Assessing Regional Crop Irrigation Requirements and Streamflow Availability for Irrigation Development in Saginaw Bay,Michigan

Spatial and temporal variability of soil, crop, and climate significantly affects the estimates of regional irrigation requirements. This paper incorporates soil association data and multiple-station, multiple-year climate data into four simulation models, CERES-MAIZE, SOYGRO, BEANGRO, and YIELD to account for the spatial and temporal variability of the input parameters in estimating the evapotranspiration rates and irrigation requirements of corn, drybean, soybean, and sugarbeet production in the Saginaw Bay basin, Michigan. The Thiessen method was used to delineate the spatial coverage of the weather stations in the study watershed. The results of the simulated crop irrigation requirements at the soil association level were multiplied by the weights of each soil association area to derive regional irrigation requirements. The availability of streamflow at different exceedence probabilities was evaluated to determine the maximum irrigation area the stream is able to sustain without causing water quality degradation. Through a case study of the Saginaw Bay irrigation development, this paper demonstrates that the spatial and temporal variability of soil, crop, and climate can be well represented in the simulation models to provide more realistic simulation results in support of irrigation decision making.     

Regional Identity in Regional Development and Planning1

This paper analyses the regional identity and social capital formation process and components. Regional identity is the special kind of phenomenon, which forms throughout historical and territorial socialization. The great ambition of this paper is to interrelate Anssi Paasi (1986) and other cultural geographers' and sociologists' ideas with recent regional economic development and planning discussion and to enhance regional identity as a planning tool. The theoretical part describes components and the process of regional identity formation. We assume that regional identity correlates with people's volition in achieving common goals, raises their personal activity and influences due to that regional development and planning. The regional identity is crucial in securing public participation in planning. The empirical part of the paper is based on mass survey analysis.     

Neoliberalism and the Institutions for Regional Development in Australia

This paper examines some effects of the pursuit of neoliberalism on regional development policy and practice in Australia, and in particular on the activities and effectiveness of regional development organisations. The paper interprets data from a survey of 505 regional development organisations across Australia through the framework of Jessop's contribution to state theory and his identification of four key trends in economic management under neoliberalism. Regional development policies are seen as a response of governments to electoral pressure from regions, but a response that is constrained by the dominance of neoliberal ideology. The objectives of regional development are predominantly economic, but are often limited to the role of facilitation and the provision of information. Some responsibility for regional development has been shifted downwards to regions, but the effectiveness of the organisations given this responsibility is reduced by the short‐term and competitive nature of much of their funding, the lack of coordination between regional development actors at the local level, the proliferation of agencies and the competition between them. The paper concludes that regional development agencies in Australia are in many ways a product of neoliberalism, since they represent one way in which governments can be seen to be responding to regional pressure for assistance but they can do so without incurring significant costs. Yet regional development bodies are also a victim of neoliberalist thinking, since it denies them the resources and the powers they need to be more successful in their work.     

Information Availability and Market Power in Export Competition: The Case of Regional Health Care Markets

In this paper I analyze the spatial-economic determinants of export competition. I develop a competing central place spatial interaction model to analyze the spatial availability of information, market power, distance, demand threshold, and interregional market variables. Model estimates are based on national data from The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, and I examine Medicare health exports from the Seattle hospital market to markets throughout the Pacific Northwest. Information availability and market power for the Seattle export hospitals have a significant effect on export sales of hospital Medicare services. Intra and interregional competition with other major hospital markets are significant determinants of export competition. Distance to the Seattle market has a strong, negative effect on export sales and on patient migration from other markets.     

