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2003 Progress Report: UMBC Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education
EPA Grant Number: R828182Center: Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE)
Center Director: Welty, Claire
Title: UMBC Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education
Investigators: Welty, Claire
Current Investigators: Miller, Andrew
Institution: University of Maryland - Baltimore County
EPA Project Officer: Jones, Brandon
Project Period: June 1, 2001 through December 31, 2004
Project Period Covered by this Report: June 1, 2002 through December 31, 2003
Project Amount: $1,944,996
RFA: Targeted Research Center (1999)
Research Category: Targeted Research , Environmental Statistics
Description:
Objective:The objective of this research project is to advance understanding of the environmental, social, and economic consequences of changes to the urban and suburban landscape. During its first 2 years of operation, the Center has concentrated on research and education programs in the Baltimore metropolitan region, the Baltimore-Washington corridor, the State of Maryland, and other urban areas in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. This strategic focus permits development of a core database that directly relates to key constituencies of the Center—particularly the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES; a National Science Foundation [NSF]-funded long-term ecological research project focused on Baltimore), regional foundations, and state and local government agencies. It also provides a data-rich environment for the University of Maryland–Baltimore County (UMBC) scholars interested in urban environmental research. Not only are there serious environmental policy issues in Metropolitan Baltimore that can be fruitfully addressed by research, but UMBC, as a state institution, has special responsibilities to be attentive to these issues. Center research produces data and techniques that can be used in developing educational components for use in K-12 programs in cooperation with area school systems, BES, and the Parks and People Foundation. Finally, its research findings can be used directly by policymakers at all levels.
Each of these functions increases the visibility of the Center and provides a platform for expansion of the substantive and geographic scope of its work. The work program has been designed to build incrementally a strong base of data and information through associated research projects, develop a research infrastructure that can attract participation from a growing number of faculty and student researchers, and inform an integrated program of education for graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 students. This report describes the activities of the Center from October 2002 to October 2003.
Progress Summary:Staffing
Claire Welty became Director of the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) effective October 1, 2003, and also will become Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Royce Hanson has served as Interim Director of CUERE but will remain a Fellow of the Center, advising on research on urban sprawl and development patterns. Amy Rynes, the Center’s Program Assistant, is responsible for budgeting, grant reporting, and day-to-day administration of the Center. Michael McGuire, Geospatial Data Systems Manager, directs the GIS laboratory and participates in all research projects involving mapping and GIS analysis and also provides some GIS services to BES researchers. Jonathan Russell-Anelli, Research Associate, joined CUERE in April 2001, and will remain a Fellow of the Center. During this past year, Dr. Russell-Anelli lead the Center’s cooperative research with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and coordinated the preparation of proposals. Stephen Coleman, Research Analyst and Education Programs Coordinator, participated in the State of the Baltimore Region research and is directing the research project on Children’s Environmental Health Infrastructure in Maryland. Ian Yesilonis, Research Associate, joined the CUERE staff in 2001 to work with Dr. Russell-Anelli on soils research associated with the USFS cooperative agreement. Bernadette Hanlon joined the CUERE staff as a Research Associate in 2002, where she has served as co-Principal Investigator of the Baltimore Green and Blue Infrastructure Study, the Children’s Environmental Health projects, and assisted in production of the State of the Baltimore Region: A Baseline Report for a New Century. Fei Zhang joined the CUERE staff in 2002, and has been assisting Mike McGuire in GIS applications and servings as manager of the Center’s Web site.
Educational Activity
Community Report Card: An Educational Unit . The Community Report Card is an educational unit designed for middle and high school students by CUERE Education Coordinator Stephen Coleman as an outgrowth of the Center’s research on the State of the Region. Participating students gather and analyze data for a set of social, economic, and environmental indicators describing their local community. Through UMBC’s Urban Teachers Initiative, CUERE provides training and curriculum materials for teachers to educate them on issues affecting local communities and assists them in developing age-appropriate educational units for their students.
Urban Teacher Education . Stephen Coleman conducted 6 training sessions for 100 teachers from Baltimore area schools. The training sessions took place in October and November of 2002, January and April of 2003, and September and October of 2003. They were conducted in conjunction with the Urban Teacher Education model of UMBC, which is a teacher training program for individuals working in high-need urban schools. Plans are underway for development of support materials including Web addresses for national and local sources of data and for existing indicator reports, teacher technical support, and assistance in providing a forum for the display and dissemination of final projects.
Urban Environmental Seminar Series . This weekly seminar series will encourage targeted research projects, produce collaborative activities, and enhance environmental practices. The seminars will help integrate discussion of the urban environment and provide useful context and information for all stakeholders. A diverse set of practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders will attend to share their ideas, skills, and experience as both presenters and attendees.
