Miles Of Land Research Articles

An Acid Test for Spacing Decisions Complete 44 Wells With 129 Miles of Laterals on a 3×2-Mile Lease in the Midland Basin

ConocoPhillips has an increasingly rare opportunity in the Permian—6 square miles of land over multiple layers of prime, undeveloped shale. The scale of this Midland Basin project is huge—44 wells with laterals running the 3-mile length of the lease—as is the company’s patience. Last fall, when a ConocoPhillips panel described the megaproject at the SPE Permian Basin Energy Conference in Midland, they said they were about 70% done with drilling. Fracturing would begin as drilling was ending and would take about 8 months to complete. Only then would the wells in this geologic tank go into production, limiting any interactions with older wells inside the lease lines. However, outside that boundary there are older wells that could interact. Brady Kolb, a staff geologist for ConocoPhillips who led off the panel discussion, explained, “All the zones communicate in some shape or form, so we take the whole tank and deliver it at the same time to maximize resource capture.” The gains come from avoiding harmful interactions with older wells and the depleted zones they create, as well as the rock left undeveloped to create wide buffer zones around parents. In addition, they are deploying innovative technology to reduce fuel costs and emissions, from grid power for two of its five drilling rigs to processing field gas to create the rich gas needed to run fracturing equipment. And they are using the flood of data gathered while drilling to continuously improve work on later wells. On one level, it will certainly succeed. ConocoPhillips needed to begin drilling to hold on to a valuable lease with prime targets in the Wolfcamp and Spraberry formations. “We had a pretty significant drilling obligation on the ranch and had to drill quite a few wells,” said Carl Warren, a senior reservoir engineer for ConocoPhillips, during the Permian conference panel discussion. For ConocoPhillips this is a high-profile example of its approach to maximizing the value of its shale development with longer laterals and graduating all the wells to production at about the same time, also known as “co-development.” “Co-development allows us to minimize the parent-child impacts while improving recovery, as well as capital efficiency. And we’ve demonstrated over the past 4 years, both in the Midland Basin as well as the Delaware Basin, improved performance there,” said Nick Olds, executive vice president Lower 48 for Conoco Phillips during an earnings call last November. ConocoPhillips will complete 129 miles of laterals in a zone that covers 1,300 ft of rock (8,500 to 9,800-ft total vertical depth) within the 3×2-mile area to test what it has learned about placing wells and to maximize the return on investment. Those with long memories are likely to remember past efforts at mass development, known as cube or tank developments. Those were examples of a good concept undermined by a blunder—those pioneers crammed far too many closely spaced horizontal wells into a formation.

Total impact of electric vehicle fleet adoption in the logistics industry

The continental United States heavily relies on land logistics with 3.8 million square miles of land and over 4 million miles of road. Additionally, the United States is committed to achieving the global goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. This article examines the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating electric vehicles (EVs), specifically trucks, into the current logistics industry. This paper also provides a better understanding of what type and magnitude of impact electric trucks' uprising technology have on the logistics industry.

Visits of the Governor of the Straits Settlements to the Maharajah of Johor in 1874, 1880, and 1882