Towards New Paths for Regional and Territorial Development in Rural Areas

Abstract

The aim of this article is to shed some light on issues of territorial development and of rural development and to identify what links and opposes them. Indeed, everything pushes towards joining these two dimensions, which for a long time seemed disconnected. On the one hand, the policies targeting rural areas explicitly include the territorial dimension, while the distinction between rural and urban is getting blurred. In the meantime, decentralization, subsidiarity, the regionalization of agriculture, short circuits and local foods take place in parallel with the generalization of an urban model. Finally, we find that regional sciences are paying increasing attention to rural and agricultural dimensions, while studies concerning rural questions are starting to consider territorial issues. The first section of the article provides a critical presentation and attempts to define and distinguish the notions of development, territory and the rural. The second section addresses questions of regional and territorial development by presenting the main theories and public policies and concludes with a discussion about the possibilities of reconciling the theories and the policies. The third section follows the same structure, applied to the question of rural development, from analyses to grass-roots policies.     

Foreign Trade and Regional Development in China

This paper puts into focus the regional implications of China's recent open-door policy. The empirical analysis employs a cross-sectional approach with 1986 data. The results suggest that foreign trade is more readily translated into economic development in the most well developed and industrialized eastern coastal provinces.     

A Framework for Assessing the Vulnerability of Archaeological Sites to Climate Change: Theory,Development, and Application

Abstract

The predicted impacts of climate change on cultural heritage are likely to be dynamic and complex. Understanding the potential risks at site level is vital to ensure that appropriate adaptation and mitigation measures are put in place. There is, however, a dearth of tools and methodologies suitable for use by heritage managers. In this paper the potential of vulnerability analysis for site-based assessment is explored. A six-step vulnerability framework, adapted for cultural heritage, is illustrated utilizing material from two case-study sites (Brú na Bóinne and Skellig Michael). The implementation of each step in the proposed framework is demonstrated to aid those wishing to apply the method in practice. The ‘values based’ approach taken is suitable for a wide range of cultural heritage including landscapes, monuments, and buried archaeology. The six-step framework and the utilization of indicators provide a method that allows comparison between sites and yet is sufficiently flexible to account for localized concerns. The framework will aid decision makers with planning and prioritization.     

Regional Strategies for Renewable Energies: Development Processes in Greater Manchester

Making the transition to renewable, low-carbon forms of energy could be the defining question of our times. Especially for complex problems such as energy supply the regional scale and new forms of control, coordination and cooperation—subsumed under the term regional governance—are widely discussed both in politics (e.g. G8 conferences, Climate Summits, etc.) and academia. The turn from conventional to renewable energies is one major topic of discussion. For this process of change, regional governance can be seen as the best way to initiate it. With the help of a case study conducted in Greater Manchester, UK, this article concentrates on two points: (1) the development of regional governance arrangements in the light of a low-carbon agenda as mixture of path-dependent bottom-up and top-down approaches and (2) the impacts of specific constellations and environments for regional energy development that include institutional rules, strategic behaviour of actors and strategic discourses. This article shows that the integration of a regional governance structure into the strategic development process can achieve a substantial qualitative improvement for the development of a regional energy strategy.     

Chipped Stone Debitage,Material Selection,and Expedient Tool Production in Southeast Michigan

Abstract

This article summarizes the results of exploratory analyses on material sources and debitage attributes from chipped stone artifacts at sites identified and sampled by the Eastern Michigan University Field School along the Huron River Valley in southeast Michigan. Several hypotheses are tested with chipped stone debitage assemblages from 35 prehistoric sites to better understand material selection, expedient versus formal tool manufacturing, and the influence of material availability and mobility in chipped stone processing within the region. The distribution of debitage attributes (reduction stage, technology, condition, and size) are first compared by material source and quality. Then, the distributions of materials and debitage attributes are compared among small limited-use sites and two early Late Woodland small settlements. The results indicate a heavy reliance on poorer quality local cherts, and a focus on expedient tool manufacturing with both the local poorer quality and the nonlocal higher quality sources. There were no major differences in debitage assemblages between the limited use sites and the settlements.     

