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Great Plains Research: A Journal Of Natural And Social Sciences, Volume 18, Number 2 (2008): Table Of Contents

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

Social Sciences

Stated Preferences for Ecotourism Alternatives on Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation (Robert R. Hearne and Sheldon Tuscherer) ......... 131

Investigating Psychosocial Well-Being among Ethnically Diverse Rural Women: Expect the Unexpected (Rochelle L. Dalla, Catherine A. Huddleston-Casas, and Maria León) ........ 143

Moving to the Rural Great Plains: Point of Origin Differences in the Decision-Making Process (Randy Cantrell, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, Bruce Johnson, Charlotte Narjes, and Rebecca Vogt) ........ 155

Producer Responses to Carbon Sequestration Incentives in the Northern Great Plains (Dean A. Bangsund and F. Larry Leistritz) ........ 165

Natural Sciences

Six Centuries of Fire History at Devils Tower …

Book Review: Invasive Plants: A Guide To Identification, Impacts, And Control Of Common North American Species By Sylvan Ramsey Kaufman And Wallace Kaufman, Craig R. Allen, Aaron L. Alai, A. C. Kessler, T. Kinsell, A. L. Major, K. Nemec, B. J. Stephen

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

The authors place the invasive species problem in context prior to providing species descriptions. The first three chapters offer background information on how invasive species become established, their impacts, and an overview of approaches to controlling problem species. The fourth chapter consists of a general key for identifying and locating unknown plant species. The majority of the field guide consists of profiles of individual species, including information on taxonomy, identifying characteristics, habitat, geographical range, ecological effects, introduction pathway, management strategies, and additional references. Most species are accompanied by at least two color photos, including a full view and a closeup, …

Book Review: Patriots, Politics, And The Oklahoma City Bombing By Stuart A. Wright, Lane Crothers

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

Stuart A. Wright offers an interesting account of the rise of the Patriot movement in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. Employing insights from social movement theory, he argues that Patriots-that group of Americans who regularly advocated and practiced armed resistance to government authorities in the 1980s and 1990s-emerged at the intersection of the Cold War, race politics of the 1960s, and the farm crisis and the rise of white supremacist groups in the 1980s. Thus, the horror of Timothy McVeigh's destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, was not the …

Book Review: Farming In A Changing Climate: Agricultural Adaptation In Canada Edited By Ellen Wall, Barry Smit, And Johanna Wandel, Debra Davidson

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

This timely collection will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, and agriculturalists throughout North America and beyond. It offers both a comprehensive collection of recent research on the vulnerability of Canadian farming systems to climate change and a thorough and articulate presentation of the breadth of concepts and methods currently employed in climate change vulnerability assessments. The volume is information-dense in places, but necessarily so, given its broad thesis. Despite the breadth of content, the editors provide a balanced and coherent message, with individual chapters presenting varied but complementary contributions, organized in terms of three methodological approaches: impact based, context …

Book Review: Storm Warning: The Story Of A Killer Tornado By Nancy Mathis, Charles A. Doswell Iii

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

As a storm chaser and meteorologist myself, I admit my expectations for this book by an "outsider" were relatively low. For the most part, however, Mathis has gotten it right, evidently as a result of extensive research on her part.

The book alternates in a somewhat erratic fashion between tornado survivor anecdotes and narrative about the events of May 3, 1999, and the science behind those events. From a purely storytelling viewpoint, I find this alternation of topics somewhat distracting, though others might find it entertaining. "This book," the author says in her introduction, "is the life story of one …

Book Review: Frontiers In Colorado Paleoindian Archaeology: From The Dent Site To The Rocky Mountains Edited By Robert H. Brunswig And Bonnie L. Pitblado, Jason M. Labelle

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

For a little over 75 years, Colorado has played host to important discoveries regarding the peopling of the New World during the latest Pleistocene, with the earliest human occupations dating to at least l3,000 years before the present. Frontiers in Colorado Paleoindian Archaeology is a welcome addition to the already large body of research concerning this popular subject. The edited volume contains an introduction, ten chapters broken into three sections, an afterword, and a thorough index. Part 1 provides the context for the volume, including an environmental reconstruction of the Front Range (J.P. Doerner) and an overview of the history …

Book Review: Plains Village Archaeology: Bison-Hunting Farmers In The Central And Northern Plains Edited By Stanley A. Ahler And Marvin Kay, John Ludwickson

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

This volume, edited by Stanley A. Ahler and Marvin Kay, consists of19 contributions by 21 authors. It is not a synthetic overview of the Plains Villages, but an eclectic sampling of the breadth and depth of recent archaeological research and interpretations-case studies focus on topics including origins, warfare, trade and interaction, symbolism, settlement and social organization, subsistence and risk, and others. Such studies are daunting undertakings as the ruins of a single house, indeed the contents of a single refuse pit, may produce thousands of specimens to interpret. Plains village archaeological sites, fragile and vulnerable, have been destroyed by dam …

Book Review: Lewis And Clark: Weather And Climate Data From The Expedition Journals Edited By Vernon Preston, Susan Solomon

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

The observations of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the men of their company continue to fascinate readers two centuries after the first historic quest to explore the American West. This book edited by Vernon Preston expertly compiles all of the weather-, water-, and climate-related records into a single volume that will prove to be indispensable for those scholars seeking to understand the meteorologic and hydrologic records of that epic voyage. Preston is a highly experienced field meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Idaho, and his expertise is evident in the book's exceedingly thorough and systematic approach.

