This open access book synthesizes leading-edge science and management information about forest and rangeland soils of the United States. It offers ways to better understand changing conditions and their impacts on soils, and explores directions that positively affect the future of forest and rangeland soil health. This book outlines soil processes and identifies the research needed to manage forest and rangeland soils in the United States. Chapters give an overview of the state of forest and rangeland soils research in the Nation, including multi-decadal programs (chapter 1), then summarizes various human-caused and natural impacts and their effects on soil carbon, hydrology, biogeochemistry, and biological diversity (chapters 2–5). Other chapters look at the effects of changing conditions on forest soils in wetland and urban settings (chapters 6–7). Impacts include: climate change, severe wildfires, invasive species, pests and diseases, pollution, and land use change. Chapter 8 considers approaches to maintaining or regaining forest and rangeland soil health in the face of these varied impacts. Mapping, monitoring, and data sharing are discussed in chapter 9 as ways to leverage scientific and human resources to address soil health at scales from the landscape to the individual parcel (monitoring networks, data sharing Web sites, and educational soils-centered programs are tabulated in appendix B). Chapter 10 highlights opportunities for deepening our understanding of soils and for sustaining long-term ecosystem health and appendix C summarizes research needs. Nine regional summaries (appendix A) offer a more detailed look at forest and rangeland soils in the United States and its Affiliates.

This book offers a prescription for reform that includes freedom of choice among public and private schools.

Urban Ills: Twenty First Century Complexities of Urban Living in Global Contexts is a collection of original research focused on critical challenges and dilemmas to living in cities. Volume 2 is devoted to the myriad issues involving urban health and the dynamics of urban communities and their neighborhoods. The editors define the ecology of urban living as the relationship and adjustment of humans to a highly dense, diverse, and complex environment. This approach examines the nexus between the distribution of human groups with reference to material resources and the consequential social, political, economic, and cultural patterns which evolve as a result of the sufficiency or insufficiency of those material resources. They emphasize the most vulnerable populations suffering during and after the recession in the United States and around the world, and the chapters examine traditional issues of housing and employment with respect to these communities.

The CQ Press Guide to Urban Politics and Policy in the United States will bring the CQ Press reference guide approach to topics in urban politics and policy in the United States. If the old adage that “all politics is local” is even partially true, then cities are important centers for political activity and for the delivery of public goods and services. U.S. cities are diverse in terms of their political and economic development, demographic makeup, governance structures, and public policies. Yet there are some durable patterns across American cities, too. Despite differences in governance and/or geographic size, most cities face similar challenges in the management of public finances, the administration of public safety, and education. And all U.S. cities have a similar legal status within the federal system. This reference guide will help students understand how American cities (from old to new) have developed over time (Part I), how the various city governance structures allocate power across city officials and agencies (Part II), how civic and social forces interact with the organs of city government and organize to win control over these organs and/or their policy outputs (Part III), and what patterns of public goods and services cities produce for their residents (Part IV). The thematic and narrative structure allows students to dip into a topic in urban politics for deeper historical and comparative context than would be possible in either an A-to-Z encyclopedia entry or in an urban studies course text. FEATURES: Approximately 40 chapters organized in major thematic parts in one volume available in both print and electronic formats. Front matter includes an Introduction by the Editors along with biographical backgrounds about the Editors and the Contributing Authors. Back matter includes a compilation of relevant topical data or tabular presentation of major historical developments (population grown; size of city budgets; etc.) or historical figures (e.g., mayors), a bibliographic essay, and a detailed index. Sidebars are provided throughout, and chapters conclude with References & Further Readings and Cross References to related chapters (as links in the e-version). This Guide is a valuable reference on the topics in urban politics and policy in the United States. The thematic and narrative structure allows researchers to dip into a topic in urban politics for a deeper historical and comparative context than would be possible in either an A-to-Z encyclopedia entry or in an urban studies course text.