The relationship between well-being and wildfire

In this study, the well-being evaluation method, a technique for measuring individual utility, was used to study how people in the wildland urban interface of Colorado (USA) felt about their lives before and after two hypothetical wildfire scenarios. Variables such as age, family size, fire frequency, and property value were found to affect initial well-being levels. However, if a wildfire were to occur, many variables that initially affected well-being were no longer significant. It was found that after wildfire, the frequency of wildfire occurrence became the most important influence on well-being. These results have several implications for wildfire managers. First, the well-being of Colorado wildland urban interface residents would be enhanced by a reduction in the frequency of high-intensity wildfires. Secondly, an extremely high percentage of respondents were in favor of prescribed burning. Therefore, the reduction of high-intensity fires could not only be accomplished by conducting a rotation of prescribed fires, but that prescribed burning would be accepted by the public living in the wildland urban interface

Digital processing of LANDSAT MSS and topographic data to improve capabilities for computerized mapping of forest cover types

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Numerical simulations of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in solid-vacuum interfaces using calibrated plasticity laws

The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of interfaces separating elastic-plastic materials from vacuum (heavy-light configuration) is studied by means of computational techniques. A fully Eulerian multimaterial algorithm that solves consistently the Euler equations and the time evolution of the deformations in the material is applied to three distinct materials (copper, aluminum, and stainless steel). If a perfectly plastic constitutive relation is considered, an empirical law is computed that relates the long-term perturbation amplitude of the interface, its maximum growth rate, the initial density, and the yield stress of the material. It is shown that this linear relation can be extended to materials that follow more complex plastic behavior which can account for rate dependency, hardening, and thermal softening, and to situations in which small-perturbation theory is no longer valid. In effect, the yield stress computed from measurements of the long-term amplitude and maximum growth rate closely matches the von Mises stress found at the interface of solid materials for a wide range of cases with different initial parameters

An annotated check list of the amphibians and reptiles of Colorado

Mode of access: Internet

Stable Isotopic Variability within Modern Travertines

Six hot and two ambient water travertine systems were sampled to determine the relationships between the stable isotopic composition of the travertines and the waters from which they were deposited. This was conducted in order to evaluate the use of geochemical analyses of ancient travertines for the interpretation of the composition of the waters from which they precipitated, climatic conditions at time of formation, etc. The waters displayed down-flow trends of progressively higher (^ 8'3C values, in all 8 systems, and (H) 618O values, in all 6 hot water systems. Whereas the stable isotopic values of the mineral precipitates sometimes showed similar trends, the magnitude of the downflow changes commonly was quite different than that exhibited by the water data. Additionally, different types of precipitates, which formed within centimeters of each other, commonly had different stable isotopic compositions, e.g., crusts which formed at the air/water interface always had higher 813C and 8'8O values than constituents which formed within the immediately subjacent water column. The lack of a simple relationship between stable isotopic composition of the water and the precipitate is due to the fact that the stable isotopic composition of the precipitates are controlled by a number of variables, including the water's composition, temperature, level of saturation, etc. And these variables can change dramatically within very short distances and at the same spot within very short time intervals. Thus, as demonstrated by the stable isotope data, attempting to interpret the composition of the water from the composition of the deposit is a highly risky venture.Six ensembles travertineux de sources chaudes et deux ensembles à température ambiante ont été échantillonnés afin de déterminer les liens entre la teneur en isotopes stables des travertins et celle des eaux dans lesquels ils ont été déposés. Cette analyse a été faite dans le but d'évaluer l'utilité des analyses géochimiques d'anciens travertins pour déterminer la composition des eaux où a eu lieu la précipitation, les conditions climatiques lors de leur formation, etc. Les eaux ont montré une augmentation vers l'aval des valeurs de 8'3C dans les huit ensembles et de celles de 818O dans les six ensembles " chauds ". Là où les valeurs des isotopes stables des précipités minéraux montraient parfois des tendances similaires, l'ampleur des changements vers l'aval était habituellement fort différente de celle qu'indiquent les données sur les eaux. De plus, les différents types de précipités, situés à des distances centimétriques les uns des autres, avaient souvent des teneurs isotopiques différentes; ainsi les croûtes formées à l'interface de l'eau et de l'air avaient toujours des valeurs plus élevées de 8'3C et de 8'8O que les constituants formés à l'intérieur de la colonne d'eau sousjacente. L'absence d'une relation simple entre la teneur isotopique de l'eau et du précipité est attribuable au fait que la teneur isotopique des précipités est déterminée par un certains nombre de variables, notamment la composition de l'eau, la température, le niveau de saturation, etc. Ces variables peuvent être fort différentes sur de très courtes distances ou au même endroit sur un court laps de temps. Ainsi, comme le démontrent les données sur les isotopes stables, il est fort risqué de vouloir interpréter la composition de l'eau à partir de celle du dépôt.Sechs Travertin-Systemen mit heiBem Wasser und zwei mit der Umgebung angepaBter Wasserwarme wurden Stich-proben entnommen, um die Beziehungen zwischen der stabilen isotopischen Zusammensetzung der Travertine und den Quellen, durch die sie abgesetzt wurden, zu bestim-men. Dièse Analyse wurde mit dem Ziel durchgefùhrt, den Nutzen geochemischer Analysen von alten Travertinen bei der Interpretation der Zusammensetzung der Quellen, aus denen sie ausgeschieden wurden, der klimatischen Bedingungen zur Zeit ihrer Bildung u.s.w. zu beurteilen. Die Wasser zeigten talwârts Trends von zunehmend hôheren 8'3C-Werten in alien 8 Systemen und 8'80-Werte in alien 6 HeiBwasser-Systemen. Wàhrend die stabilen isotopischen Werte der Mineral-Ausscheidungen manchmal âhnliche Trends zeigten, war der Umfang der Verànderungen talwârts im allgemeinen sehr verschieden von denen, die in den Wasser-Daten angezeigt wurden. AuBerdem hatten verschiedene Arien von Ausscheidungen, welche sich in Zentimeter-Entfernung voneinander bildeten, gewôhnlich unterschiedliche stabile isotopische Zusammensetzungen, d.h. Krusten, die sich an der Schnittstelle Luft/ Wasser bildeten, hatten immer hôhere 8'3C-und 8'80-Werte als Bestandteile, welche sich innerhalb der direkt darunterliegenden Wasser-Sâule bildeten. Das Fehlen einer einfachen Beziehung zwischen stabiler isotopischer Zusammensetzung des Wassers und der Ausscheidung beruht auf der Tatsache, daB die stabile isotopische Zusammensetzung der Ausscheidungen durch eine Reihe von Variablen kontrolliert werden wie Zusammensetzung des Wassers, Temperatur, Saturations-niveau u.s.w. Und dièse Variablen kônnen sich dramatisch veràndern innerhalb sehr geringer Entfernungen und an derselben Stelle innerhalb sehr kurzer Zeitrâume. Wie die stabilen isotopischen Daten zeigen, ist also der Versuch, die Wasserzusammensetzung von der Zusammensetzung der Ablagerung aus zu interpretieren ein, hoch riskantes Untemehmen

