This case study focuses on laws and policies used in Baraboo, Wisconsin land redevelopment projects, including the state laws that regulate cleanup of environmentally contaminated properties, the authorizing laws behind the projects, and the policies incorporated into the projects. It does this by highlighting two successful land reuse projects in the City of Baraboo, Wisconsin: the Veolia Property and the Alliant Property. During the redevelopment of these brownfield sites, Baraboo sought remedy to environmental contamination and maintain the community’s health. Two grant programs assisted Baraboo in achieving these goals: the Wisconsin Department of Commerce Grant and the Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Grant. The Brownfields Grant provided Baraboo the ability to conduct health monitoring with assistance from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. These redevelopment projects in Baraboo demonstrate successful interagency and interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as the role of law and policy in removing environmental hazards to reuse properties and promote human health by reducing exposure to environmental contaminants. Baraboo used these laws and policies to revitalize brownfields and account for community health in the process. Other localities and states can use Baraboo’s experience as a model to redevelop their own contaminated properties and promote environmental health through the use of their jurisdiction’s laws and policies.

This case study analyzes the potential impacts of weakening the National Park Service’s (NPS) “9B Regulations” enacted in 1978, which established a federal regulatory framework governing hydrocarbon rights and extraction to protect natural resources within the parks. We focus on potential risks to national parklands resulting from Executive Orders 13771—Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs [ 1 ]—and 13783—Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth [ 2 ]—and subsequent recent revisions and further deregulation. To establish context, we briefly overview the history of the United States NPS and other relevant federal agencies’ roles and responsibilities in protecting federal lands that have been set aside due to their value as areas of natural beauty or historical or cultural significance [ 3 ]. We present a case study of Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) situated within the Bakken Shale Formation—a lucrative region of oil and gas deposits—to examine potential impacts if areas of TRNP, particularly areas designated as “wilderness,” are opened to resource extraction, or if the development in other areas of the Bakken near or adjacent to the park’s boundaries expands [ 4 ]. We have chosen TRNP because of its biodiversity and rich environmental resources and location in the hydrocarbon-rich Bakken Shale. We discuss where federal agencies’ responsibility for the protection of these lands for future generations and their responsibility for oversight of mineral and petroleum resources development by private contractors have the potential for conflict.

Joshua Tree National Park is a remarkable desert ecosystem made iconic by the famed Joshua trees that dot the landscape. In 1994, a majority of Joshua Tree’s holdings were designated as “wilderness” (a legal status in the U.S.). Subsequently, Joshua Tree was buffeted by deleterious anthropogenic forces and suffered from severe budgetary constraints. In 2018/2019, a U.S. Government shutdown forced the Joshua Tree staff into furlough, while the park remained open to visitors. The response of local volunteers, who took responsibility for educating visitors about park policies and ecosystem conservation in the midst of the shutdown, shows the extent to which networks of local and community volunteers can be mobilized to mitigate at least some of the effects of budgetary constraints that affect the wilderness and national park lands.

Agricultural production in the United States provides numerous economic contributions from the national scale to the local, providing farmworker and laborer jobs for hundreds of thousands of people [ 1 ]. Unfortunately, conventional agricultural operations are often associated with pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, which can cause environmental degradation and health problems. Large-scale conventional agriculture is often using pesticide, herbicide, and fertilizer intensive, and these chemicals may contaminate natural environments, harming wildlife, and degrading water quality. When contamination incidents occur, government agencies and non-profit organizations respond in various ways, including environmental remediation. These efforts can be successful in restoring water quality and improving biodiversity. But, what happens when clean-up efforts are able to improve the physical environment but do not address human health? We use the case of Lake Apopka, Florida, to analyze a case of agricultural contamination that resulted in damage to the environment and the health of the farmworkers who were exposed to these harmful chemicals. Our analysis explores how government agencies and non-profit organizations were successful in their conservation efforts, but failed to help the farmworkers and other people who were sick as a result of exposure to toxic chemicals. We conclude with recommendations for policy makers and environmentalists to better address and include marginalized or vulnerable communities in environmental remediation projects.

More efficient agricultural water use sounds uncontroversial. Due to increased agricultural efficiency, about 300,000 acre-feet 1 of water per year is made available and is being reallocated from the Imperial Irrigation District to Los Angeles, San Diego and Coachella. This increase in efficiency and transfer of conserved water, however, is predicted to cause a suite of environmental and public health harms as the region’s agricultural sump (the Salton Sea) shrinks. Southern Californian water politics are famously messy, contentious and high stakes. The State struggles with the need to increase its use efficiency and decrease its overall use of its allocation of Colorado River water that supplies Californian south coast cities and inland agriculture. Local, State and federal parties involved in these water allocation decisions conflict over how to mitigate the externalities as there is no clear assignment of liabilities. This case study uses historical documents and recent policy elite interviews to construct a broad understanding of the nature of the dilemma. By engaging with this case, readers will better understand the relative positions of the rural water supplier and the urban water users in the largest water transfer in US history, and understand that increasing use efficiency in one arena—agriculture—does not always work out best for the environment.