Book Review: Ladybugs Of Alberta: Finding The Spots And Connecting The Dots By John Acorn. Edmonton, R. W. Longair

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

Only a few groups of insects, among all their immense diversity, have escaped the aversive response of most adults toward things with six legs and allowed nonbiologists to look on them with a more appreciative eye. With this publication, John Acorn has now given us a scientifically sound and entertaining view of three of the groups with this elevated status: butterflies, damselflies, and lady beetles. This new volume, like most of the animals it describes, is attractive as well as highly readable and informative.

Book Review: Policing The Wild North-West: A Sociological Study Of The Provincial Police In Alberta And Saskatchewan, 1905-32. By Zhiqiu Lin, Andrew R. Graybill

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

In the end, however, many scholars will find Policing the Wild North-West to be of limited use. While Lin chronicles some important sociological trends on the prairies during the early period of full provincial status (and the extensive graphs, tables, and appendices are testament to his prodigious research), his book is so narrowly drawn that it does not serve adequately as a window onto larger questions concerning the Canadian nation or even the broader western region during the interwar period.

Review Of Folsom: New Archaeological Investigations Of A Classic Paleoindian Bison Kill. By David J. Meltzer., Steven R. Holen

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

Well written and well researched, Folsom is appropriate for both avocational and professional audiences as well as for general readers with an interest in archaeology. I was especially drawn to the historical aspects of the research and the analysis of old museum collections. The figures and tables are appropriate, and the artifact illustrations in chapter 8 are of high quality. This excellent book should be in every major public library and in the personal library of everyone interested in Paleoindian studies, the early peopling of the Americas, and the history of archaeology. It is destined to become a classic.

Engineer Cantonment, Missouri Territory, 1819-1820: America's First Biodiversity Ineventory, Hugh H. Genoways, Brett C. Ratcliffe

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

It is our thesis that members of the Stephen Long Expedition of 1819-20 completed the first biodiversity inventory undertaken in the United States at their winter quarters, Engineer Cantonment, Missouri Territory, in the modern state of Nebraska. This accomplishment has been overlooked both by biologists and historians, but it should rank among the most significant accomplishments of the expedition. The results of this inventory allow us to evaluate the environmental, faunal, and floral changes along the Missouri River in the intervening nearly 190 years. The historical records form a visual image of a dynamic riverine system in which a highly …

Developing The Nature-Based Tourism Sector In Southwestern North Dakota, Nancy M. Hodur, F. Larry Leistritz, Kara L. Wolfe

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

Rural communities increasingly are looking to the tourism sector as a source of economic growth. Southwestern North Dakota has experienced substantial out-migration and population loss, resulting in designation of the eight-county area as a Rural Economic Area Partnership (REAP) zone in 1995. The purpose of this study was to (1) identify opportunities for expanding the region's tourism sector, (2) identify challenges and obstacles facing tourism businesses, and (3) frame key issues and outline potential options for area decision makers. Information was gathered from (1) a survey of the region's tourism businesses, (2) focus-group interviews with tourism business operators, and (3) …

Review Of Canada's Wheat King: The Life And Times Of Seager Wheeler. By Jim Shilliday, Merle Massie

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

The writing is fluid and simple, and each chapter, in true literary style, ends with either a commentary or a cliffhanger. The photographs are clear and well chosen, with a good balance of field and family, if perhaps too many of the Isle of Wight, and not enough of the farm where his work took him to fame. There are a few historical stumbles: for example, Shilliday's sketch of the 1885 Riel Rebellion paints it as an Indian uprising, contrary to recent scholarship such as Bill Waiser and Blair Stonechild's Loyal Till Death (1997), which portrays a clear distinction between …

Review Of Eau Canada: The Future Of Canada's Water. Edited By Karen Bakker., Henry David Venema

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

Karen Bakker has assembled an impressive list of contributors from academia and civil society, including internationally renowned physical and social scientists and prominent former civil servants. Lavishly referenced and weighing in at a hefty 400-plus pages, the book is broken into five main sections on current governance systems, jurisdictional fragmentation, privatization and markets, pathways to better management, and worldviews. Despite its heft, Eau Canada is a compelling read. A key message repeated in several chapters is that the federal government has largely ignored the principles set out in its own 1987 Federal Water Policy, which declared an overall objective of …

