Natural Resouces Lab

     As technology progresses it seems as though our “needs” do as well. In order to meet these needs we have to dig into our earth’s resources. Some of our usage is safe and doesn’t cause much disturbance to the surrounding environment, but a good portion of it leaves permanent results that can be devastating to future life. An example of this would be the mining for coal that produces methane gas in the Powder River Basin located in Wyoming. Methane gas is a natural gas that’s extracted from coal and used in many common household items such as furnaces and stoves for cooking. This project is exploiting land and chasing away farmers in hopes to find less than a year’s worth of product to support the United States while drilling into hundreds of thousands of acres. Many ranchers have lost a sense of peace once found in their land as well as grazing land for their cattle provided by the government. The noise and drilling from the heavy machinery is enough to scare any wildlife away and with that comes change to the environment. Without the fertilization and grazing from the animals, the plants and organisms that can survive will deplete.

     Although there are no specific studies to prove the results of such a disruption to the water and fishing, the possibilities are not very positive. It is very possible that the water quality could lower from the mining due to the chemicals being extracted into the air and then into the water. The fish species in this particular area are adapted to very harsh environments but the fish species diversity could decline from the discharge of coal bed natural gas product in water.

              Another type of disruption from coal mining is known as mountaintop removal. This is just like it sounds, removing the top of a mountain in pushing it over the top of other parts of the environment. This method of surface mining is one of the most profitable methods due to the low costs involved. However, its consequences to the surrounding environment can be costly. Some toxic inorganic chemicals are naturally released into water from rocks by weathering processes. Humans accelerate the transfer rates in these cycles thousands of times above natural background levels by mining, processing, using, and discarding minerals. Release of these toxins can lower water quality and adversely affect biological communities such as mercury precipitating into water supplies then it bioconcentrates in food webs reaching dangerous levels in top predators. Because of this, Americans are warned not to eat more than one meal of fish per week due to the high mercury levels found in some fish.

               I went out to explore the natural resources in my area and an area comparable to it that has not been disrupted for extractions of natural resources. A local example I found of a disturbance for the extraction of natural resources that many people are familiar with is the local fishing area at Fain Park in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Fain Park is home to a dam build in Lynx Creek. In 1863 Lynx Creek was discovered as a good resource of a precious mineral known as gold and has since recorded 108,000 ounces of gold retrieved. The dam was built and piping installed for the purpose of hydraulic mining. Now the dam is left providing little more use than recreational purposes. The town fills the water with fish each year and you can find little bits of history regarding the creek along the trails surrounding Lynx Creek, though Lynx Creek itself is a contribution to a recharge water supply.

Sign Posted By Dam

              

           Presently life on the dam was not very diverse due to the cold weather.  A variety of birds lined the dam and a few ducks floated on the top of the creek, but no fish were visible. 

Birds Lining the Dam

             

Ducks on Lynx Creek

                      

        The trees surround the area along with shrubs along the trails to allow for a desert scenery with a bit of shade. Prominent life is allowed from water seeping into the ground off the creek.

Water Fall on Lynx Creek

                       

             Unfortunately carelessness from visitors leaves a mess at the bottom off the creek off the dam. Access below is not permitted, so removal of waste is not easy and contributes to the depleting quality of the environment. 

Littering at Bottom of Dam

                                 

Lynx Creek at Bottom of Dam

                                  

Lynx Creek Map

                                    

              On the other hand, this creek meets just southeast of Prescott Valley with the Agua Fria National Monument. This 71,100 acre monument starts at a 2,150 foot elevation and runs all the way up to about 4,600 foot elevation providing an extremely diverse setting for plants and wildlife. This landscape includes a plateau of exposing Precambrian rock along the canyon walls to dormant volcanoes and vegetative life.

Agua Fria

                                 

                I zoned in on an area behind Cordes Lakes, Arizona where life is quiet and recent fencing keeps motorists on the road to preserve the land.

Agua Fria Recovery Plan

                     

Fencing Put up to Keep Motorists Off

                        

               Along these many miles of preserved land you can find wildlife such as coyotes, bobcats, antelope, mule deer, javelina, and a variety of small animals such as rabbits, squirrels, and birds. The soil types around the Agua Fria range from hot, dry desert to grasslands with pine trees and greenery. 