Global conservation policy and governance has undergone significant changes since the publication of World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development . The strategy sought to integrate conservation and development deviating from the practice under fortress conservation, which considers the two concepts incompatible. What has this significant shift in approach meant for conservation governance at lower levels (i.e., national and sub-national) of governance? This article explores this question in the context of wildlife conservation in Kenya. The article is premised on field data collected in the country during the months of June, July, and August 2016 using mixed methods: key informant interview, household survey, and document review. It documents transformation, change, and continuity in conservation governance in Kenya during 1980–2016. The article also identifies three emerging concerns that hinder sustainable wildlife conservation in Kenya: elitism, green grabbing, and donor-dependency.

The study of protected area downgrading and downsizing (PADD) in Africa has largely been confined to rustic and nature reserves outside urban boundaries. This study addresses the gap in research practice and puts a focus on urban public parks, a reference to Harare Gardens, located within central Harare. The case study of this important park engaged the political ecology lenses as a basis for understanding the significance of public parks in urban environments. Operationalization of the study involved interviews with various stakeholders including the city officials and experts in urban planning and conservation, as well as observations and examination of published documents. Several lessons and observations are made. First, downsizing is mainly a result of increasing demand for urban land in Harare, which seems to be exhausted. Second, downscaling was explained through eco-development where the City of Harare sought to maximize on land-use. Third, the rationale for the PADD of Harare Gardens has been mainly for selfish reasons by individuals who manipulate the land market in Harare and subsequently benefit from the process. Fourth, politics takes a central role in influencing the occurrence of PADD in Zimbabwe that has been the case with Harare Gardens. Our findings suggest that the decision to downsize Harare Gardens was largely politically driven considering that such occurrences have been on-going in the city and led to the downsizing and downgrading of other protected areas such as wetlands.

The recent controversy over commercial uses on parkland at Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) has inspired this case study, which seeks to explore the integration of park residents into decision-making processes of the United States National Parks system. Specifically, this research evaluates the tensions between the various users at PRNS and explores the potential impact of a citizen’s advisory commission at PRNS in terms of increasing interactions between the National Park Service (NPS), park residents, and the public. To carry out these objectives, this case study compares recent interactions at Point Reyes with those that took place during previous decades when an active citizens advisory commission was in place. This case study finds that the advisory commission at Point Reyes played a vital role as an intermediary, which facilitated productive interactions between the key local community, residents, and NPS.

Bears Ears National Monument (BENM), a site with extraordinary cultural, scientific, and recreational values, was established by President Barack Obama of the United States in 2016. One year later, the monument’s area was reduced by 85%. Due to backlash from stakeholders, such as the indigenous, scientific, and environmental communities, and multiple options have presented themselves to resolve the conflict. This paper provides a thorough but condensed knowledge of the ongoing and proposed efforts to maintain the original boundaries of the BENM.

In the Madrean Sky Islands of western North America, a mixture of public and private land ownership and tenure creates a complex situation for collaborative efforts in conservation. In this case study, we describe the current ownership and management structures in the US-Mexico borderlands where social, political, and economic conditions create extreme pressures on the environment and challenges for conservation. On the United States side of the border, sky island mountain ranges are almost entirely publicly owned and managed by federal, state, and tribal organizations that manage and monitor species, habitats, and disturbances including fire. In contrast, public lands are scarce in the adjacent mountain ranges of Mexico, rather, a unique system of private parcels and communal lands makes up most of Mexico’s Natural Protected Areas. Several of the Protected Area reserves in Mexico form a matrix that serves to connect scattered habitats for jaguars dispersing northward toward public and private reserves in the United States from their northernmost breeding areas in Mexico. Despite the administrative or jurisdictional boundaries superimposed upon the landscape, we identify two unifying management themes that encourage collaborative management of transboundary landscape processes and habitat connectivity: jaguar conservation and wildfire management. This case study promotes understanding of conservation challenges as they are perceived and managed in a diversity of settings across the US-Mexico borderlands. Ultimately, recognizing the unique and important contributions of people living and working under different systems of land ownership and tenure will open doors for partnerships in achieving common goals. Una versión en español de este artículo está disponible como descarga.

