Digital Commons Network^™

Facing The Fire - Challenges And Triumphs Of Western Firefighters In A Changing Climate, Mak Sisson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The American West sits at a dangerous position in the age of climate change. Wildfires burn hotter, longer, and cover more area than ever measured. Decreased snowpack, early spring run-off, a glut of built-up timber in parks and public lands, and longer droughts all build upon one another, and it just takes one spark to start a raging wildfire that devastates a community. As such, a firefighting force is needed to deal with this changing landscape.

However, that force is dwindling, especially at the federal level. A reported 20% of wildland firefighting positions are vacant, and the Bureau of Land …

Keeping What You Sow: Intellectual Property Rights For Plant Breeders And Seed Growers, Paulina B. Jenney

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Over the last 150 years, the food system in the present-day United States has undergone a transformational restructuring, from a diversified, decentralized, network of farmers and seed growers, to one in which the majority of crop production is controlled by a few industrial corporations. The consolidation of power has been under-girded by the application of intellectual property rights (IPR)—especially utility patents—to plant varieties and genetic traits, which are leveraged to exclude small-scale seed growers from accessing quality germplasm. Patents and restrictive licensing agreements recapitulate colonial structures by appropriating common and traditionally community-held resources for profit, and by creating reliance on …

Where Should Conservation Draw The Line And When Should It Push Forward, Jessica L. Mejia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Is Growing Food Wasting Water? Stories From A Surge Of Groundwater Regulations In California, Abigail Jean Lauten-Scrivner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This long-form feature story examines how the nascence of California’s new era of groundwater regulation is playing out for the farmers, families and agencies who must adapt to a sweeping new law against the backdrop of climate change.

California became the last state in the west to adopt a statewide management plan for the invaluable natural resource when it first embarked on a path toward groundwater sustainability in 2020. Known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), the 20-year plan requires California’s most depleted groundwater basins to become sustainable by 2040.

When SGMA matured in 2020, California’s next drought began …

Tracing Migration And Social Stratification In Subadults At The Archaeological Site Of Convento: A Preliminary Strontium Isotopic Analysis, Holli Kaye Mcdonald

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Re-Modeling The Interior: Spatial Methods And Policy Revisions To Improve Inventory And Designation Of Blm’S Areas Of Critical Environmental Concern, Amy H. Katz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages a vast amount of public land in the western United States, most of which they currently manage for multiple uses. Specific conservation and management of these lands could mitigate climate change impacts and contribute to the global initiative to conserve 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030. Particularly, the agency can achieve this through more effective administration of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), a designation that is prioritized under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). To do so requires updated regulations that set clear parameters around inventory and designation, …

Ecological Effects Of Prescribed Burning, Mechanical Cutting, And Post-Treatment Wildfire For Restoration Of Pinus Albicaulis, Enzo Paolo Martelli Moya

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The field of ecological restoration is growing rapidly, increasing the need for reliable and generalizable information on the impacts of management interventions aimed to be restorative. Prescribed burning and mechanical cutting have been proposed as primary strategies for restoration. However, there is limited information on their efficacy and effects in subalpine forest types, suggesting that monitoring to inform adaptive management is a priority need. I used data from a 15-year, replicated before-after-control-impact (BACI) study on Pinus albicaulis (whitebark pine) restoration to assess the ecological effects of prescribed burning and mechanical cutting, with and without subsequent unplanned wildfire, as well as …

Relationships Between Water, Sediment, Basal Resources, And Aquatic Insects In A Mine-Contaminated River On A Longitudinal And Habitat Patch Scale, Chelsea A. Wisotzkey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

It is well established that aqueous exposure and dietary exposure both lead to the accumulation of metals and metalloids in aquatic organisms living in a contaminated environment, but the relative contribution of each remains unclear. To examine how a contamination gradient affects patterns of metal(loid)s among periphyton, BPOM (benthic particulate organic matter), water, and sediment, we collected samples from multiple sites across a 210km stretch of the mine-contaminated Upper Clark Fork River, Montana. To investigate metal(loid) accumulation patterns among basal resources and aquatic insects, we collected samples of periphyton, BPOM, and larval insects from discrete habitat types at a single …

Traditional Vs. Home-Based Phase Ii Cardiac Rehabilitation In A Rural Setting: A Retrospective Study, Cassie Marie Reisdorph

