Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons^™

Economic Contributions Of The Yellowstone River To Park County, Montana, Jeremy L. Sage

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

On August 19, 2016, Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) instituted a temporary emergency closure on a large extent of the Yellowstone River and its tributaries between the northern Yellowstone National Park boundary near Gardiner, MT and Laurel, MT, about 183 miles downriver. The closure applied to all water based recreation uses on the affected rivers and streams. FWP’s actions followed the identification of the presence of an invasive parasite known to cause proliferative kidney disease in mountain whitefish. FWP’s decision to institute the temporary closure was based not only on the observed presence of the parasite, but …

(Re)Localizing Finland’S Foodshed: Grassroots Movements In Food Distribution And Urban Agriculture, Sophia E. Albov

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Finland’s agricultural landscape and food production systems have deep societal roots and intimate connections to the Finnish cultural identity. The thesis explores this cultural heritage through an examination of grassroots food distribution networks rapidly diffusing across Finland and an examination of urban agricultural practices in the capital city of Helsinki. This thesis aims to address the following questions: (1) What is the role of grassroots food distribution networks in Finland, and to what extent are they creating alternative farmer-consumer linkages that support eating local? (2) How is urban agriculture structured and organized in Helsinki and within the broader context of …

Perceptions Of Climate Change And Water Governance Vulnerability In The Aysén Region Of Chile, Michal I. Helman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

While the majority of Chile’s intact watersheds are located in the largely uninhabited southern Patagonia regions of the country, the majority of the Chilean population lives in the nation’s parched central regions. In the face of recent trends in climatic change, including dramatic decreases in snowpack, diminishing glaciers, and shifts in precipitation cycles and seasons, mountain contributions to local watersheds are predicted to continue dwindling as aridification worsens around the world and throughout Chile. Problems associated with aridification are further complicated by Chile’s water history, which has largely revolved around the nation’s fresh water caches subject to private claims and …

Rural Food Procurement Strategies And Attitudes Towards Food Sourcing: A Case Study Of Boulder Town, Utah, Jane R. Philips

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Today, while the United States continues to boast one of the highest standards of living in the world, rural communities suffer from an inability to acquire sufficient healthy food. Rural food systems have undergone a substantial transition over the last 50 years causing previously agricultural regions to now depend heavily on outside food sources. It should not be so hard to consume food produced within these rural communities, yet it is.

Researchers relying on secondary data analysis from national scale databases may identify rural areas as “low food access,” however, gaps in available records inhibit the development of a full …

Raising Grain In Next Year Country: Dryland Farming, Drought, And Adaptation In The Golden Triangle, Montana, Caroline M. Stephens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change has already and will likely continue to impact agriculture in the Western United States, threatening water supplies for both irrigated and rainfed agriculture (Calzadilla et al. 2010; Chambers and Pellant 2008; MacDonald et al. 2010; Pedersen et al. 2009). In the Golden Triangle, a region in north central Montana, known for its dryland grain production, the same is true. There is a need for in-depth, fine-grained, place-based, and qualitative research about the process of climate change adaptation in agriculture (Miller et al. 2013). Drought challenges farmers in the Triangle, which is semiarid and receives 10-15 inches of annual …

Economic And Policy Factors Driving The Adoption Of Institutional Woody Biomass Heating Systems In The United States, Jesse D. Young

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

New biomass combustion technologies and adequate biomass supplies have empowered the United States (U.S.) to look beyond satisfying heating needs with traditional fossil-based fuels, but biomass heating is often overlooked by many commercial and institutional entities. This study uses county level Zero Inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) cross sectional regression analyses to identify economic factors that are favorable to the adoption of decentralized woody biomass heating systems by institutions in the U.S. In addition, biomass policy efficacy with respect to decentralized biomass heating systems is analyzed and regression results are used to develop an expansion map that highlights counties in the …