The presence of hazardous chemicals such as lead (Pb) or other heavy metals in the environment poses significant threats to human health. Industrial activities can increase the concentrations of these toxic metals in the soil, water and air where people live, work and play. When exposed to lead, residents face a higher risk of neurological damage, anemia or developmental delays. Urban soil lead levels, for example, are usually higher than the natural background lead levels due to the historical usage of lead paint, leaded gasoline and proximity to industrial activities. We explored a case in southeastern Los Angeles County, where lead contamination in the soil has been a particular concern near a lead-acid battery smelter. In this case study, we investigated soil lead levels across the neighborhoods surrounding the smelter as a mean to support this clean-up decision making. We used a hot spot analysis to identify clusters of high soil lead levels at a neighborhood scale. This case study can be used to teach higher-division undergraduate and graduate students to incorporate spatial thinking and exploratory spatial analysis approaches into the decision-making process for remediation of environmental contamination. Through this case study, the students will develop the knowledge about soil lead contamination and associated health risks, learn how exploratory spatial data analysis can assist examining the distribution of soil lead contamination and discuss potential strategies to improve the environmental remediation process in the urban environment.

This paper examines the development of adaptive management in New Zealand’s resource management case law. In particular, this paper investigates a Supreme Court decision ( Sustain Our Sounds Inc v King Salmon New Zealand Co Ltd ), which established a set of criteria for implementing adaptive management through New Zealand’s Resource Management Act. This paper describes King Salmon’s initial request for aquaculture permits, the Supreme Court appeal, and the Supreme Court’s justification for an adaptive management approach. Analyzing this justification, this paper explores the remaining constraints using an adaptive management approach to enable a more agile and flexible resource management system in New Zealand.

The Pinelands National Reserve is one of the most integrated regional planning regimes for conservation in the world. Environmental protection is overlapped by the State Pinelands Area, the Pinelands National Reserve, and the New Jersey Pinelands Biosphere Reserve (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Stockton University, a 4-year state university with an 800-hectare campus operates within this mix of preservation and working landscape. In the Environmental Studies program, faculty engage students in the outdoor classroom to study the complexities of balancing development and conservation. This case highlights the creation of the first National Reserve and a University within the protected area and focuses on students analyzing species and habitat to encourage native cavity nesting animals to return and breed in the Pinelands. Readers will be able to navigate the complexities and opportunities of working in a protected area and apply these lessons in the classroom. With this case study, instructors, researchers, and students will be able to apply the symbiotic relationship between protected region and university to other areas of the world.

This case study describes the application of a framework for developing stakeholder-driven scenarios of the future. The purpose of these scenarios is to inform land use planning toward the protection of ecosystems and derivable ecosystem services in Northwestern Virginia. We held two scenario development workshops with regional experts in conservation, agriculture, land use planning, policy, and economic development to create scenarios of land use in the northern Piedmont and northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. We structured the workshops around a framework that guided stakeholders through several steps eventually resulting in four unique scenarios describing the region in 50 years. Scenario narratives were defined by the intersection of highly influential and uncertain drivers of change relevant to land use planning and ecosystem services. Participants from the northern Shenandoah Valley region selected population growth and climate change adaptation as their scenario defining drivers, while participants from the northern Piedmont region selected planning strategy and climate change impact as their scenario defining drivers. Participants fleshed out scenarios into descriptive narratives that incorporated qualitative and quantitative measures of change. Details from the scenario narratives informed land use change models to further quantify tradeoffs between land use planning decisions and ecosystem services. Individuals interested in using scenario planning to guide research efforts, conservation, or land use planning, or even to broaden perspectives on how to view the future, will find value in this case study.

A heavily armed militia occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge from January 2 through February 21, 2016. The standoff began as a protest against the prosecution and incarceration of two local ranchers, although there has been a long-standing animus among some ranchers in the western United States. A brief history of the Bureau of Land Management lands is presented, with a focus on the management of grazing in the West. Some ranchers, such as Cliven Bundy of Nevada, have refused to pay grazing fees because of their profound hostility toward the federal government, and an earlier 2014 standoff in Bunkerville, Nevada, set the stage for the occupation at Malheur.

On 16 October 1996, a malfunction at the Swan Hills Special Waste Treatment Center (SHSWTC) in Alberta, Canada, released an undetermined quantity of persistent organic pollutants to the atmosphere. An ecologically based, staged health risk assessment was conducted to evaluate the human health risk, the findings of which are presented in Part 2, on Ecotoxicology and Human Health Risk. The incident resulted in the largest fine for an environmental infraction in Alberta history up to that time. Despite the incident, the province of Alberta has continued to subsidize the facility and has kept it in operation, with changes in management. The policy rationale is that if the facility were not available, accumulation and possible diversion of hazardous waste into illegal disposal alternatives would threaten the environment much more than operation of the plant. This case study illustrates an ecological approach to risk assessment and an attempted culturally sensitive approach to risk management. Incidents in which people are exposed to toxic substances do not occur in a social vacuum. Risk management strategies must be adapted to groups with different cultural values and expectations. Community and individual responses to such incidents, and the development of health advisory messages, may depend on presenting information on exposure and risk in terms consistent with cultural patterns among subpopulations in the community.

