Financial, Social, and Health Impacts from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from the Healthy Chicago Survey.

BACKGROUND: This study examines self-reported impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic among Chicago residents and disparities of these impacts across demographic characteristics. Six logistic regression models were developed to identify demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with each COVID-19 impact. METHOD: The study used de-identified and weighted data from the 2020 Healthy Chicago Survey (HCS). HCS is an annual survey using an address-based random sampling method administered by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) across the city of Chicago on adults aged 18 or older living between July 17 and November 11, 2020, and received 4517 responses. RESULTS: Chicago residents with lower socioeconomic status had a higher likelihood of food and housing insecurity. Non-Hispanic (NH) Black residents were more likely to report being unable to obtain food (OR: 2.996; 95% CI: 2.268-2.324); being unable to pay for rent, mortgage, or bills (OR: 2.352; 95% CI: 2.325-2.380); and grief from a loss of someone to COVID-19 (OR: 2.037; 95% CI: 2.013-2.061) compared to NH White residents. NH White residents were more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to report loss of social connections, worsened mental health, and canceling or postponing medical care. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis showed higher odds of social contact loss and worsened mental health from COVID-19 in NH White and higher education populations. By implementing strategies to address specific challenges faced by different racial groups, Chicago may effectively mitigate pandemic's adverse effects. These strategies can promote a more inclusive approach to distributing COVID investments for programs and policies.

Roles for Wildlife in the Development of Place Meanings Ascribed to a Protected Area.

Wildlife play prominent roles in popular images of America's outdoor landscapes, yet our understanding of their contribution to place meanings is not fully developed. Although environmental management agencies have a long history of stewarding wildlife for hunting and fishing, they have been less inclined to prioritize non-consumptive uses such as the contribution of wildlife to sense of place. Given that agencies are increasingly challenged to implement policies that align with citizen priorities, connecting wildlife to sense of place could lead to more effective decisions. Our research explored the plurality of connections that residents made with wildlife in multiple protected areas across the USA region of Interior Alaska. Residents of nine communities were engaged over a five-year period, followed by a thematic analysis of interview data, which resulted in the identification of seven place meaning themes. These themes reflected qualities of the local environment that were appreciated by residents, including: 1) desirable travel destination, 2) distinct sense of community, 3) landscape of subsistence and tradition, 4) landscape of wildlife habitat, 5) natural resources in need of harvesting, 6) rural Alaskan lifestyle, and 7) wildland areas tied to recreation. Native wildlife species-from traditionally charismatic species like moose (Alces alces) to less iconic species such as snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) - were discussed in the context of all seven place meaning themes. Wildlife provided a basis for study participants to interpret landscapes and ascribe meanings to places, thus supporting our argument that shared influences of wildlife and place meanings should be prioritized in environmental planning and management.

A decision-making framework for evaluating environmental tradeoffs in enhancing ecosystem services across complex agricultural landscapes.

Decision-making processes to ensure sustainability of complex agro-ecosystems must simultaneously accommodate production goals, environmental soundness, and social relevancy. This means that besides environmental indicators and human activities, stakeholders' perceptions need to be considered in the decision-making process to enable the adoption of mitigation practices. Thus, the decision-making process equates to a multi-criteria and multi-objective problem, requiring additional tools and methods to analyze the possible tradeoffs among decision alternatives based on social acceptability. This study was aimed at establishing a decision support system that integrates hydro-ecologic models and socio-cultural perspectives to identify and assess feasible land management alternatives that can enhance the Kaskaskia River Watershed (KRW) ecosystem services in Illinois (USA). The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to simulate the spatio-temporal response of nine environmental predictors to four major management alternatives (crop rotation, cover cropping, reduced tillage, modified fertilizer application) based on stakeholder acceptability and environmental soundness, under 32 distinct climate projections. The stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis (SMAA) was then applied to classify the management alternatives from the least to the most efficient based on three preference schemes: no preference, expert stakeholders' preference, and non-expert stakeholders' preference. Results showed that preference information on watershed ecosystem services is crucial to guide the decision-making process when a broad spectrum of criteria is considered to assess the management alternatives' systemic response. The disparity between expert and non-expert stakeholders' preferences showed different rankings of alternatives across several subcatchments, where the two-year corn one-year soybean rotation scheme was expected to offer the best management alternative to ensure a sustainable agro-production system in the highly cultivated subcatchments of the KRW. In contrast, non-conventional tillage practices were expected to contravene agricultural production, and therefore should be discarded unless combined with complementary measures. This study will enable stakeholders to identify the most suitable management practices to adapt to natural and anthropogenic changes and encourage engagement between government institutions and local communities (multi-stakeholder consensus) to provide a better platform for decision-making.

Public evaluation of open space in Illinois: citizen support for natural area acquisition.

Numerous studies have indicated a broad-based support for open space preservation and protection. Research also has characterized the public values and rationale that underlie the widespread support for open space. In recognition of the widespread public support for open space, various levels of government have implemented programs to provide public access to open space. There are many different types of open space, ranging from golf courses, ball parks, wildlife areas, and prairies, to name a few. This paper addresses questions related to the types of open space that should be prioritized by planners and natural resource managers. The results of this study are based on a stratified random sample of 5000 households in Illinois that were sent a questionnaire related to their support for various types of open space. Through a comparatively simple action grid analysis, the open space types that should be prioritized for public access include forest areas, stream corridors, wildlife habitat, and lakes/ponds. These were the open space types rated of the highest importance, yet were also the open space types rated the lowest in respondent satisfaction. This kind of analysis does not require the technical expertise of other options for land-use prioritizations (e.g., conjoint analysis, contingent valuation), yet provides important policy directives for planners. Although open space funds often allow for purchase of developed sites such as golf courses, ball parks, and community parks, this study indicates that undeveloped (or nature-based) open space lands are most needed in Illinois.