State Administration of Natural Resources in the West

1953 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 478-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Ostrom
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Crop Failure ◽  
The West

West of the one hundredth meridian, the average annual rainfall is generally less than twenty inches except for higher mountainous areas and the humid area west of the Cascade range in western Washington and Oregon and an area west of the Coast range in northwestern California. With less than twenty inches of rainfall, irrigation and dry-farming methods are required to supplement and conserve the native moisture if successful crops are to be produced. At twenty inches of rainfall successful agriculture is subject to extreme hazards from frequent droughts that call to mind the tragedy of crop failure and dust storms. In the humid Pacific Northwest the dry summer climate introduces another variable limiting successful agricultural production without supplementary water.American institutional arrangements, sustenance patterns and resource policies were conceived in humid England and developed in the humid regions of the United States. However, the general aridity of the West stands in marked contrast to the humidity that prevailed in the physical environment where American social institutions and traditions were formed. This alteration of the physical environment has caused an important shift in the balance of human ecology requiring significant modification in institutional arrangements and social policy, especially in regard to the control and development of natural resources.

“Machinery Has Completely Taken Over”: The Diffusion of the Mechanical Cotton Picker, 1949–1964

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Heinicke ◽  
Wayne A. Grove
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Cotton Picker ◽  
Cotton Belt

Hand picking of cotton in the United States virtually disappeared twenty years after the first mechanical harvester was marketed in 1949. Contrary to received accounts, southern social institutions did not impede the diffusion of the mechanical cotton picker from the West to the cotton belt in the South so much as environmental factors and educational attainment did. Rising cotton yields and exogenous technological change drove diffusion by reducing the costs of machine harvesting. Labor displacement resulting from the cotton picker occurred only in a concentrated burst after 1959.

Characterizing Predictability of Precipitation Means and Extremes over the Conterminous United States, 1949–2010*

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 2621-2633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingkai Jiang ◽  
Benjamin S. Felzer ◽  
Dork Sahagian
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Models ◽  
The United States ◽  
Monthly Precipitation ◽  
The West ◽  
Precipitation Seasonality

Abstract The proper understanding of precipitation variability, seasonality, and predictability are important for effective environmental management. Precipitation and its associated extremes vary in magnitude and duration both spatially and temporally, making it one of the most challenging climate parameters to predict on the basis of global and regional climate models. Using information theory, an improved understanding of precipitation predictability in the conterminous United States over the period of 1949–2010 is sought based on a gridded monthly precipitation dataset. Predictability is defined as the recurrent likelihood of patterns described by the metrics of magnitude variability and seasonality. It is shown that monthly mean precipitation and duration-based dry and wet extremes are generally highly variable in the east compared to those in the west, while the reversed spatial pattern is observed for intensity-based wetness indices except along the Pacific Northwest coast. It is thus inferred that, over much of the U.S. landscape, variations of monthly mean precipitation are driven by the variations in precipitation occurrences rather than the intensity of infrequent heavy rainfall. It is further demonstrated that precipitation seasonality for means and extremes is homogeneously invariant within the United States, with the exceptions of the West Coast, Florida, and parts of the Midwest, where stronger seasonality is identified. A proportionally higher role of variability in regulating precipitation predictability is demonstrated. Seasonality surpasses variability only in parts of the West Coast. The quantified patterns of predictability for precipitation means and extremes have direct applications to those phenomena influenced by climate periodicity, such as biodiversity and ecosystem management.

scholarly journals Season-Long Monitoring of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) Throughout the United States Using Commercially Available Traps and Lures

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelita L Acebes-Doria ◽  
Arthur M Agnello ◽  
Diane G Alston ◽  
Heather Andrews ◽  
Elizabeth H Beers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
The United States ◽  
Halyomorpha Halys ◽  
Stink Bug ◽  
The West ◽  
Sticky Traps ◽  
Reliable Monitoring ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Comparable Population

Abstract Reliable monitoring of the invasive Halyomorpha halys abundance, phenology and geographic distribution is critical for its management. Halyomorpha halys adult and nymphal captures on clear sticky traps and in black pyramid traps were compared in 18 states across the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Pacific Northwest and Western regions of the United States. Traps were baited with commercial lures containing the H. halys pheromone and synergist, and deployed at field sites bordering agricultural or urban locations with H. halys host plants. Nymphal and adult captures in pyramid traps were greater than those on sticky traps, but captures were positively correlated between the two trap types within each region and during the early-, mid- and late season across all sites. Sites were further classified as having a low, moderate or high relative H. halys density and again showed positive correlations between captures for the two trap types for nymphs and adults. Among regions, the greatest adult captures were recorded in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic on pyramid and sticky traps, respectively, with lowest captures recorded in the West. Nymphal captures, while lower than adult captures, were greatest in the Southeast and lowest in the West. Nymphal and adult captures were, generally, greatest during July–August and September–October, respectively. Trapping data were compared with available phenological models showing comparable population peaks at most locations. Results demonstrated that sticky traps offer a simpler alternative to pyramid traps, but both can be reliable tools to monitor H. halys in different geographical locations with varying population densities throughout the season.