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation addresses the following questions: 1) the impact of three environmental conditions (altitude, heat, and woodsmoke exposure) on the blood oxidative stress response to exercise; 2) the effect of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation programs (home-based, HBCR; traditional, TCR) on health outcomes in those who have experienced a cardiovascular event and/or severe diagnosis resulting in referral to cardiac rehabilitation. Study 1: Examine effects of lab-simulated hypobaric and hypoxic conditions on oxidative stress during a 4-hour recovery period after 1-hour of cycling (70% watts max). Exercise increased markers of antioxidant status (TEAC, FRAP) and lipid damage (8-ISO) (p<0.05). No effects of hypobaria and hypoxia were observed. Study 2: Compare the blood oxidative stress response to an exercise tolerance trial (1-hour, 50% W_peak) in hot …

The Syndemic Landscape: A New Paradigm For Montana Suicide Prevention Grounded In Agricultural Renewal, Emory Chandler Padgett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montana has had one of the highest suicide rates in the nation for half a century, and since 2000, it has risen almost 50%. Despite suicide’s alarming persistence in the state, there has been minimal academic study of suicide or mental health specifically in Montana, so this thesis attempts to answer a few questions: Why does Montana have such a high suicide rate? Is there something culturally, historically, or socially unique about Montana that contributes to suicide? Are current prevention efforts helpful, harmful, or lacking? Could a consideration of culture and land benefit an understanding of suicide in Montana? What …

Invasive Earthworms In The Crown Of The Continent System And Implications For Land Management, Meghan Elizabeth Scott

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The United States contains invasive earthworms originating from Europe and Asia; the majority are European lumbricids. Direct introduction occurs primarily through human activity and, once established, earthworm populations are difficult to address. When exotic earthworms engage in bioturbation, they negatively alter subterranean food webs and nutrient cycling by disrupting soil layering systems. The most prominent form of physical alteration is the change and removal of the topmost organic layer. This disruption is associated with altered nitrogen and carbon cycling, as well as altered forest floor plant communities.

The Crown of the Continent ecosystem is located in southwestern Alberta, southeastern British …

Collaborating In Cattle Country: Developing A Collaborative Process To Protect The Ecological, Economic, And Cultural Integrity Of Ranching In The Northern Rockies, Emily Jochem

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper explores the creation of a collaborative group that is being convened by Future West, a nonprofit organization based out of Bozeman, MT, to address issues surrounding the loss of ranchlands to alternative land uses in the Northern Rockies. Using literature and theory on collaboration this paper outlines a framework for the development of a collaborative group that includes seven ranchers as advisors to Future West in the development of their program. This framework includes the following elements:

1. A survey that was administered to each participant to assesses their ability to represent their community, and to gauge their initial …

Hunger On The Richest Hill: A Case Study Of Linked Historical And Contemporary Food Insecurity In Butte, Montana, Elizabeth Anne Bett Osborn

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

On the “Richest Hill on Earth” or Butte, Montana, a dilemma of food insecurity persists. This dilemma broadly consists of limited access to affordable, healthy, and appropriate nutrition for the city’s urban population. This thesis constructs a historically and contextually-informed understanding of food insecurity in Butte since the city’s establishment in 1864. Food insecurity research largely lacks place-specific consideration of historical events and processes which contribute to and reinforce the root factors contributing to food insecurity. Butte was once a thriving copper-mining boom town yet saw the decline of its primary industry in the late 20^th century. In 2020, …

Moccasin Economics: Entangled Museum Stories Of Niitsitapi Women, Labor, And Footwear, Michaela Ann Shifley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation emphasizes how anthropologists can use museum collections as anthropological data banks (Sturtevant 1973) to uncover the unwritten histories of objects, people, and cultures. I show how museum collections are repositories for the untold stories of Native women’s economic histories and how objects embody women’s critical contributions to the economic, spiritual, and cultural survival of their communities throughout time. To reveal the complex, hidden labor processes involved in historical and contemporary moccasin-making, I draw on interviews with contemporary Niitsitapi moccasin-makers, as well as object-based analyses of 109 pairs of moccasins from five museum collections and numerous archival documents and …

The Molly Hootch Schools After 40 Years: Successes, Failures, And Opportunities, Jody Lynne Drew

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This quantitative study was designed to understand the relationship between the variables of student attendance, educator experience and turnover, and student achievement at the Molly Hootch schools in rural Alaska in an effort to understand the current state of achievement according to data from 2002–2019 collected from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (AKDEED) database. Data revealed that Molly Hootch school attendance was at 90% and that proficiency among student dropped from 40% to 15% during the years under review. The researcher was not granted access to review further data that could provide more concrete answers to the …

The Role Of Acculturation On The Relationship Between Selfcompassion And Depression Within Native Americans, Kristen Kaylie Pyke-Pierce