Book Review: Managing Biodiversity In Agricultural Ecosystems Edited By D.I. Jarvis, C. Padoch, And H.D. Cooper, Richard K. Baydack

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

Managing Biodiversity in Agricultural Ecosystems is a series of 18 edited contributions that investigate a vast body of material relating to the broad category of "agricultural biodiversity." This subject is of increasing importance across the Great Plains of North America as we strive to ensure that our planet is able to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the abilities of future generations to meet theirs. As such, the editors have sequenced and categorized the contributions so as to ensure that treatment of a wide range of topics- crop genetic resources; livestock genetic resources; aquatic biodiversity; pollinator diversity; …

Review Of Handbook Of Forage And Rangeland Insects. Edited By William O. Lamp, Richard C. Berberet, Leon G. Higley, And Craig R. Baird. Lanham, J. E. Mcpherson

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

This handbook is another in the outstanding series published by the Entomological Society of America, now in cooperation with the American Phytopathological Society. Arranged in four sections-"Forage and Rangeland Production," "Arthropods and Their Management," "Injurious Arthropods," and "Beneficial Organisms"- each of these is divided into clearly delineated subsections, allowing readers easy access to information (along with references) that particularly interests them. The text is accompanied by outstanding color photographs throughout.

"Forage and Rangeland Production" includes a forage production history followed by discussions of North America's important legumes and grasses. Along with detailed tables of both groups' major species and their …

Book Review: Natives And Settlers Now And Then: Historical Issues And Current Perspectives On Treaties And Land Claims In Canada Edited By Paul W. Depasquale, Michael Cottrell

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

Natives and Settlers Now and Then is a slim volume that will be of great interest to scholars of Indigenous Studies and Native-Newcomer relations. Its primary focus is on the Canadian Great Plains, but it also touches on broader Indigenous issues in the United States and New Zealand. Edited by Paul W. DePasquale, the collection contains five essays based on presentations delivered by academic scholars, activists, and legal experts at a conference of the same name held at the University of Alberta in 2000. Its organizers sought to place "Natives and Native issues at the centre of the event," and …

Book Review: The Flora Of Nebraska: Keys, Descriptions, And Distribntional Maps Of All Native And Introduced Species That Grow Outside Cultivation: With Observations About Their Past, Present, And Future Status By Robert B. Kaul, David Sutherland, And Steven Rolfsmeier, James R. Estes

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

Floras are guides for the identification of the plants of a specific region-in this case, the Cornhusker State. A flora is best judged after seasons of using it for field identification, several semesters teaching the identification of plants using its keys and descriptions, or over the years as a close companion faithfully beside your dissecting scope in the herbarium. Alas, I was denied the luxury of decades, and this review was undertaken in the dead of winter, miles south of Nebraska, and out of reach of a herbarium. Even so, it is abundantly clear that in a few years The …

Review Of Predator Upon A Flower: Life History And Fitness In A Crab Spider. By Douglass H. Morse, Hank Guarisco

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

This masterfully written, 377-page book is a product of the author's 25 years of detailed natural history studies of a commonly encountered crab spider (Misumena vatia) which frequents prairies and old fields in the United States, Canada, Alaska, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It is a delight to read because of the author's flowing narrative style and his adeptness in placing his fascinating natural history observations of this consummate sit-and-wait predator within the broader contexts of foraging theory, reproductive biology, learning behavior, resource allocation, and, ultimately, lifetime fitness.

Book Review: Water From Stone: The Story Of Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve By Jeffrey Greene., Louis L. Jacobs

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

That place is David Bamberger's hope and vision, his challenge, his Malabar Farm writ large. This book is about him and the restoration of Selah as his commitment to the world and to the people with him on his quest. Selah, like Walden Pond, is a place to pause and reflect, which is the meaning of the word. But however much David may be a pause-and-reflect kind of guy, he is driven toward his grand purpose. His approach is pragmatic and practical. People, finding the right ones, and building chemistry among them, is a strength that made him a successful …

News And Notes

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

Charles E. Bessey Award

Leslie Hewes Award

Symposium Announcement

Perception Of Drought Hazard And Its Sociological Impacts In South-Central Nebraska, Donna L. Woudenberg, Donald A. Wilhite, Michael Hayes

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

The lion's share of financial losses caused by drought is shouldered by crop and livestock producers. Producers' perceptions of and responses to drought were studied in the mid-1960s, the mid-1980s, and again in this study. Direct and indirect impacts are experienced by nonfarm businesses, communities, and individuals as well; some of those impacts have not been well researched and were integral to this project. Interviews with crop producers, livestock producers, and community members were conducted in Frontier County, NE, in late summer 2006. Producers are very perceptive of the drought hazard, a result found in the two previous studies. Adoption …