Sectoral Versus Territorial Regional Planning and Development in Norway

New regional policies in Norway and many other countries try to empower their regions through creating a balance between central governing with emphasis on redistribution of activities and resources, and local mobilization with emphasis on self reliance, innovation and learning by doing. In Norway municipalities and counties have for a long period had this double function, but we now see that the vertical policy of implementing national welfare policy has grown and become dominant. As a consequence, the horizontal policy of social mobilization has been neglected, and has to some extent been taken over by inter-municipal and interregional organizations. Normally, these organizations are in practice organized as regional development agencies. They seem to be vulnerable political institutions that seek legitimacy from--and need acceptance and support from--both territorial and sectoral governments. The regional planning process is regarded as an important tool in their political institution building process. In this paper I want to explain how regional planning and institution building in Norway in practice have moved towards a two-parallel system.     

Development in Nunavik: How Regional and Local Initiatives Redefine Sustainable Development in Nunavik

ABSTRACT

For more than 50 years, the Inuit of Nunavik have been subjected to development plans devised in the south by the Government of Canada and Quebec that has a profound impact on Inuit people and their culture. The latest plan, known as Plan Nord, proposes sustainable development for the North based on the protection of 50 percent of the territory. However, the Inuit of Nunavik face many social challenges and this is reflected in the socioeconomic indicators of the region. In order to alleviate these social circumstances, numerous regional and local initiatives are attempting to establish programs better suited to the culture and needs of Nunavimmiut. Examples at the regional level include childcare and midwifery services supported by Quebec. At the local level, initiatives such as the Unaaq Men’s Association and the Innavik Project are making an effort to address local needs. In this paper, following a presentation of the Nunavik governance architecture, we will analyze how local (Unaaq, Innavik) and regional initiatives (Midwifery Program, Childcare, Preparation for Post-Secondary Education, Nunavik Parks) contribute to the sustainable development of Nunavik.     

Spatial Patterns of March and September Streamflow Trends in Pacific Northwest Streams, 1958–2008