Gerald H. Thayer's ornithological work in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Lesser Antilles

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Wiley
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
West Indies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lesser Antilles ◽  
American Museum ◽  
The West ◽  
Comparative Zoology ◽  
North And South America ◽  
North And South

Gerald Handerson Thayer (1883–1939) was an artist, writer and naturalist who worked in North and South America, Europe and the West Indies. In the Lesser Antilles, Thayer made substantial contributions to the knowledge and conservation of birds in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Thayer observed and collected birds throughout much of St Vincent and on many of the Grenadines from January 1924 through to December 1925. Although he produced a preliminary manuscript containing interesting distributional notes and which is an early record of the region's ornithology, Thayer never published the results of his work in the islands. Some 413 bird and bird egg specimens have survived from his work in St Vincent and the Grenadines and are now housed in the American Museum of Natural History (New York City) and the Museum of Comparative Zoology (Cambridge, Massachusetts). Four hundred and fifty eight specimens of birds and eggs collected by Gerald and his father, Abbott, from other countries are held in museums in the United States.

“The Greatest Nation on Earth”

2017 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah K.M. Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Manifest Destiny ◽  
The United States ◽  
Northern Mexico ◽  
Texas Revolution

Between 1820 and 1827 approximately 1,800 U.S. citizens immigrated to northern Mexico as part of that country’s empresario program, in which the federal government granted foreigners land if they promised to develop and secure the region. Historians have long argued that these settlers, traditionally seen as the vanguard of Manifest Destiny, were attracted to Mexico for its cheap land and rich natural resources. Such interpretations have lent a tone of inevitability to events like the Texas Revolution. This article argues that the early members of these groups were attracted to Mexico for chiefly political reasons. At a time when the United States appeared to be turning away from its commitment to a weak federal government, Mexico was establishing itself on a constitution that insured local sovereignty and autonomy. Thus, the Texas Revolution was far from the result of two irreconcilable peoples and cultures. Moreover, the role that these settlers played in the United States’ acquisition of not just Texas, but ultimately half of Mexico’s national territory, was more paradoxical than inevitable.

Mafias on the Move

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Varese
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
Market Expansion ◽  
The North ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
At Will

Organized crime is spreading like a global virus as mobs take advantage of open borders to establish local franchises at will. That at least is the fear, inspired by stories of Russian mobsters in New York, Chinese triads in London, and Italian mafias throughout the West. As this book explains, the truth is more complicated. The author has spent years researching mafia groups in Italy, Russia, the United States, and China, and argues that mafiosi often find themselves abroad against their will, rather than through a strategic plan to colonize new territories. Once there, they do not always succeed in establishing themselves. The book spells out the conditions that lead to their long-term success, namely sudden market expansion that is neither exploited by local rivals nor blocked by authorities. Ultimately the inability of the state to govern economic transformations gives mafias their opportunity. In a series of matched comparisons, the book charts the attempts of the Calabrese 'Ndrangheta to move to the north of Italy, and shows how the Sicilian mafia expanded to early twentieth-century New York, but failed around the same time to find a niche in Argentina. The book explains why the Russian mafia failed to penetrate Rome but succeeded in Hungary. A pioneering chapter on China examines the challenges that triads from Taiwan and Hong Kong find in branching out to the mainland. This book is both a compelling read and a sober assessment of the risks posed by globalization and immigration for the spread of mafias.

Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Roy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Religious Congregations ◽  
Regional Dynamics ◽  
Second Intifada

Many in the United States and Israel believe that Hamas is nothing but a terrorist organization, and that its social sector serves merely to recruit new supporters for its violent agenda. Based on extensive fieldwork in the Gaza Strip and West Bank during the critical period of the Oslo peace process, this book shows how the social service activities sponsored by the Islamist group emphasized not political violence but rather community development and civic restoration. The book demonstrates how Islamic social institutions in Gaza and the West Bank advocated a moderate approach to change that valued order and stability, not disorder and instability; were less dogmatically Islamic than is often assumed; and served people who had a range of political outlooks and no history of acting collectively in support of radical Islam. These institutions attempted to create civic communities, not religious congregations. They reflected a deep commitment to stimulate a social, cultural, and moral renewal of the Muslim community, one couched not only—or even primarily—in religious terms. Vividly illustrating Hamas's unrecognized potential for moderation, accommodation, and change, the book also traces critical developments in Hamas' social and political sectors through the Second Intifada to today, and offers an assessment of the current, more adverse situation in the occupied territories. The Oslo period held great promise that has since been squandered. This book argues for more enlightened policies by the United States and Israel, ones that reflect Hamas' proven record of nonviolent community building. A new afterword discusses how Hamas has been affected by changing regional dynamics and by recent economic and political events in Gaza, including failed attempts at reconciliation with Fatah.

Problems of military-political interaction between the countries of the West and Central Asia at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
Boris G. Koybaev
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The West ◽  
Regional Environment ◽  
Western Influence ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Political Interaction ◽  
The Military

Central Asia in recent history is a vast region with five Muslim States-new actors in modern international relations. The countries of Central Asia, having become sovereign States, at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries are trying to peaceful interaction not only with their underdeveloped neighbors, but also with the far-off prosperous West. At the same time, the United States and Western European countries, in their centrosilic ambitions, seek to increase their military and political presence in Central Asia and use the military bases of the region’s States as a springboard for supplying their troops during anti-terrorist and other operations. With the active support of the West, the Central Asian States were accepted as members of the United Nations. For monitoring and exerting diplomatic influence on the regional environment, the administration of the President of the Russian Federation H. W. Bush established U.S. embassies in all Central Asian States. Turkey, a NATO member and secular Islamic state, was used as a lever of indirect Western influence over Central Asian governments, and its model of successful development was presented as an example to follow.

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