Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Kendra K. McLauchlan / Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a critically threatened North American conifer. In modern times, it has experienced a significant decline in population due to pine beetle infestations, blister rust infections, fire suppression, and climate change. While climate, fire, and vegetation are strongly linked on regional and global scales, the relative roles of these three factors are not well-documented during the Holocene in high elevation mountain sites of North America. Recent anthropogenic changes in climate and fire management practices are underway, but the potential responses of subalpine vegetation to these environmental changes remain relatively unknown. Here, I documented the paleoecology of a watershed surrounding an unnamed, high-altitude pond containing a large number of whitebark pine trees located at 2805m elevation in Grand Teton National Park, U.S.A. Using a 1.5 meter lacustrine sediment core collected in 2010, I generated a Holocene-scale fire and vegetation record using fossil pollen, charcoal, and macrofossils preserved within the core. I also conducted a dendrochronological study of the current stand of whitebark pine in the watershed to determine both approximate dates of establishment and responses to past climate change of this modern stand. Sedimentary charcoal data indicate significant variability in both fire frequency and fire intensity during the Holocene. The fire regime observed in the past 1000 years is seemingly unprecedented at this site, with lower fire frequency and higher fire intensity than any other time during the Holocene. Sedimentary pollen data suggest the study site has been primarily dominated by whitebark pine until the last 1000 years, with brief periods of vegetation dominated by non-arboreal taxa that indicate the presence of either successional dynamics or shifts in treeline location. Ages of individual living whitebark pine trees average 365 years, and dendrochronology data suggest that ring widths of the current stand have been declining since 1991. Statistical analyses of PRISM climate data with ring width data suggest that this decrease in annual growth is likely the result of decreased growing season temperature ranges driven by a warming climate. While this stand of whitebark pine is threatened by both warming climate and fire suppression, there is the potential for low-intensity prescribed burns to play a role in conservation and restoration management plans for this threatened conifer.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Lisa M.B. Harrington / The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is a large, nearly intact ecosystem with significant protection that has often been considered an ideal location to examine coupled human-environment interactions due to the region’s complex mosaic of private and public lands, competing natural resource uses, and rapid population growth. A transition toward sustainability suggests that current societal and economic needs can be met while simultaneously maintaining the planet’s life support systems for future generations. To facilitate sustainability transitions it is imperative that the perceptions and experiences of local communities be documented. The objective of this study was to determine how residents of amenity-driven gateway communities (West Yellowstone and Red Lodge, Montana, and Jackson, Wyoming) surrounding Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks perceive and experience their transition toward sustainability and the challenges inherent in that transition, how those perceptions inform locally produced and extra-local policies, and how institutions influence sustainability goals. Further, this study determined which factors contribute to these perceptions, and whether they differed spatially and temporally. To meet study objectives, a mixed methods approach was implemented, including the content analysis of local newspapers and key informant interviews. Content analysis of local newspapers was used to investigate decision maker and stakeholder priorities for the local and regional environment, economy, and communities, and to determine what actions had been taken to promote sustainability. A total of 193 articles from West Yellowstone News, 287 articles from Carbon County News, and 333 articles from Jackson Hole News & Guide for the ten year period 2000-2009, were analyzed. Specific focal topics varied among the newspapers/communities, but in general terms the most discussed topics in West Yellowstone during this time were focused on natural resources, economic development, community development, sustainability and conservation, and growth and development. The most discussed topics for Red Lodge were community development, government services, tourism and recreation, and growth and development. The most commonly discussed topics in Jackson were natural resources, growth and development, community development, and government services. A total of 35 semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants in the three study communities during the summer of 2010 to allow for specific questioning and to gain additional information. Definitions of sustainability differed based on the key informant’s community, role in the community, and length of residence in the community. Overall, definitions of sustainability focused on the environment, the economy, and multi-generational or long-term thinking. The prioritization of the economy, environment, and society also differed based on community; however, there was overall recognition that each community was dependent upon the natural environment for economic vitality. In all three study communities, dependence on tourism and recreation-based industries, the lack of a diversified