Land Dynamics: Case Studies of Environmental Sustainability

3 units

This course is designed for first- and second-year students and will use lectures, discussions, GIS-related and computational exercises, and field trips to introduce students to a systems approach for identifying, characterizing, and solving issues associated with environmental degradation. The course will focus on three case studies. The first will cover rapid lake drawdown of Mono Lake in northern California due to engineered diversions and subsequent court-ordered recovery to an environmentally sustainable lake level. The second will focus on unresolved consequences associated with channelization and levee development on the lower Missouri River, which put federal agencies in conflict with one another on how to manage the river and its floodplains. The third will cover past and present Pb-Cu-Zn sulfide mining practices in Missouri and attempts to balance the need for these nonrenewable resources while minimizing environmental consequences.