Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Living Among Wildlife: Elevating Human-Wildlife Interactions And Coexistence, Bridget Rebecca Murphy

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

After a semester of learning, both in class and in nature, my writing honed in further on this human-nature divide. To me, I see humans as part of nature – as we are mammals, animals, part of the food chain, biological beings no higher than others on our planet. We have simply constructed this false narrative around us within our societies, minds and media that embeds this division between us and nature, between us and wildlife. Humans have been managing, stewarding, living off and within landscapes for thousands of years. As time and technology evolved, a lot of people began …

Approaches And Tools To Solving Complex Problems In Private Land Conservation, John T. Curnyn

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The central theme throughout my four portfolio pieces is: approaches and tools that can be used to address complex problems involving private land conservation. I consider the broader human and environmental community health to be factors in successful private land conservation. The first portfolio piece examines a number of studies of conservation easements implemented to improve water quality, as well as their utility in avoiding land use conflict. My second portfolio piece is a reflective paper on my experience conducting a stakeholder assessment for the organization OneMontana. The assessment focused on creating a shared understanding of the issues related to …

Between Tradition And Transformation: A Feminist Investigation Of The Role Of Pastoral Women Within Tanzania's Integrated Environment And Development Landscape, Kelli Erin Rogers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Pastoral women hold pivotal social and environmental roles within their communities. Equally and actively engaging pastoral women in processes to conserve and sustainably use rangeland resources has therefore become an important focus for integrated environment and development intervention. In northern Tanzania, pastoral women find themselves at the center of gender equality efforts, which attempt to translate gender and environment theory into conservation action that elevates pastoral women’s historically unheard voices. Along the way, particular global narratives have positioned pastoral women alternately as passive beneficiaries or as powerful allies in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. Although the importance of integrating …

"Our Loons": Participant Attachments And Motivations Within A Community-Based Monitoring Program, Taylor Tewksbury

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Organizations can benefit from understanding person-place relationships and volunteer motivations as they recruit and sustain involvement in their community-based monitoring (CBM) programs. Place attachment, or the bond between people and their meaningful environments, is one lens through which to explore these relationships. Past studies have associated place attachment with environmentally responsible behaviors (ERB), such as CBM involvement. However, few studies have explored the relationship between place attachment and CBM in the context of volunteers’ attachment to the species of study.

The purpose of this research study was to explore the place-based relationships and motivations among volunteers of the Loon Preservation …

Barriers To Outdoor Recreation For Marginalized Groups At The University Of Montana, Sabine R. Englert, Beatrix Frissell, Adrienne Liebert, Sophia Rodriquez, Margaret Jensen, Rachana Harris, Abby Doss

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Exclusion from outdoor recreation reflects legacies of oppression of marginalized communities and makes access to the outdoors not equally available. In the United States, approximately 38% of Black Americans and 48% of Hispanic Americans participated in outdoor recreation in 2020. This is compared to 55% participation among Caucasian Americans. Many other intersecting identities are actively excluded, including people with disabilities, fat populations, and members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community; furthermore, class-based hierarchies are shown through the restricted outdoor access of low-income populations.

While numerous studies show a lack of diversity in outdoor recreation, little to no research has been conducted on …

Keep Working Hands On Working Land, Elyse Caiazzo

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Strategies for Effective Farmland Transitions, Succession Planning, and Landowner Education

Co-Op To Cafeteria: Building A Food Value Chain For Farm To School, Blake D. Lineweaver

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The central theme of this M.S. Environmental Studies portfolio considers farm-to-school as a medium for food system transformation within an innovative regional partnership of producer-owned food hubs and a state education agency. The portfolio consists of three main elements.

The first element is a literature review that examines the holistic farm-to-school model, with a particular focus on local food procurement.

The second element is a strategic communications plan, which was developed as part of an internship project with the Northwest Food Hub Network and the Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center. The aim of this plan is to promote value-added products …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: An Exploration Of Wastewater Issues And Possible Solutions In And Out Of Montana, Keely I. Larson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Larson, Keely, M.A., Spring 2023

Major:Environmental and Natural Resources Journalism

Out of sight, out of mind: An exploration of wastewater issues and possible solutions in and out of Montana

Chairperson: Dennis Swibold

Co-Chairpersons: Nadia White, Sarah Halvorson

This is a master’s project, featuring three stories, linked in theme. The first starts with a nationally scoped story about septic systems in resort towns and what happens when too many people want to visit areas like Cape Cod, the Florida Keys or, more locally, Seeley Lake, and overwhelm waste disposal methods. Often in these areas that are more remote, septic systems …

In The Weeds, Bianca J. Jensen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Links To Cancer: How Golf Became Dangerous And What We Can Do To Save The Game, Meredith Boos

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This study is a comprehensive meta-analysis on health claims linked to exposure to golf courses, more specifically the chemicals used to maintain their appearance. It provides a brief history of the golf industry and how its growth exacerbated the environmental impact as well as an explanation of the legal landscape that will affect golf course management. Golf courses can disrupt local ecologies, contaminate ground water, rivers, lakes and streams with run-off, and be responsible for the bioaccumulation of chemicals which remain dangerous for decades. Despite the adverse effects of golf courses on the environment, there remains an opportunity to transform …

Welcome To The Farm, Elani Ben-Gabriel Borhegyi

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The purpose of this creative scholarship is to examine human relationships to Earth and the implications for a thriving future. This thesis studies the current environmental state of our planet, then looks at sustainability as a model for improving human and planetary health, and ends by visualizing a thriving future beyond sustainability in which we adopt a “caretaker” culture. The key to this trajectory is to untangle and dismantle colonial relationships with the planet and replace them with “caretaker” relationships - relationships rooted in love, honor, and reciprocity with environmental connection, while taking into account past, present, and future generations …

Firewise Landscaping: Homeowner Knowledge, Behaviors And Educational Preferences, Kendal Beauvais, Rowan Grassi, Frederick Gleasman

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Although wildfire is a natural process in fire-adapted forests, it poses growing socioeconomic and health threats. Urban development and expansion into the wildland-urban interface (WUI) has heightened wildfire exposure, putting tens of thousands of homes at risk in Montana alone. The Firewise USA program was created to reduce the risk of home ignition and loss in the WUI. The program encourages WUI homeowners to engage in mitigation efforts such as using Firewise landscaping strategies to create a defensible zone around their homes and using building materials that decrease overall ignition risk. Despite strong evidence that Firewise mitigation strategies are effective, …