Cost-effective placement of best management practices in a watershed: Lessons learned from conservation effects assessment project

Journal of the American Water Resources Association

Volumn 51, Issue 2, 2015, Pages 359-372

  Kurkalova, Lyubov A ^a  

^a NORTH CAROLINA A AND T STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

BMPs; Cost effective BMP placement; Costs of BMPs; Evolutionary algorithms; Optimization; Water quality economics; Watershed management

Indexed keywords

AGRICULTURAL ROBOTS; AGRICULTURE; COST EFFECTIVENESS; COST ESTIMATING; EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHMS; OPTIMIZATION; SOIL CONSERVATION; UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS; WATER CONSERVATION; WATER MANAGEMENT; WATER QUALITY; WATERSHEDS;

BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE (BMPS); BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES; BMPS; CONSERVATION EFFECTS; COST EFFECTIVE; QUALITY ECONOMICS; WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS; WATERSHED MANAGEMENT;

COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS;

ALGORITHM; BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE; COST ANALYSIS; IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS; OPTIMIZATION; PROJECT ASSESSMENT; RESEARCH INSTITUTION; WATER ECONOMICS; WATER QUALITY; WATERSHED;

EID: 84926522383     PISSN: 1093474X     EISSN: 17521688     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.12295     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. Armstrong, A., R.C. Stedman, J.A. Bishop, and P.J. Sullivan, 2012. What's a Stream Without Water? Disproportionality in Headwater Regions Impacting Water Quality. Environmental Management 50(5):849-860.
2. Arnold, J.G. and N. Fohrer, 2005. Current Capabilities and Research Opportunities in Applied Watershed Modeling. Hydrological Processes 19:563-572.
3. Arnold, J.G., R. Srinivasan, R.S. Muttiah, and J.R. Williams, 1998. Large Area Hydrologic Modeling and Assessment Part I: Model Development. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 34(1):73-89.
4. Babcock, B.A., P.G. Lakshminarayan, J. Wu, and D. Zilbernman, 1996. The Economics of a Public Fund for Environmental Amenities: A Study of CRP Contracts. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 78:961-971.
5. Baker, N., 2011. Tillage Practices in the Conterminous United States, 1989-2004 - Datasets Aggregated by Watershed. U.S. Department of the Interior. U.S. Geological Survey, Data Series. 573.
6. Bosch, D.J. and J.W. Pease, 2000. Economic Risk and Water Quality Protection in Agriculture. Review of Agricultural Economics 22(2):438-463.
7. Brooks, R.P., S.E. Yetter, R.F. Carline, J.S. Shortle, J.A. Bishop, H. Ingram, D. Weller, K. Boomer, R. Stedman, A. Armstrong, K. Mielcarek, G. Constanz, S. Goslee, T. Veith, and D. Piechnik, 2011. Analysis of BMP Implementation and Performance and Maintenance in Spring Creek, An Agriculturally-Influenced Watershed in Pennsylvania. Final report to U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Food and Agriculture, Conservation Effects' Assessment Project (CEAP), Washington, D.C., 66
8. Cattaneo, A., R. Claassen, R. Johansson, and M. Weinberg, 2005. Flexible Conservation Measures on Working Land: What Challenges Lie Ahead? U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service Report Number 6, June.
9. Claassen, R., 2009. Cost-Effective Conservation Programs: The Role of Economics. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 64(2):53A-54A.
10. Claassen, R., A. Cattaneo, and R. Johansson, 2008. Cost-Effective Design of Agri-Environmental Payment Programs: U.S. Experience in Theory and Practice. Ecological Economics 65:737-752.
