SELECTING APPROPRIATE WATER POLICIES

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Designing a framework for evaluating the impacts and outcomes of Forest Service appeals

USDA Forest Service administrative appeals have recently been a focus of considerable political debate. Congressional legislation and new administrative rules to change the appeals process and exclude certain fuel reductions projects from environmental review and appeal are under consideration. Meanwhile, there has been little systematic analysis of the claims and counterclaims being put forward about the ecological, social, economic, and administrative impacts of appeals. The workshop, Designing a Framework for Evaluating the Impacts and Outcomes of Forest Service Appeals, engaged researchers, agency representatives, and various affected interests who use appeals, or are affected by their use, to discuss development of a framework by which the impacts and outcomes of Forest Service appeals can be systematically documented and analyzed. Participants identified what is important to evaluate about the appeals process, and discussed how to realistically conduct such evaluations so that results are credible to all. The purpose of the workshop was to focus research and analysis on critical issues surrounding the appeals process to better inform ongoing policy debates

Analyzing USDA Forest Service Appeals: Phase I, the Database

A full accounting of the current administrative appeals process would begin with some basic questions: who, what, where, and when. The database we have compiled begins to answer some of these questions, especially 1) who files appeals, 2) what types of projects are appealed, 3) where the most appeals are filed, and 4) when most appeals are decided. It is important to note that there really was no easy way to answer these questions prior to construction of this database

Humans, Fires, and Forests: Social science applied to fire management: workshop summary, Tucson, Arizona, January 28-31, 2003.

This summary of the January 26-28, 2003 workshop held in Tucson, Arizona, presents the record of the meeting. It includes the full text of the invited theme papers, the managerial and policy talks, annotated outlines of the breakout sessions and the closing, wrap-up presentation. It also includes a reflective after-the-workshop summary and synthesis paper. This record, however, is only one product of the meeting. In addition to the networking that occurred, researchers attending the workshop also committed to several on-going activities designed both to foster communications among scholars as well as to maximize the utility of social science research applied to fire management. Examples of such activities include: preparation of a social science expertise directory, development of a research framework to demonstrate how various work nodes are relating to one another and where there are still significant gaps, and planning for sessions at the July 2003 Natural Hazards workshop in Boulder, Colorado, and the 2004 ISSRM conference in Keystone, Colorado

Groundwater Contamination and Protection Problems in a Small Rural Community

This article addresses the problem of declining water quality in small communities through an examination of the views of a panel of water resource experts. It is based on the premise that sound decision-making may be facilitated when such problems are confronted by experts, rather than individuals or particular interest groups. A detailed report on ground-water contamination by toxic synthetic organic chemicals in Mount Vernon, Iowa was presented to 120 water professionals from the American Mid-West. In spite of incomplete information, the experts strongly supported positive action to limit further pollution of the aquifer. However, the problem was defined as strictly a community issue that warranted minimal financial support from the state or other agencies. There were some differences of opinion between the experts based, in part, on length of ground-water experience, but a general consensus prevailed that policy-making must take local factors into consideration