Visits of the Governor of the Straits Settlements to the Maharajah of Johor in 1874, 1880, and 1882 Fred A. Weld, Governor The Maharajah of Johor was a powerful independent Malay ruler whose state lay immediately north of the Crown Colony of Singapore. The relationship was important to both sides, making the protocols, the activities, and the public statements particularly significant. Andrew Clarke's visit on March 10, 1874, came just two months after the signing of the Pangkor Engagement (20 January 1874) placing a British Resident in Perak, the first of a series of treaties that eventually made nine peninsular Malay states British protectorates. Clarke's entourage included James Wheeler Woodford Birch, who was then the Colonial Secretary for the Straits Settlements and on 4 November 1874 would be appointed as the first British Resident in Perak, where he was assassinated on 2 November 1875. Visit of Governor Sir Andrew Clarke to the Maharajah of Johor in 1874 The following piece appeared in the Siam Repository for 1874 (Vol. 6, pp. 359-63). It is not an official report of the proceedings, but an account written by an anonymous correspondent for the Siam Repository. JOHORE. THE MAHARAJAH'S BANQUET (From the Straits Times.) March 10. H. E. Colonel Sir Andrew Clarke and suite, with Lady Clarke, arrived at Johore in H.M.S. Thalia, Captain Woollcombe, at 6 p. m. on a visit to H. Hl the Maharajah of Johore. The town was gay with banners, flags, etc. On landing H. E. was saluted with 17 guns, which was returned by the Thalia. In the evening H. H. entertained a select party to dinner, to meet H. E. and Lady Clarke. The public spirited Major-China, Mr. Tan Hoeg Nee, prepared a very picturesque procession, which paraded about the town during the evening. The numerous lighted lanterns moving along had a beautiful effect as seen through the streets and by the waterside. The following address was read and presented to H. E. on landing, by Mr. Meldrum, on behalf of the European residents at Johore. Another was presented by the Major Tan Hoeg Nee, from the Chinese inhabitants. To Colonel Sir Andrew Clarke, R. E., K.C.M.G., C.G &c. &c. &c. Governor and Commander in Chief of the Straits Settlements. [End Page 105] We the European inhabitants of Johore, desire to cordially welcome your Excellency on this your Excellency's first visit to the territory of His Highness the Maharajah of Johore. This visit has been looked forward to by us with feelings of pleasure, as ever since it was known that the Right Honourable the Earl of Kimberley had made so judicious a choice as the elect your Excellency to be the Governor of the Straits Settlements, a true friend had been secured nost only to Johore but to the Malayan Peninsula in general. Aware that your noble Chief takes deep interest in the welfare of the Rulers of the native states, and has expressed himself anxious for their "advance in the paths of civilization, developing internal resources and entering into liberal Commercial relations with foreign nations," and also that the policy of the illustrious Sir Stamford Raffles is to be your own cynosure, we have a guarantee that the Civil, Commercial, and Political interests of this and the adjoining states will be well cared for. Your Excellency now stands on the most southern point of the Continent of Asia, a spot that but a few years ago was a part of the dense primeval forest. In front is the now flourishing town of Johore : thousands of square miles of land lie beyond it, containing minerals and abundance of timber, and capable of producing almost every plant cultivated for commerce in a tropical country. All awaits the advent of European enterprise. Sooner or later, this will come, and rich rewards may be depended on, as all the elements of success already exist. It is well known that our enlightened Ruler is deeply imbued with an ardent wish for the development of his country and the welfare of his people, and your Excellency's wise counsels will in no small degree help to attain these desirable...

Agent-Based Modeling of Decisions and Developer Actions in Wind Farm Landowner Contract Acceptance

Abstract This paper presents an agent-based model to investigate interactions between wind farm developers and landowners. Wind farms require hundreds of square miles of land for development and developers typically interact with landowners to lease land for construction and operations. Landowners sign land lease contracts without knowing the turbine layout, which affects aesthetics of property as well as value of the lease contract. Having a turbine placed on one's land is much more lucrative than alternative land uses, but landowners must sign over the use of their land without knowing whether they will receive this financial benefit or not. This process, typically referred to as “Landowner Acquisition,” is highly uncertain for both stakeholders—a source stated up to 50% of wind projects fail due to landowner acquisition issues. We present an agent-based model to study the landowner acquisition period with unique decision-making characteristics for nine landowners and a developer. Citizen participation is crucial to the acceptance of wind farms; thus, we use past studies to quantify three actions a developer can take to influence landowners: (1) community engagement meetings, (2) preliminary environmental studies, and (3) sharing the wind turbine layout with the landowner. Results show how landowner acceptance rates can change over time based on what actions the developer takes. While still in the “proof of concept” stage, this model provides a framework for quantifying wind stakeholder interactions and potential developer actions. Suggestions for how to validate the framework in the future are included in the discussion.

