Workshop Summary

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) Program held a workshop on 29-30 October, 2001 in Durham, NC to permit program investigators to interact and provide updates on the progress of their projects. If you would like to see the workshop agenda, you may download the WordPerfect file. [48K]

Purposes

There were four primary purposes for the workshop:

Update participants on ReVA activities and future plans
Exchange information on ReVA projects
Emphasize integration, application, and presentation of project results, and
Encourage collaboration and partnering among workshop participants.

Workshop presentations were organized into five primary categories:

Stakeholder and Partner Interactions
STAR Grant Projects
Landscape Interactions
Tools and Applications, and
Interactive Poster Session.

Stakeholder and Partner Interactions

There were four stakeholder presentations that discussed: 1) the need for, and use of, ecological indicators that contribute to developing and implementing sustainable management practices and policies; 2) the need to organize and provide geospatial information so it can be used by managers and decision-makers; 3) an approach to develop a flexible set of tools that provide insight into what effects might result from the implementation of various management practices or policies; and 4) an approach using ReVA landscape information to address stakeholder issues.

Bob Barkanic, PA Department of Protection, discussed the Environmental Futures Planning Project (EFPP2) that is being implemented in Pennsylvania. PA has been a leader in the nation in the Growing Greener/Growing Smarter concept for sustainable development. PA has 94% compliance with its environmental permits, but it realizes it can not achieve some of its environmental goals by simply attaining the remaining 6% compliance. The EFPP2 program is focusing on statewide environmental goals and performance measures for achieving sustainable development. Therefore, identifying ecological and environmental indicators is a major part of the planning, implementation, and evaluation process. The program has specific objectives for air, water, and waste, including brownfield efforts. Thirty-four watershed teams have been established to address indicators at the watershed scale. While many of the indicators are environmental, there are also social, behavioral, and economic indicators that are being used to move toward sustaining, conserving, protecting, and restoring ecological systems.

Wendy Blake-Coleman, EPA Office of Environmental Information, discussed the blueprint being developed for managing geospatial data. The vision is to improve access to geospatial data and increase its availability and use for environmental decision-making. The plan is to develop an enterprise geospatial program. Four elements of this enterprise program are: 1) its organization; 2) the data and data framework; 3) applications (including business areas, discovery, management and training); and 4) technology. Geospatial data and technology are growing almost exponentially so developing a blueprint to manage this process is crucial. A retreat to discuss infrastructure options and the establishment of a national GIS workgroup were two of several approaches used to prepare the blueprint. It is currently under internal review by the Team, and should be available for external review by mid-2002.

Steve Fine, ORD-National Exposure Research Laboratory, discussed a framework for integrating data and models The framework, Multimedia Integrated Modeling System (MIMS), would be a software infrastructure tool for integrating cross-media models. The approach is to provide a common framework for multiple projects with common specifications of input and output for all models. The framework would be structured for distributed computing (e.g., pc, workstation, main frame, etc.). The MIMS tools would be developed to permit data manipulation, analysis and visualization. The Dynamic Information Architecture System (DIAS), developed by Argonne National Laboratory, might be one component of the framework. The MIMS Team is planning on demonstrating the approach with Models-3 in Spring 2002. An air-plant-soil demonstration will be available by summer 2002, moving toward a decision support system by 2003.

Peter Claggett, Canaan Valley Institute, presented an approach for using ReVA Landscape Atlas data at multiple scales to address stakeholder issues. A software program, Landscape Analyst, has been developed and applied to some of the issues in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands such as mountain-top mining. The Landscape Analyst uses existing information, but permits displaying and analyzing it at different scales. A major effort has been made to identify various environmental indicators that can be used to illustrate some of the effects that result from mining, timber harvest and similar stressors and provide information for local stakeholders to use in making management decisions in their watersheds.

STAR Grant Projects

A number of research projects have been funded with ReVA funds through the EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program. Three of these projects, which specifically focused on integrating ecological and environmental information, presented their approaches.

Kristen Saake-Blunt, Pennsylvania State University, discussed the Atlantic Slope Consortium (ASC) STAR project. The ASC is a consortium of Penn State, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, East Carolina University, Environmental Law Institute, and FTN Associates. The project purpose is to develop a suite of indicators that can be used by decision makers in injecting science into the decision-making process. The project is developing ecological and socioeconomic indicators for integrated assessments of aquatic ecosystems of the Atlantic Slope. The project is incorporating the human dimension with institutional research to determine which environmental indicators are useful for managers. In addition, the project is assessing the value of these indicators and some of the obstacles that impede their use. The project is integrating watershed research with estuarine research to provide a suite of indicators useful in assessing the condition of the entire Atlantic Slope from the headwaters to the bays.

