Bristol Bay, in Southwest Alaska, is the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world. After an almost total collapse of salmon numbers in the mid 1970s, the salmon have returned and average in the tens of millions every year. The salmon play a vital economic, cultural, and subsistence role in the lives of the people who call Bristol Bay home. At present there is a plan to develop a low-grade, but substantial, mineral deposit that consists primarily of copper, gold, and molybdenum. The estimated value of the minerals present is more than $500 billion. This plan is known as the Pebble Project, and could involve an open-pit mine, a large area of block caving, as well as the creation of huge tailings ponds north of Lake Iliamna. The proposed site of the mine straddles a drainage divide that affects two major watersheds that feed the Bristol Bay fishery. A resource debate is at hand which places the development of the mineral deposit at odds with the health of the fishery.

Many watersheds throughout the mountain west are snow-melt dominated. Recent studies suggest that climatic shifts throughout the 20th century have diminished snowpack around the west, a trend that may accelerate in the future. Loss of critical snowpack could negatively affect the ecosystems and communities that have come to depend on it. Process models offer a way to illuminate the effects of climate change on snowpack. BIOME-BGC, a well established eco-system process model, contains a simple snow melt model for predicting daily snow water equivalent (SWE). The model requires standard daily meteorological data and can, therefore, be extrapolated over long periods of record. This research evaluated the effectiveness of BIOME-BGC (v4.2) at predicting SWE, snowpack evolution, and soil temperature. Then, several physically based algorithms were incorporated into current model logic and model behavior was evaluated. Finally, a new degree-day algorithm was presented and assessed for inclusion into future versions of BIOME-BGC. The study concluded that the new degree-day algorithm should be investigated further as it offered the best results.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, demands on the vast steppe rangelands and other natural resources in Mongolia, Russia, and other Central Asian states experienced drastic changes. Moving from a socialistic system into a free-market economy of supply and demand saw regulatory institutions, which historically managed natural resources like rangelands, dissolved or without the capacity to enforce their work requirements. Like other places in Russia, the region of the Kosh-Agach Wildlife Refuge experienced a decrease in demand for livestock products, which forced many rural peoples to move to urban areas in search of work. The opposite occurred in the region of western Mongolia where the so-called Cluster A of the Siilkhemiin Nuruu National Park is located. That Region saw an increase in migration from urban to rural areas to embrace their traditional pastoralist lifestyle in order to make a living. This study uses satellite imagery, remote sensing analysis, and field data to assess rangeland conditions in these two protected areas over the past twenty years. The study concludes that rangeland conditions are deteriorating in both areas. Yet more research is needed in order to assess the levels at which climatic and anthropogenic factors are influencing this decline.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate changes in the landscape of Almería in southeastern Spain, particularly in relation to the emergence of the 80,000-acre greenhouse sector. This thesis questions why the province of Almería has the highest concentration of greenhouses in the world and determines what processes led to this industry. The research focuses on local-global scale interactions and environmental history analysis within a political ecology framework. The methods for data collection included literature review of secondary sources and four months living in Almería conducting interviews and field observations. Located in Europes driest desert, the greenhouses of Almería produce millions of tons of produce for European markets. Initially fueled by abundant aquifer water, years of heavy water usage have depleted the quality of the water and led to innovative methods for reducing water use and the introduction of desalination. The Almería hydropolitics associated with water usage and distribution highlight the importance of the greenhouse sector to various levels of government. Almerías environmental history demonstrates profound climate and landscape modifications by human actions fueled by local-global exchanges for resources. Expanding on the geographer David Touts 1980s research on Almería greenhouses, this thesis compares current and past issues, economic and land development, and technologies within the greenhouse sector. This case study presents an opportunity for examining the processes that shaped the environmental history through local-global exchanges that are unique to Almería.