Campylobacter jejuni Colonization in the Crow Gut Involves Many Deletions within the Cytolethal Distending Toxin Gene Cluster.

Campylobacter spp. are major causes of gastroenteritis worldwide. The virulence potential of Campylobacter shed in crow feces obtained from a roost area in Bothell, Washington, was studied and compared with that from isolates from other parts of Washington and from a different crow species 7,000 miles away in Kolkata, India. Campylobacter organisms were isolated from 61% and 69% of the fecal samples obtained from Washington and Kolkata, respectively, and were confirmed to be C. jejuni The cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) gene cluster from these isolates revealed a truncated sequence of approximately 1,350 bp. Sequencing of the gene cluster revealed two types of mutations: a 668-bp deletion across cdtA and cdtB and a 51-bp deletion within cdtB Some strains had additional 20-bp deletions in cdtB In either case, a functional toxin is not expected; a functional toxin is produced by the expression of three tandem genes, cdtA, cdtB, and cdtC Reverse transcriptase PCR with total RNA extracted from the isolates showed no expression of cdtB A toxin assay performed with these isolates on HeLa cells failed to show cytotoxic effects on the cells. However, the isolates were able to colonize the chicken ceca for a period of at least 4 weeks, similar to that of a clinical isolate. Other virulence gene markers, flagellin A and CadF, were present in 100% of the isolates. Our study suggests that crows carry the bacterium C. jejuni but with a dysfunctional toxin protein that is expected to drastically reduce its potential to cause diarrhea.IMPORTANCE Campylobacters are a major cause of gastroenteritis in humans. Since outbreaks have most often been correlated with poultry or unpasteurized dairy products, contact with farm animals, or contaminated water, historically, the majority of the studies have been with campylobacter isolates from poultry, domestic animals, and human patients. However, the bacterium has a broad host range that includes birds. These reservoirs need to be investigated, because the identification of the source and a determination of the transmission routes for a pathogen are important for the development of evidence-based disease control programs. In this study, two species of the human-commensal crow, from two different geographical regions separated by 7,000 miles of land and water, have been examined for their ability to cause disease by shedding campylobacters. Our results show that the crow may not play a significant role in campylobacteriosis, because the campylobacter organisms they shed produce a nonfunctional toxin.

Economic Evaluation of Coastal Land Loss in Louisiana

Louisiana has lost approximately 1,880 square miles of land over the past eighty years. Projections suggest that in a future without action, the next fifty years could result in the loss of 1,750 additional square miles of land area. As land loss continues, a large portion of the natural and man-made capital stocks of coastal Louisiana will be at greater risk of damage, either from land loss or from the associated increase in storm damage. We estimate the replacement cost of capital stock directly at risk from land loss ranges from approximately $2.1 billion to $3.5 billion with economic activity at risk ranging from $2.4 billion to $3.1 billion in output. Increases in storm damage to capital stock range from $8.7 billion to as much as $133 billion with associated disruptions to economic activity ranging from an additional $1.9 billion to $23 billion in total lost output.

Public health and municipal water policies in Colonial Lima, Peru, 1535–1635

In 1535, Peru’s governor, Francisco Pizarro, ordered the relocation of the Spanish settlement at Jauja, located in the central highlands, to Lima, located in the Rimac River Valley. Pizarro chose Lima’s location in part based on its coastal location and the presence of two irregularly flowing rivers: the Rimac and the Chillon. Both rivers brought fresh water from the Andes Mountains and ran a winding course all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Indigenous people living in the valley channeled its water to irrigate hundreds of miles of land; creating a hydraulic network that supported agriculture, fruit trees, alder, and willow in an otherwise coastal desert. Despite royal mandates and Iberian precedents to leave irrigation systems acquired via conquest unchanged, Lima’s municipal government disrupted the indigenous water network from the moment of foundation. Town councilmen justified these actions by linking the urban water supply to human health. This connection was based on three interrelated policies: (1) the rights and responsibilities of irrigators; (2) sanitation; and (3) dividing the city physically to minimize effects of disease and pollution. All of these policies influenced human relationships with water in the city, and provided a means for the town council to extend its jurisdiction over urban and rural spaces and their inhabitants.