Agua Fria Landscape

                             

          The Agua Fria has more than 400 recorded archeological sites going back approximately 2,000 years to the Perry Mesa Tradition in 1250 A.D. The national monument boundary runs from Black Mesa all the way up to Sycamore Mesa. People enjoy the land for hobbies allowed by its undisturbed environment such as hiking, bird watching, scenic drives, wildlife viewing and viewing of cultural sites. The main significance of saving our natural habitat is for the culture and life behind it and the future of our environment.

Map of Agua Fria

                         

Unit 2 Compilation

http://wikinary.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/world-forestry-day-forestry-day-world-forest-day-forests/ March 7, 2012

• Saving the Great Bear Rainforest (Case Study)
• World Forests
• Where to make the cut
• Grasslands
• What will be left for our children?
• Farming the Cerrado
• Beef...it's what's for dinner
• When will Lake Mead dry up?(Case Study)
• Water resources & pollutants
• Earthquake (Case Study) 

• Our Earth as a whole

 Case Study: Saving the Great Bear Rainforest

     In 2006 provincial and First Nations decision makers collaborated and came to an agreement on paper regarding the conservation of the Great Big Bear Rainforest. The Great Big Bear Rainforest is one of the last coastal temperate rainforests and home to much wildlife. It also cultivates giant cedar, spruce, and fir trees. The wetlands also provide habitat for whales, dolphins, sea otters and salmon amongst other sea life. Protection of the forest only covered about one third of the area and allowed sustainable logging in the rest. Although there are only select areas allowed for logging, the natives are still allowed to use select logs for totem poles, longhouses, and canoes. The natives are also allowed to continue harvesting and fishing for consumption. 

http://www.movieberry.com/great_bear_rainforest/March 7, 2012

 World Forests

     Forests are important to our ecosystem because they absorb a large portion of our carbon in the air. Burning forests releases carbon and adds to global warming problems. Different types of forest include:

1.1.) Savannas- a tropical/subtropical grassland containing scattered trees and drought resistant undergrowth.

2.2.)Closed Canopy Forests- have a dense growth of trees in which the top branches and leaves form a ceiling that light can barely penetrate to reach the forest floor. The limited sunlight reduces the amount of vegetation growing.

3.3.)Old Growth Forests- encompass the later stages of stand development that typically differ from earlier stages in a variety of ways including tree size, species, and ecosystem functions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Male_lion_on_savanna.jpg March 7, 2012

  

 Where to make the cut.....

     Our forests provide us with many valuable products but one in particular that the majority of the population encounters on a daily basis is the products rendered from wood. We use more wood than steel and plastic combined and unfortunately a good portion of it goes straight to the garbage. People throw away more junk mail, newspapers, and photocopies then this country produces. Lower developed countries are responsible for production of more than half of the wood yet only use less than 20% of it where as more developed countries use more than half of the wood produced and can only account for less than 20% of its production. Indigenous people are being chased off of their land for logging yet they consume only what they need to survive while half of America throws away more than they can cut!

     Forests are being destroyed and saved for all the wrong reasons. How does an owl take importance of humans? We cannot cut the trees for miles to save a breed of owl, but we can put thousands out of work and unable to provide for their family? While we stop wood from being cut down and un-employ many citizens, many forests over populate with dead wood and when a natural fire starts, it’s harder to contain. The war on cutting down wood is an endless battle as both sides have a good case. It is argued that fires release more carbon than the trees can contain, therefore causing more damage to the atmosphere, but what happens when we don’t cut or burn? If cutting wood was managed properly by methods such as selective cutting to thin forests in a timely and effective manner as to not disrupt the habitat, then major devastation to the surrounding habitat wouldn’t be of such concern. As technology progresses and people become more dependent on internet usage for things such as reading the newspaper, then waste of resources should lower. If everyone did their part to recycle then forests could have time to re-grow without a “need” to be cut down for survival. 

