Seeing the forest for the trees: Local-level resource use and forest restitution in postsocialist Bulgaria

Recent legislation for the restitution of ownership rights to, and subsequent management of, formerly privately owned forests in postsocialist Bulgaria has focused largely albeit not exclusively on the restored forests from the perspective of timber production, that is, `forest' equals `harvestable timber resource'. Using ethnographic data collected in rural Rhodope Mountain communities, this paper presents a local-level perspective on forests and forest use, including the meaning that forests hold for local residents as a source of non-timber forest products such as mushrooms and medicinal plants, of animal pasture, and of firewood for household heating and cooking. This local social perspective is then contrasted with the timber-resource focus of the forestry legislation and subsequent planning for forest use. The scale of forest ownership – in part a function of the restitution legislation – is also addressed in relation to the practicalities of resource management. Generally, the paper demonstrates a mismatch between the postsocialist forestry legislation and local practice and conditions with regard to forests and the natural resources therein. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Incorporating subjective and stochastic uncertainty in an interactive multi-objective groundwater calibration framework

The interactive multi-objective genetic algorithm (IMOGA) combines traditional optimization with an interactive framework that considers the subjective knowledge of hydro-geological experts in addition to quantitative calibration measures such as calibration errors and regularization to solve the groundwater inverse problem. The IMOGA is inherently a deterministic framework and identifies multiple large-scale parameter fields (typically head and transmissivity data are used to identify transmissivity fields). These large-scale parameter fields represent the optimal trade-offs between the different criteria (quantitative and qualitative) used in the IMOGA. This paper further extends the IMOGA to incorporate uncertainty both in the large-scale trends as well as the small-scale variability (which can not be resolved using the field data) in the parameter fields. The different parameter fields identified by the IMOGA represent the uncertainty in large-scale trends, and this uncertainty is modeled using a Bayesian approach where calibration error, regularization, and the expert’s subjective preference are combined to compute a likelihood metric for each parameter field. Small-scale (stochastic) variability is modeled using a geostatistical approach and added onto the large-scale trends identified by the IMOGA. This approach is applied to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) case-study. Results, with and without expert interaction, are analyzed and the impact that expert judgment has on predictive uncertainty at the WIPP site is discussed. It is shown that for this case, expert interaction leads to more conservative solutions as the expert compensates for some of the lack of data and modeling approximations introduced in the formulation of the problem.     

Carolina Bay geoarchaeology and Holocene landscape evolution on the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina

Surface water on the mainly dry, upland interfluves of the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina occurs currently as a sporadic distribution of shallow ponds held within Carolina bays and other small, isolated basins. At seven bays on the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site on the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina, we investigated Holocene changes in bay morphology, ecology, and prehistoric human activity. At Flamingo Bay, we employed archaeological survey and testing, shovel and auger testing, sediment analysis, and ground-penetrating radar to document stratigraphy and chronology of the sand rim on the eastern side of the bay. Artifact assemblage indicate changes in intensity of human use of the bay. Radiocarbon dates from a sediment core establish time scales for depositional processes at the center of the basin. Ground-penetrating radar data from the other bays indicate that the stratigraphy of all seven bays is broadly similar. We conclude that: (1) Significant modification of the bays, including rim development and basin infilling, occurred during the Holocene; (2) ponds on the early Holocene landscape were larger and more permanent than at present; (3) early Holocene climate, as indicated by both depositional processes and human activity, was not characterized by prolonged periods of extremely dry conditions; and (4) fluvial-centric models of terminal Pleistocene—early Holocene human adaptations require revision to include intensive use of isolated upland ponds. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.