Linguistic Parallelism in “La Belle Dame Sans Mercy” by John Keats and Urdu Poem “Husan ki Divy” by Shevan Rizvi

Linguistic parallelism, the tendency of using similar forms together within a continuous discourse, is a very strong linguistic phenomenon in literature. Linguistic parallelism means the repetition of a syntactic construction in successive sentences for rhetorical effect. In Linguistics parallelism means the use of parallel or similar syntactical structure in a text. Parallelism can be practiced at different levels, i.e. from word to the sentence level. It is common in many languages around the globe. This research work demonstrates that “La Belle Dam Sans Merci” by John Keats and “Husan ki Divy” by Shevan Rizvi exhibit more similarities than differences with regard to this constraint. These two products of literary genius exhibit thematic affinity and formal congruity despite their production in regions separated by miles of land and water, in cultures lacking any shared values, and in languages having no common ancestry. This paper presents linguistic analysis of the two poems in terms of intra textual analysis of the English poem, intra textual analysis of the Urdu poem, and a comparative analysis of both the poems.

Taiwan Vulnerability Analysis: A Comparative Study with Japan, China, U.S.A., U.K., France, and the Netherlands

<p>Taiwan has performed well economically during the past four decades. However, economic development can be profoundly hampered by natural disasters. Sustainable economic development requires environmental resilience. With 23 million people occupying only 13,974 square miles of land, Taiwan is both densely populated and highly exposed to natural disasters: 73.1% of the total population lives in vulnerable areas, and Taiwan is ranked as the country most exposed to multiple hazards (The World Bank, 2005). Storms and floods damage Taiwan frequently, with an average of six typhoons hitting Taiwan annually for the past four decades. Taiwan had the highest occurrence and highest death toll on the natural disaster density indicator (NDDI) in comparison with China, Japan, U.S.A, U.K., France, and the Netherlands from 1985 to 2014. Also, Taiwan’s economic losses during the past thirty years are estimated at $650, 000 per km². This is approximately 5 times that of the Netherlands’ $134,362 and the U.K.’s $135,292, 8 times that of the U.S.A.’s $78,186 losses, and 9 times that of France’s $70,599. Research finds that every dollar invested into disaster preparedness would save $4 to $7 dollars in post-disaster damages (Multihazard Mitigation Council, 2005; The National Academy of Sciences, 2012). Hence, promoting urban resilience policies for disaster risk reduction should become a priority in Taiwan and other Asian nations in the future. Most important is the need of a strong political commitment and leadership to initiate and implement spatial policies toward resilience.</p>

Taiwan Vulnerability Analysis in Comparison with Japan, China, U.S.A., U.K., France, and the Netherlands

Taiwan has performed well economically during the past four decades, with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita increasing from $432 in 1970 to $21,141 in 2013. However, economic development can be profoundly hampered by natural disasters. Sustainable economic development requires environmental resilience. With 23 million people occupying only 13,974 square miles of land, Taiwan is both densely populated and highly exposed to natural disasters: 73.1% of the total population lives in vulnerable areas, and Taiwan is ranked as the country most exposed to multiple hazards (The World Bank 2005). Storms and floods damage Taiwan frequently, with an average of six typhoons hitting Taiwan annually for the past four decades. Taiwan had the highest occurrence and highest death toll on the natural disaster density indicator (NDDI) in comparison with China, Japan, U.S.A, U.K., France, and the Netherlands from 1985 to 2014. Also, Taiwan’s economic losses during the past thirty years are estimated at $650, 000 per km². This is approximately 5 times that of the Netherlands’ $134,362 and the U.K.’s $135,292, 8 times that of the U.S.A.’s $78,186 losses, and 9 times that of France’s $70,599. Research finds that every dollar invested into disaster preparedness would save $4 to $7 dollars in post-disaster damages (Multihazard Mitigation Council 2005; The National Academy of Sciences 2012). Hence, promoting urban resilience policies for disaster risk reduction should become a priority in Taiwan and other Asian nations in the future.

