The purpose of this study is to understand how prehistoric people moved around the landscape and used major stone tool resources throughout the last 10,000 yr. B.P. in southern Idaho. Similar research has been reported in the Great Basin and western Wyoming and this study continues to fill the map with data about how large regions of the western United States were used prehistorically. This study specifically examined whether or not prehistoric mobility changed according to wet and dry climatic shifts. Based on these shifts archaeologists expect the regions people used to expand or shrink using an economic model of decision-making when foragers were confronted with the choice to stay in one resource area or move to another while pursuing plants and animals for food. To measure this decision prehistorically, obsidian projectile points and tools left behind throughout time were analyzed to determine where the stone originated geologically, a concept known as conveyance. The data were gathered from many regional studies and new sourcing of 139 artifacts from southeastern Idaho regional collections and excavations at the Fox Site near Thatcher, Idaho. In the compiled dataset are 4,440 artifacts from 640 archaeological sites in southern Idaho that originate from 37 obsidian sources. Analysis of this dataset grouped archaeology sites based on the percentage of different obsidian sources used, creating conveyance zone sets that were encompassed by statistically created ovals in mapping software. Four trans-Holocene conveyance zones are proposed and described: the Malad Conveyance Zone (MCZ), Timber Butte Conveyance Zone (TBCZ), Big Southern Butte Conveyance Zone (BSBCZ), and Snake River Conveyance Zone (SRCZ). These zones are then separated into four wet or dry climate periods and changes in mobility are compared to the economic decision model. Overall the MCZ and TBCZ both met the expectations of the model, while the BSBCZ and SRCZ did not. Another test of the data reveals that the number of obsidian sources used and the evenness of their use is not correlated with conveyance zone size, which helps confirm that these zones reproduce prehistoric behavior and are not a statistical product of the availability of obsidian in a region. The conveyance zones described in this study are comparable in size to those proposed in neighboring regions. Research also finds that southern Idaho conveyance zones were firmly established in the Early Holocene and shows that conveyance zones can be created from large datasets in a statistically robust manner and enable researchers to look at changes in forager mobility across large spatial and temporal scales. Expectations for forager mobility are partially supported by the variability wet and dry climate during the last 10,000 years B.P.

Forty-three and 54 Ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) pairs were found occupying territories in northern Utah and southeastern Idaho during 1972 and 1973, respectively. Of these 38 and 27 nesting pairs laid eggs. Nesting success was 77.1 percent in 1972 and 74.6 percent in 1973. for successful nests, an average of 2.9 and 2.6 young hatched and 2.7 and 2.3 young fledged during the respective years. This population is reproductively comparable to others in Utah and Colorado. Analysis of prey items collected from the nests indicated that black-tailed jack-rabbits (Lepus californicus) constitute 86 percent of the biomass (by weight) of three major prey species consumed by ferruginous hawks in this area. Jackrabbit density may be a major determinant of the number of young produced in a given year. Weight gained by the nestlings showed a marked sexual dimorphism. Female fledgelings weighed up to 1.43 times as much as males. Criteria were developed for sexing ferruginous hawks by measuring the diameter of the hallux. Mortality of 17 birds from the study area was recorded, of which 47 percent were immature birds. A total of 108 fledglings were banded and marked with color-coded patagial wing markers. Band reports of five (10 percent) of these birds were received. Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) provided nest sites for 96.0 percent of the nests while three percent were built on the ground. Plant community types were determined at 63 nesting sites from aerial photographs. Dominant vegetation around nest sites were desert shrub types and crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum) seedings. The possible impact of land management practices on ferruginous hawks is discussed.

