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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
USGS1996

Toxicity of fire retardant chemicals to aquatic organisms: Progress report

Fire retardants and suppressants used extensively in North America are often applied in environmentally sensitive areas that may contain endangered, threatened, or economically important plant and animal species. We conducted laboratory acute toxicity tests in both hard and soft waters with five commonly used fire control chemicals (Fire Trol LCG-R, Fire-Trol GTS-R, Phos-Chek D-75-F, Phos-Chek WD-881, and Silv-Ex). Organisms used in the tests included two fish (rainbow trout and fathead minnow), two aquatic invertebrates ( Daphnia magna and Hyalella azteca ), and a green algae ( Selenastrum capricornutum ). In general, the green algae was substantially more sensitive to the three non-foam fire chemicals than the animals, the Daphnia were the most sensitive test organism in exposures with foams. The two foams (Silv-Ex and Phos-Chek WD-881) had similar toxicity and were more toxic than the three non-foams. Water quality did not seem to modify the toxicity of the five fire chemicals in a consistent manner.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1981

Economics and coal resource appraisal: strippable coal in the Illinois Basin ( USA)

Coal-resource appraisals generally describe the location and general characteristics of coal beds. Estimates are made of the average overburden depth (depth of the coal bed below the surface), bed thickness, and perhaps certain chemical properties of the coal [1]. Although such resource compilations represent an important initial step, neither they nor current estimates provide sufficient information to determine the costs of alternative options for National energy policy. Because coal is expected to provide an increasing part of future overall U.S. energy supply, it is crucial for long term planning that coalresource appraisals convey sufficient information regarding the degree of economic resource scarcity (escalation of unit costs for mining remaining deposits as the best deposits in an area are mined out) expected as coal consumption increases. However, assumptions embodied in most large-scale models of coal supply [13; 20] imply that the coal reserves that exist can be commercially produced as needed. As demonstrated by the embargo of 1973-1974 and more recent difficulties in obtaining crude oil, even a slight temporary commodity shortfall will result in significant economic losses when the commodity supplies a large proportion of the total energy used by an economy. For the United States, crude oil resource estimates did not give warning of a decline in domestic petroleum product. In this paper we argue that coal-resource estimates, as they are now made, will not give warning of future supply difficulties. A method for incorporating an economic dimension into appraisals of strippable coal resources is presented and is applied to a major U.S. coal-producing region, the Illinois part of the Illinois basin. Illinois accounts for nearly 70% of the demonstrated strippable coal reserve base of the Illinois basin [12]. In particular, a long-run incremental cost function (that is unit costs vs. cumulative reserves extracted) is estimated for strippable coal in Illinois. The estimated cost function exhibits an initial range over which costs increase at a constant rate-followed by a range where costs increase very rapidly and the function becomes quite inelastic. This long-run incremental cost function is significant for two reasons. Comparison of the demonstrated reserve base for strippable coal (14.8 billion tons) with cumulative production (since 1920 of 1.1 billion tons) might suggest that future depletion will not be significant when, in fact, the cost function presented here indicates otherwise. Because the only states having more reserves of strippable coal than Illinois are Montana and Wyoming [18], these results have implications for national coal-resource appraisal. Secondly, most models used to study the effects of alternative public policies in coal markets are static in nature [15; 16] and cannot consider the effects of increasing costs. Furthermore, models which are multi-period in nature [11; 13] appear to have little empirical basis for their assumptions regarding the escalation of production costs resulting from depletion. The plan of the paper is as follows. First a description of the analytical approach for constructing the long-run incremental cost-reserve function is discussed. Following this, the descriptions of the Illinois basin and the basic physical data are presented. In the concluding section, the main results are presented and their implications are explored