Short Course on Soil Ecology . CUERE Research Scientist Jonathan Russell-Anelli served as one of the instructors in the short course on soils ecology for elementary and secondary school teachers sponsored by the BES and the USFS.
Environmental Career Day . On May 8,2003,CUERE cosponsored Environmental Career Day at UMBC with the Parks and People Foundation’s Kids Grow Program. Fifty elementary and secondary students from inner-city Baltimore schools participated in a program designed to expand students’ horizons through exposure to higher education, generate awareness of and excitement for study and work in the area of urban environmental science, provide practicing scientists as mentors for students, and increase minority representation in the environmental sciences. The program is a pilot project for developing an ongoing relationship between CUERE/UMBC, the Parks and People Foundation, and Baltimore City elementary students and includes environmental science internships for middle and high school students.
The Definition and Measurement of Urban Sprawl
Urban sprawl is widely condemned but poorly understood. There is disagreement among scholars and practitioners over what it is, what causes it, and its consequences. Center Fellow Royce Hanson and staff members Michael McGuire and Fei Zhang have been engaged in a national study in association with researchers at Wayne State University, George Washington University, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the Urban Dynamics Program of the U.S. Geological Survey to conceptually define and empirically measure urban sprawl and to examine its effect on various indices of metropolitan well-being.
The initial paper from the research, “Wrestling Sprawl to the Ground: Defining and Measuring an Elusive Concept,” published in December 2001 in Housing Policy Debate, identified eight dimensions of urban sprawl: density, continuity, concentration, centrality, clustering, nuclearity, mixed-use, and proximity, and argued that sprawl consisted of low values of combinations of these dimensions.
The second phase of the research, which has just been completed, involved a sensitivity test comparing use of data from, respectively, the National Land Cover Database and the U.S. Census Bureau in measuring the respective dimension of sprawl and especially in dealing with related problems of research on sprawl. A paper reporting these findings was submitted to Professional Geographer and it currently is in review.
Children’s Environmental Health Infrastructure Study
Under contract with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, CUERE Research Associates Stephen Coleman and Bernadette Hanlon are leading a study of the children’s environmental health infrastructure in Maryland and in-depth case studies of selected contaminants/conditions. The study is designed to identify and describe the primary state and nongovernmental organizations that address particular contaminants and associated health conditions.
Flood Response in Urban Drainage Basins
CUERE Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of Geography Andrew Miller is collaborating with James A. Smith of Princeton University in research on the response to warm season flood events in 24 small drainage basins in the Gwynns Falls Watershed, which includes urban and urbanizing sectors of Baltimore City and Baltimore County. The project, the Hydrology, Hydraulics, and Hydrodynamics of Flood Response in Urbanizing Drainage Basins, is funded by NSF and also is a component of the BES. The project makes innovative use of LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) technology to examine the effect of urban flood events in basins with varying levels and types of urbanization and land cover. The study is expected to improve understanding and measurement of how floods change stream morphology and also better inform watershed and stormwater management policies and practices.
Research on Urban Soils, Hydrology, Vegetation, and Infrastructure
Urban Forest Effects Model . Under a cooperative agreement with the USFS, CUERE has pursued a research agenda designed to characterize the vegetation, soils, and infrastructure in the Baltimore metropolitan area, monitor changes in site characteristics and use the characteristics to develop environmental models, and measure carbon and nitrogen pools and cycling. In the first year of the program, work was completed by David Nowak (USFS), Rich Pouyat (USFS), and Jonathan Russell-Anelli.
Urban Forest Influences on Soil and Stream Temperature Regimes . A second project, now largely complete, was conducted by Gordon Heisler, Kenneth Belt, Richard Pouyat, Wayne Zipper , and Jonathan Russell-Anelli. Its goals are to: (1) measure soil temperatures on a continuous basis at several depths in the active rooting zone of a range of urban soil types, with varying amounts of onsite and neighborhood tree cover and with varying relationships to nearby buildings and varying amounts of neighborhood buildings; (2) measure stream temperatures continuously at locations where stream water and urban runoff originate from watersheds with differing amounts of tree cover, impervious and built surfaces, and in reaches with differing shade from tree cover; and (3) r elate measured stream temperatures to those levels required for benthic macroinvertebrates and fish of the Gwynns Falls and surrounding region.