Bob Abt, North Carolina State University, has a STAR grant to assess the regional vulnerability of forest resources to current and projected environmental stresses in the southeastern United States. This project is just beginning, but it will follow on some of the research that was previously conducted on cascading errors and validation of integrated models. Previous research focused on integrating ecological and economic information that would be useful in policy analyses. Previous research evaluated the use of the Sub-Regional Timber Supply (SRTS) model with forest inventory models. The purpose of this linkage was to see if economic models developed at one scale could be coupled with environmental models at a different scale. The focus was not on natural ecosystems, but rather managed ecosystems, such as pine plantations. The economic and forestry models are principally empirical, but incorporate both biological and economic trends and historical relationships and do permit trend projections. Land use information is critical for these models. Similar analyses will be conducted as part of the STAR project.

Rex Schaberg, Duke University, is also engaged in integrating socioeconomic and ecological indicators, but for lotic ecosystems. This STAR grant is focusing on southeastern lotic ecosystems and approaches for integrating economic and ecological models to assess vulnerability. It also has just been initiated, but will build on previous work assessing the aquatic effects of increased chip mills in the southeast. One of the issues is whether the changing landscape mosaic of harvesting will affect lotic ecosystems and whether forest BMPs will protect the streams. The approach will begin at the watershed scale in a 13 southeastern state area. GIS will be used to spatially integrate data and contribute to the development of new models. Species shifts and harvest shifts will be projected from the 1984-2000 period to 2050. One of the study areas will be around the Tar-Pamlico system, where paired creeks will be selected. One creek will be in a watershed with minimal disturbance, while the other will be in a watershed with extensive timber harvesting during the 1980's to 1990's. The objective will be to build a tool kit that will transition among scales and among issues to assess effects on lotic ecosystems.

Landscape Interactions

Three presentations were given that illustrate the interactions among different landscapes: atmosphere-terrestrial landscapes; agriculture-surface water landscapes; terrestrial-groundwater landscapes.

The first presentation was by John Coulston, North Carolina State University/USDA Forest Health Monitoring, on the interactions of ozone and forested landscapes. Ozone damage to trees is influenced by multiple factors such as light, temperature, relative humidity, and soil moisture. This project developed a biosite index of ozone damage, using biomonitoring sites integrated with FHM sites. While the sites were not co-located, there were sufficient sites that reasonable correspondence could be obtained among the sites across the region. Kriging was used to identify patterns for many of the environmental indicators, including ozone damage based on these biosite indices. The potential risk of ozone damage to various species such as sweetgum, loblolly pine, and service berry was estimated across the region. For some species, such as loblolly pine, 75% of the area was at moderate to high risk from ozone damage. Loblolly pine is particularly susceptible to ozone damage because it is near the northern extent of its range.

The second presentation was by Ann Pitchford, EPA-NERL, on the interactions of agricultural landscapes with surface water. There were two purposes for the study. The first was to develop indicators that would be useful in assessing the potential effects of agricultural landscapes on surface water systems. The second purpose was to compare hydrogeologic subregional characteristics influencing pesticide transport and effects. The study focused on the coastal plain in the Mid-Atlantic region. A landscape index was developed to assess pesticides in the surface water in southern coastal plain. Statistical landscape models were developed using the information collected from almost 200 sites throughout the coastal plains. Some of the factors that influenced the occurrence of pesticides in surface water included geologic setting, land use, base flow versus overland or storm flow, and selected water quality variables. Principal component analyses were used to partition the characteristics of the subregions that were associated with surface water attributes. A landscape statistical model was developed for each of these subregions. Contrasts were made among the subregions and among the variables that accounted for the greatest proportion of the variance in surface water effects in these subregions.

The third presentation was by Earl Greene, USGS Water Resources Division - Baltimore, on groundwater-land use interactions. The purpose of this study was to develop statistical approaches for characterizing the relationships between groundwater quality and geographic factors so that the vulnerability of groundwater to land use could be assessed at multiple scales. The approach aggregated land use type into three categories - forest, wetland, and agriculture. Within each of these land use types, various factors were measured including geology, sand/silt/clay percentages, organic matter, hydrologic soil type, depth to bedrock, and nitrate input functions, including factors such as manure loading, etc. NAWQA sampling protocols were followed for all water quality sampling. Logistic regression was used to identify threshold levels. In addition, stepwise regression and likelihood ratio estimators were used to establish relationships among variables. A press statistic was developed to determine the predictive power of the statistical models. An entire suite of likelihood estimators were generated, with press statistics, for nitrate concentrations ranging from a threshold of 0.5 to 10 mg/L in 0.5 mg/L increments for different land use types. There were strong relationships between the overlying land use and the associated groundwater quality.

Tools and Applications

ReVA has also been developing tools that permit the integration of information from multiple sources at the regional scale. There were two presentations on such tools. The first presentation was on a web-based approach for integration while the second presentation was on using indexing as an integrating approach.

