Seventh year projects and activities of the Environmental Remote Sensing Applications Laboratory (ERSAL)

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

ESTIMATING PRODUCER'S SURPLUS WITH THE CENSORED REGRESSION MODEL: AN APPLICATION TO PRODUCERS AFFECTED BY COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN SALMON RECOVERY

Application of the tobit model to estimate economic welfare is transferred from the consumer side to the producer side. Supply functions are estimated for multioutput irrigators in the Pacific Northwest. Empirical procedures are then developed for computing expected producer's surplus from the output supply functions. Confidence intervals for the surplus measures are generated using the Krinsky-Robb method. An experiment predicts decreases in surplus given increases in water pumping cost. The experiment replicates possible increases in hydroelectric prices due to the salmon recovery program in the Columbia-Snake River Basin. Output substitution explains producers' ability to mitigate the effect of the price increases on producer's surplus.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

SALMON RECOVERY IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN: ANALYSIS OF MEASURES AFFECTING AGRICULTURE

The effects of salmon recovery measures on the Northwest agricultural sector are evaluated. Relevant recovery measures, such as: modified timing for dam releases, reservoir drawdown, and flow augmentation in the Columbia River basin, on the regional agricultural sector are evaluated. Combined, these measures would increase power rates, grain transportation costs, and irrigation water costs and reduce the supply of water to irrigators. We quantify these input cost and quantity changes and combine them into seven recovery scenarios for analysis. Results suggest that drawdown and/or minor reductions in irrigation water diversions would reduce producers' profits by less than 1% of baseline levels. However, the most extreme scenario-a long drawdown period combined with a large reduction in irrigation diversions-would reduce producers' profits by $35 million (2.5$35 million decline in annual profits, more than $27 million occur in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. The federal government would bear these costs if it acquires water via voluntary transactions.Agricultural and Food Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Portland\u27s Changing Landscape

Occasional Papers in Geography Publication No. 4 What is the nature and character of Portland? What are the conditions, changes and developments that have made it what it is? How does Portland compare with other places? What makes it unique? These are some of the question pursued in this volume. This book contains thirteen chapters discussing various facets of Portland\u27s environmental, economy, and character. It is an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of dynamics and change in the landscape. An overview is provided of Portland as a city and place to live, as well as its functional significance on a national and international basis. Two threads are woven through the tapestry of these essays. One is that Portland is a big city but with many attributes of a small town. The other is the closeness and accessibility of city and nature. The challenge is how to nurture and maintain both - to have our cake and eat it too. The evidence is clear that most American cities have not been able to achieve this. Only the future can tell how Portland will fare. The authors are all professional geographers or work in closely related fields. All have been involved with the Portland scene for a number of years and are uniquely qualified to write about these topics. While each approaches problems from his or her own perspective, the net result is a summing up, a taking stock of where we have been and where we are going. When considered as a whole the book should provide a better view than we have had of the nature and character of this special place.https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/geog_occasionalpaper/1000/thumbnail.jp

Diet Composition, Niche and Geographic Characteristics, and Prey Size Preference of Barred Owls (\u3cem\u3eStrix varia\u3c/em\u3e) in the Pacific Northwest

