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

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Distribution And Abundance Of Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs In The Great Plains: A Historical Perspective, Dallas Virchow, Scott E. Hygnstrom Oct 2002

Distribution And Abundance Of Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs In The Great Plains: A Historical Perspective, Dallas Virchow, Scott E. Hygnstrom

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

It is a common belief that the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) was an extremely abundant species throughout the Great Plains prior to European settlement. We examined accounts from explorers, naturalists, and travelers in the Great Plains in the 19th and 20th centuries and found few that adequately document the relative abundance and distribution to support this view. Immense prairie dog colonies existed in the western Great Plains before Euro-American settlement, but it appears that the eastern Great Plains supported only localized populations. Historic accounts also indicate that the easternmost extent of the black-tailed prairie dog's range before …

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Great Plains Research Volume 12, Number 2, Fall 2002 - Annual Index Oct 2002

Great Plains Research Volume 12, Number 2, Fall 2002 - Annual Index

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

annual index

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Review Of Waltzing With The Ghost Of Tom Joad: Poverty, Myth, And Low-Wage Labor In Oklahoma By Robert Lee Maril, Ginette Aley Oct 2002

Review Of Waltzing With The Ghost Of Tom Joad: Poverty, Myth, And Low-Wage Labor In Oklahoma By Robert Lee Maril, Ginette Aley

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

The Great Plains is home to a range of economic experiences, yet little research has focused on the roles that poor people and poverty have played in society. Constantly, though, the ghost of Tom Joad, John Steinbeck's protagonist in The Grapes of Wrath, has reminded us of the status of the contemporary poor while also embodying the potential for social change. Robert Lee Maril, has produced the first comprehensive analysis of poverty in Oklahoma, the eighth poorest state in the nation, in which he explores myths about the poor and the "real" causes of poverty, especially low-wage labor. Maril …

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Reasons For The Marginal Incorporation Of The Comanches By The Spanish, Martha Mccollough Oct 2002

Reasons For The Marginal Incorporation Of The Comanches By The Spanish, Martha Mccollough

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

When the Comanches, a Native American community originally from the Great Basin region, migrated to the Southern Plains in the early 1700s, they encountered Spanish colonies, missions, and military and administrative personnel as well as newly introduced trade items. Spain attempted to incorporate the Comanches into the region's emerging political economy through a variety of means including the use of treaties, coercive force, and economic inducements. Because of the Comanches' decentralized political organization, their conquest of the Apaches, and Spain's tenuous control over its northern frontier, the Comanches successfully retained control over their own articulation within the region's political economy. …

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Watering The Plains: Political Dynamics Of River Preservation In Canada And The United States, Joan M. Blauwkamp, Peter J. Longo Oct 2002

Watering The Plains: Political Dynamics Of River Preservation In Canada And The United States, Joan M. Blauwkamp, Peter J. Longo

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

In this article we compare the Canadian Heritage Rivers System with the US Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and analyze case law in order to identify the best means of ensuring preservation of Great Plains rivers. We find that fear of federal dictates provides a powerful political weapon for opponents of river preservation policies. Therefore, we conclude that national officials should work with state, provincial, and local officials to develop cooperative plans that enable local residents to participate in river management decisions. Cooperative river management policies avoid the perception of federal government action as threatening to state sovereignty, thereby removing …

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Was Old Jules Right?: Soil Stewardship On Leased Land, Bruce B. Johnson, John D. Cole Oct 2002

Was Old Jules Right?: Soil Stewardship On Leased Land, Bruce B. Johnson, John D. Cole

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

In a country where more than 40% of the agricultural land is farmed by tenant operators, the question of how that land base is farmed becomes paramount In this study we examined soil erosion levels in relation to land tenure and surveyed tenant farmer practices and attitudes in Nebraska and South Dakota, We found leased land was farmed and maintained by tenants in an environmentally sustainable manner, Furthermore, we found no evidence to suggest variation from this norm due to type of lease, size of farm, type of farm organization, or landowner classification, While educational level and years of experience …

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Early Human-Bison Population Interdependence In The Plains Ecosystem, Henry Epp, Ian Dyck Oct 2002

Early Human-Bison Population Interdependence In The Plains Ecosystem, Henry Epp, Ian Dyck