The distribution of the cliff chipmunk in Idaho was previously considered to include only the Raft River Valley and the Goose Creek Basin. A pilot study was conducted in 2003 and 2004. Thirty-five cliff chipmunk presence locations and 124 absence locations were recorded. Habitat variables of elevation, slope, deviation from south, distance to water, and vegetation type were extracted for all of the absence and presence points by means of GIS analysis. The data were analyzed by implementing a classification tree, and a "GIS habitat association model" was created. The model was tested in 2005, and the overall model accuracy was 77.5%. The study extended the known cliff chipmunk range in Idaho west to Rock Creek, Twin Falls County, east to Weston Canyon, Franklin County, and north to the Cotterel Mountains, Cassia County. Monitoring current known locations and searching for new locations to further refine 11 understanding of the species' distribution and to determine the actual population status of cliff chipmunks in Idaho are recommended.

Structure of songs and organization of singing in 133 Fox Sparrows Passerella iliaca were studied during 2 breeding seasons in 3 geographically separate populations in northern Utah and southern Idaho. The structure of songs was analyzed with the aid of an audiospectrograph. The organization of the singing of songs in 56 birds was analyzed by applying Markov chain analyses to the sequences of songs uttered. Songs were composed of sy lla bl e- types , of which 49 were recognized. Syllabl e- types could occur sing ly or be seria lly repeated within songs, but they were never fractured so that onl y a portion of one wo ul d be in evidence. Songs were categorized into 5 major types (A, B, C, D, and E) on the basis of the uniformity amo ng individuals in the sequences of sy llable-types which were used to form so ngs . Most song-types were easily characterized by a particular sequence of syllable- types used in forming the terminal portions of the songs, but song-type D was most easily characterized by a sequence of syllable-types near the beginning of the song. Although the sequences of syllable-types forming songs were sufficiently distinct so that the songs could be assigned to a particular major song-type, there were consistent variations among individuals in the sequences of syllable-types composing their songs. Such variants were termed song-versions. The variation in the syllable-types composing songs tended to be restricted to the first halves of the songs. About one half of all the individuals recorded sang more than one version of some particular song-type, usually B or C. Individual birds used a mean number of 8.2 syllable-types in the formation of each song. The mean number of syllable-types used in forming song-types A, B, C, D, and E in 1973 and 1974 were 7.5 -7.7, 8.5-7.6, 7.8-7.8, 9.4-9.4, and 9.0-7.5, respective ly. Few variations were evident among individuals in the mean number of syllable-types or song-types that constituted their repertoires. Differences in the mean number of syllable-types composing similar song-types were al so of little magnitude. Significant differences were evident in the number of syllable-types possessed by individuals having repertories of 2, 3, and 4 songs. Those birds which possessed the largest repertoires of songs exhibited the greatest number of syllable-types. Six color-banded individuals did not change the size or structure of their syllable-type or song-type repertoires during the year or between years. Singing was organized into discrete bouts in which each song of an individual tended to be presented with equal frequency of occurrence. The ordering of songs within singing bouts occurred in particular sequences, with each song being sung once. After a bird had sung all of its songs once, it would begin the sequence over again. The order in which a bird presented its songs did not change with the passage of time, it was not related to the song-types the bird possessed, and it did not appear to be affected by the sequence of songs being sung by neighboring Fox Sparrows. Markov cha in analysis of the ordering of songs described the sequencing as a first-order Markov chain in all but three birds. A higher order Markov chain was most appropriate for those three birds which were not described by a first-order Markov chain. Intra- and interpopulation variations in most of the parameters of song which were considered demonstrated little variation within any of the 3 populations between years or among populations in either of the 2 years . Cluster analyses of the geographic distribution of syllabletypes and song-types reiterated that the incidence of syllable-types and song-types tended to be uniform within and among the populations. The most distinctive group of individuals, based upon the presence or absence of syllable-types and song-types, was the northernmost population. The southernmost population of birds tended to demonstrate the most variability in their possession of syllable-types and song-types. Comparison of the structure of song in Fox Sparrows with other species of the Emberizidae showed that Fox Sparrows' song structuring was not directly analogous to that of any other emberizid, although the structures of Fox Sparrow songs and syllable-types were not sufficiently different that they could not be recognized as belonging to a member of the Emberizidae. The structure of Fox Sparrow song is most similar to that of their nearest relatives, Melospiza, especially M. melodia, whereas song structuring in Fox Sparrows is less similar to that in the species of the genera Zonotrichia and Junco. The variations which were present in the structure of individuals' songs and the geographic distributions of syllable-types and song-types were considered to reflect geographic variation rather than dialects. It is proposed that Fox Sparrows learn their songs early in life, as does Zonotrichia leucophrys, and that song may encode messages which allow others to recognize the singer's sex, location, marital status, motivation, and species and individual identity. It is suspected that Fox Sparrow songs do not have great capability of conveying the population affiliation of the singer. It is proposed that the various songs of individual Fox Sparrows are of equal valence with respect to intraspecific interactions, and that this suspicion associated with other factors concerning the organization of singi ng in Fox Sparrows indicates the order in which a bird presents its songs is learned early in life and it is retained unaltered.