This thesis comprises three chapters describing my investigations of dietary composition, niche and geographic characteristics, and prey size preference of Barred Owls (Strix varia) following their recent range expansion into the Pacific Northwest. In the first chapter, I examine annual, seasonal, within-breeding season, and local variation in the diet and evaluate reproductive success as a function of dietary composition in western Oregon during 2007–2009. Diets were based on 3,686 prey individuals identified in 1,127 regurgitated pellets collected from 26 owl family areas. Prey identified in pellets included ≥ 85 taxa (33 mammals, 25 birds, 4 reptiles, 4 amphibians, 1 fish, 3 gastropods, 1 diplopod, 1 collembolan, 12 insects, and 1 crustacean). Based on percent of prey numbers in pellets, owl diets comprised 64.8% mammals, 2.9% birds, 1.0% reptiles, 9.8% amphibians, 0.3% fish, 6.6% gastropods, 0.2% diplopods, \u3c 1% collembolans, and 14.4% insects. Mean mass of prey in pellets was 55.8 g. Diets varied between years and seasons and among within-breeding season periods and owl family areas, but were generally dominated by coleopteran beetles, mammalian insectivores, and northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus). Taxonomic richness of the diet provided an indication of the versatility of Barred Owls capable of preying on diverse kinds of prey in their expanding geographic range. Estimated food-niche breadths were generally narrow to moderate, indicating use of comparatively few to a variety of taxa in large numbers. Spatiotemporal variations in diet appeared to reflect this species’ adaptation and opportunistic feeding strategies in an area of range expansion. These results will enable ecologists and land managers to better understand the ecological role played by Barred Owls in their new environment, including potential effects such as competition for food with other native fauna of the Pacific Northwest, especially the threatened Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina). In the second chapter, I compare diet composition among three geographic populations of Barred Owls in the Pacific Northwest, including the central Coast Ranges in Oregon, Olympic National Park in northwest Washington, and eastern Cascades in central Washington during the breeding seasons of 2007–2009, 1997–2009, and 2004–2006, respectively. For this analysis, I examined 1,021 regurgitated pellets from 25 owl family areas in the central Coast Ranges, 48 pellets from 20 areas in Olympic National Park, and 57 pellets from 9 areas in the eastern Cascades. The estimated number and total biomass of prey in pellets was 3,463 prey and 192,951 g in the central Coast Ranges, 187 prey and 11,444 g in Olympic National Park, and 336 prey and 12,871 g in the eastern Cascades. The number of taxa owls used as prey differed among the study areas, with 81 taxa in the central Coast Ranges, 36 in Olympic National Park, and 32 in the eastern Cascades. Diets were similar between the central Coast Ranges and Olympic National Park areas in that diets mainly included forest mammals (64.3% and 71.7% of prey numbers, respectively), with a variety of shrews, coast moles (Scapanus orarius), and northern flying squirrels predominating in prey numbers and biomass. Owl diets differed in the eastern Cascades where insects were the most numerous taxa in the diet (47.0% of prey numbers), with beetles predominating by prey number (45.2%) followed by frogs (18.8%) and flying squirrels (12.2%). Flying squirrels were the primary source of biomass across all areas (24.8% in the central Coast Range; 34.0% in Olympic National Park; 41.4% in the eastern Cascades) and occurred in pellets most of the time. Mean mass of individual prey was 55.7 g in the central Coast Ranges, 61.2 g in Olympic National Park, and 38.3 g in the eastern Cascades. Food-niche breadth values indicated that although many prey taxa were taken, the food-niche dimension for each population of Barred Owls was narrow. Factors contributing to differences in diet among geographic locales likely included disparities in prey distributions, differences in the number of pellets collected, and likely temporal and local variation in prey use and prey availability. In the third chapter, I investigate prey size preference behavior by sympatric, wild Northern Spotted Owls and Barred Owls in Oregon and Washington. I describe a controlled experiment in which I used feeding experiments to test the hypothesis that owls will select a larger prey animal when given a simultaneous choice between a small prey animal (Mus musculus) and a larger prey animal (Rattus norvegicus or Rattus rattus). I performed 30 independent feeding trials with Northern Spotted Owls (11 females, 19 males) and 17 independent trials with Barred Owls (12 females, 4 males, 1 gender unknown) during 1 March–31 August 2008. Northern Spotted Owls preferred the smaller prey in 24 trials and the larger prey in 6 trials. Barred Owls preferred the small prey in 9 trials and the larger prey in 2 trials. Both species exhibited significant preference for the smaller-sized mice. There was no difference in prey size selection between female and male Northern Spotted Owls; both sexes preferred smaller prey. Sample sizes for Barred Owls were too small to test for sexual differences. There was no interspecific difference in prey size selection between Northern Spotted Owls and Barred Owls. My results for Northern Spotted Owls were not expected because diets of Northern Spotted Owls are typically dominated by medium-sized mammalian prey such as northern flying squirrels and woodrats (Neotoma cinerea and N. fuscipes). Wild Barred Owls preferentially selected small prey during feeding trials, which is consistent with Barred Owl diet in different regions of North America, including the Pacific Northwest

Co-Evolution of Transportation and Land Use: Modeling HIstorical Dependencies in Land Use and Decision-Making

The interaction between land use and transportation has long been the central issue in urban and regional planning. Models of such interactions provide vital information to support many public policy decisions, such as land supply, infrastructure provision, and growth management. Both the transportation and land use systems exhibit historical dependencies in policy decisions. For instance, the expansion of a roadway today will change travel demand patterns, and make certain other roads more or less likely to be expanded in the future. A specific land supply decision made at one point in time, by changing the relative attractiveness of other areas in the region, can have a profound impact on future land supply decisions. Today’s land use decisions clearly influence future transportation policies and vice versa. This project examines the land use-transportation interaction from an evolutionary perspective — once a certain set of goals are determined and pursued by politicians and planners, their land supply and transportation investment decisions are, to a large extent, driven by their previous decisions and supply-demand dynamics in the urban system. Built upon this recognition of historical dependency and a transportation network growth model previously developed by the P.I., a model of the co-evolution of land use and transportation is proposed in this project. Different from existing integrated land use and transportation models that assume exogenous network investment decisions, the co-evolution model considers both land use growth and transportation network growth as endogenous and market-driven. The central research question is how market and policies translate into transportation facilities and land use developments on the ground. The co-evolution model achieves an Urban Growth Equilibrium, which is a useful concept for planning and policy analysis. An agent-based simulation approach is employed to integrate an existing land use model and the transportation network growth model

TSUNAMI INFORMATION SOURCES PART 2

Tsunami Information Sources (Robert L. Wiegel, University of California, Berkeley, CA, UCB/HEL 2005-1, 14 December 2005, 115 pages), is available in printed format, and on a diskette. It is also available in electronic format at the Water Resources Center Archives, University of California, Berkeley, CA http:www.lib.berkeley.edu/WRCA/tsunamis.htmland in the International Journal of The Tsunami Society, Science of Tsunami Hazards (Vol. 24, No. 2, 2006, pp 58-171) at http://www.sthjournal.org/sth6.htm.This is Part 2 of the report. It has two components. They are: 1.(Sections A and B). Sources added since the first report, and corrections to a few listed in the first report. 2.(Sections C and D). References from both the first report and this report, listed in two categories:Section C. Planning and engineering design for tsunami mitigation/protection; adjustments to the hazard; damage to structures and infrastructureSection D. Tsunami propagation nearshore; induced oscillations; runup/inundation (flooding) and drawdown