Six Centuries Of Fire History At Devils Tower National Monument With Comments On Regionwide Temperature Influence, Michael C. Stambaugh, Richard P. Guyette, Erin R. Mcmurry, Joseph M. Marschall, Gary Willson

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

This study documents over six centuries of historic fire events at Devils Tower National Monument in northeast Wyoming, USA. The 691-year tree-ring chronology is based on 37 ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa C. Lawson) trees collected at the monument. The period of tree-ring record ranged in calendar years from 1312 to 2002 and fire scar dates (n = 129) ranged from 1330 to 1995. The mean fire interval (MFI) for the entire record was 24.6 years, and intervals for individual trees ranged from 4 to 119 years. A period of increased fire frequency (MFI = 5.7 years) occurred from about …

Book Review: The Persons Case: The Origins And Legacy Of The Fight For Legal Personhood By Robert I. Sharpe And Patricia I. Mcmahon, Jennifer Koshan

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

Edwards v. Attorney General of Canada ("the Persons case") is a landmark Canadian legal decision. By petition of the Famous Five, this case determined in 1929 that women were "persons" qualified to be appointed to the Senate, and it coined the "living tree" metaphor to command a progressive approach to constitutional interpretation in Canada. Justice Robert Sharpe of the Ontario Court of Appeal and Toronto-based lawyer Patricia McMahon illuminate the rich connections of the Famous Five and other figures in the case to Alberta and Canadian law and politics and go on to evaluate the case's modern legacy.

Review Of George Miksch Sutton: Artist, Scientist, And Teacher. By Jerome A. Jackson., Paul A. Johnsgard

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

Sutton, an introspective and very private man, sadly destroyed many of his personal papers before he died. His Bird Student: An Autobiography (1980) documents his life only through 1935 and the end of his Cornell days. Jackson's book is especially valuable, therefore, in documenting Sutton's later years, after he had reached his prime both as scholar and artist. Although I thought I personally knew Sutton very well and wrote a small book based on a collection of his paintings of baby birds, I learned much from Jackson's narrative, which details Sutton's World War II experiences, his often frustrating years at …

Using Schools To Map The Frontier Of Settlement On The Canadian Prairies, John C. Lehr, Brian Mcgregor

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

Most attempts to map the frontier of agricultural settlement in western Canada have used land alienation data or population density calculated from census returns. Both methods are fraught with difficulties. Population density data are only available at five-year intervals at the 36-square-mile township level. Land alienation does not always reflect settlement. In Manitoba, entire townships were alienated years before they were occupied. The organization and building of schools is a better indicator of actual settlement and the emergence of community-based institutions. To test this hypothesis, school formation and land alienation in 35 townships in southeastern Manitoba were plotted. This showed …

Personal Characteristics Preceding Pro-Environmental Behaviors That Improve Surface Water Quality, Courtney E. Quinn, Mark E. Burbach

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

The decisions made by individual farmers to adopt conservation practices that improve surface water quality will be of increasing importance in the 21st century. Currently, models attempting to explain pro-environmental behaviors ignore or minimize the role of individual personality characteristics. In this paper we give an overview of current research regarding how personal characteristics influence the adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs) and propose an expansion of measured characteristics to include farmers' work motivation, environmental attitude, and moral reasoning toward the environment. Our purpose is to spur an interest in understanding the antecedents to the pro-environmental behavior of farmers that …

Stated Preferences For Ecotourism Alternatives On Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation, Robert R. Hearne, Sheldon Tuscherer

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

Despite favorable locations and the potential for economic development, Native American tribes have not developed their ecotourism markets substantially. In this paper we present a choice experiments analysis of potential tourists' and local residents' preferences for alternative ecotourism development scenarios for the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation. The choice experiments' elicitation featured attributes of both cultural and nature-based tourist attractions. Survey results demonstrated that visitors interviewed at powwows had significantly different preferences from those interviewed at local tourist attractions. Results from all samples showed positive preferences toward an amphitheater, a nature trail, and a bison meal, and no preference toward …

Book Review: Reclaiming Assessment: A Better Alternative To The Accountability Agenda By Chris W. Gallagher, Mary E. Diez

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

Chris Gallagher's description of Nebraska's Schoolbased, Teacher-led Assessment and Reporting System (STARS) is a very thoughtful participant-observer account of the state's unique response to the call for accountability in the No Child Left Behind legislation. As a researcher charged with supporting and evaluating the STARS effort, Gallagher outlines principles that have guided the STARS process, including local control, teacher leadership, professional development, community engagement, and student engagement in meaningful classroom assessment. But it is his use of narrative "portraits of practice" that gives a sense of what this Nebraska effort really means for stakeholders, from students and teachers to administrators …