The Kinnikinic Formation of central Idaho is a sedimentary unit consisting principally of orthoquartzite. From its maximum measured thickness of 2285 feet in the central Lemhi Range near Gilmore, Idaho, it thins westward to 376 feet at the type section and southward to 326 feet near Arco, Idaho. Northeast of the Lemhi Range it occurs only as erosional remnants, due to pre-Devonian erosion. Both the lower and upper contacts of the Kinnikinic Formation are disconformable. The Kinnikinic Formation is light colored, predominately fine to medium grained, thin to medium bedded, and largely cemented by silica overgrowths. Some metamorphic recrystallization has occurred locally. Although parallel laminae and structureless beds predominate within primarily parallel bedding, omikron-type (underwater dune) cross-laminae are locally abundant. The sediments are moderately sorted to well sorted and both positively and negatively skewed. Cumulative-frequency probability curves illustrate traction, "saltation," and "suspension" populations; some thin sections indicate two "saltation" populations. An open-marine, shallow-shelfal environment influenced by high-energy (tidal?) currents is postulated for deposition of the Kinnikinic Formation on the basis of the lithlogic uniformity, lateral extent, sedimentary structure, trace fossils, and paleogeographic setting. The Swan Peak Formation of southeastern Idaho and north-central Utah is divisible into a lower member of dark gray shale and quartz silitite, a middle member of brown orthoquartzite and light-colored shale, and an upper member of white orthoquartzite. Correlation of the white, fine- to medium-grained quartzite in the Raft River Range with the Ordovician Eureka Quartzite, considered probable by Compton (1972), is here accepted. The relatively thin nature of the Eureka Quartzite in this area reflects lesser sedimentation rates relative to areas farther south and/ or post-depositional erosion. The Dayley Creek Quartzite of Armstrong (1968) in the Albion Range is complexly faulted; as mapped, all or most of it probably is not correlative with the Kinnikinic Formation. Quartzites in the lower thrust plate of the Phi Kappa Formation in central Idaho are not environmental equivalents of the Kinnikinic Formation to the east, even though they apparently are approximately time equivalent (Churkin, 1963a, pp. 1612-1615). Middle Ordovician, shallow-shelfal orthoquartzit.es (Kinnikinic Formation, upper member of the Swan Peak Formation, Eureka Quartzite, and Mount Wilson Quartzite of southern Canada) are considered to be one originally continuous genetic unit, based on age determinations of overlying and underlying units, disconformable lower and upper contacts, close physical resemblances, and the high probability they were principally derived from the same source area, possibly Cambrian sandstones in the Peace River-Athabasca Arch area of northern Alberta, Canada. The shelfal environment of the Middle Ordovician Cordilleran miogeosyncline can be divided into at least five major, distinctly separated, basins of deposition: (1) Alberta-British Columbia Basin; (2) Central Idaho Basin; (3} Southeastern Idaho Basin (herein proposed); (4) Northeastern Nevada Basin; and (5) Ibex Basin. Anomalously high percentages of undulatory quartz grains in Middle Ordovician orthoquartzites of the Cordilleran miogeosynclinal shelf are highly suggestive of straining in situ and are probably related to post-depositional conditions ranging from purely tectonic to intricate combinations of tectonic and nontectonic events.