Southern Economic Journal↗
USGS2018

Managing the water-energy-food nexus: Opportunities in Central Asia

This article examines impacts of infrastructure development and climate variability on economic outcomes for the Amu Darya Basin in Central Asia. It aims to identify the most economically productive mix of expanded reservoir storage for economic benefit sharing to occur, in which economic welfare of all riparians is improved. Policies examined include four combinations of storage infrastructure for each of two climate futures. An empirical optimization model is developed and applied to identify opportunities for improving the welfare of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan. The analysis 1) characterizes politically constrained and economically optimized water-use patterns for these combinations of expanded reservoir storage capacity, 2) describes Pareto-Improving packages of expanded storage capacity that could raise economic welfare for all four riparians, and accounts for impacts for each of two climate scenarios. Results indicate that a combination of targeted water storage infrastructure and efficient water allocation could produce outcomes for which the discounted net present value of benefits are favorable for each riparian. Results identify a framework to provide economic motivation for all riparians to cooperate through development of water storage infrastructure. Our findings illustrate the principle that development of water infrastructure can expand the negotiation space by which all communities can gain economic benefits in the face of limited water supply. Still, despite our optimistic findings, patient and deliberate negotiation will be required to transform potential improvements into actual gains.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS2026

Preface

Despite more than 50 years of research into the human dimensions of recreational f isheries, there is no textbook to present the theoretical grounding, operationalisation, and interpretation of the most elemental social components involved in fisheries management – namely, outcomes and trade-offs, behaviours (and antecedents or predictors of it), and the relationships among actors (fishers, f isher groups, managers, and management organisations). The objective of this edited volume is to reduce this knowledge gap. The book comprises four parts: (I) recreational fisheries as social-ecological systems, (II) disciplinary views of f ishers’ behaviours and outcomes, (III) engagement of fishers to support effective social science, and (IV) interdisciplinary integration for recreational fisheries management. Part I provides the general motivation for an interdisciplinary approach to understand recreational fisheries as coupled systems. Part II provides the foundations of various social science disciplines and highlights linkages and differences in the underlying theories and concepts used. Part III describes various qualitative and quantitative methods to study the social aspects of recreational fisheries in more detail, and Part IV suggests approaches to achieve standardisation and integration of different data streams, including how to link social and ecological data. The book chapters have been written by leading scholars of recreational fisheries science, involving social and economic scientists, political ecologists, and fisheries ecologists with a tradition in either applying human dimensions or working towards integration.

Book chapter↗
USGS2008

The ShakeOut Earthquake Scenario— A story that southern Californians are writing

The question is not if but when southern California will be hit by a major earthquake - one so damaging that it will permanently change lives and livelihoods in the region. How severe the changes will be depends on the actions that individuals, schools, businesses, organizations, communities, and governments take to get ready. To help prepare for this event, scientists of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have changed the way that earthquake scenarios are done, uniting a multidisciplinary team that spans an unprecedented number of specialties. The team includes the California Geological Survey, Southern California Earthquake Center, and nearly 200 other partners in government, academia, emergency response, and industry, working to understand the long-term impacts of an enormous earthquake on the complicated social and economic interactions that sustain southern California society. This project, the ShakeOut Scenario, has applied the best current scientific understanding to identify what can be done now to avoid an earthquake catastrophe. More information on the science behind this project will be available in The ShakeOut Scenario (USGS Open-File Report 2008-1150; http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1150/). The 'what if?' earthquake modeled in the ShakeOut Scenario is a magnitude 7.8 on the southern San Andreas Fault. Geologists selected the details of this hypothetical earthquake by considering the amount of stored strain on that part of the fault with the greatest risk of imminent rupture. From this, seismologists and computer scientists modeled the ground shaking that would occur in this earthquake. Engineers and other professionals used the shaking to produce a realistic picture of this earthquake's damage to buildings, roads, pipelines, and other infrastructure. From these damages, social scientists projected casualties, emergency response, and the impact of the scenario earthquake on southern California's economy and society. The earthquake, its damages, and resulting losses are one realistic outcome, deliberately not a worst-case scenario, rather one worth preparing for and mitigating against. Decades of improving the life-safety requirements in building codes have greatly reduced the risk of death in earthquakes, yet southern California's economic and social systems are still vulnerable to large-scale disruptions. Because of this, the ShakeOut Scenario earthquake would dramatically alter the nature of the southern California community. Fortunately, steps can be taken now that can change that outcome and repay any costs many times over. The ShakeOut Scenario is the first public product of the USGS Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project, created to show how hazards science can increase a community's resiliency to natural disasters through improved planning, mitigation, and response.

