Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and conservation: Steps toward stewardship

This volume is divided into three sections: (1) Ecological, Biological, and Physical Science; (2) Social and Cultural; and (3) Economics and Utilization. Effective ecological restoration requires a combination of science and management. The authors of the first section exemplified this integration in the course of addressing a broad range of topics, from detailed microsite and small-scale changes in fungal, plant, and animal communities, up through landscape, regional, and subcontinental scales. Although the themes were diverse, papers were linked by underscoring the relationship between restorative management actions and ecological effects. Social sciences play a key role in ecosystem restoration because collaboration, development of common goals, and political and economic feasibility are essential for success. The authors of the second section focused on public attitudes, partnerships, and the relationship between social and ecological factors. In the third section, the economics and utilization of products from forest restoration were compared in several Western locations. Both the markets for these products and the range of utilization opportunitiesfrom small-diameter logs to energy creationwill surely evolve rapidly as society moves to address the fire hazards and other problems caused by stressed and weakened ecosystems. The turn of the century is an appropriate point to capture dramatic changes in perspective: consider how attitudes toward Western forests have evolved between 1900 and 2000. The papers in this volume chronicle adaptive research that continues to deepen our understanding of restoration in ecosystems and social systems

The other side of the window : an essay on structural iconography in English and American fiction

Includes vita.The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the structural and symbolic function of the window as a major motif in certain works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century English and American fiction. Within this body of literature the window characteristically serves as a vehicle for exploring the psychological and philosophical ramifications of one root problem: the nature of the relationship between the perceiving subject and the object--be it another single individual or a whole ideological universe--that he or she perceives. In effect, the window provides an external correlative to the very conditions of one's being, since, like the eye, it permits one to see what lies beyond the self, yet at the same time constitutes a barrier between the self and the world. As I explain in the first chapter, the organization of the study is the result of my efforts to develop a structural approach to literary iconography, by tracing connections between the window and the elements of plot, character, situation and theme to which it is linked. The study reveals that the window serves to frame those visions that stimulate or express the observer's desires for possession, for freedom, and/or for an understanding of the self in relation to the world. Furthermore, the nature and direction of these desires are related to gender--to that of the writer and, more immediately and demonstrably, to that of the literary character. The second chapter is concerned with fiction written by men that represents various forms of man's desire to possess a woman. Such fiction describes a sequence running from voyeurism to sexual violation and, in some instances, beyond, to the redemption of the violator. The writers examined are Samuel Richardson, Henry James, William Faulkner, John Barth and Bernard Malamud. The third chapter treats fiction written by women that explores the woman's desire to elude such possession. Whereas the voyeur is typically an outsider looking in the window, the woman who seeks her freedom is typically on the inside, looking out, but ultimately escaping confinement through love, through death, or through both. The writers examined are Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Virginia Woolf. The fourth chapter, devoted exclusively to American fiction written by men, examines works that contrast the territorial imperative, a preeminently American form of the desire to possess, to the transcendental capacity for seeing through the phenomenal world as though it were itself a window. Beginning with references to Melville's Ahab and to the essays of Emerson, I examine in detail the use of windows, literal and figurative, in works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Henry James. The fifth chapter investigates further the theme of visual penetration, as it appears in the work of modern women writers. I propose that the experience of being enclosed, converted to a literary subject, fosters experiments with style and structure that afford ways of overcoming both situational and formal constraints. I begin by examining works by Sarah Orne Jewett, Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf in which the window is used as an occasion for overcoming boundedness, and end by discussing Woolf's and Doris Lessing's representations of seemingly solid surfaces as penetrable screens. In the sixth chapter I redirect attention from the situations depicted in the work of fiction to the very conditions of fiction, examining the window and the mirror as complementary images of literary activity. After reviewing the use of these images in literary theory and criticism, I focus attention on works of fiction by Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov and John Barth that describe the mirroring and windowing functions of literature itself.Includes bibliographical references

An Ecological Basis for Ecosystem Management

This report was prepared by the Southwestern Regional Ecosystem Management Study Team composed of management and research biologists. The USDA Forest Service Southwestern Regions Regional Forester, Larry Henson, and the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station Director, Denver Burns, chartered this team to recommend an ecological basis for ecosystem management. This report is not intended to provide details on all aspects of ecosystem management; it simply provides information and makes recommendations for an ecological basis for ecosystem management. The report is not a decision document. It does not allocate resources on public lands nor does it make recommendations to that effect. The report of this Study Team may be relied upon as input in processes initiated under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), National Forest Management Act (NFMA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Administrative Procedures Act (APA), and other applicable laws. The information contained in this report is general in nature, rather than site specific. Implementation of ecosystem management and allocation of resources on Forest Service administered lands is the responsibility of the National Forest System in partnership with Forest Service Research and State and Private Forestry. Implementation is done through Forest and project plans that are subject to the NEPA process of disclosing the effects of proposed actions and affording the opportunity for public comment. The Southwestern Region follows a planning process for projects called Integrated Resource Management (IRM). The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily represent the policy or position of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, or the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The Study Team acknowledges the valuable input of more than 50 individuals from various agencies, universities, professional organizations, and other groups who provided thoughtful comments of an earlier draft of this document. Some of their comments are included in Appendix 3

