Digital Commons Network^™

Between Harsha And Harira: Moroccan Women’S Relationships To Food And Kitchenspace, Lillie Greiman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The research presented in this thesis grapples with questions concerning the gendered and spatial aspects of food culture and “kitchenspace” in Fez, Morocco. The everyday geographies of urban women in Fez, Morocco are closely connected to local food systems and food spaces. Food spaces like the kitchen are where women’s complex relationships to food and gender identity are revealed. Kitchens are spaces where women negotiate gender identity and where specialized knowledge (concerning food and gender) is applied, shared, and transferred from one generation to the next. Critical knowledge concerning gender and identity is communicated through food and food systems. This …

Upper South Fork Of The Flathead Users: What Social Setting Attributes Are The Most Important?, Forest Waters Moulton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Previous research has shown that wilderness visitors place much value on an uncrowded social recreation setting. However, the current indicators that the Flathead National Forest has implemented to monitor this setting on the upper South Fork of the Flathead River may not satisfy several of the qualities of a good indicators, particularly “significance.” In an attempt to recommend new indicators to monitor opportunities for quality experience within this social setting, this study assessed the significance or importance of several alternative social setting attributes. It also attempted to provide meaningful qualifications to these evaluations by analyzing variation in three concepts associated …

Savingthewildplaces.Org, Ann E. Fleischli

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract Purpose The focus of this professional paper is the description of both collaborative and individual efforts to save a wild place, the Rocky Mountain Front (RMF) in Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana. The purpose of doing that is to provide an example that others could use to save their own beloved wild place, wherever that might be. Methods The description includes the formation of the Friends of the Front in the late 1970s by Gene Sentz and Roy Jacobs. The group, now a coalition with three major environmental organizations, continues its activities in April 2012, the date …

The Importance Of Water-Based Ecosystem Services Derived From The Shoshone National Forest, Christopher Aden Armatas

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

There is a wide range of goods and services being provided to humans by water resources (e.g. hydropower and recreation), but there is also a diversity of stakeholders that require or desire these benefits, also known as water-based ecosystem services, for everyday life. Land managers working for the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service in the semi-arid Rocky Mountain Region are tasked with the difficult job of managing scarce water resources in the face of competing human pressures and natural forces (e.g. climate change). Water management decisions on public lands can potentially impact the availability of a wide range …

Are Perceptions Reality? A Look At Subjective Well-Being In East Timor, Emily Klungtvedt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Subjective well-being has been of growing interest over the past several years for multiple reasons. One reason is that this model gives an idea of the importance of the determinants (education, employment, etc.) of individual life satisfaction. But the question arises, does the relative importance of each explanatory variable in the subjective well-being model match the relative importance of individual’s perceptions of the most important factors to increase overall life satisfaction? For example, if the model suggests that employment status is the most important factor for improving subjective well-being do people perceive this to be true as well? This study …

Mapping A Historic Bitterroot Valley, Montana Landscape Using General Land Office Surveyors' Field Notes, Karen M. Shelly

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The late 1800s Bitterroot Valley, Montana, landscape and settlement patterns were summarized and mapped using the General Land Office (GLO) surveyors' field notes. Surveyors' observations of six townships from Hamilton to the Stevensville vicinity were examined in several ways. A total of 3321 points of ecological and geographic information and 422 miles of vegetation were mapped from the field notes. Surveyor information, vegetation composition, tree abundance, vegetation spatial structure and distribution of vegetation types were characterized in a multi-part historic vegetation data assemblage of point, line and polygon feature classes. Aquatic, topographic and cultural aspects of the area contributed to …

Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreaks In High Elevation Whitebark Pine Forests: The Effects Of Tree Host Species And Blister Rust Infection Severity On Beetle Productivity, Edith Mary Dooley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In recent years, the mountain pine beetle (MPB, Dendroctonus ponderosae) has caused dramatic levels of mortality of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis). This keystone and foundation tree species is also being killed by the exotic fungus, Cronartium ribicola, which causes the disease white pine blister rust (WPBR). This study examines MPB productivity in whitebark pine compared to that in lodgepole pine, and also in whitebark pine of varying WPBR infection severities to determine if either of these host factors contributes to the current, dramatic MPB outbreaks in whitebark pine. To evaluate host tree effects on MPB, I tracked attack densities, emergence …

Tradewinds And Traditions: Exploring The Archaeology Of German Gulch, William Travis Norman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The German Gulch Archaeological Collection, a result of archaeological investigation at German Gulch by Butte, Montana cultural resource management firm GCM and the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest during the late 1980s and early 1990s, represents a unique opportunity to explore ethnic relationships in rural Montana mining communities during the last half of the 19th century. The German Gulch site was a location of cultural interaction, between Overseas Chinese, European, and European American communities all focused on mining the mineral resources of the gulch. The collection presents an opportunity to test assumptions about bounded ethnic relationships as well as the process of …

