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'This Disc Is Not For A Bird Bath, It's For My Tractor': Exploring Gender, Sustainable Agriculture, And Networks In Western Montana, Eva Kathryn Rocke

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Women’s presence in agriculture as farmers, consumers, advocates, and activists has become ever more apparent over the last two decades as census data, popular media, and academic literature increasingly reflect their work. Many of the farmers in western Montana practicing sustainable agriculture are women and have built relationships with other women farmers in the region through existing agriculture-focused organizations like Homegrown and the Western Montana Growers’ Cooperative. Even with the strong presence of these organizations, some women farmers feel there is potential for the formalization of a women farmer network in western Montana that would increase the opportunities for socialization …

Use And Effectiveness Of Wildlife Crossing Structures With Short Sections Of Wildlife Fencing, Elizabeth Rose Fairbank

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Our growing transportation infrastructure in the United States has many direct and indirect impacts to wildlife populations. Humans are also impacted by the interaction of roads and wildlife in terms of wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC’s); which annually result in: hundreds of human fatalities, tens of thousands of human injuries, and billions of dollars in property damage. In response to concerns for wildlife and human safety, road mitigation measures are becoming an increasingly important tool for transportation agencies to minimize the risks of WVC’s. The construction of multiple wildlife crossing structures in combination with wildlife fencing have been shown to reduce WVC’s …

When The Sap Flows: Affection And Industry In The Maple Woods, Nicholas R. Littman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis arises from my time waiting for, collecting, and boiling sap from maple trees into syrup. I spent four months in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York working for a modern commercial sugaring operation and sugaring in the old-fashioned manner—with buckets and a wood-fired evaporator.

The narrative follows my journey as a lifelong Westerner traveling east to learn an old tradition with my hands. Instead of observing how the warmth of a changing climate was affecting maple sugaring, I was thrust into a landscape defined by cold, during one of the coldest winters on record in the Northeast. …

Restoration As Caring Practice: A Relational Perspective On Ecological Recovery, Daniel Avery Congdon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ecological restoration is defined by the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) as “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed” (9). In practice, restoration typically involves the removal of pollution, human-made structures (like dams or roads), invasive species, and other impediments to ecological health. Removing the sources of ecological impairment is coupled with the reintroduction of flora, fauna, and the physical structures that are necessary for healthy ecosystem function. The potential for restoration to dominate nature is a concern of environmental ethicists. In theory, domination might stem from the technology used in …

Effect Of Cover On Small Mammal Abundance And Movement Through Wildlife Underpasses, Hayley R. Connolly-Newman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Crossing structures enable wildlife to safely cross highways by physically separating wildlife and vehicles. Most wildlife underpasses and overpasses are designed to accommodate a wide variety of species. Their suitability for individual species, however, varies by location (surrounding habitat), structure type (e.g. underpass or overpass), and dimensions (height, width, length). For some taxa, the habitat immediately adjacent to and inside an underpass or on top of an overpass is critical. For instance, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and many invertebrates may avoid open areas because they require cover (e.g., live vegetation, tree stumps, branches, or rocks) to reduce predation risk and …

Evaluating And Role Of Standards And Guidelines In National Forest Planning, Emily E. Schembra

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

There is longstanding conflict related to planning standards and guidelines (S & Gs) used by the U.S. Forest Service to guide and constrain National Forest System land management. The role these prescriptions have played in the past in forest management, and the role they ought to play in the future, is often disputed. However, the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the new 2012 NFMA planning regulations require S & Gs, so they must be included in forest plans in the future. The goal of this research was to provide a common understanding of how planning S & Gs were …

Responses To Climate Change In National Park Service Wilderness: What Is Happening In The Field?, Katherine E. Nelson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As scholars debate whether climate change warrants more or less active management in wilderness, this baseline study identifies what is happening on the ground. This study focuses attention on National Park Service units that administer designated wilderness. Representatives who had been identified by the superintendents from each of these units responded to an online survey (with a 94% response rate). Respondents reported on their concerns, monitoring, and management projects driven by climate change happening in their wilderness. Respondents also discussed whether and how these activities affected wilderness character. This is the first study to characterize the response to climate change …

