Montanas dairy industry is unique among US states because of its supply management program, which allocates quota to limit how much fluid milk can be produced and sold within the state. The amount of quota is set and price varies with market conditions; therefore, quota adds to a farms production costs. This paper presents findings from in-depth interviews with 17 dairy farmers to learn how quota has affected on-farm decision-making and how they perceive the impacts of quota on the statewide industry. Farmers tend to be spilt between those who think it affected their on-farm decisions and those who felt that other factors had greater impact. Farmers perceive effects such as supply stagnation, increased expenses, industry protection from other states, and possibly stabilizing the price of milk. The qualitative approach used here differs from past research in other nations, which typically focused on the financial implications of supply management.

Opportunity, Montana is a small town within the 300 square mile Anaconda Smelter Superfund site in Western Montana. Waste from 100 years of ore processing has impacted the area. Arsenic exceeds Montana drinking water standards within the aquifer system feeding residential wells of Opportunity, causing resident concern about current and future safety of drinking water. The project described in this paper engages with this context from an environmental justice (EJ) perspective that views meaningful participation of affected communities as integral for sound and democratic decisions about environmental risks. Because Opportunity residents are left out of important decision making processes regarding local groundwater remediation, they experience procedural injustice, an aspect of EJ calling for meaningful participation. The project aims to reduce barriers to meaningful participation by improving residents abilities to access and use scientific information and explanations for local groundwater contamination, a need identified through previous literature and resident comments. Science education, risk communication, and science communication literature, along with Superfund site studies, provided general insights about relevant groundwater information and concepts as well as effective ways of communicating this technical information to residents. I used a three-step process to further specify and address resident needs and concerns regarding groundwater contamination. First, I conducted focus group interviews with ten Opportunity residents in the spring of 2012. Qualitative analysis of these interviews identified needs regarding site data and relevant groundwater concepts. Secondly, this analysis, along with literature, informed creation of a public presentation about groundwater contamination in the Opportunity area, offered to receive feedback from residents for development of an informational booklet. I received an unsatisfactory amount of feedback from this step. Thirdly, I adapted presentation material with the received feedback and a more rigorous application of insights from literature into a 24-page informational booklet, containing images designed for the project. With support of other nonprofits conducting outreach to Superfund communities, I intend to publish and distribute the booklet as a resource for Opportunity residents seeking better and more useful information to address concerns with drinking water.

In 2000, atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen published a paper in the journal Nature in which he argued that human activity had become the primary force shaping the geology, hydrology, atmosphere, and climate of planet Earth. Crutzen proposed the inauguration of a new geological epoch termed the Anthropocene, which denoted the human domination of the biosphere. Since then, a number of geologists and Earth systems scientists have joined Crutzen in calling for a ratification of this new name. Popular science writers like Emma Marris and Mark Lynas have also celebrated the dawn of The Age of Humans, claiming that it legitimizes a much deeper technological intervention by humans in the life systems of the planet. This thesis analyzes the historical narratives deployed within the scientific papers and popular books on the Anthropocene to justify this more intensified technological intervention. Each of these papers presents a capsule version of human history, which often depicts the species Homo sapiens as progressing on a linear, universal path to our current form of global dominance. The narrative proceeds from hunter-gatherers wielding fire, to sedentary agrarian city-states, to modern, urban technological societies engaged in global-scale management and ecological degradation. This thesis offers a critique of the notion that all human beings are represented in the cumulative impacts that have been collectively termed The Anthropocene. Utilizing the insights gained from post-colonial and Indigenous studies, as well as environmental history and cultural ecology, I attempt to examine fundamental differences in worldview and lifeways between what Raymond Dasmann called biosphere peoples and small-scale, traditional societies, or ecosystem peoples. By tracing the movement of biospheric dependence and industrial growth out of the centers of European and Euro-American power, I suggest that the Anthropocene originated out of deliberate colonial attempts to restructure traditional, land-based societiesand the lands they occupiedto fit Western-style developmental models. As Earth Systems scientists, social scientists, conservationists, activists, and policy makers attempt to devise ways of adapting to or mitigating planetary-scale environmental challenges, I argue that it is important to properly define the problem in order to develop adequate, properly-scaled solutions.