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Research examining the relationship between depression and self-compassion in a Native American (NA) sample is limited (Tielke, 2016). Previous research has found a negative relationship between depression and self-compassion in the general population (Johnson & O’Brien, 2013; Macbeth & Gumley, 2012; Neff, 2003b). Additionally, culture has been found to be beneficial in decreasing depression symptoms in NA persons (Whitbeck et al., 2002). Furthermore, as far as this researcher knows, there is no research examining the relationship between depression, self-compassion and acculturation in a NA sample. This study explored the relationship between depression and self-compassion while utilizing acculturation as a moderator …

Combinatorial Administration Of Synthetic Tlr4 Agonist Ini-2002 And Novel Mincle Agonist Um-1098 Delivered Via A-Snps Results In Synergistic Il-1Β Production In Human Primary Cells And Enhances Th1 And Th17 Responses In Vivo, Grace D. Jones, Asia Marie Stephanie Riel, Alexander Riffey, Cassandra Buhl

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Tuberculosis (TB) kills more people each year than any infectious disease worldwide with recent exception of SARS-CoV-2. Though the Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG) vaccine confers protection against severe extrapulmonary forms of TB, there is no licensed vaccine for the prevention of pulmonary tuberculosis. The strongest correlate of protection against pulmonary tuberculosis is Th1/Th17 biased cell mediated immunity. Several candidates for TB vaccine adjuvants have shown Th1/Th17 polarizing capacity in clinical trials including Mincle agonist trehalose dibehenate (TDB) and TLR4 agonist monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL). Furthermore, combinatorial administration of MPL and TDB formulated in dimethyldioctadecylammonium (DDA) liposomes has been previously reported …

Rethinking Rare: Novel Approaches To Rare Species Monitoring And Conservation, Jessie Deanne Golding

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Conservation of rare species is widely valued and important for ecosystems. Unfortunately, many of the approaches to conserve rare species have been developed with common species (e.g., harvested species) which have larger populations and targeted objectives. Conservation of rare species is difficult in part because of problems created by scarcity and low information. With low information, learning leads to new questions and the utility of information in decisions can quickly become obsolete. Therefore, monitoring strategies that can adapt as well as provide information tailored to relevant decisions are needed. To address rare species monitoring, I developed a long-term monitoring approach …

Traumatic Brain Injury: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Healthcare Oversight, Charles Robert Brown Gatlin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Introduction: State licensing boards (SLBs) serve as overseers to protect the interests of the public by ensuring that individuals who operate under a license to practice in a state uphold the standards of their profession. However, resolving complaints regarding unprofessional conduct for conditions that necessitate interdisciplinary care, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), may necessitate involvement from SLBs of other disciplines who are most qualified to evaluate the appropriateness of care. To date, there is no single pathway to address complaints regarding the interdisciplinary management of TBI as the mechanisms of the injury are complex, often do not address the …

Quantitative Social Science Methods, Social Networks, And Scalar Mismatches: Advancing Social-Ecological Systems Science Towards Adaptation And Transformation, Holly Kathleen Nesbitt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The adaptive capacity of social-ecological systems to maintain resilience or undergo transformation is increasingly important for navigating global change. Although social interactions and ecological disturbances are often cited as an essential element of social-ecological systems, social interactions are often undertheorized and simplistic, and the relative effects of both social and ecological processes are rarely considered in tandem. In this dissertation, I work towards advancing social-ecological systems research by highlighting opportunities for improved quantitative social science methods, using structurally explicit methods to evaluate the mechanisms underpinning social interactions, and characterizing scalar mismatches in a social-ecological system experiencing a regime shift. In …

Understanding The Underidentification Of Autism In Native American Students, Emily A. Brooke

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

School psychologists are called upon to promote nondiscriminatory practices that ensure equity and fairness for all youth, including racially minoritized students. Despite being overrepresented in almost every other disability category of special education, Native American students nationwide are underrepresented within the category of autism. The current study focuses on factors within educators that might lead to the underidentification of Native American students with autism. In alignment with the cultural humility model, and the tripartite model of multicultural competence embedded within it, the current study explored 36 educators’ attitudes, knowledge, and skills as they relate to the culturally responsive assessment of …

"It Costs Us Something": Mike Mansfield And The Effort To Evaluate The American Foreign Aid Program In South Vietnam, 1953-1960, Kristin D. Gates

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Toward A Dialectical Account Of Nature, Georgia Rae Grimm

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The protection of nature has been a central aim of environmentalism for well over a century. However, the concept of nature has been subjected to abundant critiques in recent literature, threatening the conceptual tenability of this goal. In this paper, I discuss why I find the concept of nature too valuable to dismiss and offer an account of nature that I believe remedies existent critiques. In Chapter 1, I recount arguments for the protection of nature and illustrate their dualistic underpinnings. In Chapter 2, I discuss issues with dualistic accounts of nature and demonstrate why Steven Vogel’s monistic alternative is …

