Digital Commons Network^™

Microbiome Recovery Of The Upper Clark Fork River Restoration Site, Danella Stapley

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Soil microorganisms provide ecosystem functions and services critical for life, can have lasting effects on aboveground plant communities, and can serve as indicators of soil quality. However, biotic indicators are underrepresented in soil health assessments. Incorporating microbial soil evaluations in ecological restoration studies are important in order to obtain a more comprehensive understanding about their role in healthy soil development. In this study, we used three bioindicators to assess the post-restoration soil microbiome recovery of the Upper Clark Fork River: extracellular soil enzyme activity, microbial biomass, and microbiome community and diversity. We found that microbiome recovery rate varied at different …

Basin Wildrye Metal Contents In Restored And Unrestored Areas Along Silver Bow Creek And The Upper Clark Fork River, Anne Morse

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Butte, MT has extensive environmental damage due to 120 years of mining, milling, and smelting starting in the late 1800’s with no control or forethought on waste management. The area is now one of the largest superfund complexes in the United States and has been extensively remediated with restoration continuing. A growing number of studies are investigating native plants’ ability to aid in metal removal after reclamation efforts. Basin wildrye, Leymus cinereus, grows in each of the restored and contaminated areas sampled. This study investigated the Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb content of aerial plants and roots, …

Hydrologic Response Of Headwater Streams Restored With Beaver Dam Analogue Structures, Evan Norman

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

In the semiarid and arid western United States, it is important to understand the potential effects of stream restoration on surface-water and groundwater. In this study, we evaluate the seasonal and annual hydrologic impacts of beaver-dam analogue (BDA) restoration in the Blacktail Creek (BTC) Watershed south of Butte, Montana. We monitored surface water flow, groundwater levels, temperature, and specific conductance primarily using a control-treatment study design. In treated reaches, groundwater levels were closer to the ground surface and showed less seasonal fluctuation. Changes in overall streamflow in the control reaches had stream losses and gains varying from -21.0 to 19.9 …

Moss Revegetation- A Process To Initiate Restoration And Repair Natural Resources Damaged By Mining, Arundeep Taduri

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Mosses are small plants within the phylum Bryophyta known for their ability to grow on acidic, metal laden soil. This project proposes the restoration of moss to barren mine waste areas which will stabilize the soil, thus reducing heavy metal contaminants released to the aquifer and the surrounding environment.

In general, the mine waste areas can be naturally recolonization by native and non-native vegetation as a remediation process. This process is very slow. The removal of the mine waste, capping and replacing it with clean soil, and subsequently replanting is a common remediation method. However, this approach is very expensive …

Environmental Restoration Database, Joao Nascimento

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Environmental restoration projects face many challenges. Public awareness, funding constraints, unpredictable weather, unknown biological/chemical factors and the uncertainty about how the targeted ecosystem will develop work against the planned and ideal restoration.

One way the projects’ efficiency can be improved is by using software tools for data and quality management systems, in order to share information, make field practice follow rules, keep track of maintenance tasks, measure results and, therefore, increase the rate of success by the amount of resources invested.

Since the conception of every project, all resources involved need to be focused and coherent to the final restoration …

Restoring Capacity In Compromised Glued Laminated Beams, Cole Moller

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

After structural fires are extinguished, presuming the structure is not a total loss, structural wood members can be inspected for residual properties. Through this research, we explored alternative methods aimed at keeping structurally compromised wood member’s in service when they would otherwise warrant replacement. For this study, we used 24F-V8 DF/DF glued laminated beams that had been loaded to their max capacity; both non-fire damaged and fire damaged. In situations where physical and mechanical changes occur, and the beam warrants individual replacement, a new restoration procedure could be used to salvage the member. Salvaging the member could mean to keep …