11. Duriancik, L.F., D. Bucks, J.P. Dobrowolski, T. Drewes, S.D. Eckles, L. Jolley, R.L. Kellog, D. Lund, J.R. Makuch, M.P. O'Neill, C.A. Rewa, M.R. Walbridge, R. Parry, and M.A. Weltz, 2008. The First Five Years of the Conservation Effects Assessment Project. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 63(6):185A-197A.
12. Flanagan, D.C., J.E. Gilley, and T.G. Franti, 2007. Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP): Development History, Model Capabilities, and Future Enhancements. Transactions of the ASABE 50(5):1603-1612.
13. Flanagan, D.C. and Nearing, M.A. (Editors), 1995. USDA-Water Erosion Prediction Project Hillslope Profile and Watershed Model Documentation. NSERL Report No. 10, USDA-ARS National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory, West Lafayette, Indiana.
14. Gelso, B.R., J.A. Fox, and J.M. Peterson, 2008. Farmers' Perceived Costs of Wetlands: Effects of Wetland Size, Hydration, and Dispersion. American Journal Agricultural Economics 90(1):172-185.
15. Gitau, M.W., T.L. Veith, and W.J. Gburek, 2004. Farm-Level Optimization of BMP Placement for Cost-Effective Pollution Reduction. Transactions of the ASAE 47(6):1923-1931.
16. Helmers, M.J., T.M. Isenhart, C.L. Kling, T.B. Moorman, W.W. Simpkins, and M. Tomer, 2007. Theme Overview: Agriculture and Water Quality in the Cornbelt: Overview of Issues and Approaches. Choices 22(2):79-85.
17. Hoag, D., A.E. Luloff, and D.L. Osmond, 2012. Lessons Learned from the NIFA-CEAP: How Farmers and Ranchers Make Their Decisions on Conservation Practices. NC State University, Raleigh, NC.
18. Horan, R.D. and R. Claassen, 2007. Targeting Green Payments Under a Budget Constraint. Land Economics 83(3):319-330.
19. Horan, R.D. and J.S. Shortle, 2011. Economic and Ecological Rules for Water Quality Trading. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 47(1):59-69.
20. Intarapapong, W., C. Baffaut, R. Broz, W. Kurtz, L. McCann, and S. Anderson, 2008. Goodwater Creek Watershed: Economic Analysis of a Representative Farm. Departmental Report, 17 pp. Department of Soil, Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.
21. Jackson-Smith, D. and J. McEvoy, 2011. Assessing the Long-Term Impacts of Water Quality Outreach and Education Efforts on Landowners in the Little Bear River Watershed in Northern Utah. Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension 17(4):341-353.
22. Jackson-Smith, D.B., M. Halling, E. de la Hoz, J.P. McEvoy, and J.S. Horsburgh, 2010. Measuring Conservation Program Best Management Practice Implementation Maintenance at the Watershed Scale. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 65(6):413-423.
23. Jang, T., G. Vellidis, J.B. Hyman, E. Brooks, L.A. Kurkalova, J. Boll, and J. Cho, 2013. Model for Prioritization Best Management Practice Implementation: Sediment Load Reduction. Environmental Management 2013(51):209-224.
24. Jha, M., P.W. Gassman, and S. Secchi, 2006. Upper Mississippi River Basin Modeling System Part 2: Baseline Simulation Results. In: Coastal Environment and Water Quality, V.P. Singh and Y.J. Xu (Editors). Water Resources Publications, Highland Ranch, Colorado117-126.
25. Kennedy, A.M. and P.N. Wilson, 2009. Reduced Tillage Systems as Economical Dust Mitigation Strategies. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 64(1):61-69.
26. Kling, C.L., 2011. Economic Incentives to Improve Water Quality in Agricultural Landscapes: Some New Variations on Old Ideas. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 93(2):297-309.
27. Lambert, D., G.D. Schaible, R. Johansson, and U. Vasavada, 2007. The Value of Integrated CEAP-ARMS Survey Data in Conservation Program Analysis. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 62(1):1-10.
28. Langemeier, M.R., N. Nelson, P. Parajuli, and S. Perkins, 2010. An Examination of the Tradeoff Between Net Return, Risk, and Water Quality for Crop Rotation in South Central Kansas. Paper presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Meeting, Orlando, Florida, February.