On 16 October 1996, a malfunction at the Swan Hills Special Waste Treatment Center (SHSWTC) in Alberta, Canada, released an undetermined quantity of persistent organic pollutants to the atmosphere, including PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs. The circumstances of exposure are detailed in Part 1, Background and Policy Issues. An ecologically based, staged health risk assessment was conducted in two parts with two levels of government as sponsors. The first, called the Swan Hills Study, is described in this part, which was conducted by the Government of Alberta to evaluate the human health risks, primarily by determining contaminant levels in wild game and fish and in serum of residents of the area to reflect body burden. A diet and activity survey was conducted by telephone to determine and to inform an initial advisory on consumption of country foods. A subsequent evaluation, called the Lesser Slave Lake Study, focused exclusively on Aboriginal residents in the area and is presented in Part 3 of this case study. Because this is a case study and not a research report, the findings are presented as they became available at the time of the study.

On 16 October 1996, a malfunction at the Swan Hills Special Waste Treatment Center (SHSWTC) in Alberta, Canada, released an undetermined quantity of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) into the atmosphere, including polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, and furans. The circumstances of exposure are detailed in Part 1, Background and Policy Issues. An ecologically based, staged health risk assessment was conducted in two parts with two levels of government as sponsors. The first, called the Swan Hills Study, is described in Part 2. A subsequent evaluation, described here in Part 3, was undertaken by Health Canada and focused exclusively on Aboriginal residents in three communities living near the lake, downwind, and downstream of the SHSWTC of the area. It was designed to isolate effects on members living a more traditional Aboriginal lifestyle. Aboriginal communities place great cultural emphasis on access to traditional lands and derive both cultural and health benefits from “country foods” such as venison (deer meat) and local fish. The suspicion of contamination of traditional lands and the food supply made risk management exceptionally difficult in this situation. The conclusion of both the Swan Hills and Lesser Slave Lake studies was that although POPs had entered the ecosystem, no effect could be demonstrated on human exposure or health outcome attributable to the incident. However, the value of this case study is in the detail of the process, not the ultimate dimensions of risk. The findings of the Lesser Slave Lake Study have not been published previously and are incomplete.

In July 2006, 17 neighbors and health professionals living in the basin of one of the most polluted rivers in the world—the Matanza-Riachuelo—brought a case before the Supreme Court of Argentina. They claimed extensive health damages due to the level of contamination of the basin. The lawsuit was filed against the federal, provincial, and city governments, as well as 44 private companies [ 1 ]. This case study introduces readers to the growing pattern of judicialization of environmental policies. This trend was initially celebrated by many activists since a Supreme Court responsive to people’s demands and focused on protecting the environment could address long-standing policy failures of the executive and legislative branches of government. However, this case study examines two main ways in which judicialization may generate an accountability crisis for communities affected by environmental disasters. First, it raises a theoretical argument that a Court that takes on managerial functions beyond its adjudicative role distorts the normal horizontal accountability functions that are part of the division of powers between the three branches of government. Second, it empirically demonstrates that a Court’s involvement in policy formulation does not guarantee effectiveness and precludes vertical accountability, since citizens cannot vote judges out of office. The case suggests that judicializing environmental politics is fraught with risks to democratic accountability. These must be considered carefully before embracing the judiciary as a band-aid remedy to an executive branch that fails to protect people and the environment.

Scientists can be important public advocates in environmental issues. But scientific activism can take different forms, and deciding when and how to become an activist can be difficult for people who are trained to understand science as the objective pursuit of truth. This case study explores these issues through the history of the Oxygen Depletion Crisis. Between 1966 and 1970, it appeared that the global oxygen supply might be endangered by pesticides, industrial pollution, or the ongoing combustion of fossil fuels. The science was uncertain, but the potential threat was considerable. One response came from geophysicists Lloyd Berkner and Lauriston Marshall, who quietly initiated a research program and refrained from speaking publicly until the full scope of the crisis was better understood, in a conscious effort to avoid provoking public concern. We label this approach “public reticence.” Ecologist LaMont Cole instead made oxygen depletion a prominent talking point in his Congressional testimony and presentations across the country, so successfully stimulating the public concern that oxygen depletion became one of the multiple environmental anxieties motivating mass action on Earth Day in 1970. While the oxygen depletion crisis had a relatively clear scientific resolution, its legacy for environmental policy is interestingly complicated. This case uses historical perspective to help students to debate on scientific activism, an issue especially relevant today in light of climate change and events like the March for Science on Earth Day, 2017.