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/forests/forests-worldwide/illegal-logging/ March 7, 2012

Grasslands

     Grasslands are regions that have enough precipitation to support life of many types of grasses and very few trees but the soil is generally to dry and thin to support trees. Soil, local climate, and latitude play a huge role in the types of plants that grow in a particular grassland. Different flowers and herbs are available in different areas. There are two different types of grasslands:

1.1.)Tropical grassland- are hot all year with wet seasons that bring torrential rains (also known as savannas)

   2.)Temperate grasslands- have hot summers and cold winters. The evaporation ate is high, very little rain makes it into the soil.

The animals that live in grasslands have adapted to dry and windy conditions. A moderate level of species diversity lives on grasslands including borrowing and grazing animals and their predators, and many types of insects. Pastoralists and ranchers who are dependent on herds of domesticated animals have to migrate regularly according to seasonal routes called transhumants. Pastoralism is well adapted to the environments where it exists and can be a successful strategy to supporting a population with little resources. When territory is maltreated by overgrazing then the result is desertification. Desertification occurs in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas. Over cultivation is the number one cause due to nutrients in the soil being depleted faster than they can restore themselves. This causes causes soil erosion increasing water runoff and not allowing aquifers to absorb water for hydration into the land.   

http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ss5/d/grasslands.cfm March 7, 2012

What Will be Left for Our Children?

     We have many national monuments that create great tourism attractions such as the Grand Canyon right here in Arizona. Tourist attractions allow for great vacationing spots and create jobs for many to meet the demands of these tourists, but what are we doing to the land when millions come stomping through it every year? Many countries have created laws to protect these natural attractions in order to preserve them only allowing certain people in for short visits to study the environment while other countries threaten to shoot anyone who attempts to trespass onto the preserves. Other measures have been taken to preserve natural life such as limiting water pollutants and over fishing that could threaten coral reef preserves. Unfortunately much of the biological life is found in countries without the funds and ability to preserve the life as people there do whatever it takes just to survive. Ecotourism has been discovered by many countries to be extremely beneficial to their survival. Locals have learned that by preserving these natural habitats they can bring tourists to their country and with tourists comes income.

http://www.rockymountainmagazine.com/national-parks/natural-bridges-national-monument/ March 7, 2012

Case Study: Farming the Cerrado

     The Cerrado was thought to be of no use due to its red iron-rich soils being highly acidic and low in nutrient value. Only recently was it discovered that by cross breeding, the land was very useful in producing soybeans, maize, cotton and some other crops. Brazil now exports 10% more soy than the United States, making it the world’s leader in soy production. Brazil has a significant advantage against leading competitors due to much lower labor costs and taxes. Brazil is now the leading exporter in coffee, oranges, beef, and maize. Due to high demand of these products at a lower rate, land is being fought over and destroyed quickly. Wars over land between farmers and big land owners has lead to aggressive behavior while forcing many people off their land with nowhere to go. Many people have been left trying to survive in squatting camps all because Brazil has offered these products at a lower rate and takes the land from farmers in order to provide it.   

http://brazilportal.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/three-part-series-on-brazils-growing-influence-in-the-developing-world/ March 7, 2012

Beef….It’s what’s for Dinner

     As Americans eat their way to “happiness” land is being destroyed. Cattle ranches destroy land by overgrazing a given area with too many cows to feed per acre. As a “wealthier” country the demand for beef has grown and ranchers demand grows without the necessary resources to fulfill this demand. Rotational grazing is a method performed by many ranchers that requires cattle to graze what is available in a certain area for a few days then moving them to a new area so grazing and fertilizing is equal and land is not destroyed. Another alternative to consider is our beef intake, is it really necessary to eat as much beef as we do? If we cut back on our beef intake we could become part of the solution rather than part of the problem and our health may improve as well. Much of our meat comes from a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) where animals such as chickens, cows, and pigs are housed and fed mostly corn and soy for accelerated growth and rapid turnaround. Because of their diet as well as human consumption, wheat, rice, and corn are the top produced and consumed items. Fish and other seafood are the least consumed items and can be found in oceans as well as farms. Raising livestock in this manner creates problems as well as solutions. Continuing an unhealthy diet cannot only increase health risks, but long term environmental risks as well.