In 2007, the City Council of Missoula, Montana passed an ordinance allowing six chickens per urban lot. Missoula followed the lead of many other cities seeking to expand urban agriculture and food security opportunities through microlivestock. This paper gives context to the implementation of a specific ordinance, investigates the benefits and challenges experienced by twenty households in Missoula, and connects it back to the food system as a whole.

As scholars debate whether climate change warrants more or less active management in wilderness, this baseline study identifies what is happening on the ground. This study focuses attention on National Park Service units that administer designated wilderness. Representatives who had been identified by the superintendents from each of these units responded to an online survey (with a 94% response rate). Respondents reported on their concerns, monitoring, and management projects driven by climate change happening in their wilderness. Respondents also discussed whether and how these activities affected wilderness character. This is the first study to characterize the response to climate change in wilderness at a national scale. A majority of park units are conducting stewardship activities in wilderness to address and track the effects of climate change. Invasive species and fire are receiving much attention in the process. As park units respond to climate change in wilderness they cite perceived improvements to the natural quality of wilderness character. They also indicate that these activities harm the natural quality of wilderness character along with a suite of other qualities that have been left out of the academic discussion regarding appropriate management responses. The findings thus provide basic information to NPS administrators about what is happening in the field. They also give those discussing appropriate stewardship responses the fabric within which to sew their arguments. Finally, this study explores lessons learned from climate change adaptation in wilderness that may be applicable to adaptation activities happening elsewhere.

Crossing structures enable wildlife to safely cross highways by physically separating wildlife and vehicles. Most wildlife underpasses and overpasses are designed to accommodate a wide variety of species. Their suitability for individual species, however, varies by location (surrounding habitat), structure type (e.g. underpass or overpass), and dimensions (height, width, length). For some taxa, the habitat immediately adjacent to and inside an underpass or on top of an overpass is critical. For instance, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and many invertebrates may avoid open areas because they require cover (e.g., live vegetation, tree stumps, branches, or rocks) to reduce predation risk and because of the microhabitat it provides (e.g., temperature, moisture). I investigated the effect of cover on the abundance and movements of small mammals in ten large mammal underpasses (approximately 7 m wide, 4 m high) along U.S. Hwy 93 North on the Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana. Track tubes recorded abundance of small mammals in and around 10 structures (5 control/ 5 treatment) in 2011 and 2012. I placed cover (dead tree limbs) inside half (five) of the underpasses in winter 2012 (treatment), while the remaining five underpasses served as control with no cover added. Capture-mark-recapture using live traps was conducted in the fall of 2012 to record abundance and movement of small mammals in and around the underpasses. There was no statistically significant effect of cover on small mammal abundance detected by track tubes or live traps. . There was a statistically significant effect of cover on movement between the right of way and crossing structure for small mammals detected by live traps. By placing cover inside wildlife underpasses, wildlife managers can increase crossing structure use by small mammals at minimal cost.

In light of the impacts of climate and land use change on water quality and distribution worldwide, it is important that citizens make informed decisions regarding human land and water use. Many, however, lack the scientific knowledge necessary to understand these issues, indicating that todays school system is not adequately preparing many students to become active, environmentally literate citizens. Place-based education (PBE) and sensitivity to students funds of knowledge (FOK) are two recent approaches that may help teachers and school officials develop science curricula and instructional practices that better support students in developing scientific understanding. This thesis examines the relationship between western Montana and Tucson, Arizona 6th grade students PBE experiences, their water-related FOK, and their understanding of water systems. As part of the larger Water Reasoning Tools project, students took a water knowledge pre-test before lessons in class. They also took a survey that asked about their past PBE and water-related FOK experiences. For this study, the students pretests were analyzed using the water learning progression assessment framework. Their surveys were also analyzed, and students were given scores that reflect their PBE and FOK experiences. The pretest and survey scores were then statistically compared to see if there were correlations between the variables (water knowledge, PBE, and FOK). Results showed that the 6th grade students in these states demonstrated informal reasoning about water systems, and that they have had relatively few PBE and FOK experiences. Results also showed a correlation between students scores on some sections of the pretest and their FOK experiences. There was no correlation, however, between test scores and PBE. This could be due to students few past experiences with PBE and FOK learning. In addition, the small amount of variance among all three variables made it difficult to find significant correlations. At a time when scientists are speaking directly to the public, it is important that our schools support students in becoming citizens capable of using model-based, scientific reasoning to make decisions about environmental issues. With further development, PBE and sensitivity to students FOK may be two approaches with promise for designing science curricula to help students learn science with understanding.