Using Bone Biology To Enhance Forensic And Paleoanthropological Dna Analysis, Keith M. Biddle

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

We know that the optimal site for DNA extraction from human skeletal remains lies primarily in the petrous portion of the crania, and secondarily in the dental pulp, but we do not know why. As for the optimal location in the post-crania, targeted extraction sites are based on experience or inference, not empirical data. So, where to sample for DNA when only post-cranial elements are available? There are many instances where the petrous and/or teeth are not present or cannot be sampled. The three main goals of the project are 1- develop our foundational knowledge of the underlying cellular and …

Traversing Paradigms: An Environmental Journey To Body And Mind, Martin Ceja Mejia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Traumatic life experiences altered the way I perceive the world. As a result, I embark on a journey to reshape my relationship to self, the built and natural world; to environment. In this thesis I ask: How do I want to relate to the environment? Considering I am a doubly colonized agent, I also aim to decolonize my relationship to environment along the process. Therefore, this work aims to formulate a new, personal, relationship to environment through academic literature, history, psychology, Indigenous knowledge and science, and literary studies, among other fields of knowledge. This work is interdisciplinary in nature; life …

“The Long Arm Of The Dreaded B.I.”: The Bureau Of Investigation And The Origins Of The Federal Surveillance State, William Schuman-Kline

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis looks to analyze and understand how U.S. government officials created the first domestic intelligence agency in the United States: the Bureau of Investigation (BOI). In so doing, this paper examines how intelligence collection functioned within the U.S. prior to the creation of the BOI, what domestic and international concerns prompted the creation of a centralized institution like the BOI, and how the press, congressmen, and public opinion constrained the creation and early years of the BOI. This paper argues that from its onset, the Bureau of Investigation dedicated significant time and resources to surveilling American citizens for threats …

Hyflex: A Leaderships’ Perspective Of Self-Efficacy Post-Pandemic, Sandra Marie Adams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The HyFlex model for instruction allows for a student to choose if they will attend class in person, online synchronicity, or asynchronously. The aim of this mixed-method study was to answer the central question “to the central question, “How does the HyFlex delivery method impact faculty self-efficacy regarding teaching?” at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC). Sixteen members of the leadership at KBOCC completed a Likert scale survey and six participants agreed to be interviewed. Based on the results of this study, the leadership at KBOCC are open to the idea of implementing the HyFlex model. The faculty and administration …

Seeding Resilience: An Examination Of The Impacts Of A Seed Saving Network In Western Montana, Christina Leas

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Seed saving, a worldwide practice as old as agriculture, continues even in the context of an increasingly industrialized and globalized agricultural system. While some scholarship has focused on informal seed saving practices that continue to thrive in the global South, few studies have examined the dynamics of these practices in the global North, particularly in the American West. Informal seed saving systems have implications for the resilience of agroecosystems. The concept of resilience has become an important framework for conceptualizing agroecosystems as social-ecological systems, both in scholarship and in policy. However, operationalizing the concept of resilience, particularly in agroecology research, …

Structural Mechanism Of Nuclear Receptor Biased Agonism, Michelle Deanna Nemetchek

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Nuclear receptors are a class of ligand-activated transcription factors that affect gene expression. Pharmaceutical drugs that target nuclear receptors make up (13%) of all therapeutics prescribed in the United States. Unlike signaling pathways, nuclear receptors have a wide variety of binding partners that can bind upon activation of a nuclear receptor to upregulate gene transcription. These binding partner proteins, called “coregulators”, are diverse in function. However, the determinants of their binding to nuclear receptors, and how binding to certain coregulators over others occurs, is not known.

In this work, we examine how ligands create a preference for nuclear receptors to …

In The Shadow Of The Megadrought: Opportunities And Challenges For Addressing Loss And Damage From Climate Change In Chile And Eastern Montana, Usa, Elizabeth Grace Tobey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As the impacts of anthropogenic climate change mount, climate- related harms, both economic and non-economic, occur across every inhabited continent and disproportionately affect the world’s most vulnerable people. In response, the Loss and Damage agenda of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has emerged to address those climate-related harms that exceed human capacities for mitigation and adaptation. Significant questions remain regarding how losses and damages emerge across the globe and how Loss and Damage policy will be implemented to address those impacts. This thesis explores two specific questions: (1) national-level Loss and Damage policy mechanisms; and (2) perceptions …