Quantifying Glacier-Derived Summer Runoff In Northwest Montana, Adam Michael Clark

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Glacier National Park, located in northwest Montana contains the second largest concentration of glaciers in the U.S. Rocky Mountains. However, total glacier-covered area has shrunk by almost 30% over the past 50 years. This has important implications for local glacier-fed streams, especially during the typically hot and dry summer month of August. This study is the first attempt to quantify the volume of glacier meltwater entering local streams. We simulate glacier-melt generation during the summers of 2009 and 2010 using a modified temperature-index model that includes solar radiation as input. The model was calibrated with data from weather stations installed …

Rethinking Drought: Planning For Water Scarcity And Climate Variability In The Clark Fork Basin Of Montana, Molly Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this thesis is to capture experiences of past drought and concerns for future drought conditions in the Clark Fork River Basin of western Montana. These findings could be used to inform drought planning in the Clark Fork River Basin and to guide basin-wide drought planning in the American West. This thesis challenges the assumption of using drought to frame the issue of water deficiency. Deficiencies in precipitation, as a product of natural climate variability, have always existed and will always exist. Water scarcity, on the other hand, is when climate variability and human factors contribute to the …

Theater As A Medium Of Healing: A Critical Analysis Of Copper Thunderbird By Marie Clements, Anna Dulba-Barnett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The idea of the healing power of theater reaches back to Aristotle and his concept of catharsis. Greek philosopher states that tragedy “with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its katharsis of such emotions.” The process of catharsis is interpreted as purification or purging of the audience members’ strong emotions as a response to the dramatic action taking place on stage. Today very few western theater practitioners mention that particular aspect of theater in their artistic manifestoes. Yet in Native American theater narratives of illness and healing are ever present. The need for change, and faith in the …

An Analysis Of Demographic And Socio-Economic Change In The Clark Fork Watershed Between 2000 And 2010, Benjamin C. Brewer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Over the past several decades, noticeable socio-economic changes have occurred in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States, most notably with regard to rapid population growth and concurrent land development. Scholars find this to be characteristic of a transition from the Old West of resource production and extraction to a New West of landscape consumption. This thesis uses indicators of socio-economic changes associated with the New West such as rapid population growth caused by amenity migration to examine changes in the Clark Fork watershed between 2000 and 2010. Using census and economic data, several categories of demographic, economic, and …

Coming To The Surface: The Environment, Health, And Culture In Butte, Montana, Stacie Lynn Barry

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Butte is a small town in southwest Montana that was profoundly shaped by over a century of mining and smelting activities. Today, Butte is a post-industrial city that is the focal point of America's largest Superfund site as well as the nation's largest National Historic District. There are two types of remediation occurring in Butte: environmental and cultural. Environmental remediation occurs throughout the city, most notably at the operable units of the Butte Superfund sites. This remediation does not restore the environment to its original state but instead reclaims it to a level of risk deemed acceptable by the EPA. …

Fire-On-Fire Interactions In Three Large Wilderness Areas, Casey Teske

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Current knowledge about wildfire occurrence is not complete. Fire researchers and managers hold the assumption that previous wildfires affect subsequent wildfires; however, research regarding the interactions of large wildfires at their common boundaries is missing from the literature. This research focuses on understanding the influence of previous large wildfires on subsequent large wildfires in three wilderness areas: The Greater Bob Marshall, the Selway-Bitterroot, and the Frank Church. Data from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project, which mapped large wildfires in the western United States occurring since 1984, are used for the research. The combination of using wilderness areas …

How Ch-Paa-Qn Got It's Name: A Sixth-Grade Geography Curriculum Unit For Indian Education For All In Montana, Mary Elizabeth Nellis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Nellis, Mary, M.A., Summer 2013 Geography How Ch-Paa-Qn Got Its Name: A Sixth-Grade Geography Curriculum Unit for Indian Education for All in Montana Chair: Sarah J. Halvorson This thesis reports on the design and implementation of a sixth-grade geography curriculum based on Montana House Bill 412 (HB412), a bill whereby the legislature mandated the removal of the word “squaw” from public places in Montana. The framework for this unit is founded on place-based education principles and is tailored to fit within the concepts of Indian Education for All as mandated in the Montana State Constitution. Furthermore, as a place-based unit …

Down Low Under The Big Sky, Amee Marie Schwitters

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Often synonymous with the rural environment is a sense of a heteronormativity and pervasive homophobia. Despite stories of gay men fleeing rural, conservative areas for larger, more accepting cities, not all men have chosen to leave. Some have chosen to quietly maintain their identity, modifying their sexual schemata in response to the desire to stay within the rural cultural environment. It is known that homophobia and stigmatization of same-sex sexual acts regulate a person's ability to be open about their sexual encounters, but exactly how they influence the daily lives of down low men who have sex with men (MSM) …