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

Human population size in the Great Plains ecosystem before European contact has been of longstanding interest to scholars. The same is true of bison numbers. Given the near total dependence on bison by nonagricultural precontact humans, integrating information on both human and bison numbers from that time is of further interest, providing the focus for this paper. Recent research on the behavioral ecology of bison and related ungulates has led to the identification of two distinct, although not mutually exclusive, populations: resident and migrant herds. Moreover, migrants tend to vastly outnumber residents, often by more than 4 to 1. The …

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Flooding In Kansas Respondents’ Satisfaction With Emergency Response Measures And Disaster Aid, Bimal Kanti Paul Oct 2002

Flooding In Kansas Respondents’ Satisfaction With Emergency Response Measures And Disaster Aid, Bimal Kanti Paul

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

Several counties of south-central and southeast Kansas experienced floods in the first week of November 1998. The communities of Arkansas City and Augusta were among those most severely affected by these floods. This study is based primarily on a mail questionnaire survey of residents of these two communities, and it examines respondents' satisfaction with four emergency response measures employed by local officials and emergency management agencies before and during the flood event. The extent of external support victims received and the level of their satisfaction with that support were also investigated. The analysis of the survey data shows that the …

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Community Dynamics Of An Ecotonal Forest-Prairie Interface In Northeastern Kansas, Elizabeth Hane, Steven Hamburg Oct 2002

Community Dynamics Of An Ecotonal Forest-Prairie Interface In Northeastern Kansas, Elizabeth Hane, Steven Hamburg

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

Climate change models predict that ecotones, which are boundaries between two biomes, are likely to be the first place we see the effects of climate change. However, very little baseline data exist for these areas and their current community structure. In order to better understand the community dynamics of an ecotonal forest, a 2.2 ha 60- year-old upland forest in northeastern Kansas was monitored for 10 years. This oak-hickory forest at the ecotone with the tallgrass prairie biome is growing more slowly than other forests of similar species composition farther east, possibly due to lower levels of available soil moisture …

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Western Harvester Ants’ Foraging Success And Nest Densities In Relation To Grazing Intensity, Shaharra Usnick, Richard Hart Oct 2002

Western Harvester Ants’ Foraging Success And Nest Densities In Relation To Grazing Intensity, Shaharra Usnick, Richard Hart

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

Western harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, are seed eaters that occur in short- and mid-grass prairies. Harvester ants are efficient seed predators but they may also be seed dispersers. We examined what ants collect to address that question. We also studied how different cattle grazing intensities affected harvester ant nest densities. Items collected by western harvester ant foragers returning to their nests were categorized as non-seeds, seeds, and nothing. Harvester ants collected large amounts of non-seeds (48%), followed by seeds (33%) and nothing (19%). Western harvester ants tolerate some environmental stress caused by grazing because nest densities were highest in …

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Estimation Of Presettlement Populations Of The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog: A Reply, Dallas Virchow, Scott E. Hygnstrom Oct 2002

Estimation Of Presettlement Populations Of The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog: A Reply, Dallas Virchow, Scott E. Hygnstrom

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

Determination of the historical distribution and abundance of the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicanus) is important as a component of the science underlying decisions on the future management of this species. Clearly, we differ from Knowles and colleagues (2002) in our interpretation of those data (see below). In addition, Knowles et al. (2002) introduce other lines of evidence rather than focusing on the historical record as we did. The new lines of evidence they present include physical evidence, contemporary knowledge of prairie dog ecology, and distribution of the black-footed ferret, Mustela nigripes. Unfortunately, these new lines of …

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Great Plains Research Volume 12, Number 2, Fall 2002 - News And Notes Oct 2002

Great Plains Research Volume 12, Number 2, Fall 2002 - News And Notes

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

Contents:
Call for papers

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Review Of Birds Of The Texas Panhandle: Their Status, Distribution, And History By Kenneth D. Seyffert, Mark Lockwood Oct 2002

Review Of Birds Of The Texas Panhandle: Their Status, Distribution, And History By Kenneth D. Seyffert, Mark Lockwood

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

Birds of the Texas Panhandle is the first book to focus on the avifauna of this region of Texas. Seyffert has been studying the Panhandle's birds for almost forty years, and no one is more qualified to provide a comprehensive overview of its bird life. His work concentrates on the twenty-six counties that make up the Panhandle, including habitats from two physiographic regions, the High Plains and the Rolling Plains. Seyffert details the occurrence of 406 avian species that have been satisfactorily documented in the study area and thirty-six others that have been reported without supporting details. Each species account …