Summer streamflow is a vital water resource for municipal and domestic water supplies, irrigation, salmonid habitat, recreation, and water‐related ecosystem services in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) in the United States. This study detects significant negative trends in September absolute streamflow in a majority of 68 stream‐gauging stations located on unregulated streams in the PNW from 1958 to 2008. The proportion of March streamflow to annual streamflow increases in most stations over 1,000 m elevation, with a baseflow index of less than 50, while absolute March streamflow does not increase in most stations. The declining trends of September absolute streamflow are strongly associated with seven‐day low flow, January–March maximum temperature trends, and the size of the basin (19–7,260 km²), while the increasing trends of the fraction of March streamflow are associated with elevation, April 1 snow water equivalent, March precipitation, center timing of streamflow, and October–December minimum temperature trends. Compared with ordinary least squares (OLS) estimated regression models, spatial error regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models effectively remove spatial autocorrelation in residuals. The GWR model results show spatial gradients of local R ² values with consistently higher local R ² values in the northern Cascades. This finding illustrates that different hydrologic landscape factors, such as geology and seasonal distribution of precipitation, also influence streamflow trends in the PNW. In addition, our spatial analysis model results show that considering various geographic factors help clarify the dynamics of streamflow trends over a large geographical area, supporting a spatial analysis approach over aspatial OLS‐estimated regression models for predicting streamflow trends. Results indicate that transitional rain–snow surface water‐dominated basins are likely to have reduced summer streamflow under warming scenarios. Consequently, a better understanding of the relationships among summer streamflow, precipitation, snowmelt, elevation, and geology can help water managers predict the response of regional summer streamflow to global warming. Patrones espaciales de las tendencias de los caudales de marzo y septiembre en el Pacífico Noroccidental. Los caudales (streamflows) de verano son recursos hídricos vitales para el abastecimiento de agua municipal y domestico así como para el riego agrícola, el hábitat de los salmónidos, la recreación, y para varios servicios de los ecosistemas en el Pacífico Noroccidental (Pacific Nortwest‐PNW) de los Estados Unidos. Este estudio identifica tendencias negativas considerables en los caudales absolutos de septiembre en la mayoría de las 68 estaciones de medición situadas en ríos y arroyos no regulares del PNW entre 1958 y 2008. La proporción del caudal de marzo con respecto al caudal anual aumenta en la mayoría de las estaciones situadas a más de 1000 metros de altitud, que tienen un índice de caudal base (base flow index‐BFI) de menos de 50, pero se mantiene estable en el resto (la mayoría) de las estaciones. Las tendencias decrecientes de los caudales absolutos de septiembre están fuertemente asociadas con el caudal mínimo para siete días (seven‐day low), con las tendencias de temperatura máxima entre enero y marzo, y con el tamaño de la cuenca (19‐7,260 km2). Las tendencias crecientes de la proporción del caudal total correspondiente a marzo están asociadas con la elevación, con un equivalente a agua de la nieve de abril (one April snow wáter equivalent ‐SWE), con la precipitación de marzo, el center timing (TC) de los caudales, y con las tendencias de temperatura mínima entre octubre y diciembre. En comparación con los estimados de modelos de regresión de tipo mínimos cuadrados ordinarios (ordinary least squares‐OLS), los modelos de regresión de error espacial (spatial error regression‐SER) y de regresión ponderada geográficamente (geographically weighted regression‐GWR) eliminan eficazmente la autocorrelación espacial en los residuos. Los resultados del modelo GWR producen mapas con gradientes espaciales donde los valores de los R² locales son consistentemente más altos en las cascadas del norte. Este resultado pone de manifiesto que diferentes factores hidrológicos del paisaje, tales como la geología y la distribución estacional de la precipitación, también influyen en las tendencias de los caudales en el PNW. Adicionalmente, los resultados del modelo de análisis espacial muestran que la inclusión de diversos factores geográficos ayuda a aclarar la dinámica de las tendencias de los caudales en un área geográfica grande, corroborando la mayor utilidad de modelos con enfoque de espacial sobre modelos. Los resultados indican también que en cuencas transicionales (entre lluvia y nieve) donde predominan las aguas superficiales existe una probabilidad más alta de reducccion de caudal de verano en el contexto de escenarios de calentamiento. En consecuencia, una mejor comprensión de las relaciones entre caudal de verano, la precipitación, el derretimiento de nieve, la elevación y la geología puede ayudar a los gestores del agua a predecir la respuesta de los caudales de verano en un escenario de calentamiento global. 夏季径流是美国太平洋西北部地区(PNW)市政与居民水供应、灌溉、鱼类栖息、娱乐及水相关生态系统服务的重要来源。本研究通过1958–2008年PNW地区68个地理位置上未调节的径流测量站分析揭示出九月绝对径流量与该地区水来源呈显著的负相关趋势。三月径流占年际径流量的比例在大多数海拔超过1000米的地区是增加的,然而大多数地区基本径流指数（BFI）少于50,表明三月绝对径流量在多数地区并没有增加。九月绝对径流量的下滑趋势与年均为期7天的低流量,1月–3月最大温度趋势及流域面积（19–7,260 km²）呈强相关性,而三月绝对径流量微量增加的趋势则与海拔高度,四月一日的雪水当量（SWE）,三月降水,径流中心时序（CT）和十月至十二月最小温度趋势相关。与OLS(普通最小二乘法估计)回归模型相比,空间滞后回归（SER）和地理加权回归模型（GWR）能有效剔除空间自相关的残差而更有效。GWR结果显示局部R²值在空间上渐变梯度,并且在北美洲喀斯喀特山脉（Cascade）：北部地区高于其他地区。该发现表明不同水文景观因子,如地质、降水的季节分布,也会对PNW的径流趋势产生影响。另外,我们的空间分析模型结果显示,考虑多种地理因素可解析大面积的地理区域中径流量空间分布趋势的动力机制, 为预测径流趋势提供一种优于OLS空间估计回归模型的空间分析方法。结果表明气候变暖背景下,季节性降水、地表水主导的流域极可能减少夏季径流量。因此,更好地理解夏季径流量与降水、融雪水、海拔和地质的关系,可帮助水资源管理者预测区域夏季径流对全球变暖的响应。