     Inadequate nutrition is responsible for the majority of deaths and disease in under developed countries. Malnourishment of simple things such as vitamin A and folic acid can cause severe problems such as blindness and neurological damage. Poor diet isn’t only found in people without food, but ones in more developed countries outnumber the under-nutritioned with obesity by approximately 150 million! This also comes with many problems such as heart attack, diabetes, and cancer, just to name a few. Many factors can contribute to being overweight such as lack of time to cook a nutritional meal or not enough money to buy food with more nutritional value.

     Food production has taken a substantial increase due to the creation of newer technology and more powerful mechanisms. Although this appears to be a good thing, it has its downfalls as well. The invention of machinery that can do a humans job has put many people out of the workforce and homeless. Food security diminishes as people are forced from their homes or even ones who are fortunate enough to have homes may suffer a bad year of crops due to drought or infestation. These famines are often followed by a large population relocation to relief camps. This situation is much more likely in countries with very little to no government. 

http://www.ohranch.com/oh-ranch-history.htm March 7, 2012

Case Study: When Will Lake Mead Go Dry?    

     Tim Barnett and David Pierce predict that if no changes are made to the Colorado River’s current system of operations, then there’s a 50% chance Lake Mead and/Lake Powell will dry up by the year 2021. Due to climate changes affecting global warming at an overwhelming rate, the current operating status is not sufficient enough to meet the demands required. As population grows so does demand on Lake Mead and climate change only decreases the amount of water flowing through. Since 2000 Lake Mead’s water level has decreased at a surprisingly high rate of about 12 feet per year! Lake Mead isn’t the only water resource at risk for drought. If drastic changes aren’t made, it’s predicted that by 2025 two thirds of all Americans could be living near inadequate water resources.

http://experts.defendersblog.org/2010/11/lake-mead-at-record-low/ March 7, 2012

Water Resources & Pollutants

     A good question everyone should know the answer to is where does our water supply come from? The simple answer would be the sky, but the more complex answer lies in our hydrologic cycle. This is the natural course taken by which water evaporates into the atmosphere through precipitation then returns through rain fall or snow in an endless cycle. Climate change has affected the amount of rainfall in many areas causing drought and many lakes to slowly dry up, the higher the altitude, the lesser the rainfall. The majority of our water flow comes from melting glacier runoffs. Warmer climates also affect glacier runoffs by quickly shrinking the glaciers size. An aquifer is an underground water system made up of rock, gravel, and sand from which water can be extracted for use through water wells. Recharge zones are where aquifers attain their water supply. This is a slow process in which the water filters through the aquifer with high risks of contamination further polluting a drinking water resource for many, especially those in lesser developed countries. The opposite of an underground water system would be an example of a free flowing river such as the Amazon River. The Amazon River is responsible for carrying a good portion of the largest rivers water. This can be measured in terms of discharge which is the volumetric flow rate of water through a fixed point.

     Water pollutants can be broken down into “causes of ecosystem disruption” and “causes of health problems”. They are then categorized under four “major categories”. Causes of health problems include;

1.1.) Pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, & parasites from human & animal excreta

2.2.)Inorganic chemicals such as salts, acids, caustics, & metals from industrial effluents, household cleansers, & surface runoff

3.3.)Organic chemicals such as pesticides, plastics, detergents, oil, & gasoline from industrial, household, & farm use

4.4.)Radioactive materials such as uranium, thorium, cesium, iodine, & radon from mining & processing of ores, power plants, weapons production, & natural resources.

Causes of ecosystem disruption include;

1.1.)Oxygen demanding waste such as animal manure & plant residue from sewage, agricultural runoff, paper mills, & food processing

    2.) Plant nutrients such as nitrates, phosphates, & ammonium from agricultural & urban fertilizers, sewage, & manure

3.3.)Sediment such as soil & silt from land erosion

4.4.)Thermal changes from power plants & industrial cooling

Many different varieties of testing are available to test the quality of water before it is consumed or used in some form. Coliform Bacteria are microorganisms that primarily originate and live in the colon and intestines of warm blooded animals including humans. Coliform bacteria is used as a resource to attain the amount of fecal contamination present in soil and water. Presence of this bacteria could indicate the genus of a more fatal problem such as salmonella or listeria. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a test used to test the amount of oxygen present and/or needed by a specific aquatic organism. If the level of dissolved oxygen content is reduced it could be damaging to the aquatic organisms operating in that particular system. Oxygen Sag describes these pollutants being carried downstream.

