Digital Commons Network^™

“The Season Of Famine” As A Challenge To Food Security In Northern Rural Togo: Addressing Seasonal Hunger Through Household Coping Strategies, Jennifer Gorsegner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Improved understanding about food security has led researchers to develop increasingly holistic approaches to studying the effects of household food insecurity. This research, based in the remote prefecture of Dankpen in Togo, West Africa, presents insights into the lives of rural subsistence farmers, the role of population pressures, and the effectiveness of both international and national development work. Originally I wanted to identify positive deviants who were food secure living in the Dankpen prefecture. I conducted group interviews in five villages surrounding the prefectural capital, Guérin-Kouka in December 2009 and January 2010. There was combined total of 61 men and …

Assessing Effects Of An Overwinter Dewatering On The Egg-To-Fry Survival Of Brown Trout In A Montana Stream, Christa Lyn Torrens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Natural instream flow regimes are necessary for the ecological health of streams, including the maintenance of healthy fish populations. Economic interests such as agriculture, mining, and other industries remove water from streams, which can negatively affect fish populations. Wintertime diversions of water affect autumn-spawning salmonids such as brown trout and bull trout; they occur at the critical egg-to-fry development phase, possibly reducing oxygen flow to the eggs and increasing the rate of sub-gravel freezing. This study was designed to examine the effects of a wintertime industrial water diversion on redd building and egg-to-fry survival of wild brown trout in Warm …

Assessing Macroinvertebrate Community Recovery In Post Restoration Silver Bow Creek, Montana, Sean Patrick Sullivan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Since the turn of the twentieth century, mining activities have contaminated the floodplain and streambed of Silver Bow Creek, Montana, resulting in a streambed devoid of life and severely contaminated with heavy metals. In the mid nineteen seventies, up-stream water treatment facilities were upgraded and water quality improved, bringing benthic invertebrates back to reaches of Silver Bow Creek. The extent and concentration of toxicants in and around the streams of the Upper Clark Fork River Basin resulted in the designation of over 100 miles of river as Federal Superfund sites. Since 1999 reclamation and restoration efforts have been implemented on …

An Assessment Of Municipal Water Rights And Water Systems In The Clark Fork River Basin, Jacob Daniel Petersen-Perlman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the semi-arid Inland Northwest, water is undoubtedly the most important natural resource. Western Montana’s Clark Fork River basin is no exception. As the population of western Montana continues to grow, the Clark Fork River basin below the Flathead Indian Reservation is largely in de facto closure to the establishment of new water rights. Communities face a great amount of uncertainty with respect to their ability to establish new water rights to accommodate future growth due to the de facto closure, along with the ongoing adjudication process and the inability for communities to grow into their claimed water rights established …

Cairn Stones: A Mosaic Memoir And Manual, Bethany Mason Taylor

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

These twenty essays are scraps and fractals of larger stories, windows on coming to understand the world and my place in it. Taken as a whole, the collection tells the story of a formation of open-eyed hope. Roughly, they run from 2001 to 2010, covering the same years as the terrorist attacks of 2001, the War on Terror’s beginnings and toll, Hurricane Katrina, and growing awareness of globalization and climate change. These are big topics, and the only way I can make sense of them, and my coming of age within and around them, is to tell the stories of …

Causes And Consequences Of Prolonged Dormancy: Why Stay Belowground?, Jennifer R. Gremer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Prolonged dormancy is a stage in which mature plants fail to resprout during the growing season and instead remain alive belowground. Though it is relatively common, the causes and consequences of this intriguing stage have remained elusive. In this dissertation, I investigate the causes and consequences of prolonged dormancy in a long lived perennial herb, Astragalus scaphoides.

First, I use a combination of demography and ecophysiology to study the proximate mechanisms associated with prolonged dormancy. Analysis of a long-term demographic dataset indicates that both endogenous factors (e.g. age, condition, and history) and exogenous factors (e.g. climate and spatial variation) are …

Irrigators' Vulnerability To Drought In The Flathead River Basin, Montana, Joel Brown Stephen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Irrigation has traditionally been used to buffer the effects of drought in agricultural communities. However, drought events can still lead to drought damage for irrigators by reducing irrigation water supplies, increasing crop water demand, and creating habitats for invasive pests and weeds. Further, drought will be increasingly problematic in irrigated areas as climate change continues to affect global climates and water resources. The Flathead River basin contains substantial areas of irrigated agriculture including the 128,000 acre Flathead Irrigation Project (FIP). The FIP is the largest irrigation project in Montana as well as the largest of the 16 Bureau of Indian …