Insights into shallow magmatic processes in large silicic magma bodies: the trace element record in the Fish Canyon magma body, Colorado

Highly evolved rhyolite glass plus near-solidus mineral assemblages in voluminous, dacitic, crystal-rich ignimbrites provide an opportunity to evaluate the late magmatic evolution of granodiorite batholiths. This study reports laser-ablation ICP-MS analyses of trace element concentrations in feldspars, hornblende, biotite, titanite, zircon, magnetite, and interstitial glass of the crystal-rich Fish Canyon Tuff. The high-silica rhyolite glass is characterized by relatively high concentrations of feldspar-compatible elements (e.g., 100ppm Sr and 500ppm Ba) and low concentrations of Y (40) compared to many well-studied high-silica rhyolite glasses and whole-rock compositions. Most minerals record some trace element heterogeneities, with, in particular, one large hornblende phenocryst showing four- to six-fold core-to-rim increases in Sr and Ba coupled with a decrease in Sc. The depletions of Y and HREE in the Fish Canyon glass relative to the whole-rock composition (concentrations in glass ~30% of those in whole rocks) reflect late crystallization of phases wherein these elements were compatible. As garnet is not stable at the low-P conditions at which the Fish Canyon magma crystallized, we show that a combination of modally abundant hornblende (~4%) + titanite (~0.5-1%) and the highly polymerized nature of the rhyolitic liquid led to Y and HREE depletions in melt. Relatively high Sr and Ba contents in glass and rimward Sr and Ba increases in euhedral, concentrically zoned hornblende suggest partial feldspar dissolution and a late release of these elements to the melt as hornblende was crystallizing, in agreement with textural evidence for feldspar (and quartz) resorption. Both observations are consistent with thermal rejuvenation of the magma body prior to eruption, during which the proportion of melt increased via feldspar and quartz dissolution, even as hydrous and accessory phases were crystallizing. Sr/Y in Fish Canyon glass (13-18) is lower than the typical "adakitic” value (>40), confirming that high Sr/Y is a reliable indicator of high-pressure magma generation and/or differentiation wherein garnet is implicate

Geographic variation in U. S. populations of the tiger beetle Cicindela obsoleta Say (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae)

Geographic variation and subspecific taxonomy of United States populations of the tiger beetle Cicindela obsoleta Say are reviewed. Study of primary types and 1,424 museum specimens indicates that four subspecific entities are present in the U.S., for which the valid names are C. o. obsoleta Say, C. o. santaclarae Bates, C. o. vulturina LeConte, and C. o. neojuvenilis Vogt. All four subspecies are illustrated, including many color variants. ArcView Geographic Information System (GIS) computer software is used to study the distribution of these subspecies in the United States. Cicindela o. obsoleta and C. o. santaclarae are only partially allopatric, with extensive areas in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas where their distributions overlap. Specimens intermediate in their elytral markings between C. o. obsoleta and C. o. santaclarae are reported from localities in New Mexico and Texas where these two subspecies co-occur. In contrast, C. o. vulturina and C. o. neojuvenilis are largely allopatric and show little intergradation with the C. o. obsoleta - C. o. santaclarae complex. It has been suggested recently that disjunct (but as yet unnamed) populations of C. o. vulturina in Missouri and Arkansas may represent a separate subspecies of C. obsoleta. However, the color and elytral pattern characteristics which have been interpreted as diagnostic features of these disjunct populations are also found in many Texas populations of C. o. vulturina, suggesting that the Arkansas and Missouri populations do not merit recognition as a separate subspecies on the basis of these characters alone

Governor's Dialogue on Health Care: Vision and Values

Summarizes discussions with over four hundred business, civic, nonprofit and healthcare community leaders about their vision for their healthcare system, the roles of employers, government, individuals, and the free market, and the values behind that vis

Leasing Colorado's Legacy: New Roadless Plan Opens Backcountry to Drilling

Describes how the legal wrangling over repeal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule could open Colorado's national forest backcountry to new oil and gas drilling. Calls for suspending the current review process until a thorough impact assessment is made