Evaluating Repeat Photography In Documenting Natural And Cultural Landscape Changes: A Changing Crown Of The Continent Ecosystem Between 1899 And 2010, Dusty Leigh Waltner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Photography can be an invaluable tool in human geographical research, for example, to better understand the importance of place to people. Increasingly, geographers are looking at how photography can play an active role in the construction of geographical knowledge, that is, how photographs are seen rather than what they show. This study examines the use of repeat photography as a research method by conducting a case study on landscape change in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. Grounded in extensive archival research on the past, present, and future uses of photography as a research method, a repeat photography survey was …

A Case Study Of Problems And Possibilities In The Establishment Of A Guide Training Institute In Uttarakhand, India, Benjamin Schwartz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project sought to explore the problems and possibilities experienced during the establishment of a guide training institute in Uttarakhand, India. As originally proposed by the Mountain Shepherds Initiative, a small tourism organization based in Uttarakhand, the aim of the guide training institute was to provide participants with the knowledge and skills needed to gain employment as guides within, and expand the extent of, high quality/low quantity birdwatching tourism within northern Uttarakhand. This project was undertaken in conjunction with the Mountain Shepherds Initiative and the problems and possibilities were identified during a six month stay in the region from May-November, …

Assessing Efficacy Of Restoration Treatments In Juniper Savannas Using Spatial Wavelets And Dot Grids On Aerial Photography, Erik James Apland

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Across much of their diverse natural range in the Western US, species of the genus juniperus are expanding onto open grass and shrublands and infilling open woodland areas. In Southern Arizona’s Clifton Ranger District, landscape-scale restoration treatments have been used to stall this expansion and reduce canopy-cover. This study utilizes and compares two techniques – dot- grid sampling and spatial wavelet analysis (SWA) – to estimate the efficacy of these treatments by measuring canopy-cover change pre-and post-treatment. Further, using the SWA dataset, the study explores the potential of SWA for landscape-scale ecological attribute estimation. This study found that restoration treatments …

Comparison Of Distance Education Leadership Styles And Future Investment In Two-Year Colleges, Ryan R. Schrenk

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This foundational descriptive quantitative study examined leadership styles, traits of distance education leaders (e.g. VPs, Deans, Directors and Coordinators) and distance education program characteristics as well as funding priorities at the post-secondary level. Participants were subjected to Bass and Avolio's Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5X), which identified leadership characteristics as transformational, transactional or passive-avoidant as manifest by nine scales as follows: Individualized Influence Attributes, Individualized Influence Behavior, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, Individualized Consideration, Contingent Reward, Active Management-by-Exception, Passive Management-by-Exception and Laissez-Faire. In addition, the questionnaire further assessed leadership outcomes scaled as Extra Effort, Effectiveness and Satisfaction.

There were 55 respondents from …

Effects Of Different Canopy Tree Species On Belowground Biogeochemistry In A Wet Lowland Tropical Forest, Adrienne Blair Keller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Tropical rain forests are known for their tremendous biological diversity, but the effects of plant diversity on important ecosystem processes remain unclear. Interspecies differences in both the demand for nutrients and in foliar nutrient concentrations could drive differences in litter chemistry that affect both pools and fluxes of belowground resources. Yet, our understanding of the effects of aboveground biogeochemical heterogeneity on belowground ecosystems is poor, especially in the species-rich forests of the wet tropics. To investigate the effects of tree species diversity on belowground biogeochemical processes, I examined how carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycles vary under canopy …

Future Potential Net Primary Production Trends Of Contiguous United States Rangelands, Adam Lasalle Moreno

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Rangelands are an important ecosystem covering nearly 24% of the earth’s terrestrial vegetation. Climate change is predicted to affect many of the factors that influence the production of rangeland vegetation. Understanding future trends and patterns in net primary production (NPP) requires projected potential NPP to better understand how rangelands will be affected by a changing climate. Here, I used climate data projected from a global climate model (GCM) to drive the biogeochemical model (Biome-BGC) in an attempt to simulate future potential NPP trends in rangelands of the contiguous United States from 2001-2100 on a 100 km2 scale. In response to …

Strange Vicissitudes: The Memory And Uses Of Indian Captivity In The Progressive Era, Molly Kathleen Burnett Varley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

After the official closure of the frontier in 1890, small town boosters searched for ways to prove their participation in the national development on the frontier, to validate policies that promoted the Americanization of Native Americans, and to record for posterity their role as the vital hinge between past and present.