Identifying Wildlife Crossing Zones For The Prioritization Of Highway Mitigation Measures Along U.S. Highway 2: West Glacier, Mt To Milepost 193, Mike J. Roesch

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Highways have been shown to fragment wildlife habitats and populations. In order to mitigate the effects that highways have on wildlife, it is important to assess where wildlife appear to be moving in close proximity to the highway. I surveyed for wildlife trails that approached either side of a ~64 km stretch U.S. Highway 2 (US-2) and monitored these trails with remote cameras. Ungulates, especially deer, were the most commonly photographed animals on trails. A limited number of photographs were also taken of coyote, black bear, snowshoe hare, wolf, and cougar. Camera images showed that wildlife tended to use roadside …

The Effectiveness Of Trout Habitat Restoration In Eustache Creek, A Formerly Placer-Mined Stream In Western Montana, Emily K. Thompson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Thompson, Emily, Master of Science, July 2010 Environmental Studies The Effectiveness of Trout Habitat Restoration in Eustache Creek, a Formerly Placer-Mined Stream in Western Montana Committee Chair: Dr. Daniel Spencer Aquatic ecosystems in the western U.S. have been severely degraded over the last century by anthropogenic activities such as mining, logging and grazing. Habitat heterogeneity in streams of the western United States has been lost as a result of both in-stream activities (i.e. dredging and straightening channels) and riparian zone activities (i.e. logging and vegetation removal). A commonly stated objective of stream channel restoration projects is to restore stream habitat …

The Faithful Skeptics: Conservative Christian Religious Beliefs And Perceptions Of Climate Change, Wylie Allen Carr

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Global climate change presents one of the most challenging ecological and social problems facing the world today. In order to prevent potentially harmful ecological and social impacts from rising global average temperatures, Americans will need to drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2050; our willingness to do so though is questionable as opinion poll data suggests that addressing climate change remains an extremely low priority for most Americans. Social scientists from across a variety of disciplines have suggested a number of reasons why this may be case; however very few have focused on the ways that religious beliefs are …

The Last Standing Bear: A Documentary Film On The Life And Work Of Charles Jonkel, Shannon Kelly Donahue

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Last Standing Bear: The life and work of Charles Jonkel is a documentary film about Dr. Charles Jonkel, a pioneer of polar bear biology, and his contributions to science, conservation and community. Jonkel was among the first scientists to capture and handle black bears and polar bears, was instrumental in developing international conservation and management strategies for polar bears, and has influenced generations of biologists, conservationists, activists, and students through his scientific research, teaching, advocacy, and character. The Last Standing Bear attempts to interpret Jonkel’s contribution to science, conservation, and community. Using direct cinema, the film examines Jonkel’s life …

Sustaining A Conservation Legacy? An In Depth Perspective On The Interagency Bison Management Plan And The Potential For Collaboration, Jason Alan Brininstool

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Bison management within Yellowstone National Park (YNP), and the later recognized Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), has been a contentious issue since the mid-1900s. At the same time the efforts of Congress and the National Park Service to literally bring the bison back from the brink of extinction qualifies the Yellowstone herd as a symbol of western heritage and culture, the wilderness standard, and one of the greatest victories of the early conservation movement in the United States (Schullery 1986). Currently, there are more than 150,000 bison in the United States, mostly contained in heavily managed reserves or on private ranches. …

Geographilia In Children's Urban Spaces: Investigating How Children Explore Outdoor Places And Connect With Natural Objects., Jeanine Sandra Garella

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

ABSTRACT Garella, Jeanine Sandra, M.A., Autumn 2010 Geography Geographilia in Children’s Urban Spaces: Investigating How Children Explore Outdoor Places and Connect With Natural Objects Chairperson: Jeffrey A. Gritzner The benefits children receive from outdoor play time are well documented by scholars across many disciplines. Interacting within an unstructured natural setting can foster physical, social, emotional, and spiritual growth. The lessons learned in such an environment not only help children reach developmental milestones; they also play an important role in the formation of beliefs and attitudes used in decision-making processes later in life. This is a significant point to make when …

Rooted: A New Generation Of Farmers And Ranchers In Montana, Beth Jeannette Gibson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Rooted tells the stories of a new generation of farmers and ranchers in Montana through still photography and written profiles; the project is the result of 13 site visits and interviews. I define “new farmer” as a person operating their own agricultural business for 10 years or fewer, though this definition gets blurred and complicated when referring to people who return to their family’s farm or ranch. Admittedly, this project features only a few of the beginning farmers and ranchers in Montana. My intention is not to provide an exhaustive study of the next generation of farmers and ranchers in …