The Coyote-Proof Pasture Experiment

Few scientific experiments have influenced more land than one conducted in the Wallowa Mountains of eastern Oregon by the US Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry and US Forest Service in 1907–1909. Four square miles of land were enclosed with a “coyote-proof fence,” guarded by a hunter, and stocked with an untended band of sheep. Data were collected on vegetation and sheep performance inside and outside the fence, and two years later success was declared. By 1910, the Forest Service had wrested range research from the Bureau of Plant Industry, subordinating the emerging field to timber production and fire suppression for decades to come. The young scientist who conducted the experiment, James Jardine, was promoted to Inspector of Grazing for the fledgling Forest Service, while his Wallowa collaborator, Arthur Sampson, went on to become “the father” of range science. The model of range management that they pioneered was applied across the US West and, later, on many rangelands in the developing world. Fencing and predator control are now generally viewed as unrelated management practices, but in the Forest Service model they were intimately connected. A critical physical geography of the Wallowa experiment reveals that the institutional context in which it occurred was more important than the findings themselves, and that although the results appeared to be scientifically rigorous and ecological, the methods were weak and the real criteria for “success” were economic. The high costs of fencing could be justified only if they were offset by a reduction in labor costs for herders. But without herders to guard the livestock, predators would have to be eliminated. Enormous public subsidies were required to implement the model, which continues to affect rangelands around the world.

The Impact of Drug Trafficking on American Indian Reservations with International Boundaries

American Indians in the United States who reside within close proximity to the US-Mexico and US-Canada borders are directly and indirectly affected by activity associated with drug trafficking. Evidence suggests that rates of border violations related to drug trafficking are increasing in these areas and that rates of associated violence and injury may also be on the rise. This article has four main objectives. The first is to document the crisis of violence and injury occurring on American Indian reservations as a result of drug and human trafficking across international borders. The second objective is to highlight challenges that obscure attempts to address this problem. Third, a review of current initiatives to resolve these challenges is provided. Finally, this article discusses potential solutions to these challenges via political reform, resource allocation, and other tactics addressing increased drug-trafficking activity. To achieve these objectives, two federally recognized American Indian tribes were selected to conduct an in-depth examination of the problem: the Saint Regis Mohawk and Tohono O'odham Nations. These tribes were chosen due to their close proximity to the US-Mexico and US-Canada borders, as well as their strong cultural affinity with relatives living immediately adjacent to the border. The Saint Regis Mohawk Nation shares approximately twenty miles of land with the Canadian border, while the Tohono O'odham Nation shares approximately seventy-five miles with the Mexican border. Both areas are recognized as drug conduits, a result of multiple factors; consequently, these areas are increasingly impacted by violence and injury. Language: en

Evolutionary Development for Electrokinetic Dewatering of Phosphate Mine Tailings

