South Carolina Department of Transportation and the United States Department of Agriculture, Partnering for Success in Migratory Bird Treaty Act Compliance: A Case Study

The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) is responsible for maintaining over 8,400 bridges statewide and several species of migratory birds use these structures as nesting locations. These birds, including their nests and eggs, are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). During a review of MBTA compliance in 2014, SCDOT concluded that they had no procedures in place to allow take to occur when active migratory bird nests were found within project limits. Project delays were the only management method available when active nests were found. SCDOT entered a Cooperative Service Agreement with USDA Wildlife Services (WS) in 2016 to address MBTA compliance on SCDOT projects. The agreement called for WS to manage migratory birds at bridge projects to prevent project delays. WS would repeatedly visit bridge projects, survey the bridges for nests, and remove the nests before they became active. Since 2016, WS has inspected 233 bridges and migratory birds were present at approximately 66% of those bridges with a total of 9,250 inactive nests being removed using a variety of methods. Since the partnership’s inception, construction delays due to migratory birds have been completely avoided with an average cost per project of $1,525. With the passage of a new motor fuel user fee in South Carolina, SCDOT plans to replace 465 bridges over the next 10 years. This increase in work will require continued development and implementation of the partnership to effectively meet the rapidly growing transportation needs while minimizing impacts to species protected under the MBTA

Expanding Institutional Arrangements for Acquiring Water for Environmental Purposes: Transactions Evidence for the Western United States

Market purchases of water rights for environmental purposes in the western United States have involved purchases by public agencies of at least 88 850 acre feet of water over the last five years. Annual water leasing for environmental purposes has been more active, with 1.72 million acre feet leased in the western United States. The most frequent reasons for these transactions are for wildlife (primarily waterfowl), recreation and fisheries. The average price paid for a water right is $609 per acre foot, while it is$30 per acre foot for an annual water lease. As evidenced by the ability of government agencies to purchase water in voluntary transactions, environmental uses of water are often competitive with many low-value agricultural crops in the western United States

Expanding Institutional Arrangements for Acquiring Water for Environmental Purposes: Transactions Evidence for the Western United States

Market purchases of water rights for environmental purposes in the western United States have involved purchases by public agencies of at least 88 850 acre feet of water over the last five years. Annual water leasing for environmental purposes has been more active, with 1.72 million acre feet leased in the western United States. The most frequent reasons for these transactions are for wildlife (primarily waterfowl), recreation and fisheries. The average price paid for a water right is $609 per acre foot, while it is$30 per acre foot for an annual water lease. As evidenced by the ability of government agencies to purchase water in voluntary transactions, environmental uses of water are often competitive with many low-value agricultural crops in the western United States

Unilateral congenital elongation of the cervical part of the internal carotid artery with kinking and looping: two case reports and review of the literature

Unilateral and bilateral variation in the course and elongation of the cervical (extracranial) part of the internal carotid artery (ICA) leading to its tortuosity, kinking and coiling or looping is not a rare condition, which could be caused by both embryological and acquired factors. Patients with such variations may be asymptomatic in some cases; in others, they can develop cerebrovascular symptoms due to carotid stenosis affecting cerebral circulation. The risk of transient ischemic attacks in patients with carotid stenosis is high and its surgical correction is indicated for the prevention of ischemic stroke. Detection of developmental variations of the ICA and evaluation of its stenotic areas is very important for surgical interventions and involves specific diagnostic imaging techniques for vascular lesions including contrast arteriography, duplex ultrasonography and magnetic resonance angiography. Examination of obtained images in cases of unusual and complicated variations of vascular pattern of the ICA may lead to confusion in interpretation of data. Awareness about details and topographic anatomy of variations of the ICA may serve as a useful guide for both radiologists and vascular surgeons. It may help to prevent diagnostic errors, influence surgical tactics and interventional procedures and avoid complications during the head and neck surgery. Our present study was conducted with a purpose of updating data about developmental variations of the ICA. Dissections of the main neurovascular bundle of the head and neck were performed on a total 14 human adult cadavers (10 – Africans: 7 males & 3 females and 4 – East Indians: all males). Two cases of unilateral congenital elongation of the cervical part of the ICA with kinking and looping and carotid stenoses were found only in African males. Here we present their detailed case reports with review of the literature

Evaluating Ambulatory Resident Practice Using an Internet-Based System

To improve faculty participation in providing feedback on resident outpatient practice, we designed and implemented an Internet-based evaluation system. Attending physicians scored residents on 7 questions related to specific practice behaviors, and completed a free-text comment section. Between January and June 1998, 516 evaluations for 107 residents were generated using the Internet-based system, compared with 29 handwritten evaluations for 82 residents between January and June 1997. The number of faculty evaluations was 527 for 121 residents in the second half of 1998. An Internet-based evaluation system can improve faculty compliance with performing evaluations