economy, and continued growth and development have resulted in a disconnect between perceptions, priorities, and goals as they relate to sustainability. In addition, each community was focused on multiple goals that further complicated the fulfillment of sustainability objectives. The multi-goal orientation of study communities is reflected in the multiple visions that various decision makers and stakeholders have for the community and their futures. What is needed most is a hierarchical approach to a sustainability transition, with each community setting its own, as well as ecosystem-wide, goals, objectives, and visions. Findings suggest that a transition toward sustainability is perceived and experienced differently based on local context. In the GYE, that context includes a tourism-based economy that is dependent upon the natural environment, a myriad of local, regional, national, and global stakeholders, and the presence of federal land agencies that are responsible for the sustainability of natural systems, freeing local communities to focus on the societal and economic dimensions of sustainability. A transition toward sustainability will be manifested differently in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and potentially other communities adjacent to protected lands, than it is other areas because of its unique milieu. While the close proximity of federal lands, including Yellowstone National Park, may complicate the sustainability discourse at times and may, in certain instances, add additional challenges through extra-local control of change, these same federal lands may also favor a transition toward sustainability in amenity-driven gateway communities. In addition, the disparate socio-economic conditions present in study communities, as well as extra-local institutions and agencies, directly influence, and may at times further complicate, a transition toward sustainability. This study is based on the theory that in order to successfully transition toward sustainability, a better understanding of coupled human and natural systems is critical, and because of the close couplings between human and natural systems in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and because of the unique challenges and conflicts present in the region, the GYE is an ideal location to study human-environment interactions. The use-inspired orientation of sustainability science aims to provide tangible, real-world, and place-based understanding of a transition toward sustainability. The contribution of this study to the field of sustainability science is the understanding that, while sustainability visions, goals, and objectives may be similar across a region, consideration of local contexts affecting goals and perceptions provides valuable insights that may inform sustainability pathways at local scales and, as a result, provide deeper understanding of global sustainability. One of these insights is that communities that seemingly have much in common due to their shared region, physical environmental surroundings, and history, the specific concerns to ensure place-based sustainability can show variability. Another important point from this research is that, while most depictions of sustainability are focused on three elements—the economy, society, and the environment—individuals also key in on multigenerational concerns.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Kevin Blake / Place-defining novelists convey regional imagery and regional sense of place to a wide audience, thus shaping popular perceptions of regions. Peter Mayle and Pierre Magnan are the most recent place-defining novelists of Provence, France. This research compares each author’s regional imagery and sense of place to understand what it means for each author to be in Provence. Place-name mapping geographically frames each authors’ regional imagery and sense of place. Qualitative coding and close readings of selected texts for each author identify sets of regional imagery, including nature and culture imagery, which help develop a sense of place for Provence. The subjectivities of qualitative coding analysis is addressed through personal narratives which acknowledges the researcher’s positionality vis-à-vis Provence. Mayle’s nature imagery emphasizes remote, rough topography and bright sunny skies, which presents the natural landscape as benevolent and therapeutic. Magnan’s nature imagery emphasizes rough topography, rivers, winds, and storms, which presents the natural landscape as powerful, indifferent or malevolent towards human affairs, and imbued with a sense of deep time and an enigmatic quality. Mayle’s culture imagery emphasizes healthy, traditional agrarian lifeways; vibrant village life and social connectedness; a positive and prominent tourist industry; and a food culture which permeates Provençal identity. Magnan’s culture imagery emphasizes the harsh realities of agrarian lifestyles; insular and mistrusting villages; hard and frugal villagers; historical continuity; and references to ruined or abandoned landscapes and cultural loss. Mayle’s sense of place defines Provence as a region defined as idyllic, most strongly developed by his culture imagery which emphasizes idealized agrarian lifeways and Provence’s food culture. This idyll is deepened with the positive associations with Provence’s tourist industry. Magnan’s sense of place defines Provence as a region defined by a melancholic sublime. His powerful, enigmatic nature imagery is the strongest shaping force behind developing Provence’s sublime qualities. Provence’s melancholic quality is linked to Magnan’s nature imagery’s enigmatic characteristics, which invite contemplation, and his culture imagery associated with ruins and cultural loss, which offers further invitation to contemplation and conveys a sense of grief.