The Connection Between Teacher-student Relationships for Behavior and Academic Outcomes

The National Center of Educational Statistics (NCES, n.d.) reports the “2016–17 ACGR (adjusted cohort graduation rate) for all students was 84.6 percent.” Emotional/Behavioral Disorder (E/BD) students are the lowest to graduate that has a disability. As of right now, 40% of the students labeled with E/BD graduate from school which is far below the national average (University of New Hampshire, 2014). Suicide is the number two killer of individuals between the ages of 10 and 34 which is a preventable death (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.) Harvard University (2019) reports that one caring and supportive adult can positively impact and forever change the direction of a student’s life. Teacher-student relationships matter because the student can have numerous negative unhealthy relationships; however, the student only needs one caring, supportive and healthy relationship to forever change the outcome in a student’s life. Teacher-student relationships are so powerful they can impact a student’s motivation and self-worth which directly impacts academic and behavioral outcomes. Positive teacher-student relationships not only will have an impact on academic and behavior outcomes for the student, it just might save a life

Community-Dwelling Older Adult Fall Prevention Improvement Project

Abstract Problem: Ground-level falls among community-dwelling adults 60 years and older are significant and contribute to adverse health outcomes such as fractures, functional decline, disability, and death. Additionally, falls among community-dwelling older adults are the number one mechanism of injury seen at a Northern California Level II trauma center. Falls often lead to post-fall fear, activity restriction, and physical deconditioning, further compounding fall risk. Context: When trauma centers provide targeted outreach and screening for unmanaged health risks such as falls, they reduce unnecessary disability and premature death in the local population. Reducing total fall victim numbers and fall recidivism also reduces resource utilization at the acute care hospital microsystem of care level, reduces organizational operating costs and optimizes trauma patient flow from a broader, systems-based approach. Intervention: This project improved the screening, referral, and enrollment of at-risk community-dwelling older adults into an evidence-based fall prevention program from a baseline of zero persons to ten persons per month by August 2021. The project occurred in three phases; (1) adult family medicine physician (AFMP) training and education on the existence of a quality gap, (2) AFMP education and training to address upstream, pre-fall determinants of health in older persons using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u27s Stop Elderly Accidents, Deaths and Injuries (STEADI) Fall Risk Factors Checklist (2020), and (3) enrollment of the target population into an online fall prevention program, A Matter of Balance (AMOB), in the Spring of 2021. Measures: Process measures included self-reported or observed improvement in participants health status, fall-related confidence, or functional ability. Outcome measures included the percent of persons aged 60 years and older screened and referred by AFMP’s. Balancing measures included; (1) the percent of health plan members in the target population that had an eye exam in the last two years, and (2) fall prevention trainer fidelity to the AMOB program curriculum. Results: This project saw a 65% attrition rate prior to program commencement secondary to technology limitations of participants. The remaining participant\u27s self-reported and observed health status, fall-related confidence, and functional ability were evaluated at baseline and completion of the virtual program. At AMOB conclusion, 100% of participants reported a decreased fear of falling, 97.5% made environmental hazard reduction changes, 99.5% increased their physical activity and planned to continue exercising, and 100% would recommend the program to other older adults. Conclusion: Reducing falls will improve upstream determinants of health, reduce resource utilization at the hospital microsystem of care level, reduce hospital operational costs, and optimize trauma patient flow from a broader, systems-based approach. Keywords: Aging, exercise, fall prevention, falls, injury prevention, older adult

Fire Treatment Effects on Vegetation Structure, Fuels, and Potential Fire Severity in Western US Forests

Forest structure and species composition in many western U. S. coniferous forests have been altered through. re exclusion, past and ongoing harvesting practices, and livestock grazing over the 20th century. The effects of these activities have been most pronounced in seasonally dry, low and mid-elevation coniferous forests that once experienced frequent, low to moderate intensity,. re regimes. In this paper, we report the effects of Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) forest stand treatments on fuel load profiles, potential fire behavior, and fire severity under three weather scenarios from six western U. S. FFS sites. This replicated, multisite experiment provides a framework for drawing broad generalizations about the effectiveness of prescribed. re and mechanical treatments on surface fuel loads, forest structure, and potential. re severity. Mechanical treatments without. re resulted in combined 1-, 10-, and 100-hour surface fuel loads that were significantly greater than controls at three of five FFS sites. Canopy cover was significantly lower than controls at three of five FFS sites with mechanical-only treatments and at all five FFS sites with the mechanical plus burning treatment;. re-only treatments reduced canopy cover at only one site. For the combined treatment of mechanical plus. re, all five FFS sites with this treatment had a substantially lower likelihood of passive crown. re as indicated by the very high torching indices. FFS sites that experienced significant increases in 1-, 10-, and 100-hour combined surface fuel loads utilized harvest systems that left all activity fuels within experimental units. When mechanical treatments were followed by prescribed burning or pile burning, they were the most effective treatment for reducing crown fire potential and predicted tree mortality because of low surface fuel loads and increased vertical and horizontal canopy separation. Results indicate that mechanical plus fire, fire-only, and mechanical-only treatments using whole-tree harvest systems were all effective at reducing potential. re severity under severe. re weather conditions. Retaining the largest trees within stands also increased. re resistance