     A major form of water pollutant is the cooling run off from power plants that cause the temperature of a particular body of water to raise, also known as thermal pollutants. Thermal pollutants are also found in many other forms such as water runoff from roads after snow or rain. Acid precipitation is also term used to describe rain that contains pollutants from fossil fuels which could also affect the temperature of a body of water. Fossil fuels for example would be oil, gasoline, and coal being burned by factories, automobiles, and power plants. 

http://peakwater.org/?tag=water-pollution March 7, 2012

Case Study: Earthquake!

     On January 12, 2010 a vicious earthquake with a 7.0 magnitude struck Haiti leaving a devastating mark. With very low funding and a predicted 220,000 to 300,000 deaths, this day will not soon be forgotten. The earthquake occurred at a fault that runs right through Haiti and is situated along the boundary between the Caribbean and North American Plates, which are rocky slabs that cover the planet and fit together like a puzzle. These two plates constantly creep past one another at .8 inches per year but this time it took a turn causing a release of energy. Shortly after a earthquake with an 8.8 magnitude struck Chile but repressed far less devastation. With a more structural government with superior building codes, they only suffered a loss of approximately 700 people. Although technology is improving all natural disasters will not always be predictable and preparation for these events can only be so extensive.   

http://www.davelabaw.com/Haiti-Earthquake/Page4.htm March 7, 2012

  

Our Earth as a Whole

     Soil is made up of six necessary components; sand & gravel, silts & clay, dead organic material, soil fauna & flora, water & air. In proper farming techniques exhaust the nutrients in soil and cause harm to the environment such as soil erosion. Climate conditions and location also play a huge role in soil status. Soil has many layers starting with the surface soil, or top soil, storing the majority of the nutrients and minerals. The subsoil holds many minerals that leak down from the top layers while also containing the majority of the clay to hold water in as well.

     The earth is made up of layers starting with the inner core and consisting of an outer core, then the mantle and finally surrounded by a rock crust. Naturally these layers are shifted as the earth moves but when disrupted by human forces or another piece of land, deadly forces can occur called earthquakes. Although earthquakes can occur in many different levels of magnitude ranging from the average person never knowing one occurred, to one killing hundreds of thousands of people. Earthquakes can also create a severe aftershock. Aftershock can be as fatal as a earthquake in a nearby country or a tsunami of ocean water raging in on a town at up to 600 miles per hour of speed killing thousands and flooding towns leaving many homeless. Floods are not only caused by tsunami’s but they are also created from flat lands around large rivers called floodplains. When rivers rage with too much water for its capacity, the water has nowhere else to go but out. Floods are ranked number one in natural disasters for most damage left behind including lives taken. These natural disasters also contribute to another problem known as landslides. Landslides are created by either storm or pure carelessness from humans. A landslide, for example, is when a hillside with a beautiful, five million dollar home build on it cannot hold that home anymore as the soil creeps downhill and the house hits the bottom.

     The earth’s layers also include a wide variety of minerals found in many different types of rocks. We have all come to depend on these minerals around the world for things we use everyday such as gasoline for transportation and electronics for communication. The top minerals for production, that most of us are familiar with, are silver, nickel, lead, iron, copper, Chromium, and aluminum. The United States produces and trades these minerals with other countries around the world for important technology and development. Without the production and trade of these metals we wouldn’t have the technology for medical machinery, computers, computers to relay important information, and transportation where we need to go.

     Other minerals that play an important role in our society are non-metal minerals including glass, clay, salts, and gravel. We use these resources in most of our construction to create things such as roadways for transporting goods, and bricks and concrete for building. We also use many minerals as a fertilizer in our soils. These provide important nutrients to our soil such as potassium and limestone are used to neutralize acidic soils. Even diamonds and gold are created from these minerals that we use for personal interest whether it be fashion or sentimental. Minerals have become a huge part of our lives, production is crucial for our way of life and future technology.    

http://thesciworld11.blogspot.com/2011/01/nebula-theory.html March 7, 2012