29. Lichtenberg, E., J. Shortle, J. Wilen, and D. Zilberman, 2010. Natural Resource Economics and Conservation: Contributions of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Economists. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 92(2):469-486.
30. Lubowski, R.N., A.J. Plantinga, and R.N. Stavins, 2006. Land-Use Change and Carbonsinks: Econometric Estimation of the Carbon Sequestration Supply Function. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 51:135-152.
31. Newburn, D.A. and R.T. Woodward, 2012. An Ex Post Evaluation of Ohio's Great Miami Water Quality Trading Program. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 48(1):156-169.
32. NRCS, 2004. CEAP projects fact sheet, web page address available one step from http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/technical/nra/ceap/ws/, accessed August 2013.
33. Ogg, C.W. and G.A. Keith, 2002. New Federal Support for Priority Watershed Management Needs. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 38(2):577-586.
34. Oliver, A.C., 2008. A Watershed-Scale Cost-Effectiveness Model of Agricultural Best Management Practices for Improving Water Quality. M.S. Thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
35. Osmond, D.L., D.W. Meals, D.L.K. Hoag, and M. Arabi, 2012a. How to Build Better Agricultural Conservation Programs to Protect Water Quality: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture - Conservation Effects Assessment Project Experience. Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, Iowa.
36. Osmond, D.L., D.W. Meals, D.L.K. Hoag, M. Arabi, A. Luloff, G. Jennings, M. McFarland, J. Spooner, A. Sharpley, and D. Line, 2012b. Improving Conservation Practices Programming to Protect Water Quality in Agricultural Watersheds: Lessons Learned from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture - Conservation Effects Assessment Project. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 67(5):122A-127A.
37. Pannell, D.J., G.R. Marshall, N. Barr, A. Curtis, F. Vanclay, and R. Wilkinson, 2006. Understanding and Promoting Adoption of Conservation Practices by Rural Landholders. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 46:1407-1424.
38. Parks, P., 1995. Explaining 'Irrational' Land USE: Risk Aversion and Marginal Agricultural Land. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 28(1):34-47.
39. Prokopy, L., K. Floress, D. Klotthor-Weinkauf, and A. Baumgart-Getz, 2008. Determinants of Agricultural BMP Adoption: Evidence from the Literature. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 63(5):300-311.
40. Rabotyagov, S.S., M. Jha, and T.D. Campbell, 2010a. Nonpoint Source Pollution Reduction for an Iowa Watershed: An Application of Evolutionary Algorithms. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 58:411-431.
41. Rabotyagov, S.S., M. Jha, and T.D. Campbell, 2010b. Impact of Crop Rotations on Optimal Selection of Conservation Practices for Water Quality Protection. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 65(6):369-380.
42. Rao, N.S., Z.M. Easton, D.R. Lee, and T.S. Steenhuis, 2012. Economic Analysis of Best Management Practices to Reduce Watershed Phosphorus Losses. Journal of Environmental Quality 41:855-864.
43. Reimer, A.P., A.W. Thompson, and L.S. Prokopy, 2012a. The Multi-Dimensional Nature of Environmental Attitudes Among Farmers in Indiana: Implications for Conservation Adoption. Agriculture and Human Values 29:29-40.
44. Reimer, A.P., D.K. Weinfauf, and L.S. Prokopy, 2012b. The Influence of Perceptions of Practice Characteristics: An Examination of Agricultural Best Management Practice Adoption in Two Indiana Watersheds. Journal of Rural Studies 28:118-128.