Exploring Perspectives On Landscape And Language Among Kaike Speakers In Dolpa, Nepal, Corrie Maya Daurio

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The majority of the world’s languages are in danger of extinction within this century. Of the more than 6000 languages in the world, 4000-5000 are spoken by Indigenous peoples. Accompanying the loss of languages is the loss of the capacity for these peoples to transmit those aspects of their environmental knowledge systems which are embedded and expressed in their languages. The Kaike speakers of Tichurong in Dolpa, Nepal represent one of these endangered language communities, with approximately 800 speakers remaining. The purpose of this research was to engage Kaike speakers in an exploration of the relationships among their language, environment, …

Forever Wild: Journeys Through The North Fork, Gregory Merrill Deschaine Peters

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The North Fork of the Flathead River runs for eighty-five miles, starting in southeastern British Columbia and ending in Flathead Lake in northwestern Montana. The river flows through a rugged valley that plays a vital role in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. In the United States, the North Fork is Glacier National Park’s western boundary. It is a National Wild and Scenic River and a critical migratory route for an amazing array of wild animals. There is no electricity on either side of the border except for the southernmost fifteen miles in the U.S., and the only access from …

Recreation Allocations On National Forests: The Claims And Frames Of Recreationists, John C. Adams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

While demand for outdoor recreation experiences on national forests is increasing, many existing recreation allocations on national forests are outdated or jeopardize the environment. Accordingly, the U.S. Forest Service is revisiting recreation allocations on many national forests. The Forest Service is not guided by any clear policy regarding the appropriate method or rationale for making allocations between incompatible experience opportunities, or what criteria should be considered in allocating particular trails and areas. Instead individual decisionmakers must make judgments between competing claims advanced by different types of recreationists.

This project was designed to facilitate understanding of the claims that recreationists make …

Restoration Of Native Plant Communities After Road Decommissioning: Effect Of Seed Mix And Soil Properties On Vegetative Establishment, Ashley Stevenson Grant

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Road decommissioning is increasingly recognized as a critical first step in the restoration of terrestrial and aquatic habitats. In the past two years alone, the United States Congress has appropriated $90 million for road removal and watershed restoration. Despite this relatively large public investment, little is known about the efficacy or ecological effects of road-removal practices. One particularly important issue is the impact of post-road-removal revegetation strategies. This study evaluated 1) short-term effects of road decommissioning on plant community composition, 2) effects of seed-mix seed origin (native vs. nonnative), species diversity, and seeding density on vegetative establishment, and 3) impact …

Rural Subdivision Planning In Missoula County, Montana: A Planner's Perspective, John Michael Newman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Missoula County, Montana, located in the western portion of the state along its border with Idaho, consists of the City of Missoula and a number of unincorporated population centers extending outward from the urban area. The former benefits from typical urban services and faces land use planning issues typical of city locales, including public transportation, brownfields and infill development, and enhancement of the urban core. The latter areas, by virtue of their rural nature, are the subject of an entirely different series of land use planning conversations. The unincorporated areas of the county, in towns such as Seeley Lake, Florence, …

Cumulative Effects Analysis In U.S. Forest Service Decision-Making, Courtney Allison Schultz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation investigates the U.S. Forest Service's (USFS) implementation of the cumulative effects analysis (CEA) requirement under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The CEA regulation requires federal agencies to provide an analysis of environmental effects, with consideration of past, present, and foreseeable future actions by both public and private parties, often on broad geographic scales. Studies in the late 1990's found that compliance with CEA requirement was highly variable across agencies. Of late, judicial enforcement of the CEA requirement has been on the rise with the USFS the focal agency in the majority of decisions.

This study investigates USFS …

“It Is A Strange Thing For Us To See Water Being Sold”: Local Perceptions Of The Fijian Bottled Water Industry, Jessica Dawn Ulrich

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite the availability of affordable, clean water from taps in our homes, increasing numbers of people are willing to pay for the convenience of portable water, and to consume bottled water imported from an exotic location, such as Fiji. Consequently, FIJI Water, an American-owned multinational corporation, now constitutes approximately 29 percent of Fiji’s domestic exports. An important question that no one has asked to date is how do stakeholders in Fiji make sense of the rapidly growing bottled water industry? Examining how water is changing from a natural entitlement to a commodity throughout the world, and exploring how this is …

“No Hay Guerra Y No Hay Dinero” There Is No War, And There Is No Money: A Case Study Of The Organic Coffee And Ecotourism Programs Of Uca Miraflor, Nicaragua, Jeffrey Alan Gutierrez