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Review Of Urban Indian Reserves: Forging New Relationships In Saskatchewan Edited By F. Laurie Barron And Joseph Garcea, J. R. Miller Oct 2002

Review Of Urban Indian Reserves: Forging New Relationships In Saskatchewan Edited By F. Laurie Barron And Joseph Garcea, J. R. Miller

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

Although the four Saskatchewan urban reserves examined in this collection are not the only ones in Canada, or even in Saskatchewan for that matter, they are among the most interesting and instructive. Established between 1982 and 1996, the reserves in Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Fort Qu' Appelle, and Yorkton went through differing processes with strikingly similar results. Establishment of the Saskatoon and Yorkton reserves proceeded smoothly, but similar initiatives in Prince Albert and Fort Qu' Appelle had to overcome local opposition. Indeed, the Prince Albert urban reserve was established by the federal government over the municipality's objections. In spite of the …

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Review Of Kansas Breeding Bird Atlas By William H. Busby And John L. Zimmerman, Paul A. Johnsgard Oct 2002

Review Of Kansas Breeding Bird Atlas By William H. Busby And John L. Zimmerman, Paul A. Johnsgard

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

Kansas has now joined the expanding group of Midwestern states for which breeding bird atlases have recently been published, including South Dakota (1995), Iowa (1996), Missouri (1997), and Nebraska (200 I). Atlases are also in preparation or in press for Oklahoma and Texas, which will soon help fill out distributional knowledge of the Great Plains avifauna in a way unimaginable when I was assembling regional data for my Birds of the Great Plains: The Breeding Species and Their Distribution (1979).

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Review Of Voices Of A New Chicana/O History By Refugio Rochín And Dennis Valdes, James A. Garza Oct 2002

Review Of Voices Of A New Chicana/O History By Refugio Rochín And Dennis Valdes, James A. Garza

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

The demographic changes affecting America's ethnic populations are a reminder that history is in constant flux. In particular, the Latina/o population is seeing its social and political influence grow, especially in the Midwest. How will mainstream America deal with this new reality? As politicians struggle over this issue, Chicana/o scholars are also finding that past definitions no longer fit today's academic environment. Voices of a New Chicanalo History, an informative and stimulating compilation of fourteen essays, represents this new historical debate. Edited by Refugio I. Rochfn and Dennis N. Valdes, the volume brings together a diverse group of Chicana/o …

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Review Of A Business History Of Alberta By Henry C. Klassen, Max Foran Oct 2002

Review Of A Business History Of Alberta By Henry C. Klassen, Max Foran

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

Given the dearth of business histories in Alberta, and in Western Canada for that matter, A Business History of Alberta is a welcome contribution to Canadian regional historiography. Henry Klassen's study, the result of many years of intensive research at a variety of levels, emerges as a well written account of the development of business in Alberta from the territorial period to the present day. Using specific examples, supported in many cases by personal interviews, Klassen has brought to life the histories of dozens of business enterprises in all parts of Alberta over a hundred year period. His reliance on …

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Great Plains Research Volume 12, Number 2, Fall 2002 - Table Of Contents Oct 2002

Great Plains Research Volume 12, Number 2, Fall 2002 - Table Of Contents

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

Cover and table of contents

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Review Of Wildflowers Of Alberta: A Guide To Common Wildflowers And Other Herbaceous Plants By Kathleen Wilkinson, Melanie Elliot Oct 2002

Review Of Wildflowers Of Alberta: A Guide To Common Wildflowers And Other Herbaceous Plants By Kathleen Wilkinson, Melanie Elliot

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

This field guide, in a size and format useful for educators, naturalists, and life-long learners, is illustrated with excellent photographs, some artistically back lit, and line drawings. Appendices offer keys to the major families, comparisons of new and old taxonomy, selected references, an alphabetized species index by flower color, and a species index. There is also a good glossary, which includes page references back to species and diagrams. Corners help maintain the guide's shape even when repeatedly pulled out of a pack in the field.