45. Rittenburg, R.A., A.L. Squires, J. Boll, E.S. Brooks, Z.M. Easton, and T.S. Steenhuis, 2015. Agricultural BMP Effectiveness and Dominant Hydrological Flow Paths: Concepts and a Review. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 51(2):305-329.
46. Rodriguez, H.G., J. Popp, E. Gbur, and I. Chaubey, 2011a. Environmental and Economic Impacts of Reducing Total Phosphorus Runoff in an Agricultural Watershed. Agricultural Systems 104:623-633.
47. Rodriguez, H.G., J. Popp, C. Maringanti, and I. Chaubey, 2011b. Selection and Placement of Best Management Practices Used to Reduce Water Quality Degradation in Lincoln Lake Watershed. Water Resources Research 47:W01507, doi:10.1029/2009WR008549.
48. Schatzki, T., 2003. Options, Uncertainty, and Sunk Costs: An Empirical Analysis of Land Use Change. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 46(1):86-105.
49. Schneiderman, E.M., T.S. Steenhuis, D.J. Thongs, Z.M. Easton, M.S. Zion, G.F. Mendoza, M.T. Walter, and A.C. Neal, 2007. Incorporating Variable Source Area Hydrology into Curve Number Based Watershed Loading Functions. Hydrological Processes 21:3420-3430.
50. Secchi, S., 2013. Integrated Modeling for Conservation Policy Support. Choices 28(3):1-6.
51. Shortle, J., M. Ribaudo, R. Horan, and D. Blandford, 2012. Reforming Agricultural Nonpoint Pollution Policy in an Increasingly Budget-Constrained Environment. Environmental Science & Technology 46(3):1316-1325.
52. Shortle, J.S., and R.D. Horan, 2001. The Economics of Nonpoint Pollution Control. Journal of Economic Surveys 15(3):255-289.
53. Soule, M.J., A. Tegene, and K.D. Wiebe, 2000. Land Tenure and the Adoption of Conservation Practices. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 82(4):993-1005.
54. Srivastava, P., J.M. Hamlett, P.D. Robillard, and R.L. Day, 2002. Watershed Optimization of Best Management Practices Using AnnAGNPS and a Genetic Algorithm. Water Resources Research 38(3):1-14.
55. Tomer, M.D. and M.A. Locke, 2011. The Challenge of Documenting Water Quality Benefits of Conservation Practices: A Review of USDA-ARS's Conservation Effects Assessment Project Watershed Studies. Water Science and Technology 64(1):300-310.
56. Tosakana, N., L. Van Tassell, J.D. Wulfhorst, J. Boll, R. Mahler, and E. Brooks, 2007. Determinants of the Adoption of Best Management Practices by Inland Northwest Farmers. Selected paper at the 2007 Western Agricultural Economics Association Meetings, Portland, Oregon, July. Abstract: Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 32(3), 559.
57. Tosakana, N.S.P., L.W. Van Tassell, J.D. Wulfhorst, J. Boll, R. Mahler, E.S. Brooks, and S. Kane, 2010. Determinants of the Adoption of Conservation Practices by Farmers in the Northwest Wheat and Range Region. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 65(6):404-412.
58. USDA/NRCS (United States Department of Agriculture, National Resources Conservation Service), 2012. Assessment of the Effects of Conservation Practices on Cultivated Cropland in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Resources Conservation Service, Washington, D.C. Revised, Conservation Effects Assessment Project.
59. Veith, T.L., M.L. Wolfe, and C.D. Heatwole, 2003. Optimization Procedure for Cost-Effective BMP Placement. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 39(6):1331-1343.
60. Whittaker, G., Jr., R. Confesor, S.M. Griffith, R. Fare, S. Grosskopf, J.J. Steiner, G.W. Mueller-Warrant, and G.M. Banowetz, 2009. A Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for Multi Objective Problems with Activity Analysis-Based Local Search. European Journal of Operational Research 193:195-203.
61. Yang, W., M. Khanna, and R. Farnsworth, 2005. Effectiveness of Conservation Programs in Illinois and Gains from Targeting. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 87(5):1248-1255.