Geography Commons^™

Aquatic Invertebrate Community Structure In The Niobrara River, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska, 1996-2009, David E. Bowles, David G. Peitz, J. Tyler Cribbs

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Aquatic invertebrates were sampled annually in the Niobrara River, Nebraska, during the period 1996-2009 using Hester-Dendy multiplate samplers. Collections indicated the invertebrate community in the river has shifted from one dominated by Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) taxa to one dominated by Chironomidae and Amphipoda. Generally, EPT richness and percentage abundance of EPT of the total community, as well as percentage abundance of Heptageniidae and Leptophlebiidae, has declined across the years. During that same period, percentage abundance of Amphipoda and Chironomidae, taxa evenness, Shannon's Index, and the Hilsenhoff Biotic Index have increased. Stream discharge decreased significantly during the 15-year period …

Review Of Historical Atlas Of The North American Railroad By Derek Hayes, William G. Thomas

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Lavishly illustrated, beautifully bound, and richly textured, this volume stunningly reproduces the visual culture of the railroad: its maps, brochures, advertisements, broadsides, and pamphlets. Derek Hayes has brought together over 400 maps, ranging from the first railroad survey map drawn in the U.S., filed in 1809, to President Barack Obama's "Vision for High Speed Rail in America," published in 2009. This is an impressive compilation, but it is not an atlas in the conventional sense. Hayes considers a "map" to be any printed item with geographical information on it, whatever its genre. Whether a route map, advertisement, or ticket, whether …

Roles Of Perceived Control And Planning In Ranch Drought Preparedness, Tonya Haigh, Cody Knutson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Ranchers in the Great Plains and across the United States face the threat of periodic drought. Though ranchers might minimize losses through drought-preparedness activities, many do not adequately prepare for drought, in part because of perceptions that the outcomes of drought management are not controllable. We explore how drought planning activities affect ranchers' perceptions of control and drought preparedness using the theories of planned behavior and goal attainment as guiding frameworks. Ten Great Plains ranchers who had engaged in drought management activities were interviewed about their plans. From the interviews, three activities emerged that appeared to increase ranchers' perceived control …

Late Holocene Activation History Of The Stanton Dunes, Northeastern Nebraska, Rebecca A. Puta, Paul R. Hanson, Aaron R. Young

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The Nebraska Sandhills have been an important resource for better understanding dune activation and the nature of prehistoric Great Plains drought events. However, until recently, few studies have focused on documenting the activation histories of smaller dune fields found along the Great Plains' eastern margin. This study focuses on the Stanton dune field, which lies about 145 km east of the Nebraska Sandhills on an alluvial terrace of the Elkhorn River in northeastern Nebraska. Sediments in the Stanton Dunes were dated with optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to determine when these dunes were active. The ages indicate three activation periods that …

Review Of Red State Religion: Faith And Politics In America's Heartland By Robert Wuthnow, James E. Sherow

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Robert Wuthnow, who directs the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University, has a distinguished publishing record in the field of American religion and culture. A Kansas native, he has an unmistakable soft spot for the state. He opposes Thomas Frank's view that Kansans have consistently espoused Republican-centered moral issues at odds with their economic well-being. His central argument, as he clearly states, is that the "Republican Party and the centrist conservatism of the state's two dominant religions-Methodism and Catholicism- actually deterred radical religious and political movements from gaining much ground during most of the state's history." He …

Relative Abundance Of Northern Flying Squireels And Red Squireels In Different Forest Types, Black Hills, South Dakota, Melissa Hough, Charles D. Dieter

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus) and red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) in the Black Hills National Forest (BHNF) of South Dakota represent isolated populations. Because data on both species in the region are limited, and because the northern flying squirrel in South Dakota and the Black Hills National Forest has species of concern status, we trapped throughout BHNF to determine relative abundance in different forest types for both populations. For northern flying squirrels, capture rate was higher in the northern and western hills compared to the southern and eastern hills, whereas for red squirrels, capture rate was …

Review By Aboriginal Peoples In Canadian Cities: Transformations And Continuities Edited By Heather A. Howard And Craig Proulx, Bonita Lawrence