Paying To Play: Supply Management In Montana's Dairy Industry, Laura Ginsburg

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montana’s dairy industry is unique among US states because of its supply management program, which allocates quota to limit how much fluid milk can be produced and sold within the state. The amount of quota is set and price varies with market conditions; therefore, quota adds to a farm’s production costs. This paper presents findings from in-depth interviews with 17 dairy farmers to learn how quota has affected on-farm decision-making and how they perceive the impacts of quota on the statewide industry. Farmers tend to be spilt between those who think it affected their on-farm decisions and those who felt …

Prioritizing The Upper Clark Fork River Tributaries For Instream Flow Restoration, Catherine B. Berg

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Off stream uses of water in the west have left many rivers and streams depleted, including the Upper Clark Fork River and its tributaries. As drought conditions persist or worsen, this issue will become more critical. Public-private partnerships, like the Upper Clark Fork Steering Committee, have formed to monitor the flow of our rivers. In order to assist the Steering Committee and river advocacy groups working within the Upper Clark Fork River Basin, this paper provides a comprehensive review of the studies on existing flows and target flows in the upper river, synthesizes past priorities for stream restoration, and provides …

Putting Scientific Information Into The Service Of Environmental Justice For Residents Facing Groundwater Contamination, Yvonne Emily Sorovacu

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Opportunity, Montana is a small town within the 300 square mile Anaconda Smelter Superfund site in Western Montana. Waste from 100 years of ore processing has impacted the area. Arsenic exceeds Montana drinking water standards within the aquifer system feeding residential wells of Opportunity, causing resident concern about current and future safety of drinking water. The project described in this paper engages with this context from an environmental justice (EJ) perspective that views meaningful participation of affected communities as integral for sound and democratic decisions about environmental risks. Because Opportunity residents are left out of important decision making processes regarding …

Acceptance Of Wildlife Crossing Structures On Us Highway 93 Missoula, Montana, Jeremiah P. Purdum

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildlife and humans have always interacted on the landscape. However, growing transportation infrastructure and its associated use are causing a large increase in direct and indirect effects on wildlife populations. Humans can also directly be affected, for example, through wildlife-vehicle collisions that impact human safety and lead to economic costs for individuals and society. In some cases transportation and wildlife agencies have implemented substantial mitigation measures along roadways in an attempt to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and to provide for safe crossing opportunities for wildlife. Wildlife-specific crossing structures are now increasingly considered in road construction. Reconstruction projects and a range of …

Liars Like Him, Samantha Lynne Duncan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This is a collection of short stories, which fall somewhere between the realist and absurdist genres of fiction. Most of them take place in or around Ohio. Birds and humans often appear side by side.

The Ethnography Of On-Site Interpretation And Commemoration Practices: Place-Based Cultural Heritages At The Bear Paw, Big Hole, Little Bighorn, And Rosebud Battlefields, Helen Alexandra Keremedjiev

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Using a memory archaeology paradigm, this dissertation explored from 2010 to 2012 the ways people used place-based narratives to create and maintain the sacredness of four historic battlefields in Montana: Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument; Nez Perce National Historical Park- Bear Paw Battlefield; Nez Perce National Historical Park- Big Hole National Battlefield; and Rosebud Battlefield State Park. This research implemented a mixed-methods approach of four data sources: historical research about on-site interpretation and land management of the battlefields; participant observations conducted during height of tourism season for each battlefield; 1,056 questionnaires administered to park visitors; and 32 semi-structured interviews with …

The Moral Layers Of Fracking: From Basic Rights And Obligations To Human Flourishing, Angela L. Hotaling

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As it is currently being discussed, hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is the unconventional method of drilling and extracting oil and natural gas. Fracking starts at the earth’s surface where the technology is created and the sites are constructed. The process continues downward: drills pierce thousands of feet vertically and then horizontally underground. Then, millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals (referred to as “fracking fluid” or “slick water”) are pumped at high pressure through the pipe so as to fracture shale deposits and release gas or oil. Whether to allow fracking and its associated industrial activity is …

The Value Of Knowing: Public Lands Monitoring By Non-Agency Groups, Aaron Richard Olsen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

It is generally recognized that in order to make informed federal land management decisions, such decisions need to be based on information gathered from monitoring of those lands. While some monitoring is being conducted by federal land management agencies, it is happening too infrequently and is often inadequate for properly informing land management decisions. In an attempt to fill this gap non-agency groups have begun monitoring federal public lands themselves. It appears that through recent congressional authorizations, policy reforms, and agency initiatives monitoring by non-agency groups is being supported at every government level. While theoretically this transfer of responsibility from …

