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

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Review Of Floods, Droughts, And Climate Change By Michael Collier And Robert H. Webb, Merlin P. Lawson Apr 2004

Review Of Floods, Droughts, And Climate Change By Michael Collier And Robert H. Webb, Merlin P. Lawson

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

For any of us over the age of fifty, the weather has noticeably changed in our lifetime. Meteorologists, hydrologists, and climatologists have concentrated their efforts on assessing climate variations to a much greater degree than during the first half of the twentieth century. Thus the weather we perceive as changing apparently is changing, or at least we are becoming more aware of the forcing mechanisms associated with change. This book introduces the layperson to the basic fundamentals associated with the occurrence of two forms of natural disasters, floods and droughts, and to the potential influence of a changing climate on …

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Review Of Telling Stories The Kiowa Way By Gus Palmer, Jr., Benjamin Kracht Apr 2004

Review Of Telling Stories The Kiowa Way By Gus Palmer, Jr., Benjamin Kracht

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

Telling Stories the Kiowa Way is an enlightening and enjoyable book composed in the easygoing, down-to-earth "voice" of Gus Palmer Jr., an enrolled member of the Kiowa tribe. Written from an insider's perspective, Telling Stories relates how oral traditions are maintained in daily conversations throughout the Kiowa community in southwestern Oklahoma. In the opening pages, readers are immediately immersed in Kiowa culture as Palmer visits with his mother in her kitchen while she stirs a pot of boiling meat. Then he delineates the Kiowa storytelling environment among Kiowas who are related to one another "in one way or another." Since …

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Review Of Aboriginal People And Other Canadians Shaping New Relationships Edited By Martin Thornton, Roy Todd, And David N. Collins, J. R. Miller Apr 2004

Review Of Aboriginal People And Other Canadians Shaping New Relationships Edited By Martin Thornton, Roy Todd, And David N. Collins, J. R. Miller

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

This collection of essays on the state of Aboriginal peoples in Canada is a reflection of the work of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) which reported in November 1996. The authors, all affiliated with Britain's University of Leeds, pay close attention to the opinions the RCAP report expressed, and some are markedly influenced by the Commission. Unfortunately, few of the contributors recognize the RCAP's limitations, much less the fact that the Commission's report has mostly been ignored by the government of Canada.

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Review Of Ranching West Of The Iooth Meridian: Culture, Ecology, And Economics Edited By Richard L. Knight, Wendell C. Gilgert, And Ed Marston, Ann Hild Apr 2004

Review Of Ranching West Of The Iooth Meridian: Culture, Ecology, And Economics Edited By Richard L. Knight, Wendell C. Gilgert, And Ed Marston, Ann Hild

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

Ranching West of the l00th Meridian provides a diverse array of perceptions of ranching in western states. The authors of its seventeen essays describe ranching culture, ecology, and economics, while omitting extremist approaches to western land management. Intentionally absent are the preservationists who suggest removing ranching from western rangelands and those who would remove all land from the public domain. This selection attempts to unite concerned users of western lands and to present in a fair way less vocal western land stewards, the "radical center." What remains is a refreshing variety of authors committed to sustainable rangeland use that includes …

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Great Plains Research, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring 2004 Apr 2004

Great Plains Research, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring 2004

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

Editorial Matter

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Review Of Grassland Grouse And Their Conservation By Paul Johnsgard, John Connelly Apr 2004

Review Of Grassland Grouse And Their Conservation By Paul Johnsgard, John Connelly

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

The first two chapters of Grassland Grouse deal with the extinction of the heath hen and the almost certain disappearance of the Attwater's prairie chicken. They paint an accurate but thoroughly depressing picture of these losses. Paul Johnsgard clearly points out how, despite our "best" efforts, populations can slip into extinction. In these initial chapters, he sounds an alarm over the plight of a unique group of North American birds and their rapidly disappearing habitats.

