Applied Extension Research in an Era of Devolution

In recent years, the trend in devolution (placing funding burdens and decisions for programs at more decentralized levels of government) has not only taken shape, but has accelerated. With changing priorities for the federal government, it is clear that higher portions of funding for other government programs must be borne by smaller units of government--if they are going to be provided at all. This Commentary argues that applied Extension research conducted at the local level can keep the organization relevant and vital in this new era of devolution

From Water Quality to Riparian Corridors: Assessing Willingness to Pay for Conservation Easements Using the Contingent Valuation Method

This article reports a survey to elicit public response to a proposal to fund a purchase of a conservation easements program to protect an environmentally sensitive riparian corridor. The results from two versions of the contingent valuation method (CVM)--a payment card and a referendum--reveal that mean household willingness to pay (WTP) is $16.80 and$29.16, respectively. Factors influencing WTP include proposed cost, age of respondent, and individual sense of local environmental priorities. This type of study represents an important opportunity for Extension educators to assist local officials as they struggle to make policy decisions regarding a variety of public projects

Factors Affecting Stakeholders\u27 Willingness to Pay to Prevent the Spread of Aquatic Nuisance Species

Physical separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins has been identified as the most effective method for preventing the transfer of aquatic nuisance species, particularly Asian carp, from the Mississippi River Basin to the Great Lakes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers selected Extension to conduct a study of a key stakeholder group, Great Lakes charter captains, as a first step in assessing public opinion on the issue. Results reveal that the charter captains overwhelmingly support basin separation. Expanded educational outreach related to aquatic nuisance species, basin separation, and so forth would improve the ability of clientele to make informed decisions regarding separation of the basins

Public Issues Education: Exploring Extension\u27s Role

Extension educators in all program areas have become increasingly involved with controversial public issues in recent years. Given the nature of these issues and the expectations placed on agents and specialists by the public and by university officials, Extension\u27s continued involvement seems inevitable. This article provides a conceptual framework that identifies potential roles for public officials, the general public, and Extension professionals in dealing with public issues. The article concludes with some specific advice for Extension educators involved with programming that addresses controversial topics

Using Research and Planning to Develop Community Outreach: A Case Study in Helping Clientele Cope with Stress

Extension educators collaborated with local agencies to conduct a survey on sources of stress in the lives of local residents. Results reveal that five variables emerge as statistically significant factors associated with reported stress levels: financial problems, stress on the job, having too little time, number of major life changes in the past year, and being a woman. Educators followed with a Vision to Action Program that identified specific goals aimed at helping community residents cope with and reduce stress levels. Combining applied research with existing Extension programming is an effective way to engage the public on issues of local concern

Creating a Model for Successful Microenterprise Development (MED) Programs

Communities seek to offer effective financing programs to encourage entrepreneurs and support the growth of microenterprises. Community economic development strategies have changed in recent years from traditional industrial recruitment to microenterprise development (MED), which is considered to be as a more viable, long-term strategy to create jobs and grow local economies. This article provides a framework for an effective microenterprise financing program based on the model created by a rural community in Ohio and offers suggestions as to how this framework may be used by researchers and practitioners to identify best practices in the microenterprise financing realm

An Assessment of Residents\u27 Willingness to Pay for Green Space and Farmland Preservation Conservation Easements Using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM)

In recent years, federal and state government agencies have required larger proportions of funding for environmental programs to be generated locally. Local officials want assessments of local public opinion in order to make funding decisions. Extension educators should take the opportunity to fill this important need. This article presents results of an Extension study of residents\u27 attitudes toward programs to preserve natural areas and agricultural lands. The findings, obtained using the contingent valuation method (CVM), reveal that basic attitudes toward conservation, area of residence, and income are important predictors of residents\u27 willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation easement programs

Chronoecology of the Cave Dwelling Orb-Weaver Spider, Meta ovalis (Araneae: Tetragnathidae)

Circadian clocks are endogenous time keeping mechanisms that are ubiquitous among animals. They enable coordination of many essential biological and metabolic processes in relation to the 24 hour light cycle on earth. However, there are many habitats on earth that are not subject to this light cycle. This study aims to look at the potential genetic drift of the circadian rhythm of a subterranean spider, Meta ovalis, as well as gathering general natural history information on this under-studied spider. This study will fill general gaps in knowledge of this spider and its habitat, highlight the importance of studying organisms within a subterranean environment, and place importance on cave conservation and acquiring knowledge of these specialized, and sensitive species. This study integrates circadian and foraging theory to evaluate species as circadian specialists and generalists based on how narrowly or widely their activity is spread over the 24 h cycle. We suggest that M. ovalis benefits from a generalist strategy, showing small bursts of focused activity widely dispersed across the 24 h cycle, allowing it to capture prey opportunistically whenever it is available. Live spiders were collected from area caves, monitored in an environment controlled for light and temperature, and returned to their cave of origin. The activity of each spider was analyzed for differences in circadian activity among and between populations to determine if there is a significant drift of the circadian strategy between isolated populations of Meta ovalis. We expect to see a different circadian strategy implemented between populations due to drift from the spiders being isolated from other populations

Identifying Irrigated Areas in the Snake River Plain, Idaho: Evaluating Performance Across Composting Algorithms, Spectral Indices, and Sensors

There are pressing concerns about the interplay between agricultural productivity, water demand, and water availability in semi-arid to arid regions of the world. Currently, irrigated agriculture is the dominant water user in these regions and is estimated to consume approximately 80% of the world’s diverted freshwater resources. We develop an improved irrigated land-use mapping algorithm that uses the seasonal maximum value of a spectral index to distinguish between irrigated and non-irrigated parcels in Idaho’s Snake River Plain. We compare this approach to two alternative algorithms that differentiate between irrigated and non-irrigated parcels using spectral index values at a single date or the area beneath spectral index trajectories for the duration of the agricultural growing season. Using six different pixel and county-scale error metrics, we evaluate the performance of these three algorithms across all possible combinations of two growing seasons (2002 and 2007), two datasets (MODIS and Landsat 5), and three spectral indices, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Enhanced Vegetation Index and Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDVI, EVI, and NDMI). We demonstrate that, on average, the seasonal-maximum algorithm yields an improvement in classification accuracy over the accepted single-date approach, and that the average improvement under this approach is a 60% reduction in county scale root mean square error (RMSE), and modest improvements of overall accuracy in the pixel scale validation. The greater accuracy of the seasonal-maximum algorithm is primarily due to its ability to correctly classify non-irrigated lands in riparian and developed areas of the study region

16th Annual Environmental Law Institute

Materials from the 16th Annual Environmental Law Institute held by UK/CLE in May 2000