The processing and storage of phosphatic clay suspensions (or mine tailings) which result as a waste product from phosphate mining industry represent an important economic and environmental problem. A very long time is required to allow gravity-driven settling of clay suspensions with an initial 2-3 wt% solids content, and decades may be required to reach 25-30 wt% solids content. The associated impoundments occupy over 100 square miles of land in Florida alone.A combination of experimental and modeling approaches were used to explore the use of imposed electric fields to achieve electrokinetic separation. Batch experiments were used to guide the development of a constitutive relationship describing the changes in solids content with time (t) and applied electric field (E)1,2. A linear behavior between final solids content and Et was found in at short times, and the upper limit of separation was controlled by the value of electric field only.Subsequently, a semi-continuous system was designed for continuous removal of supernatant water. This system allowed measurement of supernatant turbidity, pH, and changes in solids content as functions of applied electric field, flow rate, and settling time. Under pseudo-steady-state operation, low-turbidity water was separated from a clay solids suspension by a combination of electrokinetic dewatering and free settling. A semi-continuous system, which introduced a rotating belt between electrodes to facilitate removing clay sludge, was designed and tested. The batch experiment set up was used to optimize fabric selection. This equipment was able to continuously producing thickened clay cake with a solids content of up to 33 wt%. Evaluation of parameters including electrode spacing, electric field, and residence time provided an understanding of the path for optimization. A similiar constitutive relationship as in batch experiment was also estanblished which correlates final solids content to electric field and residence time.All the systems were also evaluated from an econonic perspective. The energy requirement of the semi-continuous operation that facilitated sludge removal had a lower energy requirement value at a given electric field as compared with the result from batch experiments and the previous semi-continuous operation. All systems followed the trend that high electric fields have a high energy requirement. References J.P. McKinney, M.E. Orazem, A constitutive relationship for electrokinetic dewatering of phosphatic clay slurries, Miner. Metall. Process. 28 (2011) 49.J.P. McKinney, M.E. Orazem, Electrokinetic dewatering phosphatic clay settling areas: numerical simulation and economic assessment, Miner. Metall. Process. 28 (2011) 71.

Socio-semiotics and the new mega spaces of tourism: Some comments on Las Vegas and Dubai

“Mega” tourist spaces are named as such because of both their physical scale, which encompasses many square miles of land, and their economic scale of billion dollar investments and profit-making. The paper examines two of the most prominent examples — Las Vegas, Nevada, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Tourist locations seek to differentiate themselves using signs that distinguish one place from another through the symbolic mechanism of theming. This constant differentiation creates a sense of place for locations that, otherwise, offer essentially the same product such as opulent leisure activities and, in the case of Las Vegas, casino gambling. The semiotic process of differentiation through theming façades and décor has become the major tool of marketing to tourists who can always choose from among many alternative destinations. This socio-semiotic perspective stands in contrast to the thesis, often associated with Michel Augé, of uniform homogenization as the aesthetic imperative of contemporary global architectural practice. Examining the distinctive elements of the sign systems in Dubai and Las Vegas, the paper argues that Dubai is organized under the sign of excess, while Las Vegas's semiotic is more complex.

Bonapartists in the Borderlands: French Exiles and Refugees on the Gulf Coast, 1815-1835 (review)