California↗
USGS2025

Land application of drill waste: A scope analysis

Drilling fluid waste land application, a process where drilling wastes are spread and tilled into the land surface, has become common in some petroleum-producing states, however, the potential benefits and risks of this practice are not well studied. Drilling fluids can be water- or oil-based and can have high concentrations of total soluble salts and total petroleum hydrocarbons. Comprehensive chemical characterization of these fluids is not well documented in the literature, and the extent of land application is largely unknown. We hypothesized that the land application of drill waste would fluctuate over time due to economic factors. To begin to understand the extent of historical and potential future land application, we analyzed data from over 5,800 drilling fluid land application permits collected by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015–2020. During the years studied, drilling fluid wastes were applied to more than 250,000 acres in Oklahoma, with over 54,000 thousand barrels (Mbbl) of liquids and nearly 21,000 Mbbl of solids applied. Land application is widespread (occurring in 59/77 counties), however recent drilling activity, land availability, and the economics of transportation have created conditions favorable for land application specifically in the Anadarko Basin. Land application can co-occur with sensitive areas, such as important groundwater and surface-water drinking sources and agricultural fields used for subsistence or feed crop production. Our approach for quantifying the extent of land application, along with further chemical characterization studies, can aid operators and land managers who are considering this practice in assessing the associated benefits and risks.

Oklahoma↗
USGS2022

The economic effects of the HayWired Scenario using the association of Bay Area governments regional growth forecast—A focus on network disruption and resilience

This paper describes how impacts to infrastructure networks within the San Francisco Bay Area may exacerbate the effects of building damage and how policies addressing these networks can improve resilience before and after the earthquake. The analysis uses existing modeling techniques that underlie the Association of Bay Area Government’s (ABAG) 2015 regional economic forecast of the San Francisco Bay region, California to estimate how a moment magnitude (MW) 7.0 earthquake scenario along the Hayward Fault, HayWired, would change the trajectory of that forecast. The ABAG forecast released in January 2015 is built on the framework of a Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI) model for the San Francisco Bay region and projects growth in the bay area through 2040. Using the simulation tools in the REMI model, the analysis applies the direct output losses flowing from building damages from the HayWired scenario (estimated using the FEMA Hazus model) to ABAG’s economic and demographic 2015 regional forecast. Also the analysis estimates direct, indirect, and induced effects on gross regional product (GRP), employment and population, and also highlights the effects of the physical infrastructure damage to roads, bridges, and rail to the region’s economy. Communications infrastructure, if resilient or restored, can help counteract the losses generated by building and transportation network damage. The REMI model results show that in the first year, employment would drop by almost half a million jobs, whereas GRP would decline by 8 percent. The two counties near the epicenter of the earthquake would have greater losses, of 15 percent in jobs and 13 percent in GRP. Counties with less physical damage may still have economic slowdowns due to transportation disruption. Much of the economy could recover within a few years, but a full return to the projected trajectory could take more than five years for the region and closer to a decade for the most severely affected counties. Recovery and rebuilding investments will be crucial to repairing the economic base of the region and returning it to its projected growth trajectory. State and local policies, as well as business and personal preparedness and employer flexibility in allowing remote work can reduce the length and severity of effects. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses using the model identify some critical factors that would lead to different levels of change. For example, a shortage of construction workers could result in a deeper, longer recession as rebuilding is postponed. Should major technology employers decide to relocate substantial portions of operations or expand outside of the region, the recovery period from the earthquake induced recession could stretch to six or seven years and the region’s trajectory could be permanently damped relative to the ABAG 2015 forecast for 2040.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2006

Firm size diversity, functional richness, and resilience

This paper applies recent advances in ecology to our understanding of firm development, sustainability, and economic development. The ecological literature indicates that the greater the functional richness of species in a system, the greater its resilience - that is, its ability to persist in the face of substantial changes in the environment. This paper focuses on the effects of functional richness across firm size on the ability of industries to survive in the face of economic change. Our results indicate that industries with a richness of industrial functions are more resilient to employment volatility. ?? 2006 Cambridge University Press.