In seeking to understand the role of tales of Indian captivity in the national cultural identity, historians and scholars have usually focused on narratives from before 1890 or films after the turn of the century, virtually ignoring the tales reprinted during the Progressive Era. Yet as the danger of …

Cultural Landscapes In Conflict: Addressing The Interests And Landscape Perceptions Of Native Americans, The National Park Service, And The American Public In National Parks, Emily Anne Eide

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Prayer and Fasting Project of 2010 from Glacier National Park produced startling results indicating that many areas which have cultural significance to Native American peoples have been adversely impacted by national park recreationalists. This thesis addresses the significance of these impacts along with other management issues associated with conflicting landscape perceptions of national park lands. These concerns are explored through the examination of past and present archaeological theories along with cultural resource management approaches to landscapes. The need to identify and consider different cultural perceptions of landscapes in research and management scenarios is stressed throughout this work. The inclusion …

Distribution, Use And Cultural Meanings Of Ciprés De Las Guaitecas In The Vicinity Of Caleta Tortel, Chile, Kyla Sara Zaret

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examined the changing roles of ciprés de las Guaitecas (Pilgerodendron uviferum) in the lives and livelihoods of Tortel community members. A political ecology framework built on concepts of power, scale and social construction was used to problematize the availability of the tree as a resource by revealing the multiple, contrasting perspectives of different socio-political actors. National and international policy documents were analyzed in order to uncover the discourses that drive decision-making at those scales. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore local people’s knowledge, perceptions and opinions regarding the difficulties they face in accessing and utilizing …

From Camping To Permanence: A History Of Montana Mobile And Manufactured Homes, Zoe Ann Stoltz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines the history of Montanans use and perceptions of manufactured homes. Nationally, manufactured housing has enjoyed a dynamic historic and social evolution, as revealed by federal, state, and local documents, newspaper reports, periodicals, and interviews. Yet, manufactured housing struggles to escape its mobile origins and the negative stereotypes acquired during its rich history. In Montana, the housing form has experienced unprecedented success, both as transportable housing in the boom and bust cycles of the State as well as permanent housing. Montana’s rural population has embraced mobile home’s convenience and affordability. However, public misperceptions persist despite its success as …

Retracing The 1910 Carruthers Royal Geographical Society Expedition To The Turgen Mountains Of Mongolia – Reconstruction Of A Century Of Glacial Change, Kevin Gregory Mcmanigal

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Turgen Mountains lie in northwestern Mongolia, roughly 80 kilometers south of the Russian border. The area was visited in 1910 by a Royal Geographical Society (RGS) expedition led by Douglas Carruthers. They undertook an extensive survey of the range and produced a detailed topographic map. They also documented the extent of the glaciers with photographs. This modern study consisted of three phases. The first step was to procure the historical documents from the RGS in London, including copies of the photos, journal entries, and the map. Field work in Mongolia entailed traveling to the remote study site and retracing …

Creating An Image, Shaping A Destination In Chachapoyas, Peru, Charles Hoadley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines the place image of the Chachapoyas region in northern Peru by identifying themes found in tourism guidebooks and websites. Photographs and written descriptions of Chachapoyas were found to emphasize certain features of the region while avoiding or hiding others. To further inform the discussion of the place image of Chachapoyas interviews were conducted with international tourists visiting the region. These interviews indicate that Chachapoyas does not have the same level of recognition as sites in southern Peru. The purveyors of representations of Chachapoyas have tried to appropriate the intrigue of a place myth characterized by lost civilizations …

Opportunities And Constraints To Community Forests For Local Income Generation And Livelihood: A Case Study Of Four Community Forests In Bumthang District, Bhutan, Wangchuk Dorji

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Bhutan has had an active community forestry program since 2000. A key feature of the nationally organized program is the devolution of forest management and use to local residents who participate in a “Community Forestry Management Groups” (CFMG) for managing nearby community forests (CF) according to rules developed by the Department of Forests. These groups are responsible for developing and implementing community forest management plans that entitle them to use locally valuable forest products (fuel wood, construction timber, mushrooms, bamboo etc). Most recently CFMGs have been given the right to sell forest products from their CFs that are not needed …

Elizabeth Bishop's Photographic Poetics: The Peripheral Vision, Lise Lalonde

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Elizabeth Bishop‘s poetics of description has been the object of numerous critical studies. These most often focus on questions of observation, positioning, framing, and refer to Bishop‘s aesthetics as ―optical poetics.‖ Instead of simply using optical vocabulary to talk about her work, I found that comparing her practice and the aesthetics of photography would help to illuminate our understanding of the restraint and yet strength of her work. This interdisciplinary approach allows me to answer very important questions: how does one make images with words? How does one palliate the inadequacies of the written word in the field of description? …