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Review Of Bounty And Benevolence: A History Of Saskatchewan Treaties By Arthur J. Ray, Jim Miller, And Frank Tough, Jennifer S. H. Brown Oct 2002

Review Of Bounty And Benevolence: A History Of Saskatchewan Treaties By Arthur J. Ray, Jim Miller, And Frank Tough, Jennifer S. H. Brown

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

This is a solid and useful contribution to the growing literature on the so-called "numbered treaties" with Native Peoples in the Canadian West. Its focus is on the five treaties negotiated with the First Nations whose homelands included parts of the present province of Saskatchewan: Treaties 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10, signed during the period from 1874 into the early twentieth century. Initially advertised with the subtitle A Documentary History of Saskatchewan Treaties, the volume indeed emphasizes evidence from and interpretations of written documents, some quoted at length. The authors note that the original intent was "to embody …

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Review Of The Cast Iron Forest: A Natural And Cultural History Of The North American Cross Timbers By Richard V. Francaviglia, Brock Brown Oct 2002

Review Of The Cast Iron Forest: A Natural And Cultural History Of The North American Cross Timbers By Richard V. Francaviglia, Brock Brown

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

Drawing on the term "cast iron forest" used by Washington Irving in the 1830s to describe a central Oklahoma component of the larger Cross Timbers region, Richard Francaviglia fashions a thoughtful, thorough, and updated account of this bio-region. Nurtured by American expansion westward, the Cross Timbers was a formidable barrier to transportation and of immediate interest to anyone traveling east-west through the region. From early Euro-American encounters to recent times many of the explorers, surveyors, adventurers, and scientists who encountered and observed the Cross Timbers recorded their experiences. Francaviglia does a superb job bundling the diverse types of accounts into …

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Review Of Ice Age Peoples Of North America: Environments, Origins, And Adaptations Of The First Americans Edited By Robson Bonnichsen And Karen L. Turnmire, Leland C. Bement Oct 2002

Review Of Ice Age Peoples Of North America: Environments, Origins, And Adaptations Of The First Americans Edited By Robson Bonnichsen And Karen L. Turnmire, Leland C. Bement

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

This collection of nineteen articles presents up-to-date regional or topical syntheses of the best data relating to the last Ice Age inhabitants in Northeast Asia, Beringia, and North America. Many of the papers were given in 1989 at the First World Summit, sponsored by the Center for the Study of the First Americans at the University of Maine. Authors were given the opportunity to update their syntheses to include new finds in their regions during the decade between the Summit and the book's publication, though some contributors waived the opportunity.

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Review Of The Last Best West: Essays On The Historical Geography Of The Canadian Prairies By Yossi Katz And John C. Lehr, Carl J. Traci Oct 2002

Review Of The Last Best West: Essays On The Historical Geography Of The Canadian Prairies By Yossi Katz And John C. Lehr, Carl J. Traci

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

John Lehr is well known for his longstanding interest in and intimate knowledge of Ukrainian and Mormon settlement in the Canadian West. More recently, he has teamed with Yossi Katz to examine Jewish settlement and to analyze the influence of institutional factors on settlement success. The purpose of this collection of previously-published papers is to contribute to a "full understanding" of frontier agricultural settlement through the use of a comparative approach that analyzes the role of culture and institutions (social, religious, and government) in the settlement experiences of several ethnic groups in western Canada. Chosen for detailed treatment are the …

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Review Of Freshwater Ecoregions Of North America: A Conservation Assessment By Robin A. Abell, David M. Olson, Eric Dinerstein, Patrick T. Hurley, Et Al., Arnold Van Der Valk Oct 2002

Review Of Freshwater Ecoregions Of North America: A Conservation Assessment By Robin A. Abell, David M. Olson, Eric Dinerstein, Patrick T. Hurley, Et Al., Arnold Van Der Valk

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

Defining ecogregions as "relatively large areas of land or water that contain a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities," this book documents the efforts of the World Wildlife Fund-United States to identify areas with aquatic habitats in the United States, Canada, and Mexico that support "globally outstanding biological diversity." Public and private conservation groups can then focus their efforts on preserving the aquatic ecosystems of the most globally significant areas.