Indigenous, animistic religions inherently convey a close relationship and stewardship for the environment. This stewardship is very apparent in the region of southern Benin, Africa. The Fon peoples of this region practice a traditional religion termed Vodun, which manifested from the 17th century slave trade, and subsequently migrated to the Caribbean and Americas where it transmuted into Voodoo, among other religions. The migration of pre-colonial religious canon to the Western Hemisphere has garnered ample study; however, the pioneering religion, Vodun, has received far less scholastic attention, despite Benins recognition of Vodun as a national religion. In this thesis, I contend that the Fon exemplify a society that incorporates rites and rituals of their animistic religion into their daily lives expressed through forms of stewardship, particularly as it pertains to the Forêt Sacrée de Kpassé. This fusion of religious tradition with environmental interaction is inseparable, as are the subsequent environmental effects. This thesis discussion entails an investigation of the impacts of Vodun beliefs on environment-society relations. The results of this study are based upon a qualitative study conducted in the summer of 2009 in Ouidah, Benin.

The October 8, 2005 Kashmir earthquake triggered several thousand landslides throughout the Himalaya of northern Pakistan and India. A spatial database, which included 2252 landslides, was developed and analyzed using ASTER satellite imagery and geographical information system (GIS) technology. A multi-criterion evaluation was applied to determine the significance of event-controlling parameters in triggering the landslides. The parameters included lithology, faults, slope gradient, slope aspect, elevation, land cover, rivers and roads. The results were broken down into four classes of landslide susceptibility. The results indicated that lithology had the strongest influence on landsliding, particularly when the rock is highly fractured, such as in the shale, slate, clastic sediments, and limestone and dolomite. Moreover, the proximity of the landslides to faults, rivers, and roads was also an important factor in helping to initiate failures. In addition, landslides occurred particularly in moderate elevations on south facing slopes. Shrub land, grassland, and also agricultural land were highly susceptible to failures, while forested slopes had few landslides. One-third of the study area was highly or very highly susceptible to future landsliding and requires immediate mitigation action. The rest of the region had a low or moderate susceptibility to landsliding and remains relatively stable. This study supports the view that earthquake-triggered landslides are concentrated in specific zones associated with event-controlling parameters. It also concludes that western Himalaya deforestation and road construction are susceptible to landsliding during and shortly after earthquakes.

The industrialized world is littered with tens of thousands of acres of vacant, decaying, and often contaminated industrial and commercial sites. These sites, commonly referred to as brownfields, scar the landscape of communities, expose citizens to possible health risks, deteriorate surrounding land values, and erode the tax base of municipalities. Vacant and abandoned industrial sites are present in every state, but the blight associated with brownfields is worst in Americas rustbelt, the chain of once great industrial cites and towns stretching along historic canals and rail lines from Baltimore to Boston, and west to Milwaukee. This thesis investigates federal and state brownfields policies and reviews contemporary brownfields literature and through a case study approach, it explains how state and federal policies created a climate conducive to brownfields redevelopment in Baltimore, Maryland. By analyzing two successful Baltimore projects, the research shows how the reuse of brownfields had a positive ripple-effect that helped precipitate neighborhood-level investment and revitalization. To help clarify the intricacies often associated with the reuse of brownfields, documentation on financing mechanisms, tax incentives, and state-level Voluntary Cleanup Program application materials are analyzed and described. The impact of the two case study sites on surrounding neighborhoods is researched quantitatively by comparing citywide tax assessed values, real property sales records, and building permit data. The datasets were collected for three years (1995, 2001, and 2007) each representing a distinct time period in Baltimores recent history of brownfield redevelopment. Lastly, to help establish comparable rates of neighborhood investment, this thesis uses location quotients based on building permit applications. The quotients compare Baltimores citywide building activity to building activity in neighborhoods with reclaimed brownfield sites.

