Endangered Species Act. It is suggested that the focus of western water programming has shifted from the source of distributed funds, the United States Congress, to the agencies originally created to deliver federal benefits because funding for new project construction has not been forthcoming. Under this new system, members of Congress continue to excite their constituents with promises of money for new project starts, while the administrative agencies perform the myriad duties needed to keep these projects alive. The result is that political objectives have replaced operational/management objectives in administrative processes. In this case, the author demonstrates how resource managers in the Bureau of Reclamation manipulated hydrological analysis to control administrative process, why their manipulation was unfair, and perhaps illegal, and why biologists from the US Fish and Wildlife Service accepted the analysis. While ostensibly protecting all interests, the result is that none of the objectives of federal water programming are achieved. KEY WORDS: Environmental management; Administrative politics; Water policy; Endangered Species Act; Animas-La Plata, Bureau of Reclamation     

In situ treatment of metals in contaminated soils with phytate

Batch experiments were conducted to evaluate the ability of various forms of phytate, the hexaphosphoric form of myo-inositol (IP6), to immobilize U, Ni, and other inorganic contaminants in soils and sediments. A Ca-phytate precipitate (Ca(n)-IP6), dodeca sodium-phytate (Na12-IP6), and hydroxyapatite (HA) were added to contaminated soil at rates of 0, 10, 25, and 50 g kg(-1) and equilibrated in 0.001 M CaCl2. The samples were then centrifuged, the solution pH was measured, and the supernatants were filtered prior to analysis for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), U, Ni, P, and other inorganic contaminants, such as As, Cr, Se, and Pb. The residual sediments were air-dried prior to characterization by analytical electron microscopy and extraction with the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP). The solubility of several metals (e.g., U, Pb, Cu) increased with increasing Na12-IP6 when compared with the nonamended control. In some cases immobilization was observed at the lowest Na12-IP6 application rate (10 g kg(-1)) with an increase in solubility observed at the higher rates, demonstrating the importance of metal to ligand ratio. In contrast, Ca(n)-IP6 and HA decreased the solubility of U, Ni, Al, Pb, Ba, Co, Mn, and Zn. For example, soluble U decreased from 2242 to 76 microg kg(-1) and Ni from 58 to 9.6 mg kg with the Ca(n)-IP6 addition, similar to the results observed for HA. Arsenic and Se solubility increased for HA and both forms of IP6, but to a much greater degree for Na12-IP6, suggesting that the increase in pH observed for HA and Na12-IP6, combined with added competition from PO4 and IP6 for sorption sites, resulted in the release of sorbed oxyanion contaminants. The analytical electron microscopy results indicated that metals such as U and Ni were closely associated with secondary Al-rich precipitates in the HA-treated soils, rather than unreacted HA. The analytical electron microscopy results were less definitive for the Ca(n)-IP6-treated soil, although the residual P-containing material was enriched in Al, with lesser amounts of U and Ni.