Master of Arts / Geography / John A. Harrington Jr / Kansas watershed projects have been responsible for reducing floodwater damage across the state since the formation of watershed districts, following the Kansas Watershed District Act of 1953. A total of 80 organized watershed districts now take on the responsibilities associated with watershed management and protecting the land uses within them. Today, Kansas watershed districts face challenges in completing nearly half of the 3,000 structures proposed since 1953. Insufficient funding, burdensome policy changes, and a declining interest from local board members and landowners are key challenges boards must overcome in addition to managing rapidly aging infrastructure and dealing with projects that have exceeded their life expectancy. Research methods used for this report include content analysis of general work plans, relevant federal and state policies, and interviews with local stakeholders. In order to understand the economic, political, social and geographic impacts of watershed development, the following issues are addressed: cost-benefit ratios using monetary and non-monetary benefits, differences between federal and state funding in regards to rehabilitation and best management practices, local perceptions of watershed development, and spatial factors that exist among watershed districts. This study found that watershed projects have the potential to provide up to $115 million each year in monetary and flood damage reduction benefits in Kansas protecting over 35,000 miles of transportation routes while providing recreation opportunities and enhancing environmental conservation efforts. Political and social impacts were identified through in-person interviews with 21 local stakeholders that include landowners, board members and state representatives, representing 21 different watershed districts. Perceptions of political and social issues indicate that when government assistance is available, watershed districts are more willing to deal with increased regulations. However, a lack of financial support that has existed in Kansas watershed districts over the last eight years has contributed to a general opposition of increased federal regulations and reluctance to continue building watershed structures. Spatial factors among watershed districts illustrate the spatial and temporal differences in district development, watershed structure construction, and precipitation gradients that influence land use and ecoregions between western and eastern Kansas.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Douglas G. Goodin / In this research, proximal measurements of hyperspectral reflectance were used to develop models for estimating chlorophyll content in tallgrass prairie at leaf and canopy scales. Models were generated at the leaf scale and then extended to the canopy scale. Three chlorphyll estimation models were developed, one based on reflectance spectra and two derived from derivative transformations of the reflectance spectra. The triangle chlorophyll index (TCI) model was derived from the reflectance spectrum, whereas the first and second derivative indices (FDI and SDI) models were developed from the derivative transformed spectra. The three models were found to be well- correlated with the chlorophyll content measured with solvent extraction. The result indicated that the three models were effective for the leaf scale estimates of chlorophyll content. The three chlorophyll models developed at the leaf scale were further extended to the canopy scale and fine-scale images. The three models were found to be conditionally effective for estimating canopy chlorophyll content. The TCI model was more effective in dense vegetation, and the FDI and SDI models were better in sparser vegetation. This research suggests that the extension of chlorophyll models from the leaf scale to canopy scale is complex and affected not only by soil background, but also by canopy structure and components

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Claude A. Keithley / With the economic growth in the last three decades, tourism is becoming bigger business than ever before in China. One of the most popular tourism destinations in China is ancient towns. While the tourism industry encourages economic growth in ancient towns, it brings negative side-effects as well. The purpose of this report is to detect the economic and social sustainability of the tourism industry in Chinese ancient towns, taking Lijiang, Yunnan Province as an example. The report also provides responsive suggestions for the tourism industry in Lijiang in the end. To measure the sustainability of tourism in Lijiang, the report employs a total of 33 indicators in social, cultural, economic and political dimensions and a five-point evaluation system to convert different indicators into a relatively consistent measurable scale. The outcome of the analysis indicates that: 1) tourism in Lijiang is unsustainable in social dimension because of the paramount pressure on land use and the traditional life style caused by overhaul tourist population poured into Lijiang in recent years; 2) tourism in Lijiang has generally played a positive role in local culture’s preservation; 3) the fast-growing economy brought by tourism in Lijiang is potentially unsustainable because of the imbalanced benefit distributions; 4) tourism in Lijiang is almost totally government-oriented and lacks a certain opportunities for public participation. The findings in each aspect of the tourism industry in Lijiang help decision makers understand both strengths and weaknesses of tourism in Lijiang better to make responsive policies and strategies to ensure a more sustainable future.