In northwest Montana, there exists a rich tribal culture and vibrant physical environment. The Salish tribal culture that exists in this environment holds an immense knowledge of the landscape that surrounds it, and the Salish people are intimately tied to this place. They have unique and fascinating culturally informed ways of looking at and interpreting the landscape. It is evident in their artistic traditions and expressions, both in the past and in the present. This research examines the importance of local knowledge in indigenous communities. The intent of this research is to identify links between Salish art and sense of place. The purpose of this research is to develop a curriculum guide that addresses the role art plays in establishing and expressing a sense of authentic human attachment and true belonging in a special or unique place. The curriculum guide will focus upon the artistic traditions and expressions of the interior Salish tribes of northwestern Montanas Flathead Indian Reservation. This study will take a particular interest in exploring how art has changed and how Native artists creatively re-imagine themselves in order to reclaim traditional strength and voice. There will be a focus on the Indian Education for All Laws and Policies, giving teachers an understanding of the policies and laws that affect all people in Montana. The basic research question being asked is: What is the relationship between Salish artistic expressions and sense of place? To answer this question we must develop a good understanding of art, sense of place, and the relationship between art and sense of place. Art and place both have a past, present, and future. The recognition of beauty is found not only in art but also in sense of place. Place is a center of meaning and the same can be said of art. Place and art are both different things to different people. Art and place can be animated, but both express only what their animators enable them to say. Both place and art can only give back to one equally as much as the amount of thought, feeling, and attention which one has devoted to them. Art, as well as place, is animated by the people who attend to it. So, even in total stillness, places or works of art can speak to one. People have relationships with places. These relationships are expressed in numerous ways. Some are expressed through political ritual, religious ceremonies, myth, prayer, music, dance, and architecture. Art can be the place where the tangible and the mythical become the same. Through artistic traditions and expressions conducted daily, monthly, seasonally, or annually, places and their meanings are continually rewoven into the fabric of our life. Art and place both change, while at the same time stay the same.

This study sought to investigate the social-ecological factors that hold back sustainability efforts in the Lake Bosomtwe basin in Ghana, how these factors change over time, and what determines their ability to absorb disturbances in either their ecological or social domains. A mixed methods approach was utilized, using primary, secondary, and tertiary literature; unstructured interviews with thirty-one respondents; transect walks, observations and photography. A causal-chain analysis was used to illustrate and trace out the ways in which identified factors act and interact to degrade the lake's ecosystem. The study finds that factors constraining sustainability efforts and exacerbating environmental problems in the lake basin include rapid population growth, high levels of poverty, and weak lake basin governance systems. Further aggravating the problem is irreverence for traditional resource management practices which have been a useful tool in managing resources in the past, and changes in climate variables of rainfall and temperature, thus affecting lake water levels. Systems of interventions necessary to address these problems are noted.

In the semi-arid Inland Northwest, water is undoubtedly the most important natural resource. Western Montanas Clark Fork River basin is no exception. As the population of western Montana continues to grow, the Clark Fork River basin below the Flathead Indian Reservation is largely in de facto closure to the establishment of new water rights. Communities face a great amount of uncertainty with respect to their ability to establish new water rights to accommodate future growth due to the de facto closure, along with the ongoing adjudication process and the inability for communities to grow into their claimed water rights established before July 1, 1973. It is therefore essential for communities, and water resources planners and managers, to know their legal and physical entitlements to water. This assessment of municipal water rights and systems in the Clark Fork River basin was conducted by ascertaining the volumes and maximum flows of each communitys water right, analyzing the volume of water used annually, and projecting future water consumption amounts for the next 20 years based on projected county population growth rates. Other information gathered includes water conservation measures, water-related infrastructure, and metering. Interviews of water system managers and operators were conducted to gauge their level of understanding of water resource issues and policies that might play a significant role in each communitys ability to provide water to its residents. It appears that while the vast majority of communities in the Clark Fork River basin will have sufficient water right amounts for the next 20 years, other communities, e.g., Seeley Lake, Hamilton, and Missoula are more likely to experience difficulties in meeting future population growth with their current rights. Some communities, e.g., Butte, Columbia Falls, Superior, and Thompson Falls, may be limited in using their water rights due to water quality issues, while others, e.g., Hamilton, Missoula, and Stevensville, will be limited due to the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservations rules regarding where water rights are able to be used.