Environment and Development Economics↗
USGS2024

Leveraging natural capital accounting to support businesses with nature-related risk assessments and disclosures

Nature loss threatens businesses, the global economy and financial stability. Understanding and addressing these risks for business will require credible measurement approaches and data. This paper explores how natural capital accounting (NCA) can support business data and information needs related to nature, including disclosures aligned with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures recommendations. As businesses seek to measure, manage and disclose their nature-related risks and opportunities, they will need well-organized, consistent and high-quality information regarding their dependencies and impacts on nature, which few businesses currently collect or track in-house. NCA may be useful for these purposes but has not been widely used or applied by businesses. National NCA guided by the U.N. System of Environmental-Economic Accounting may provide: (i) a useful framework for businesses in conceptualizing, organizing and managing nature-related data and statistics; and (ii) data and information that can directly support business disclosures, corporate NCA and other business applications. This paper explores these opportunities as well as synergies between national and corporate natural capital accounts. In addition, the paper discusses key barriers to advancing the wider use and benefits of NCA for business, including: awareness of NCA, data access, business capabilities related to NCA, spatial and temporal scales of data, audit and assurance considerations, potential risks, and costs and incentives.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B:↗
USGS2020

An integrated feasibility study of reservoir thermal energy storage in Portland, Oregon, USA

In regions with long cold overcast winters and sunny summers, Deep Direct-Use (DDU) can be coupled with Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES) technology to take advantage of pre-existing subsurface permeability to save summer heat for later use during cold seasons. Many aquifers worldwide are underlain by permeable regions (reservoirs) containing brackish or saline groundwater that has limited beneficial use due to poor water quality. We investigate the utility of these relatively deep, slow flowing reservoirs for RTES by conducting an integrated feasibility study in the Portland Basin, Oregon, USA, developing methods and obtaining results that can be widely applied to groundwater systems elsewhere. As a case study, we have conducted an economic and social cost-benefit analysis for the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), a teaching hospital that is recognized as critical infrastructure in the Portland Metropolitan Area. Our investigation covers key factors that influence feasibility including 1) the geologic framework, 2) heat and fluid flow modeling, 3) capital and maintenance costs, 4) the regulatory framework, and 5) operational risks. By pairing a model of building seasonal heat demand with an integrated model of RTES resource supply, we determine that the most important factors that influence RTES efficacy in the study area are operational schedule, well spacing, the amount of summer heat stored (in our model, a function of solar array size), and longevity of the system. Generally, heat recovery efficiency increases as the reservoir and surrounding rocks warm, making RTES more economical with time. Selecting a base-case scenario, we estimate a levelized cost of heat (LCOH) to compare with other sources of heating available to OHSU and find that it is comparable to unsubsidized solar and nuclear, but more expensive than natural gas. Additional benefits of RTES include energy resiliency in the event that conventional energy supplies are disrupted (e.g., natural disaster) and a reduction in fossil fuel consumption resulting in a smaller carbon footprint. Key risks include reservoir heterogeneity and a possible reduction in permeability through time due to scaling (mineral precipitation). Lastly, a map of thermal energy storage capacity for the Portland Basin yields a total of 87,000 GWh, suggesting tremendous potential for RTES in the Portland Metropolitan Area.

Oregon↗
USGS2020

Economic, land use, and ecosystem services impacts of Rwanda's Green Growth Strategy: An application of the IEEM+ESM platform

We develop and link the Integrated Economic-Environmental Modeling (IEEM) Platform to ecosystem services modeling (ESM). The IEEM+ESM Platform is an innovative decision-making framework for exploring complex public policy goals and elucidating synergies and trade-offs between alternative policy portfolios. The IEEM+ESM approach is powerful in its ability to shed light on (i) change in land use and ecosystem services driven by public policy and the supply and demand responses of businesses and households; and (ii) impacts on standard economic indicators of concern to Ministries of Finance such as gross domestic product and employment, as well as changes in wealth and ecosystem services. The IEEM+ESM approach is being adopted rapidly and by the end of 2020, IEEM+ESM Platforms will be implemented for about 25 countries. To demonstrate the insights generated by the IEEM+ESM approach, we apply it to the analysis of alternative green growth strategies in Rwanda, a country that has made strong progress in reducing poverty and enhancing economic growth in the last 15 years. The case of Rwanda is particularly compelling as it faces intense pressure on its natural capital base and ecosystem services, already with the highest population density in Africa, which is projected to double by 2050. In applying IEEM+ESM and comparing the outcomes of Rwanda’s green growth policies, increasing fertilization of agricultural crops shows the largest economic gains but also trade-offs in environmental quality reflected through higher nutrient export and reduced water quality. Combining crop fertilization with forest plantations better balances critical ecosystem services and their role in underpinning economic development as Rwanda progresses toward its target of middle-income status by 2035. This application to Rwanda’s green growth strategy demonstrates the value-added of the IEEM+ESM approach in generating results that speak to both economic outcomes and impacts on market and non-market ecosystem services.