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the face of persisting unequal relations between the global North and South, what strategies can rural Southern peasants use to ensure the protection of their livelihoods and resources? The Union of Agribusiness Cooperatives (UCA) in Miraflor, Nicaragua has developed and implemented organic coffee and ecotourism programs designed to sustain local peoples’ land and the health of the population as well as providing long-term economic diversification. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of these programs in providing actual long-term economic, ecological, and social benefits, as well as regular income, to members involved in the organic coffee and ecotourism programs. Through in-depth …

Assessing Efforts To Reduce Sediment Impacts In Cottonwood Creek, Blackfoot Basin, Montana, Natalie Regina Marie Shapiro

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis assesses efforts to reduce sediment impacts in Cottonwood Creek, a tributary to the Blackfoot River in western Montana. The first objective evaluated trade-offs in stream crossing improvements regarding short-term sediment impacts versus long-term reductions in sediment load from road surface erosion and possible culvert failures. Suspended sediment and turbidity measurements were taken during spring snowmelt the year before and after a culvert replacement by a bridge, and during the replacement activity. The two study years were typical snowmelt years; i.e., 2- and 4-year return intervals, based on a ten-year USGS period of record. Culvert fill and road surface …

Assessing The Performance Of Sampling Designs For Measuring Abundance Of Understory Plants After Forest Restoration, Ilana Abrahamson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Accurate estimation of the responses of understory plants to natural and anthropogenic disturbance is essential for understanding efficacy and non-target effects of management and restoration activities. However, ability to assess changes in abundance of understory plants that result from disturbance may be hampered by inappropriate sampling methodologies. Conventional methods for sampling understory plants may be robust for common, well-distributed species, but may fail to adequately characterize the abundance of less-common species, which are often the taxa of management concern. I tested conventional and novel approaches to sampling understory plants to determine their efficacy (in terms of number of replicates and …

An Investigation Of Spatial And Temporal Variability In Several Of Montana's Reference Streams: Working Toward A More Holistic Management Strategy, Kathryn Elizabeth Makarowski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water temperature is a physical property that fundamentally affects stream ecology and is considered an important water quality parameter from scientific and legal view points. On global, catchment and reach scales, anthropogenic activities have substantially altered natural stream temperature regimes, impairing these systems’ ability to maintain ecological integrity. Thermal degradation often can be attributed to a variety of human activities, and global climate change, which has been accelerated by the demands of an exponentially expanding human population, will play a central role in defining stream temperature regimes in the future. Natural spatial and temporal variability in stream temperatures adds to …

Leftovers: A Search For The Freegan Ideal, Emily Darrell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract. Abstract optional for professional papers.

Monitoring Noxious Weeds Invasions In Riparian Areas Following Livestock Exclusion Of The Upper Big Hole River Valley: Adaptive Management Under The Candidate Conservation Agreement With Assurances Project, Ana Ingrid Pederson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As a 2008 summer intern working for the Nature Conservancy, I arrived in the Big Hole Valley and was introduced to an innovative federal land management program initiated to benefit government land managers, local ranchers, and the general public while increasing ecological integrity in the valley and recovering the fluvial Arctic grayling species. The government program offered funding assistance to local ranchers for conservation projects that would help recover the species, but the landowner had to agree to a few stipulations; among them are riparian enclosures fenced for 5 years to exclude all domestic grazing. The goal of this project …

One Last Chance, Michael Quist Kautz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Non-fiction essays

On This Piece Of Ground: Landowner Perceptions Of Restoration In The Deer Lodge Valley, Sarah Carvill

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As politicians tout a new �restoration economy� and environmentalists seek more innovative ways to conserve open space and rehabilitate degraded ecosystems, ecological restoration holds increasing cachet in many western states. To what extent do restorationists� visions align with the experiences of the rural agricultural communities where restoration is taking place? How might restoration initiatives driven by state and federal policy and by environmental interests meaningfully involve and include the people who live alongside proposed projects? I attempted to answer these questions by examining local involvement in restoration in one Montana watershed. Facing a major Superfund cleanup with a high-profile restoration …

The Postmortem Interval: A Systematic Study Of Pig Decomposition In West Central Montana, Hillary Renee' Parsons

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The postmortem interval (PMI) is an important piece of information used by forensic and criminal investigators to help investigate crimes and other unattended deaths. Time since death estimations assist law enforcement in providing a reference with which to compare a suspects alibi, identify victims of crime, and solve cases. Studies of decomposition have been conducted at the University of Tennessee’s Anthropological Research Facility in Knoxville, TN; however, decomposition at high altitude climates characterized by colder temperatures and arid conditions is poorly understood. Further, the lack of postmortem interval studies in west central Montana has hindered the investigation and identification of …