The three middle chapters, which describe the status and population trends of lesser prairie chickens, greater prairie chickens, and sharp-tailed grouse, all species indigenous to …

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Seed Dynamics Of Eastern Redcedar In The Mixed-Grass Prairie, Susan Tunnell, James L. Stubbendieck, Julie Huddle, Jennifer Brollier Jan 2004

Seed Dynamics Of Eastern Redcedar In The Mixed-Grass Prairie, Susan Tunnell, James L. Stubbendieck, Julie Huddle, Jennifer Brollier

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

We sampled the soil seed bank underneath and surrounding eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) trees at two mixed-grass prairie sites in Nebraska. Our objectives were to investigate the seed bank for seed number and seed viability in various directions and distances from individual trees. Additionally, we planted seeds to determine seed longevity and viability in the soil seed bank. Six female trees were selected at each site. At each tree, 16 soil samples were collected using a lax 10 cm quadrant at four distances (inside the canopy and 0.5, 2, and 5 m from the canopy) in each of …

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Wintering Canada Geese Along The Platte Rivers Of Nebraska, 1960-2000, Mark Vrtiska, Nick Lyman Jan 2004

Wintering Canada Geese Along The Platte Rivers Of Nebraska, 1960-2000, Mark Vrtiska, Nick Lyman

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

The Platte rivers and associated habitats are major wintering areas for Canada geese (Branta Canadensis) in Nebraska. The objective of this study was to examine changes in abundance and distribution of Canada geese along the Platte River system during 1960-2000. We used counts of Canada geese based on aerial surveys from the annual Mid-Winter Survey (MWS). The entire lengths of the North and South Platte rivers and the Platte River were surveyed, and counts of Canada geese were made by visual estimation. We examined changes in goose numbers for the North and South Platte rivers, and divided the …

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Review Of Fighting For The Farm: Rural America Transformed Edited By Jane Adams, John C. Allen Jan 2004

Review Of Fighting For The Farm: Rural America Transformed Edited By Jane Adams, John C. Allen

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

Fighting for the Family Farm brings together the contributions of scholars from several disciplines to provide an overview of political processes within North American agriculture.
Beginning in the Imperial Valley of California, Alan Rudy provides a well-documented snapshot of state and federal governments' roles in changing the face of agricultural support of industrial food and fiber production models. Rudy illustrates how ecological damage and state policies converge to shape new agricultural policies, arguing that a spatio-temporal construct is necessary for determining responses to the many forms of ecological, social, and infrastructural crisis as well as fir more fully understanding how …

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The Impact Of Immigration On A Local Economy: The Case Of Dawson County, Nebraska, Orn Bodvarrson, Hendrik Van Den Berg Oct 2003

The Impact Of Immigration On A Local Economy: The Case Of Dawson County, Nebraska, Orn Bodvarrson, Hendrik Van Den Berg

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

The Hispanic population of Lexington, seat of Nebraska's Dawson County, increased nearly tenfold between 1990 and 2000, from just over 400 to about 4,000, and the city's population grew from 6,600 to over 10,000. Economic trends in the 1990s contrast sharply with the previous decade, when the county's population and overall employment declined rapidly. This episode of immigration provides a unique opportunity to analyze the economic impact of immigration on a local economy. Traditional models of immigration, which focus almost entirely on the effects of immigration on labor supply, predict that immigration depresses wages and raises unemployment rates. However, census …

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Differential Population And Income Migration In The Great Plains, 1995- 1998, Alexander Vias, Charles Collins Oct 2003

Differential Population And Income Migration In The Great Plains, 1995- 1998, Alexander Vias, Charles Collins

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

The depopulation of the Great Plains continues to draw the attention of rural scholars. However, a number of aspects of migration in the region remain poorly understood. For example, what differences exist among migrants in terms of their economic characteristics? Recent research shows that there is tremendous variability in the amount of income each migrant brings to or takes from a region. Using county-level Internal Revenue Service data for migration flows between 1995 and 1998, we explore the spatial patterns of income and population migration, while contrasting the income flows of in-migrants versus out-migrants. The results show that income flows …

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Invasion Dynamics And Biological Control Prospects For Sericea Lespedeza In Kansas, Thomas Eddy, Jeff Davidson, Brian Obermeyer Oct 2003

Invasion Dynamics And Biological Control Prospects For Sericea Lespedeza In Kansas, Thomas Eddy, Jeff Davidson, Brian Obermeyer

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

Sericea lespedeza [Lespedeza cuneata (Dum.-Cours.) G. Don], an exotic, drought-hardy perennial legume was first introduced into the United States from Japan. It was planted from the 1930s through the 1950s as a forage crop, for healing erosion scars on farmlands, establishing cover on mine spoils, and as cover for wildlife. The species range was unintentionally increased in the 1980s when seeds harvested from infested rangelands were planted on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres. Sericea lespedeza has spread to extensive areas of native prairie and other lands not under cultivation in the more humid regions of the Great Plains in …

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Habitat Use And Migration Patterns Of Sandhill Cranes Along The Platte River, 1998 – 2001, Craig Davis Oct 2003