Supporting Transitions To Resilient Irrigation Systems: Findings From Southern Kyrgyzstan, Peter Michael Igoe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents findings from research conducted in Southern Kyrgyzstan, which followed nongovernmental organization (NGO) efforts to support climate change adaptation, and to support more “resilient” community-managed irrigation systems. Findings suggest that current NGO partnerships with Water User Associations (WUAs) frequently amount to financial and technical transactions, to preserve inherited infrastructure and resist disturbance. “Enhancing resilience” is pursued in an effort to maintain existing technical configurations of canals and water resources, despite altered socio-political and environmental conditions. Findings suggest increasing disassociation between irrigation constituents and the institutions and managers that are supposed to direct their grievances through legitimate democratic channels. …

Here For Life: A Chapter & Stories, Gil Filar

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Four short stories and a novel chapter.

A Chicken In Every Lot: The 2007 Chicken Ordinance In Missoula, Montana, Kate Margaret Sheridan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2007, the City Council of Missoula, Montana passed an ordinance allowing six chickens per urban lot. Missoula followed the lead of many other cities seeking to expand urban agriculture and food security opportunities through microlivestock. This paper gives context to the implementation of a specific ordinance, investigates the benefits and challenges experienced by twenty households in Missoula, and connects it back to the food system as a whole.

Nest Site Characteristics Of Lewis’S Woodpecker (Melanerpes Lewis) In Riparian Systems Of Western Montana, Megan Fylling

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) is known to breed in ponderosa pine, cottonwood riparian, aspen, and burned conifer forest types, but is declining in much of its range throughout the U.S. and is listed as a Level II Species of Concern in Montana. In western Montana, Lewis’s Woodpeckers commonly breed in riparian bottomlands, but information on characteristics of their preferred nesting habitat within these areas is lacking. I studied nesting habitat use by Lewis’s Woodpeckers in two important breeding areas in cottonwood-dominated riparian forest along the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers in western Montana. I found 55 nests during the …

The Sweet Grass Hills And Blackfeet Indians: Sacredness, Land, And Institutional Discrimination, Cassie Sheets

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Sweet Grass Hills of north-central Montana are part of the four Tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy’s traditional territory and play a vital role in perpetuating Blackfeet culture. The Blackfeet Tribe of Montana was forced to sell the Sweet Grass Hills to the federal government in 1888 after the decimation of bison populations. In 1992, the first large-scale corporate mining proposal in the Sweet Grass Hills was proposed by Lehmann and Associates and Manhattan Mineral, Ltd. In response to public outcries, environmental impact statements were issued by the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that manages the area, and Secretary …

Opening Up The Box: Exploring The Scaling Out Of The Good Food Box Across Canada, Stephanie Lentz Laporte Potts

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Good Food Box (GFB) program holds a great deal of promise to expand our understanding of Community Food Security (CFS). CFS represents a vision for solving hunger and other problems with the food system through an integrated approach that improves access to good and appropriate food for all while at the same time building community, strengthening local agricultural economies, and maximizing social justice. The GFB, one type of CFS program, is a community-based initiative found across Canada that provides a box of healthy food to customers at near wholesale prices; it has the potential to increase access to healthy …

Spatial Distribution And Quantification Of Forest Treatment Residues For Bioenergy Production, Lucas A. Wells

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The availability and spatial distribution of forest treatment residues are prerequisites to supply chain development for bioenergy production. To accurately estimate potential residue quantities, data must be provided to simulate stand-level silviculture across the landscape of interest. However, biomass utilization assessments often consider broad regions where adequate data are not supplied. At present, these measures are addressed using strategic level assessments and broad-based management that may not be applicable to all areas of the landscape. This thesis introduces a new methodology for spatially describing stand-level treatment residue quantities based on detailed silvicultural prescriptions and site specific management. Using National Agricultural …

Regulation Or Litigation: Using The American Legal System To Address Climate Change, Stacy Lynne Boman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

While a growing scientific consensus recognizes that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to the global phenomenon known as climate change, little progress has been made to pass comprehensive legislation addressing climate change. Many concerned with the effects of climate change have turned to the American court system as a means of addressing climate change or reducing greenhouse gases. Similar to the early litigation history of many environmental cases, climate change litigation has thus far been unsuccessful in holding major greenhouse gas emitters liable for the impacts of climate change. Plaintiffs have not given up, however. Many climate change cases …