The book opens with its authors' discussion of their use of a biological distinctiveness index, focusing on fish, mussels, and crayfish species, to delineate the ecoregions of North America. Much …

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Review Of Addictions And Native Americans By Laurence Armand French, Benson Tong Oct 2002

Review Of Addictions And Native Americans By Laurence Armand French, Benson Tong

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

Notwithstanding the title, this short book focuses largely on health issues arising from alcoholism in the indigenous population of North America. The evidence overwhelmingly points to this particular substance abuse as the number-one killer among Native Americans, accounting for the four leading causes of death: accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, suicide, and homicide. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which plagues infants with physical and psychological problems, is another effect of Indian alcoholism.

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Review Of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side Of The All-American Meal By Eric Schlosser, Toby Ten Eyck Oct 2002

Review Of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side Of The All-American Meal By Eric Schlosser, Toby Ten Eyck

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

American fast food has come to symbolize runaway capitalism, pointless pop culture, and callous globalization. It is bad for the environment, bad for workers, and bad for consumers. This industry supports meatpacking firms-some of the largest are now located in the Great Plains-that are heavy polluters and rely on a labor force consisting largely of immigrant workers who receive few, if any, health or medical benefits, even though their work is some of the most dangerous in the US. Fast food restaurants are the signifiers of urban sprawl which threatens precious farm and ranch lands in the Great Plains and …

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Review Of Changing Prairie Landscapes Edited By Todd A. Radenbaugh And Patrick Douaud, Fred Samson Oct 2002

Review Of Changing Prairie Landscapes Edited By Todd A. Radenbaugh And Patrick Douaud, Fred Samson

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

In the past decade there has been a slow but steady change in the field of prairie conservation. More and more research is investigating the role of natural ecological processes and factors leading to the declines in many native prairie species. Although this change should be seen as progress, achieving the needed balance between science and practical roots in conservation remains illusive.

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Latino Families In The Perinatal Period: Cultural Issues In Dealing With The Health-Care System, J. Martin Maldonado-Duran, Maria Manguia-Wellman, Sari Lubin, Teresa Lartigue Apr 2002

Latino Families In The Perinatal Period: Cultural Issues In Dealing With The Health-Care System, J. Martin Maldonado-Duran, Maria Manguia-Wellman, Sari Lubin, Teresa Lartigue

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

Migration of young Latinos and Latinas has increased in many towns in the Midwest. These young people will experience the perinatal period in a new cultural environment. We focus on the interface between families of Latino origin and the Midwest health-care system, particularly in the care of the pregnant woman or couple and in the care of the infant. Issues of culture are central in the perinatal period, and often the staff in health-care centers is not aware of the importance of several traditional and "folk" health-care beliefs in this period. These beliefs impact the care of the pregnant woman, …

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White-Tailed Deer Browsing On Six Shrub Species Of Tallgrass Prairie, Dirk-Jan Van Der Hoek, Alan K. Knapp, John M. Briggs, Jan Bokdam Apr 2002

White-Tailed Deer Browsing On Six Shrub Species Of Tallgrass Prairie, Dirk-Jan Van Der Hoek, Alan K. Knapp, John M. Briggs, Jan Bokdam

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

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations have in the past, and continue today, to increase in the Great Plains and North America. However, their impact on native plant species and endangered ecosystems such as the tallgrass prairie is poorly documented. To better understand the consequences of increasing deer numbers for native shrubs in grasslands, we assessed the extent of their summer browsing activity on six shrub species (wild plum, rough-leaved dogwood, smooth sumac, fragrant sumac, and coralberry) along transects that spanned riparian margins to upland tallgrass prairie. The proportion of terminal shoots browsed was quantified along established white-tail deer …

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Spatial Description And Analysis Of Grasshopper Abundances In Colorado Rangeland, Kerri Skinner, R. Dennis Child, Thomas O. Holtzer Apr 2002

Spatial Description And Analysis Of Grasshopper Abundances In Colorado Rangeland, Kerri Skinner, R. Dennis Child, Thomas O. Holtzer

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

Although rangeland grasshopper populations have been studied for more than 120 years, little is known of the spatial patterns in grasshopper numbers between outbreak cycles. This information is necessary to understand how grasshopper outbreaks develop and to correctly design research, monitoring, and modeling projects. We used exploratory data analysis and geostatistics to identify the spatial patterns in grasshopper numbers for 1993 through 1997 in Colorado. The same family of models (spherical) provided the best fit to the sample data for all years, which implies that similar processes influenced grasshopper densities over these years. The parameters of the models differed among …

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