Habitat Use And Migration Patterns Of Sandhill Cranes Along The Platte River, 1998 – 2001, Craig Davis

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

During spring migration, sandhill cranes (Crus Canadensis) rely on the central Platte River valley in Nebraska as a staging area to replenish depleted energy and nutrient reserves. From mid-February to mid-April 1998-2001, we conducted ground and aerial surveys of sandhill cranes in the central Platte River valley. Peak numbers of sandhill cranes (121,000-285,000 cranes) detected during ground surveys occurred in mid-March (1998, 2001) or early March (1999, 2000). From 42% to 55% of the cranes occurred in cornfields, 26%-38% in lowland grassland, 7%-13% in alfalfa, and 2%-12% in other habitats (soybean, winter wheat, shrub-grassland, upland grassland). In general, …

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Review Of The Failure Of National Rural Policy: Institutions And Interests By William P. Browne, Donna Barnes Oct 2003

Review Of The Failure Of National Rural Policy: Institutions And Interests By William P. Browne, Donna Barnes

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

William Browne argues that there is a distinct bias in US policy, one that privileges farmers and results in the neglect of nonagricultural rural problems. He locates the source of this pro-farm bias in the influential political power block created when farm interests mobilized and successfully pushed for the creation of the Department of Agriculture and other institutions that collectively form the Agricultural Establishment. The farm paradigm for rural development came to dominate policy talk so completely that competing rural policy paradigms were quickly dismissed. Declining rural communities and the growth of rural poverty were dealt with indirectly and ineffectively …

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Migration And Counter-Urbanization In The Edwards Plateau Of Texas, 1985-1990, Jason Holcomb Oct 2003

Migration And Counter-Urbanization In The Edwards Plateau Of Texas, 1985-1990, Jason Holcomb

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

Unlike most of the Great Plains, Texas's Edwards Plateau lies near large, rapidly growing metropolitan centers. County-to-county migration data for the period 1985-1990 were used to examine migration patterns in Edwards Plateau counties. Weighted standard distance and stream efficiency values were used to analyze county immigration fields of 28 nonmetropolitan counties. A key finding was that net in-migration to counties closest to metropolitan areas was not mere "urban spillover." There were also indications that counterurban migration extended beyond metropolitan-adjacent counties to more sparsely populated destinations. Counterurbanization was occurring from central counties of the nation's largest metropolitan areas and some Texas …

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Great Plains Research - Volume 13, Number 2, Fall 2003 Oct 2003

Great Plains Research - Volume 13, Number 2, Fall 2003

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

No abstract provided.

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Reviews Of Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy Of Industrial Agriculture And The Fatal Harvest Reader: The Tragedy Of Industrial Agriculture, Edited By Andrew Kimbrell, Charles A. Francis Oct 2003

Reviews Of Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy Of Industrial Agriculture And The Fatal Harvest Reader: The Tragedy Of Industrial Agriculture, Edited By Andrew Kimbrell, Charles A. Francis

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

Fatal Harvest introduces and dispels key myths about industrial agriculture: greater efficiency; safe and nutritious food that is cheap to consumers; benefits to wildlife and environment; how biotechnology will save the world. In essays by leading proponents of a more equitable and sustainable food system, the book presents compelling evidence that alternative systems guided by an agrarian ethic will better address our food needs while protecting our natural environment and soil resources.

Wendell Berry cites the separation of people from their food supply and natural environment as a causal factor in our ready acceptance of today's industrial agriculture. When we …

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Great Plains Research – Volume 13, Number 1, Spring 2003 Apr 2003

Great Plains Research – Volume 13, Number 1, Spring 2003

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

No abstract provided.

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Fish Community Persistence In Eastern North And South Dakota Rivers, Jeffrey Shearer, Charles Berry, Jr. Apr 2003

Fish Community Persistence In Eastern North And South Dakota Rivers, Jeffrey Shearer, Charles Berry, Jr.

