Study Guide for CSS 385 Mid-term Exam 2010

8:00-10:00 am, Monday October 11 or Wednesday October 13

These represent the range of topics—they are NOT questions—but rather they identify broad areas of content that you have been exposed to in lectures, readings, discussions, field trip and exercises.

25 minute oral exam. Exam will be in CNR 19A. Assemble outside 19A before your allotted timeslot—no show=no grade!

  1. Green Infrastructure and its advantages.
  2. How green infrastructure differs from open space.
  3. What is Green Infrastructure NOT?
  4. Where the idea from green infrastructure came from, the past events that are connected to its development and how it improved on them.
  5. Know the basic principles of Green Infrastructure and be able to discuss and explain them.
  6. The benefits of green infrastructure andthe concepts of built, human (social) and natural capital and a viable ecosystem, and where they were derived from.
  7. Know the differences between management and planning and be able to define each.
  8. The principles of sustainability and the basic questions that need to be asked (and answered) to best understand the concept.
  9. The functions of management and stewardship.
  10. Changes in how and why environmental protection was delivered in the US.
  11. What a stakeholder is and how stakeholders are used in a consensus process.
  12. What sustainability is and how it relate to growth and green infrastructure.
  13. Understand the process of network design-hubs, links and corridors.
  14. Failings of environmental regulation.
  15. Role of individuals, governments and the private sector in promoting a green infrastructure approach to conservation planning.
  16. The process of identifying a green infrastructure network.
  17. Conservation economy- (Reliable Prosperity) (how it is similar/different from green infrastructure/sustainability and what its basic components are.
  18. Network design—what itis, what the key components of a network are and the keyprinciples for network design.
  19. Understanding power relationships of stakeholders.
  20. How consensus works and when to use it.
  21. Principles of empowerment and leadership.
  22. Content of the field trip—issues, dynamics, etc. Basics of brownfield conversion.
  23. The sustainability pyramid and how it relates to planning and management of working landscapes communities.
  24. Understand the 4 levels of support—theory, application and use.
  25. Managing small groups—how and why.
  26. Role of values in conservation, how to use them, change them and so forth. Why work in small groups.
  27. Funding – Implementation options and logic, PDR, TDR rights, easements, trusts, mitigation, banking, purchase, acquisition.
  28. Role and functions of incentives.
  29. Regulations and zoning—definitions, pros/cons, examples, authority. Types of regulations and zoning, when best used.
  30. Land trusts—how/why they work, pros-cons, origins, role of local, state and fed governments, conservation and other easements, how they get land, process in general. Limitations/problems with land trusts—solutions to these.
  31. Land tenure-what is it, what does it reflect, rights and obligations of ownership, types of ownership, how have people organized to work the land.
  32. MBO, smart objectives, goals. Logic, examples, advantages.

Grading Rubric

  • Awareness(Of Factual Knowledge, Vocabulary and Definitions) (X 0.5)
  • Examples (From fieldtrip, experience, outside sources, current events, other disciplines, etc.) (X 1.5)
  • Application (Utility, pros-and cons, solutions, evaluation) (X 2.5)
  • Analytical Thinking(Compare and Contrast, appropriateness, optimality) (X 2.5)
  • Integrated Thinking (Patterns, constructed knowledge) (X 3)