Similarity of climate change data for Antarctica and Nevada

The correlation between temperature and carbon dioxide concentration in the past one hundred years is studied. Separate graphs containing data from Vostok, Antarctica and the Mojave desert/mountain west (Nevada region) are presented. Using data obtained from these graphs, an attempt is made to explain the results and investigate the similarity of these results for Antarctica and Nevada. The importance of this study lies in the fact that if data show the same trend in the two regions, many findings for climate change in Antarctica may readily be validated and employed for Nevada

Native Americans and ranchers (rural Nevada)

31 PowerPoint slides Convener: William Smith, UNLV Session 3: Policy, Decision Making, and Outreach Abstract: -Survey: Socioeconomic characteristics, cc perceptions, and relations with nature. -IRB approved work generated in new cc lab. -Packages: 4 pg back-to-back survey, holiday card with local pic, hand-signed personalized letter and a self-add. pre-paid return env. -A list of almost all Nevada ranchers and farmers 1893) were collected from a partner academic institution. -Packages sent on Dec. 29, 2009 -Till now we have approximately 300 (16%) returned surveys and 2 returned packages because of changing caree

Soil Air Permeability and Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Development of Soil Corer Air Permeameter, Post-fire Soil Physical Changes, and 3D Air Flow Model in Anisotropic Soils

Air permeability (ka) is a viable alternative to water- and texture-based methods to rapidly map saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat). The ability to measure this important hydraulic property without the use of more cumbersome and time-consuming methods may provide a practical approach to generate more complete data to describe hydrologic conditions. This study presents the development of an air permeameter which is suitable for desert soils. The Soil Corer Air Permeameter (SCAP) is compatible with a standard soil corer and employs digital components to measure flowrates under low-pressure gradients to improve accuracy, ease of use, and portability. SCAP allows for the extraction of undisturbed soil samples for laboratory analysis, providing direct comparisons of ka with other soil physical and hydraulic properties. The applicability of a regression equation to estimate Ksat from field-measured ka using SCAP was examined in unburned and burned soils. Ex situ field ka and laboratory Ksat measurements were compared and air to water permeability (ka/kw) ratios were calculated to determine structural changes due to water saturation. The study also characterized changes in permeability due to fire in woodland-chaparral and coniferous soils. For soils that could be extracted with minimal structural changes, results show ka and Ksat measurements for unburned and burned soils were within the 95% confidence intervals of a ka-Ksat regression developed for agricultural soils. However, correlations for in situ ka measurements in some burned soils showed a decrease in accuracy and may be attributed to soil anisotropy. A three-dimensional steady-state finite element air flow model was developed using FEMLAB 3.0A to consider the effects of anisotropy on in situ ka measurements. Results show that anisotropic conditions can introduce an error as high as a factor of 2 especially for air permeameters with high diameter to height (D/H) ratios, however, the error is much smaller than the anisotropy ratio. If anisotropy is important to characterize, it was shown that paired measurements of in situ and ex situ ka can be used to infer the anisotropy ratio

Engaging Southwestern Tribes in Sustainable Water Resources Topics and Management

Indigenous peoples in North America have a long history of understanding their societies as having an intimate relationship with their physical environments. Their cultures, traditions, and identities are based on the ecosystems and sacred places that shape their world. Their respect for their ancestors and 'Mother Earth' speaks of unique value and knowledge systems different than the value and knowledge systems of the dominant United States settler society. The value and knowledge systems of each indigenous and non-indigenous community are different but collide when water resources are endangered. One of the challenges that face indigenous people regarding the management of water relates to their opposition to the commodification of water for availability to select individuals. External researchers seeking to work with indigenous peoples on water research or management must learn how to design research or water management projects that respect indigenous cultural contexts, histories of interactions with settler governments and researchers, and the current socio-economic and political situations in which indigenous peoples are embedded. They should pay particular attention to the process of collaborating on water resource topics and management with and among indigenous communities while integratingWestern and indigenous sciences in ways that are beneficial to both knowledge systems. The objectives of this paper are to (1) to provide an overview of the context of current indigenous water management issues, especially for the U.S. federally recognized tribes in the Southwestern United States; (2) to synthesize approaches to engage indigenous persons, communities, and governments on water resources topics and management; and (3) to compare the successes of engaging Southwestern tribes in five examples to highlight some significant activities for collaborating with tribes on water resources research and management. In discussing the engagement approaches of these five selected cases, we considered the four "simple rules" of tribal research, which are to ask about ethics, do more listening, follow tribal research protocols, and give back to the community. For the five select cases of collaboration involving Southwestern tribes, the success of external researchers with the tribes involved comprehensive engagement of diverse tribal audience from grassroots level to central tribal government, tribal oversight, on-going dialogue, transparency of data, and reporting back. There is a strong recognition of the importance of engaging tribal participants in water management discussions particularly with pressing impacts of drought, climate change, and mining and defining water rights.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Program Office Sectoral Applications Research Program (SARP) [NA10OAR4310183]; National Science Foundation (NSF) [EPS0814372]; United States Geological Survey [G12AC20506]; Gila River Indian Community; Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable TrustThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Opening the Black Box: Using a Hydrological Model to Link Stakeholder Engagement with Groundwater Management