Science of the Total Environment↗
USGS2021

Stewardship and management of freshwater ecosystems: From Leopold's land ethic to a freshwater ethic

In 1949, Aldo Leopold formalized the concept of the ‘land ethic’, in what emerged as a foundational and transformational way of thinking about natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, and stewardship in terrestrial systems. Yet, the land ethic has inherent linkages to aquatic ecosystems; Leopold himself conducted research on rivers and lakes, and freshwater ecosystems figured widely in his writing. We reflect on the land ethic and other aspects of Leopold's scholarship to identify key messages that provide insight into the stewardship and management of freshwater ecosystems around the globe. We also frame what we call the ‘freshwater ethic’ around Leopold's legacy. Although Leopold could not have envisaged the stressors affecting modern aquatic ecosystems, his core principles remain salient. These apply not only to ecosystem protection, but also to the ethics of modern conservation economics, sustainability, and the protection of natural capital, in which lakes, rivers, and wetlands now figure prominently. We identify key ‘Aldo-inspired’ recommendations for protecting and restoring freshwater ecosystems in the Anthropocene that emanate directly from his writings (e.g. adopt an ecosystem approach, identify win–win–win scenarios, recognize the irreplaceability of wild waters, and strive for freshwater optimism). In an epoch where links between people and nature are becoming more explicit in environmental management, policy, and governance, we suggest that Aldo Leopold's work illustrates how inspirational, seminal thinkers have offered leadership in this domain. We contend that today there is still much that can be learned from Leopold, especially by the next generation of environmental practitioners, to ensure the effective stewardship of our aquatic ecosystems. We submit that the adoption of a freshwater ethic in parallel with Leopold's land ethic will enhance the stewardship of the world's increasingly threatened fresh waters by raising the profile of the plight of fresh waters and identifying enduring actions that, if embraced, will help conserve and restore biodiversity.

Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosys↗
USGS2019

Self-organizing maps for compositional data: coal combustion products of a Wyoming power plant

A self-organizing map (SOM) is a non-linear projection of a D-dimensional data set, where the distance among observations is approximately preserved on to a lower dimensional space. The SOM arranges multivariate data based on their similarity to each other by allowing pattern recognition leading to easier interpretation of higher dimensional data. The SOM algorithm allows for selection of different map topologies, distances and parameters, which determine how the data will be organized on the map. In the particular case of compositional data (such as elemental, mineralogical, or maceral abundance), the sample space is governed by Aitchison geometry and extra steps are required prior to their SOM analysis. Following the principle of working on log-ratio coordinates, the simplicial operations and the Aitchison distance, which are appropriate elements for the SOM, are presented. With this structure developed, a SOM using Aitchison geometry is applied to properly interpret elemental data from combustion products (bottom ash, fly ash, and economizer fly ash) in a Wyoming coal-fired power plant. Results from this effort provide knowledge about the differences between the ash composition in the coal combustion process.

Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessm↗
USGS2020

Shaping land use change and ecosystem restoration in a water-stressed agricultural landscape to achieve multiple benefits

Irrigated agriculture has grown rapidly over the last 50 years, helping food production keep pace with population growth, but also leading to significant habitat and biodiversity loss globally. Now, in some regions, land degradation and overtaxed water resources mean historical production levels may need to be reduced. We demonstrate how analytically supported planning for habitat restoration in stressed agricultural landscapes can recover biodiversity and create co-benefits during transitions to sustainability. We apply our approach in California's San Joaquin Valley where groundwater regulations are driving significant land use change. We link agricultural-economic and land use change models to generate plausible landscapes with different cropping patterns, including temporary fallowing and permanent retirement. We find that a large fraction of the reduced cultivation is met through temporary fallowing, but still estimate over 86,000 hectares of permanent retirement. We then apply systematic conservation planning to identify optimized restoration solutions that secure at least 10,000 hectares of high quality habitat for each of five representative endangered species, accounting for spatially varying opportunity costs specific to each plausible future landscape. The analyses identified consolidated areas common to all land use scenarios where restoration could be targeted to enhance habitat by utilizing land likely to be retired anyway, and by shifting some retirement from regions with low habitat value to regions with high habitat value. We also show potential co-benefits of retirement (derived from avoided nitrogen loadings and soil carbon sequestration), though these require careful consideration of additionality. Our approach provides a generalizable means to inform multi-benefit adaptation planning in response to agricultural stressors.