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Melinda Daniels / Geomorphic properties of streams are linked to ecosystem function through processes related to storage, transport, and other drivers regulating biogeochemical conditions. Disturbances altering the physical template of a stream are associated with cascading impacts on ecosystem function. However, few disturbances are studied at long time scales and so the legacy of such events and the implications for ecosystem structure and function are not well understood. This research investigates the role of historic tie-driving, a channel disturbance legacy, in shaping present-day stream channel conditions in the Rocky Mountain region and the associated implications for organic matter dynamics. Using a combination of geomorphic and riparian surveys, organic matter and vegetation sampling, and modeling, I show that components of mountain stream ecosystems have recovered from tie-driving at varying rates. First, I addressed how tie-driving has altered channel morphology and wood loading. Tie-driven streams are narrower, shallower, less rough, and have less wood than non-driven reference reaches. In a second study, I focused on differences in carbon storage within the stream and riparian area between tie-driven and non-driven streams. Carbon stored on the landscape represents a long-term component of the terrestrial carbon cycle and some, but not all, components have been impacted by tie-driving. Large instream wood, coarse downed wood, and fine downed wood were identified as carbon storage components that were significantly smaller in tie-driven stream-riparian corridors. Finally, I modeled whole stream ecosystem metabolism and tested whether abiotic drivers influenced variations in rates of gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (ER), and net ecosystem productivity (NEP). Results from this work suggest that rates of GPP were significantly different between tie-driven and non-driven streams and were partially explained by variations in light related to canopy structure. However, variations in ER and NEP were not significantly different between tie-driven and non-driven sites. Taken as a whole, this work shows that ecosystems bear the imprint of historic disturbances but individual ecosystem components recover at differing rates. Additionally, integrating stream hydro-geomorphic and ecological dynamics is an effective approach to understanding the impact of channel disturbances in shaping ecosystem function at a variety of spatial and temporal scales.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Lisa Harrington / In the United States, rationales for corn ethanol policies have included national energy security, air pollution abatement, clean technology development, and climate change mitigation. The ostensible benefits of corn ethanol have been used to justify the transfer of federal funds toward corn and ethanol production subsidies, consumption mandates, and import restrictions, plus substantial research and development efforts. Public and private sector funding has also focused on efforts to commercially develop biofuels from advanced technology using cellulosic biomass. Despite decades of public and commercial interest, cellulosic ethanol has failed to commercialize, corn ethanol remains heavily dependent on subsidies, and each of the alleged benefits of ethanol has been hotly disputed. This research examines the links between interest groups and rationales for biofuel policies. Drawing from Foucauldian discourse analysis, the research identifies key discourses supporting and opposed to biofuel development, and their relation to broader issues in environmental and energy politics. This approach involved a detailed review of newspaper archives, policy documents, Congressional bills, committee hearings and debates, governmental and non-governmental reports, and scientific research findings. It reveals how a powerful coalition of agricultural interests succeeded in harnessing biofuel discourses to popular public and political environmental and energy concerns. The primary discourses identified were Environmental Bureaucracy, Free Markets, Ecological Modernization, and Limits. A common element in the first three of these was Techno-Optimism. A Limits discourse opposed ethanol expansion, primarily based on a narrative of competition for agricultural land, and stood apart from other discourses in its mistrust of science and technology to resolve environmental problems. The research concludes that Foucauldian discourse analysis provides a useful tool for examining key shifts in policy debates, for clarifying the relationship between scientific knowledge and discursive power, for understanding divisions within environmental discourse, and for revealing the importance of scale in environmental public policy process.

