As a result of increased awareness about the nature and extent of park-people conflicts in Nepal in the 1980s—and the liberalization of protected area management worldwide—great strides have been made in-country that have liberalized protected area management and allowed for some local control of resources. A new category of protected area and a comprehensive buffer zone policy are hallmarks of the government's efforts at involving local people in protected area management during the 1990s. As with many other least-developed nations, however, Nepal has lacked resources for the formulation of comprehensive management plans for its protected areas. The Park People Programme, a multiyear project of the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Nepal, has recently instituted Goal-Oriented Project Planning as an inexpensive way to plan managerial activities needed to conserve resources within protected areas and buffer zones. The technique relies on the use of management planning workshops that include representatives of important interest groups, and follow-up workshops for implementation. Here we describe the approach and discuss its strengths and weaknesses. Strengths include the fact that the approach is efficient and cost-effective given limited financial and human resources in the conservation sector typical of most developing countries. Weaknesses include the very short duration of meetings and lack of budgetary information needed to implement plans over the entire planning period. The method shows potential for expansion in Nepal and adoption by other nations, but several improvements and follow-up activities are needed based on this assessment and on qualitative information gathered from workshop participants. These include longer workshops, more facilitators, and long-term assessments of the use of the method, as well as implementation of management plans generated by the method.

Since 1993 the City of Bellevue, Washington, has managed a Closed Loop Oil Recycling and Education Program. A central aim of the program is to recover used oil generated by do-it-yourself oil changers. While collection volumes for used oil are accurately estimated, the amount of oil generated by do-it-yourselfers—and therefore available for collection—is less well known. The challenge is compounded by the unavailability of sales figures for new oil, and because considerable volumes of oil drip from, or are burned in, car engines. Additionally, estimates of do-it-yourself activity are imperfect, especially with regard to the average number of oil changes per year, and the variable oil capacity of engine crankcases. Finally, some oil volume is disposed along with used oil filters and is not recovered through do-it-yourself channels. This model and report attempt to generate a state-of-the-art methodology for determining available volumes of used do-it-yourself oil in a given jurisdiction. In this case, the City of Bellevue found that 23,642 gallons are being collected annually of an estimated 58,132 available, for a 40.7% collection rate. This rate is considerably higher than most other estimates around the country.

In spring 1995, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) announced plans to “delist” over 24,000 sites from its inventory of potential Superfund sites known as CERCLIS (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Information System). The Clinton Administration hoped that by taking sites that had a very low probability of harboring severe contamination off the federal inventory, they could lift the cloud of environmental uncertainty; and with a gentle federal boost, laissez-faire development would improve conditions in the neediest neighborhoods. Through a review of the delisted sites available via Land View III, local records on brownfield properties, interviews with brownfields coordinators, and Texas Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP) inventories, we tabulated the number of delisted sites that were included in the two redevelopment efforts in Texas—the federal brownfields program and state VCP. The most obvious element of this tabulation is the small correspondence between delisted sites and brownfield or VCP efforts. While there is legitimate reason to claim success for the brownfield and voluntary cleanup programs for stimulating redevelopment, they have had little impact on the delisted sites. A national assessment of the process might point to states where there is greater congruence and identify the steps necessary to create greater overlap nationwide.

The public is becoming aware of the role that the indoor environment plays on their overall health. Nationwide health objectives recommend that the local public health infrastructure provide resources and services to help the general public identify and address poor indoor environmental quality. The authors surveyed certified and non-certified municipal, local, and state regional health departments in Illinois to identify free publicly available resources to help the general public address indoor environmental quality in their homes, schools, and non-industrial workplaces. Most local health departments surveyed indicated that they are not capable of adequately addressing indoor environmental issues in their community. Available services in Illinois appear to be limited primarily to literature distribution and phone consultation in most of the health departments statewide. A general survey of state health departments indicated that Illinois is representative of a nationwide inability to adequately address indoor environmental quality issues through local health department services.

Buildings that need to be removed are normally demolished and deposed ofin landfills. Current trends focus on material recovery and reuse as a means to conserve our natural resources and promote environmentally acceptable disposal methods. This research was conducted to evaluate the grading and mechanical properties of lumber salvaged from deconstruction of several residential buildings in Gainesville, Florida. Results of visual grading showed that more than half of the pieces (57%) had damages due to use, construction, and deconstruction that resulted in reduction of their grades. Trimming the ends of damaged pieces resulted in grade increase, but of course reduced the length of the salvaged lumber pieces. Compared to virgin lumber with the same grade and tested under the same conditions, the salvaged lumber was on average denser and had a higher bending stress and modulus of elasticity. Although the findings of this study are limited because the sample sizes were rather small, the salvaged lumber was of such strength as to merit its structural use in building construction. More research data is needed to determine if the properties of recycled lumber differ significantly from the properties of virgin lumber.