Off stream uses of water in the west have left many rivers and streams depleted, including the Upper Clark Fork River and its tributaries. As drought conditions persist or worsen, this issue will become more critical. Public-private partnerships, like the Upper Clark Fork Steering Committee, have formed to monitor the flow of our rivers. In order to assist the Steering Committee and river advocacy groups working within the Upper Clark Fork River Basin, this paper provides a comprehensive review of the studies on existing flows and target flows in the upper river, synthesizes past priorities for stream restoration, and provides a case study on how to find flows to rewater a key tributary. With this information, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and others will have a more complete understanding of how to prioritize tributaries for rewatering and restoration with their limited budgets and personnel. This will also aid in the development of the report due to the legislature every five years by the Upper Clark Fork River Basin Steering Committee that is intended to review the basin closure and make recommendations to the legislature regarding necessary changes.

abstract: Over the last few decades, the western United States has experienced more extreme wildland fire events, remarkable for their size and severity. The frequency, intensity, and size of wildfires is projected to only increase, with severe consequences for biodiversity, ecosystem services, human property, and more broadly, the sustainability of western forests. These trends are the result of a complex suite of factors including, past land-use policies, fire suppression, climate change, and human development. To protect fire-adapted ecosystems from further damage, fuel reduction and fire reintroduction are required over large landscapes, necessitating government agencies, landowners, and other interests to work together. In response, collaborative fire restoration efforts are forming to carry out this much needed work. This research takes a multi-level approach to understanding these new models for fire management and restoration. Collaborative, landscape-level approaches to fire reintroduction are a direct response to a failure in past policies and approaches, which necessitates a discussion of why these policies allowed fires to grow worse and why management failed to effectively prevent this from happening. Thus, a historical analysis of wildland fire policy and management constitutes one layer in this analysis. Collaborative frameworks to wildland fire reintroduction are few and far between, which obliges a discussion of how collaboration works and why it may be necessary. An in-depth case study of FireScape, a collaborative effort in southeastern Arizona to restore wildfire completes this analysis and provides a discussion of the challenges, benefits, and implications of these new approaches. The context for this case study is southeastern Arizona's Sky Islands. The Sky Islands region spans the U.S. Mexico borderlands and is a biodiversity hotspot, making it an ideal place to explore the interactions between humans and natural systems. The more recent emphasis on collaboration in wildfire management has yet to be fully explored in other academic circles. Collaboration is essential in fire restoration and provides one pathway to solve complex natural resource management issues. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Sustainability 2012

A limnological description of Lake Marco Shores, Collier County, Florida was conducted from October, 1976 through March, 1979. This manmade lake was located close to the estuary and was long (344 m) in relation to its breadth (237.9 m). A large percentage (83) of the volume of the lake occupied a cryptodepression. 1. The lake was shown to be meromictic, with a stable vertical density structure over an annual cycle. 2. The lower layer evidenced accumulated nutrients relative to the top layer which was nutrient poor and always anaerobic. The upper layer was always aerobic. 3. The water column as a whole, had no net production over an annual cycle, but analysis of discreet depth intervals between the two main layers did indicate that production was occurring in this narrow zone. 4. The meromictic condition was shown to be maintained by seepage of ground water into the lake at depths and by the surface input of rainfall and runoff. 5. The vertical chemical and physical structure of the surrounding ground water was shown to be similar to that of the lake, but not like that of either the estuary or inland areas of Collier County. 6. The flora and fauna of the lake had brackish water affinities with marine and fresh water forms finding conditions in the lake and surrounding watershed suitable for maintenance and reproduction. The benthos and plankton were shown to orient vertically relative to the lake’s strata. A great concentration of zooplankton and phytoplankton was seen at the interface between the two layers. 7. The low production and nutrient concentrations and high transparency of the upper layer indicate that Lake Marco Shores is oligotrophia.