Jonathan G. Taylor — Page 2

USGS1989

Risk perceptions and behavioral context: U.S. Forest Service fire management professionals

Fire managers from the U.S. Forest Service were surveyed to determine which decision factors most strongly influenced their fire‐risk decisions. Safety, the resources at risk, public opinion, and the reliability of information were important influences on these decisions. This research allowed direct comparison between fire managers’ perceptions of factor importance and how their fire‐risk decisions changed in response to those factors. These risk decisions were highly responsive to changes in context (an escaped wildfire decision versus a prescribed burning decision) as well as to changing factors. The results demonstrate the utility of using scenarios in risk research and the vital importance of context in studying risk‐taking behavior. Research which attempts to remove risk decisions from their real‐world context may well distort the nature of risk‐taking behavior.

Society & Natural Resources: An International Jour↗

USGS1988

Western state instream flow programs: a comparative assessment

During their early history, Western States water rights laws were primarily means for facilitating and regulating water diversions for offstream, consumptive use. More recently, a countervailing concern for instream values such as fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, aesthetic values, and water quality has emerged in the legislative and administrative handling of water rights. As of 1988, the Western United States show a variety of approaches to balancing instream and diversion water rights, from zero control through administrative actions to legislatively established rights for guaranteed instream flows. The nine Western States that have adopted statutory instream flow protection programs include Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Arizona, California, and Nevada have relied, to date, on administrative and judicial decisions, while New Mexico has established no mechanism for protecting instream water uses. In the States with statutory protection, instream water uses are granted the same legal status as any other water uses under the prior appropriation doctrine. The success of instream flow protection has been remarkable, given the controversial nature of the issue, with nearly 2,000 stream reaches protected.

Report↗