Restoring The "Shining Waters": Milltown, Montana And The History Of Superfund Implementation, David James Brooks

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation is a case study of a dam removal and river restoration within the nation's largest Superfund site. In 1981, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency included Milltown Reservoir on its first list of Superfund sites. Superfund law capped two decades of the federal government's most aggressive environmental legislation. While tracking the national story of Superfund law, my story provides a local view of how individuals, organizations, and agencies shaped the Superfund process. After the EPA designated Milltown a national Superfund site, the environment itself, persistent work within the channels of public policy, and federally-mediated compromise helped restore some shine …

Assessing The Role Of Shame And Honor During The Alta Conflict, Michael T. Bremmer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

For nearly a century the Sami peoples of Norway were subject to colonial policies of assimilation and integration. According to historians of the Sami, colonial processes stigmatized Sami individuals and the Sami culture, producing feelings of shame. The concept of shame, for both individuals and groups, centers on experiencing fear, pain, and/or uneasiness, and requires a judging audience. Honor is about individuals transcending self-interest and the need for individuals and groups to acquire self-esteem for that purpose; it also requires a judging audience. Concepts of shame and honor played an important role during the Alta conflict; a watershed moment in …

Comparison Of Charcoal And Tree-Ring Records Of Recent Fires In The Northern Rocky Mountains, Kalispell, Mt, Usa, Ian Hyp

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the Northern Rocky Mountains, climate and vegetation histories have been developed using charcoal and pollen deposits in the sediment of lakes to determine the effect of changing climate on species distribution and disturbance regimes through time. However, few studies have been done on the spatial and temporal accuracy of these charcoal and pollen sediment strata analyses. In this study we created a dendrochronological fire history using fire-scarred trees in the watershed of Foy Lake in the Flathead Valley, MT, to determine the synchronicity between two fire proxies: the watershed’s tree fire scar chronology and the dated charcoal in the …

The Ecology Of Parafluvial Ponds On A Salmon River, Zachary Jon Crete

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Parafluvial ponds are discrete lentic habitats embedded in the alluvia of gravel bed rivers that are formed by flooding and persist in relation to floodplain geohydrology. On the expansive flood plains of the Kwethluk River, I observed thousands of juvenile salmon apparently trapped by surface disconnection of the ponds from the river. I was interested in whether the salmon could survive until flooding reconnected the ponds to the river. I sampled ponds along the river corridor to describe habitat quantity and juvenile salmon presence, growth, and diet. Furthermore, I looked at pond hydrology, temperature regime, and the role groundwater plays …

The Effect Of Random And Spatially Explicit Lightning And Human-Caused Ignitions On Simulated Burn Probabilities At Small Scales, James Lowery

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Our overall goal was to assess the difference between annual wildfire burn probability (BP) generated from simulation models using random ignitions versus spatially explicit ignitions for wildland urban interface (WUI) areas and designated wilderness in the Rocky Mountain West, and infer whether one may be more useful than the other at small scales. We collected all available ignition data from logbooks, spreadsheets and the internet for a 1282 km2 study area within a 10 km buffer of the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area (RNRA) and Rattlesnake Wilderness (RW), Montana, which also included WUI. These ignitions were on small private landholdings, as …

Trading Off The Benefits And Burdens: Coal Development In The Transboundary Flathead River Valley, Nadia E. Soucek

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The potential for coal development in the transboundary Flathead River Valley threatened the ecological integrity of the Crown of the Continent for more than thirty years. Economic benefits from coal mining in British Columbia were pitted against the environmental concerns of poor water quality, endangered species protection, and connectivity issues were of particular interest in Montana. This paper examines the course of coal development proposals in the transboundary valley through government statements, reports, and news sources to track changes in policies or actions that led to a resolution. Tensions between the benefits and burdens of coal development were resolved in …

Understanding Incubator Farms: Innovative Programs In New Farmer Development, Brianna M. Ewert

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

With the average age of farmers climbing close to retirement and an increased demand for locally and sustainably grown food, there is a great need for new and beginning farmers, particularly those engaged in alternative production practices. But the barriers to entry for these new farmers are high; land access, start up costs, finding a spot in the market, and a lack of social support all pose challenges. The last few years have seen an increased interest in supporting beginning farmers and the creation of new programs to do so. Incubator farms are one such promising strategy. Incubator farms are …