Stakeholder participation is a foundation of good water governance. Good groundwater governance typically involves the co-production of knowledge about the groundwater system. Models provide a vehicle for producing this knowledge, as well as a boundary object around which scientists and stakeholders can convene the co-production process. Through co-production, stakeholders and scientific experts can engage in exchanges that create system knowledge not otherwise achievable. The process involves one-way transfer of information, active two-way conversations, and integration of multiple kinds of knowledge into shared understanding. In the Upper Santa Cruz River basin in Arizona, USA, the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) convened a project aimed at providing scientific underpinnings for groundwater planning and management. This project, entitled Groundwater, Climate, and Stakeholder Engagement, serves as a case study employing the first two stages of knowledge co-production using a hydrological model. Through an iterative process that included two-way communication, stakeholders provided critical input to hydrologic modeling analyses. Acting as a bridging organization, the WRRC facilitated a co-production process, involving location-specific and transferability workshops, which resulted in new knowledge and capacity for applying the model to novel problems.NOAA Climate and Societal Interactions Sectoral Applications Research Program (NOAA) [NA12OAR4310099]; University of Arizona Technology and Research Initiative Fund; Arizona Department of Water Resources [2015-2994IGA]; Conservation Assistance FundOpen Access JournalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Respectful Tribal Partnership: What Philanthropy Can Learn From the Navajo Nation’s Collaborative Response to the COVID-19 Crisis

The gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic and its disparately harsh impact on Indigenous peoples are now well known. U.S. death rates normalized by population, for example, have been far higher for Native Americans than for the white population in the United States. Many funders, realizing that basic human services are lacking for many Native American and Indigenous communities, have responded to the crisis. While this desire to act is laudable, many fail to grasp the complexities and necessity of applying trust-based collaborative principles that respect tribes as sovereign nations. This article describes a successful model for collaboration among a tribal nation, funders, and subject-matter experts to address a critical problem — access to clean water for Navajo families — based on respecting the leadership and values of the Navajo Nation and born from the pandemic crisis taking place there. Collaborating partners were drawn from dozens of state and federal agencies, nonprofits, universities, and philanthropies. All were connected by honor and respect for the Diné — “The People,” as the Navajo call themselves. This model can be replicated by funders working with multiple experts, agencies, and governments to continue to meet community resilience challenges that do not retreat with the pandemic and to promote equity and justice in any philanthropic venture

Opening the Black Box: Using a Hydrological Model to Link Stakeholder Engagement with Groundwater Management

Stakeholder participation is a foundation of good water governance. Good groundwater governance typically involves the co-production of knowledge about the groundwater system. Models provide a vehicle for producing this knowledge, as well as a “boundary object” around which scientists and stakeholders can convene the co-production process. Through co-production, stakeholders and scientific experts can engage in exchanges that create system knowledge not otherwise achievable. The process involves one-way transfer of information, active two-way conversations, and integration of multiple kinds of knowledge into shared understanding. In the Upper Santa Cruz River basin in Arizona, USA, the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) convened a project aimed at providing scientific underpinnings for groundwater planning and management. This project, entitled Groundwater, Climate, and Stakeholder Engagement, serves as a case study employing the first two stages of knowledge co-production using a hydrological model. Through an iterative process that included two-way communication, stakeholders provided critical input to hydrologic modeling analyses. Acting as a bridging organization, the WRRC facilitated a co-production process, involving location-specific and transferability workshops, which resulted in new knowledge and capacity for applying the model to novel problems

Incorporating social-ecological considerations into basin-wide responses to climate change in the Colorado River Basin

During the last 50 years, construction of dams in the western United States declined. This is partly because of increasing recognition of diverse and unintended social-ecological consequences of dams. Today, resource managers are recognizing the wide array of tradeoffs and are including a more diverse group of stakeholders in decision making for individual dams. Yet decisions at the regional scale maintain a focus on a limited number of resources and objectives, leading to inefficient and inequitable outcomes. Social-ecological changes compounded by climate change challenge this management paradigm. Increasing water demands for humans and the environment and renewed interest in hydropower present opportunities for operations that include climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies while considering tradeoffs and equitable responses at the regional scale.U.S. Geological Survey Southwest Biological Science Center; National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network Grant [1617413]24 month embargo; published online: 6 May 2019This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

A Community-Based Health Risk Assessment Following the Gold King Mine Spill: Results from the Gold King Mine Spill Diné Exposure Project

The Gold King Mine Spill (GKMS) disaster resulted in three million gallons of acid mine drainage-containing arsenic and lead being released into a tributary of the San Juan River. The San Juan River flows through the Navajo Nation and the Diné (Navajo) rely on this river for a variety of purposes lending to unique exposure pathways. We administered questionnaires in three Navajo communities in collaboration with the Navajo Nation Community Health Representatives to obtain frequency and duration data on 43 activities (e.g., praying with river water, fishing from the river). These activities were utilized to conduct a community-based probabilistic risk assessment from exposure to arsenic (As) and lead at three different time points (i.e., pre-GKMS, peak-GKMS, and post-GKMS) for four different exposure scenarios: (1) recreational, (2) cultural, (3) dietary, and (4) aggregate. The aggregate scenario combines exposure from engaging in recreational, cultural, and dietary related activities. Utilizing the Lifeline Community-Based Assessment Software ™ distributions were incorporated for different exposure factors (e.g., hand-to-mouth contacts, transfer efficiency) along with Diné-specific activities (e.g., using the sediment as sunscreen) to estimate dose. The estimated lead and arsenic (As) hazard quotients (HQs) for the recreational, cultural, and dietary scenario for all time points were less than one, indicating no excess non-cancer risks. Only the dietary scenario resulted in an excess cancer risk, with less than 1% of the simulated estimates exceeding the 1 × 10–04 cancer risk guideline from exposure to arsenic through the dietary scenario (e.g., consuming fish from the San Juan River) at all time points. This risk assessment is the first to incorporate the unique exposure pathways of the Diné people following the GKMS and highlights the need to incorporate community-specific pathways during the risk analysis process.National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences12 month embargo; first published 06 July 2023This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]