In 1997, New York City adopted a mammoth watershed agreement to protect its drinking water and avoid filtration of its large upstate surface water supply. Shortly thereafter, the NRC began an analysis of the agreement's scientific validity. The resulting book finds New York City's watershed agreement to be a good template for proactive watershed management that, if properly implemented, will maintain high water quality. However, it cautions that the agreement is not a guarantee of permanent filtration avoidance because of changing regulations, uncertainties regarding pollution sources, advances in treatment technologies, and natural variations in watershed conditions. The book recommends that New York City place its highest priority on pathogenic microorganisms in the watershed and direct its resources toward improving methods for detecting pathogens, understanding pathogen transport and fate, and demonstrating that best management practices will remove pathogens. Other recommendations, which are broadly applicable to surface water supplies across the country, target buffer zones, stormwater management, water quality monitoring, and effluent trading.

In a 1964-1967 study on the Challenge Experimental Forest, seedfall was evaluated in 2-, 5-, and 10-acre circular clearcuttings. During the 4 years, 10 seed crops, ranging from light to bumper, were produced by ponderosa pine. white fir, Douglas-fir, and incense cedar. Seedfall ranged from 76 to 40,691 sound seed per acre (188 to 100,547/ha) for a single species in a given year. From 89 to 100 percent of each species' seed fell within an area 1 1/2 times the height of the average dominant tree. Overall, seed distribution was highly variable.

Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.