California↗
USGS1981

The possible role of sulfate-reduction kinetics in the formation of hydrothermal uranium deposits

Sulfate is known to be an active oxidizing agent at high temperatures; however, both experimental and geologic evidence indicate that as a hydrothermal solution cools (to about 200 degrees C, depending on pH) kinetic factors slow the rate at which sulfate enters into redox reactions. This retardation of sulfate reduction diminishes the effectiveness of sulfate as an oxidizing agent. Consequently, as cooling proceeds, the reducing effect of H 2 S (and other reduced species) is not balanced with the oxidizing effect of SO (super -2) 4 to the same extent as at higher temperatures. The result is a progressively more reducing solution, which is precisely what is needed to precipitate reduced uranium minerals and to generate the paragenetic sequence observed in these deposits. The same mechanism may apply to other types of epithermal deposits.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1958

Mass control of insects: The effects on fish and wildlife

The mass control of insects carried on during the past ten years has made possible the economical suppression and, in a few instances, the near eradication of pest insect populations over widespread areas. These large operations, usually featuring the use of the airplane for applying insecticides quickly and cheaply, have proven to be the means of effectuating control programs which never could have been carried on through use of the techniques and equipment of early-day economic entomology. With the development of the methods employed in modern mass control came the introduction of new toxicants, well-adapted for use against insects because of their potency, low cost and wide availability. The present-day entomologist is thus armed with the means to carry on a control task of almost any magnitude.

Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America↗
USGS2000

Multicriteria decision analysis applied to Glen Canyon Dam

Conflicts in water resources exist because river-reservoir systems are managed to optimize traditional benefits (e.g., hydropower and flood control), which are historically quantified in economic terms, whereas natural and environmental resources, including in-stream and riparian resources, are more difficult or impossible to quantify in economic terms. Multicriteria decision analysis provides a quantitative approach to evaluate resources subject to river basin management alternatives. This objective quantification method includes inputs from special interest groups, the general public, and concerned individuals, as well as professionals for each resource considered in a trade-off analysis. Multicriteria decision analysis is applied to resources and flow alternatives presented in the environmental impact statement for Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. A numeric rating and priority-weighting scheme is used to evaluate 29 specific natural resource attributes, grouped into seven main resource objectives, for nine flow alternatives enumerated in the environmental impact statement.

Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management↗
USGS2024

Strategic restoration planning for land birds in the Colorado River Delta, Mexico

Ecological restoration is an essential strategy for mitigating the current biodiversity crisis, yet restoration actions are costly. We used systematic conservation planning principles to design an approach that prioritizes restoration sites for birds and tested it in a riparian forest restoration program in the Colorado River Delta. Restoration goals were to maximize the abundance and diversity of 15 priority birds with a variety of habitat preferences. We built abundance models for priority birds based on the current landscape, and predicted bird distributions and relative abundances under a scenario of complete riparian forest restoration throughout our study area. Then, we used Zonation conservation planning software to rank this restored landscape based on core areas for all priority birds. The locations with the highest ranks represented the highest priorities for restoration and were located throughout the river reach. We optimized how much of the available landscape to restore by simulating restoration of the top 10–90% of ranked sites in 10% intervals. We found that total diversity was maximized when 40% of the landscape was restored, and mean relative abundance was maximized when 80% of the landscape was restored. The results suggest that complete restoration is not optimal for this community of priority birds and restoration of approximately 60% of the landscape would provide a balance between maximum relative abundance and diversity. Subsequent planning efforts will combine our results with an assessment of restoration costs to provide further decision support for the restoration-siting process. Our approach can be applied to any landscape-scale restoration program to improve the return on investment of limited economic resources for restoration.

Colorado River Delta↗