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In some respects, this comprehensive anthology represents the cutting edge in a growing field of study related to urban Aboriginal communities in Canada. With a focus ranging from Toronto to Vancouver, the book contains fascinating new studies, including the experiences of Aboriginal employees at Ontario's Casino Rama, the rebuilding of Papaschase First Nation in Edmonton, and how Plains culture has been adopted as a form of healing in Vancouver. While the authors acknowledge the absence of voices addressing the Atlantic provinces and Quebec, this is offset by the strength of offerings from the Prairies, which include a textual analysis of …

Great Plains Research, 23-1, Editorial Matter

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Cover

Masthead

News & Notes

Instructions to authors

Table of Contents

Missouri National Recreational River Visitor Study, Summer 2012, Marc F. Manni, Yen Le, Steven J. Hollenhorst

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

This visitor study report profiles a systematic random sample of Missouri National Recreation River visitors during July 19 - 25, 2012. A total of 467 questionnaires were distributed to visitor groups. Of those, 256 questionnaires were returned, resulting in a 54.8% response rate.

Group size and type: Thirty-eight percent of visitor groups consisted of two or three people and 35% were in groups of six or more. Sixty-four percent of visitor groups consisted of family groups.

State or country of residence: United States visitors were from 29 states and comprised 99% of total visitation during the survey period, …

From Farm To Fork To Landfill: Food Waste And Consumption In America, Mariel Nunley

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis focuses on the creation and disposal of food waste in the United States. Food waste is a specific yet highly critical issue that implicates the large, incongruous systems of both food production and waste disposal. Waste is created throughout the food supply chain, with producers as well as consumers guilty of throwing away good food. Rather than repurpose food as compost or donate it to those in need, wasted food, although completely biodegradable and often edible, is mixed in with the rest of our garbage and disposed of in a landfill. By evaluating the systems of waste disposal …

Location And Competitive Strategy In Retail: The Case Of Gamestop In Michigan, Karl P. Schrantz

Masters Theses

The State of Michigan offers a unique retail environment that offers a diverse arena for firms to interact and compete in. The state has many cities of different size and a multitude of retail chains that operate within them. Over the past two decades this competition has become even stiffer with the rapid growth of big box retailers. In spite of this general notion there are often the less known stories of small retailers that have been able to compete and survive big box retailing. This research aims to assess how a smaller retail chain, GameStop in this case, is …

Currents Of Change: An Urban And Environmental History Of The Anacostia River And Near Southeast Waterfront In Washington, D.C., Emily C. Haynes

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes how social and environmental inequalities have interacted throughout Washington, D.C.’s urban and environmental history to shape the Anacostia River and its Near Southeast waterfront into urbanized and industrialized landscapes. Drawing on the principles of environmental justice, urban political ecology, and environmental history, I examine the construction of urban rivers and waterfront space over time. I link the ecological and social decline of the Anacostia River and Near Southeast neighborhood to a broader national pattern of environmental degradation and social inequality along urban rivers that resulted from urban industrialization and federal water management. Finally, I discuss the recent …

Managing Tribal Lands And Resources In Michigan: Tribal, State, And Federal Influence, Elise M. Crafts

Masters Theses

Michigan Indigenous Tribes, along with the State and Federal government, are key players in current environmental management programs and policy. The current relationship between these three entities is not clearly defined. Using qualitative data collected through collaborative interviews with employees and members of multiple Michigan Tribes, this study narrates the present dynamic of the Tribal-State-Federal environmental relationship. The Federal government's legal obligation to Michigan Tribes may mitigate potential tension between Tribal and Federal environmental departments, as Tribal-Federal communication is historically established by treaty. Across the country, Federal, State and Tribal departments face similar environmental concerns but the extent to which …

Perception Of Disease Risk And Vulnerability As A Function Of Proximity To National Park Boundaries In East Africa, Irene Bridget Feretti

Honors Theses and Capstones

Studies suggest households closest to parks and protected areas (PAs) are more likely to sustain park-related losses, but the relationship between human sickness and PAs has not been fully explored. Existing literature primarily focuses on human-wildlife conflicts (i.e. crop raiding) and the potential for zoonotic disease spillover and emergence at the human-livestock-wildlife interface at PA boundaries. Understanding local perceptions of disease risk and vulnerability is essential for assessing human health relative to conservation areas. This understanding will promote better-informed consideration of human health impacts in decision making for conservation. Data from surveys taken at 301 households around Kibale National Park …