Reviewed by: Bonapartists in the Borderlands: French Exiles and Refugees on the Gulf Coast, 1815–1835 Owen Connelly Bonapartists in the Borderlands: French Exiles and Refugees on the Gulf Coast, 1815–1835. By Rafe Blaufarb. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8173-1487-3. Maps. Illustrations. Tables. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xix, 302. $50.00. Rafe Blaufarb has written a remarkable book. It connects the small, frontier Vine and Olive Colony of French refugees and exiles near Demopolis, Alabama (granted land by Congress in 1817), to upheavals in Latin America, which were altering the power balance in the Atlantic world. The links are ex-Napoleonic officers seeking fame and fortune in the Americas. Thus it is both local and international history—serious and deeply researched, but containing bases for a dozen other histories and tales of adventure. Blaufarb has tapped all relevant archives and libraries, including the French Archives des Affaires Étrangères, Archives de la Guerre, and Archives Nationales: the Spanish Archivo Historico Nacional, the British National Archives (Foreign Office); and in the U.S., the Huntington Library, the American Philosophical Society, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Alabama Department of Archives and History, the Presidential Papers of John Quincy Adams, and the Lefebvre-Desnouettes papers at the University of North Carolina Besides exiled Bonapartists, French immigrants included "Domingans," who had fled the slave revolution in the French one-third of Hispaniola (Haiti) in the 1790s, some regicides (who had voted for the death of Louis XVI), and others. Mostly resident in Philadelphia, the French formed the Society for Cultivation of the Vine and Olive and petitioned Congress for land on which to grow grapes and lay the groundwork for an American wine industry. In 1817, Congress gave them 144 square miles of land near the confluence of the Tombigbee and Black Warrior Rivers in Alabama. The government wanted a wine industry, but made the grant principally to populate the frontier and give added security to the Gulf coast—an area coveted by several great powers. What better buffer than a colony of Napoleonic soldiers? Unfortunately, few soldiers came to the colony, and all soon left. Nevertheless, a myth persists to this day that aristocratic Napoleonic officers and their wives founded the colony, but were defeated by the frontier conditions and left for more civilized places. In fact, the only prominent Napoleonic officer to settle there was General Count Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes, who left after two years. The ranking Bonapartist exile, Marshal Emmanuel Grouchy, took a grant, but never visited the colony. However, for better or worse, the myth will almost surely survive, just as the images of Southern life in Gone with the Wind are imbedded in the minds of people the world over. Blaufarb shows that the French who established the colony were mostly Domingans. Two tables (p. 145) list the leading French and Anglo-American landholders in the 1830s. The former are all either Domingans or connected to them by marriage; the latter planters who had bought up grants, and ultimately intermarried with the French. Land was available because only 61 of 285 civilian grantees came to the settlement (p. 118), and most of them left, like the soldiers, beaten by the rough terrain, lack of roads or water transport, [End Page 1126] disease, blazing summer heat, and even a hurricane. Unable to grow grapes or olives—the soil and climate made it impossible—those who remained bought slaves and grew cotton. The failure of the colony made the Congress wary of such projects, and it refused similar requests from later immigrants, e.g., the Irish (p. 174). The author devotes a chapter to the Champ d'Asile (Field of Asylum or Refuge), in the disputed borderland between Spanish Mexico and the United States. The prime mover was the charismatic ex-cavalryman, General Charles Lallemand, who raised initial funds by persuading 33 of 65 soldier-grantees to sell their land for the benefit of his expedition. Perhaps 80 officers—French and others who had served Napoleon—Polish, Italian, German, et al.—established an armed camp in the Cayo de Gallardo, on the Trinity River. However, after a few weeks, food, water, and...

REVIEW: Exposing the US nuclear test legacy in the Marshall Islands

The world's worst nuclear reactor accident occurred in late April 1986 at Chernobyl, in the Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of people and millions of square miles of land were contaminated by radioactive fallout spewed from the reactor meltdown. But, in spite of great efforts by the government of the then Soviet Union to cover up and minimise the extent of this disaster, within days people and governments across Europe and, indeed, around the world were glued to their television sets or pouring over newspaper accounts of this unfolding tragedy.

Louisiana’s Wetlands: A Lesson in Nature Appreciation

Hurricane Katrina’s disastrous flooding of the Gulf Coast confirmed three decades of warnings by scientists. Most of New Orleans is below sea level, and South Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, which once helped buffer the city from giant storms, have been disappearing at a spectacularly swift pace. Now some researchers are calling for restoration of wetlands and barrier islands to help protect New Orleans the next time a hurricane strikes. An average of 34 square miles of South Louisiana land, mostly marsh, has disappeared each year for the past five decades, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). As much as 80% of the nation’s coastal wetland loss in this time occurred in Louisiana. From 1932 to 2000, the state lost 1,900 square miles of land to the Gulf of Mexico. By 2050, if nothing is done to stop this process, the state could lose another 700 square miles, and one-third of 1930s coastal Louisiana will have vanished. Importantly, New Orleans and surrounding areas will become ever more vulnerable to future storms. “New Orleans can’t be restored unless we also address coastal and wetland restoration too,” says Craig E. Colten, a geographer at Louisiana State University (LSU).