Michael O'Connell, Waratah Corporation, demonstrated a web-based system that will permit integrating multiple variables at regional scales. The web site was developed for ReVA, so it has background on ReVA and its objectives. In addition, the web site provides information on some of the data sources and models that are being used and considered for use in ReVA. It provides satellite images and a general description of how ReVA will use this satellite data in its estimates of regional vulnerability. It also provides insight into the approaches ReVA will use for integrating both data and modeling in its estimates of regional vulnerability and alternative futures. The web site provides an illustration and explanation of fuzzy numbers and how uncertainty will be incorporated in these estimates. Finally, the web site includes a demonstration of how these integrated products might be displayed and some of the indicators that have been developed both in ReVA and in other programs. To see this web-based application, please contact Betsy Smith (smith.betsy@epa.gov) to obtain the URL.

The second presentation was by Cynthia Stahl, EPA Region 3 Air Protection Division. Cynthia and colleagues developed an analytic tool, Multi-criteria Integrated Resource Assessment (MIRA), to assist in informed decision making using quantitative scientific information and judgement. The tool has been used, for example, to assess non-attainment areas from atmospheric pollutants and evaluate management alternatives to achieve attainment. The approach is based on the concept of indexing to provide a common comparative scale for evaluating management alternatives. The approach emphasizes relative analyses and comparisons and reduces information to a single index value. Comparisons are then made among index values by estimating a fractional improvement indicator (FII). The approach is based on the analytic hierarchy process, which permits integrating qualitative and quantitative indicators so that all information can be used as part of the decision making process.

Interactive Poster Session

The workshop concluded with an interactive poster session. Each Principal Investigator was given 5 minutes to briefly introduce their poster and salient results and entice participants to visit their poster during the break-out period. The interactive poster session closed the ReVA workshop and contributed to the workshop achieving all four workshop purposes. The Principal Investigators and research areas follow.

You will need the free Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

Bird, Sandra, Linda Exum, Stephen Alberty, Christine Perkins, and Jim Harrison	EPA-NERL	Estimating impervious cover from regionally available data.

Greene, E.A., Andrew LaMotte, Kerri Kelly, and Joseph Vrabel	USGS-WRD	Spatical mapping of shallow groundwater issues statistical probability models to assess the risk of NPS pollution in the mid-Atlantic region

Hess, George, et.al.	NCSU	Just what is sprawl, anyway?

Jackson, Laura, Sandra Bird, Ron Matheny, and Bob O'Neill	EPA-NHEERL	Alternative futures of land use change across the mid-Atlantic region.

Jennings, Dave and Taylor Jarnigan	EPA-NERL	Impervious surfaces and peak streamflow: a historical remote sensing perspective in a northern VA sub-watershed.

Jones, Bruce	EPA-NERL	Consequences of landscape change on nitrogen loadings to streams in the mid-Atlantic: early 1970s to early 1990s.

Jones, Bruce	EPA-NERL	Using landscape indicators to characterize risks to streams at watershed scales: a multiple watershed study for the U.S. mid-Atlantic region.

Lawler, Josh, Denis White, Jean Sifneos, and Lawrence Master	EPA-NHEERL	Prioritizing areas for conservation of faunal species diversity in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.(PDF) [poster, 22 x 17, 7231K]

Peterson, Townsend and Jim Andreasen	EPA-NCEA	Modeling Species Invasions: New methods and new data from biodiversity information.

Pitchford, Ann and Judith Denver	EPA-NERL USGS	Landscape approaches to assess pesticides and nutrients in streams in the Mid-Atlantic.

ReVA Core Team		ReVA integration methods.

Riitters, Kurt, Jim Wickham, Bob O'Neill, Bruce Jones, Betsy Smith, John Coulson, Tim Wade, and J.H. Smith	USFS-FHM	Fragmentation of Continental U.S. Forests.

Riitters, Kurt, Tim Wade, Bruce Jones, and Jim Wickham	EPA-NERL	Forest fragmentation in the United States.

Schaberg, Rex and Bob Apt	Shaberg and Assoc.	Mid-Atlantic timber availability for chip mills.

Tankersley, Roger	TVA	Neotropical migratory birds in the eastern U.S.: a landscape view of stopover habitats and migratory pathways.

Tran, Liem, Taylor Jarnigan, Jim Wickham, and Latho Baskran	PSU	Mapping spatial accuracy and estimating ecological indicators from thematic land cover maps using fuzzy set theory. (PDF) [poster, 8.5 x 11, 1029K]

Tran, Liem, Gregory Knight, Robert O'Neill, and Elizabeth Smith	PSU	Self-organizing maps for integrated environmental assessment of the mid-Atlantic region.

Wade, Tim, Betsy Smith, Jim Wickham, Kurt Riitters, Roger Tankersby, and Dennis Yankee	EPA-NERL	Distributing land use in the Mid-Atlantic using Resource Economics Model forecasts.

Wainger, Lisa, Joyce Cantrell, and Kristen Arrildt	U MD	Multi-scale approach to assessing relationships between built and natural systems. (PDF) [poster, 8.5 x 11, 1125K]

Wickham, Jim, Tim Wade, Robert O'Neill, Kurt Riitters, Elizabeth Smith, and J.H. Smith	EPA-NERL	Geographic targeting of changes in nutrient export risk and a watershed management risk tool.

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