Fruitful Communities: Evaluating The History And Impacts Of Treepeople’S Fruit Tree Program, Kayla B. Imhoff

Pitzer Senior Theses

TreePeople is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that uses environmental education, initiatives, and programs to engage with the greater community to work towards the goal of a sustainable future for Los Angeles. The Fruit Tree Program is one of TreePeople’s longest running programs of 29 years, which distributes free bare-root fruit trees to economically disadvantaged communities as a source of fresh fruit and the other environmental benefits that trees offer. This paper is a comprehensive report detailing the history of the program and the impacts it has had on communities across Los Angeles County. Looking at three communities in …

Helping Connecticut Towns Plan For Climate Change, Juliana Barrett, Jennifer Pagach

Wrack Lines

A NOAA Climate Change Adaptation Training Workshop helps Connecticut towns plan ahead.

Smart Phone App Puts Rain Gardens Into Mobile Tech Mode, Margaret (Peg) A. Van_Patten Ms.

Wrack Lines

A fun smart phone app can help you design the rain garden of your dreams.

A New Planting Tool For Coastal Homeowners, Juliana Barrett

Wrack Lines

It's not a shovel--it's an online visualization aid.

Shifting Sands, Clay Arnold, Joel Stocker, Juliana Barrett

Wrack Lines

Tells the story of Griswold Point and shoreline change.

Colorful Colorado: The Relationship Between Demographics And The Changing Political Color Of Colorado, Leslie Forbes

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

This research will address the individual relationships between five demographic variables and the changing political color of Colorado (from a “red” state to a “blue” state). The variables addressed are age, education, income, gender, and the Hispanic[1] population growth. Building on recent literature reviews for Colorado’s political trends, I will attempt to show the relationships of the five variables and voting behavior. This data will then be statistically analyzed through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to determine what relationship strength, weak or strong, exists between the demographic variables. My goal for this research is to determine which of the five …

Contemporary Problems Of Gis Interoperability: A Review Of Gis Integration With Current Technology, Tim Jones

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

This paper examines GIS interoperability with three current technology trends: Open Source, Smart Devices and Web 2.0. It firsts takes a look at both varying definitions of interoperability as well as different types of interoperability. The author samples a variety of GIS formats with examples of each of the said technologies as a way to measure the current state of GIS interoperability with current technological trends. GIS functions such as viewing, editing and analyzing spatial data are used as a scoring matrix to determine the level of interoperability. The methodology of measure focuses on a technical level of interoperability and …

Economic Autonomy Of The Miskitu Women Of The North Atlantic Autonomous Region, Nicaragua: Do Current Development Polices Apply To Matrifocal Societies?, Ariana M. Toth

Masters Theses

This thesis provides an ethnographic investigation into the economic autonomy of Miskitu women in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. The purpose of this study is to determine whether dominant development models created by patriarchal Western powers are suited to alleviating gendered poverty disparity among the matrifocal Miskitu Indians. Surveys of Miskitu women obtained during field research, with support from relevant literature, comprise the main source of information considered. It is concluded that while dominant development models are not best suited to alleviating gendered poverty in this region, it is the overarching indigenous nature of Miskitu culture and not …

Food Pantries And Food Accessibility In Columbus, Ga, Amanda Rees, Angel Jorcin, Dustin Laska

Columbus Community Geography Center

Columbus, Georgia, the state’s third largest city, has a population of 189,885 residents (United States Census Bureau 2010). Of this population, 18.8% are living below the poverty line. This poverty rate is 2.2% higher than the Georgia average (16.5%), and 4.5% higher than the national poverty rate (14.3%) (US Census Bureau 2010). Unemployment rates in April 2013 in Columbus were 7.9%, the rate of unemployment in the state is 8.2%, while the national rate is 7.5% (Bureau of Labor 2013). With nearly 1 in 5 Columbus residents in poverty, the federal government’s The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) plays an …

Butler Community Redevelopment Plan, Brad Huff

Columbus Community Geography Center

The Intermediate GIS class worked with Tina Rust, GIS Planner and Allison Slocum of the River Valley Regional Commission (RVRC) and city leaders in Butler, Georgia in the preliminary stages of the council’s construction of a community redevelopment plan.

Prior to an initial public visioning meeting, maps displaying aerial, demographic, topographic, and planning/morphological data (i.e. streets, railroads) were assembled and reviewed by the class.