Population Equation: Balancing What We Need With What We Have

Planet Earth, now home to about 6.5 billion human beings, has thus far disproved the doomsayers. In 1798, Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus predicted that population would outrun food supply on the assumption that human numbers would increase at a geometric rate while food would be limited to arithmetic increases. Then, in 1968, Stanford University professor Paul R. Ehrlich issued a similar warning in his book The Population Bomb, in which he predicted that hundreds of millions of people would die of starvation in the 1970s and 1980s. Both men underestimated humanity’s resourcefulness—as well as its scientific and technological acumen—in figuring out how to provide for its growing numbers. Still, there’s little doubt that the Earth’s human carrying capacity has a limit. And growth can’t continue indefinitely without more of the significant environmental health impacts we are already seeing. In addition to documenting exactly how much growth is occurring, scientists are now interested in trends reflecting where such growth is occurring and the effect of factors such as consumption rates and migration on sustainability of the Earth’s resources.

Showing and Telling: Australian Land Rights and Material Moralities

This article draws upon landscape theory and studies of material culture to explore the process through which space is humanized, examining in particular how this process legitimizes moral rights to property. Drawing on ethnographic research in the Western Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, it considers some of the performative, representational and material activities through which Aboriginal groups assert their claims to the land. The analysis is placed within the wider historical and political context of the land rights and environmental movements in which ownership of the peninsula is entangled. The Aboriginal community in Kowanyama has primary claims to several thousand square miles of land within and surrounding their ‘Deed of Grant in Trust’ area, but these are opposed by many local pastoralists, the National Parks service and, to some degree, tourist and environmental groups in the region. The article examines how the construction of performative and artefactual representations of an indigenous cultural landscape enables Aboriginal groups to concretize and communicate their particular moral and political position and challenge European Australians’ colonial control over the land.

The natural history of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, 1819-1820

A little over 170 years ago-hardly a moment on the clock of history-one half of the United States was empty of all but Indians and the plants and game on which they subsisted. Indeed, acquiring the Louisiana Territory approximately doubled the size of the United States, adding 800,000 square miles of land that had scarcely been explored or adequately mapped. Americans would be given an in-depth look this rugged and untamed land only when Secretary of War John C. Calhoun and President James Monroe agreed that a military presence at the mouth of the Yellowstone River (near the boundary between North Dakota and Montana) would impress the Indians and serve notice to Canadian trappers and traders that some of their favorite beaver country was now part of the United States. In The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819- 1820), Howard E. Evans offers a colorful history of the expedition of Major Stephen H. Long-the first exploration of the Louisiana Territory to be accompanied by trained naturalists and artists. Made up of twenty-two men-military personnel and scientific gentlemen-the Long Expedition struggled on foot and horseback along the Front Range of the Rockies, living off the land, recording rivers and landforms, shooting birds, plucking plants, and catching lizards and insects to preserve for study. They were often thirsty and hungry, sometimes ill, and always tired. But theirs was an experience awarded to only a chosen few: the opportunity to see and record firsthand the pristine lands that so majestically defined the United States. Based primarily on the expedition members' reports and diaries, and often told in the participants' own words, this fascinating chronicle transports readers back to the near-virgin wilderness of 1820. We accompany naturalist Edwin James as he becomes the first man to climb Pike's Peak, and roam with him in his dual role as botanist, collecting a multitude of flora specimens, 140 of which were described by him and others as new. We sit with artist Samuel Seymour as he sketches in vivid detail the panorama of breathtaking peaks and prominent landforms, travel along with Titian Peale as he visits the homes of Native Americans and records with an artist's keen eye and gifted hand the intense beauty of this land's first inhabitants, and go exploring with zoologist Thomas Say as he describes never before seen mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and insects. Beautifully illustrated with crisp reproductions of Peale and Seymour's art, as well as photographs of the many plants and insects described by James and Say, The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-1820) offers a vivid account of this monumental expedition. The story of the Long Expedition has been told before, but without due recognition of the party's great contributions to natural history. Now, anyone interested in the early history of the American West can witness for themselves how this vast and varied land looked and felt when it was first seen by trained scientists and artists.