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

Over the past 25 years, the James River in North and South Dakota has experienced records in minimum and maximum discharge. Our objectives were to compare: (1) the fish community in the main river after dry (1988-90) and wet (1993-2000) years, and (2) the fish community of both the main river and tributaries between dry (1975) and wet (1998-2000) years. In South Dakota in the main river, there were 10 families and 29 species after several dry years and 11 families and 35 species after several wet years. Percichthyidae was the additional family after the wet years. Basinwide, there were …

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Sustainability And Historical Land-Use Change In The Great Plains: The Case Of Eastern Colorado, William J. Parton, Myron Gutmann, William Travis Apr 2003

Sustainability And Historical Land-Use Change In The Great Plains: The Case Of Eastern Colorado, William J. Parton, Myron Gutmann, William Travis

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

The Great Plains is one focus of the debate in the United States over appropriate land use and sustainability. Within the Plains region, eastern Colorado represents a case study that permits researchers and policymakers to focus on important relationships between agricultural land use, population change, and the sustainability of agriculture, environment, and communities. Colorado Front Range urban areas experienced large increases in population from 1950 to 2000 that resulted in a 35% reduction in total farmland. In the urban fringe region, farmland declined rapidly since 1978 and harvested irrigated cropland declined by 16% since 1990. Rural population in eastern Colorado …

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Changes In Asian And Hispanic Population In The Cities Of The Great Plains, 1990-2000, Evelyn Ravuri Apr 2003

Changes In Asian And Hispanic Population In The Cities Of The Great Plains, 1990-2000, Evelyn Ravuri

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

In several areas of the United States previously not known for foreign populations, the number of Hispanics and Asians have increased in the past two decades. I examined the percentage change for Hispanics and for Asians for 41 cities in the states of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota between 1990 and 2000. Hispanics and Asians are then disaggregated by ethnic subgroup, and regression analysis is used to determine the characteristics of cities that attract or repel different subgroups for both 1990 and 2000. In 2000 Mexicans, Other Hispanics, and Vietnamese were attracted to cities with low income …

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Relationship Between Community Satisfaction And Migration Intentions Of Rural Nebraskans, Rebecca J. Vogt, John C. Allen, Sam Cordes Apr 2003

Relationship Between Community Satisfaction And Migration Intentions Of Rural Nebraskans, Rebecca J. Vogt, John C. Allen, Sam Cordes

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

Though many nonmetropolitan counties in the United States experienced population gains in the 1990s, many of the nonmetropolitan counties in the Great Plains continued to experience population declines. Thus, the reasons that people are moving need to be explored. This paper examines possible reasons by analyzing the relationship between community satisfaction and migration intentions of nonmetropolitan Nebraskans. Data used for this analysis were from an annual survey mailed to 6,500 residents living in nonmetropolitan counties in the state. The survey data were analyzed at two levels. First, demographic comparisons were made between those who planned to stay in their communities …

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Geography Of Population Change And Redistribution Within The Post-Frontier Great Plains, J. Clark Archer, Richard Lonsdale Apr 2003

Geography Of Population Change And Redistribution Within The Post-Frontier Great Plains, J. Clark Archer, Richard Lonsdale

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

The popular vision of the Great Plains as a region of ongoing population decline is only partly appropriate. In a fundamental transformation of the population geography previously set in the late 19th century, there is an emerging divide between growing metropolitan centers concentrated along the region's periphery and a vast interior struggling to hold its traditional rural population. The size and geographical distribution of population within the Great Plains region is examined over time with the aid of cartographic and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques. Intercensal net migration rates estimated using the vital statistics-based residual method are mapped by county …

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Range And Population Size Of The American Burying Beetle (Coleoptera: Silphidae) In The Dissected Hills Of South-Central Nebraska, Mark Peyton Apr 2003

Range And Population Size Of The American Burying Beetle (Coleoptera: Silphidae) In The Dissected Hills Of South-Central Nebraska, Mark Peyton

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

The American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus Olivier) is the only insect found in Nebraska currently on the federal endangered species list. I conducted surveys in 1995, 1996, and 1998 to determine range and population size of the American burying beetle in south-central Nebraska, A total of 826 individuals were captured during these three years, A Sequential Bayes Algorithm was used to estimate population size based on mark and recapture data. Results from this study and other studies identify the range of this population in south-central Nebraska as an approximately 4,500 km2 area located south of the Platte River in …

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Constructing The Cooper Model Of Folsom Bison Kills On The Southern Plains, Leland Bement Apr 2003

Constructing The Cooper Model Of Folsom Bison Kills On The Southern Plains, Leland Bement

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

The Cooper model postulates that a dichotomy exists in the size and seasonality of bison kill sites from the Folsom age (10,800- 10,200 years ago). This dichotomy is a result of changing settlement and subsistence patterns, from population aggregation in the late summer and early fall for large-scale kills, to a dispersed pattern with small bison kills during all other seasons. Attendant to the change in human population aggregation and number of bison harvested are changes in bison butchering techniques, choice of camp location, and ritual activity. It is postulated that ritual activity of an aggregated group is manifest in …

