Digital Commons Network^™

How Wildlife Information, Recreation Involvement And Demographic Characteristics Influence Public Acceptability Of Development, Jessica Espenshade

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Increasing development like roads and houses will alter the future landscape of Vermont. Development provides important resources for people and society, but also results in consequences for wildlife and opportunities for recreation. Managing development requires information on the public's acceptability of development and how acceptability is shaped by information on various consequences. In this study, I examined three questions: 1) What is the public's acceptability of development? 2) Does wildlife information influence public acceptability of development and 3) Is the maximum amount of acceptable development influenced by views about wildlife, involvement in recreation, and demographic factors? I surveyed 9,000 households …

Management By Crisis: Land Trust Conservation Engagement And Methods In Vermont, Louise Sopher Lintilhac

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Planning a future for the landscapes we live in can be a daunting challenge for many communities in Vermont. Conservation initiatives affect the quality of life for all community members and can be difficult if not impossible to change in the event of poor planning. Through examining stakeholder relationships with land trusts I have explored the complexities of planning processes used by land trusts in Vermont for conservation initiatives

The study involved one statewide land trust, the Vermont Land Trust, and two community land trusts, the Stowe Land Trust and the Duxbury Land Trust. I used qualitative methods including document …

Thomas Johnson: Gentleman, Vermonter, Patriot, Angela Nicole Grove

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is a micro-history of the formation of the various identities that shaped the Revolutionary War experiences of one eighteenth-century Vermonter (Thomas Johnson) whose life is documented in a manuscript collection at the Vermont Historical Society. I break down Johnson's identities into three levels: social class, state, and national. My argument is that what it meant to be a provincial gentleman, to be a Vermonter, and to be an American were still being constructed at the time of the Revolution and were therefore in a state of flux. The fluid nature of these identities shows us how America's founding …

Pasteurization And Its Discontents: Raw Milk, Risk, And The Reshaping Of The Dairy Industry, Andrea M. Suozzo

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Milk is something many Americans consume every day, whether over cereal, in coffee or in a cup; as yogurt, cream, cheese or butter. The vast majority of that milk is pasteurized, or heated to the point where much of the bacteria in the milk dies. Pasteurization both slows spoilage of the milk and eliminates potentially harmful bacteria. The fact that we call heat-treated dairy simply "milk" is a testament to pasteurization's widespread proliferation over the past century. Prior to the 1900s, "milk" was raw and unheated, and pasteurized milk was a radically new technology. My research delved into understandings of …

Sedimentologic Comparison Of The Late/Lower Early Middle Cambrian Altona Formation And The Lower Cambrian Monkton Formation, Ryan A. Brink

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The Altona Formation represents the oldest Cambrian sedimentary unit in northern New York, recording cyclic deposition in shallow marine and fluvial environments under both fair-weather and storm conditions. Five outcrops and one well log were measured and described at the centimeter scale and the top and bottom contacts of the Altona were identified. Based on the recognition of sedimentary structures such as hummocky cross stratification, oscillatory ripples, graded bedding, trough and tabular cross stratification, and bioturbation, as well as subtle lithologic changes, six lithofacies representing non-marine, middle to upper shoreface, offshore, and carbonate ramp environments were identified. The top contact …

Examining Two Green Payment Options To Support Dairy Farm Viability In Northern New England: Anaerobic Digestion And Organic Production, Deborah Ann Krug

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores the details and profitability of two distinct operational strategies utilized by dairy operations as alternatives to expanding milk production. It features farms that have either transitioned to organic production or installed a farm-scale anaerobic digester, motivated in part by the opportunity for market specialization or income diversification to increase the viability of their dairy farm businesses.

The first analysis examines the demographics and production characteristics impacting the profitability of organic dairy farmers in Vermont and Maine. This provides policymakers, educators, lenders, and suppliers with a profile of this sector that accounts for 23% of dairy farms in …