Residual compaction of soils was measured at seven sites in five Mojave Desert ghost towns. Soils in these Death Valley National Monument townsites were compacted by vehicles, animals, and human trampling, and the townsites had been completely abandoned and the buildings removed for 64 to 75 yr. The soils studied (generally sandy, mixed, Typic Calciorthids) were derived from granitic or volcanic alluvium at elevations from 1310 to 1730 m. Compaction measurements in the townsites, including penetration depth, penetration resistance, bulk density, and peak shear stress, indicated that only one site had completely recovered to ambient soil conditions after 75 yr. Recovery times extrapolated using a linear recovery model ranged from 80 to 140 yr and averaged 100 yr. The recovery times were related to elevation, suggesting freeze‐thaw loosening as an important factor in ameliorating soil compaction in the Mojave Desert.

We studied shrub communities in the Panamint Mountains of the Mojave Desert to determine whether vegetational changes after disturbance can be characterized as succession according to modern successional theory. We found, on a variety of disturbed and undisturbed sites, that the rate of change was a function of the type and age of disturbance. Recent debris—flow deposits were colonized by shrub assemblages of different species composition than those on the surrounding, older debris—flow deposits and other geomorphically stable surfaces. Colonization of human—disturbed sites was highly variable, but species compositions were different from the predisturbance species composition. In Grayia—Lycium assemblages, Grayia spinosa reasserted its dominance over colonizers relatively quickly. In Coleogyne assemblages, typically found on older geomorphic surfaces, species composition differences persisted considerably longer, depending on the severity of the initial disturbance. Extremely stable assemblages, dominated by Coleogyne ramosissima, occurred on the oldest, least disturbed surfaces. The variability of species composition among disturbed sites was greater than the variability among undisturbed and geomorphically stable sites, in accord with convergent succession. Models of desert succession should consider several factors: (1) colonization is dependent largely on the severity of disturbances and residual biotic components; (2) the time span for recovery may be longer than past periods of climatic and geomorphic stability; and (3) colonizing species may have considerable range in their life—history strategies.

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This paper examines the impact of citizen initiatives on Washington State's system of structured sentencing. Criminal justice sentencing guidelines were implemented in Washington's juvenile court system in 1978 and in its adult felony courts in 1984. In the twenty years since, both systems have experienced significant changes, many of which impact judicial and administrative discretion. Early modifications to the guidelines were driven by legislative and administrative concerns (budgeting, prison population management). More recent changes have been driven by citizen initiatives fostered as a response to public fear of crime and violence. Increasingly, the public has rejected the advice and management of adult sentencing guidelines by criminal justice professionals, and taken a direct hand through the initiative process in setting the limits of judicial and administrative discretion. As a result, structured sentencing has become more complicated and less internally consistent. It remains unclear whether this is the inevitable price of growth in single issue politics and more direct public involvement in the determination of sentencing policy.

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