Best Practices in Environmental Management
In cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 3 Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA), CUERE initiated a graduate-level seminar in 2002 on Best Practices in Environmental Management. Students who enroll in the seminar, which is offered each spring, prepare case studies of exemplary environmental management projects selected from a list developed by MAIA. The cases are presented to a jury of specialists assembled by MAIA, and the best ones subsequently are edited and published for use by EPA and CUERE in training and technology transfer. Each case documents success stories so that other managers and organizations can use these approaches and research. Three studies were published from the 2002 seminar, and three additional studies have been prepared in 2003. Two of the 2002 student authors presented posters at the 2003 Regional Environmental Vulnerability Assessment-MAIA Conference in May. Three additional papers currently are in preparation and will be published in the coming year. The success of the seminar has led to its emulation at the University of Pennsylvania. The published studies are: (1) Montgomery County, Maryland, Uses Biological Monitoring To Better Understand and Manage Watersheds; (2) Watershed Partnership Protects World-Class Trout Stream; and (3) June Bugs Invade Links: Army Wins Battle, Loses War, Retreats, Finally Wins With New Tactics.
Future Activities:Determination of Sediment Erosion and Deposition Rates for Valley Creek in Valley Forge National Historical Park
The objective of this project, funded by the National Park Service, is to measure sediment erosion and deposition volumes and rates in the 2.1-mile portion of Valley Creek that runs through Valley Forge National Historical Park in Chester County, Pennsylvania. This project will provide baseline data for the National Park Service to utilize in assessing future perturbations to the stream affecting erosion and sedimentation rates. On the order of five reaches within the 2.1-mile stretch of Valley Creek over a period of 2 years, the project will use a system of surveying and sediment sampling at multiple transects within each reach. The work will be carried out by two Master’s students in the Migrant Education Even Start program under the supervision of Claire Welty and Andrew Miller.
A Pilot Study of the Reuse Potential of Southwestern Baltimore’s Underutilized Industrial Sites
Amy Rynes, in cooperation with Steven Sharkey, Thomas Vicino, and Bernadette Hanlon, will be conducting a pilot study of the dozens of underused, vacant, and abandoned industrial sites in southwest Baltimore under contract with the Baltimore Development Corporation. The objective of the study is to identify and characterize the sites for possible reuse or remediation.
Inventory and Analysis of Environmental Science Providers to Coastal Decisionmakers
Under a contract with the Maryland Research Division of the Department of Natural Resources, CUERE, in partnership with the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research, will conduct an inventory and analysis of environmental science providers to coastal decisionmakers. Amy Rynes will lead a team who will employ a combination of telephone and face-to-face interviews with known providers and decisionmakers to gather information about: (1) current programs, providers, and decisionmakers; (2) gaps and overlaps in the provision of environmental science to decisionmakers; (3) issues not targeted or not adequately covered; and (4) additional methods of providing scientific information to decisionmakers.
The information from the survey and interviews will be analyzed to provide a series of recommendations. The recommendations will provide a blueprint for the partners of the Maryland Reserve in developing an implementation and marketing plan. The recommendations will pinpoint gaps in programs, identify current and future priority issues, highlight the strengths and limitations of Reserve partners in the delivery of programs, and identify potential program partners, appropriate audiences, effective information, delivery methods, and issues not targeted or adequately covered.
Journal Articles: 6 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other center views: | All 69 publications | 14 publications in selected types | All 6 journal articles |
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Chen Z, Gangopadhyay A, Karabatis G, McGuire M, Welty C. Semantic integration and knowledge discovery for environmental research. Journal of Database Management 2007;18(1):43-68. |
R828182 (Final) |
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Emerson CH, Welty C, Traver RG. Watershed-scale evaluation of a system of storm water detention basins. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 2005;10(3):237-242. |
R828182 (Final) |
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Groffman PM, Bain DJ, Band LE, Belt KT, Brush GS, Grove JM, Pouyat RV, Yesilonis IC, Zipperer WC. Down by the riverside: urban riparian ecology. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2003;1(6):315-321. |
R828182 (Final) |
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Pouyat R, Groffman P, Yesilonis I, Hernandez L. Soil carbon pools and fluxes in urban ecosystems. Environmental Pollution 2002;116(S1):S107-S118. |
R828182 (Final) |
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Russell-Anelli J. Survey, sampling and interpretation of soils in urban ecosystems. Journal of Urban Ecosystems (submitted, 2001). |
R828182 (2002) |
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Szlavecz K, Placella SA, Pouyat RV, Groffman PM, Csuzdi C, Yesilonis I. Invasive earthworm species and nitrogen cycling in remnant forest patches. Applied Soil Ecology 2006;32(1):54-62. |
R828182 (Final) |
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urban, environmental, education, Center
for Environmental Research and Education, CUERE, Baltimore County, environmental
indicators, urban sprawl, drainage basins, stream morphology, reuse, remediation,
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Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Scientific Discipline, RFA, Monitoring/Modeling, Environmental Monitoring, Urban and Regional Planning, urban environment, computational model, data gathering, children's health, Brownfields redevelopment, GIS, community outreach
Relevant Websites:
Progress and Final Reports:
2002 Progress Report
Original Abstract
Final Report