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Migrations Of Grassland Communities And Grazing Philosophies In The Great Plains: A Review And Implications For Management, Joe C. Truett Apr 2003

Migrations Of Grassland Communities And Grazing Philosophies In The Great Plains: A Review And Implications For Management, Joe C. Truett

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

Ecologists commonly separate Great Plains grasslands communities into types based on grass height: shortgrass prairie, mixed-grass prairie, and tallgrass prairie. Grass height correlates directly with precipitation and thus lessens with distance westward and with drought. Grass height correlates inversely with grazing intensity and thus shortgrasses expand eastward when grazing pressures are great and shrink westward when grazing pressures relax. Evidence about past distributions of shortgrasses, coupled with the prehistoric and historic abundances of large grazers and the black-tailed prairie dog (a shortgrass indicator), suggest a far-eastward occurrence of shortgrass prairie in the late Pleistocene (despite a relatively wet climate), a …

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Book Review Of Prairie Wetland Ecology: The Contribution Of The Marsh Ecology Research Program Edited By Henry R. Murkin, Arnold G. Van Der Valk, And William R. Clark, Gary Krapu Jan 2003

Book Review Of Prairie Wetland Ecology: The Contribution Of The Marsh Ecology Research Program Edited By Henry R. Murkin, Arnold G. Van Der Valk, And William R. Clark, Gary Krapu

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

Developing a thorough understanding of how prairie wetlands function is a daunting challenge. The Marsh Ecology Research Program (MERP) was initiated in response to the recommendation of Milt Weller that a team of specialists develop an experimental multidisciplinary research program to advance marsh management theory. Through the efforts of Bruce Batt, Pat Caldwell, Henry Murkin, and others, a research team was assembled and a long-term project carried out that ultimately led to nearly a hundred scientific papers, sixteen theses and dissertations, and this book.

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Book Review Of Cranes The Noblest Flyers: In Natural History And Cultural Lore By Alice Lindsey Price, Felipe Chavez-Ramirez Jan 2003

Book Review Of Cranes The Noblest Flyers: In Natural History And Cultural Lore By Alice Lindsey Price, Felipe Chavez-Ramirez

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

This book is one of several dealing with cranes in recent years. Most offer general information and are not intended to be technical. As someone deeply interested in the plight of cranes, I applaud these efforts for increasing the general public's awareness of cranes and their conservation problems. It is well known that cranes in general have held important connections with human cultures in various parts of the world. Cranes the Noblest Flyers is an effort to explore and present some of those connections, intertwined with information on the family members and the situation of their representatives in current-day North …

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Book Review Of Climate Change Impacts On The United States: The Potential Consequences Of Climate Variability And Change. A Report Of The National Assessment Synthesis Team, Us Global Change Research Program, Susan Capalbo Jan 2003

Book Review Of Climate Change Impacts On The United States: The Potential Consequences Of Climate Variability And Change. A Report Of The National Assessment Synthesis Team, Us Global Change Research Program, Susan Capalbo

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

Addressing the potential consequences of climate variability and change can be best summarized in terms of tradeoffs: tradeoffs between short-term and long-term impacts; tradeoffs among sectors and regions; and tradeoffs among national-level versus more regional-level impacts. Evidence of these tradeoffs is presented in this comprehensive report by the National Assessment Synthesis Team (NAST) for the US Global Research Program. Its findings are based on analysis of historical data, model projections, and scientific research. A key assumption in the report is the absence of major interventions to reduce continued growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

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Book Review Of A Green And Permanent Land: Ecology And Agriculture In The Twentieth Century By Randal S. Beeman And James A. Pritchard, Kristin Ahlberg Jan 2003

Book Review Of A Green And Permanent Land: Ecology And Agriculture In The Twentieth Century By Randal S. Beeman And James A. Pritchard, Kristin Ahlberg

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

Concentrating on the ideological underpinnings of American agriculture, Beeman and Prichard illuminate the 20th-century debate over defining and implementing suitable agricultural practices and policies. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression and World War II, farmers, environmentalists, federal officials, and academics found agriculture influenced by a growing ecological movement. Techniques purporting a better urban-rural balance, soil conservation, and organic fertilization were favored by individuals seeking an alternative to the economic and social despair experienced by Americans during the 1930s and 1940s. The agricultural establishment troika of agribusiness, land-grant universities, and the United States Department of Agriculture eschewed such ideas until …

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