Papers by Laurie Fowler
Water quality trading (trading) as a means to improve water quality has become an increasingly po... more Water quality trading (trading) as a means to improve water quality has become an increasingly popular instrument considered by environmental policy makers. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists more than forty current trading programs in the U.S., only a few active markets exist. The literature identifies several hurdles to trading, overcoming which requires a deeper understanding of the interaction
Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation, 2004
Water Research, 2006
Infiltration Non-point source pollution
In the United States, tax incentives combined with the ecological significance of private land ar... more In the United States, tax incentives combined with the ecological significance of private land are driving the expansion of conservation easements held by land trusts. This development suggests a need to further identify efficient methods for assessing the conservation value of private land. We collaborated with two land trusts on a conservation assessment of the Upper Oconee Watershed in northeastern Georgia. We identified nine landscape-level conservation features that were important to the land trusts’ missions. To weight the conservation features in the creation of a parcel-level index model, we used criteria from the Georgia Land Conservation Program. Out of 32,657 parcels analyzed, we identified 111 priority parcels that contain 2-15 percent of each conservation feature in the watershed. We recommended these priority parcels to the land trusts for use in their easement recruitment campaigns and conservation strategies.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 8, 2016
Geographically isolated wetlands (GIWs), those surrounded by uplands, exchange materials, energy,... more Geographically isolated wetlands (GIWs), those surrounded by uplands, exchange materials, energy, and organisms with other elements in hydrological and habitat networks, contributing to landscape functions, such as flow generation, nutrient and sediment retention, and biodiversity support. GIWs constitute most of the wetlands in many North American landscapes, provide a disproportionately large fraction of wetland edges where many functions are enhanced, and form complexes with other water bodies to create spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the timing, flow paths, and magnitude of network connectivity. These attributes signal a critical role for GIWs in sustaining a portfolio of landscape functions, but legal protections remain weak despite preferential loss from many landscapes. GIWs lack persistent surface water connections, but this condition does not imply the absence of hydrological, biogeochemical, and biological exchanges with nearby and downstream waters. Although hydrolo...
Wetlands, 2015
We explore the category Bgeographically isolated wetlands^(GIWs; i.e., wetlands completely surrou... more We explore the category Bgeographically isolated wetlands^(GIWs; i.e., wetlands completely surrounded by uplands at the local scale) as used in the wetland sciences. As currently used, the GIW category (1) hampers scientific efforts by obscuring important hydrological and ecological differences among multiple wetland functional types, (2) aggregates wetlands in a manner not reflective of regulatory and management information needs, (3) implies wetlands so described are in some way Bisolated,^an often incorrect implication, (4) is inconsistent with more broadly used and accepted concepts of Bgeographic isolation,^and (5) has injected unnecessary confusion into scientific investigations and discussions. Instead, we suggest other wetland classification systems offer more informative alternatives. For example, hydrogeomorphic (HGM) classes based on wellestablished scientific definitions account for wetland functional diversity thereby facilitating explorations into questions of connectivity without an a priori designation of Bisolation.^Additionally, an HGM-type approach could be used in combination with terms reflective of current regulatory or policymaking needs. For those rare cases in which the condition of being surrounded by uplands is the relevant distinguishing characteristic, use of terminology that does not unnecessarily imply isolation (e.g., Bupland embedded wetlands^) would help alleviate much confusion caused by the Bgeographically isolated wetlands^misnomer.
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2010
As the global area devoted to urban uses grows, an increasing number of freshwater species will f... more As the global area devoted to urban uses grows, an increasing number of freshwater species will face imperilment due to urbanization effects. Management of these impacts on both private and public lands is necessary to ensure species persistence. Such management entails several hallenges: (1) development of a management policy appropriate to the stressors; (2) linking stressor levels to species population attributes; (3) forecasting the effects of alternative management policy decisions on the species, and (4) using adaptive management to adjust the policy in the future. We illustrate how these challenges were addressed under the Etowah Habitat Conservation Plan (Etowah HCP), a management plan for three federally protected fish species in Georgia, USA. The plan involved the creation of a management policy to address the impacts of the greatest stressor, stormwater runoff, as well as other stressors. Models were constructed to link population indices of the three species with a key indicator of stormwater runoff, effective impervious area (EIA). Then, models were applied to projected levels of EIA under full watershed buildout to fine-tune the parameters of the management policy. Forecasting indicated that the most sensitive species, the Etowah darter, was likely to decline by 84% in the absence of the Etowah HCP, but only 23% if the Etowah HCP were implemented. Although there was substantial uncertainty in model predictions, an adaptive management plan was established to incorporate new data and to adjust management policies as necessary.
gwri.gatech.edu
... Dean Hardy1 and Laurie Fowler2 ... Incorporation of an emerging concept that may afford this ... more ... Dean Hardy1 and Laurie Fowler2 ... Incorporation of an emerging concept that may afford this approach is not a new idea (Ehrlich and Mooney 1983), but a relatively re-cent popularization of the concept of ecosystem services (Costanza et al. ...
Conference Proceedings by Laurie Fowler
Proceedings of the Georgia Water Resources Conference, 2009
Landscape scale conservation planning informed by stakeholders is necessary for effective conserv... more Landscape scale conservation planning informed by stakeholders is necessary for effective conservation action. We developed a watershed level conservation planning approach by working with two local land trusts that operate in the Upper Oconee subbasin of northeast Georgia. Emphasizing the interdependency of ecological processes and human livelihood to area residents motivates stewardship; hence, we focused on conservation values that draw these linkages. In the United States, private landowner conservation is essential for successful protection of ecological processes and biodiversity. The prevalent route for involving private landowners with conservation is through partnerships with land trusts. A rapid proliferation of land trusts across the U.S. over the past decade indicates the increasing importance of private land conservation efforts. As our primary objective, we developed a GIS model for evaluating nine conservation features in the watershed using a weighted scoring system modified from the Georgia Land Conservation Program evaluation criteria. We extracted the 70 highest-ranking parcels as target recruitment parcels. The land trusts will begin targeting these 70 parcels for easement recruitment immediately. The second objective included quantifying these nine conservation features for current easements and other conservation lands to aid development of strategic conservation plans. Land trust personnel agreed with the relative scoring of their current holdings. We provided the land trusts access to the entire database of values for the features analyzed in all 34,024 parcels, empowering them to visit a potential easement site with a priori knowledge; thereby, enhancing the efficiency of their finite funding and personnel resources.
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Papers by Laurie Fowler
Conference Proceedings by Laurie Fowler