A subset of data was selected for large-format maps for use by participants at a public planning meeting and maps were constructed and printed.

News - Georgia State University - Gsu Library Receives $210,000 Neh Grant, Christian J. Steinmetz

Georgia Library Quarterly

Georgia State University Library recently received a $210,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for “Planning Atlanta: A New City in the Making, 1930s – 1990s”, submitted by librarian Joe Hurley (Principal Investigator) and history professor Kate Wilson (co-PI).

Motivations To Migrate: Migration From Morocco And The “Failure” Of Rural Development During The Eurozone Financial Crisis, Alexander Djaha

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

EU’s closing borders are impeding a fifty-year pattern of Moroccan migration to southern Europe to find work, prosper and provide for their families back home. Moroccan NGOs, as well as the Spanish and Italian governments, have recently invested in rural development initiatives aimed at increasing employment opportunities in Morocco and deterring workers from migrating. Yet Moroccans keep risking their lives and continue to migrate illegally every day as these initiatives are proving to be ineffective. This study examines the current conditions for Moroccan migrant workers amidst tightening European Union borders and a narrowing European frontier for employment. The Eurozone financial …

Gagner La Vie: Examining Return Preparedness And Resource Mobilization Among Moroccan Immigrants To France Who Return To Live Permanently In Agadir, Morocco, Karolina Michelle Dos Santos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

If Moroccan immigrants are so in tune to their home culture and home happenings, under what conditions do they stay in France facing the problems of unemployment and homelessness? This study focuses on the return migration of Moroccans from the Sousse region; specifically Agadir and the surrounding Tiznit areas, who left Morocco during the decade of 1960 and who have permanently returned to live in Morocco. The study was conducted by using the snowball sampling technique to conduct semi-structured interviews of Moroccan return migrants in AitMelloul, a neighborhood of Agadir. My findings suggest that the return migrants from the Sousse …

Global Futures And Government Towns: Phosphates And The Production Of Western Sahara As A Space Of Contention, Mark Drury

Publications and Research

The study of natural resources lends itself to theorizing the politics of nature and the politics of time. The space of Western Sahara, where both remain highly contested, provides an opportunity to consider the ramifications of resources in political conflict at different historical moments. Drawing from environmental histories of North Africa and the Sahara, as well as the anthropology of time, the author focuses on two historical moments. The first, from 1945 to 1972, concerns the discovery of phosphate deposits during the Spanish colonial period and the implications of this discovery for political authority in the Sahara more broadly. The …

Aging In Our Communities: Six Case Studies Of Neighborhood Walkability In Clackamas And Washington Counties, Oregon And Clark County, Washington, Reema Alhamidi, Edelina Naydenova, Katherine Dahlin, Jason Rush, Margarita Gonzales, Kevin Ryan, Laura Harmon, Marcel Schaeffer, Bianca Iliesi, Laura Silverman, Brady Jones, John Todoroff, Megan Mulsoff Brown, Adrian Wells

Asset Mapping: Community Geography Project

The focus of this project was to evaluate the age-friendliness of the communities surrounding assisted living facilities in Clark, Clackamas, and Washington counties. Two facilities were selected in each of the aforementioned counties and researchers from our team surveyed the pedestrian environmental features of the surrounding area within a quarter-mile radius of the each facility. The survey data from each site was then distributed among two groups for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Quantitative analysis consisted of a compiling process that took the measures of quantifiable features (e.g. number of sidewalk breaks, abandoned lots, etc.) gathered in the field and standardized …

Portland Region Parks: Measuring Equity In Access, Harold Shields, Sindre Fredsvik, Jonah Horn, Robert Kalei Miller, Cameron Hill, Anna Petry, Daniel Mogelinski, Stephen P. Kyle, Jenna Knobloch, Jonah Horn, Henrich Biorn, Andew Wyatt, James Bedell, Evan Kent, Adrien Young

Asset Mapping: Community Geography Project

The goal of this Capstone project is to examine equity as it applies to the Portland region. CLF defines equity as “the right of every person to have access to opportunities necessary for satisfying essential needs and advancing their well-being” (CLF, 2007). Equity as it relates to parks is a difficult concept to define. Our project specifically focused on cataloging the amenities of ninety-three newly developed parks and making observations about park access in an effort to build a better picture of what equity looks like in the Portland region.