Master of Arts / Geography / Marcellus M. Caldas / As concerns increase over climate change, energy independence, and higher fuel prices, Brazilian sugarcane ethanol is seen as a part of a clean energy future. Brazilian sugarcane ethanol was developed with a long history of government support, and with the introduction of the flex fueled car in 2003, demand rose dramatically. These factors have helped sugarcane expand beyond its traditional regions of Brazil into the Cerrado. More recently however, private capital from both domestic and foreign companies have started investing in Brazilian agriculture and these investments have helped fuel the sugarcane expansion into the Cerrado in the last 15 years. Over 22 sugarcane mills have been constructed in the Brazilian state of Goiás, located in the heart of the Cerrado. The increased investments driving the expansion of sugarcane into the Cerrado brings numerous questions regarding its environmental and social impacts. Thus, the goal of this thesis is to understand how the structural organization of the sugarcane ethanol mills’ affects development at a municipality level in the state of Goiás, Brazil. More specifically, this thesis has two objectives; to evaluate the effects of the sugarcane mills’ influence on land use and land cover change in these municipalities; and to compare how domestic owned mills, foreign owned mills, and jointly owned mills affect socioeconomic development on the municipalities. Three municipalities were analyzed, Edéia, Caçu, and Quirinópolis. Results showed that land use and land cover change varied by municipality. The majority of Edéia’s sugarcane expansion came from lands already in agricultural use. On the other hand, Caçu’s and Quirinópolis’s sugarcane expansion came from pasture lands. However, throughout all the municipalities, sugarcane expansion over native vegetation was small. All three municipalities increased their socioeconomic development levels over the past 20 years as reported on the Human Development Index. In addition, urban survey responses revealed that the residents of Edéia perceived the sugarcane mill had made their lives better than respondents in either Quirinópolis or Caçu. However, this analysis covers only a brief period of time, and future analysis of these, and other municipalities that host sugarcane mills throughout the Cerrado will be needed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / John A. Harrington Jr / Extreme heat is a hazard that is capable of causing economic problems and potentially high mortality rates across several regions simultaneously. This dissertation was designed to provide a better understanding of how often and where heat waves occur within the United States. The research design assessed all places equally in order to evaluate geographic variations in the character of heat waves. In order to simplify the variety of extreme heat events that occur, this research developed two classifications; one for accumulated daily heat stress and a second for extended periods of extreme conditions (heat waves). Both new classification systems were designed to objectively categorize individual events using a scale from 1 (minor) to 5 (extreme). The heat wave classification system was applied to 70 locations for years 1980-2001 to determine the frequency, magnitude, and duration of daily heat stress events and heat waves. Hourly temperature and humidity data were used to determine heat index values, which were accumulated to provide the daily heat intensity measurement. Major findings from this research include: how heat stress distribution is influenced by topographical relief variations as well as latitude; daily heat stress classifications during an event were typically not in an intensify-then-weaken progression; Category 1 heat waves were the most frequent overall followed by Category 2 and Category 3 heat waves, however Category 5 events outnumbered Category 4 events over the temporal period of this study; and heat stress days/heat waves occurred most frequently in the Southeast, with the fewest occurring in the Northwest. The classification was also used to illustrate the extent and magnitude of the 1995 heat wave that caused high human mortality in the Midwest. Results from this research are presented in maps and tables to provide a detailed insight on the characteristics of heat stress throughout the United States as a function of the exposure component of hazard vulnerability.