Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2002. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-45). Also available online.

The response of geomorphic systems to disturbance has been a major focus of geographic research. Nevertheless, because the sensitivity of geomorphic systems to external perturbation is complex, the response of those systems is still poorly understood for many agricultural systems in various geographic settings. This study investigates geomorphic sensitivity and soil erosion under traditional slash-and-burn cultivation. The response of soil erosion to this agricultural practice was investigated in selected plots at different stages of cultivation, representing a chronosequence of slash-and-burn cultivation for the study site. Selected physical and hydrological properties were measured in the field or determined in the laboratory from soil samples obtained from the selected plots. Soil erosion was monitored for the selected plots using bounded runoff plots. Finally, the response of soil erosion to slash-and- burn was assessed at the watershed scale by adapting the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation to local field conditions. The study results showed that soil’s selected physical and hydrological properties differed according to the age of cultivation. In general, soil properties, such as organic matter, aggregate stability, and infiltration, showed signs of deterioration during the cultivation phase and improvement during the fallow stage of slash-and-burn cultivation. These differences in turn resulted in differences in the erodibility of the soil and the response of soil erosion at the plot scale. The soil erosion rate was observed to be higher during the cultivation stage of slash-and-burn cultivation and lower during the fallow stage. The lowest rate of erosion was recorded in natural forest plots. Overall, soil erosion rates were low considering the study site’s mountainous nature. The results of this study suggest that the response of soil erosion under the practice of slash-and burn cultivation could be minimal in a potentially sensitive humid tropical mountainous environment depending on the specific cover produced, the environmental factors, and the specific cultural management, such as cropping and tilling practices. Maintaining adequate ground cover through cropping and fallow management is the key to keeping soil erosion minimal under the practice of slash-and-burn cultivation in the study area. / text

This study is an urban history of Denver, Colorado, viewed through the lens of its constantly evolving physical, political, cultural and economic relationship with its mountain hinterland. From the town's early years as a 19th century mining and ranching depot to its 20th century emergence as a hub of tourism and technology, that relationship informs every aspect of the city's urban, cultural and environmental history. This study seeks, first, to analyze Denver's historical appropriation and utilization of its mountain hinterland, whether for water, wealth, recreation and cultural identity. Second, it highlights how access to and control over the Rocky Mountain hinterland shaped Denver's evolving political, class and racial landscapes throughout the city's history. Integrating the methodologies of environmental, urban, and social history, it demonstrates how different social groups competed for access, control, and the ability to vii assign value to the mountain hinterland. Every Denverite in the city's history, regardless of station, has lived within the context of this tense and constantly changing relationship. Since the city's founding, that relationship has been the constant object of human agency, accommodation, and change, and in it can be read the story of Denver itself.

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This presentation is was given at the Great Basin Conference in 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada. This talk presents key findings from the report- Ha`tata (The Backbone of the River): American Indian Ethnographic Studies Regarding the Hoover Dam Bypass Project (Stoffle et al. 2000). This talk highlights the pilgrimage trails to Sugarloaf Mountain.

Poster / Soc 397a / 2015 Poverty in Tucson Field Workshop

A method of linking SORTIE-ND and PrognosisBC was developed for the purpose of predicting natural regeneration and forecasting future stand conditions in mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins - MPB) attacked stands in the Interior Douglas-fir (IDF) and Sub-Boreal Spruce (SBS) biogeoclimatic ecosystem zones of central and southeastern British Columbia. PrognosisBC, a spatially-implicit growth model, lacked a submodel suitable for predicting natural regeneration in unsalvaged MPB-disturbed stands. To fill this gap, estimates of regeneration (trees <7.5 cm diameter at breast height - DBH) were supplied to PrognosisBC using the light-mediated forest dynamics model SORTIE-ND and the linked model was used to forecast future stand conditions. In order to improve results, a density-dependent system of crown allometry equations to predict crown depth and crown radius was developed and then added to SORTIE-ND. The equations used stand-level measures of stems ha-¹, basal area (m² ha-¹), and the basal area of trees taller than the target tree to explicitly account of the effects of crowding on the crown axes. Additionally, crown radius and crown depth were used as dependent regressors. The equations were fit using a nonlinear three-stage least squares estimator and generally provided good estimates of crown depth and crown radius for lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia), hybrid spruce (Picea engelmannii x glauca (Moench) Voss), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco) and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.). Tests of the hybrid model with the improved system of crown allometry equations were performed using reconstructed plot data collected from natural stands disturbed by MPB 25-years ago. The hybrid model provided good estimates (small mean bias and low root mean square error) for the basal area of advance regeneration (2 < DBH < 7.5 cm) for lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia). The best estimates were achieved when trees <7.5 cm DBH were transferred from SORTIE-ND to PrognosisBC 15-years after MPB-disturbance. For trees <2 m in height, poor estimates of stems ha-¹ where obtained. Despite the shortcomings with respect to trees <2 m tall, the results suggest that linking SORTIE-ND and PrognosisBC is an effective method of building a hybrid model capable of being used in MPB-disturbed forests. However, full parameterization of the SORTIE-ND model is likely needed to obtain accurate estimates for all sizes of natural regeneration.